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Hamas holds ‘unprecedented number’ of hostages in Gaza as Israel secures border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

Hamas is holding “between 100 and 150” people hostage in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said late Monday — as Israel regained control over the Gaza border and conducted “massive air strikes” in the Palestinian territory. “I think it’s an unprecedented number,” Gilad Erdan told CNN, referring to the hostages. But, he added: “It’s not going to stop us from doing what we need to do in order to secure the future of Israel.”“Our main commitment is to obliterate [Hamas] terrorist infrastructure,” the ambassador said.Israel has launched a major military offensive against Hamas on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the armed Palestinian group’s surprise incursion into several locations in Israel on Saturday, during which they killed hundreds of civilians. Israel’s military shelled “over 200 targets” in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Tuesday, while Richard Hec...

Liberian President George Weah seeks a second term in a rematch with his main challenger from 2017

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian President George Weah is seeking a second term in office Tuesday, hoping that his efforts to pave roads, build hospitals and bring electricity to more areas will win votes despite growing economic hardships in the West African nation.He faces a crowded field of 19 challengers, led by his main rival from the last election in 2017, Joseph Boakai, who served as vice president under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first democratically elected female leader. “I want to tell you, my fellow Liberians, I have done well,” Weah, a 57-year-old former international soccer star, said in his closing campaign message at his party’s headquarters in the capital, Monrovia.Boakai, though, has campaigned on promises to rescue Liberia from what he calls Weah’s failed leadership, dubbing himself and his running mate “Rescue 1” and “Rescue 2.”“We are all excited and optimistic about what is now a national call to rally citizens of this great country for ...

Israel pounds downtown Gaza City, threatening punishing retaliation for weekend attack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel pounded downtown Gaza City with relentless bombardments Tuesday and further expanded a massive mobilization of reservists as it vowed a retaliation that would “reverberate … for generations” against the Hamas militant group for its surprise weekend attack.The war — which began after Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Saturday, bringing gunbattles to its streets for the first time in decades — has already claimed at least 1,600 lives.It is only expected to escalate from here, with questions over whether Israel will launch a ground invasion and Hamas threatening to kill captured Israelis if strikes targeted civilians without warning. Israel said that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza are also holding more than 150 soldiers and civilians hostage.Israel’s military said Tuesday morning that it had regained effective control over its south and the border, breached over the weekend in an attack that caught its vaunted military and intelligence appara...

Under heavy bombing, Palestinians in Gaza move from place to place, only to discover nowhere is safe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Over 180,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are packed into United Nations shelters as Israeli warplanes pound the tiny territory of 2.3 million people after their Hamas militant rulers launched an unprecedented weekend attack on Israel.Among them is 27-year-old Sabreen al-Attar. She sprang into action when she heard rocket after rocket whoosh over her farmland in Beit Lahiya just north of the Israeli border on Saturday. She knew from experience that Israeli retaliation would be swift and severe.Grabbing her children, al-Attar rushed to one of the dozens of shelters set up in schools run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City. There, blasts of unprecedented intensity punctuated hours of steadily declining conditions Monday as food and water ran out.“When I escape, I do it for my children,” she said, her hands trembling. “Their lives rest on my shoulders.”But residents say there is no real escape in Gaza, which has been under a suffocati...

In the news today: Freedom Convoy trial resumes and GM workers launch strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…‘Freedom Convoy’ trial to resume WednesdayThe evidence put forward by the Crown and defence in the criminal trial of two prominent “Freedom Convoy” organizers is so similar, in that it reflects something of a Rorschach test for how people feel about the massive protest, said criminologist Michael Kempa.The trial is set to reconvene Wednesday after a two-and-a-half-week break, and has so far focused largely on the social media posts of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. The two are co-accused for their role in organizing and allegedly orchestrating the events that unfolded in the streets of Ottawa in early 2022.Videos played by both the Crown and the defence show appeals by Barber and Lich to keep the protest peaceful, calling it a movement motivated by love and thanking police for ensuring public safety as they demonstrated against COVID-19 p...

IMF outlook worsens for a world economy left ‘limping’ by shocks like Russia’s war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world economy is losing momentum in the face of higher interest rates, the ongoing war in Ukraine and widening geopolitical rifts, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday.The IMF said it expects global economic growth to slow to 2.9% in 2024 from an expected 3% this year. The forecast for next year is down a notch from the 3% it predicted back in July.The deceleration comes at a time when the world has yet to fully mend from a devastating but short-lived COVID-19 recession in 2020. A series of shocks, including the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has slashed worldwide economic output by about $3.7 trillion over the past three years compared with pre-COVID trends.“We see a global economy that is limping along,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters ahead of the IMF and World Bank’s fall meetings this week in Marrakech, Morocco. The IMF expectation of 3% growth this year is down from 3.5% in 2022 but unchanged from i...

‘We want to be able to decide’: Inside the battle over the Ring of Fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

NESKANTAGA FIRST NATION, ONT. — On a rock-covered beach in the heart of the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, Alex Moonias gazes east, then north. All he sees is undisturbed land, water and air. Some 100kilometres from where he stands, the province plans to build a road as part of its pledge to mine the area, which is said to be rich in metals needed for electric vehicle batteries. Moonias, an elder from Neskantaga First Nation, and many in his community see the provincial government’s ambitions for the Ring of Fire as an existential threat to their way of life. “Mother Earth is hurting,” the 70-year-old says. “If a big needle is pushing into your body, how would you feel?”The survivor of a residential school and, later, alcohol addiction, has heard government promises of prosperity related to developing the territory before. And he’s not convinced. “The government has to come and see the land, or at least spend time with us,” he says,...

Saskatchewan legislature resumes over pronoun policy, looming notwithstanding clause

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

REGINA — The Saskatchewan Party government is prepared to introduce legislation this afternoon and invoke the notwithstanding clause over its pronoun policy in schools. Premier Scott Moe has said the government’s legislation is to prevent those under the age of 16 from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental consent. He says using the notwithstanding clause of the Charter ensures the policy remains in place even though a judge granted an injunction to pause it.Elected officials are to arrive at the legislature today to debate the government’s bill.The Opposition NDP has said it may filibuster by sharing letters from people affected by the policy and what it calls Charter attacks.A rally urging the government to respect people’s rights is scheduled to take place outside the legislature before politicians return. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2023.The Canadian Press

P.E.I. piping plover numbers see a tiny bump this year from effects of Fiona

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

Post-tropical storm Fiona left behind a trail of destruction and crumbling shorelines on Prince Edward Island, but the cataclysmic tempest seems to have been a big help to a tiny bird, the piping plover.Lily McLaine, a spokeswoman for Parks Canada, said the number of piping plover chicks has seen a small increase this year. There were 17 chicks born from 10 breeding pairs on the shores of P.E.I. National Park this year, she said. Parks Canada is cautiously optimistic because the birth rate for the birds is slightly above target, with numbers slowly increasing over the last three years after a long period of decline.The piping plover is listed as endangered in Canada under the Species at Risk Act. The birds arrive in Canada to nest from the end of March to early May and fly south by early September.McLaine said a number of factors could have helped these tiny birds bounce back.While some of the beaches traditionally used by piping plovers as habitat were destroyed as Fiona swept thro...

‘Freedom Convoy’ trial evidence a Rorschach test for attitudes about protest: expert

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:49 GMT

OTTAWA — The evidence put forward by the Crown and defence in the criminal trial of two prominent “Freedom Convoy” organizers is so similar, it reflects something of a Rorschach test for how people feel about the massive protest, said criminologist Michael Kempa.The trial is set to reconvene Wednesday after a two and a half week break, and has so far focused largely on the social media posts of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. The two are co-accused for their role in organizing and allegedly orchestrating the events that unfolded in the streets of Ottawa in early 2022.Videos played by both the Crown and the defence show appeals by Barber and Lich to keep the protest peaceful, calling it a movement motivated by love and thanking police for ensuring public safety as they demonstrated against COVID-19 public health measures.The videos also show Lich and Barber call for people to come to Ottawa and “hold the line,” even as police ordered protesters to leave downtown...