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Advocates claim racism as African asylum seekers forced to sleep on Toronto sidewalk

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

Dozens of asylum seekers camped out on a downtown Toronto sidewalk were joined by angry advocates on Monday who accused politicians of racism and dereliction of duty for welcoming the refugees with open arms, but greeting them with closed doors once they arrived.The makeshift refugee camp outside Toronto’s shelter intake office at 128 Peter Street continues to grow, with some calling it home for as long as four weeks because of a lack of space at City shelters.The asylum seekers sleeping on the sidewalk are all from African nations.“If we were not Black would we have been treated this way?” asked Kabu Asante, African Canadian Social Development Council. “That is the question we need to be asking ourselves.”Canada’s first Black MP, Jean Augustine, decried the failure to find shelter space for the desperate people. “This is not the Canada that we are building. This is not the Canada that speaks about diversity.”She was joined by an infur...

5 people killed and 8 injured in Poland when a small plane crashes into a hangar during bad weather

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Five people were killed and eight others were injured Monday when a Cessna 208 plane crashed into a hangar at a sky diving center during bad weather, authorities said.The plane’s pilot and four people sheltering in the hangar from stormy weather died in the afternoon crash in Chrcynno in central Poland, firefighters spokesperson Monika Nowakowska-Brynda said. An additional eight people were injured, two of them seriously, police said. A child was among the injured, the provincial governor, Sylwester Dabrowski, said. Chrcynno is about 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of Warsaw. Firefighters and airborne ambulances took the injured to hospitals in the Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki area. Rescuers were still checking the hangar for additional victims, said Katarzyna Urbanowska, another spokesperson for local firefighters. Prosecutors and police were investigating the cause of the accident.It was the worst accident related to sky diving in Poland since 2014, when 11 ...

4 slain in Georgia mass shooting memorialized as neighbors gather for prayer vigil

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Four victims of a mass shooting in an Atlanta suburb were remembered as loving relatives, an expert locksmith and a beautiful singer as people in Hampton gathered Monday to hold a prayer vigil in their honor.Neighbors were still shaking off disbelief at the 10-minute span Saturday when Scott Leavitt, 67; his wife, Shirley Leavitt, 66; Steve Blizzard, 65; and Ronald Jeffers, 66, were shot and killed. Police and witnesses named 40-year-old Andre Longmore as the shooter.The killings set off a massive search that ended Sunday with Longmore dead in a shootout in another suburb about 15 miles (25 kilometers) north. The exchange of gunfire wounded a sheriff’s deputy and two police officers, who are all recovering.Residents of the bucolic Dogwood Lakes subdivision, where about 40 houses with tidy yards flank a lake on two streets, were surprised that gun violence had come to their peaceful neighborhood about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Atlanta. Hampton had not prev...

Music Review: Greta Van Fleet soars on new album, ‘Starcatcher’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

Greta Van Fleet, “Starcatcher” (Lava/Republic Records)“Starcatcher” is the third studio from Greta Van Fleet, and the latest confirmation that the band’s love affair with the bombast of ’70s-era rock has not grown stagnant.We’ve come to know Greta Van Fleet from their early and obvious Led Zeppelin comparisons to the Grammy-winning ground they now lay claim to. We now accept this is not merely a trick of mimicry. They’ve grown.“Starcatcher” offers lofty, searing songs right out of the gate. “Fate of the Faithful” is in immediate overdrive, and “Waited All Your Life” is full of powerful fits and starts, led by Josh Kiszka’s soaring vocals. “You’ve come from so far away! / And do you intend to stay? / Swim to shore / If this is what you’re looking for,” Kiszka belts out, his voice the additional instrument that moves the needle for the band’s sound. His brother, bassist Sam Kiszka, said in a press release that the album represents “going back to our roots while moving forw...

9th Circuit denies bid by environmentalists and tribes to block Nevada lithium mine

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The latest bid by conservationists and tribal leaders to block construction of a huge lithium mine already in the works along the Nevada-Oregon line was denied by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.A three-panel judge of the San Francisco-based appellate court rejected a half-dozen arguments the opponents had put forth in their appeal seeking to overturn federal land managers’ approval of the project.That included claims it violates multiple environmental laws and would destroy lands tribal members consider sacred because they say dozens of their ancestors were massacred there in 1865.Lithium Nevada Corp.’s mine at Thacker Pass near the Oregon line, 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast of Reno, has pitted environmentalists and Native Americans against President Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate change. The mine would involve extraction of the silvery-white metal used in electric vehicle batteries.On Monday, the judges didn’t specifi...

Union Pacific railroad to renew push for 1-person crews by testing conductors in trucks

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific will renew its push for one-person train crews later this summer when the railroad tests out the idea of having a conductor in a truck respond to problems on trains in Nebraska and Colorado.The railroad will continue using two crew members on its trains during the test, but officials say this could bolster their case in future negotiations for cutting crew size if it is successful. UP’s Jason Pinder confirmed the pilot program Monday when he testified against a proposed Kansas rule that would require two-person crews. The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad has long been a leading proponent in the industry’s push to go down to one-person crews.This plan had to be shelved earlier this year after the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union that represents conductors opposed it. But that union later agreed to let Union Pacific test out ground-based conductors as long as i...

Deaths of four Oregon women over three months are linked, authorities say, reversing earlier call

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The bodies of four women began appearing in wooded areas in northwest Oregon in February, though police initially said the cases appeared to be unconnected. But on Monday, prosecutors dropped a bombshell, saying they are linked and “at least one person of interest” has been identified.The state medical examiner has not determined the cause or manner of death for any of the women, prosecutors said in a statement. Officials did not use the words “serial killer” in announcing the connection between the deaths.But, in an about-face from a June 4 Portland Police Bureau statement saying six deaths did not appear to be connected, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office in Portland announced that four of them are.“Investigators and prosecutors from multiple law enforcement agencies have been working collaboratively, … and they have determined that there are links between four cases: Kristin Smith, Charity Perry, Bridget Webster, and Ashley Real,” the prosecu...

PrairieSky Royalty earns $48 million in second quarter

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

CALGARY — PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. says its net earnings for the second quarter were $48 million, down from $110.1 million a year earlier.The Calgary-based company says it saw record quarterly average oil royalty production of 12,607 barrels per day.PrairieSky’s revenues for the quarter ended June 30 were $117.4 million, down almost 41 per centfrom $198.1 million during the same period last year. Diluted earnings per share were 20 cents, down from 46 cents a year ago.President and CEO Andrew Phillips says it has been a strong first half of the year for the company. While funds from operations were up from the previous quarter, they were down 43 per cent from a year ago due in part to lower benchmark pricing.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:PSK)The Canadian Press

Multiple injuries after car crashes into Hinsdale sub shop

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

HINSDALE, Ill. -- Police are investigating after a car crashed into a Hinsdale sandwich shop Monday afternoon.According to reports, a car crashed into Fontano's Subs near the intersection of Chicago Ave and Lincoln Street in Hinsdale around 2:30 p.m. on Monday. Plane debris falls into backyard of Far Northwest Side home The owner of Fontano's Subs told WGN-TV that a man was driving a jeep out of Fuller's Car Wash across the street and somehow lost control before slamming into the sandwich shop.Several patrons were inside and injuries are being reported, but Hinsdale PD have yet to release details at this time.According to Fontano's Subs' owner, a child was in front of the vehicle before being hit and dragged by the Jeep. Also, the sandwich shop owner said a couple was pinned by the Jeep and an elderly man was hit by debris.No further information has been made available at this time.Stay with WGN-TV as this story develops.

Strikes could lead to 'absolute collapse' in Hollywood, Diller says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:01:00 GMT

(The Hill) – IAC and Expedia Group Chair Barry Diller says the dual Hollywood strikes of writers and actors could lead to an “absolute collapse” of the entire industry, if the issues are not resolved soon. “These conditions will potentially produce an absolute collapse of an entire industry,” the former chief executive of Paramount Pictures said in a Sunday interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing many actors in Hollywood, joined the Writers Guild of America on strike Friday after contract negotiations with film studios failed to be resolved. It's the first time the two labor groups have both been on strike in decades.  Philippines considers banning ‘Barbie’ movie Diller warned that timing is a key issue in settling this strike. If it doesn’t get resolved until Christmas, for example, there will not be as many programs produced next year, and subscriptions will get pulled. That would result in less money for the movie and t...