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Evacuation orders lifted in B.C. and Alberta towns as wildfires recede

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

Tumbler Ridge resident Joline Couture feared the worst last week when she prepared to pack up and leave under an evacuation order as wildfires loomed outside the small community in British Columbia’s northeast. “It was absolutely terrifying,” Couture said. As a Canadian Ranger, Couture was also waiting on orders to go door to door to tell people to get out as winds whipped up the flames and pushed them toward the town. “We were told it’s not a matter of if the fire was gonna hit Tumbler Ridge, it was a matter of when it was gonna hit, so that was pretty terrifying, to know that I was going to be knocking at doors and telling people to pack everything that they could because they might not have a place to come home to,” she said. “And there were some people who said that they didn’t want to leave.”Now the imminent risk to the town has dissipated.Thanks to recent rain and favourable winds, Tumbler Ridge’s roughly 2,000 reside...

Virgin Galactic to send Italian researchers to space, then regular commercial flights

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Virgin Galactic announced Thursday that monthly commercial flights to the edge of space will begin for ticket-holders in August, following a research flight planned for the end of June.The space tourism company will be taking up a team of specialists with the Italian Air Force and the National Research Centre of Italy to conduct microgravity research. The window for that research flight will begin June 27 and span the next three days, with timing depending on the weather. After that, those who have been waiting more than a decade for their ride aboard Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered space plane are expected to get their chance. The company said the first of those flights will begin in early August, with monthly flights following that.“This next exciting chapter for Virgin Galactic has been driven by innovation, determination and a commitment to delivering an unparalleled and truly transformative customer experience,” CEO Michael Colglazier said in a s...

Biden digital director departing White House, expected to join to 2024 campaign

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s digital director Rob Flaherty is departing the White House and is expected to join the president’s 2024 reelection campaign, which is ramping up its activities two months after launch.Flaherty, a veteran of Biden’s 2020 campaign, has been overseeing the largest-ever White House digital team as the director of the White House office of digital strategy. He was among the driving forces inside the White House to use celebrities and social media influencers to amplify Biden’s message, including the cast of “Ted Lasso,” Olivia Rodrigo and the Jonas Brothers. Biden aides believe they will need to leverage influencers ahead of the 2024 campaign to reach voters who now consume media through more untraditional pathways.Flaherty also worked at the Democratic National Committee and on Beto O’Rourke’s and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns. A person familiar with the matter who requested anonymously to discuss it in advance o...

Vegas Golden Knights to parade the Stanley Cup past marquees on casino-lined Strip on Saturday

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Vegas Golden Knights plan to parade this weekend with the NHL Stanley Cup beneath the glittery marquees of the Las Vegas Strip and rally with fans in front of their home arena to mark the team’s league championship. The event is scheduled at (K)night, of course. VGK faithful who belt out that certain word, “NIGHT!” even during the national anthem, wouldn’t have it any other way.Clark County officials and the team announced Wednesday that Las Vegas Boulevard will be closed for the parade, which is set to begin at 7 p.m. Saturday near Flamingo Road and go to Tropicana Avenue.The fan rally is scheduled to start about 9 p.m. at Toshiba Plaza and the Park District in front of T-Mobile Arena.Golden Knights faithful packed the plaza and the arena on Tuesday, erupting in joy when Vegas defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 to take the best-of-seven championship series in five games, clinching the cherished NHL trophy in just the sixth year since the expansion fr...

Senate passes long-delayed bill aimed at unblocking Canadian aid in Afghanistan

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

OTTAWA — The Senate has passed a bill intended to unblock Canadian aid in Afghanistan without amendment. The Criminal Code changes allow development workers to apply for exemptions from terrorism laws, which currently criminalize paying taxes to the ruling Taliban because it is designated as a terrorist group.Amendments from the Conservatives and NDP in the House of Commons also added a blanket exemption for humanitarian workers who are providing life-saving aid in response to emergencies.The passage of the bill by both chambers of Parliament comes more than a year after many of Canada’s allies issued exemptions for aid workers in their own terrorism laws.Some senators had expressed fears about how bureaucrats might enforce the bill, but the Senate gave unanimous consent to pass multiple stages of the bill all at once, ensuring it will become law before a scheduled summer break.The government has said that civil servants are impartial and courts can be called in to review reje...

Florida man executed for 1984 killings of teenage babysitter, mother of 2 slain months apart

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man was executed Thursday for killing a 14-year-old babysitter and a 38-year-old mother of two in separate attacks months apart in 1984 while children were sleeping in the homes he targeted.Duane Owen was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office. One of Florida’s longest-held death row inmates, Owen was 23 at the time of the attacks and 62 when he was executed.He was sentenced to death for the March 24, 1984, rape and fatal stabbing of Karen Slattery, 14, and for the rape and deadly hammer attack two months later on Georgianna Worden, 38. Both killings occurred in Palm Beach County.Authorities said Owen attacked two other women in Palm Beach County who survived. All four attacks occurred just before and after Owen’s 23rd birthday. Of the more than 290 people on Florida’s death row, Owen was one of the longest held there. Besides his death sentences, he also had received six lif...

Iran’s president meets Cuban counterpart in last leg of Latin American tour

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel on Thursday, wrapping up a Latin America trip that also included visits to Iran’s two other allies in the region — Venezuela and Nicaragua.During a trade forum with local businesspeople in Havana, Raisi said Cuba and Iran would seek to work together in biotechnology, mining, electricity generation and other areas.“I hope this meeting will help facilitate integration as well as an exchange of ideas and opinions,” Raisi said.Unlike his previous stops in Nicaragua and Venezuela, Raisi refrained from making harsh comments in public against Washington or the economic sanctions imposed on his country and its three allies in the region.After the forum, Raisi and Diaz-Canel toured biotechnology production plants in the western part of the capital, then headed to a closed-door reception at Cuba’s Palace of the Revolution.The leaders also signed several agreements on customs, justice,...

Detroit bus driver charged in pedestrian’s death; her 2nd fatality in 8 years

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit bus driver is facing a criminal charge after fatally striking a pedestrian, the second death linked to her job behind the wheel.Janice Bauer, 67, was crossing a downtown street during a green light on June 2 when a bus hit her while making a left turn.The driver, Geraldine Johnson, 59, was charged Wednesday with a moving violation causing death.“This case is tragic on every level,” prosecutor Kym Worthy said.Johnson appeared in court without an attorney, and a not-guilty plea was entered by a magistrate.It’s not the first fatality linked to her driving. The city settled a lawsuit for $4.5 million following the 2015 death of a man who stepped off a Detroit bus and was hit while he tried to get a bike off a rack on the front of the coach, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.The newspaper posted bus video of Joey Davis talking to Johnson and then trying to remove his bike.“She killed a man and was allowed to get back behind a wheel. In what world is ...

Four found dead in Prince Rupert, B.C., home; police say deaths considered homicide

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. — A large police presence remains at a home in the northwest British Columbia city of Prince Rupert where four people were found dead.A neighbour, who didn’t want to disclose her name, said Thursday officers appear to be gathering evidence inside and outside the house and a police investigation tent has been set up in the front yard.She said she did not know the people whose bodies were found inside the home.Prince Rupert RCMP said a homicide investigation is underway after officers responded to a call Tuesday evening to the 100 block of Silversides Drive.Police said they do not believe there were outstanding suspects in the case, and there should be no further risk to the public.Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond and North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice said residents in the city of about 12,000 people are in shock over the deaths. “It’s heart wrenching,” said Pond in an interview. “In a community of 12,000 people everybody knows somebody who&#...

Sam Bankman-Fried could face 2 criminal trials after judge agrees to sever some fraud charges

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:21:05 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried may face two criminal trials after a federal judge on Thursday granted a request by prosecutors to sever the newest fraud charges against him from a trial set for October.A second trial date for March 11 was set by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan after prosecutors said they will only go ahead with new charges they filed against Bankman-Fried three months ago if authorities in the Bahamas — where Bankman-Fried was first arrested — agree to it.The order came hours after Bankman-Fried appeared before Kaplan as his lawyers argued for dismissal of charges alleging that he and other top executives cheated investors and looted FTX customer deposits, in part to fund lavish lifestyles. Kaplan seemed skeptical toward some of their arguments but didn’t immediately rule.When one defense lawyer finished speaking, the judge told him: “I congratulate you on an extraordinarily imaginative argument.”Assistant U.S. Attorney Thane Rehn told Kaplan...