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German railway runs much-reduced schedule as drivers’ union stages a 20-hour strike

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s national railway operator ran a drastically reduced schedule on Thursday as a union called a 20-hour strike aimed at increasing the pressure in a bitter dispute over pay and working hours.The strike by drivers and other workers in the GDL union began at 10 p.m. on Wednesday and was scheduled to end at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Limited “warning strikes” are a common tactic in German pay negotiations.The main national railway operator, state-owned Deutsche Bahn, expected to run about 20% of its normal long-distance service. Regional and local services also were affected, though to varying degrees because some are run by private operators and not all of those were targeted by the strike.The dispute between Deutsche Bahn and GDL is in its early stages, but already is looking unusually difficult. A central issue is the union’s call for shift workers’ hours to be reduced from 38 to 35 hours per week without a pay reduction, a demand at which the company...

Refugees who fled to India after latest fighting in Myanmar have begun returning home, officials say

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

GUWAHATI, India (AP) — More than half of the estimated 5,000 refugees who had fled the heavy fighting in Myanmar’s western Chin state and had entered northeastern India have begun returning home, Indian officials said Thursday.Sunday and Monday saw heavy fighting between the rebels and the Myanmar military in the Chin state across the border from Zokhawthar, a village of around 600 households, in India’s Mizoram state. The military junta lost control of some areas after rebels, largely belonging to the Chin National Front, seized two military posts. “Since Wednesday, we have not heard sounds of airstrikes or gunfire across the border. We presume the situation across Mizoram border in Myanmar is returning to normal, leading to most of the 5,000 refugees returning back,” James Lalrinchhana, the Deputy Commissioner of Champhai district in Mizoram, told The Associated Press.The fighting also forced 40 troops from the Myanmar army to cross over and take shelter in India.The troops ...

Supreme Court to decide whether to hear case of Canadian men detained in Syria

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

OTTAWA — The country’s top court is slated to decide today whether it will hear the case of four Canadian men held in Syria who argue Ottawa has a legal duty to help them return home.The detained Canadians are among the many foreign nationals in ramshackle detention centres run by Kurdish forces that wrested the war-ravaged region from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.The men are asking the Supreme Court to hear a challenge of a Federal Court of Appeal ruling, handed down in May, that said Ottawa is not obligated under the law to repatriate them.Among the men is Jack Letts, who became a devoted Muslim as a teenager, went on holiday to Jordan, then studied in Kuwait before winding up in Syria.The identities of the other three are not publicly known.In an application to the top court, lawyers for the men say Ottawa is “picking and choosing” which Canadians to help out of a hellish situation.They say the men’s foreign jailers will release them...

Full day of bilateral meetings and plenaries await Trudeau at APEC summit by the bay

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — With the fireworks and formalities done, it’s time for delegates at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to get down to business. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will sit down today for one-on-one meetings with a coterie of Pacific Rim leaders in between high-level APEC plenary sessions.U.S. President Joe Biden rattled off a list of the challenges during Wednesday’s opening reception, including confronting the potential rewards and risks of artificial intelligence. The leaders will also talk about how to reinforce and streamline modern-day supply chains, all the while finding workable solutions to the climate crisis. International Trade Minister Mary Ng says Canada will be especially focused on creating the conditions for economic growth across the Pacific Rim.  Ng says businesses both in Canada and abroad are looking for a level of certainty that will allow them to invest with confidence in growing their international trade. “They are here lo...

Tech giant Amazon’s first Canadian wind farm project to be located in Alberta

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

CALGARY — Tech giant Amazon is investing in its first Canadian wind farm.The company said it will partner with developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on a 495-megawatt capacity wind farm to be built in Vulcan County in southern Alberta.The announcement on Thursday marks Amazon’s fourth renewable energy project in Canada and comes on the heels of the recent opening of the company’s Travers Solar Project, which is also located in southern Alberta and is the largest solar farm ever constructed in Canada.That project, together with the newly announced wind farm, will help power Amazon’s local operations in Alberta, including its fulfilment centers, sortation centers, delivery stations and Amazon Web Services data center.Amazon has also previously invested in a smaller solar farm in Newell County, Alta., and a rooftop solar energy project at an Amazon delivery station in Nisku, Alta. The company is one of a growing number of large corporations that are seeking to achiev...

Gender pay gap in the EU remains at 13% on Equal Pay Day

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

Women in the European Union continue to earn less than men with the average gender pay gap in the EU standing at 13%. This means that for every €1 a man earns, a women will make only €0.87. Equal Pay Day marks the date that symbolizes how many extra days women must work until the end of the year to earn what men earned in the same year. This year Equal Pay Day fell on 15 November.Ahead of this symbolic day, Věra Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency and Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality, said: “Equal Pay Day serves to remind us to continue our efforts to close the gender pay gap. Equal pay for the same work or work of equal value is one of the founding principles of the EU. It was laid down in the Treaty of Rome in 1957."Yet progress on the elimination of the gender pay gap is stagnant this year and has been slow over the years. This reminds us that gender stereotypes continue to affect women and men in all spheres of life, including in the workplace, and that sp...

Miss Manners: I would never get rid of this useless item I keep tripping over

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was raised to write thank-you letters. Not just thank-you letters, actually, but “letters of appreciation.”Related ArticlesAdvice | Miss Manners: Was my gift to her tacky? Or was her response tacky? Advice | Miss Manners: Her husband got whiny, and suddenly I was on the hook for $100 Advice | Miss Manners: What do you mean what’s wrong with my arm? Advice | Miss Manners: My child was upset by this drama on the train. Who was in the wrong? Advice | Miss Manners: I was at the game, too, but I lied to my friend about it I absorbed the message that a gift, no matter how ineptly chosen or inappropriate, was a little piece of the giver’s heart; it represented a sacrifice of time, money, thought, consideration and effort, and must be treated with respect and appreciation. These were to be expressed in simple, genuine words in the thank-you letter.I live in a tiny stu...

Pentagon Won’t Say Where It’s Sending U.S. Troops — to Avoid Embarrassing Host Nations

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

The U.S. military has deployed thousands of troops to the Middle East since Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack on Israel but refuses to disclose the military bases or even host nations of the deployments — not for security reasons, but to spare the host nations embarrassment.One such base, the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, welcomed several new F-15 attack jets last month, the same aircraft used to bomb facilities used by Iranian-backed militias in Syria at least twice since October, following attacks on U.S. troops by groups supported by Iran. “A confluence of factors are driving the U.S. and Iran towards a direct military conflict, including the buildup of forces.”Despite the hostilities, the Pentagon has declined to acknowledge the base or the military buildup taking place on it for political reasons, even as the growing U.S. presence and increasing activities contribute to rising tensions with Iran.“A confluence of factors are driving the U.S. and Iran towards a direct m...

Rain Coming to an End While Winds Whip Up

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

It sure has been a wet and soggy stretch over the past 48 hours since Tuesday as a stalled front has remained draped across South Florida, driving in plenty of moisture and leading to rounds of rain and isolated thunderstorm.The heaviest and most widespread rain occurred Wednesday afternoon into the overnight hours, leading to flooding and ponding on some roadways and dropping several inches of rainfall.Since Tuesday morning, many locations received 5 to almost 10 inches of rainfall across South Florida and the Florida Keys.Miami International Airport received about 7.5 inches of rain on Wednesday, which crushed the old record. Marathon also had record rainfall on Wednesday.As the rain comes to an end this Thursday morning, winds will ramp up. It mainly due to a develop, non-tropical low tracking from the Florida Straits to the northwestern Bahamas today. The National Hurricane Center gives this low just a 10% chance of becoming a tropical or sub-tropical storm.This low is becoming ...

David Cameron’s controversial link with a China-loving ex-MEP

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:49:27 GMT

LONDON — As Westminster debated the wisdom — or otherwise — of David Cameron’s return to frontline politics this week, one former colleague was in no doubt.“Cameron is in the right place at the right time,” wrote former Tory MEP Nirj Deva of the new U.K. foreign secretary. “There are very few if any international leaders who could lead on so many fronts with knowledge, deep relationships and meticulous attention to detail.”Deva’s glowing appraisal was hardly surprising. The pair are friendly — and picture after picture shows him and Cameron together at events around the world.But Cameron’s association with the ex-MEP raises further questions about his own past involvement with Chinese investment projects which could cause a conflict with Britain’s core strategic interests.During a 20-year career in Brussels, Deva was well known for building links with China, even founding an EU-China friendship group that was later wound up after conce...