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Take heart, it looks like China could send new pandas to the US

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled that China will send new pandas to the United States, calling them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”“We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples,” Xi said Wednesday during a dinner speech with business leaders.The gesture came at the end of a day in which Xi and President Joe Biden held their first face to face meeting in a year and pledged to try to reduce tensions. Xi did not share additional details on when or where pandas might be provided but appeared to suggest the next pair of pandas are most likely to come to California, probably San Diego.The bears have long been the symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. ...

Foreign workers who claim exploitation by Quebec company say Ottawa no longer helping

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

MONTREAL — A group of foreign workers who allege they were lured to Canada under false pretences are accusing the federal government of reneging on its promise to help them get work permits.Octavio Zambrano says the Immigration Department told him and his colleagues last week that it will not fast-track them for work permits even though it had allegedly promised to do so.The workers are part of a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that Quebec-based recruitment company Trésorfalsely told them it was legal to work in Canada without a permit during a probationary period.The lawsuit alleges that Trésor and Newrest, the aviation catering company in which the workers were placed, took advantage of their precarious status and exploited them.Zambrano says he’s still owed three weeks of back pay and he and his colleagues are running out of money and unable to pay for food and rent in Canada, or to buy plane tickets home. In an emailed statement, Newrest — which has filed a lawsuit ...

Mississippi man had ID in his pocket when he was buried without his family’s knowledge

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Black man who died after he was hit by a police SUV in Mississippi was buried in a pauper’s cemetery without his family’s knowledge, even though his state ID was in his pocket, indicating a serious effort to cover up the manner of his death, the family’s lawyer said Thursday.Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that the body of Dexter Wade was exhumed Monday, and that a wallet subsequently found in the pocket of the jeans Wade had been buried in contained his state identification card with his home address, his credit card and a health insurance card. Crump urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Wade’s death and its aftermath. “The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family,” Crump said. “There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an ident...

Music Review: Now on vinyl, Shania Twain’s ‘Greatest Hits’ shines anew

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

Shania Twain is familiar with the concept of a hit.Her second album “The Woman in Me” sold 20 million copies. Her next, “Come On Over,” sold 40 million. Her 2004 “Greatest Hits” album was one of its own, selling more than half a million copies in its first week — enough to become the fastest-selling hits album by a female artist in the United States, per the Guinness World Records. It has since been certified four times platinum.Now, as vinyl records and their players see a resurgence, that album has been remastered for vinyl, available Friday. The collection, like its original, opens with the shimmery pop version of “Forever and For Always,” a proper introduction to the genre and Shania fun enclosed. This version — coming 19 years after its original release — adds a track from each of the Canadian country star’s most recent albums: “Life’s About To Get Good” from 2017’s “Now” and “Giddy Up!” from this year’s “Queen of Me.”The 23 songs reveal the ...

Geddy Lee reflects on the big breaks and mistakes of ‘My Effin’ Life’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

TORONTO — When Geddy Lee goes big, he goes huge.It’s a personality trait that served him well as bassist and vocalist of prog-rock legends Rush, whose epic songs, among them “Tom Sawyer” and “Working Man,” are enshrined in Canadian music history. And with Lee’s new memoir “My Effin’ Life” he aspired to similarly great heights in retelling his own life story over 500 pages.“My original manuscript was 1,200 pages,” the 70-year-old musician said in a recent phone interview.“If I had released it in that form, I’d have to call it ‘Every (Effin’) Boring Detail.’”He wouldn’t be the only sizable performer to turn out a sizable stack of reflections this year. Barbra Streisand’s memoir, also released this month, clocks in at an incredible 970 pages, which at its mention leads Lee to chuckle.“I’ve got that beat,” he said of his initial version.But to Lee’s credit, he exercised some restraint. Once his final draft was handed in, he gave co-writer ...

Ontario tables legislation to reverse city and regional land boundary changes

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra has tabled legislation that will reverse course on urban and regional boundary expansions.Calandra has said the previous housing minister’s staff was too involved in the expansions that were introduced in late 2022 and early this year.The province had changed official plans for Barrie, Belleville, Guelph, Hamilton, Ottawa and Peterborough as well as the regional municipalities of Halton, Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York, and Wellington County.The expansions were part of the government’s suite of changes that included removing land from the protected Greenbelt in an effort to build 1.5 million homes over 10 years.Two legislative watchdogs found the process to select Greenbelt land for removal was flawed and favoured certain developers.After public outcry, Premier Doug Ford reversed course on the Greenbelt removals and the then-housing minister, as well as another cabinet member, resigned.The RCMP have launched a criminal investi...

Nathaniel Veltman guilty on all counts in London, Ont., attack

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

Nathaniel Veltman has been found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in the killing of four members of a Muslim family in London, Ont.The jury delivered its verdict less than one day after receiving final instructions from Justice Renee Pomerance.It was the first case where Canada’s terrorism laws were put before a jury in a first-degree murder trial.The 22-year-old had pleaded not guilty to deliberately hitting the Afzaal family with his truck on June 6, 2021, while they were out for a walk. Related: What the jury didn’t hear at the trial of the man accused in the London, Ont., attack Forty-six-year-old Salman Afzaal; his 44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna; and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were killed in the attack, while the couple’s nine-year-old son was seriously hurt but survived.Prosecutors argued that Veltman carried out a terrorist act and should be convicted on all char...

Chicago commuter train crashes into rail equipment, injures at least 19, 3 seriously, official says

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago commuter train collided with rail equipment Thursday morning, injuring at least 19 people, three of them seriously, a fire official said.The Chicago Fire Department said a Chicago Transit Authority train crashed into a piece of equipment that was on the rails just before 11 a.m. on the city’s North Side.Three people suffered serious injuries while 16 others had non-life-threatening injuries, fire department spokesman Larry Langford, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “That’s probably going to go up,” Langford said of the injured.At least 15 ambulances were dispatched to the scene of a train collision, located near the Howard CTA station.Train service on CTA’s Red, Purple and Yellow lines had been temporarily suspended due to the crash, the commuter service said on its website.The Associated Press

In Montreal, a visual competition between pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrators

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

MONTREAL — In Montreal, symbols of the war between Israel and Hamas are everywhere. Jarring signs and graffiti demonstrating support for the Israeli or Palestinian causes have become part of the cityscape: on sidewalks, lamp posts and bus shelters.The rivalry between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian camps is unfolding as a visual competition not only in Montreal but across North America, raising questions about the role these images are playing in escalating local tensions tied to the distant conflict.And the intensity of that rivalry distinguishes it from other cultural and political disputes in recent history, says Aidan McGarry, an international politics professor at Loughborough University, in England, who studies visual elements in protest movements.Protests spur counter-protest movements, he explained in an interview. Often, he said, those counter-protests manifest in more subdued or latent messaging.“What’s different this time is that you have two groups that are ab...

Puerto Rico signs multimillion-dollar deal with Texas company to build a marina for mega yachts

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:14:45 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s government on Thursday signed a multimillion-dollar contract with a Texas-based company to build a marina for mega yachts in the capital of the U.S. territory.Currently, two docks in San Juan are available to yachts and mega yachts, but there is limited space and basic services are not offered, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said.The new marina to be built by Safe Harbor Marinas, LLC will cover more than 180,000 square feet (67,000 square meters) and will be located in the two docks that currently accept yachts. It will be able to accommodate roughly six yachts at a time and will offer shore power and water connections, sanitary pumping and high-speed internet, Pierluisi said.Safe Harbor Marinas will invest between $12 million and $15 million, the governor said.The 40-year concession lease agreement calls for Puerto Rico’s Port Authority to receive $200,000 a year in rental fees. Safe Harbor Marinas also will share 5% of its gross income with the aut...