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New Delhi shuts schools and limits construction work to reduce severe air pollution

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — New Delhi’s government shut primary schools and banned polluting vehicles and construction work in an attempt to reduce the worst haze and smog of the season, which has posed respiratory problems for people and enveloped monuments and high-rise buildings in and around India’s capital.Authorities deployed water sprinklers and anti-smog guns to control the haze and many people used masks to escape the air pollution. The city government announced a fine of 20,000 rupees ($240) for drivers found using gasoline and diesel cars, buses and trucks that create smog, typically models 10 to 15 years old.The air quality index exceeded the 400 mark for tiny particulate matter, a level considered “severe” and more than 10 times the global safety threshold, according to the state-run Central Pollution Control Board. It can cause acute and chronic bronchitis and asthma attacks.Rajneesh Kapoor, a lung specialist, advised people to wear masks and avoid morning walks and j...

A small plane headed from Croatia to Salzburg crashes in Austria, killing 4 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A small plane flying from Croatia to Salzburg has crashed in Austria, killing four people, police said Friday.The Cirrus SR20 aircraft crashed Thursday afternoon near Lintsching in Austria’s Salzburg province, police said. It had taken off from the Croatian capital, Zagreb, about two hours earlier.Police said the bodies of the four people were recovered from the wreckage but had not yet been identified. Investigators ordered autopsies.The cause of the crash is not yet known, a police statement said.The Associated Press

In the news today: Trudeau visits Washington and Canadians could soon get out of Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 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…Trudeau to talk trade, migration in WashingtonPrime Minister Justin Trudeau is in the U.S. capital today to represent Canada at the inaugural Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity summit. The White House meeting, hosted by President Joe Biden, marks the first official gathering of all 12 countries in the hemispheric trade framework. The partnership, known as APEP, marks the earliest beginnings of a north-south trade corridor meant to foster economic growth and strengthen supply chains.The White House is hoping that in turn, more stability in South America and the Caribbean will help ease the pressure from irregular migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition to the U.S. and Canada, the framework includes Mexico, Chile, Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic.It’s not clear whether Biden and Tru...

Live updates | Israeli troops tighten encirclement of Gaza City as top US diplomat arrives in Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City on Friday as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel to press for a humanitarian “pause” in the fighting with Hamas and for more aid to be allowed into besieged Gaza.Tensions continued to escalate along the northern border with Lebanon ahead of a speech planned later Friday by Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, a Hamas ally. It is his first public speech since Hamas attacked Israel last month, stoking fears the conflict could become a regional one.Roughly 800 people — including hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of injured — have been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing under an apparent agreement among the U.S., Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.Israel has allowed more than 260 trucks carrying food and medicine through the crossing, but aid workers say it’s not nearly enough. Israeli authorities have refused to allow fuel in.The Palestinian d...

Storm Ciarán sweeps into Italy with record rainfall, killing 3 and bringing toll to 10

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Record-breaking rain produced floods in a vast swath of Tuscany as Storm Ciarán pushed into Italy overnight Friday, trapping residents in their homes, inundating hospitals and overturning cars. At least three people were killed, bringing the storm’s death toll in western Europe to 10.Italian Civil Protection authorities said 200 millimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rain fell in a three-hour period, from the city of Livorno on the coast to the inland valley of Mugello, and caused riverbanks to overflow. Video shows at least a dozen cars getting pushed down a flooded road.The dead in Tuscany included an 85-year-old man found in the flooded ground floor of his home near the city of Prato, north of Florence, and an 84-woman who died while trying to push water out of her home in the same area, according to Italian news agency ANSA. The other victim was reported in Livorno.At least three people were missing Friday in Tuscany, and one person was reported missing in the mountains o...

Stock market today: Asian shares follow Wall St higher on hopes for an end to Fed rate hikes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares advanced on Friday after Wall Street roared higher on bets that market-rattling interest rate hikes are coming to an end. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 2.6% to 17,680.01, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.7% to 3,026.32. Tokyo markets were closed for a holiday.In China, a services industry survey showed a slight improvement in October, though retail sales hit its lowest level in 10 months. Similar surveys for the manufacturing sector released early this week showed more sluggish market conditions overall. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.1% to 6,978.20. South Korea’s Kospi surged 1.1% to 2,368.34. India’s Sensex was 0.6% higher and Bangkok’s SET rose 1.4%.Hopes that the Federal Reserve may finally be done with raising rates after it opted to keep its benchmark rate unchanged pushed shares higher around the world on Thursday. The Fed has jacked up rates furiously since early last year to try to slow the economy and starve high inflation of its fuel...

Statistics Canada to release October jobs report this morning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is set to release its October labour force survey this morning.RBC says it expects the economy added a modest 15,000 jobs last month, and that the unemployment rate ticked higher to 5.6 per cent.Strong population growth has bolstered Canada’s labour force, but the pace of job creation is trailing. The Bank of Canada’s aggressive interest rate hikes have dampened economic growth this year as people and businesses pull back on spending.Economists are watching for more evidence that this economic softness is spilling over into the labour market.The unemployment rate has risen by half a percentage point so far this year to 5.5 per cent and is expected to continue rising.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2023.The Canadian Press

Finance ministers, Freeland set to meet to discuss Alberta CPP exit proposal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance ministers from across the country will meet up virtually with their federal counterpart Chrystia Freeland today to discuss Alberta’s proposal to quit the Canada Pension Plan.Freeland called the meeting amid concerns about the ramifications of Alberta leaving the federal retirement plan to set up its own standalone program.The Alberta government says its workers have contributed an oversized share to the national fund and would be in line for big savings and payouts if it were to leave the CPP.Freeland says Albertans need to know the CPP delivers among the best returns in the world and that an Alberta pullout would put the program at great risk for millions.Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner says he looks forward to discussing the pension issue, along with other points of inter-governmental dispute, including the federal carbon tax.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had planned to hold a possible referendum on leaving the CPP in 2025, but now says she won’t hold it unt...

Foreign affairs minister says Canadians will soon be cleared to leave Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s minister of foreign affairs is reconfirming that Canadians and their families will be able to leave Gaza beginning in the coming days.Melanie Joly issued a late Thursday update on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, saying she has spoken with her counterpart in Israel, Eli Cohen, about the matter.She says she also received confirmation of Egypt’s co-operation.While the flow of foreign nationals leaving Gaza through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday has been slow, officials with Global Affairs Canada say they are working around the clock to evacuate Canadians from the war zone. They are asking Canadians to get their documents and “be ready to depart once we are informed that they can cross the border.” However, as of Friday, at 5 a.m. Eastern, Canada has not been added to the official approval list of “foreign passports” for travel through the Rafah crossing.Joly’s message also noted that G-A-C will comm...

Judge orders Montreal suburb to compensate residents for excessive traffic noise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:54 GMT

MONTREAL — A Montreal suburb has been ordered to pay thousands of dollars to around 300 residents who say they’ve suffered from years of unreasonable traffic noise.The residents, who filed the class-action lawsuit a decade ago, live along a stretch of a road — chemin Des Prairies — in the city of Brossard, where traffic has steadily increased over the years as the community has grown. The neighbourhood used to be largely farmland, but now chemin Des Prairies connects to a major boulevard and a large shopping mall, and 10,000 vehicles travel on it every day, Quebec Superior Court Justice Dominique Poulin wrote in her Oct. 10 decision.“The court has heard 11 credible, sincere, convincing and disheartened residents who are significantly affected by the traffic, which they consider excessive … which causes them inconveniences that exceed, in the eyes of the court, by their severity and recurrence, the normal inconveniences they must endure as a result of living along the str...