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Firefighters in Greece struggle to control wildfires, including the EU’s largest blaze

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

By ELENA BECATOROS (Associated Press)ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Firefighters struggled Thursday against strong winds and hot, dry conditions to tame multiple wildfires ravaging Greece, including one in the country’s northeast that officials say is the largest recorded in the European Union.The wildfires have left 20 people dead over the last week. Eighteen of those, including two boys aged between 10 and 15, are believed to be migrants who crossed the nearby border with Turkey. Their bodies were found near a shack in a burnt forest area near Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece. Sixty firefighters have been injured, fire department spokesman Ioannis Artopios said.The wildfire in the Alexandroupolis region, burning for a sixth day, combined with smaller fires to create a massive blaze that consumed homes and vast tracts of forest and triggered multiple evacuations of villages and of the city’s hospital. With more than 730 square kilometers (282 square miles) burned, th...

Journalism has seen a substantial rise in philanthropic spending over the past 5 years, a study says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — There has been a “substantial” increase in philanthropic spending for journalism over the past five years, particularly outlets that serve poor and minority communities, a report issued on Thursday said — but journalists need to tighten ethical rules that govern the new spending, it recommended.The struggling news industry is increasingly relying on donations and subscriptions, although it hasn’t come close to making up for the collapse in advertising that has led to the dramatic drop in outlets that cover local news.More than half of funders surveyed by NORC at the University of Chicago said they have increased their journalism grants. Most nonprofit and for-profit news organizations report more funding.“We see many more people — and that includes people who work in philanthropy — being interested in a stronger civic infrastructure by funding local news,” said Sarah Alvarez, founder of Outlier Media, a Detroit-based news source that started in 2016 and now has...

Slain Marine’s family plans to refile lawsuit accusing Alec Baldwin of defamation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for the family of a Marine killed in Afghanistan said Thursday that a new version of a lawsuit accusing actor Alec Baldwin of unleashing his social media followers against them will soon be filed after a federal judge dismissed the original lawsuit but invited the family to rewrite it and submit it again.Attorney Dennis Postiglione, representing the sisters and widow of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, said he’ll meet a Sept. 12 deadline set by the judge to renew allegations that Baldwin subjected family members to online threats and harassment after he posted and commented on a photo shared online by one of McCollum’s sisters, Roice McCollum, who had been in Washington during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.Earlier this week, Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan dismissed the family’s defamation lawsuit, which sought $25 million in damages, but he invited a refiling of the lawsuit to correct deficiencies and renew claims of defamation and intentional inflic...

Motorcyclist seriously injured in Etobicoke crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

A motorcyclist suffered serious injuries in a crash with a vehicle in north Etobicoke on Thursday afternoon.Police say it happened at around 3:07 p.m. in the Bergamot and Islington avenues area.The driver remained on scene.The motorcyclist was taken to hospital with serious injuries and police have closed the northbound lanes of Islington from Rexdale Boulevard.There’s no word on possible charges at this point.COLLISION:(UPDATE)Bergamot Ave & Islington Ave– @TorontoMedics o/s– motorcyclist to be transported to hospital with serious injuries– N/B Islington Ave closed from Rexdale Blvd#GO1976136^sc— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) August 24, 2023

Stock market today: Wall Street slumps as pressure rises again from bond market

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is sinking Thursday, despite a blowout profit report from Nvidia, after some mixed reports on the U.S. economy. The S&P 500 was 0.9% lower in late trading after erasing an earlier gain. It’s back to sinking in what’s been a rough August after regaining some ground earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 254 points, or 0.7%, at 34,221, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower.Stocks fell as Treasury yields stabilized following their tumble a day earlier. High yields in the bond market have been upping the pressure because they make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other risky investments. They may be set to go even higher, depending on what the head of the Federal Reserve says in a speech scheduled for Friday.The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.23% from 4.20% late Wednesday. It fell there from 4.33% a day before, close to its highest level since 2007. Yields found some tra...

Bubble trouble: Massive foam blob shocks residents in North York park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

It’s not every day you’re out walking and come across a massive blob of foam emerging from a sewer, but that’s exactly what some North York residents witnessed on Wednesday.CityNews heard from concerned locals about a significantly large chunk of foam in Earl Bales Park and near Don River Boulevard.One tipster said two foam blobs, described as being about 20 feet across in length, popped up in those areas on Wednesday evening, much to the shock of park-goers.A City of Toronto spokesperson confirmed with CityNews through Toronto Water that the foamy substance originated from a sanitary sewer through Apollo Health and Beauty Care’s manufacturing facility. The culprit: likely liquid soaps.One resident shared a photo of the foam blob at Earl Bales Park in North York on Wednesday, August 24, 2023. Photo: CityNews submission/Alan E.“The company is a developer of beauty care products, which include liquid soaps,” the spokesperson told CityNews. “Th...

ISIS documentary ‘Rojek’ selected as Canada’s contender for Oscar nomination

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

TORONTO — A documentary that features interviews with imprisoned Islamic State members will be Canada’s contender for a nomination in the best international feature film category at next year’s Academy Awards.Telefilm Canada announced today that it would submit Zaynê Akyol’s film “Rojek” for consideration.The film follows the Montreal-based filmmaker’s exchanges with Islamic State members and their wives who are seeking to establish an Islamic form of government.Faced with the extremist ideology of jihadists, the film charts the origins, ascension, and decline of the Islamic State group by delving into their individual stories. The film, which includes English, Arabic, French and Kurdish, combines close-up shots of ISIS members interspersed with aerial and grounded views of Syria. Should the Academy choose it, “Rojek” would mark the ninth Canadian film to secure an Oscar nomination in that category.This report by The Canadian Press was first...

Suspect stripped of pants, shoes during jewelry theft in Pickering

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

Police are searching for a suspect wanted in a daytime jewelry theft in Pickering earlier this month. Durham police say the victims were returning to their home in the area of Azalea Avenue and Burkholder Drive when they were approached by a man just after 1 p.m. on August 2 who forcibly removed jewelry from the woman. A physical altercation ensured and police say the suspect was “stripped of his shorts and shoes” before fleeing the scene on foot and getting into a vehicle, which then fled north on Burkholder Drive. The suspect is described as a Black male, between 20 and 30 years of age with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, white socks and neon green gloves. The vehicle is described as a black Volkswagen 4-door sedan, possibly 2015-2018, with damage to the rear passenger door. Suspect vehicle wanted in jewelry robbery in Pickering on August 2, 2023. DRPS/HO

Virginia school boards must adhere to Gov. Youngkin’s new policies on transgender students, AG says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s new model policies for the treatment of transgender students are in line with federal and state nondiscrimination laws and school boards must follow their guidance, the state’s attorney general said in a nonbinding legal analysis released Thursday.“The Model Policies ensure that all students are treated with dignity and that parental involvement remains at the center. These policies are fully compliant with the law, and school boards across the Commonwealth should support and implement them,” Attorney General Jason Miyares, also a Republican, said in a statement.The advisory opinion from Miyares comes as a growing number of school boards across the state are responding to the administration’s guidelines, which were finalized last month after a lengthy review and deal with issues ranging from athletics to pronoun use in the classroom. The guidelines, which under state law are supposed to offer some...

Protesters hoped to ‘overwhelm’ RCMP wildfire blockade in B.C. Shuswap region: police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:15:16 GMT

RCMP say protesters hoped to “overwhelm” a wildfire blockade on the Trans-Canada Highway in British Columbia’s Shuswap region, confronting officers late Wednesday amid some residents’ refusal to obey evacuation orders.The tensions over the evacuation orders that cover thousands of people in the region come as the directives elsewhere in B.C.’s Interior are expected to ease, with firefighters reporting good progress thanks to rain and other favourable weather.Kelowna Fire Chief Travis Whiting told a briefing the goal was for all evacuation orders in that city to be lifted Thursday, although they’re set to remain in place in West Kelowna and other communities on the other side of Lake Okanagan.In the Shuswap, to the north of Kelowna, police say in a statement that protesters challenged officers Wednesday evening, while “threats of violence” against emergency workers had prompted the Mounties to increase their presence there.Videos posted...