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Zelenskyy is expected to visit Washington as Congress is debating $24 billion in aid for Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the U.S. during the United Nations General Assembly.Zelenskyy’s trip comes as Congress is debating President Joe Biden’s request to provide as much as $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive visit, said Zelenskyy will meet with Biden at the White House next Thursday. The trip to the Capitol was confirmed by two congressional aides granted anonymity to discuss the plans. The Ukrainian president made a wartime visit to Washington in December 2022 and delivered an impassioned address to a joint meeting of Congress. At the time it was his first known trip outside his country since Russia invaded in February of that year. In his speech to cheering lawmakers, Zelenskyy thanked Americans for helping to fund the ...

Alabama Public Library Service to create list of controversial books

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Public Library Service has voted to create a list of books that parents might consider inappropriate for children and teenagers. The list will be compiled from submissions from the public and posted to the Library Service website and distributed to libraries, news outlets reported. The proposal, approved Wednesday, was sponsored by Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl, who is a member of the library board. Wahl told The Associated Press that the list is meant to be a resource for librarians and parents. He said it will be up to local libraries to decide what books they stock and where they are placed. Wahl said they do no not believe they have the authority to dictate to local libraries on book selection. The board is seeking an opinion from the Alabama attorney general’s office on the scope of their authority.“Since the beginning of time, parents have protected children from inappropriate material,” Wahl said.Lauren Boone with ...

Eight children released from hospital after E. coli outbreak at Calgary daycares

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

Eight children who were severely ill from E. coli infections have been discharged from hospital even as the number of cases related to an outbreak at several Calgary daycares continued to rise.There were 329 lab-confirmed cases of the bacterial infection, as of Thursday, related to an outbreak at 11 daycares that was declared Sept. 4.Investigators were still looking for the source of the outbreak, but health officials have said it almost certainly came from a central kitchen used by the daycares.Alberta Health Services said in a statement that the number of infected had gone up as test results came back from the lab, but that the number of patients in Alberta Children’s Hospital had declined for a second day.“There are currently 13 patients receiving care in hospital, all of whom are children,” the health authority said Thursday. “Eight children have been discharged since yesterday and are now recovering at home.”Twenty patients — 19 children and one ad...

Former police chief to investigate release of suspect before Vancouver stabbing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

LANGLEY, B.C. — Premier David Eby said Thursday he had a question after reading a B.C. Review Board decision about the man accused of stabbing three people in Vancouver’s Chinatown on the weekend, while on a day pass from psychiatric detention.How was it possible that such a dangerous person had been released?Former Abbotsford, B.C., police chief Bob Rich has now been appointed by Eby to provide the answer, by investigating the circumstances surrounding the release of Blair Donnelly, 64, from B.C.’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital. Donnelly’s history of knife attacks dates back to 2006, when he stabbed his teenage daughter to death. Eby said Thursday he had read the review board’s decision, which has been leaked to the media but has not been officially made public, and it was apparent that Donnelly was a “really significant danger to the public.”“When I read it, it seems to clearly conclude that this man was a significant risk and shouldn’t be relea...

Casino giant Caesars Entertainment reports cyberattack; MGM Resorts says some systems still down

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Casino company Caesars Entertainment on Thursday joined Las Vegas gambling rival MGM Resorts International in reporting that it was hit by a cyberattack, but added in a report to federal regulators that its casino and online operations were not disrupted.The Reno-based publicly traded company told the federal Securities and Exchange Commission that it could not guarantee that personal information about tens of millions of customers was secure following a data breach Sept. 7 that may have exposed driver’s license and Social Security numbers of loyalty rewards members.“We have taken steps to ensure that the stolen data is deleted by the unauthorized actor,” the company said, “although we cannot guarantee this result.”Brett Callow, threat analyst for the New Zealand-based cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, said it was not clear if a ransom was paid or who was responsible for the intrusion — and for the attack reported Monday by MGM Resorts. “Unofficially, we saw a group call...

Arizona sheriff seeks state and federal help to handle arrival of asylum-seekers in rural area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

DOUGLAS, Ariz. (AP) — The sheriff of Arizona’s easternmost border county asked state and federal officials for help Thursday with the sudden daily release of more than a hundred migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., including families with small children.Along with other local officials at a news conference Thursday, Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County said that the rural area doesn’t have shelters or other infrastructure to attend to the needs of migrants, many of them from faraway countries in western Africa and southeast Asia. “We don’t have any resources at all to house these people,” said Douglas Mayor Donald Huish. The officials said Customs and Border Protection has been overwhelmed with arrivals and began releasing the migrants into small communities such as Douglas and Bisbee on Wednesday and continued Thursday. Some were dropped off at a bus stop outside a Bisbee supermarket.Douglas is a city of about 16,000 people on Arizona’s border with Mexico. Danne...

Workers continue restoring essential services in N.W.T. ahead of fire evacuee return

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

HAY RIVER, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA — Fire crews in the Northwest Territories say work continues fighting hot spots and flareups near evacuated communities while area residents wait to hear when they can return home.Hay River Mayor Kandis Jameson said workers are busy bringing essential services online, and hope remains that residents will be allowed to start coming back this weekend.Essential workers have also returned to Fort Smith, on the Alberta boundary, but it is still not safe for the general population to return.K’atl’odeeche First Nation Chief April Martel said crews are now conducting air and water quality tests to prepare for residents’ returning.Re-entry to the territorial capital of Yellowknife began a week ago.Fire information officer Mike Westwick cautioned returning residents that crews will likely be putting out hot spots and fires for the rest of the season.“All of these fires will need to be managed until the snow falls,” Westwick told reporters on a conferen...

Kim Jong Un arrives in Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur for expected visit to fighter jet plant

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Un arrived Friday in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in far eastern Russia and is expected to visit a plant that builds fighter jets as South Korea has said it’s concerned his visit is focused on expanding military cooperation in a possible arms-for-technology deal. The visit to Komsomolsk-on-Amur is one of several the North Korean leader is making on a days-long trip to Russia. Arriving on an armored train from North Korea, he rolled into Russia Tuesday and was met by officials at a station near the Russia-North Korea border. After a long train trip north, on Wednesday he met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome and was greeted by Putin with a 40-second handshake. On Thursday, he largely disappeared from view, before reappearing local time Friday as his convoy swept out of Komsomolsk-on-Amur station. Putin told Russian state TV after the summit that Kim will travel to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he will visit an aircraft plant, and then g...

CEBA loan repayment deadline extension doesn’t go far enough: CFIB

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

Canadian businesses who took out federal pandemic loans will have some more time to pay them back — but there’s a catch.A small business could apply for up to $60,000 through the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program, and up to $20,000 would be forgiven if paid back by a certain date.The federal government announced on Thursday that date has now been extended by a few weeks, from Dec. 31, 2023 to Jan. 18, 2024. For businesses unable to make that, they will have until the end of 2026 to pay the loan back with interest.Today we announced our plan to:Get more rental homes built by removing the GST on the construction of new apartment buildingsExtend the Canada Emergency Business Account term loan repayment deadline &Ensure grocery chains come forward with a plan to stabilize prices.— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) September 14, 2023The announcement came more than a month after business groups from coast to coast to coast pushed for more time, claiming a quar...

B.C. ending state of emergency as wildfire risk winds down

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:17 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government says it is ending the state of emergency imposed last month when thousands of residents were chased out of their homes by wildfires. The government says in a statement the wildfire risk is diminishing in much of the province as temperatures cool, allowing most residents to return home. Bowinn Ma, B.C.’s minister of emergency management, says while the provincial state of emergency that lifts at the end of Thursday is no longer required, the wildfire season isn’t over and many communities still have local states of emergency. The provincial state of emergency was declared Aug. 18 as winds fanned fires into infernos in several areas, including the Kelowna and Shuswap regions, where most of the 400 homes and other structures destroyed this season were located. Ma says conditions in northern B.C. continue to be very challenging, with 125 active fires in the Prince George Fire Centre. This year has been a record for area burned at 23...