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Live updates | Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in Florida as Category 3 storm

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Follow live updates about Hurricane Idalia, which has made landfall in Florida as a dangerous Category 3 storm, unleashing life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.— Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is rapidly strengthening as it bears down on Florida — A rare blue supermoon could play a role in an unfolding disaster as Hurricane Idalia takes aim at Florida’s west coast — Florida’s Big Bend is one of the last truly natural places in the state. Now it’s in the bull’s-eye of a major hurricane Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Florida’s west coast as a dangerous Category 3 storm on Wednesday, unleashing life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.Idalia came ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian....

Howie Carr: Police reform report arresting for lack of detail

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

It’s great to be a cop – at least a politically connected cop.Of course, if you’re a cop who’s not wired, you might as well be wearing a red MAGA cap, because they’re going to throw the book at you, or at least try to make your life miserable for a while.That’s my first takeaway from reading the 318-page report from the new MA Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission.It details more than 3000 disciplinary proceedings against cops, and once again, the old saying seems to apply:“In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.”First thing that’s obvious: the Mass. State Police motto should be “Omerta” – silence.I heard this spring from a guy who’s been all tangled up in a family domestic dispute with a state cop. He complained to what is called the Office of Professional Integrity and Accountability (don’t laugh; not a joke!) claiming that this trooper had been running his family’s license plates, compulsively.The guy showed me the official letter he got years ...

Palestinians clash with own security forces in a West Bank refugee camp, leaving 1 dead

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Fighting erupted in a refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank Wednesday between Palestinians and their own security forces, Palestinian authorities said, leaving a 25-year-old Palestinian dead. The unrest underscored the challenges facing Palestinian police trying to impose order in the restive territory.Elsewhere in the occupied territory, Israeli security forces shot a Palestinian man who they said tried to ram his car into soldiers at a military checkpoint, hitting and lightly wounding a soldier, authorities said. It was the latest incident in one of the West Bank’s most violent phases in years.Palestinian police entered the refugee camp in Tulkarem after residents appealed to the Palestinian Authority to remove metal street barriers set up by local militants that were blocking access to homes and schools, Palestinian security spokesperson Talal Dweikat said. The angled metal barricades are a staple in the militarized refugee camps of the northern W...

Metro says tentative deal reached with striking grocery workers in Toronto

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

TORONTO — Metro Inc. says it has reached a tentative agreement with Unifor covering striking workers at 27 Metro grocery stores across the Greater Toronto Area.Details of the tentative deal were not immediately available.The company says the agreement will be submitted to the employees for a ratification vote which is expected to take place shortly. The employees went on strike on July 29 after rejecting an earlier tentative agreement that the union described as their best in decades. During the weeks-long dispute, Metro workers began secondary picket lines at two distribution centres, preventing stores from receiving fresh products, a move for which the grocer was granted a temporary injunction. Metro and Unifor went back to the bargaining table on Tuesday, a month after the strike began and the same day the injunction was granted. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:MRU)The Canadian Press

Metro says tentative deal reached with union representing grocer’s employees

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

Metro Inc. says it is has reached a tentative deal with the union representing thousands of its grocery workers, potentially ending a month-long strike.More than 3,700 workers at 27 Metro stores in the GTA have been on strike since July 29 after rejecting their first tentative agreement.The grocer says the agreement has been “unanimously recommended by the union’s bargaining committee and will put an end to the labour dispute if ratified.”“It will be submitted to the employees for a ratification vote that will take place shortly.”The tentative deals come a day after Metro and Unifor returned to the bargaining table to resume negotiations.Unifor have previously said it was waiting for a better wage offer from Metro before it returned to the bargaining table.The striking workers have been calling for the return of their pandemic ‘hero pay’ of $2 an hour.On Tuesday, an Ontario court granted Metro a temporary injunction to restrict pickets by striking worke...

Britain’s top diplomat raises human rights concerns with China, explores ways to boost communication

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly raised concerns over China’s human rights record and explored ways for the two countries to better communicate during a visit to Beijing on Wednesday.The trip was the first by a U.K. foreign secretary to China in more than five years, underscoring a downturn in relations over a series of issues, including Beijing’s curbing of civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, abuses against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, China’s support for Russia and Britain’s close security ties with the United States. Cleverly met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng during his one-day visit. The diplomats underscored the importance of dialogue between their countries, though they also alluded to the souring of ties in recent years.Wang said cooperation between China and Britain had “global impact.”“Dialogue and cooperation are the keywords and main tone of China’s policy towards the U.K.,” he sai...

CNN names former BBC and New York Times executive Mark Thompson as new leader

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — CNN is bringing in a former chief executive of the BBC and The New York Times in an attempt to turn around a news organization that has burned through two leaders and bled viewers over the past two years.Mark Thompson was appointed as chair and CEO of CNN by David Zaslav, head of the network’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, which made the announcement Wednesday. Thompson replaces Chris Licht, who was fired in June, and a four-person team that had been running CNN in the interim.Thompson, who left the Times in 2020 after eight years as that company’s president and CEO, is credited with transforming it to a digital-first organization more dependent on paid subscribers than the collapsing advertising market that has doomed many newspapers. The England native was director-general of the BBC from 2004 to 2012.Licht was let go after a stormy 13 months that saw CNN fall well behind Fox News and MSNBC in popularity, with opinionated news connecting more ...

Stock market today: Wall Street quiet ahead of more inflation and jobs data following Tuesday rally

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street drifted between small gains and losses early Wednesday ahead of more economic news, including an inflation indicator and more jobs data. Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and the S&P 500 were both essentially unchanged about an hour before the opening bell.Markets rallied Tuesday after the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence tumbled in August, surprising economists who were expecting levels to hold steady around the strong July reading. Consumer confidence and spending have been closely watched amid persistent pressure from inflation.Also on Tuesday, the government reported that job openings fell to the lowest level since March 2021, a larger drop than economists expected. The report also showed that the number of Americans quitting their jobs fell sharply for the second straight month, clear signs that the labor market is cooling in a way that could reduce inflation.Investors hope that could deter the Fed from raising its benchmark borrowi...

Indonesia arrests 88 Chinese nationals in online romance scams

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

BATAM, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police said Wednesday they have arrested 88 Chinese citizens for involvement in a cross-border telephone and online romance scam syndicate after receiving a tip from the Chinese security ministry.The suspects, including five women, were arrested on Batam island, next to Singapore, said Riau Islands police spokesperson Zahwani Pandra Arsyad. They were working from a shophouse, a building with mixed commercial and residential use, in an industrial park. Police believe the suspects are members of a telephone fraud and online love scam syndicate, Arsyad said.Most of their targets appeared to be fellow Chinese who were called over the internet and tricked into transferring money after the callers manipulated the “human emotion” of the victims, Arsyad said. A preliminary investigation showed the gang had been operating since early this year, ensnaring hundreds of victims in China, but it is unclear how much money they had collected.“We are still investig...

Police warn residents after 5 million bees fall off truck in Burlington

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:31:36 GMT

People in Burlington are being advised to keep their windows closed after a truck lost a load of bees on Wednesday morning.Halton police say five millions bees fell off a truck on Guelph Line north of Dundas Street before 8:30 a.m.Police are advising passing vehicles and residents who live in the area to close their windows. Pedestrians are being asked to avoid the area until the insects are cleared out.This is a developing story. More to come.Guelph Ln north of Dundas – Officers dealing with load of 5 million bees fallen off truck onto roadway. Passing vehicles/residents advised to close windows & pedestrians avoid area until clear. ^jwf pic.twitter.com/evuVoyL1Fc— HRPS Burlington (@HRPSBurl) August 30, 2023