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Calls grow for Canada to accept more asylum claims for trans people from U.S., U.K.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

There is a push to change the practices of Canada’s asylum and refugee system in order to allow more transgender and non-binary people from the United States and the United Kingdom into the country.In recent months, lawmakers in many U.S. states and the U.K. have passed anti-trans laws or blocked access to gender-affirming care.Advocate Cait Glasson has started a House of Commons petition demanding more acceptance of asylum claims from Canada’s closest allies. As of Friday morning, it received more than 160,000 signatures.The e-petition is the third-largest ever to be presented to the House.“In the same way that we’re stepping up for people in Uganda, I absolutely think we need to be stepping up for people in the U.K. and the U.S., as their laws get worse,” Glasson explained.She tells CityNews that over the last seven years or so, there have been hundreds of asylum claims from trans and non-binary people coming from the U.S. However, Glasson says very f...

Military releases names of Air Force captains killed in Chinook helicopter crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

OTTAWA — The military has released the names of the two Royal Canadian Air Force members who were killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Ontario on Tuesday. Capt. David Domagala and Capt. Marc Larouche were taking part in a nighttime training exercise near Garrison Petawawa when their Chinook helicopter crashed into the Ottawa River.Their families have allowed the military to share their names publicly.Larouche, 53, was originally from Quebec and joined the 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in 2019. Domagala, 32, was from Woodstock, Ont., and was posted to the squadron the same year.Two other crew members survived the crash, which is under investigation by the Air Force’s directorate of flight safety.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2023.The Canadian Press

Sikh Liberal MPs meet with public safety minister over Surrey, B.C., killing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — Member of Parliament Sukh Dhaliwal says the shooting death of a religious leader in the parking lot of a British Columbia temple has prompted a meeting with Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and members of the Sikh Liberal caucus.Dhaliwal, who represents the Metro Vancouver riding of Surrey-Newton where the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar took place, posted a statement on Twitter, saying Sikh members of the Liberal caucus met with the minister “regarding the tragic incident at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.”Dhaliwal says the caucus members were assured the federal government is working closely with law enforcement to solve the crime and protect the Sikh community and Canadians.Surrey homicide investigators say 45-year-old Nijjar was gunned down in his vehicle as he was leaving the temple parking lot on Sunday night and police are looking for two male suspects.Mendicino said on Twitter he is “disturbed” by the violence at the Surrey temple, sayi...

$100M year-round water park gives families more to do in Atlantic City

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — It was awful weather for the first full day of summer Thursday: rainy, cold and windy.But it was perfect for what Bart Blatstein is selling.The Philadelphia developer is about to open Island Waterpark, a $100 million indoor aquatic recreation facility designed to appeal to family tourism and give visitors something else to do besides gambling as Atlantic City seeks to become less dependent on the spin of the slot machine reels, the roll of the dice or the flip of the cards.It is an effort that Las Vegas has used with great success in recent decades as that city emphasized resort amenities, entertainment and most recently, professional sports, in addition to gambling.The Island Waterpark, which will formally open June 30, is another big bet on non-gambling entertainment in the seaside resort. In recent years, Atlantic City, its nine casinos and some non-gambling businesses have unveiled attractions including a giant Ferris wheel, high-end restaurants and sh...

Serbia again threatens armed intervention in Kosovo as tension escalates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia on Friday reiterated a threat to intervene militarily in its former province of Kosovo if NATO-led peacekeepers there fail to protect minority Serbs from what Belgrade called the terrorist threat of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian authorities.In a brief televised address, the Serbian army chief-of-staff, Gen. Milan Mojsilovic, said Kosovo Serbs can no longer “tolerate the terror” of the Kosovo government, and that Serbia’s military stands ready to fulfil its tasks “in accordance” with the Serbian constitution and any orders from President Aleksandar Vucic.Serbia has put its troops on the border with Kosovo on the highest state of alert amid a series of recent clashes between Kosovo Serbs on one side and Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers, known as KFOR, on the other. In recent weeks, NATO has sent in reinforcements amid fears of an open clash between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.Serbia’s armed intervention in Kosovo would mean a direct cl...

How the unconventional design of the Titan sub may have destined it for disaster

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The deadly implosion of the Titan submersible raises questions about whether the vessel exploring the Titanic wreckage was destined for its own disaster because of its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to safety checks that are standard in the industry.All five people aboard the Titan died when it was crushed near the world’s most famous shipwreck, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said Thursday, bringing an end to a massive multinational search that began Sunday when the vessel first lost contact with its mother ship in the unforgiving North Atlantic.The Titan, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, first began taking people to the Titanic in 2021. It was touted for a design that included a carbon fiber composite hull and an elongated chamber for crew and passengers — a departure from more traditional spherical cabin areas and all-titanium construction.The cabin where people sit in most submersibles is spherical, said Chris Rom...

Man gets life sentence for killing mail carrier who refused to deliver marijuana package

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after being convicted of killing a mail carrier who instead of delivering a large package of marijuana to his home left a note in the mailbox requiring him to come to a South Carolina post office to pick it up.Trevor Raekwon Seward, 25, was found guilty of murder of a federal employee in the course of her duties and other crimes in the September 2019 shooting of 64-year-old Irene Pressley as she delivered mail in rural Williamsburg County, federal prosecutors said.After finding the note in his mailbox instead of the 2-pound (0.9-kilogram) package of marijuana from California he was expecting, Seward confronted Pressley a few minutes later demanding his package. The U.S. Postal Service mail carrier refused, according to court documents.Seward then got a semi-automatic rifle and waited for Pressley to come down a street in Andrews, firing about 20 times into the back of her mail truck, prosecutors said.Several bullet...

Orcas disrupt boat race near Spain in latest display of puzzling aggressive behavior

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar, the latest encounter in what researchers say is a growing trend of sometimes-aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas.The 15-minute run-in with at least three of the giant mammals forced the crew competing in The Ocean Race on Thursday to drop its sails and raise a clatter in an attempt to scare the approaching orcas off. No one was injured, but Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said in a video posted on The Ocean Race website that it was “a scary moment.”“Twenty minutes ago, we got hit by some orcas,” he said in the video. “Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team.”Team JAJO was approaching the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea on a leg from the Netherlands to Italy when at least three orcas approached the VO65 class sloop. Video taken by the crew show...

Biden to deliver speech on the economy in Illinois

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

President Biden will travel to Chicago on Wednesday to deliver a speech on the economy, the White House announced on Friday.Biden’s “major address” will be on “Bidenomics,” which is the president’s “vision for growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top-down,” according to the White House.Biden faces the uphill battle of convincing voters that the U.S. economy is strong after he has spent the last year digging itself out of a host of economic setbacks. His remarks in Chicago will come a few weeks after the news that inflation fell to its lowest rate since March 2021 and after the Federal Reserve opted to keep interest rates unchanged for the first time since January 2022. He has previously touted the strong labor market, with unemployment around 3.7 percent and millions of jobs added under his tenure. But the lower inflation and the Fed’s decision gives Biden an extra boost as he turns his focus to his reelection bid.While in Chicago, Biden ...

Life in Illinois gets more expensive on July 1 with multiple tax increases, new laws

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:57 GMT

ILLINOIS — The end of a grocery tax suspension, the increase of the state's tax on gas, the doubling of certain fees; there are multiple aspects of life in Illinois set to become more expensive on July 1. Most unique ice cream treats for your Chicago summer Tax on groceries returnsPerhaps the most far-reaching impending change is the return of the state's 1% tax on sales of groceries. Though one penny for every dollar spent is arguably a low amount, it is a tax which impacts nearly every resident of Illinois.Read the Illinois Department of Revenue's informational bulletin for retailers on the return of this tax.Motor fuel tax increasesThe state's Motor Fuel Tax Law imposes an annual increase on July 1 to Illinois' Part A fuel tax. This is a separate tax from the Part B rate determined January 1 every year, and any July 1 local municipal fuel tax increases such as those in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties.The yearly increase is tied to the Consumer Price Index from th...