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Brazil’s Lula cancels trip to China because of pneumonia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has canceled his trip to China after contracting pneumonia, the presidential palace said on Saturday.Lula, 77, was admitted to a hospital in the capital of Brasilia with flu-like symptoms and was diagnosed with “bacterial and viral bronchopneumonia due to influenza A,” the palace said in a statement, quoting a medical note signed by Dr. Ana Helena Germoglio.The leftist leader’s health was reassessed on Saturday and, despite improvement, he was advised to “postpone the trip to China until the cycle of viral transmission ends,” the medical note said. His press office later confirmed that the trip had been canceled. Chinese authorities have been informed, “with the reiteration of the desire to schedule the visit on a new date,” the palace said.Lula had been expected to leave for China on a multi-day visit on Friday or Saturday, but the trip was pushed back on Friday.A delegation composed of ministers, senators, lawmaker...

Frank Leo officially installed as new Archbishop of Toronto

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

The largest archdiocese in Canada’s Catholic Church has a new man at the helm as of today.About 1,200 people attended the mass of installation for Frank Leo, who now serves as Archbishop of Toronto.The installation ceremony at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica in downtown Toronto took place about six weeks after Pope Francis formally named Leo to the post.Leo succeeds Cardinal Thomas Collins, who offered his resignation on his 75th birthday in January 2022 in compliance with a rule stating all bishops must offer to step down when they reach that age.Leo was first named a Bishop in July 2022, making him one of Canada’s newest appointees to such a role, and he was installed as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Montreal two months later.He said his Toronto appointment came as a surprise, but a welcome one.“I look forward to giving the rest of my life as, as the spiritual leader here from a symbolic and spiritual perspective. When you become a bishop, you get a rin...

Two-thirds of Canadians favour speeding fines tied to driver’s income: poll

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

Two-thirds of Canadians asked say they would be in favour of a system which ties fines for speeding to the individual income of the offender. A poll conducted by Research Co. finds 65 per cent of Canadians support what’s known as “progressive punishment” for speeding tickets, a system that is already in place in Finland and Switzerland. Under the Finnish model, fines are based on the disposable income of the driver and how much the driver is over the speed limit. Support for such a system is highest in British Columbia and Quebec, with seven-in-10 in favour of it, while 63 per cent of Ontarians support “progressive punishment.” Not surprising, the poll found that those in the highest income bracket were against the measure. “Opposition to this course of action among Canadians who live in households earning more than $100,000 a year reaches 34 per cent, 10 points higher than the national average,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co....

Emil Bocek, last Czech RAF pilot during WWII, dies at 100

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Emil Bocek, the last living Czech pilot who fought the Nazis while serving with Britain’s Royal Air Force during World War II, has died at age 100.A community center for war veterans in the Czech Republic city of Brno, his hometown, said Bocek died on Saturday. The Czech Defense Ministry confirmed his death. No further details were given. “General Bocek was fighting for our country to be democratic, free and independent,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala said.Born Feb 25, 1923, Bocek fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 at age 16 following the country’s occupation by Germany.He fought the Nazis in France and then moved to Britain, where he served as a technician in the air force’s No. 312 Squadron before joining the RAF’s No. 310 Squadron as a pilot in 1944. Both fighter squadrons had Czechoslovak pilots.“A Spitfire … it was a carriage,” Bocek told Czech public radio about the iconic British combat aircraft in 2016. “An unbelievable plane, a perfect plane.”Bocek made...

UN nuclear watchdog says missing Libya uranium found

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — U.N. inspectors visiting southern Libya found drums containing natural uranium reported missing earlier this month in the chaos-stricken country, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Saturday.The International Atomic Energy Agency said earlier this month that some 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored at a site in the southern town of Sabha had gone missing. Forces of the Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter said they found the missing material close to the storage site.In a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday, the Vienna-based agency said U.N. inspectors visited the area on March 21 and saw the material being transferred to the storage site.U.N. inspectors found that a “relatively small amount of UOC (Uranium ore concentrate) was still unaccounted for,” it said.The IAEA said, however, there was no immediate radiological risk at the location.The statement said investigations were still underway on the matter including reconciling the quantities of natural uranium at the sit...

'There's nothing left': Mississippi tornadoes kill 23

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — A powerful tornado cut a devastating path of at least 170 miles (274 kilometers) through parts of the Deep South on Friday night, killing at least 23 people in Mississippi and obliterating dozens of buildings as it stayed on the ground for more than an hour. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said in a Twitter post that search and rescue teams from local and state agencies were deployed to help victims impacted by the tornadoes. The agency confirmed early Saturday that 23 people had died, four were missing and dozens were injured. A few minutes later, the agency warned the casualty toll could go higher, tweeting: “Unfortunately, these numbers are expected to change.”Throughout Saturday morning, people walked around dazed and in shock as they broke through debris and fallen trees with chain saws, searching for survivors. Power lines were pinned under decades-old oaks, their roots torn from the ground. Wonder Bolden was holding her granddaughter, Jo...

Explosion at Pennsylvania chocolate plant leaves multiple people dead, several others missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

WEST READING, Pa. (AP) — An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday killed two people and left five people missing, authorities said. One person was pulled from the rubble overnight.Rescue crews using dogs and imaging equipment continued to search through the rubble Saturday — hours after the blast that erupted just before 5 p.m. Friday at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in the borough of West Reading, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.West Reading officials said Saturday they could confirm only two fatalities. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency had earlier said there were five fatalities, citing county emergency management officials, but after an update from the county also indicated that two had died and five were missing. 2 Illinois teens die in Colorado sledding accident Chief of Police Wayne Holben said the rescue of one person from the rubble “provides hope that others still may be found.” Rescue workers were continuing a thoroug...

Prioritizing Africa’s Debt For Cancellation Is A Humanitarian Issue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

Couple charged after body parts found stuffed in plastic tote, dumped on shore of Lake Mille Lacs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

KATHIO TOWNSHIP, Minn. — Two people have been arrested and charged after human remains were found Tuesday along the shore of Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota.Bradley Allen Weyaus, 21, of Isle, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder, fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, and interference with a dead body or scene of death-concealing a body and evidence.Weyaus’s girlfriend, Alexis Marion Elling, 21, of Rochester, was arrested Thursday and charged with felony aiding an offender as an accomplice after the fact.Bradley Allen Weyaus, 21, of Isle, Minn., faces charges in connection with the death of Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., 25, of Isle, whose remains were found March 21, 2023, stuffed in a plastic tote dumped on the shore of Lake Mille Lacs. (Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office via Forum News Service)Alexis Marion Elling, 21, of Rochester, Minn., the girlfriend of Bradley Allen Weyaus, 21, of Isle, Minn., faces charges in connection with the death of Rodney Pendegayos...

NYC bill would ban discrimination based on weight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:37 GMT

The New York City Council is considering a bill that would ban discrimination based on weight in employment, housing and public accommodations. The legislation, which was introduced last year, would prohibit discrimination based on a person’s actual or perceived height or weight in those three areas. It would include exceptions for employers who need to consider height or weight as a “bona fide occupational qualification” that is reasonably necessary to conduct business and for operators or providers of public accommodations where height or weight qualifications are factors in public safety or health. The legislation had hearings in the city’s civil and human rights and state and federal legislation committees at the end of last month, and The Washington Post reported that it will likely be voted on in the upcoming weeks. Michigan is the only state in the country that has passed a law to declare weight is a protected category from discrimination along with o...