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Jill Biden says White House decor designed for visitors to see the holidays through a child’s eyes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ninety-eight Christmas trees, more than 142,000 twinkling lights and nearly 34,000 ornaments deck the halls of the White House in ways that Jill Biden hopes will inspire visitors to embrace their inner child and experience the “magic, wonder and joy” of the season. It’s her theme for the holiday decor.“Each room on display is designed to capture the pure, unfiltered delight and imagination of our childhoods, to see this time of year through the wondrous, sparkling eyes of children,” she says in remarks prepared for a Monday afternoon reception to formally unveil the decor and thank hundreds of designers and decorators who volunteered to spend last week transforming the executive mansion. Throughout the decor are numerous nods to the 200th anniversary of the publication in 1823 of the poem and book, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The Library of Congress provided samples of editions from the past 200 years that are on display along the ground floor c...

Beijing police investigates major Chinese shadow bank Zhongzhi over suspected crimes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Police are investigating suspected crimes of a Chinese wealth company owned by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, according to the Beijing Public Security Bureau, days after the firm told investors it was insolvent.In a statement published on the social media platform WeChat over the weekend, the police said they had taken “criminal enforcement measures” against several suspects to investigate and had urged affected investors to lodge a complaint. “Investors are requested to actively cooperate with the police in investigating and collecting evidence and safeguard their rights and interests through legal channels,” the statement said. Authorities did not specify what crimes they were investigating.Zhongzhi did not immediately respond to an email for comment and phone calls to a number listed for the company did not connect.The investigation came after media reports last week that Zhongzhi had apologized to investors in a letter, saying it was insolvent with up to $64 billion...

Almost half a million people left without power in Crimea after Black Sea storm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

Almost half a million people have been left without power and one person was killed after a storm in the Black Sea area flooded roads, ripped up trees and took down power lines in Crimea, Russian state news agency Tass said.The storm also hit southern Russia and sent waves flooding into the beach resort of Sochi, blew the roof off a five-story building off in Anapa and damaged homes and schools in Kuban, the state news agency said.It was part of a weather front that earlier left one person dead and hundreds of places without electricity amid heavy snowfall and strong blizzards in Romania and Moldova on Sunday.The storm prompted several Crimean regions to declare a state of emergency after it became the strongest recorded in the past 16 years with wind speeds reaching 144 kph (almost 90 mph), Tatyana Lyubetskaya, a Russia-installed official at the Crimean environmental monitoring department, told Tass.The government in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, told people to...

In the news today: Hamas releases more hostages from Gaza, offers extended ceasefire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Hamas releases a third group of hostages as part of truceThe Gaza militant group Hamas has released a third group of hostages under the four-day ceasefire agreement with Israel –14 Israelis and three foreign nationals.In return, Israel released dozens of Palestinian prisoners.The truce also calls for aid to be delivered to Gaza.Israel is now discussing an offer from Hamas to extend the ceasefire — while still vowing to eventually crush Hamas.Questions remain after Winnipeg shootingWinnipeg residents are waiting for more information as investigators work to piece together what led up to a downtown shooting Sunday that killed three people and left two others in hospital with critical injuries.City Police Const. Jason Michalyshen has said officers were called to a home shortly after 4 a.m., where they found five people wounded.Michalyshen said a man an...

B.C. in court against pharma companies in bid to certify opioid class-action lawsuit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government goes up against dozens of health care and pharmaceutical companies in court today in a bid to get certification for a class-action lawsuit over the costs of the opioid crisis.It comes even after the Supreme Court of Canada agreed this month to hear a constitutional challenge by four of the companies who say a law allowing B.C. to recover costs on behalf of other governments is an overreach.Those companies then went back to the Supreme Court of B.C. to seek a delay of the certification hearing while the high court rules, but the judge said an adjournment wasn’t in the interests of justice.The province began the legal odyssey in August 2018 by passing the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, seeking costs from firms alleged to have contributed to opioid addiction. B.C. declared a public health emergency in 2016 over the crisis, and since then nearly 13,000 people have died of overdoses in the province. The certification h...

Buyer beware: porch piracy set to ramp up with holiday season fast approaching

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

TORONTO — You’ve been tracking your online shopping haul for days. It’s finally the day your package is set to arrive at your doorstep. But when you get home in the evening, the package is not there.A recent FedEx survey shows porch thefts have risen over the last two years, with 28 per cent of respondents reporting they’ve had packages stolen by so-called porch pirates in the past. That compares to 24 per cent of respondents in 2022 and 20 per cent in 2021.Seventy per cent of surveyed respondents expressed worries about their unattended packages being stolen after delivery.“It’s a natural concern,” said James Anderson, a spokesperson with FedEx Express Canada. “It’s always in the back of your mind — ‘What happens with my package (when I’m not home)?'”Despite the increase in thefts, the survey found only seven per cent of respondents reported it to police. “Look — you’re a victim of a crime. Contact the po...

Search for answers underway after Winnipeg shooting left three dead, two injured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

Winnipeg residents are waiting for more information as investigators work to piece together what led up to a downtown shooting Sunday that killed three people and left two others in hospital with critical injuries.City Police Const. Jason Michalyshen has said officers were called to a home shortly after 4 a.m., where they found five people wounded.Michalyshen said a man and woman were pronounced dead at the scene, while three were taken to hospital. One man later died, and a man and a woman were receiving medical care.He said the investigation is in its infancy, as no arrests have been made, a motive or possibility of a gang connection is still unknown and suspects are still being determined.It is also unknown if a weapon has been recovered, and Michalyshen said investigators can’t say how any of the victims may be related or known to each other until they have been identified.He did note there appeared to be multiple suites in the building where the shooting happened.In state...

Poor Inuit housing ‘direct result of colonialism’: federal housing advocate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

OTTAWA — A federal housing advocate is accusing every level of government in Canada of failing to uphold the Inuit’s right to housing — and therefore denying their human rights. “The housing conditions that the Inuit inhabit are the direct result of colonialism and a staggering failure by successive federal, provincial and territorial governments over many decades,” says a new report from Marie-Josée Houle.“The level of distress cannot be understated, nor can the toll that being unhoused or precariously housed has on one’s physical, mental and emotional health.”To research the observational report about Inuit housing released on Monday, Houle travelled to northern communities on the invitation of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national organization that represents Inuit in Canada. The nonpartisan watchdog made the trip to hold discussions with community members and leaders in Nunavut and Nunatsiavut, in Labrador, in October of last year. Her report ...

Montreal to spend nearly $200M on snow removal as winter costs rise across Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

MONTREAL — There’s a saying in municipal politics: win snow removal, win the day. But as inflation takes a toll on tight city budgets, the price of winning that battle is rising.Take Montreal, where a combination of high snowfall and dense streets result in the city running one of the biggest snow-clearing operations in the world. Every year, an army of workers head out to salt, plow and haul away snow from the city’s roughly 10,000 kilometres of streets, as well as sidewalks and some bike paths. The upcoming winter season is estimated to cost the city $200 million, according to executive committee member Maja Vodanovic.Earlier in November Mayor Valérie Plante cited the rising cost of snow removal — of up to 100 per cent year over year in some boroughs — as one of the reasons she had to increase property taxes by an average of 4.9 per cent in 2024. “That’s enormous,” she said, “but we’re not going to stop removing snow.”In an interview...

Wilders ally overseeing first stage of Dutch coalition-building quits over fraud allegation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:53 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A party ally of far-right Dutch election winner Geert Wilders on Monday quit his role in the building of a new governing coalition over fraud allegations, throwing the process of creating a new government into turmoil before it had begun.Gom van Strien, a senator for Wilders’ Party for Freedom, was appointed last week as a “scout” to discuss possible coalitions. He was set to meet Wilders and other party leaders on Monday, but those meetings were canceled.“It is annoying to start the exploration phase like this,” Vera Bergkamp, president of the lower house of the Dutch parliament, said in a statement. She added that “it is now important that a new scout is quickly appointed who can start work immediately.”Van Strien has denied wrongdoing after Dutch media reported that he was embroiled in a fraud case. But on Monday morning, he issued a statement saying that “both the unrest that has arisen about this and the preparation of a response to it”...