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Brief cloud breaks bring cheers from excited partial solar eclipse watchers in B.C.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

SAANICH, B.C. — Cheers erupted as brief cloud breaks gave more than 100 people who gathered at an astrophysical observatory site near Victoria, B.C., a peak at today’s unfolding partial solar eclipse.Calvin Schmidt, an employee of the Friends of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Saanich, says fog and clouds were present for most of the morning at the mountain-top site, but there were moments when the skies parted and the partial eclipse was visible.Schmidt says those moments of solar splendor were worth the waiting though there are reports the skies were almost totally clear in some parts of Victoria, giving those residents a sustained view of the partial eclipse.Southwestern B.C. was Canada’s best place to view the eclipse.The event is known as a ring-of-fire eclipse, where the moon passes in front of the sun but doesn’t completely cover it, leaving a fiery rim around the dark moon.Environment Canada had forecast clouds and showers for much of southwest B.C. dur...

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh survives leadership review, but delegate support declining

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has survived his leadership review, but support from his party is declining. During the second day of the NDP convention in Ottawa, 81 per cent of delegates voted in favour of Singh following his keynote speech.It’s the lowest confidence vote for an NDP leader since Tom Mulclair, who was rejected by more than half of delegates at the party’s 2016 convention in Edmonton. In 2021, Singh received support from 87 per cent of delegates and in 2018 he received nearly 91 per cent support. Some delegates at the NDP convention have been critical of the party’s confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals. Others say they would like him to take a harder stance against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2023. Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press

Man United sale: Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim is withdrawing his bid – AP source

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani is withdrawing his offer to buy storied soccer club Manchester United, a person with knowledge of the process told The Associated Press on Saturday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality restrictions around the process. Sheikh Jassim had been one of the leading contenders to complete a takeover of the Premier League club, which was put up for sale last year. Along with British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, the Qatari banker was one of only two bidders to publicly declare their intention to buy out United owners, the Glazer family. But almost a year since bids were invited for the 20-time English league champions, Sheikh Jassim has informed the Glazers he is withdrawing his offer, the person said. The person said Sheikh Jassim’s final bid was almost double United’s current market valuation of $3.2 billion. Ratcliffe’s offer remains in place, although it has bee...

Executive who had business ties to Playgirl magazine pleads guilty to $250M fraud in lending company

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida executive whose family business once owned Playgirl magazine has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud for misleading investors in another of his companies — one that made high-interest loans to small businesses.Carl R. Ruderman, 82, was chairman and chief executive officer of 1 Global Capital LLC, a commercial lending company that filed for bankruptcy in July 2018. Federal authorities said he took part in a $250 million scheme that affected more than 3,400 investors in 42 states.Ruderman pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Miami. Court records show sentencing is set for Jan. 3, and he faces up to five years in prison and forfeiture of more than $250 million.Ruderman admitted spending 1 Global investors’ money on credit card payments, vacation travel, drivers, nannies, housekeepers, tuition, mortgage payments, luxury car payments and insurance payments for his art collection and jewelry, the Justice Department said in a news rel...

An American mom and daughter are missing in Israel. Their family says Hamas is holding them hostage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter, Natalie Raanan, were excited to travel to Israel to celebrate a relative’s 85th birthday and the Jewish holiday season, according to their rabbi.The pair had been sending updates as the trip progressed and were enjoying “this really special mom and daughter time together,” Meir Hecht said. The family hasn’t heard from either mother or daughter since a week ago, after Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack. The community in their suburb north of Chicago fears they are among roughly 150 people abducted by Hamas militants. “We received this terrible news that Judith and her daughter Natalie are missing and apparently were most likely taken as hostages to Gaza,” Hecht said. “It feels like our community has been violated.”They had been celebrating Simchat Torah, a festive Jewish holiday that marks the conclusion of the annual reading of the Torah. They were in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz in Israel abou...

California will give some Mexican residents near the border in-state community college tuition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law Friday to make low-income Mexican residents living near the border eligible for in-state tuition rates at certain community colleges.The legislation applies to low-income Mexicans who live within 45 miles (72 kilometers) of the California-Mexico border and want to attend a participating community college in Southern California. It is a pilot program that will launch next year and run until 2029.Some people travel frequently between Mexico and California to work or visit family. The law will help make education more accessible for those residents and prepare them for jobs, Assemblymember David Alvarez, who authored the proposal, said at a Senate Education Committee hearing in June.“This pilot program can unlock a significant untapped resource to prepare a more diverse population among our workforce,” Alvarez said in a statement.Mark Sanchez, president of Southwestern College in Chula Vista, a California cit...

Iran’s foreign minister warns Israel from Beirut to stop Gaza attacks or risk ‘huge earthquake’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning that the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer “a huge earthquake.”Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters in Beirut that Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has taken all the scenarios of a war into consideration and Israel should stop its attacks on Gaza as soon as possible.Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel. The group, which has thousands of battle-hardened fighters who participated in Syria’s 12-year conflict, also has different types of military drones.Hezbollah fighters have been on full alert along Lebanon’s borders with Israel following last Saturday’s attack by the militant Palestinian group Hamas that left hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers dead.On Sat...

Watch Canada’s worst wildfire season travel east to west

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

More than 17,800,000 hectares have burned across Canada so far in 2023, marking the country’s most devastating wildfire season on record.According to the National Wildland Fire Situation Report, as of the end of September, this year saw a staggering 6,496 wildfires spark — an increase of over 20 per cent compared to the country’s 10-year average.While the numbers are shocking in and of themselves, it can be hard to visualize the damage that these fires have inflicted.One Nova Scotian man, however, has compiled data from NASA and created a video of Canada’s 2023 wildfire season.Peter Atwood’s creation shows the destruction from early on in the fire season up until Oct. 14, mapping the fires’ move from coast to coast.Atwood explains on social media that to create the rendering, he used “GEOS-FP black carbon mass composited over the MODIS hotspot data.”Over the course of this year’s wildfire season, four firefighters died fighting w...

Far from Israel, Jews grieve and pray for peace in Shabbat services held as Israel-Hamas war rages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

Jews in communities far from Israel gathered at synagogues this weekend for Shabbat services held amid the ongoing war ignited by Hamas militants’ attack on Israel a week earlier. Rabbis led prayers of peace and shared grief with their congregations. At many synagogues security was tight.PITTSBURGH RABBI SAYS HAMAS ATTACK RESURFACES GENERATIONS OF TRAUMA FOR JEWISH PEOPLEThe deadly Hamas attack is not just another geopolitical event for Jewish people, explained one U.S. rabbi. It is drudging up generations of visceral trauma, especially in Pittsburgh – the city scarred by the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.“More Jews were killed last Shabbat … than on any other day since the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Daniel Fellman during a service at Temple Sinai. “It isn’t that Hamas wants the destruction of Israel. It’s that Hamas wants the destruction of you and me.”“The world deserves better, the Palestinian people deserve better and we need to do better.” Despite that anguish,...

3 dead after a shooting at a party at a Denver industrial storefront

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:30:25 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Three people are dead after a shooting early Saturday at a party in Denver, police said. Denver police were called to a party at an industrial storefront where officers found someone dead with gunshot wounds, police said. Another five shooting victims were taken to local hospitals, where two of them where pronounced dead, police said. Police didn’t immediately provide information about the identities of the shooting victims. Evidence showed that there were shots fired from at least two firearms at the party, police said. “At this point, investigators are working to determine the circumstances that led up to the shooting as well as who was involved,” the Denver Police Department said in a statement. The Associated Press