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Papua New Guinea says security treaty with Australia has been delayed over certain provisions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape said a proposed security treaty with Australia has been delayed over “certain wordings and provisions,” a week after the strategically important South Pacific Island nation signed a new security pact with the United States that sparked protests.Marape informed Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles of the delay on Monday on the sidelines of an international forum in South Korea, the Papua New Guinean leader’s office said in a statement Tuesday.Marape told Marles, who is also defense minister, that the treaty is a “work in progress and required the PNG side to consult our domestic processes and sovereign laws in relation to certain wordings and provisions,” the statement said.Marape “conveyed his apologies” to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the delay, the statement said.In January, the two leaders pledged in a joint statement to conclude substantive negotiations on the treaty by the end of April.Th...

Russia says drones damage Moscow buildings in pre-dawn attack, blames Ukraine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian air defenses stopped eight drones converging on Moscow, officials said Tuesday, in an attack that authorities blamed on Ukraine, while Russia continued a a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardment of Kyiv that began Monday. The Russian defense ministry said five drones were shot down and the systems of three others were jammed, causing them to veer off course. It called the incident a “terrorist attack” by the “Kyiv regime.”The attack caused “insignificant damage” to several buildings, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Two people received medical attention for unspecified injuries but did not need hospitalization, he said in a Telegram post. Residents of two high-rise buildings damaged in the attack were evacuated, Sobyanin said.Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the wider Moscow region, said some of the drones were “shot down on the approach to Moscow.”Ukraine made no immediate comment on the attack, which would be one of its deepest and most da...

Municipality says early estimate is 200 homes or structures damaged in N.S. fire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

HALIFAX — The Halifax Regional Municipality says preliminary estimates indicate approximately 200 homes or structures have been damaged by a wildfire that’s been burning in suburban Halifax.The municipality released the estimate in a statement last night, saying it was based on initial visual inspections by first responders and that a full assessment of the damage couldn’t yet be confirmed.Halifax deputy fire Chief David Meldrum has said an estimated 14,000 people were told to flee their homes, most of which are about a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Halifax.Meldrum said yesterday firefighters have concentrated on battling spot fires in residential areas in order to protect buildings and prevent the fire’s spread.He worried that a forecast calling for strong winds, a change in wind and lower humidity today could make firefighting difficult.The out-of-control fire started Sunday in nearby Upper Tantallon, and so far there haven’t been any reports of dea...

In The News for May 30 : Alberta UCP wins majority government

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of May 30 …What we are watching in Canada …Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says it’s time to put personal and political attacks in the “rear-view mirror” and focus on the province’s economy. Smith’s United Conservative Party emerged bloodied but still standing in Monday’s bitterly contested provincial election, winning a second consecutive majority government.She has promised to keep Alberta the lowest tax regime in Canada, and says a UCP government would see the introduction of a law to mandate a binding referendum before any personal or corporate income tax hikes. There would also be tax changes to benefit those making more than $60,000 a year, at a cost of $1 billion annually to the treasury. NDP Leader Rachel Notley says she will continue to be leader of the party and official Opposition. Smith was dogged during t...

30 international peacekeepers injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, on Tuesday raised the number of its troops injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs to 30. The Serbs had tried to take over the offices of one of the municipalities in northern Kosovo where ethnic Albanian mayors took up their posts last week.A statement said that 11 Italian soldiers and 19 Hungarian ones “sustained multiple injuries, including fractures and burns from improvized explosive incendiary devices.” It added that three Hungarian soldiers were “wounded by the use of firearms,” but their injuries are not life-threatening.The Serbs clashed with NATO troops in the municipality of Zvecan, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of the capital, Pristina.“Both parties need to take full responsibility for what happened and prevent any further escalation, rather than hide behind false narratives,” said KFOR commander Maj.-Gen. Angelo Michele Ristuccia.Ethnic Serbs plan to gather again on Tuesday.Serbian President A...

‘Crushing consequences’: experts see growing risk as wildfires crash into communities

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

The fire department in Slave Lake, Alta., had a long-standing plan for tackling wildfire encroaching on the community, but in May 2011, flames from a nearby forest blewover suppression effortsand destroyed several hundred homes and other buildings.“I think that was the most shocking time of my entire career and maybe of my life, where you’re so sure that something’s going to work, and then it doesn’t … with crushing consequences,” said Jamie Coutts, the former Slave Lake fire chief.A firefighter for more than 30 years, Coutts said wildfires have been burning “hotter, faster (and) crazier” over the last decade, and “every single person that lives in the forest is on a collision course with something disastrous happening.”Research suggests that so-called interface fires, which occur where forests and flames meet human development, are on the rise. An interface fire crashed into suburban Halifax on Sunday, destroying or damaging doz...

Lone tenant in a $400-a-month apartment could hold up major Montreal condo project

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

MONTREAL — As Carla White looks out the window of her yellow-and-pink, plant-filled apartment in the heart of downtown Montreal, she wonders where she’s going to live next.“I look out there and say, where am I going now?” she says, gesturing at the highrises that tower above the building where she lives.The apartment is small and cluttered, it doesn’t have a working stove and her bed and small desk take up most of the floor space. But it’s home and, at $400 a month, the price is right.White, who declined to give her age, says she was homeless after multiple previous evictions before she found a home she could afford a decade ago. The small bachelor apartment has given her a measure of stability. But like so many low-income tenants in Montreal, she finds that stability threatened by gentrification and development.She is the only remaining tenant in her building, which is slated to be demolished to make room for a 176-unit condo project. But in order to m...

Technology could be key to future wildfire prevention, fighting: companies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

When wildfires hit Alberta earlier this month, leaving more than 10,000 square kilometres of land scorched so far this year, João Lopes was worried about how much more devastation could be on its way.“Unfortunately, the statistics are showing that maybe next year will be worse than this year,” said the entrepreneur, who founded crop monitoring and fire risk assessment technology company SensaioTech.Wildfires flaring up around Halifax in recent days are yet another reminder of the increasing risks that many are warning of. A United Nations report from 2022 found wildfires are becoming “more intense and more frequent” and said with temperatures on the rise as global warming worsens, “the need to reduce wildfire risk is more critical than ever.”Canada alone sees about 7,500 wildfires burn more than 2.5 million hectares of forest — about half the size of Nova Scotia — every year and that amount is projected to double by 2050, the Canadian Space Agency...

Daily horoscope for May 30, 2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

Moon Alert: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The Moon is in Libra.Happy Birthday for Tuesday, May 30, 2023:You are a serious thinker. Naturally, as a Gemini, you are always curious. You are hardworking, disciplined and reliable. Focus on your personal responsibilities to others this year. Take care of yourself. Put family friends and loved ones first, for your own benefit and enjoyment.ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★Conversations with partners, spouses and close friends will go well today. In fact, your ability to engage with members of the general public is also excellent. Feel free to run your ideas up the flagpole, because someone will salute. Competitive sports and high-energy fun beckon to you! Tonight: Conversations!TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★★This is a solid day for business and commerce. Trust your moneymaking ideas. (You’re the financial wizard of the zodiac.) With Venus in your House of Communications, you can sell your ideas to anyone....

Spain holds regional elections ahead of year-end national vote

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:39:30 GMT

Spanish voters headed to the polls on 28 May in regional and municipal elections, the results of which will serve as a barometer for an end-of-year general election.Voting is taking place in 12 regions and 8,000 towns and cities, most currently run by the governing Socialist Party (PSOE). Polls are predicting gains for the conservative People's Party (PP), which if replicated later in the year could unseat the current left-wing coalition.Voting opened at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) and closed at 8 p.m. Over 35 million people are eligible to vote.Campaigning has been marked by several controversies, from allegations of voter fraud in small towns to an unprecedented case of kidnapping.Races will be tight in many areas, with few clear majorities, election polls and experts predict, except in the region of Madrid, where regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the PP could win re-election with an absolute majority.Some polls suggest a close race in the Valencia region, which with a population of a...