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Ukrainian spy agency stages train explosions on a Russian railroad in Siberia, Ukrainian media say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s spy agency staged two successive explosions on a railroad line in Siberia that serves as a key conduit for trade between Russia and China, Ukrainian media reported Friday. The attacks underscored Moscow’s vulnerability amid the war in UkraineUkrainska Pravda and other news outlets claimed the Security Service of Ukraine conducted a special operation to blow up trains loaded with fuel on the Baikal-Amur Mainline, which runs from southeastern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean in the Russian Far East. The media cited unidentified sources in Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, a regular practice in claims of previous attacks in Russia. The security service, which is known in Ukrainian as SBU for short, has not confirmed the reports. The first explosion hit a tanker train in the Severonomuisky tunnel in Buryatia early Thursday, causing a fire that took hours to extinguish, Russian news outlets said. The 15.3-kilometer (9.5-mile) tunnel in southern Siberia ...

Here’s a quick glance at unemployment rates for November, by Canadian city

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

OTTAWA — The national unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent in November. Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. It cautions, however, that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. Here are the jobless rates last month by city (numbers from the previous month in brackets):_ St. John’s, N.L. 6.7 per cent (6.6)_ Halifax 5.8 per cent (6.2)_ Moncton, N.B. 6.0 per cent (6.3)_ Saint John, N.B. 5.3 per cent (5.8)_ Saguenay, Que. 3.0 per cent (3.3)_ Quebec City 2.7 per cent (2.8)_ Sherbrooke, Que. 4.9 per cent (4.2)_ Trois-Rivières, Que. 4.4 per cent (4.4)_ Montreal 5.7 per cent (5.4)_ Gatineau, Que. 4.2 per cent (4.0)_ Ottawa 4.7 per cent (5.1)_ Kingston, Ont. 5.8 per cent (4.8)_ Belleville, Ont. 4.9 per cent (6.5)_ Peterborough, Ont. 2.3 per cent (1.9)_ Oshawa, Ont. 7.3 per cent (6.9)_ Toronto 6.6 per cent (6.7)_ Hamilton, Ont. 5.3 per cent (5.2)_ St. Catharines-Nia...

Here’s a quick glance at unemployment rates for November, by province

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s national unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent in November. Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):_ Newfoundland and Labrador 10.0 per cent (10.0)_ Prince Edward Island 8.1 per cent (6.2)_ Nova Scotia 6.8 per cent (6.6)_ New Brunswick 6.4 per cent (6.6)_ Quebec 5.2 per cent (4.9)_ Ontario 6.1 per cent (6.2)_ Manitoba 4.9 per cent (5.2)_ Saskatchewan 5.1 per cent (4.4)_ Alberta 5.9 per cent (5.8)_ British Columbia 5.3 per cent (5.4)This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2023.The Canadian Press

National employment numbers for November from Statistics Canada, at a glance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

OTTAWA — A quick look at Canada’s November employment (numbers from the previous month in brackets):Unemployment rate: 5.8 per cent (5.7)Employment rate: 61.8 per cent (61.9)Participation rate: 65.6 per cent (65.6)Number unemployed: 1,240,400 (1,229,400)Number working: 20,312,500 (20,287,600)Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 11.6 per cent (11.4)Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 5.0 per cent (5.0)Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 4.6 per cent (4.5)This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2023.The Canadian Press

NATO chief tells Turkey’s Erdogan that ‘the time has come’ to let Sweden join the alliance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he has told Turkey’s president that “the time has come” to let Sweden become a member of the military alliance.Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not yet formally approved Sweden’s accession bid.Stoltenberg told The Associated Press that he urged Turkey to finalize the process as he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.“I met with President Erdogan this morning and I reiterated my message that the time has come to finalize the accession process for Sweden,” he said.Turkey has delayed ratification for more than a year, accusing Sweden of not taking Turkey’s security concerns seriously enough, including its fight against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara considers to be security threats.An apparent breakthrough happened at a NATO summit in July when Erdogan said he would submit accession documents to Parli...

Vacuum tycoon Dyson loses a libel case against a UK newspaper for a column on his support of Brexit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Billionaire vacuum cleaner tycoon James Dyson lost a libel lawsuit Friday against the Daily Mirror for a column that suggested he was a hypocrite who “screwed” Britain by moving his company’s headquarters to Singapore after supporting the U.K.’s breakup with the European Union.A High Court judge in London said the article was opinion and rejected Dyson’s claims that it was a “vicious and vitriolic” personal attack that damaged his reputation and harmed his philanthropic work encouraging young people to become engineers.Mirror columnist Brian Reade wrote that Dyson had “championed Vote Leave due to the economic opportunities it would bring to British industry before moving his global head office to Singapore.”Dyson, 76, who is listed as the fifth-richest person in the U.K. by The Sunday Times, advocated in support of Brexit in 2016, arguing that it would create more wealth and jobs by being outside the EU.In the column, Reade pretended to address child...

New York Times report says Israel knew about Hamas attack over a year in advance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military was aware of Hamas ‘ plan to launch an attack on Israeli soil over a year before the devastating Oct. 7 operation that killed hundreds of people, The New York Times reported Friday.It was the latest in a series of signs that top Israeli commanders either ignored or played down warnings that Hamas was plotting the attack, which triggered a war against the Islamic militant group that has devastated the Gaza Strip.The Times said Israeli officials were in possession of a 40-page battle plan, code-named “Jericho Wall,” that detailed a hypothetical Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities. It was unclear how the document was obtained by Israel, but the article said that it had been translated — indicating it may have been in Arabic and directly intercepted from Hamas. The Israeli military declined to comment on the report, saying it was “currently focused on eliminating the threat from the terrorist organization Hamas.”“Questions of this ...

In Romania, tens of thousands attend a military parade to mark Great Union Day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Tens of thousands of people turned out in Romania’s capital on Friday to watch a military parade that included troops from NATO allies to mark the country’s national day.The annual parade at the Arc de Triomphe in Bucharest brought together thousands of marching soldiers as dozens of combat jets and helicopters flew overhead. Many spectators waved Romanian tricolor flags: red, yellow, and blue.Friday’s ceremony celebrated the 105th anniversary of Great Union Day of 1918 when modern-day Romania was formed after its unification with the neighboring regions of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina. After communism ended in 1989, Dec. 1 was declared a national holiday to commemorate the ethnic Romanians in Alba Iulia who declared a union of Transylvania with Romania.In a reception held at Cotroceni Palace after the parade, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis described the day as a holiday “that brings Romanians together, no matter where we are, reconnectin...

AP Exclusive: America’s Black attorneys general discuss race, politics and the justice system

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The American legal system is facing a crisis of trust in communities around the country, with people of all races and across the political spectrum.For many, recent protests against police brutality called attention to longstanding discrepancies in the administration of justice. For others, criticism of perceived conflicts of interest in the judiciary, as well as aspersions cast by former President Donald Trump and others on the independence of judges and law enforcement, have further damaged faith in the rule of law among broad swaths of the public.Yet many Black attorneys understood the disparate impact the legal system can have on different communities long before the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police. Many pursued legal careers and entered that same system to improve it, with some rising to one of its most influential roles, the top enforcement official: attorney general.There is a record number of Black attorneys general, se...

Santos’s fate hangs in limbo as expulsion vote nears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:56 GMT

For Rep. George Santos, the clock is ticking dangerously close to midnight.The House is set to vote Friday on a resolution to expel the embattled New York Republican, marking the third and most serious attempt to boot Santos from Congress amid his mounting legal and ethical troubles. The first-term Long Islander easily survived the first two votes aimed at closing the book on his short congressional career. But momentum for his removal has been building on both sides of the aisle following the release of a damning Ethics Committee report last month, raising the real prospect that this week will mark the final chapter in a Capitol Hill saga that has captivated Washington since even before Santos was sworn in.It remains unclear if Santos will also survive the third expulsion measure, which would require the support of scores of Republicans to meet the high threshold — two-thirds of the House chamber — to be successful. But the controversy has created an early heada...