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Anti-war Russians face dilemma with Sunday’s mass Navalny protests

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

What to gift the man who is barred from receiving anything, and also is Vladimir Putin’s biggest political foe?How about a mass demonstration?That’s what supporters of Alexei Navalny are ginning up for the jailed Russian opposition leader’s 47th birthday on Sunday.From exile, they are calling Russians to action, both inside and outside the country.“Let’s show him on his birthday that he has not been forgotten,” Georgy Alburov, who works for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), said in a YouTube video posted in mid-May. “Wherever you are, whichever country, go out to support Navalny.”Sunday marks the third birthday that Navalny will spend in prison since he was arrested after recovering from a poison attack, which his team says was carried out on Russian President Putin’s direct orders.“Putin wants Navalny to feel alone. Moreover, he wants every single one of us to feel that way,” Lyubov Sobol, another Navalny associate, said in the video calling for protests. The Navalny...

Ticker: Southwest reaches deal with flight attendants; Ford warns of fire risk in some Lincoln SUVs 

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

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has reached an agreement in principle with its flight attendants union after almost a year in mediation.Transport Workers Union Local 556, the union representing Southwest’s nearly 19,000 flight attendants, filed for federal mediation in July 2022 to help with over three years of a stalled contract. The union’s previous contract was effective until October 2018, but COVID-19 also put a pause on negotiations in 2020.It’s a key deal as the company looks to quell labor unrest heading into the holiday season. The company is still negotiating with the union for pilots and ground workers.No further details of the tentative flight attendant contract were available at this time, although workers were looking for major raises as part of the deal.“We are pleased that we have reached an agreement in principle with TWU Local 556 regarding a new contract for our Flight Attendants,” said Adam Carlisle, vice president of labor relations at Southwest Airlines in a st...

Saudi Arabia is slashing oil supply. It could mean higher gas prices for US drivers

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

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Saudi Arabia will reduce how much oil it sends to the global economy, taking a unilateral step to prop up the sagging price of crude after two previous cuts to supply by major producing countries in the OPEC+ alliance failed to push oil higher.The Saudi cut of 1 million barrels per day, to start in July, comes as the other OPEC+ producers agreed in a meeting in Vienna to extend earlier production cuts through next year.Calling the reduction a “lollipop,” Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said at a news conference that “we wanted to ice the cake.” He said the cut could be extended and that the group “will do whatever is necessary to bring stability to this market.”The new cut would likely push up oil prices in the short term, but the impact after that would depend on whether Saudi Arabia decides to extend it, said Jorge Leon, senior vice president of oil markets research at Rystad Energy. The move provides “a price floor because the Saudis can play ...

Di Lorenzo becomes 1st Napoli player to lift Serie A trophy in 33 years

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

MILAN (AP) — As Giovanni Di Lorenzo became the first Napoli player to lift the Serie A trophy toward the sky since Diego Maradona, the stadium named after the Argentina great exploded into a sea of joy.Napoli had clinched its first Serie A title in 33 years with five rounds to spare but had to wait until the final day of the season to be presented with the trophy, in front of its own fans at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.Players danced joyously as they each took their turns lifting up the scudetto, while the song “We Are The Champions” was played.Napoli signed off from a stunning season with a 2-0 win over already-relegated Sampdoria, in a match where on-the-field action mattered little.Sunday saw another round of festivities in Naples, a city that hasn’t really stopped celebrating since even before Napoli clinched the title.And, just like most of the past month, the streets were packed with joyous Napoli fans, chanting and waving flags, and the air was tinged in blue — the team...

Benzema scores in final game with Madrid; Vinícius Júnior back in team after racial abuse

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

MADRID (AP) — Karim Benzema converted his penalty kick and received a standing ovation from fans before being substituted at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, putting an end to his memorable career with Real Madrid on Sunday.Benzema was replaced after scoring the 72nd-minute equalizer in Madrid’s 1-1 draw against Athletic Bilbao in his final game with the Spanish powerhouse after 14 seasons. Madrid had announced earlier Sunday that the French striker would not return next season.The last round of the Spanish league also marked Vinícius Júnior’s return to action for the first time since he was racially abused in a league match against Valencia two weeks ago.Vinícius hadn’t played in the last two Madrid games following the latest incident of racist insults targeted at him in Valencia on May 21, prompting a widespread reaction from Spanish authorities and the soccer world. The club had said he was sidelined with a minor knee problem.The Brazil forward wasn’t able to scor...

Police identify man found in Quebec fishing tragedy in which 4 children also died

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

PORTNEUF-SUR-MER — Police have identified the adult who was among a group of five people killed in a fishing accident in northeastern Quebec on Saturday. Provincial police spokeswoman Sgt. Béatrice Dorsainville says divers found the body of Keven Girard, 37, in the St. Lawrence river on Saturday night, and he was pronounced dead in hospital.Dorsainville says he lived in the village of Les Bergeronnes, which sits along the river’s shores about 60 kilometres southwest of the accident near Portneuf-sur-Mer.The man’s death was first announced after the bodies of four children — all older than 10 — were found unresponsive on the river bank Saturday.The children were found a few hours after a 2 a.m. emergency call that day about a group swept up by the tide near Portneuf-sur-Mer, a North Coast village located about 550 kilometres northeast of Montreal.Police said the five were among a group of 11 people who were fishing for capelin on foot near the shore when they were caught ...

Uncertainty remains for Halifax-area evacuees as wildfire 100 per cent contained

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

HALIFAX — In the days since he lost his home in the wildfires that swept through his Halifax-area subdivision, Dwayne Melnick has had a mission to focus on: find a place to stay. Speak to insurance companies and contractors. Begin making a list of belongings for insurance purposes.Focusing, he said, helps him keep moving forward.“I’m retired military of a long career, so I’m able to focus on the mission,” he said in a phone interview. “But at at a certain point the emotions take over as well. So it comes and goes.”Officials said Sunday the wildfire that tore through the Halifax area is 100 per cent contained. Nova Scotia’s natural resources department said the Tantallon fire northwest of the provincial capital’s downtown is now under control, meaning it is not expected to grow but is not yet out.But for the thousands of residents who were forced from their homes, uncertainty and many questions remain.Melnick says he has no doubt that h...

Wildfire tally tops 140 as thousands more evacuate northwestern Quebec

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

MONTREAL — Wildfires in northwestern Quebec prompted thousands to evacuate the area over the weekend, as the number of blazes pushed past 140 and the military geared up to fight the encroaching flames — even as that threat eased slightly Sunday on the North Shore.Some 5,500 residents of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, which borders Ontario, have been relocated, Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said at a news conference in Montreal.Another 4,500 people in the North Shore community of Sept-Îles and its outskirts were also forced from their homes due to a pair of wildfires burning north of the city, but no further evacuations are planned at the moment, Bonnardel said.Rain is expected in the area in the coming days — though not as much as initially forecasted — and the wind direction there and in Abitibi are favourable, he added.Nonetheless, the state of emergency in Sept-Îles, which sits about 890 kilometres northeast of Montreal, has been extended for five days, with evac...

Boil-water advisories lifted for three Calgary communities

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

CALGARY — Boil-water advisories in three Calgary communities that went into effect late last week have been lifted.The city says Alberta Health Services lifted the advisory for the community of Silverado on Saturday, and two other advisories in Belmont and Yorkville were lifted Sunday morning.AHS ordered the advisories early Friday after it appeared an excavator ruptured a pipe, resulting in a large pool of water flooding part of a construction site.About 1,000 homes and 100 businesses were affected.A statement from the city says people in the affected neighbourhoods should flush the water lines in their homes for 20 minutes, as well as wash tap aerators and screens in hot soapy water and then disinfect them for ten minutes in a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water. The statement says people should also follow the manufacturer’s instructions for flushing, cleaning and sanitizing refrigerators with water and ice dispensers, water coolers, filters and automatic ice makers.T...

Greek authorities rescue 91 migrants from river islet on border with Turkey

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

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities rescued 91 migrants from a river islet and transferred them to a processing center near the border with Turkey, police said Sunday.Police said that the group included 32 men, 25 women and 34 children. The Red Cross was present at the operation. Several migrants told police they were from Syria.The migrants had been on an islet on Evros River at least since Friday, when nongovernmental organizations emailed Greek authorities alerting them to their presence there. Part of the islet is Greek soil and part is Turkish. By early Sunday, the migrants had moved to the Greek side, enabling the rescue operation, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.The river’s low water levels of late “favors the illegal crossing of migrants, using islets that fall on both Greek and Turkish territory … the Greek government has appealed to the Turkish government, which was sworn in (Saturday), to coordinate border authorities and prev...