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Greece reinforces firefighting forces as a massive wildfire in the northeast burns for a 13th day

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities further reinforced firefighting forces in the country’s northeast Thursday, where a massive blaze in its 13th day has flared up once more and prompted authorities to alert area residents to be on standby for possible evacuation.More than 100 extra firefighters were deployed, bringing the total to 582, backed by a fleet of 10 planes and seven helicopters from nine European countries, Greece’s fire department said. The fire that started Aug. 19 has decimated homes and vast tracts of forest in the Alexandroupolis and Evros region, near the border with Turkey. It was blamed for 20 of last week’s 21 wildfire-related deaths in Greece.Of those deaths, 18 are believed to have been migrants whose bodies were found together in an area the fire had passed through. The bodies of two more victims, also believed to have been migrants, were found on different days elsewhere in the broader area of the fire. Several other people, including the two-member...

A train slams into a group of workers on the tracks at an Italian station, killing 5 of them

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

ROME (AP) — A speeding out-of-service train slammed into a group of workers doing nighttime track maintenance in northern Italy on Thursday, killing five of them, authorities said. The crash occurred shortly after midnight at a station in Brandizzo, a town in Italy’s Piedmont region. Piedmont Gov. Alberto Cirio provided the death toll and said the accident’s cause was under investigation. Brandizzo Mayor Paolo Bodoni said there were indications that the crew of the train was unaware there were workers on the tracks, reported La Stampa, a newspaper in Piedmont’s main city, Turin.State radio initially said authorities had estimated that the train was moving at about 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph). But a preliminary investigation by railway police later lowered the speed estimate to about 100 kilometers per hour (about 62 mph), the Corriere della Sera newspaper said.The train consisted of an engine car and 11 empty passenger cars that it was transporting, Corriere della ...

Conductor John Eliot Gardiner pulls out of future engagements after allegedly hitting a singer

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Prominent classical music conductor John Eliot Gardiner is pulling out of all engagements until next year after allegedly hitting a singer backstage following a concert. The British conductor said in a statement Thursday that he was stepping back to get “the specialist help I recognize that I have needed for some time.” His agency, Intermusica, said he “deeply regrets his behavior” and intends to get counseling. “I want to apologize to colleagues who have felt badly treated and anyone who may feel let down by my decision to take time out to address my issues. I am heartbroken to have caused so much distress, and I am determined to learn from my mistakes,” he said.Gardiner, 80, allegedly hit William Thomas after the bass singer left the podium on the wrong side after a performance of Berlioz’s opera “Les Troyens” at the Festival Berlioz in La Cote-Saint-Andre, southeastern France.U.K. newspaper The Times reported that the conductor confronted Thomas after th...

Laurentian Bank reports $49.3M Q3 profit, down from $55.9M a year ago

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

MONTREAL — Laurentian Bank of Canada reported a third-quarter profit of $49.3 million, down from $55.9 million in the same quarter last year.The bank, which announced it was conducting a review of its strategic options in July, said the profit amounted to $1.03 per diluted share of the quarter ended July 31, down from $1.18 per diluted share a year earlier.Revenue totalled $260.8 million for the quarter compared with $260.0 million in the same quarter last year.Laurentian’s provision for credit losses amounted to $13.3 million for its third quarter compared with $16.6 million a year earlier.On an adjusted basis, the bank says it earned $1.22 per diluted share in its most recent quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.24 per diluted share a year ago.Analysts on average on had expected a profit of $1.16 per share, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2023.Companies in this stor...

No injuries after shots fired at home near Dundas and Broadview: police

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

Police are searching for a gunman after shots were fired at a home in Toronto’s Riverside neighbourhood early Thursday morning.Officers responded to the scene near Dundas Street East and Broadview Avenue just before 1:30 a.m.Police say the front door of the home was struck by gunfire but no injuries were reported.It is not yet known if the shooting was random or targeted.Police haven’t released a description of a suspect at this time.No further details have been released.FIREARM DISCHARGE:Dundas St East + Broadview Av1:20 a.m.– In a residential neighbourhood– Someone discharged a firearm, striking the door of a residence– No reported injuries– Anyone w/info contact @TPS55Div 416-808-5500#GO2028769^lb— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) August 31, 2023

Gabon election results were a ‘smokescreen’ for soldiers to oust unpopular president, analysts say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The ouster of Gabon’s president by mutinous soldiers appears to have been well organized and capitalized on the population’s grievances against the government as an excuse to seize power, analysts said. Soldiers on Wednesday ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled the oil-rich country in Central Africa for more than five decades. The coup leaders accused Bongo of irresponsible governance that risked leading the country into chaos and said they put him under house arrest and detained several Cabinet members. The head of Gabon’s elite republican guard, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, was announced on state TV as the nation’s new leader hours after Bongo was declared the winner of a weekend presidential election that observers said was marred with irregularities and a lack of transparency.While there were legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo’s rule, his ousting is just a pretext to claim power for thems...

Iran accuses Israel of supplying potentially exploding parts for ballistic missile program

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran accused Israel on Thursday of trying to sabotage its ballistic missile program through faulty foreign parts that could explode, damaging or destroying the weapons before they could be used. Israel did not immediately acknowledge the accusation, made in a report aired on Iranian state television. The report described the alleged Israeli operation as “one of the biggest attempts at sabotage” it had ever seen. It accused Israeli Mossad agents of supplying the faulty parts, which the state TV report described as low-price “connectors.” Footage aired by state TV showed the alleged parts, some of them popping up into the air. The report did not say when authorities discovered the faulty parts, nor if they had been installed in any ballistic missile prior. In May 2022, an explosion at a major Iranian military and weapons development base east of Tehran called Parchin killed an engineer and wounded another. Other blasts have struck the program as well. Israel ...

Nissan is reusing the batteries from old Leaf electric vehicles to make portable power sources

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Batteries in older Nissan Leaf electric vehicles are getting a new life as portable power sources that can be used to run gadgets on the go or deliver emergency power in disasters.Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. has sold more than 650,000 Leaf EVs. Their batteries often retain a charging capacity longer than the car’s life span.Nissan says it is using the old batteries in portable power sources it developed with electronics maker JVCKenwood Corp. and 4R Energy Corp., a company co-owned by Nissan and Sumitomo Corp. which works on ecological vehicles and power storage systems.The 14.4-kilogram (32-pound) power source sells for 170,500 yen ($1,170) in Japan. Overseas sales are not yet set.Each Leaf uses 48 battery modules. The portable power stations contain two modules.Nissan officials said they are testing the batteries in Leafs after their owners stop driving them, and reusing those that can still hold a charge.EV batteries use expensive rare metals ...

Some in Africa are celebrating the coups. Many are fed up and desperate for change, analysts say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — After mutinous soldiers in Gabon announced they had deposed the country’s president, many residents danced in the streets and declared themselves free from the presidential family’s 55-year rule. It’s becoming a familiar scene in West and Central Africa, which has recorded eight coups since 2020.“It is an expression of the popular dissatisfaction,” said Hermann Ngoulou in the Gabonese capital of Libreville. “The country has been experiencing a deep crisis on all levels due to bad governance, the rising cost of food (and) the high cost of living.”There have been about 100 documented coups across Africa since the 1950s. This resurgence of military takeovers is often prompted by diminishing democratic dividends, according to analysts.In Gabon, the coup occurred shortly after the president was declared the winner of the election from which international observers, for the first time, had been barred.That’s not unusual in a region where elections are often alleged t...

Building fire in Johannesburg leaves at least 73 dead, many of them homeless: authorities

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:30:17 GMT

A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was occupied by homeless people and squatters, leaving at least 73 people dead early Thursday, emergency services in South Africa’s biggest city said.Some of the people living in a maze of shacks and other makeshift structures inside the derelict building threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire and might have died then, a local government official said.A witness said he saw people throwing babies out of the burning building in an attempt to save them and that at least one man died when he jumped from a window on the third floor and hit the concrete sidewalk “head first.”As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said, including in the basement, which should have been used as a parking garage. Others estimated an even higher number of occupants.Seven of the victims were children, the youngest a one-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.Cit...