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Wildfire risk remains well above average across Canada this month

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

OTTAWA — An area of land 11 times bigger than the city of Toronto burned from wildfires in the last four days — Canada’s worst spring wildfire season to date.Another 389 fires were recorded since June 1, and as of Monday morning there were 413 active fires underway, with the risk having spread to more provinces over the weekend.Nearly 250 of those were out of control in nine provinces and two territories.Mike Norton, the director general of the Northern Forestry Centre at the Department of Natural Resources, said having this many fires from coast to coast at this time of year is not normal. And the outlook for the rest of the season remains dire.In June the risk is well above average in every province and territory except Newfoundland and Labrador, where the risk is a little lower but still above average.Statistics compiled by the Canada Interagency Forest Fire Centre show more than 7,300 square kilometres of land burned in the last four days.That is nearly three times the ave...

SEC says crypto firm Binance mishandled funds, violated securities laws

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao are accused of misusing investor funds, operating as an unregistered exchange and violating a slew of U.S. securities laws in a lawsuit filed by the SEC. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit on Monday lists thirteen charges against the firm — including commingling and divert customer assets to an entity Zhao owned called Sigma Chain. Binance is a Cayman Islands limited liability company founded by Zhao. The lawsuit lays out the extent to which the firms owners knew of the alleged legal violations: “Binance’s CCO bluntly admitted to another Binance compliance officer in December 2018, “we are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.” SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a written statement that Zhao and Binance “engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of d...

Book Review: Isabel Allende’s ‘The Wind Knows My Name’ explores lives of 2 children adrift alone

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — “The Wind Knows My Name” by Isabel Allende (Ballantine Books) Prolific Latin American-born author Isabel Allende skillfully braids the traumatic stories of two young children separated from each other by decades and thousands of miles in her latest novel, “The Wind Knows My Name.”It’s a kind of homage to parents who make unthinkable decisions to save their little ones, and to kids who survive some of the toughest challenges imaginable. One fictional child featured in the book is 5-year-old Samuel Adler, whose father disappeared after the 1938 pogrom in Vienna known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. The other is 7-year-old Anita Diaz, who fled her native El Salvador with her mother only for the pair to be separated in 2019 at the Arizona-Mexico border. In both cases, the children are traveling by train and are ultimately left alone, torn from their families by war or immigration as we witness the dramatic sacrifices parents sometimes mus...

Counteroffensive? Probing defenses? What’s playing out on Ukraine’s battlefields?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

The video, released over the weekend by Ukraine, shows several of its soldiers in full combat gear raising a finger to their lips. “Plans love silence. There will be no start announcement,” say the words flashing on the screen afterward, followed by warplanes in flight.While Kyiv is keeping silent about the start of any counteroffensive, fighting is raging in several sections of the front line, signaling that the long-expected campaign could be getting underway.Moscow claims it successfully fended off a Ukrainian attempt to ram through Russia’s defenses, but some pro-Kremlin military bloggers painted a different picture, acknowledging that Kyiv’s troops made some quick gains.‘SHAPING OPERATIONS’In recent weeks, Ukraine has intensified the shelling of Russian positions and successfully pushed back against Russia’s attempts to extend its gains outside the eastern city of Bakhmut that it reclaimed last month in the war’s longest and bloodiest battle.Pro-Kyiv paramilitary groups o...

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II earns a Tony Award nomination for ‘Topdog/Underdog’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yahya Abdul-Mateen II first encountered the play “Topdog/Underdog” in college, performing a section as a favor for a student director who needed actors for a showcase. It turned into a favor for Abdul-Mateen.“I immediately came alive. I used to struggle with contemporary work because none of the characters felt like me. I didn’t really relate,” he says. “It unlocked something inside of me where I just could give everything that I had to give to it.”Abdul-Mateen returned to Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer-winning work this winter, earning a Tony Award nomination in his Broadway debut opposite Corey Hawkins. “To be on Broadway was always the goal. I didn’t even need to be a star of a show. I just wanted to be on the stage and to have more than a few lines and that was success,” he says.“Just to be able to fulfill the artistic calling and to do it on that stage was what the goal was. And to have my first Broadway experience doing ‘Topdog/Underdog,’ it’s just a gi...

Home destroyed in ignition operation as fire continues to burn near N.W.T. community

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

SAMBAA K’E, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES — A home in Sambaa K’e has been destroyed during an ignition operation as an out-of-control wildfire grows closer to the community in the Northwest Territories. The territorial government says the operation between the airstrip and the lake was meant to burn available fuel to create a break between the wildfire and the community previously known as Trout Lake.It says an unexpected thunderstorm caused the test fire to flare up and, despite efforts to extinguish it, it crossed the airstrip toward the home Sunday evening.  The territory says containing the test fire was difficult as low visibility due to smoke has meant aircraft are unable to fly.The wildfire near the Alberta boundary was last estimated to have burned about 2,029 square kilometres in the territory and is now 15 kilometres from Sambaa K’e. Residents of the community, which is home to about 97 people, were ordered to evacuate the area Wednesday when the fire was 30 kilo...

Mike Pence files to run for president

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

Mike Pence has filed to run for president in 2024, officially setting up a showdown between the Republican Party’s most recent president and vice president as he and former President Trump seek the GOP nomination.Pence, who had telegraphed for months that he would likely enter the race, will have to overcome Trump’s strength with the Republican primary electorate and convince voters he is a better choice than the man he spent four years cheerleading before their relationship fractured after the 2020 election.The former vice president is slated to launch his campaign Wednesday with an event in Iowa, which will be followed that evening by a CNN town hall in Des Moines.Pence joins a growing field of candidates but enters the race with some of the strongest name recognition of any Republican after serving as vice president in the Trump administration for four years. He previously served as a congressman and as governor of Indiana, and his team believes his lengthy conservative track rec...

Just what is a 'sonic boom?'

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) - Over the weekend, an F-16 fighter jet was sent to investigate a small private plane that wasn't communicating with air traffic controllers. It then changed course, heading toward Washington, D.C., which is restricted airspace.The F-16 was in a hurry, traveling fast enough to create a sonic boom. Theexplosion-like sound was heard throughout D.C. and even in Baltimore, Maryland. Buildings even shook a bit.How did a sonic boom happen in Washington, D.C.?To explain a sonic boom, look at a boat. As a slow-moving boat moves through the water, it creates a series of waves that move outfrom the boat. These waves have plenty of room to rise and gently subside.But if a boat is moving faster, these waves don't have time to get out of the way of thenext wave, so instead of many small waves, it creates a large one. It's called a wake. Another example is the crack of a whip. The handle is thicker and has more...

Dean's Reviews: 'West Side Story' at Lyric Opera House

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

WGN Entertainment Reporter Dean Richards reviews 'West Side Story' premiere at the Lyric Opera House.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

PHOTOS: Lightning, rainbows dazzle skies above Central Texas

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:44:33 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Severe storms swept across Central Texas over the weekend, bringing with them hail, strong winds, lots of lightning and even some rainbows in their wake.KXAN viewers from across the region sent in some great photos during and after the storms.Check out some of the best in our photo gallery below:Sunrise in Highland Haven on June 3, 2023. (Courtesy Karen C.)Storm clouds move into Pflugerville on June 3, 2023. (KXAN Viewer Photo)Hail accumulation between Llano and Castell on June 3, 2023. (Courtesy Kristopher Overholt)Hail accumulation between Llano and Castell on June 3, 2023. (Courtesy Kristopher Overholt)Hail accumulation between Llano and Castell on June 3, 2023. (Courtesy Kristopher Overholt)Hail accumulation between Llano and Castell on June 3, 2023. (Courtesy Kristopher Overholt)Storm clouds over northwest Austin on June 3, 2023. (KXAN Viewer Photo)Lightning over Q2 Stadium in Austin on June 3, 2023. (Courtesy Aaron Vincent)A double rainbow over Liberty Hill on ...