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Storm Ciaran whips western Europe, blowing record winds in France and leaving millions without power

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Winds up to 180 kilometers per hour (108 mph) slammed France’s Atlantic coast overnight as Storm Ciaran lashed countries around western Europe, uprooting trees, blowing out windows and leaving 1.2 million French households without electricity Thursday.Heavy rain associated with the storm pushed ashore at the southwest tip of England, and the U.K.’s national weather forecaster warned of flood risks and urged people to take precautions. Dutch airline KLM scrapped all flights from the early afternoon until the end of the day, citing the high sustained wind speeds and powerful gusts expected in the Netherlands.A weather-related death already was confirmed in France. A truck driver was killed when his vehicle was hit by a tree in northern France’s inland Aisne region, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said.Nearly all coastlines of the French mainland were under severe weather warnings Thursday morning, from Calais on the English Channel to all the way down ...

Chaotic and desperate scenes among Afghans returning from Pakistan, say aid agencies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Major international aid agencies on Thursday warned of chaotic and desperate scenes among Afghans who have returned from Pakistan, where security forces are detaining and deporting undocumented or unregistered foreigners.The crackdown on illegal migration mostly affects Afghans because they are the majority of foreigners living in Pakistan, although the government says it is targeting everyone who is in the country illegally. Three aid organizations — the Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee — said many people fleeing the Pakistani crackdown arrived in Afghanistan in poor condition. “The conditions in which they arrive in Afghanistan are dire, with many having endured arduous journeys spanning several days, exposed to the elements, and often forced to part with their possessions in exchange for transportation,” the agencies said in a statement.Between 9,000 and 10,000 Afghans are crossing the border every day from ...

In the news today: Holocaust education thumbs up, immigration targets to get tweaked

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Holocaust educators applaud B.C. and OntarioTo combat rising antisemitism, both British Columbia and Ontario announced this week that they would introduce mandatory Holocaust education for high school students, teaching them of the murder of six million Jews and others during the Second World War by Nazi Germany.“For our friends and neighbours in the Jewish community, this has been an incredibly frightening time. We have seen a rise in antisemitism in B.C. following the terrorist attacks in Israel, which evokes the history of persecution of Jews,” Premier David Eby said in a statement Monday. “Combating this kind of hate begins with learning from the darkest parts of our history, so the same horrors are never repeated.”Nina Krieger, executive director of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, said many people are surprised that Holocaust education wasn...

Volunteer medical students are trying to fill the health care gap for migrants in Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Using sidewalks as exam rooms and heavy red duffle bags as medical supply closets, volunteer medics spend their Saturdays caring for the growing number of migrants arriving in Chicago without a place to live.Mostly students in training, they go to police stations where migrants are first housed, prescribing antibiotics, distributing prenatal vitamins and assessing for serious health issues. These student doctors, nurses and physician assistants are the front line of health care for asylum-seekers in the nation’s third-largest city, filling a gap in Chicago’s haphazard response. “My team is a team that shouldn’t have to exist, but it does out of necessity,” said Sara Izquierdo, a University of Illinois Chicago medical student who helped found the group. “Because if we’re not doing this, I’m not sure anyone will.”More than 19,600 migrants have come to Chicago over the last year since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending buses to so-called sanctuary cities. The migrants ...

Migrants in cities across the US may need medical care. It’s not that easy to find

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

All the chairs in the waiting room were filled by dozens of newly arrived migrants waiting to be seen by a Cook County health worker at a clinic in Chicago. Julio Figuera, 43, was among them. He didn’t want to talk much about traveling to Chicago from Venezuela, where a social, political and economic crisis has pushed millions into poverty and led 7 million to flee, Figuera and three of his kids included.But somewhere along the way, he’d gotten pneumonia.Figuera, who was living with hundreds of other asylum-seekers at O’Hare International Airport while waiting for more permanent shelter, returned for follow-up care at the county clinic. The stubborn cough came back, so he did, too. The staff checked his vitals, listened to his chest and gave him a hepatitis vaccine.“I rarely get sick,” he said. “It was the journey that got me sick.”Tens of thousands of migrants who’ve come to the United States are navigating a patchwork system to find treatment for new or chronic health concerns.Doc...

Educators ‘heartened’ as B.C. and Ontario mandate Holocaust education

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

VANCOUVER — One of Claude Romney’s earliest memories from when she was a young girl in France is of her father being arrested by German soldiers and a French police officer. “When my father was arrested, the Germans were not arresting women and children yet,” Romney said in an interview. “But after my father was deported, they did start arresting women and children and so my mother and I fled Paris.” Her father would end up in the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp where he worked as a “prisoner-doctor,” because his medical knowledge was deemed useful by the Nazis as they carried out the Holocaust. As a “child Holocaust survivor,” Romney said she’s part of a shrinking number of aging people committed to educating people about what she and her family went through. To combat rising antisemitism, both British Columbia and Ontario announced this week that they would introduce mandatory Holocaust education for high school st...

Minister promises changes to temporary visas, but no ‘draconian actions’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

OTTAWA — Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he plans to recalibrate the number of people who come to Canada temporarily to make sure the program is sustainable, but details about what measures the government is considering remain unclear.Miller announced his intentions after he tabled the immigration targets for permanent residents Wednesday afternoon.The Immigration Department’s most recent annual report shows a massive increase in temporary worker visas since 2018 and there have been large increases in the number of international students as well.Miller says Canada has become “addicted” to temporary foreign workers, which has created what he called “perverse incentives” and, in some cases, led to abuse of the workers.But he says the government must not take “draconian actions” without evidence to back it up, which could create an unintended whiplash effect on the economy. He says his approach to the problem will likely differ based on t...

Live updates | Israel’s troops advance as diplomatic efforts aim to at least pause Gaza fighting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

Israel’s ground troops were advancing toward Gaza City as diplomatic efforts intensified for at least a brief pause in the fighting in Gaza’s deadliest war.President Joe Biden suggested a humanitarian “pause” and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected back in the region on Friday. Arab countries, including those allied with the U.S. and at peace with Israel, have expressed mounting unease with the war.The opening of the Rafah border crossing, allowing hundreds of foreign passport holders and wounded Palestinians to leave Gaza on Wednesday, followed weeks of talks among Egypt, Israel, the U.S. and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 8,805, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, 130 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas rampage that started the fighting, and around...

Diplomatic efforts to pause fighting gain steam as Israeli ground troops push toward Gaza City

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s ground troops advanced toward Gaza City on Thursday, as the U.S. and Arab countries intensified diplomatic efforts to ease the siege of the Hamas-ruled enclave and bring about at least a brief stop to the fighting to help civilians.President Joe Biden suggested a humanitarian “pause” on Wednesday, as hundreds of foreign passport holders and wounded Palestinians were allowed out of Gaza for the first time, exiting via Egypt’s Rafah crossing. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected back in the region on Friday.Arab countries, including those allied with the U.S. and at peace with Israel, have expressed mounting unease with the war. Jordan recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel’s envoy to remain out of the country until there’s a halt to the war and the “humanitarian catastrophe” it is causing. More than 3,600 Palestinian children have been killed in 25 days of fighting, as bombings have driven hundreds of thou...

Nippon Steel drops patent lawsuit against Toyota in name of partnership

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:19 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Nippon Steel Corp. has dropped its lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp. over a patent for a technology used in electric motors, saying wrangling among Japanese companies was not beneficial to keep the nation competitive.Toyota and Nippon Steel see their partnership as critical in the Japanese auto industry.Japan’s top steelmaker said in a statement Thursday that such internal disputes were not fitting for a period of uncertainty and rapid change toward “carbon neutrality,” referring to the recent rush to develop electric vehicles.The lawsuit over intellectual property demanding compensation for damages totaling 20 billion yen ($133 million) was filed in Tokyo District Court in October 2021. Tokyo-based Nippon Steel said it is still suing Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., or Baosteel, a Chinese steelmaker that produces and supplies the steel that it alleges violates the patent. The lawsuit against Toyota, Japan’s biggest automaker, was related to steel sheets used in ele...