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5.0 magnitude quake strikes Dominican Republic near border with Haiti

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck the northwest Dominican Republic on Friday near the border with Haiti.The tremor occurred at a depth of 12 miles (19 kilometers) just west-northwest of Las Matas de Santa Cruz, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Officials in the Dominican Republic said the quake was felt in the border town of Montecristi all the way south to the capital of Santo Domingo.It was the strongest earthquake to hit the country this year, Dominican geologist Osiris de León said.Jenrry Castro, mayor of the northwest town of Villa Vazquez, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that minor damage was reported in two schools. Products also fell off supermarkets shelves in the area, he said, adding that crews were inspecting all schools and municipal buildings in the town.The quake occurred in an area that has become a flashpoint in an ongoing border dispute between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.No immediate damage or injuries were reported ...

Acapulco recovery moves ahead in fits and starts after Hurricane Otis devastation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — The 58-year-old woman, a cook by profession, toiled on a recent afternoon inside a luxury apartment with expansive views of the Pacific, putting Gucci and Dior shoes into a bag to take to her employer. Around her only the apartment’s skeleton and piles of debris, walls and windows stripped by Hurricane Otis, remained.But Rufina Ruiz was optimistic. Her house, in a suburb near the entrance to Acapulco, only flooded, while homes in the adjacent neighborhood were “buried.” And she still has a job, even though that meant she was not home when the government census of the hurricane’s victims was taken, which would have translated into aid. “I’d rather work,” she said.More than two weeks after Otis went from tropical storm to Category 5 hurricane in a record 12 hours, catching authorities and residents flat footed, this city of 1 million, a blend of big hotels and impoverished suburbs, tourism and drug violence, is trying to recover at a similarly unequal rhythm.Ca...

Maple Leafs’ Matthews passes on chance to join Nylander on Toronto subway

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

It doesn’t sound like Auston Matthews will be joining Toronto Maple Leafs teammate William Nylander on the subway to commute to work anytime soon.A photo of Nylander riding the subway to Scotiabank Arena went viral this week — he was sitting beside a man with a Leafs hat — and then the Toronto forward told Postmedia’s Terry Koshan that he takes the TTC to most games.Apparently Nylander takes the subway quite often on game days pic.twitter.com/xfYDMYNTdj— Denise Steele (@Deniseasteele) November 9, 2023Matthews likely hurt his chances of getting a gig as a TTC spokesperson with his response to Nylander’s choice of travel.“I usually like to give myself enough time to get to the rink. I don’t know if he’s in the same category there,” Matthews said with a smile on Friday when asked if he’ll consider public transit.“I think the weekday games, he’ll find himself on the subway every once in a while. I mean, I don’t blam...

Foreign meddling inquiry turns to experienced hands as deadlines loom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

OTTAWA — A federal commission of inquiry into foreign interference is turning to veterans of previous inquiries as it hires staff who will work on a tight timeline.Marie-Josée Hogue, who heads the commission, has chosen Shantona Chaudhury to be lead counsel of the inquiry.Chaudhury was recently co-lead counsel of the Public Order Emergency Commission, which examined the government’s response to protests that severely disrupted downtown Ottawa and key border crossings early last year.Several lawyers hired to be counsel for the interference inquiry also worked on the public order commission, or other inquiries.Paul Cavalluzzo, who was lead counsel for the inquiry into the case of Maher Arar, has been brought on as a senior policy adviser.The foreign interference inquiry has also issued a call for applications for standing from individuals and groups interested in taking part.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2023.The Canadian Press

Former Indiana legislator agrees to plead guilty to fraud in casino corruption scheme

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A former Indiana lawmaker has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge alleging that he accepted promises of lucrative employment from a gaming company during his time in public office, federal prosecutors said Friday. Sean Eberhart, 57, agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, according to court documents filed Thursday. The offense is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release following any imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Eberhart’s attorney declined to comment when reached by phone Friday. A plea hearing had not been scheduled for Eberhart as of Friday afternoon, according to court records.The former Republican state representative represented central Indiana’s House District 57 for 16 years before leaving office in November 2022. He is accused of accepting compensation and the promise of future employment in exchange for favorable action in the General Assembly, pros...

A teenager taken from occupied Mariupol to Russia will return to Ukraine, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Ukrainian and Russian officials on Friday reported reaching an agreement to bring a Ukrainian teenager taken to Russia amid the war last year back to his home country, in accordance with his wishes. Bohdan Yermokhin, a 17-year-old whose parents passed away years ago, will be reunited with a cousin “in a third country” on his 18th birthday later this month, with a view to then return to Ukraine, Russian children’s rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova said in an online statement Friday. Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets also confirmed on Friday that Yermokhin “will soon be in Ukraine.” Yermokhin is one of thousands of Ukrainian children taken to Russia from Ukrainian regions occupied since the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion, an effort that has prompted the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Lvova-Belova. Judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, said they found ...

Mexico’s ruling party faces a major test: Can it avoid falling apart without charismatic president?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s immensely powerful ruling party may face its biggest test yet Friday, as it announces its candidates for the 2024 gubernatorial elections.The challenge isn’t coming from flagging opposition parties. Rather, the party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has to prove it can really hold together and prevent the desertion of candidates who weren’t picked — or whether, with the end of term for its charismatic founder, the ideologically diverse party could start falling apart.Since López Obrador founded his Morena party in 2014, it has largely served to promote him, with little ideological consistency and a leading elite made up of disparate elements, in many cases recruited from other parties or resuscitated despite past scandals. But López Obrador, who can’t run for re-election, leaves office in 10 months. Morena has already announced its nominee for the presidential race, former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who is seen as a faithful ...

Defence committee calls for open competition on military plane bid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

MONTREAL — A parliamentary committee is demanding that Ottawa ensure an open bidding process for new military surveillance planes, rather than a sole-source contract.Echoing calls from the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, the House of Commons defence committee passed a motion Thursday that asks the federal government to put out a request for proposals before it chooses a replacement for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CP-140 Aurora — maritime patrol planes set to retire in 2030 after a half-century of service.For months, Bombardier CEO Éric Martel has been pushing Ottawa to formally ask for tenders as he promotes the Montreal-based company’s reconnaissance aircraft over a Boeing Co. alternative, the P-8A Poseidon — the apparent front-runner.Bombardier joined forces earlier this year with U.S.-based General Dynamics on a patrol aircraft, a modified version of its Global 6500 business jet with submarine-hunting technology. The first plane is not expected to role off the asse...

Birchmount Hospital being redeveloped, adding community care facility in L’Amoreaux

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

As Scarborough and nearby communities continue to see a surge in residents, the need for more health care spaces like Birchmount Hospital are critical.Since being built in 1985, there haven’t been any major changes to the footprint at the hospital located on Birchmount Road near Finch Avenue East.For frontline medical professionals like Dr. Mayoorendra Ravichandiran, an emergency room physician and the associate medical director of Birchmount Hospital’s emergency department, the challenges are present every day.“I think, to put it simply, a lot of times it has to do with space,” Ravichandiran said during a tour CityNews received at Birchmount Hospital.“This is a challenge that many hospitals face, but I think in Scarborough and Birchmount, especially, there hasn’t been much change to the infrastructure in years.”During the tour of the intensive care, medicine and emergency units, each area had one or two room vacancies each. All the others w...

UK judge decries legal tactics used by sick child’s parents as he refuses to let her die at home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:47 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A British judge on Friday expressed profound concerns about the tactics of the parents of a terminally ill infant as he refused to allow them to take her home from the hospital to die.The decision by Court of Appeal Justice Peter Jackson came after the parents of 8-month-old Indi Gregory and the Italian government had sought permission for her to be treated at Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital in Rome. A lower court had previously ruled in favor of doctors who said it was in Indi’s best interests to remove life support and allow her to die in a hospital or hospice.Jackson said doctors caring for Indi and other critically-ill children had been put in an “extremely challenging” position by the legal tussle and decried what he described as “manipulative litigation tactics” designed to frustrate orders made by judges after careful consideration. Such actions will not be tolerated, Jackson said. Indi’s parents have fought to continue life support for their ...