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UK political parties are getting the jitters over green policies after a special election verdict

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Environmentalists cautioned Britain’s main political parties on Sunday not to water down their climate change promises after a special election result widely seen as a thumbs-down from voters to a tax on polluting cars.The governing Conservatives suffered two heavy defeats in a trio of by-elections for House of Commons seats on Thursday. But they managed to win the third contest, for a suburban London district, by focusing on a divisive green levy imposed by London’s Labour Party mayor.The Ultra Low Emission Zone, or ULEZ, charges drivers of older gas and diesel vehicles 12.50 pounds ($16) a day to move around the city. The charge was announced by then-Mayor Boris Johnson, a Conservative, in 2015 and took effect for central London in 2019. Mayor Sadiq Khan plans to extend it next month to the city’s less densely populated suburbs, where more people rely on cars to get around.Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said the mayor should “reflect” on the policy in the wake of t...

Indian rescuers recover 27 dead but no sign of dozens of missing villagers swamped by a landslide

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of rescuers have recovered 27 dead as they pushed on with a fourth day of searching for scores of people still missing after heavy monsoon rains triggered a massive landslide in a village in western India, an official said Sunday.Seventy-eight people are still unaccounted for since the landslide hit Irshalwadi village on Wednesday night in Raigadh district, nearly 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Mumbai, the Maharashtra state capital. At least 17 of 48 houses in the village were fully or partially buried under the debris, officials said.Rescuers were mostly using rods and shovels. Heavy equipment like earth movers and excavators could not reach the village with no paved roads and a massive sludge around it, said Deepak Avadh, an official of the National Disaster Response Force. A dog squad was also deployed to detect any survivors.From the base of the hill, it takes about 90 minutes to reach Irshalwadi by foot. Rainfall and a threat of more landslides caused t...

Greek authorities evacuate some 19,000 people as wildfire blazes on the island of Rhodes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Some 19,000 people have been evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires continued burning for a sixth day on three fronts, Greek authorities said on Sunday.The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”Local police said that 16,000 were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea, from 12 villages and several hotels, with no casualties. Six people were briefly hospitalized with respiratory problems and were later released.On Sunday morning, 266 firefighters and 49 engines on the ground were joined by five helicopters and 10 planes – seven Greek, two Turkish and one Croatian to help put out the wildfire, authorities said. A further 15 engines are expected later in the day.In the mountainous part of Rhodes, an active front of the wildfire, firefighters have been trying to stop the blaze from spreading to nearby dense forests.Southwest of the resort of Kiotari, the main focus of Saturday’...

Spanish voters make their choice in an election that could see another EU country swing to the right

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Voters are going to the polls in Spain Sunday in a general election that could make the country the latest European Union member to swing to the political right.Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers Party and its far-left partner, Unidas Podemos, took a severe beating in local and regional elections in May. Sánchez has been premier since 2018.Most opinion polls for Sunday’s voting have put the right-wing Popular Party, which won the May vote, ahead of the Socialists but likely needing the support of the extreme right Vox party if they want to form a government.Such a coalition would return a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country transitioned to democracy in the late 1970s following the nearly 40-year rule of dictator Francisco Franco. A PP-Vox government would mean another EU member has moved firmly to the right, a trend seen recently in Sweden, Finland and Italy. Countries su...

Refugee claims followed Montreal AIDS summit marred by visa woes, planning issues

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

OTTAWA — Almost one-sixth of guests at a major AIDS conference in Montreal last year who received Canadian visas ended up claiming asylum, according to internal data obtained by The Canadian Press.The documents also show Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada struggled to work with the International AIDS Society as both tried to avoid a mass refusal of visas.When the society’s conference got underway last July in Montreal, dozens of delegates from Africa had been denied visas or never received responses to their applications. Some accused Ottawa of racism on stage, saying international gatherings should not return to Canada.The controversy followed similar incidents at other global summits hosted in Canada in recent years, for which some African delegates could not obtain visas despite receiving invitations on Canadian government letterhead.Documents obtained through access-to-information laws show that 1,020 or 36 per cent of visa applications for last summer’s AI...

CBC head ‘blindsided’ staff with comments on broadcaster’s future, Poilievre: emails

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

OTTAWA — After the head of Canada’s public broadcaster gave a newspaper interview earlier this year that promised CBC would eventually become a digital-only product and that criticized Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, senior managers were quick to refute her comments, internal emails suggest.The Globe and Mail reported in February based on an interview with Catherine Tait that she was preparing to end traditional TV and radio broadcasts and move completely to a digital platform, but that this likely wouldn’t happen in the next decade.Emails that discussed the unease of CBC staff in the wake of that report were disclosed to The Canadian Press under access-to-information law.Months earlier, the BBC had announced a plan to go online-only within the decade.“But this is not the reality for us at CBC,” a senior manager for CBC British Columbia and Alberta said in an email. “Even with a plan to advance and move towards a streaming future, no Canadian will...

Main Street closure means Stillwater can host street dance

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

As soon as Cory Buettner saw the black-and-white photograph of a street dance on Main Street in downtown Stillwater posted on Facebook, he knew he wanted to recreate the scene this summer.The photo, taken by Stillwater photographer Frederick Holcombe in 1901, shows hundreds of people dancing to a big band in the middle of the street.With Main Street closed from Myrtle Street to Olive Street for the next two months, Buettner, owner of Leo’s Grill & Malt Shop, thought this would be the perfect time for a modern take on the historic event.On Friday, city and Minnesota Department of Transportation officials signed off on his plans for an old-fashioned street dance on Aug. 5 with music from noon to 10 p.m.“When life gives you orange cones and orange detour signs, make orange juice,” Buettner said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a dance like this here on Main Street.”Crews are working on finishing the new $3.6 million Chestnut Street Plaza, and traffic is detoured a...

Literary calendar for week of July 23

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

Bill Fletcher Jr. discusses race, class, and the crime novel, inspired by his new book “The Man Who Changed Colors” on Monday. (Courtesy of the East Side Freedom Library)BILL FLETCHER JR.: Racial justice, labor and international activist, scholar and author discusses race, class and the crime novel, based on his new novel “The Man Who Changed Colors,” about a Cape Cod newspaper reporter who questions a shipyard worker’s death, exploring the complicated relationships between Cape Verdean Americans (from the West Africa country of Cape Verde) and African-Americans, the liberation movement in Cape Verde, and fascists emigrating to the U.S. Fletcher has been involved in the labor movement for decades and is a widely known speaker and writer in print and on radio, television, and the web. He has been in leadership positions with many prominent union and labor organizations, including the AFL-CIO. His previous book is the murder mystery “The Man Who Fel...

Tickets on sale for Opus & Olives fundraiser for St. Paul libraries

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

Tickets are on sale for Friends of the St. Paul Public Library’s 20th annual Opus & Olives fundraising gala featuring bestselling authors Scott W. Berg, Sadeqa Johnson, Jean Kwok and Don Winslow discussing their new books. The Oct. 8 event at St. Paul RiverCentre includes a cocktail reception, dinner and author presentations.About the authors:Scott W. Berg, born and raised in the Twin Cities, will introduce “The Burning of the World,” about the 1871 fire in Chicago, the biggest and most destructive disaster the U.S. had ever endured, and Kate Leary, the scapegoat whose barn caught fire.Sadeqa Johnson, a former public relations manager, is the bestselling author of five novels and recipient of the National Book Award. Her latest is “The House of Eve,” about a 15-year-old who is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college when a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation passed onto her like a...

Ramsey County lowers speed limits on 34 miles with on-street bike lanes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

Ramsey County is reducing vehicular speed limits on 34 miles of county roads that have on-street bike lanes.The move, approved Tuesday by a unanimous Board of Commissioners, is meant to slow auto speeds on 36 segments, representing 12 percent of all county roads. St. Paul Public Works and county traffic engineers have been studying the issue since at least April 2022.“The goals were to promote more uniformity and consistency of speed limits along corridors and increase the safety and level of comfort of those people walking, rolling or biking,” said Rose Lindsay, a spokeswoman for Ramsey County.Speed limits on most segments will be reduced by 5 mph. Posted speeds on a stretch of Larpenteur Avenue between Dale and Rice streets will be reduced by 10 mph because of frequent crashes in that area.County traffic engineers said they followed a general formula that bases speed limits on the 50th percentile speed for that roadway — the top speed reached by half the drivers ...