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Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr holiday with feasts, prayers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The holiday of Eid al-Fitr ushered in a day of prayers and joy for Muslims around the world on Friday. The celebration was marred by tragedy amid the explosion of conflict in Sudan, while in other countries it came against the backdrop of hopes for a better future.After the Ramadan month of fasting, Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr with feasts and family visits. The start of the holiday is traditionally based on sightings of the new moon, which vary according to geographic location.In Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, staccato blasts of gunfire marked the early hours of the feast day. A deadly conflict in the vast African country that erupted in the past week has forced many people to shelter indoors ahead of the holiday, even as water and food for civilians runs low.In Jerusalem, thousands of faithful gathered at Islam’s third holiest shrine, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where tensions with Israeli authorities have seethed in the past month. The compound also hosts Judais...

Former industry minister takes job at Rogers two years after leaving office

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

OTTAWA — Former Liberal industry minister Navdeep Bains is joining Rogers as the company’s new chief corporate affairs officer.Rogers announced several new appointments to its executive leadership team on Thursday, including Bains and a former Shaw executive. “This is a terrific opportunity to build on my commitment to champion critical issues facing both Canada and Canadians,” Bains said in a statement. “It’s an exciting time to join the company and to work with Tony and the team to help grow the digital economy and deliver more choice, more value and more connectivity for consumers.”Bains served in Prime  Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet as industry minister from 2015 until early 2021, and chose to not run for re-election that year.The industry minister is responsible for overseeing the country’s national industrial strategy, including regulating national sectors such as telecommunications.Ben Klass, a PhD candidate at Carleton University...

Mohawk Mothers, McGill reach deal to search for graves at site of former hospital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

MONTREAL — McGill University and a group of Indigenous elders have reached a deal to search for the possibility of unmarked graves at the former site of a Montreal hospital.The Mohawk Mothers allege there are bodies of Indigenous patients buried on and around the old grounds of the Royal Victoria Hospital, which McGill is renovating to expand its campus. The Mothers say they have uncovered evidence of graves following interviews with survivors of mind-control experiments that took place in the 1950s and 1960s at a psychiatric institute affiliated with the hospital.Canada and the United States allegedly funded abusive psychological experiments on vulnerable patients with the MK-ULTRA program. Last October, the group obtained an injunction ordering a pause on excavation work on the university-expansion project with a judge ruling the renovations would cause irreparable harm.On Thursday the Quebec Superior Court gave legal status to the agreement that would allow three archeologists — ...

Labour board flags ‘irregularities,’ low turnout in public service strike vote

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal labour board has found low turnout and irregularities of significant concern with the strike vote that led more than 100,000 public servants to walk off the job this week.The board found in a decision posted Thursday that the Public Service Alliance of Canada failed to properly let members know it had shortened the voting period by eight days, moving the deadline from April 19 to April 11.Only about 35 per cent of members of the bargaining unit actually cast a ballot, and 80 per cent of them were in favour of a strike mandate. Union president Chris Aylward hasn’t previously revealed how many members were in favour of a strike mandate, except to say that it was an “overwhelming majority.”The decision arose from a complaint by a public servant who asked the board to overturn the result of the vote when he was unable to cast his ballot. The board decided against granting that request because it’s unlikely there would have been a different re...

White House: No evacuation plans for all Americans in Sudan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — The Pentagon has deployed forces and is developing options to assist in the possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, but the White House said Friday there are no plans for now for a broader pullout of the potentially thousands of other Americans from the African country where warring factions are in a violent conflict.The troop moves by the U.S. military are intended “to ensure that we provide as many options as possible, if we are called on to do something. We haven’t been called on to do anything yet,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a news conference in Germany. Austin and U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, held meeting meetings with defense leaders from other countries to discuss additional support for Ukraine. An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum as being in Sudan. The State Department has cautioned that that figure probably is inacc...

Hassan Diab’s supporters urge Canada to rebuff extradition after guilty verdict

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

OTTAWA — Supporters of Hassan Diab are calling on Canada to refuse any new extradition request from France after a court found the Ottawa sociology professor guilty of a 1980 bombing.Diab, who has always maintained innocence, was tried in absentia in Paris for the attack on a synagogue that killed four and wounded 46.A French court sentenced Diab to life in prison today and issued an arrest warrant for him.Following lengthy proceedings that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, Diab was extradited to France where he spent three years behind bars, including time in solitary confinement.French judges dismissed the allegations against him in January 2018 and ordered his immediate release, allowing him to return to Ottawa where he lives with his wife and children.In May 2021, a French court upheld a decision directing Diab to stand trial, a ruling his Canadian lawyer called inexplicable.This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2023.Jim Bronskill, The Ca...

Confusion as Musk’s Twitter yanks blue checks from agencies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

Twitter has long been a way for people to keep track of tornado watches, train delays, news alerts or the latest crime warnings from their local police department.But when the Elon Musk-owned platform started stripping blue verification checkmarks this week from accounts that don’t pay a monthly fee, it left public agencies and other organizations around the world scrambling to figure out a way to show they’re trustworthy and avoid impersonators.High-profile users who lost their blue checks Thursday included Beyoncé, Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey and former President Donald Trump. But checks were also removed from accounts for major transit systems from San Francisco to Paris, national parks like Yosemite and official weather trackers.Twitter had about 300,000 verified users under the original blue-check system. In the past, the checks meant that Twitter had verified that users were who they said they were.While Twitter is now offering gold checks for “verified organizatio...

Eastern Canada sees price jump at the pump, but experts say gas costs could level off

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

After a surge in gas prices across Eastern Canada earlier this week, experts say costs at the pump could level off despite the normal high-demand period associated with this time of year.As the cost of oil edged below US$80 per barrel this week, gas prices soared to around 164.9 cents per litre across much of Ontario on Wednesday, marking an eight-cent jump fuelled by the annual switchover to summer blends.Roger McKnight, chief petroleum analyst at En-Pro International, says prices often rise heading into the summer as the weather improves and Canadians head out on the road for weekend getaways.But he says this year could be an outlier, with inflation and the threat of a recession holding demand back.While gas prices in Ontario were sitting at around 159.1 cents per litre on Friday, they continue to linger above 165 cents per litre east of the province and as high as 182.9 cents in B.C., according to price-tracking website Gasbuddy.com.McKnight calls it a “state of flux”...

Chase warns Chicago employees about potential for more downtown disturbances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

CHICAGO — Several large employers are cautioning their workers about the potential for more downtown disturbances Friday and Saturday night.  There is no indication the concern rises to the level of closing offices or business, and it’s not uncommon for social media chatter to trigger alerts that turn out to be unfounded.Chase sent an email to its Chicago employees that reads in part: “Global Security is monitoring developing information related to a potential gathering of juveniles in downtown Chicago on the evenings of Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22.  We wanted to alert all Chicago employees in an abundance of caution as these gathering could follow recent trends where incidents of disruption and disorder occur...” Chicago police detail safety plans after last weekend’s violence in Loop Two teens were shot and 15 people were arrested last Saturday night in the Loop after crowds flooded the streets.2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins says CPD command staff plan to put captains a...

Michigan man gets 10 months over racist attempts to scare Black Lives Matter protesters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:20 GMT

(The Hill) – A Michigan man was sentenced to 10 months in prison over attempts to intimidate Black Lives Matter protesters.Kenneth Pilon, 62, called nine Starbucks stores and told employees to threaten and racially demean employees supporting Black Lives Matter. He also threatened to kill Black people, according to court records. Michigan man had left nooses, racist notes to stem Black Lives Matter protests Pilon had called the stores in the days after Starbucks announced it would provide T-shirts for employees who wanted to support Black Lives Matter in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.Pilon also left nooses and threatening notes at Starbucks parking lots and other establishments.One note read, “An accessory to be worn with your ‘BLM’ t-shirt. Happy protesting!” court records show.