It was five years ago today the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic because of the novel coronavirus.

It marked the start of a very different way of life, disrupting almost every part of our society.

What have we learned from that fateful day five years ago, and what has been the impact on society and on public health?

In today’s The Big Story podcast, host Gurdeep Ahluwalia speaks with Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch about his recollections and thoughts on how we changed as a society because of COVID-19.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A car bomb exploded Tuesday at a hotel in the central Somali city of Beledweyne in a militant attack that killed at least six people, including two prominent traditional elders, according to witnesses.

The explosion targeted the Cairo Hotel, which houses traditional elders and military officers currently involved in coordinating the government’s offensive against the militant group al-Shabab.

The blast triggered intense gunfire as attackers stormed the hotel, engaging security forces.

“Six people, including two well-known traditional elders, were killed in the attack,” said Muhsin Abdullahi, a resident who spoke to The Associated Press by phone. He added that several wounded were hospitalized.

Footage shared on social media showed thick plumes of black smoke rising above the hotel, with significant destruction to the building.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

However, al-Shabab frequently carries out bombings and assaults targeting government officials and military personnel in the Horn of Africa nation. The group controls parts of rural Somalia and has continued to pose a significant threat despite sustained military operations by Somali government troops and African Union peacekeepers.

Beledweyne, located about 335 kilometers (208 miles) north of the federal capital Mogadishu, is the capital of the Hiran region and a strategic location in Somalia’s ongoing campaign against al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida.

Omar Faruk, The Associated Press

Alimentation Couche-Tard says it’s “disappointed” with the “limited” engagement it alleges it’s received from 7-Eleven’s parent company, since it made a play for the Japanese business last year.

A lengthy statement from Couche-Tard says the Quebec company’s efforts to pursue a possible deal by being friendly but persistent have come “in the face of significant frustration and distraction.”

Couche-Tard says even after it fulfilled Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd.’s request for a revised, yen-based bid in January, it has seen little engagement from its takeover target, which it charged is focused only on how the companies could receive U.S. regulatory approval for a potential tie-up.

Seven & i has maintained it would be difficult to satisfy U.S. regulators’ competition concerns, but Couche-Tard says there is a clear path to getting approvals in the country, which it outlined in a detailed proposal in December.

Couche-Tard says the proposal includes firm commitments to divest some stores and a large reverse termination fee, structured to ensure Couche-Tard would be highly motivated to complete the transaction.

It plans to use a combination of debt and equity to fund the transaction, which it’s been trying to broker since last summer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX: ATD)

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

About 200 people protest at Macdonald Bridge on Monday.

The post ‘We have to start standing together’: Mi’kmaq Rights Association rallies to protest RCMP raids appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

Halifax has a new transit boss for the first time in a decade and he's learning the system from the blue seats of a city bus. Robin Gerus became the executive director of Halifax Transit in January.

LONDON (AP) — British officials were bracing for environmental damage and seeking answers Tuesday after a cargo ship carrying a toxic chemical hit a tanker transporting jet fuel for the U.S. military off eastern England, setting both vessels ablaze.

Jet fuel from a ruptured tank poured into the North Sea after the Portugal-registered container ship Solong broadsided the U.S-flagged tanker MV Stena Immaculate on Monday. The collision sparked explosions and fires that were still burning 24 hours later.

British government minister Matthew Pennycook said it was a “fast-moving and dynamic situation.”

He said air quality readings were normal and the coast guards “are well-equipped to contain and disperse any oil spills,” with equipment including booms deployed from vessels to stop oil spreading, and aircraft that can spray dispersants on a spill.

The collision triggered a major rescue operation by lifeboats, coast guard aircraft and commercial vessels in the foggy North Sea.

All but one of the 37 crew members from the two vessels were brought ashore in the port of Grimsby, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of London, with one hospitalized. One crew member was missing, and the coast guards suspended the search late Monday.

U.K. Marine accident investigators have begun gathering evidence of what caused the Solong, bound from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, to hit the stationary tanker, which was anchored some 10 miles (16 kilometers) off the English coast.

The investigation will be led by the U.S. and Portugal, the countries where the vessels are flagged.

The Stena Immaculate was operating as part of the U.S. government’s Tanker Security Program, a group of commercial vessels that can be contracted to carry fuel for the military when needed. Its operator, U.S.-based maritime management firm Crowley, said it was carrying 220,000 barrels of Jet-A1 fuel, some of which was released into the sea.

The Solong’s cargo included sodium cyanide, which can produce harmful gas when combined with water, according to industry publication Lloyd’s List Intelligence. It was unclear if there had been a leak.

Greenpeace U.K. said it was too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage from the collision, which took place near busy fishing grounds and major seabird colonies.

Alex Lukyanov, who models oil spills at the University of Reading, said the environmental impact would depend on multiple factors, including “the size of the spill, weather conditions, sea currents, water waves, wind patterns and the type of oil involved.”

“This particular incident is troubling because it appears to involve persistent oil, which breaks up slowly in water,” he said. “The environmental toll could be severe.”

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. said Tuesday that its chief executive, Makoto Uchida, is stepping down. He is relinquishing the post after the company reported dismal financial results.

The Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis woke up Tuesday to good news from his doctors: They upgraded his prognosis and say he is no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of the double pneumonia that has kept him hospitalized for nearly a month in the longest and gravest threat to his 12-year papacy.

The 88-year-old pope isn’t out of the woods yet, however. Doctors are still cautious and have decided to keep him hospitalized for several more days to receive treatment, not to mention a period of rehabilitation he will likely need.

But the doctors said he remains stable and has consolidated improvements in recent days, according to blood tests and his good response to treatment. Francis, who has chronic lung disease, is still using supplemental oxygen during the day and a ventilation mask at night to help him breathe.

In an early update Tuesday, the Vatican said Francis woke up around 8 a.m. after a quiet night. The Argentine Jesuit has regularly been sleeping in while at Gemelli hospital, given his usual wakeup time at the Vatican is around 4:30 a.m.

Late Monday, doctors lifted their “guarded” prognosis for the pope, meaning they determined he was no longer in imminent danger as a result of the original respiratory infection he arrived with on Feb. 14. But their caution remained, given Francis’ fragility and risks of other complications.

“In view of the complexity of the clinical picture and the important infectious picture presented on admission, it will be necessary to continue medical drug therapy in a hospital setting for additional days,” the Vatican statement said.

In a sign of his improved health, Francis followed the Vatican’s weeklong spiritual retreat via videoconference on Monday in both the morning and afternoon sessions, something he was likely to continue to do through the week.

The retreat, an annual gathering that kicks off the Catholic Church’s solemn Lenten season leading to Easter, continues through Friday. The Vatican has said Francis would participate “in spiritual communion” with the rest of the hierarchy, from afar.

Francis could see and hear the Rev. Roberto Pasolini, preacher of the papal household, but the priests, bishops, cardinals and nuns gathered for the retreat in the Vatican auditorium could not see or hear him.

Pasolini is delivering a series of meditations this week on “The hope of eternal life,” a theme that was chosen well before Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 with a complex lung infection.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, had what was just a bad case of bronchitis when he was hospitalized last month. The infection progressed into a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia that has sidelined Francis and raised questions about the future.

He was still keeping his eye on things, however. The Vatican said he had been informed about the floods in his native Argentina, sent a telegram of condolences and expressed his closeness to the affected population.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Canada is steeling itself for more tariffs after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tumultuous trade agenda caused U.S. stock markets to fall further on Monday.

Trump has promised to lift exemptions on Wednesday and hit Canada with 25 per cent levies on steel and aluminum, bringing additional uncertainty to markets already being spun in circles by the president’s inconsistent tariff threats.

Trump launched a trade war against Canada and Mexico last week but paused parts of it days later in response to pleas from the automotive industry.

Trump signed an executive order last Thursday delaying until April tariffs on goods that meet the rules-of-origin requirements under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade.

Trump also has signed an executive order to implement “reciprocal tariffs” by raising U.S. duties to match the tax rates that other countries charge on imports starting on April 2.

In an interview that aired Sunday, Trump refused to rule out a recession.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2025.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press

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Steel coils at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel production facility in Hamilton, Ont., on Monday, February 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

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OTTAWA — Only two of the candidates in the Liberal leadership race — Mark Carney and Ruby Dhalla — disclosed their fundraising events to Elections Canada.

A political transparency advocate says this exposes a “loophole” in the rules for funding political campaigns that needs to be closed — since some of the contenders held fundraisers without publicly disclosing them or reporting who attended.

Carney reported eight fundraisers to Elections Canada over the course of the two-month race, while Dhalla — whom the party eventually kicked out of the race — disclosed one.

But Chrystia Freeland — who held several fundraiser events during the race — and candidates Frank Baylis and Karina Gould did not add any information to the public disclosure list.

Leadership candidates and political parties must disclose their fundraisers in advance if they meet certain conditions — if, for example, at least one person had to pay more than $200 to attend a fundraiser. If they break the disclosure rule, they have to return the money.

A fundraiser Freeland held on Feb. 10 listed on Eventbrite in Toronto’s Etobicoke area only states that the “recommended donation amount” was between $500 and $1,750.

“This is a loophole that allows someone to go and lobby (candidates) without it being disclosed,” said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch.

He said the public has a right to know who is organizing, holding and paying to attend fundraising events so that access to politicians through donations can be tracked. He said this prevents the appearance of a conflict of interest from “tainting politicians’ policy-making decisions.”

The Liberal government passed Bill C-50 in 2018 that ushered in the fundraiser disclosure requirements, in response to a wave of criticism of opaque, pricey fundraisers featuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other cabinet ministers.

“The whole reason for the act was to be tracking fundraising events and who’s attending,” Conacher said.

Ottawa-based lawyer Scott Thurlow, an expert in Canadian elections law, said he wouldn’t describe this as a “loophole” since the rules were designed this way.

“Parliament’s made a deliberate decision to do that,” he said. “If one person pays $200, then they have to enumerate the contributors who do so.”

The rules state that parties and candidates have a month after holding a fundraiser that counts as a regulated event to disclose the names of those who attended. A fundraiser is also considered a regulated event if it’s attended by prominent people such as leadership candidates, party leaders or cabinet ministers.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who’s breaking any rules here,” Thurlow said.

Freeland’s campaign spokesperson Katherine Cuplinskas said the campaign “followed all rules set out” by the party and Elections Canada.

The Baylis campaign held dozens events in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, but did not officially make any of them fundraisers.

“All our events throughout the campaign were non-ticketed events,” said Baylis campaign spokesperson Justin McIntyre. “Supporters could attend on their own terms, making a donation if they chose to do so.”

Gould’s campaign has said previously she did not hold any fundraiser events; it did not offer a comment on Monday.

Gould was the democratic institutions minister who shepherded Bill C-50 through Parliament.

Carney’s campaign has posted one report so far that lists those who attended a fundraiser held in Ottawa on Feb. 6. They included several prominent Liberal lobbyists and residents of Ottawa’s posh Rockcliffe area, along with former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty.

Carney’s next fundraising report, for an event held in Vancouver, B.C., will have to be disclosed a few days from now.

Sachit Mehra, the Liberal party’s president, said Sunday evening that the party has just experienced its greatest first quarter “grassroots” fundraising result ever — and the reporting period hadn’t even closed yet.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s trade minister said Tuesday that he has failed to win assurances from U.S. officials that the key U.S. ally will be exempt from tariffs, some of which effect on Wednesday.

Yoji Muto was in Washington for last ditch negotiations over the tariffs on a range of Japanese exports including cars, steel and aluminum.

Muto said Tuesday that Japan, which contributes to the U.S. economy by heavily investing and creating jobs in the United States, “should not be subject to” 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and auto exports to America.

His meetings with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett on Monday came just two days before the steel and aluminum tariffs are due to take effect. President Donald Trump has also said a possible 25% tariff on imported foreign autos could take effect in early April.

Muto said the U.S. officials acknowledged Japanese contributions and agreed to continue talks, but did not approve his request for Japan’s exemption from the steep import duties.

“We did not receive a response that Japan will be exempt,” Muto told reporters. “We must continue to assert our position.”

Japan depends heavily on exports and the auto tariffs would hurt, because vehicles are its biggest export and the United States is their top destination.

Trump also has criticized Japan’s contributions to the two countries’ mutual defense arrangements, adding to tensions with Tokyo.

Muto said the two sides agreed to keep discussing to find ways to establish a “win-win” relationship that would serve national interests of both countries.

The two sides also discussed energy cooperation, including joint development of the liquefied natural gas in Alaska, which Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed on during Ishiba’s visit to the White House in February.

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press

This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.

The Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. immigration and military authorities disclosed Monday that immigrants from 27 countries were being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba, while revealing new details of conditions of confinement and defending the government’s authority to transfer and hold immigrants at the military base.

Court filings on behalf of the Homeland Security and Defense departments indicated that 40 immigrants with final deportation orders were being held at Guantanamo Bay as of Friday — with 23 labelled “high risk” and held individually in cells. The remainder were held in another area of special housing for migrants, in groups of up to six.

Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration this month to prevent it from transferring 10 migrants detained in the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay and filed statements from men held there who said they were mistreated in conditions that of one of them called “a living hell.”

Responding to the lawsuit, Justice Department attorneys argued Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has broad authority to hold immigrants with final removal orders at Guantanamo Bay “for only so long as their removal remains significantly likely to occur in the reasonably foreseeable future.”

U.S. immigration and military authorities “do not need to show that (Naval Station Guantanamo Bay) is essential to that plan, logistically uncomplicated, or that it is the least expensive option,” the Trump administration argued in the court filings.

Administration attorneys also said, “the government does not dispute that the mass removal efforts are intended in part to deter illegal migration.”

New written testimonials from ICE and military leaders say that Guantanamo Bay detainees are being “treated with dignity and and respect,” describing access to legal counsel, regular meals, laundry service and medical care as ”not inconsistent with other ICE detention facilities.”

At the same time, the government testimonials also acknowledge the naval base is not accommodating requests for in-person visits by legal counsel, while some detainees refused to eat and some have been placed in hand and leg restraints after threatening to harm themselves. Strip searches are conducted upon arrival for “high-risk” detainees, with “pat downs” searches when immigrants leave certain holding areas.

Personal phone calls of up to five minutes each day are being allowed, with conversations monitored by ICE, authorities said.

Trump has said he will send the worst criminal migrants to Guantanamo Bay, but civil rights attorneys say many detainees transferred to there don’t have a serious criminal record or any criminal record.

Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney in the case for immigrants aiming to block transfers to Guantanamo, said the ACLU does not have a full list of immigrants detained at the base or their countries of origin. He declined to comment further ahead of a court hearing in the case.

The 10 men involved in the lawsuit came to the U.S. in 2023 or 2024, seven from from Venezuela, and the others from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Trump in January said he wanted to expand immigrant detention facilities at Guantanamo to hold as many as 30,000 people, and his administration on Feb. 4 began flying immigrants there.

Initially nearly 200 Venezuelans immigrants were transferred to Guantanamo — and later flown to their home country. No Venezuelans were detained at Guantanamo, as of Friday.

While the U.S. naval base in Cuba is best known for the suspects brought in after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it has a small, separate facility used for decades to hold migrants.

Tent facilities with the capacity to hold 520 immigrants have been installed but are not yet in use. Migrants also are being held in a medium-security facility modeled after U.S. prisons.

The migrant detention center operates separately from the military’s detention center and courtrooms for foreigners detained under President George W. Bush during what that administration called its “war on terror.”

Morgan Lee, The Associated Press

HANCEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Dozens of oxycodone pills, other drugs and a handgun were among the items missing from the evidence room of a troubled Alabama police department, the district attorney said Monday.

Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker announced the preliminary results of an audit of the Hanceville Police Department evidence room.

The missing items included 67 oxycodone pills, 39 gabapentin pills, 1.5 grams of cocaine and a .25-caliber handgun, Crocker wrote in a letter to the city’s mayor about the findings. He said the audit also found about 30 undocumented firearms in the evidence room.

“These results of the evidence audit are shocking but not surprising,” Crocker wrote in the letter to the city’s mayor.

The audit was done after a grand jury in February indicted four officers and the police chief on a variety of charges that included accusations of mishandling or removing evidence from the department’s evidence room. The grand jury also recommended disbanding the small police department.

In a news conference last month, Crocker said the department’s evidence room was not kept secure. He showed photos of a hole in the wall and a green broomstick that was used to “jimmy open” the door.

The Cullman County sheriff’s department has taken over law enforcement duties as city officials weigh what to do with the department. Located in the county, Hanceville is 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of the central city of Birmingham.

The State Bureau of Investigations was called in to investigate after a police dispatcher was found dead at work from a suspected drug overdose.

The Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Just days after an unexploded World War II bomb near Paris’ Gare du Nord briefly stole headlines, a different kind of spectacle unfolded across the street: Louis Vuitton’s fashion show extravaganza Monday evening.

The only explosions here at Paris Fashion Week were in fabric, form and a frenetic imagination. When designer Nicolas Ghesquière emerged for his bow, the audience’s adulation reached a fever pitch, so much so that French first lady Brigitte Macron, in a rarely seen display of exuberance, leapt to her feet to plant a kiss on him.

A station steeped in mystery

The setting, according to Louis Vuitton, was “L’Étoile du Nord,” described in the program notes as “a hidden station where past and future travelers converge, evoking the golden age of railway adventure,” a fictional secret station preserving the thrill of 19th-century rail travel, a time when the house first flourished alongside the rise of the Orient Express. Travel, anticipation, adventure—the very DNA of Vuitton.

From their front-row perch, Emma Stone, Jennifer Connelly, Ana de Armas, Chloë Grace Moretz, Lisa, Jaden Smith, Ava DuVernay, and Sophie Turner watched intently as projected shadowy figures drifted across the upper windows, as if ghostly travelers from another era. It was a fitting nod to Vuitton’s own origins at the dawn of the Orient Express and haute couture, when posh women needed to travel with innumerable cases to house their extensive mobile wardrobes. On the runway below, Ghesquière spun a narrative of train stations both real and imagined, styling passengers for journeys unknown.

There were detectives in trench coats, campers in bulky New Wave sweaters, and party girls rushing for the last train in ruched velvet. The designer has long been a master of cinematic dressing, pulling from a rolodex of filmic inspirations—classic whodunnits, fantasies and comedies. Elsewhere, a voluminous, cascading layered tulle skirt in deep fuchsia channeled Ghesquière’s penchant for fusing styles of different centuries, juxtaposed with a contemporary architectural knit top and futuristic slicked-back hair.

When the tracks got bumpy

But while the story was rich, the styling was, at times, derailed. One look in particular — a fisherman’s hat hybrid so oversized it nearly blinded the model, paired with an enveloping scarf, amorphous dress, and a horizontal belt buckle haphazardly above the bust — caused even seasoned fashion insiders to raise an eyebrow.

Some ensembles were thrilling; others felt like passengers on the wrong train. While fluid, translucent trenches and cleverly constructed jumpsuits stood out, other pieces veered toward the overworked. Layered-on haste rather than artful dishevelment.

Fashion on a synthesized beat

A standout capsule with electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk fused Vuitton’s travel heritage with the band’s vision of movement and modernity. ‘Trans-Europe Express’ appeared on pinstriped jumpsuits and accessories, reinforcing the rhythm of the journey. Fittingly, Vuitton revived its 1988 ceramic-bezel watch, a nod to precision in both travel and design.

As the last model exited the train station set, a question loomed in the air: Has Ghesquière himself run out of steam? Perhaps not yet but this season the journey, while evocative, didn’t always have a clear final destination.

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria’s president has announced plans to import a staggering one million sheep ahead of this year’s Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday during which families worldwide purchase livestock for sacrifice.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday instructed his ministers to launch plans for the massive livestock import effort to stabilize costs and meet soaring demand.

The plan is the latest in a series of measures designed to ease public frustration over rising costs and the military-backed government’s uncompromising grip on power.

It builds on previous efforts to flood markets with food staples throughout Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. Yet its scale has few parallels.

North Africa is enduring its seventh consecutive year of extreme heat and below-average rainfall. The record drought has shrunk harvests and driven up the price of animal feed needed to raise livestock, including in the northern Algerian highlands where breeders raise sheep revered by the population for their quality.

Algeria’s government has traditionally played a dominant role in the economy and in the past imported livestock in small quantities to ensure affordable options for low-income citizens. Last year, it facilitated the sale of 100,000 sheep in state-run stores, sourcing them from Argentina, Australia, Brazil and Spain.

Eid al-Adha, which takes place this year in early June, is an annual “feast of sacrifice” in which Muslims slaughter sheep to honor a passage of the Quran in which the prophet Ibrahim prepared to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God, who intervened and replaced the child with a sheep.

It’s a celebrated tradition in Muslim-majority Algeria, yet also a pricey proposition. During last year’s Eid, sheep prices skyrocketed to 200,000 Algerian dinars ($1,496) in some markets — ten times the country’s minimum wage. Many Algerians have in recent years been forced to forgo the cherished tradition.

This year’s initiative aims to prevent price spikes and shortages that could put the ritual sacrifice out of reach for most Algerian families.

The Ministries of Agriculture and Trade will immediately seek international sources to meet Tebboune’s target, hoping to counteract the soaring inflation that has pushed basic goods and services — including meat — beyond the reach of many.

“Thank God, this year’s Ramadan is a blessing. The markets are well-stocked, housewives can shop without stress, without pressure. Products are available, and prices are accessible,” said Yasmine Zireg, a mother of three, on Monday.

History has shown that food prices can incite widespread political anger in North Africa and Algeria isn’t the only country taking steps ahead of Eid Al-Adha.

Its import plan comes just ten days after neighboring Morocco’s King Mohammed VI offered his subjects a reprieve from the costly ritual. The King said in a Feb. 27 letter read on state-run television, warned that the slaughter could burden low-income Moroccans and, as the highest religious authority under Moroccan law, said they could forgo it.

The move — which was widely covered in Algerian media — could harm livestock producers and put disparities between those who can afford sheep and those who can’t on stark display.

Tebboune’s intervention is also designed to make the Eid more feasible for those who otherwise couldn’t afford sheep. It’s one of several government spending policies Algeria has put in place to calm social unrest while continuing to crack down on opposition parties, journalists and people critical of the military-backed government.

The Associated Press

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Formalizing another withdrawal from both climate and foreign aid programs, the Trump administration has told world financial institutions that the U.S is pulling out of the landmark international climate Loss and Damage Fund.

Climate analysts Monday were critical of the Treasury Department’s decision to formally pull out from the fund designed as compensation for damage by polluting nations to poor countries especially hurt by the extreme storms, heat and drought caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas. A Treasury official said in a letter last week that the U. S. board members of the fund were resigning but gave no reason for the withdrawal.

“It’s a great shame to see the U.S. going back on its promises,” said Mohamed Adow, founder of Power Shift Africa and a veteran of United Nations climate negotiations. “This decision will result in great suffering for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world. These people have contributed the least to the climate emergency they are now living through.”

The Treasury did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

When the fund was agreed upon in 2022, then-President Joe Biden pledged that the U.S., the world’s biggest historic carbon dioxide emitter, would contribute $17.5 million. A dozen countries that have polluted less — Australia, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom — and the European Union have pledged more than the U.S.

The two biggest pledges — $104 million — came from Italy and France. As of January, the Loss and Damage Fund had $741.42 million in pledges, according to the United Nations.

“The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Loss and Damage Fund is yet another cruel action that will hurt climate vulnerable lower income nations the most,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director of the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “The richest nation and the world’s biggest contributor to global heat-trapping emissions is choosing to punch down and walk away from its responsibility toward nations that have contributed the least to the climate crisis and yet are bearing an unjust burden from it.”

Poorer nations, often in the global south, had long framed the fund as one of environmental justice. It was an idea that the U.S. and many rich nations blocked until 2022, when they accepted the creation but insisted it was not reparations.

“Three long decades and we have finally delivered climate justice,” Seve Paeniu, the finance minister of Tuvalu, said when the UN climate negotiations established the fund. “We have finally responded to the call of hundreds of millions of people across the world to help them address loss and damage.”

In its first 50 days, the Trump administration has eliminated or cut funding for environmental justice domestically, foreign aid, climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion. The president also started the one-year process to once again pull out of the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Earlier this month, the U.S. withdrew from a a special climate agreement in which rich nations help small poor nations switch to cleaner energy.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The Associated Press

MADISON COUNTY, Miss. (AP) — A medical transport helicopter with a pilot and two hospital workers on board crashed in Mississippi on Monday, officials said.

The AirCare copter was not carrying any patients when it crashed in Madison County north of the capital of Jackson, according to a statement from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The statement did not say if there were any injuries or deaths.

Television station WAPT reported that at least one person was killed. Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration were en route, the station said.

The Associated Press

Nova Scotia Power is asking the province’s utility regulator for permission to spend $6.8 million to upgrade its cybersecurity.

It includes a family resource centre, new school and recreational facilities. A long-term care model is also part of the plans but has yet to be built. Kyle Moore has the story.

A B.C. RCMP officer says he showed a “lack of judgment” and regrets comments he made in police group chats, but using “dark humour” was a way to vent frustrations about the stressful job of policing.

Port Coquitlam RCMP Const. Ian Solven is one of three officers from the detachment facing allegations of discreditable conduct and workplace harassment over comments made in group chats on officers’ personal phones and on police messaging terminals.

His comments included remarks about a fellow officer’s weight and about a woman who was at a transitional housing shelter during an investigation, although Solven says he couldn’t recall exactly what he said about her.

Solven and fellow Mounties Mersad Mesbah and Philip Dick deny the allegations against them at the code of conduct hearing that began in Surrey, B.C., last month.

Solven says in his testimony on Monday that a superior spoke to him about comments made on RCMP mobile data terminals, with the officer hinting about using personal phones rather than the terminals.

The constable says policing is a stressful job and first responders often use “different” humour that he’s not proud of, “and it’s unfortunate that it’s come out in this way.”

Solven says there was a running joke about new group chats being created regularly between members using encrypted messaging applications on officers’ personal phones, and he believed the chats were a “private space” where officers talked about work, beer, sports and news events.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is known best for enforcing the right to disability services across America’s schools. But under President Donald Trump, it’s taking a frontline role in his political battles.

Trump appointees have halted thousands of pending cases while they open new investigations aligned with the president’s campaign promises. Career staffers have been sidelined and pressured to quit, and those who remain are being ordered to refocus priorities on antisemitism, transgender issues and anti-DEI complaints.

A memo Friday from the civil rights office’s chief announced antisemitism cases are now the top priority, taking aim at colleges where pro-Palestinian protests brought accusations of anti-Jewish bias. That followed a decision to cut $400 million in federal money going to Columbia University, where on Saturday immigration officials arrested a Palestinian activist who was involved in leading student protests.

Hanging in the balance are the types of cases the office traditionally has focused on — students with disabilities who need services they aren’t getting, or students facing harassment tied to their skin color.

It’s normal for new presidential administrations to pause civil rights cases while they get acclimated, but this transition brought a longer and more rigid freeze than others. Trump officials lifted the freeze for disability cases on Feb. 20, and last week, new Education Secretary Linda McMahon said all cases could resume as normal.

During Trump’s first month in office, the Office for Civil Rights resolved about 50 cases, according to a staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. By comparison, the office resolved more than 3,000 complaints in the same window of Trump’s first term, and almost 500 under former President Joe Biden.

Even the most urgent cases, which are traditionally granted exceptions, sat idle during the freeze. Staff lawyers were told not to respond to outside calls or emails, leaving families in the dark.

Another staff member at the civil rights office described desperate emails from parents whose schools refused to make accommodations for their children’s disabilities. “We were just ignoring their emails,” said the person, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Tylisa Guyton of Taylor, Michigan, filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights on Jan. 20 over her 16-year-old son’s repeated suspensions from a suburban Detroit school district, alleging a white administrator was targeting him and a group of other Black children. The teen has been out of school since Dec. 4. Even as investigations resume, she has heard nothing from the civil rights agency.

“He’s still asking every day, ‘When can I go back to school?’” Guyton said of her son.

The memo Friday told staffers antisemitism would be an “investigative and enforcement priority.” It added the memo should not be interpreted as “‘deprioritizing’ any other form of OCR enforcement activity.” But staffers said that’s the most likely outcome as dwindling ranks of employees face heavier caseloads tied to the president’s agenda.

Politics usually play into the office’s priorities to some degree, and Republicans similarly accused Biden officials of going too far when they opened cases into COVID-19 mask bans or in support of transgender students. But several longtime staffers said this is the first time they’ve seen cases tied to political agendas edge out their everyday work.

Trump has called for a total shutdown of the Education Department, calling it a “con job” infiltrated by leftists. At her Senate hearing, McMahon said the civil rights office might be better served if it moves to the Justice Department.

Some cases are moving forward, but others appear to be stalled, Marcie Lipsitt, said a special education advocate in Michigan.

“I’ve said to everyone, ’You’re going to have to fight harder for accountability because there will be no accountability at the U.S. Department of Ed, if there is a U.S. Department of Ed,” she said.

At the same time, Trump’s officials have continued to open their own “directed investigations” — proactive inquiries that depart from the office’s typical work responding to complaints. The office has opened more than a dozen such investigations, many aimed at pressuring universities to stop allowing transgender athletes or to take a harder stance against pro-Palestinian protesters.

It adds up to more work for fewer employees at the office of about 500 workers. Staffers say field offices across the country were hit after dozens of department workers were put on leave in response to Trump’s orders against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Many others took buyouts pushed by the Trump administration, leaving some field offices without administrators in key leadership jobs.

Minor changes to the office’s policies could also carry outsize impact. Complaints to the office can’t move forward unless the filer signs a consent form allowing their name to be disclosed during the investigation. For years, the office sent reminders if the form was not submitted — parents often didn’t know it was required. But an updated case manual from the Trump administration drops the reminders.

Staffers say it means more cases will be dismissed on a technicality.

Some special education advocates have begun filing more cases with state agencies, said Brandi Tanner, an Atlanta-based psychologist and special education advocate. In conversations at a recent conference in California, disability advocates expressed uncertainty and anxiety, Tanner said.

“’It’s kind of like, we’re very scared about what else is going to continue to come down the pike,” she said. “Are students going to lose their rights?”

___

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.

___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Collin Binkley And Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Crews have begun work to remove the large yellow “Black Lives Matter” painted on the street one block from the White House.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the change last week in response to pressure from activists Republicans in Congress. The work is expected to take about six weeks and the words will be replaced by an unspecified set of city-sponsored murals.

The painting of those words was an act of government-sponsored defiance during President Donald Trump’s first term. The removal amounts to a public acknowledgement of just how vulnerable the District of Columbia is now that Trump is back in the White House and Republicans control both houses of Congress.

Bowser, a Democrat, ordered the painting and renamed the intersection Black Lives Matter Plaza in June 2020. It came after days of chaotic protests at that location over police brutality following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Bowser had clashed with Trump over her handling of the protests.

But now Bowser has little power to fend off encroachments on D.C.’s limited autonomy. Bowser said last week on X that, “The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a painful period, but now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern.”

As construction equipment began tearing up the pavement some gathered to witness the moment.

“I needed to be here today. I can’t just let this go away,” said Starlette Thomas, a 45-year old Bowie, Maryland resident who attended the 2020 Floyd protests. At the plaza, Thomas discretely secured a chunk of pavement and said holding it made her both happy and sad.

“For me to walk away with a piece of that means that it’s not gone,” she said. “It’s more than brick and mortar.”

Also on the scene was Megan Bailiff, CEO of Equus Striping, the pavement marking company that originally painted the letters.

Bailiff called the dismantling of Black Lives Matter Plaza, “historically obscene” and said its presence was, “more significant at this very moment than it ever has been in this country.”

The far right celebrated the shift online, with conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk visiting the site to hail, “the end of this mass race hysteria in our country.”

In Trump’s second term, Bowser has worked to avoid conflict and downplay any points of contention. She traveled to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with Trump after the election and has publicly emphasized their points of agreement.

Trump recently revived a frequent campaign talking point about wanting a federal “takeover” of the nation’s capital, describing Washington as being riddled with crime, graffiti and homeless encampments. Bowser has refused to comment on reports that the White House is preparing an executive order targeting Washington. She publicly said that the greatest threat to the so-called Home Rule autonomy was “some of the people in Congress.”

Congressional Republicans have repeatedly threatened to interfere in city affairs in large and small ways. A measure currently before Congress, named the BOWSER Act, seeks to completely revoke the Home Rule Act of 1973, which grants the capital city limited autonomy.

___

Associated Press journalists Nathan Ellgren and Jacquelyn Martin contributed reporting.

Ashraf Khalil, The Associated Press

Seattle (AP) — Seattle fire officials said a late Sunday fire that damaged four Tesla Cybertrucks is under investigation.

The four Cybertrucks were parked in a Tesla lot in Seattle’s industrial district.

No one was injured, and the four trucks were the only property damaged. The first call came at 11:13 p.m. Sunday, said David Cuerpo, Seattle Fire spokesperson.

Tesla has been a target of protests and vandalism in the U.S. and elsewhere after CEO Elon Musk took a prominent role in President Donald Trump’s administration. People have protested Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has been moving to slash the size of the federal government through large-scale layoffs, contract cancellations and other moves.

Police in Oregon last week said they are working with the FBI to investigate gunshots fired at a Tesla dealership. That shooting came a week after federal prosecutors in Denver charged a woman in connection with vandalism against a Tesla dealership in Colorado, including Molotov cocktails being thrown at vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” spray-painted on the building.

The Associated Press

The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on whether to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as U.S. labor secretary, a Cabinet position that would put her in charge of enforcing federally mandated worker rights and protections at a time when the White House is trying to eliminate thousands of government employees.

Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the Department of Labor, one of several executive departments named in lawsuits challenging the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to order layoffs and access sensitive government data.

The Labor Department had nearly 16,000 full-time employees and a proposed budget of $13.9 billion for fiscal year 2025. Some of its vast responsibilities include reporting the U.S. unemployment rate, regulating workplace health and safety standards, investigating minimum wage, child labor and overtime pay disputes, and applying laws on union organizing and unlawful terminations.

Several prominent labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, endorsed Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination. The former Republican congresswoman from Oregon is the daughter of a Teamster, and during her one term in the House earned a reputation as pro-labor.

During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, several Republican senators grilled Chavez-DeRemer about her decision to co-sponsor legislation that would have made it easier for workers to unionize and penalized employers who stood in the way of organizing efforts.

She declined to explicitly state whether she still backed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, also known as the PRO Act.

Chavez-DeRemer explained she had signed on as a co-sponsor because she wanted a seat at the table to discuss important labor issues. Under further questioning, she walked back some of her support of the bill, saying that she supported state “right to work” laws, which allow employees to refuse to join a union in their workplace.

The PRO Act did not come up for a vote during her time in Congress. Chavez-DeRemer also co-sponsored legislation which sought to protect public-sector workers from having their Social Security benefits docked because of government pension benefits. That bill also stalled because it didn’t have enough Republican support.

Chavez-DeRemer walked a fine line during her confirmation hearing, attempting to appeal to both Democrats and Republicans. On the subject of whether the federal minimum wage was overdue for an increase, she said she recognized it hadn’t been raised from $7.25 an hour since 2009 but that she would not want to “shock the economy.”

Some Democratic senators and workers’ rights advocates have questioned how much independence Chavez-DeRemer would have as President Donald Trump’s labor secretary and where her allegiance would lie in an administration that has fired thousands of federal employees.

Cathy Bussewitz, The Associated Press

We need to stop reacting to events and put in place a flexible, effective and feasible income support system. 

The post Canada needs to step up and provide Canadians with sustainable income security appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

ST. JOHN’S — The head of Hydro‑Québec was in Labrador today to tour a massive hydroelectric plant at the heart of an energy deal he says will be a “clean break” from decades of friction.

Michael Sabia says negotiators with the hydro utilities in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have struck a “balanced” agreement in principle about power from the Churchill Falls facility in Labrador.

He used the word again when asked to explain why he felt the new deal was fair to Canada’s easternmost province, which has been trying for decades to get out of a lopsided contract for Churchill Falls energy that ultimately favoured Hydro‑Québec.

The tentative agreement announced in December would see Hydro‑Québec pay much more for power from the Churchill Falls plant, and it offers the utility an option to co-develop new projects in Labrador with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

Sabia says he is “100 per cent” confident the largest of those — a new hydroelectric plant at Gull Island, which is also on the Churchill River — will go ahead as hoped.

The two utilities are hammering out final agreements, and they hope to have them in place by April 2026.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

The Canadian Press

Nova Scotia recruited nearly 200 more doctors than it lost over the past year, say officials with the province's health authority.

This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.

The Associated Press

The Trump administration has unveiled an overhauled cellphone app once used to let migrants apply for asylum, turning it into a system that allows people living illegally in the U.S. to say they want to leave the country voluntarily.

The renamed app, announced Monday and now called CBP Home, is part of the administration’s campaign to encourage “self-deportations, ” touted as an easy and cost-effective way to nudge along President Donald Trump’s push to deport millions of immigrants without legal status.

“The app provides illegal aliens in the United States with a straightforward way to declare their intent to voluntarily depart, offering them the chance to leave before facing harsher consequences,” Pete Flores, the acting commissioner for U.S Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement.

Moments after Trump took office, the earlier version of the app, CBP One, stopped allowing migrants to apply for asylum, and tens of thousands of border appointments were cancelled.

More than 900,000 people were allowed in the country on immigration parole under CBP One, generally for two years, starting in January 2023.

The Trump administration has repeatedly urged migrants in the country illegally to leave.

“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on the social platform X. “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”

Some people living in the U.S. illegally chose to leave even before Trump’s inauguration, though it’s unclear how many.

Associated Press, The Associated Press

Nova Scotia said it is making new maximum setbacks for wind turbines across the province to ensure the projects keep with the characteristics of communities.

According to a press release, the government is amending the regulations to establish maximum allowable setbacks for the turbines.

“Our government is making it easier for wind energy projects to move forward while ensuring that our communities and the environment are respected and protected,” John Lohr, Minister of Municipal Affairs, said. “These amendments will provide municipalities with clear, consistent standards for setbacks for wind turbines.”

The setbacks for the turbines can’t be more than four times the height of the structure, unless a greater distance is needed to make sure sound levels don’t exceed 40 decibels. Shadows flickering on nearby homes do not exceed limits set out in the amendments.

“The amended regulations include both daily and yearly limits for shadow flicker on nearby residents, at fewer than 30 minutes per day or 30 hours per year,” the release notes.

The changes also include the removal of the ability for a municipality to influence wind turbine placement based on visuals.

Wind turbines key in climate plans

The government says a program to bring wind-generated electricity to 11 large customers is keeping the province on track to meet its goal of producing 80 per cent of its electricity with renewables by 2030.

The province announced its latest environmental approval Jan. 27 for 20 turbines in the Melvin Lake wind farm, about 30 kilometres northwest of Halifax.

The province says this approval — along with five other wind projects planned under the “Green choice” program it launched in 2023 — will together yield “the single-largest greenhouse gas reduction in the province’s history.”

In a news release, the department predicts the six projects will generate a combined 2,000 gigawatt hours of electricity per year by the end of 2028, enough to power over 300,000 homes.

With files from Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press.

Considering natural resources only in terms of financial assets and potential accumulation of wealth through resource extraction ignores the importance of long-term ecological well being for people and the planet.

The post Energy East is back? appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A nonprofit that was awarded nearly $7 billion by the Biden administration to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects has sued President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, accusing it of improperly freezing a legally awarded grant.

Climate United Fund, a coalition of three nonprofit groups, demanded access to a Citibank account it received through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program created in 2022 by the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act and more commonly known as the green bank. The freeze threatens its ability to issue loans and even pay employees, he group said.

“The combined actions of Citibank and EPA effectively nullify a congressionally mandated and funded program,” Climate United wrote in a Monday court filing.

Last April, then-Vice President Kamala Harris announced that EPA had selected eight groups, including Maryland-based Climate United, to receive $20 billion to finance tens of thousands of projects to fight climate change and promote environmental justice. The money was formally awarded in August.

While favored by congressional Democrats, the green bank drew immediate criticism from Republicans, who routinely denounced it as an unaccountable “slush fund.” Former EPA Administrator Michael Regan sharply disputed that claim.

The bank was quickly targeted by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who was confirmed to the role in late January. In a video posted on X, Zeldin said the EPA would revoke contracts for the still-emerging program. Zeldin cited a conservative journalist’s undercover video made late last year that showed a former EPA employee saying the agency was throwing “gold bars off the Titanic” – presumably a reference to spending before the start of Trump’s second term.

Zeldin has repeatedly used the term “gold bars” to accuse the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s recipients of misconduct, waste and possible fraud.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court, Citibank cut off access to Climate United’s bank account on February 18 — an action the bank did not explain for weeks.

The cutoff took place as Zeldin made multiple public appearances accusing Climate United and other groups of misconduct, eventually announcing that the funds were frozen, according to the lawsuit. Climate United said the EPA has refused to meet with the group.

Several Democratic lawmakers slammed Zeldin’s attacks on the green bank.

“The Trump administration’s malicious and unfounded attacks on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund have resulted in a sham investigation and unsubstantiated funding freeze,” Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell said in a statement. The three Democrats pushed for creation of the green bank.

Citibank said it was reviewing the lawsuit.

“As we’ve said previously, Citi has been working with the federal government in its efforts to address government officials’ concerns regarding this federal grant program,” the bank said in a statement Monday. “Our role as financial agent does not involve any discretion over which organizations receive grant funds. Citi will of course comply with any judicial decision.”

The EPA declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

In its court filing, Climate United pointed to the resignation of a former prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Washington office after refusing demands from top Trump administration officials to freeze the group’s assets.

Zeldin raised questions in a letter to the agency’s watchdog about the EPA’s use of Citibank to hold the money, a structure that allowed the eight entities to be used as “pass throughs” for eventual grant recipients. The process undermined transparency, Zeldin alleged.

He also questioned the qualifications of some of the entities overseeing the grants and said some were affiliated with the Biden administration or Democratic politics, including Stacey Abrams, a former Democratic nominee for Georgia governor. Trump singled out Abrams over her ties to the green bank in his address to Congress last week.

In a letter to EPA officials on March 4, Climate United disputed Zeldin’s allegations. The group’s lengthy application material is publicly available and the EPA used a rigorous selection process, Climate United said, adding that its spending is transparent.

In addition to Climate United, the new fund has awarded money to other nonprofits, including the Coalition for Green Capital, Power Forward Communities, Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv and the Justice Climate Fund. Those organizations have partnered with a range of groups, including Rewiring America, Habitat for Humanity and the Community Preservation Corporation.

The EPA’s former inspector general had urged more oversight of the green-bank program.

“The rapid implementation of the program, combined with the relatively narrow window of availability for such a significant amount of funding, may lead the EPA to expend the funds without fully establishing the internal controls that mitigate the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse,” then-inspector general Sean O’Donnell told Congress in 2023.

Trump fired O’Donnell in January, along with more than a dozen other inspectors general.

Acting Inspector General Nicole Murley has said she is looking into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

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Phillis reported from St. Louis.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Michael Phillis And Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

Sampson could be falsely charged, framed, and murdered by the state because he was powerless. He was a poor Black man in the deeply racist city of Halifax, and he had an intellectual disability that left him unable to properly defend himself.

The post Part 4: The Wrongful Conviction and Execution of Daniel Sampson appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire is erupting, and authorities have evacuated nearly 300 families while warning that another 30,000 people in the area could be at risk.

The eruption started overnight. There is no immediate report of casualties. The 12,300-foot (3,763-meter) high volcano is one of the most active in Central America. It last erupted in June 2023.

A 2018 eruption killed 194 people and left another 234 missing.

The volcano is 33 miles (53 km) from Guatemala’s capital.

The flow of volcanic material is weak to moderate but expected to increase, Guatemala’s disaster agency said early Monday.

The Associated Press

Willem van den Hoek, 76, died last week after a long illness.

Maybe Houston was feeling generous because he got two pieces of good news Friday.

The post For one moment, Premier Tim Houston is uncharacteristically gracious towards Justin Trudeau appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

The Port of Vancouver moved a record amount of goods through its gates last year, an increase driven partly by surging oil exports made possible by the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority says total freight at the country’s largest port grew five per cent year-over-year to reach 158 million tonnes in 2024.

It says crude oil exports climbed more than 500 per cent thanks to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion that began operations last May.

Container traffic recovered in 2024, rising 11 per cent from 2023 in a return to pre-pandemic levels following a spike driven by demand for consumer items at the height of COVID-19.

The port authority also says a record of nearly 470,000 vehicle imports rolled onto the docks last year in a three per cent boost spurred by Canadians’ appetite for new cars.

Nonetheless, it says several hurdles hampered port activity last year, including extreme weather such as wildfires that halted freight trains as well as work stoppages at B.C. ports and both major railways.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Einat Gerlitz and Tal Mitnick are at the forefront of a growing youth movement in Israel, defying the military occupation and fighting for Palestinian liberation

The post Israeli conscientious objectors speak at Halifax event appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

A ministerial review could result in the overturning of a conviction.

The post Breaking: Justice Minister asked to review Halifax’s last execution appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

This month Clinton Wilkins and Todd Veinotte “spring” into homeownership and why right now may be the perfect time to buy a home or refinance your mortgage

Listen to Mortgage 101 here

An African Nova Scotian RCMP staff sergeant who created anti-racism workshops for his employer says he was removed from his position after he raised concerns about intellectual property rights when the initiative he headed was going to be expanded.

Anglers buying a sportfishing licence this year will have to agree to catch-and-kill rules for smallmouth bass and chain pickerel.

Conversations are happening in Nova Scotia about developing the first midwifery education program east of Quebec.

A lobster processing organization says live-lobster sellers will be worse off than those who sell frozen lobster under China's new tariffs.

Nova Scotia’s opposition says the province took too long to provide essential funding to organizations combatting gender-based violence.

The provincial government announced Friday that it will provide $23 million in funding for transition houses that offer temporary shelter for women and children fleeing family violence.

The government says the funding is aimed at addressing an epidemic of intimate partner violence.

But Nova Scotia’s New Democrats say the need for this funding has been clear for years and only came after significant pressure from frontline organizations.

NDP status of women critic Susan Leblanc says the province should have acted sooner, when the Mass Casualty Commission and survivors first called for the support.

“We know that more is required to address the underlying issues and support those working to remove themselves from violence,” Leblanc said in a statement. “We need to ensure survivors of gender-based violence are supported through truly affordable housing options and mental health resources. We will continue this vital and urgent work toward a better future for survivors of gender-based violence across the province.”

Premier Tim Houston says the new funding is the direct result of a meeting he attended in January with a coalition of women’s support groups.