LONDON (AP) — A large fire near London’s Heathrow Airport knocked out power Friday to Europe’s busiest flight hub, forcing it to shut and disrupting global travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Heathrow said it didn’t know when power would be restored — raising the possibility that the shutdown would last longer than just the day, as previously expected.

At least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected, flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said, and the impact was likely to last several days as passengers try to reschedule their travel and airlines work to get planes and crew to the right places.

Authorities do not know what caused the fire but so far found have no evidence it was suspicious.

Residents in west London described hearing a large explosion, followed by a fireball and clouds of smoke, when the blaze ripped through the electrical substation near the airport.

Some 120 flights were in the air when the closure was announced, with some turned around and others diverted to Gatwick Airport outside London, Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris or Ireland’s Shannon Airport, tracking services showed.

Lawrence Hayes was three-quarters of the way to London from New York when Virgin Atlantic announced they were being diverted to Glasgow.

“It was a red-eye flight and I’d already had a full day, so I don’t even know how long I’ve been up for,” Hayes told the BBC as he was getting off the plane in Scotland. “Luckily I managed to get hold of my wife and she’s kindly booked me a train ticket to get back to Euston, but it’s going to be an incredibly long day.”

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel. It had its busiest January on record earlier this year, with more than 6.3 million passengers, up more than 5% from the same period last year.

Still, the disruption Friday fell short of the one caused by the 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed clouds of ash into the atmosphere and created trans-Atlantic air travel chaos for months.

Unclear what caused the fire but foul play not suspected

It was too early to determine what sparked the huge blaze about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the airport, but there’s “no suggestion” of foul play, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said.

The Metropolitan Police force said counterterrorism detectives were leading the investigation because of their ability to find the cause quickly and because of the location of the electrical substation fire and its impact on critical national infrastructure.

Miliband said the fire, which took seven hours to control, also knocked out a backup power supply to the airport. Heathrow said in a statement that it had no choice but to close the airport for the day.

“We expect significant disruption over the coming days, and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens,” the airport said.

The fire’s widespread impact on travel led to criticism that Britain was ill prepared for disaster or some type of attack if a single blaze could shut down Europe’s busiest airport.

“The U.K.’s critical national infrastructure is not sufficiently hardened for anywhere near the level it would need to be at to give us confidence this won’t happen again,” said Alan Mendoza, the executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a security think tank. “If one fire can shut down Heathrow’s primary systems and then apparently the backup systems, as well, it tells you something’s badly wrong with our system of management of such disasters.”

Tom Wells, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, acknowledged that authorities had questions to answer and said a rigorous investigation was needed to make sure “this scale of disruption does not happen again.”

Heathrow — where the U.K. government plans to build a third runway — was at the heart of a shorter disruption in 2023 when Britain’s air traffic control system was hit by a breakdown that slowed takeoffs and landings across the U.K. on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Disruption could last days

Though the fire has been brought under control, the airport said in a statement it does not have “clarity on when power may be reliably restored.”

It said it expects “significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”

Heathrow earlier said the airport was not expected to reopen until Saturday.

The London Fire Brigade sent 10 engines and around 70 firefighters to control the blaze and about 150 people were evacuated from their homes near the power station.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said in a post on X the power outage affected more than 16,300 homes.

Diverted, canceled and in limbo

At Heathrow, a family of five traveling to Dallas showed up in the hopes their flight home — still listed as delayed — would take off.

But when Andrea Sri brought her brother, sister-in-law and their three children to the airport, they were told by police that there would be no flight.

“It was a waste of time. Very confusing,” said Sri, who lives in London. “We tried to get in touch with British Airways, but they don’t open their telephone line until 8 a.m.”

Travelers who were diverted to other cities found themselves trying to book travel onward to London. Qantas airlines sent flights from Singapore and Perth, Australia, to Paris, where it said it would bus people to London, a process likely to also include a train shuttle beneath the English Channel.

Budget airline Ryanair, which doesn’t operate out of Heathrow, said it added eight “rescue flights” between Dublin and Stansted, another London airport, to transport stranded passengers Friday and Saturday.

National Rail canceled all trains to and from the airport.

Blaze lit up the sky and darkened homes

Matthew Muirhead was working Thursday night near Heathrow when he stepped outside with a colleague and noticed smoke rising from an electrical substation and heard sirens crying out.

“We saw a bright flash of white, and all the lights in town went out,” he said.

Flights normally begin landing and taking off at Heathrow at 6 a.m. due to nighttime flying restrictions. But the skies were silent Friday morning.

“Living near Heathrow is noisy, there are planes every 90 seconds or so, plus the constant hum of traffic, but you get used to it, to the point of no longer noticing,” said James Henderson, who has lived next to the airport for more than 20 years. “Today is different, you can hear the birds singing.”

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Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio in Berlin, Yirmiyan Arthur in Kohima, India, Hallie Golden in Seattle, and Christie Hampton, Brian Hannon and David Cohen in Bangkok, contributed.

Brian Melley, Danica Kirka And Jill Lawless, The Associated Press

A former Hells Angels hitman has had his day parole revoked because the Parole Board of Canada has found he can’t control his bad attitude.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s prime minister on Friday urged foreign ministers from China, South Korea and Japan to focus on finding common ground ahead of a key joint meeting of the three Asian power houses the following day.

The meeting on Saturday will see Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and South Korea’s Cho Tae-yul plan for their countries’ trilateral summit in Japan later this year.

They will also discuss North Korea’s missile and nuclear development, Russia’s war on Ukraine and other regional and global issues. On Friday, the three foreign ministers met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Japan has had historical and territorial disputes with both China and South Korea, and holding such three-way meetings is an achievement. Last one was held in South Korea last year.

Ishiba said Friday that cooperation among the three countries will serve their national interest and regional and global peace. The talks come amid growing political and economic uncertainty at home and challenges from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Later Saturday, delegations from Japan and China will meet separately and hold their first high-level economic dialogue since April 2019. Iwaya and Wang will also hold separate bilateral talks with Cho.

U.S. allies Japan and South Korea have rapidly improved ties as they share mutual concerns over China’s growing threat in the region.

Tokyo and Beijing agreed in December to improve ties despite differences, including disputes over a group of uninhabited islands that both claim, as well as China’s territorial disputes with other countries in the South China Sea.

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press

Sarah Mitton of Brooklyn, N.S., dominated the women's shot put competition at the world athletics indoor championships in Nanjing, China, tossing the two best throws at 20.36 metres and 20.48m to win gold.

When I consider the broad sweep of human history in all its expressions and forms of organization, I come to one conclusion: no matter how we organize ourselves, there are assholes in every system. Really, it's assholes all the way down.

The post When it comes to dealing with private equity plundering, we can indeed slightly improve society appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

RCMP discovered the drug during a search they conducted in the Amherst area in December while investigating the theft of a dirt bike.

Mayor Andy Fillmore was the sole no vote for the project, which has trained staff responding to non-violent crisis calls.

The post Halifax budget committee votes to approve community crisis team pilot appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

Sherri Borden Colley's lawyer Asaf Rashid said he found it 'alarming' the corporate security investigator had no clear knowledge about racial profiling before she began investigating the case.

The post Corporate security investigator testifies in Nova Scotia human rights hearing into racial profiling complaint against local store appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s defense minister said Friday he has ordered ground forces to advance deeper into the Gaza Strip, and vowed to hold more land until Hamas releases the remaining hostages it holds.

“The more Hamas continues its refusal to release the kidnapped, the more territory it will lose to Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

After retaking part of the strategic Netzarim corridor that divides Gaza’s north from south, Israeli troops moved Thursday toward the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the southern border city of Rafah. The military said it had resumed enforcing a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City.

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet unanimously approved his request to fire the head of the country’s Shin Bet internal security service. The decision to sack Ronen Bar deepens a power struggle focused largely over who bears responsibility for the 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

It also could set the stage for a crisis over the country’s division of powers. Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss Bar.

Critics say the move is a power grab by the prime minister against an independent-minded civil servant, and tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated in support of Bar, including outside Netanyahu’s residence on Friday.

A Shin Bet report into Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that prompted the war acknowledged failures by the security agency. But it also said that policies by Netanyahu’s government created the conditions for the attack.

Netanyahu is also upset that the Shin Bet has launched an investigation into connections between some of his close aides and the Gulf state of Qatar. His office said Bar’s dismissal would take effect on April 10 or before then if a replacement is found.

Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel on Tuesday shattered a truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January.

Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians, has said it would escalate military operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive — and gives up control of the territory.

The ceasefire agreed to in mid-January was a three-phase plan meant to lead to a long-term cessation of hostilities, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the return of all hostages taken by Hamas in its surprise attack on Israel.

In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas returned 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces also withdrew to buffer zones inside Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to northern Gaza.

The ceasefire was supposed to continue as long as talks on the second phase continued but Netanyahu balked at entering substantive negotiations.

Instead, he tried to force Hamas to accept a new ceasefire plan put forth by U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

That plan would have required Hamas to release half its remaining hostages — the militant group’s main bargaining chip — in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners — a key component of the first phase.

Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the original ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

The militant group has said it is willing to hand over power to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority or a committee of political independents but will not lay down its arms until Israel ends its decades-long occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.

Hamas said in a statement Friday that the firing of Shin Bet’s head shows a “deepening crisis of distrust” within Israel’s leadership, and claimed that Netanyahu “engineered sham negotiations to stall and buy time without any genuine intention of reaching tangible outcomes.”

Netanyahu said he had ordered the resumed strikes on Gaza because of Hamas’ rejection of the new proposal.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration reiterated its support for Israel this week, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, “The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay.”

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants, but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war at its height displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population and has caused vast destruction across the territory.

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Rising reported from Bangkok.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Ibrahim Hazboun And David Rising, The Associated Press

Nova Scotia, like all jurisdictions, has an energy system. This system is responsible for supplying the energy we all use for end-use services such as space and hot-water heating, lighting and appliances, transportation, building services such as elevators, and industrial applications. In 2023, about two-thirds of the energy consumed by Nova Scotians was supplied by […]

The post Nova Scotia’s energy system and the risks of America’s tariff war appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.

The Associated Press

Families were notified on Monday that the Children's Garden Day Care in Halifax, N.S., which is licensed for 80 kids, will close at the end of April and they should start looking for alternative child-care options. With most nearby daycares at full capacity with extensive waitlists, parents are stressed.

Most Black Canadians participating in politics face discrimination and barriers to getting involved in government, according to a recent study.

Don’t forget that umbrella before you head out of the door Friday morning.

A drizzly morning will turn into rain this afternoon according to 95-7’s weather specialist Allister Aalders.

“Periods of drizzle, rain and fog continuing tonight the temperature will drop down to 3 degrees  with about 5-10 mm in the forecast, there could be locally up to 15mm in some areas.” Said Aalders

Saturday, the rain is expected to let up by noon with some partial clearing and a high around 10 C, Sunday there are just a few clouds in the forecast with a daytime high around 7.

Monday the sun will stick around to stary, but daytime highs are expected to only reach 3 degrees, and we could see some flurries later Monday evening and into Tuesday.

The premier of New Brunswick is calling on the other three East Coast premiers to join her in making Atlantic Canada a "free trade area" with a single market operating with one set of rules governing trade and labour mobility.

EGG HARBOR CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim implored a standing-room-only town hall on Thursday to get involved in politics as a way to push back against President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The freshman Democrat opened a three-day tour of GOP-held House districts on Thursday, visiting a town in the southern New Jersey district not far from where Trump’s casino empire in Atlantic City rose and fell decades ago.

“Please, I just — I am here to just say please stay engaged, stay with me, stay with others and help me try to build the kind of movement that we need to be able to mobilize,” Kim said near the end of the roughly hour and 40-minute Q&A at a Teamsters union hall.

Kim’s meetings come as the out-of-power Democrats struggle to find a message and a method for pushing back on the president’s quick-paced policy rollouts. It also coincides with word from the Republican House speaker to his members to skip town halls after an onslaught of protests, though some GOP members are forging ahead with constituent meetings.

Many of the questioners expressed frustration at cuts to government agencies and the prospect for cuts to Medicaid in particular. An emotional moment unfolded when Susan Coll-Guedes of Galloway said she worried her 24-year-old son with Down syndrome who relied on Medicaid to cover nursing could lose care if the service is cut. Kim approached her and gave her a hug after she finished speaking.

“We are not bad people. This is not waste. It’s not fraud. It’s real,” she said.

Other speakers called on Democrats to more forcefully push back against the president and Elon Musk in particular.

“I understand the ins and outs and the right way to do things,” said Heather Ogden of Camden County. “They have tossed all of the rules out of the window.”

Kim cited the legal challenges against the administration as a component of responding but also criticized how the executive branch was using its authority.

“So much of what we believe in this country to be checks and balances honestly gets brought down and exposed as just norms and behavior. And, and we see what happens when some people are just unwilling or uninterested in behaving in a way that is befitting of our country,” he said. “That’s what’s so scary.”

Not everyone at the meeting was frustrated or angry with the administration.

A man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat asked Kim why he didn’t clap when Trump honored people in the House gallery during his recent speech to a joint session of Congress.

Kim responded that he did clap when a boy with cancer was honored, but that otherwise the president had set a tone of “disrespect” in the room.

Kim was elected last year but took office early because of the seat opened by Bob Menendez’s resignation after he was convicted on federal corruption charges. Kim was first elected to the House in 2018 in a GOP-leaning district that Trump carried twice.

The town hall had an estimated capacity of 150, according to the senator’s office. There were about two dozen people outside, watching on their phones. Some of them had been turned away at the door because of a lack of space.

Mike Catalini, The Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are among the stars set to miss the opening action when the Indian Premier League returns for its 18th season.

The defending champion Kolkata Knight Riders will host Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Eden Gardens on Saturday to open the 74-match, nine-week tournament. Kolkata will also host two knockout games, including the May 25 final.

Last year’s runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad begins Sunday against Rajasthan Royals, who were the inaugural champions in 2008. Hyderabad will host the first two knockout games.

Chennai Supers Kings will host Mumbai Indians — both five-time champions — in Sunday’s second game.

Bumrah, the world’s top fast bowler, will miss that game for Mumbai as he hasn’t recovered from a lower back injury sustained in January during India’s tour of Australia. He could miss at least one-third of the IPL.

Mumbai skipper Pandya will also miss the high-profile match — he is suspended for a slow-over rate in last year’s last game and the penalty is being imposed to start the season. Vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav will lead Mumbai Indians in the season opener.

Pant, Iyer look to back up big salaries

Rishabh Pant will lead Lucknow SuperGiants, while Kolkata’s 2024 title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer will captain Punjab Kings. The duo fetched huge sums in the player auction — Pant became the most expensive player in IPL history with a contract worth about $3.12 million, and Iyer went a close second at about $3 million. Both figures are approximate based on Indian currency rates at the time of the auction.

“I personally felt I didn’t get the recognition I wanted to after winning the (2024) IPL,” Iyer said after Kolkata chose not to retain him. He will be combining again with former Australia captain Ricky Ponting — the captain-coach duo previously worked together at Delhi Capitals.

Other captaincy changes include Ajinkya Rahane leading Kolkata, and allrounder Axar Patel taking over at Delhi.

Kohli praises new captain Patidar

Rajat Patidar takes over as captain from Faf du Plessis at Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Signed as a replacement midway through 2020 IPL season, it marks a stellar rise for Patidar, a middle-order batter who made his test debut against England in 2024.

“He is an amazing talent — a great player and he has got a great head on his shoulders. He will do a great job for this amazing franchise and take the team forward,” Virat Kohli said at a Royal Challengers event. Bengaluru retained Kohli, part of India’s Champions Trophy-winning team in March, for about $2.4 million this season.

The new and the older

India great MS Dhoni returns to the IPL for Chennai at the age of 43. Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020, and played his last one-day international in 2019. As per IPL rules, a player retired from international cricket for five years or more is classified under the “uncapped” category.

Dhoni — a veteran of 90 tests, 350 ODIs and countless Twenty20 games in the IPL or otherwise — has a season contract worth about $460,000.

At the other end of this age spectrum is 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi — set to be the youngest player to feature in an IPL season. He was chosen by Rajasthan Royals after a bidding war that saw his auction price rise to about $125,000.

Rule change

An IPL rule change stirred debate after England batter Harry Brook pulled out of the season for personal reasons, after Delhi Capitals had secured him for about $720,000 at the auction.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, which runs the IPL, says any player withdrawing for reasons other than an injury, or lack of playing approval from their respective boards, could be banned for the entire three-season IPL cycle. Brook could be barred from the IPL until 2027, only being allowed to re-enter the auction for 2028.

“It is not harsh,” former England allrounder Moeen Ali, who now plays for KKR, said on a cricket podcast. “I kind of agree with it.”

Ali said many players had withdrawn late in the past and then re-entered the IPL and “end up getting a better financial package.”

“It kind of messes a lot of things up at the same time — his team now has to rejig everything.”

IPL basics

Twenty20, or T20, is cricket’s shortest format. It’s fast-paced, TV friendly, and is over and done with in about 3 1/2 hours. After India won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, India cricket officials decided to launch a domestic T20 league in 2008. IPL teams are based on states or cities.

Held annually, the IPL auction draws many of the sport’s brightest stars from all over the world. Close to 1,600 players entered for 2025, and that list was reduced to 577 for the chance to be one of the 204 players selected.

Each team has a $14.3 million budget to pick 18 players, and a maximum of 25; only eight are allowed to come from overseas, the other 17 must be from India. In the playing XI on the field, teams are restricted to four overseas players.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Chetan Narula, The Associated Press

A Halifax-based folk music duo say police who pulled them over on a highway in the U.S. Midwest earlier this month accused them of having drugs in their rental car and questioned them about their allegiance in a strange interaction that lasted nearly an hour.

WHITEHORSE — The Yukon and federal governments have announced a $9.5-million pharmacare agreement over four years, giving universal access to contraceptive and diabetes medications for the territory’s residents.

A joint news release says the agreement will support reproductive freedom for up to 12,000 Yukoners and make sure that over 3,000 residents with diabetes can access essential medications at little or no cost.

Yukon Health Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee and federal Health Minister Kamal Khera made the announcement on Thursday.

McPhee says the health system becomes more inclusive and equitable when ensuring those with diabetes can get essential medicine and supplies, and people wanting contraceptives don’t have financial barriers.

The statement says no one should have to chose between paying for their medicine and buying groceries.

The Pharmacare Act received Royal assent in October last year and immediately came into force. Since then, Manitoba, B.C. and Prince Edward Island have also reached similar agreements.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2025.

The Canadian Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Two blocks from the Alabama Statehouse, a black wreath hung on the door of Adams Drugs — a symbol to draw attention the number of neighborhood pharmacies that have closed, or are in danger of closing, across the state.

Dozens of independent pharmacies have shuttered in Alabama over the last two years, according to the Alabama Independent Pharmacy Alliance. Pharmacists said that is, in part, because it can often cost more to dispense a drug than they are reimbursed by pharmacy benefit managers.

“We’re losing almost one drugstore per week going out of business because they are paid such a small amount of money from the PBM industry to fill prescriptions for their patients at their drugstore,” Sen. Billy Beasley, a Democratic senator and retired pharmacist, said.

Alabama is one of several states considering new regulations on pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen between health insurance companies, drug companies and pharmacies. The Alabama Senate voted 32-0 Thursday to advance legislation to require minimum reimbursement rates to community pharmacists. The bill now moves to the Alabama House of Representatives.

Legislation seeking regulations on the benefit managers have also been proposed in Mississippi, Arkansas and other states.

Pharmacy benefit managers leverage purchasing power with drug companies with the goal of driving down drug costs for consumers. However, independent pharmacists say the business practices of benefit managers cause them to lose money on about 20% of prescriptions.

“The biggest issue is we’re not getting paid what it actually cost to fill a prescription, including labor,” Trent McLemore, a pharmacist with Star Discount Pharmacy.

The Alabama bill would require that PBMs reimburse community pharmacies at the Alabama Medicaid Agency reimbursement rate. It would also prohibit the practice of “spread pricing” where a benefits manager charges health plans more for drugs than they pay pharmacies.

Groups opposed to the bill have said it would effectively put a new $10.64 fee on prescriptions under the requirement to match state Medicaid rates, which include a $10.64 dispensing fee. That fee, they argued, will eventually get passed down to consumers and businesses.

Helena Duncan, president of the Business Council of Alabama, told a legislative committee on Wednesday that small businesses, which might already be struggling to provide insurance to their workers, will have to either absorb the increased cost or pass it along to employees through premium increases.

“Shifting the financial burdens from pharmacies to the Alabama employers is fundamentally unfair,” Duncan told a legislative committee on Wednesday.

Republican Sen. Andrew Jones, a cosponsor of the bill, said Thursday said other states have seen drug prices go down. Jones said it is important to protect neighborhood pharmacies because they play a vital role in communities.

“You are not going to get a big box store to open in the middle of the night to get you the medication you need,” Jones said.

Kim Chandler, The Associated Press

The only daily TV news package to focus on Nova Scotians and their stories

DENVER (AP) — A federal agency killed a collared wolf that appears to have crossed from Colorado into Wyoming and killed several sheep, government officials said Thursday.

The wolf was part of a voter-driven reintroduction of the predators in Colorado, a move that angered ranchers who feared losing livestock and agitated political divisions between urban and rural communities. The animals are protected in Colorado, but in large parts of Wyoming it’s legal to kill them.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services responded to reports of a predator killing five sheep in north-central Wyoming on Saturday. The agency found evidence pointing to a wolf attack, including bite marks and tracks, according to spokesperson Tanya Espinosa.

Later that day, the agency killed the wolf it believed was the culprit and discovered it had a collar from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Espinosa said. The wolf and collar were returned to the Colorado agency.

That agency said in a press release that a collar on a male gray wolf alerted the animal’s death on Sunday in the same region of Wyoming. “Wolves are known to travel long distances to find food or mates, including into other states,” read the agency’s statement.

The agency said the wolf had been transported from Canada, part of Colorado’s ongoing reintroduction efforts after the first wolf paws touched down in December 2023.

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Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Jesse Bedayn, The Associated Press

Canadian seafood exporters are bracing for impact, as China's 25 per cent tariffs take effect. This is in retaliation for Canada’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. But the seafood industry says it is struggling to understand the immediate impact. The CBC's Tom Murphy spoke to Kris Vascotto with the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance.

Under the existing rules, Nova Scotia MLAs who live at least 100 kilometres from Province House are eligible for a housing allowance. Now that distance is being cut in half to 50 kilometres.

The Halifax Tides will play their first game on the Wanderers Grounds in Halifax next month. Watch Amy Smith's interview with Courtney Sherlock, co-founder and CEO of the Halifax Tides, and Diana Matheson, the co-founder of the Northern Super League.

The federal government, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have reached a deal for the Chignecto Isthmus. Upgrades to dikes that protect the low-lying strip of land could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The provinces have each agreed to pay a quarter of the cost and Ottawa will pay half. Taryn Grant has the story.

OTTAWA — Former prime minister Stephen Harper told a conference in India last month that he doesn’t “entirely understand” why Canada has such a poor relationship with India, and suggested the Liberal party has become infiltrated by Sikh activists who want to carve a separate state out of India.

“Frankly, I have been heartbroken to watch the steady deterioration of this relationship under my successor. I don’t think I entirely understand why that is,” Harper said in his remarks to a Feb. 28 conference in New Delhi called the NXT Conclave.

His commentary was posted online on YouTube.

Ties between Ottawa and New Delhi have been in a deep freeze since fall 2023, when then-prime minister Justin Trudeau said his government had “credible allegations” linking agents of the Indian government to the murder of a Sikh activist near Vancouver.

A year later Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats after the RCMP alleged that New Delhi was behind widespread acts of murder, extortion and coercion across Canada.

New Delhi stands accused of playing a role in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian activist who called for the establishment of an independent Sikh state to be called Khalistan.

Harper alluded to the ongoing criminal investigations briefly in his remarks, saying, “I am certainly in no position to evaluate the accusations.”

New Delhi says the Khalistan movement threatens India’s national security. Ottawa has long said that it upholds India’s territorial integrity but won’t crack down on freedom of expression in Canada.

The issue had become an irritant during Trudeau’s time in government, as a series of separation referendums and parade floats depicting violence received scant mainstream media attention in Canada but were the subject of emotive news reports in India.

Trudeau also angered Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he expressed concern over the Modi government’s crackdown on farmers’ protests in India that included a large number of Sikhs.

Harper argued his government took a different approach to a “fringe minority” that supports Khalistan and is “injurious” to Canada’s relations with India. He said his government operated from the assumption that most Canadians have no interest in the secession movement.

“It is about time that all political parties and politicians in Canada made building those people-to-people ties, that represent the vast majority of our peoples, the priority — and not the priority of building relations with Khalistanis,” Harper said.

“I will give the government of Prime Minister Modi great credit for not disrupting those people-to-people ties given the current coolness between the governments.”

“In Canada, you have a right to be a Khalistani. It’s a democratic opinion,” Harper said. “But it should not be infiltrating our governing party, and it should not be inhibiting good people-to-people relations between India and Canada.”

Modi is known to be close to Harper, who chairs the International Democrat Union, a global coalition of conservative parties that used to include Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

In 2019, Harper visited Modi in India and on Twitter, the platform now known as X, called Modi a “friend” and the “most significant leader of India since Independence” who was “shaping every conversation on geopolitics and the global economy.”

In January, the national inquiry into foreign interference called India “the second most-active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada,” particularly on the Khalistan issue.

“India focuses its foreign interference activities on the Indo-Canadian community and on prominent non-Indo-Canadians to achieve its objectives,” the inquiry reported.

“A body of intelligence indicates that proxy agents may have, and may continue to be, clandestinely providing illicit financial support to various Canadian politicians in an attempt to secure the election of pro-India candidates or gain influence over candidates who take office,” the inquiry concluded, adding that some of those candidates might not be aware of India’s influence.

The Canadian Press has reached out to Harper through his consulting firm for comment but has not yet received a response.

In his comments at the conference, Harper also warned that the global order is unravelling and said middle powers like India and Canada should collaborate more on critical minerals and intelligence, instead of encouraging a world of hard-power spheres of influence.

“The world that is emerging is not a desirable state of affairs for humanity. In fact, this state of affairs ominously mirrors the rivalries of the pre-World War I period, and history tells us where that led,” he said.

“God help us as we enter a new such period with its combination of advanced weaponry and computer power.”

Harper said Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada are unjustified, and he’s troubled by Trump’s “seemingly agnostic view” toward democratic nations, citing his “gratuitous attacks on countries like Canada and Denmark” while cozying up to Russia and Turkey.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has convicted two men of plotting to assassinate Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her home in New York City in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said was financed by the Iranian government.

The verdict was returned at a federal court in New York on Thursday, ending a two-week trial that featured dramatic testimony from a hired gunman and Alinejad, an author, activist and contributor to Voice of America.

Prosecutors said the convicted men, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, were crime bosses in the Russian mob. Their lawyers argued that they were innocent and trial evidence was flawed.

Prosecutors said Alinejad, 48, was targeted by Iran for her online campaigns encouraging women there to record videos of themselves exposing their hair in violation of edicts requiring they cover it in public.

Iran offered $500,000 for a July 2022 killing of Alinejad after efforts to harass, smear and intimidate Alinejad failed, prosecutors said.

Iran continues to be looked at as a source of assassination plots in the United States, including against President Donald Trump when he was campaigning last year.

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s leading supplier of LiDAR technology has denied a report saying it has links to the Chinese military, as the company awaits a U.S. court’s ruling on the U.S. government’s decision to include it in a Defense Department list of suppliers to the Chinese military .

Hesai is the industry’s global leader in sales of laser sensors known as LiDAR and a major supplier to Chinese electric vehicle makers. Its Nasdaq-traded shares surged last week after it reported it had reached profitability. They fell about 10% on Tuesday after the stock research group Blue Orca Capital issued its report, which also accused the company of misleading investors.

“We are aware of the report published by short-seller Blue Orca Capital,” Hesai said in an emailed statement. “Hesai is committed to stringent standards of business ethics and regulatory compliance. We strongly disagree with the allegations in the Blue Orca report and are of the view that they are without merit.”

Hesai sued the U.S. government last year after was added to a Defense Department list of companies considered to have Chinese military connections. The company says it has no such links.

According to court documents, a hearing was scheduled for Thursday in the District Court of the District of Columbia for Hesai’s case against the Department of Defense.

LiDAR is short for “light detection and ranging.” It uses lasers in remote sensing to measure distances and surfaces around a device, supplementing information detected by cameras and other sensors. It’s used in autonomous driving and other applications such as consumer robots and industrial automation.

Hesai is the main supplier of LiDAR to Chinese automakers including BYD. It also was a supplier to Cruise, which General Motors GM bought in 2016 with high hopes of developing a profitable fleet of robotaxis. GM retreated from that venture late last year, after investing billions, saying it would develop partially automated driver-assist systems like its Super Cruise, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel.

Hesai also supplies Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi service, which is hoping to begin offering driverless rides to the general public in Las Vegas at some point this year before also launching in San Francisco.

In the transcript of a recent earnings call, Hesai’s CEO David Li said the U.S. government “continued to falsely accuse us of associating with the Chinese military.”

“We can state definitely that DOD has not accused Hesai of being owned or controlled by any military bodies, selling products to any military bodies or otherwise directly supporting any military bodies,” he said. Instead it asserts that Hesai supports Chinese “military-civil fusion.”

The Blue Orca report includes still images of tanks shown on the Chinese national broadcaster CCTV or in other state-run media and at industry exhibitions that appear to be equipped with Hesai LiDAR units, with close-ups showing the brand name on the devices.

It also notes that U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments describing Chinese technology companies with ties to the military as a threat to national security raise the risk that Hesai faces risks to its business and investments in the U.S.

“Ultimately, we do not think that U.S. authorities will permit a Chinese military company whose products are equipped on Chinese military vehicles to take advantage of the privilege of American capital markets,” it said.

Hesai reported a 14 million yuan ($1.9 million) profit last year, reversing from a loss of 241 million yuan in 2023.

Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press

Halifax Water says there will be traffic delays on busy Bayers Road today as crews work to repair a sinkhole in the area.

In a post last night, the utility said it would be working in the 6700 block of Bayers Road, in the outbound lanes between Connaught Avenue and Romans Avenue, to make the repairs.

Halifax Water says there will be a lane reduction in the work zone, with two-way traffic maintained. The sidewalk in that area will remain open.

The utility says the work will slow traffic and is asking motorists to consider alternate routes.

A woman who spent 16 days in an extreme form of solitary confinement in a Nova Scotia prison is now suing the federal government for damages.

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is set to keep U.K. interest rates unchanged Thursday even though the economy is barely growing and set for further uncertainty in light of the tariff policies being enacted by the Trump administration in the U.S.

The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee is expected to keep the bank’s main interest rate at 4.50%, given that inflation remains above target and set to go higher in the coming months, as firms are expected to raise prices as a result of a big increase in the minimum wage and higher payroll taxes.

Inflation in the U.K. rose to a 10-month high of 3% in January — further above the bank’s target of 2%. And many economists think it could rise as high as 4% in the coming months.

The rate-setting panel has reduced the bank’s main rate from a 16-year high of 5.25% by a quarter of a percentage on three occasions since last August, most recently in February, after inflation fell from multi-decade highs of over 10%.

If it pursues this gradual approach, then it would cut again at its next meeting in May, when it will be armed with the bank’s latest economic projections and Gov. Andrew Bailey next holds a press conference. The minutes accompanying Thursday’s decision will give financial markets a better steer about whether a May cut is as nailed-on as many economists think.

The British economy, the sixth-largest, eked out modest growth of 0.1% in the fourth quarter, a hugely disappointing outcome for the new Labour government, which has made boosting growth its number one economic policy. Since the global financial crisis in 2008-9, the British economy’s growth performance has been notably below its long-run average.

Critics say Treasury chief Rachel Reeves has been partly responsible for the gloomy economic news since Labour returned to power in July after 14 years, because she was overly downbeat when taking on her role and has since increased taxes, particularly on businesses.

There’s also the complication of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which economists worry would lower global growth and lead to an uptick in prices. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hoping that a modest trade deal will spare widespread tariffs being slapped on U.K. imports into the U.S.

Pan Pylas, The Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government has given final approval for a Texas-based marine robotics company to renew the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean more than a decade ago.

Cabinet ministers agreed to terms and conditions for a “no-find, no-fee” contract with Texas-based Ocean Infinity to resume the seabed search operation at a new 15,000-square-kilometer (5,800-square-mile) site in the ocean, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement Wednesday. Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.

The Boeing 777 plane vanished from radar shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.

An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to its location, although debris washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. A private search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity also found nothing.

The final approval for a new search came three months after Malaysia gave the nod in principle to plans for a fresh search.

Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly said the company had improved its technology since 2018. He has said the firm is working with many experts to analyze data and had narrowed the search area to the most likely site.

Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity soon but didn’t provide details on the terms. The firm has reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated that January-April is the best period for the search.

“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,” he said in a statement.

The Associated Press

Opposition leaders are accusing the Houston government of sending mixed messages to civil servants worried about a bill that would give senior officials the power to fire non-union employees without cause.

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin said it’s no secret Democrats don’t have their strategy figured out, but insists the “yelling” coming from some progressive Democrats has not stopped President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Slotkin was responding to a constituent who asked the freshman senator what Democrats can do besides reiterating they are against the administration while at a town hall Wednesday in Flint, Michigan. The exchange highlights ongoing division in the party on how to play defense with the administration when Democrats are out of power in both chambers of Congress.

“I get it that it makes people feel good to see people yelling,” Slotkin said. “But not one of those words is stopping the actual things that Donald Trump is doing.”

A constituent, Kristin Fellows, 62, had asked Slotkin and Democratic U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet what they would do to stand up to Trump like progressive Democrats Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“We know that you are against these current awful happenings going on in the world, but it is simply not enough for you to repeatedly tell us that you are,” Fellows said.

Her question, posed at a gathering to address cuts to federal agencies made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and concerns about social services like Medicaid, was met with applause, the first of any questions asked of the congresswomen.

Slotkin responded by saying she also serves Michigan residents who voted for Trump and that she is responding to the needs of residents who are impacted by changes at the federal level and executive orders from Trump.

Sanders has gone on a national tour to rally against Trump. Ocasio-Cortez, a longtime Sanders ally, said she would join him on the road in the coming weeks.

“My job is to be more than just an activist,” Slotkin said. “It is to answer the call when there’s an immigration raid and we need to figure out where our people are. All of those things require me to be more than just an AOC.”

Slotkin’s firm response was also met with applause from the audience. Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Slotkin delivered the Democratic response to Trump’s address to Congress earlier this month. Both she and McDonald Rivet delivered key wins for the party in a battleground state that elected Trump in the November election.

They have both been looked to as potential models of the Democratic Party’s future that is closer to the center than the progressive wing.

Slotkin acknowledged to the town hall that Democrats are not united on how to handle the Republican control of Congress and Trump himself, pointing to a split vote in the U.S. Senate to foreword the GOP’s funding bill last week. Slotkin did not elect to advance the bill to a final vote while 10 other Democrats including Leader Chuck Schumer did.

When asked by The Associated Press if Schumer should retain his leadership position, Slotkin said, “Sen. Schumer is our leader, it’s a tough job.”

Isabella Volmert, The Associated Press

The only daily TV news package to focus on Nova Scotians and their stories

As Kyle Moore reports, the $17.1 million will be used for new water lines and sewer infrastructure at the former Tartan Downs.

GREEN RIVER, Wyo. (AP) — A series of chain-reaction crashes and a fire in a Wyoming highway tunnel that killed three people started when a pickup truck lost control and partially blocked traffic on the slick roadway, federal investigators said Wednesday.

It had snowed before the Feb. 14 crashes along Interstate 80, the primary east-west road corridor through Wyoming, near the small town of Green River, Wyoming. The highway was wet with possible ice or slush near the tunnel exit when a westbound Toyota pickup drove out of the tunnel and spun, hitting a guardrail before stopping, blocking the right lane and part of the left lane, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report.

Other vehicles headed out of the tunnel tried to avoid hitting the Toyota, including a tractor-trailer that jackknifed and blocked both lanes of traffic about 200 feet before the tunnel’s exit, it said.

A Dodge pickup hit that tractor-trailer, and another tractor-trailer hit the Dodge pickup. That second tractor-trailer, entangled with the Dodge truck, hit the jackknifed tractor-trailer again before hitting the Toyota and another truck outside the tunnel, the NTSB said.

Several other vehicles then collided inside the tunnel, and there was a post-crash fire, the report said.

Two of the people in the Dodge pickup truck died as a result of the crashes, the NTSB said. The driver of a tractor-trailer in the tunnel was trapped inside the vehicle and died in the fire, it said.

Twenty other people had injuries of varying degrees, the NTSB said.

The crash took place in the westbound tube of the twin tunnel under Castle Rock, a sandstone formation that looms over the town of Green River in the state’s southwest region.

The Associated Press

Nova Scotia's fisheries minister is downplaying the potential short-term effects of a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian seafood products that is scheduled to be imposed by China on Thursday.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press reveal the non-profit Whale Sanctuary Project has yet to secure approval from all five owners of property adjacent to where the group plans to build a huge, floating net enclosure for belugas and orcas retired from marine theme parks.

Nicole MacLeod, 37, has pleaded guilty to five charges related to sex offences against at least one student. She is scheduled to be sentenced in July.

The donation will be used for Cape Breton University buildings, infrastructure or scholarships.

Nova Scotia's 55 MLAs are not only getting a salary bump, they'll also agree to increase their constituency budgets and make future increases automatic when inflation drives up costs.

During debate Tuesday, Coun. Earlene MacMullin unexpectedly proposed an amendment to immediately appoint Demetri Kachafanas permanently to the role of CAO — a position he's held on an interim basis since Marie Walsh retired in the fall.

"Being Canadian is not just having health care. It's believing in a social democracy that redistributes and tries to be good to everybody. We've shown that as a modern country, that's who we want to be."

The post ‘Taste of Trump a great way to get over a hangover’: Political sociologist on Canada’s current moment appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

RCMP said Richard Craig Barrett, 31, of Bible Hill was charged Monday in connection with the 2023 death of Maggie Cameron.

Vince Calderhead says it is a 'borderline human rights violation' for the provincial government not to do more to help lift income assistance recipients out of poverty.

It’s only March and there’s even snow on the ground still in some parts of Nova Scotia, but an official with the province’s Department of Natural Resources says its not too early for wildfires.

“Spring is when the risk can change the most dramatically,” said Scott Tingley, forest protection manager with DNR. “The Spring fire hazard is a lot of grass and the smaller fuels, grass and twigs and things that dry out quickly, on a warm, windy, dry afternoon it can only take a few hours for that grass to dry out.”

Tingley says while the woods might not be “receptive” to fires yet, those early-season grass fires can ignite easily and spread quickly. Tingley said DNR tends to see the most fire between now and early May.

“We definitely want to get the message out to folks to be cautious, and follow those burn restrictions,” Tingley said.

Wildfire risk season in Nova Scotia runs from March 15 to October 15 and during the season no burning of any kind is between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. The provincial burn restriction map is updated daily to then show if people can burn starting at 2 p.m., 7 p.m. or not at all, depending on the fire risk determined that day by officials.

Tingley says DNR has done a lot of work in the time since the Summer 2023 wildfires that impacted Tantallon and Hammonds Plains, as well as the Shelburne area on the south shore.

“We had a formal after-action review, there was a consultants report with recommendations and the department has implemented those,” Tingley said. “We’ve acquired a lot of new equipment, trained people on new equipment, and a lot of recommendations were around internal communications and training, so we’ve certainly made adjustments.”

Much of Nova Scotia is experiencing dry conditions

CityNews weather specialist Allister Aalders says, the federal government’s drought monitor reports Halifax and much of HRM has been “abnormally dry” since June 2024, and during the fall and early winter season a moderate drought was reported.

“As of the end of February the situation had improved somewhat with abnormally dry conditions observed once again in Halifax after being in that moderate drought, but several inland locations were still experiencing moderate drought conditions at the end of February,” Aalders explained.

Aalders says precipitation has been below average since last Spring. Recently, January was below average precipitation, while February saw levels closer to normal levels. So far, March is below average as well.

“Certainly if the dry conditions don’t improve over the next several weeks, we could be looking at more long-term issues, not just with the growing season,” Aalders said. “Some people have already been trucking in water since the fall and even during this past winter to maintain their well water levels.”

Similarly, low levels at Lake Major in the fall led to a mandatory period of water restrictions in Dartmouth. Aalders says if conditions remain dry there’s a greater risk of a wildfire igniting, and can impact the rate at which a wildfire can spread.

A Department of Defense webpage describing baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson’s military service was missing Wednesday morning.

That development comes after pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were taken down — the Pentagon said that was a mistake — amid the department’s campaign to strip out content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers “DEI.”

According to Internet Archive, the page on Robinson previously included biographical information about his Army service during World War II, which occurred prior to his famously breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. When that page’s address was entered Wednesday, a message showed up saying it “might have been moved, renamed, or may be temporarily unavailable.” The letters “dei” were also automatically added to the URL.

The page included an anecdote about Robinson refusing to move to the back of an Army bus in 1944, prompting the driver to call military police. Robinson was court martialed but acquitted.

Thousands of pages honoring contributions by women and minority groups have been taken down in efforts to delete material promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended the practice at a briefing Monday.

A Defense Department webpage honoring Black Medal of Honor recipient Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers was taken down last week but was back online by Monday night.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

The Associated Press