KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a series of drone strikes that struck civilian areas overnight and damaged a hospital in Ukraine following the refusal by President Vladimir Putin to back a full 30-day ceasefire during discussions with his American counterpart.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the attacks continue to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, despite Putin’s agreement to immediately cease attacks on the power grid. Zelenskyy said that Moscow’s refusal to halt all strikes proved the need for increased pressure on Moscow to prevent Putin from prolonging the war.

“This confirms that we must continue to pressure Russia for the sake of peace,” he said Tuesday night. “Only a real halt to Russia’s attacks on civilian infrastructure can signal a genuine desire to end this war and bring peace closer.”

The White House described the call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin as the first step in a “movement to peace” that it hopes will include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and eventually a full and lasting end to the fighting.

But there was no indication that Putin backed away from his conditions for a prospective peace deal, which are fiercely opposed by Kyiv.

Shortly after the two leaders wrapped up their lengthy phone call, air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv, followed by explosions as residents took shelter.

Despite efforts to repel the attack, several strikes hit civilian infrastructure, including a direct drone strike on a hospital in Sumy and attacks on cities in Donetsk region. Russian drones were also reported over Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Cherkasy regions.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported Wednesday that its air defenses intercepted 57 Ukrainian drones over the Azov Sea and several Russian regions — the border provinces of Kursk and Bryansk and the nearby regions of Oryol and Tula.

Separately, authorities in the Krasnodar region bordering the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, reported that a drone attack there started a fire at an oil depot.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Hanna Arhirova, The Associated Press

Amid the patriotic fervour whipped up by tariff and annexation threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, the debate over whether Tim Hortons is Canadian is as hot as a double double.

The operator of a luxury resort on Nova Scotia's Northumberland Shore believes the Canada-U.S. trade war and a weak Canadian dollar could provide a boost to the tourism industry this year.

About 700 Ukrainians fleeing war found their way to Nova Scotia’s Annapolis County. They had been given temporary housing at former CFB Cornwallis. But some are now facing a deadline to move. This story is part of a series about changing rural communities in Nova Scotia.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te said that a Taiwanese semiconductor company’s massive investment in Arizona is the “best model” for the island’s effort to build computer chips supply lines that don’t rely on Chinese producers, in remarks to the state’s visiting Governor Katie Hobbs.

Taiwan’s leading chipmaker TSMC has committed $100 billion to build three chip foundries, an R&D center and two packaging facilities in Arizona, on top of a previous pledge to build $65 billion in three chip foundries in the state, one of which has begun operations.

Lai and TSMC say that the latest mega-investment stemmed from customer demand and not pressure from the administration of President Donald Trump.

Trump previously said that Taiwan had taken away the U.S. chip business and that he wanted it back.

At their Tuesday meeting, Lai said Taiwan and Arizona were working to build a “non-red” supply chain that excluded suppliers from China, which threatens military action to assert its claim over the island.

TSMC has said the development plans in the U.S. would not affect its work in Taiwan, and that the company currently has 10,000 employees researching and developing 1.0 nanometer chips. Taiwan accounts for more than 90% of advanced computer chip production.

The U.S. does not recognize Taiwan as a country, but is its strongest backer and biggest arms provider.

News about the meeting was released Wednesday by Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.

The project is expected to create 40,000 construction jobs over the next four years and tens of thousands of tech and manufacturing jobs, Hobbs’ office said in a news release sent before the meeting.

“I’m thrilled by Arizona’s emergence as America’s hub for advanced manufacturing, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs and bringing billions of dollars of investment into our state,” Hobbs said in the release.

CNA quoted Hobbs as saying that the TSMC project would “not only contribute to the global advancement of artificial intelligence and other technologies, but also strengthen bilateral ties.”

Christopher Bodeen, The Associated Press

The average value of farmlands in Nova Scotia increased last year but still falls below the national average, according to a new report.

A new report from the organization Farm Credit Canada showed the average value of Canadian farmlands rose by 9.3 percent last year.

This while Nova Scotia saw a 5.3 percent increase in our province.

That’s still lower than a number of other provinces, with Saskatchewan and B.C. leading the charge with 13 percent and 11 percent increases, respectively.

Our provincial neighbours in New Brunswick saw a 9 percent increase last year, while P.E.I. was at the bottom of the pack with a 1.4 percent increase.

According to the report, the limited supply of farmland available for sale combined with lower borrowing costs resulted in an increase in the average price of farmland across the country.

UTRECHT, Netherlands (AP) — The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “ fish doorbell ” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds.

The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a website. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through.

Now in its fifth year, the site has attracted millions of viewers from around the world with its quirky mix of slow TV and ecological activism.

Much of the time, the screen is just a murky green with occasional bubbles, but sometimes a fish swims past. As the water warms up, more fish show up.

Without the help, native freshwater fish like bream, pike and bass can become backed up behind the lock and form easy prey for predators in the spring, when the lock is rarely opened for passing boats.

The bell is the brainchild of ecologist and concept developer Mark van Heukelum. He’s been happily surprised at the response, with millions of people from around the world tuning in over the years.

“I guess the combination of a good cause, a beautiful story and just a simple idea generates all this attention,” he said.

Anna Nijs, an ecologist with Utrecht municipality, was also amazed at the popularity of the concept around the world.

“We get a lot of fan mail from people who think it’s slow TV and they find it relaxing,” said Nijs. Besides, “they appreciate that they can actually do something to help.”

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Associated Press writer Mike Corder in The Hague contributed.

Aleksandar Furtula, The Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Wednesday ahead of a decision on interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

U.S. futures edged higher while oil prices declined.

Japan reported that it logged a trade surplus in February, with exports rising more than 11%. The Japanese central bank opted to keep its benchmark rate unchanged, as expected. The Fed also is expected to hold rates steady.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2% to 37,900.88 after the central bank decided to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5%. The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected to keep rates steady.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2% to 24,777.01, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to 3,427.76.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.3% to 7,836.80. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.9% to 2,634.60.

Much attention will focus Wednesday on forecasts the Fed will publish after its meeting, showing the outlook for interest rates, inflation and the economy. For now, traders on Wall Street are largely expecting the Fed to deliver two or three cuts to rates by the end of 2025.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.1% to 5,614.66 for its latest swerve in a scary ride, where it tumbled by 10% from its record and then rallied for two straight days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 41,581.31, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.7% to 17,504.12.

Tesla was one of the heaviest weights on the market, falling 5.3%. The electric-vehicle maker’s stock has been struggling due to declining sales and worries over anger toward its CEO, Elon Musk, who has been leading efforts to cut spending by the U.S. government. EV rivals, meanwhile, continue to chip away at its business. China’s BYD on Monday announced an ultra-fast charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a gasoline fill-up.

Alphabet sank 2.2% after the owner of Google said it would buy cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion. It would be the company’s most expensive purchase in its 26-year history, and it could boost the tech giant’s in-house cloud computing amid burgeoning artificial-intelligence growth.

The drop for Big Tech continues a trend that’s taken hold in the market’s recent sell-off: Stocks whose momentum had earlier seemed unstoppable have since dropped sharply following criticism they had simply grown too expensive.

Chief among them have been stocks that zoomed higher in the frenzy around AI technology. Nvidia fell 3.3% as it hosted an event known as “AI Woodstock.” Super Micro Computer, which makes servers, lost 9.6%. Palantir Technologies, which offers an AI platform for customers, sank 4%.

They’ve been among the biggest losers as Wall Street retrenches amid uncertainty about what President Donald Trump’s trade war will do to the economy. Trump’s rat -a- tat announcements on tariffs and other policies have created worries that U.S. households and businesses could hold pull on their spending, which would hurt the economy.

It all makes things more complicated for the Federal Reserve, which is beginning its latest meeting on interest-rate policy and will make its announcement on Wednesday.

Virtually everyone expects the Fed to stand pat. Cutting its main interest rate would make it easier for U.S. businesses and households to borrow, helping to boost the economy. But lower interest rates can also push inflation upward, and U.S. consumers shell-shocked by high prices have already begun bracing for even higher inflation because of tariffs.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 26 cents to $66.65 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 23 cents to $69.89 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 149.42 Japanese yen from 149.25 yen. The euro cost $1.0941, down slightly from $1.0946.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — More than 200 people converged on an eastern Nebraska high school auditorium Tuesday evening for a town hall held by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Flood. Only minutes in, a cacophany of jeers, boos and angry demands for answers revealed most were there to voice their displeasure with the congressman.

It was unfamiliar territory for Flood — a former speaker of the Nebraska Legislature and popular politician in his deep red state. He had picked Columbus, Nebraska, for his first in-person town hall this year, the hometown of Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and the seat of a county that voted nearly 3-to-1 for Trump in November.

Flood was the latest Republican member of Congress to face backlash at home over actions by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to slash government spending. Those actions have sparked fear among the public that popular programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security services and benefits could be cut.

“My main concern is that I believe what Trump and Musk are doing are way beyond the boundaries of how things should be done in a democracy,” Pat Lostroh said as she stood in line to get into the event. She traveled from David City, more than 30 miles (53 kilometers) away, to attend.

Trump has repeatedly said he “will not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits,” but Musk — the world’s richest man and one of Trump’s most influential advisers — has made remarks that suggest otherwise. He has called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” and hinted that it could be a primary target in his effort to downsize the federal government.

While fear of cuts to social services dominated the discussion, those attending voiced a wide range of concerns, from outrage over the administration’s lack of support for Ukraine against Russian invasion to fears that the U.S. Postal Service will be gutted and privatized.

Most also gave Flood credit for showing up in person to hear concerns. He is among a handful of GOP House members who’ve bucked the suggestion of their leader, House Speaker Mike Johnson, to refrain from holding public meetings with constituents.

Flood said he was prepared for the angry response.

“I know that there are some angry people in my congressional district,” he said following the event. “I also know there’s a lot of people who feel like America’s back on track. Tonight, I put myself here because I think there’s there’s value just in allowing somebody to come express themselves.”

Margery A. Beck, The Associated Press

Purdue Pharma asked a bankruptcy judge late Tuesday to consider the latest version of its plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin, a deal that would have members of the Sackler family who own the company pay up to $7 billion.

The filing is a milestone in a tumultuous legal saga that has gone on for more than five years.

Under the deal the family members — estimated in documents from 2020 and 2021 to be worth about $11 billion — would give up ownership of the company in addition to contributing money over 15 years with the biggest payment up front.

Family members resigned from Purdue’s board, stopped receiving money from the company and ceased other involvement before it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 as it faced lawsuits from thousands of state and local governments, plus others.

The new entity would be run by a board appointed by state governments, and its mission will be to abate the opioid crisis that has been linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the U.S. since OxyContin hit the market in 1996. The first wave of deadly overdoses were tied to OxyContin and other prescription drugs, and subsequent waves have involved first heroin and more recently illicit versions of fentanyl.

This settlement plan was hammered out in months of mediation involving groups that sued Purdue, and nearly all of them are supporting it, according to mediator reports filed in court.

Approval would take at least several more months.

A previous version had bankruptcy court approval but was rejected last year by the U.S. Supreme Court because it protected members of the Sackler family from civil lawsuits even though none of them filed for bankruptcy protection themselves.

Under the new version, plaintiffs will have to opt in to get full shares of the settlement. If they do not, they can still sue Sackler family members, who agreed to put in about $1 billion more than under earlier plans. The Sacklers’ cash contribution would depends in part on how many parties join the settlement and on the sale of foreign drug companies. Some of the money they put into the settlement is to be reserved to pay any judgments if they are sued and lose; but if that doesn’t happen, it’s to go into the main settlement.

Members of the family have been cast as villains and have seen their name removed from art galleries and universities around the world because of their role in the privately held company. They continue to deny any wrongdoing.

Other drugmakers, distribution companies, pharmacy chains and others have already reached opioid lawsuit settlements worth about $50 billion, according to an Associated Press tally. Purdue’s, which would also include about $900 million from company coffers, would be among the largest if finalized.

The deals require most of the money be used to fight the opioid crisis.

Purdue’s is the only major one that also provides direct money for victims — potentially more than $850 million total in pools for people who became addicted, their families and babies born in withdrawal. That figure is more than in the previous incarnation.

The deadline to apply for a piece of those funds passed years ago. In earlier versions, individuals were expected to receive between about $3,500 and $48,000. Families were split over the deal.

Purdue would also provide millions of documents to a repository that would make them public. The company has also been producing a low-cost version of naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses.

Geoff Mulvihill, The Associated Press

Halifax council has got its first look at new rules proposed for the Sackville rivers floodplain that would control development along the waterways — in some areas for the first time.

Advanced Education Minister Brendan Maguire continues to say the legislation is not about control, but about ensuring the province’s universities survive at a time when the auditor general claims they have collectively racked up $370 million in long-term debt. 

The post ‘Chaos course’: Nova Scotia universities push back on Bill 12 appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

The cabinet minister responsible for Nova Scotia's civil service struggled Tuesday to explain why civil servants fired without cause would be barred from basic protections in the province's labour code.

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

NEW YORK (AP) — Vice President JD Vance has been tapped to serve as a top fundraiser at the Republican National Committee in another sign that he is cementing his status as the torchbearer of President Donald Trump ‘s “Make America Great Again” movement.

It is the first time in the RNC’s history that a sitting vice president has held the position of finance chair, giving Vance a prominent, direct role in next year’s midterm elections and helping him build ties with top Republican donors. Vance headlined numerous fundraisers during the 2024 campaign, making the job an extension of those efforts.

In a statement, Vance said that, “to fully enact the MAGA mandate and President Trump’s vision that voters demanded, we must keep and grow our Republican majorities in 2026.” He will focus, he said, on building “the war chest we need to deliver those victories next November.”

The appointment is the latest demonstration of how Vance is being embraced by many in Trump’s orbit as his heir apparent more than three years before the 2028 election. The U.S. Constitution bars Trump from running for a third term, though he has repeatedly teased the prospect of remaining in office nonetheless.

An open GOP primary will likely draw a long list of ambitious contenders. But several of the party’s most prominent voices have been openly pushing Vance.

“The only person in the entire Republican Party, from my position, who’s capable of carrying on the Trump legacy and expanding it, making it what it should fully be, is JD Vance,” conservative commentator and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a podcast interview released this week.

“There’s no one else,” he went on. “I don’t see any other — at this point, as of today — any other conceivable option. I think JD Vance will be the nominee.”

During an appearance Monday night in Wisconsin, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who has his own loyal following, called Vance “the only impressive vice president of my lifetime.” He talked up his decision to back Vance — a personal friend — first in the Ohio GOP Senate primary, and then convincing his father to choose Vance as his running mate.

“When I went in all for JD for VP, I was up against every billionaire Republican donor. I used up my political capital with my father ‘til like 2079,” he joked. “I will be dead and I will still have not caught back up. But it was the right call.”

Trump, however, has been noncommittal.

Asked by Bret Baier during his Super Bowl interview whether he views Vance as his successor, Trump responded: “No. But is he very capable. I mean, I don’t think that, you know, I think you have a lot of very capable people. So far, I think he is doing a fantastic job. It’s too early. We are just starting.”

Vance has taken on a prominent role in the early days of the new administration, most notably during an explosive Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during which he accused the Ukrainian leader of being “disrespectful.” He also blasted Europe during a speech last month at the Munich Security Conference, saying he feared free speech was “in retreat” across the continent.

His domestic portfolio has included helping Trump’s Cabinet picks win Senate confirmation and working to secure a deal for a new operator for TikTok in the U.S.

“JD will do a fantastic job as RNC Finance Chair,” Trump said in a statement. “He knows how to fight and win tough races. I’m glad he’ll be working with Michael Whatley to help us secure our elections, get out the vote, and win big next year!”

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Jill Colvin, The Associated Press

Steve Hutchins, 60, began testifying in his own defence earlier this month in Dartmouth provincial court. He concluded his testimony Tuesday afternoon.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda on Tuesday dismissed allegations that his administration has not been transparent about the sale of a seized megayacht and how the proceeds were used.

The statement by Prime Minister Gaston Browne comes a day after a federal judge in New York granted attorneys permission to issue subpoenas to access the financial records of Browne and other officials.

The attorneys represent Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who claims she is the rightful owner of the Alfa Nero megayacht, which remained anchored off Antigua for a couple months before the local government seized and sold it last year.

Guryeva-Motlokhov’s attorneys alleged in a March 11 filing in federal court that Browne’s administration has not released documents related to the $40 million sale of the yacht.

The attorneys are seeking documents and information related to wire transfers and other transactions involving Antigua’s prime minister and six other people, as well as 12 entities, in the past five years.

The people targeted include Browne, one of his sons, his wife, Antigua’s general accountant and its port manager.

The entities include West Indies Oil Co. Ltd., an Antigua-based petroleum storage and distribution company of which the government is a majority shareholder, and Fancy Bridge Ltd., a Hong Kong-based investment firm that owns shares in the oil company, as does Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., known as PDVSA.

The institutions that the attorneys plan to subpoena are required to comply with the request for information unless Browne or someone else files a motion opposing the subpoenas.

Browne said in a public statement Tuesday that he is discussing legal remedies with his attorneys in Antigua and the U.S.

He also told The Associated Press that his attorneys may challenge the judge’s ruling.

The case focuses on a megayacht abandoned by Guryeva-Motlokhov’s father, Andrey Guryev, a Russian businessman who founded a fertilizer company and worked in the Russian government. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in August 2022.

Browne on Tuesday accused Guryeva-Motlokhov of falsely claiming that she was entitled to the yacht “in order to claim for herself the sales proceeds and damages and rob the people of Antigua & Barbuda of these public benefits.”

“She and her attorneys have made scandalous, malicious and entirely false accusations in order to further her illicit ends,” Browne said in a statement. “The principal targets of her defamatory comments have been myself, and members of my family. There is not a grain of truth to any of these attacks on my, or my family’s integrity.”

An attorney for Guryeva-Motlokhov did not immediately return a message for comment.

Dánica Coto, The Associated Press

LAVAL, Que. — Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. says it earned US$645 million in its third quarter.

That’s up 3.3 per cent from US$624.4 million during the same quarter a year earlier.

For the quarter ended Feb. 2, revenues were US$20.9 billion, up 6.5 per cent from US$19.6 billion.

The company said the higher revenues were mainly due to the contribution from acquisitions and higher revenue in the wholesale fuel business.

President and CEO Alex Miller said consumers are still spending cautiously, but the company is seeing encouraging signs of resilience.

Earnings per diluted share were 68 cents US, up from 65 cents US a year earlier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ATD)

The Canadian Press

Nova Scotia’s minister of opportunities and social development says it was important to attend the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump in January, but opposition leaders are questioning why the trip was not previously announced and what benefit taxpayers actually received.

A former Nova Scotia Public Works employee is speaking out about the dangerous ruts on Highway 125 in Cape Breton. The minister says some relief is on the way this summer, but only on a short stretch of road in his riding. Kyle Moore has the story.

The Special Olympics World Winter Games just wrapped up in Italy and six Nova Scotia athletes representing Team Canada made their country proud. Celina Aalders was at the Halifax airport when their flight home landed.

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s opposition leaders are questioning an undisclosed trip by a provincial cabinet minister to U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

Minister of Social Development Scott Armstrong says he got the ticket through connections in South Carolina and was working in conjunction with the premier’s office because they needed someone to attend the event.

Armstrong says he didn’t attend the actual inauguration ceremony because cold weather forced it indoors, but he did attend an event at the Canadian Embassy where he was able to talk to business leaders and do media interviews about the tariff threat.

Interim Liberal leader Derek Mombourquette, who raised the issue in the legislature, says taxpayers’ money was used by a minister whose portfolio has nothing to do with international trade.

According to an expense report filed by Armstrong, the trip cost a total of $3,288.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender says she takes issue with the fact Armstrong’s trip wasn’t announced publicly, and she believes he should have paid for it himself.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

The Canadian Press

<!– Photo: 0911850b7823dd1b4e8ffc043fc39b7c0e05019ae5142908f5b591922cb6c28e.jpg, Caption:

A Nova Scotia judge has referred a convicted murderer to a restorative justice program — a first for the province. Nova Scotia’s provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa, Friday July 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

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Halifax home prices edged up in february, outpacing the national trend according to new data from the Canadian Real Estate Association

Home prices in Halifax-Dartmouth rose 0.5% in February to $557,300, while Nova Scotia as a whole saw a 1.2% decline. Year-over-year, Halifax prices increased 7.1%, surpassing the provincial gain of 5.5%.

Nationally, the aggregate home price fell 0.8% on the month and 0.8% year-over-year. Halifax outperformed the national trend over both periods.

In Atlantic Canada, greater Moncton saw a slight 0.1% dip in February, while prices in Fredericton climbed 0.6%.

Year-over-year, Moncton rose 5.0%, Fredericton 18.2%, and Saint John 16.6%. New Brunswick as a whole increased 10.7% over the year.

In Prince Edward Island, prices fell 0.8% on the month but rose 1.6% year-over-year. Newfoundland and Labrador posted a 0.5% gain in February and an 8.0% annual increase, while St. John’s prices rose 1.0% on the month and 12.8% over the year.

Compared to other Atlantic cities, Halifax’s annual price growth was lower than Fredericton and Saint John but remained higher than Moncton and the national average.

University students and their teachers were both critical of plans by the Houston government to exert greater control over the public money Nova Scotia universities receive from the province.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The United Nations migration agency says it is scaling back or ending projects around the world and firing staff following an “unprecedented” 30% cut in funding led mainly by the United States.

“The reduction in funding has severe impacts on vulnerable migrant communities, exacerbating humanitarian crises and undermining vital support systems for displaced populations,” the International Organization for Migration, based in Geneva, said in a statement on Tuesday.

To deal with the budget cuts, IOM said it will be adjusting its structures, including moving staff to cheaper locations and reducing its headquarters staff by 20%. Over 6,000 employees worldwide will be affected.

“The world is witnessing historic displacement levels, yet funding to address the root causes of displacement is shrinking,” the statement said.

Projects being halted include some in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where millions of people have been displaced by conflict and famine, according to two IOM employees with knowledge of the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. One said that the affected programs relate to cholera prevention, distribution of emergency shelters and medical care.

The agency, led by American Amy Pope, got more than 40% of its $3.4 billion budget in 2023 from the U.S.

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Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Renata Brito, The Associated Press

A 17-year-old from Dartmouth is facing a number of charges after evading police twice and driving dangerously on a Nova Scotia highway.

The incident happened March 13 just after 8:00 a.m. when the West Hants RCMP received a report of a car “driving erratically” on Highway 101 near Windsor, N.S. Officers found the vehicle once while driving, and a second time parked just off the road.

Both times the driver sped away from police. On the second interaction, police noted that the car’s licence plate was reported stolen.

An hour later a 2004 Honda Accord tried to pass a RCMP cruiser on the highway. The officer saw the car coming and turned on the lights to signal for the vehicle to stop.

“Immediately after overtaking the police vehicle, the car hit the median concrete divider and the guard rail, then stopped after hitting the median a second time,” the RCMP release reads.

The teen driver from Dartmouth was arrested and was sent to hospital. Police searched the vehicle and found cocaine and a knife, which led to the teen being charged with operation while impaired by drug, possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose, and possession for the purpose of trafficking (cocaine).

The youth appeared in Windsor court on March 14 and remains in custody.

“There were no other vehicles involved in this crash and no reports of collisions with other vehicles,” the release notes. “Police appreciated cooperation from the public while a portion of Hwy. 101 was reduced to one lane as officers were on scene after the crash.”

Officials are asking anyone with dashcam footage or surveillance video showing the crash or the actions leading up to it should contact West Hants RCMP Detachment at 902-798-2207.

TORONTO — A new report says a vast majority of Black Canadians feel their employer has made progress in creating a more equitable workplace, but more than three-quarters say they still encounter microaggressions, discrimination and racism at work.

The survey by KPMG says 86 per cent of those surveyed say their employer has fulfilled its promises to create a more equitable and inclusive workplace for Black employees in the past five years.

However, the report finds 77 per cent said they experienced microaggressions, discrimination, or acts of racism at work over the past year.

Rob Davis, chief inclusion, diversity and equity officer at KPMG in Canada, says while organizations have done much to ensure all employees are treated fairly, the survey shows that many Black Canadians continue to experience racism in the workplace and within society.

Seventy-eight per cent of those questioned said online hate from social media platforms is spilling over into the workforce.

The report was based on an online survey between Dec. 17, 2024, and Jan. 6, 2025, of 1,000 Canadians who self-identified as Black.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

The Canadian Press

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The players’ association co-founded by 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic filed an antitrust lawsuit against the women’s and men’s professional tours, the International Tennis Federation and the sport’s integrity agency on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, calling the groups in charge of tennis “a cartel.”

The filing on behalf of the Professional Tennis Players’ Association says the organizations that run the sport hold “complete control over the players’ pay and working conditions” and their setup constitutes “textbook violations of state and federal law” that “immunize professional tennis from ordinary market forces and deny professional tennis players and other industry participants their right to fair competition.”

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and wants players to gain access to more earnings, arguing that the governing bodies that oversee the four Grand Slam tournaments — Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open and the Australian Open — and other professional events “cap the prize money tournaments award and limit players’ ability to earn money off the court.”

Spokespeople for the WTA Tour, ATP Tour, ITF and International Tennis Integrity Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday from The Associated Press.

The PTPA was founded by Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in August 2020, aiming to offer representation for players who are independent contractors in a largely individual sport. One of the goals made clear along the way was to become a sort of full-fledged union that negotiates collective bargaining agreements like those that exist in team sports.

“For the past few years, the PTPA, an organization I’ve worked on tirelessly since its inception, has made countless efforts to collaborate with the tours in hopes of achieving positive change for players. Despite these efforts and attempts to engage in constructive dialogue, we were met with resistance and a lack of meaningful action. It is because of this ongoing disregard for players that we were left with no alternative but to take action of our own,” Pospisil posted on social media. “For too long, players have been forced to accept a broken system that ignores our well-being, undervalues our contributions, and leaves us without real representation.”

Djokovic is not one of the players listed as a plaintiff.

“His support for this is already explicit. It’s redundant since PTPA (is) named as plaintiff, and he is on (the executive committee),” PTPA spokesman David Cooper wrote in an email. “He wanted to allow others to step up since this is not just Novak’s (organization).”

The PTPA said it met with more than 250 players — women and men, and a majority of the top 20 in the WTA and ATP rankings — before going to court.

“Tennis is broken,” PTPA executive director Ahmad Nassar said in a news release. “Behind the glamorous veneer that the defendants promote, players are trapped in an unfair system that exploits their talent, suppresses their earnings, and jeopardizes their health and safety. We have exhausted all options for reform through dialogue, and the governing bodies have left us no choice but to seek accountability through the courts. Fixing these systemic failures isn’t about disrupting tennis — it’s about saving it for the generations of players and fans to come.”

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sarepta Therapeutics said Tuesday that a patient died while taking its closely watched gene therapy for muscular dystrophy, sending company shares plummeting in morning trading.

The young man died of acute liver injury, a known side effect, Sarepta said in a statement. But the company said the “severity” of the patient’s case had not previously been seen with the therapy, called Elevidys. It’s the first known patient death with the therapy, which has been used in more than 800 patients, the company said.

In 2023, Elevidys received expedited U.S. approval despite concerns from some Food and Drug Administration scientists about its effectiveness in treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It’s the first gene therapy approved in the U.S. for the rare muscle-wasting condition, which causes weakness, loss of mobility and early death in males.

The FDA granted full approval last year for Duchenne’s patients with a particular genetic mutation, expanding its use to patients 4 and older, regardless of whether they are still able to walk. Previously it was only available for younger patients who were still mobile.

Sarepta said in a statement the patient who died had a recent infection that could have contributed to the liver injury. The company said it plans to update the prescribing information for Elevidys to reflect the case.

Shares of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company fell more than 23% to about $78 per share in morning trading.

Elevidys uses a disabled virus to insert a replacement gene for producing dystrophin into patient cells. It costs $3.2 million for a one-time treatment.

Sarepta has received FDA accelerated approval for threeother Duchenne’s drugs since 2016. None has yet been confirmed to work; studies designed to secure full FDA approval are ongoing.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Matthew Perrone, The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Three long-retired Philadelphia detectives are standing trial in a perjury case that examines whether police should be held responsible for alleged misconduct in exoneration cases.

Opening statements began Tuesday. It’s a highly unusual case, given that the men are now between 75 and 80 years old and face prison time if convicted. They were all retired when a rape and homicide case from the early 1990s was retried in 2016. They were called back to testify, restarting the five-year clock to file perjury charges.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner — who frequently sued police during his career as a civil rights lawyer — charged former detectives Martin Devlin, Manuel Santiago and Frank Jastrzembski in 2021, days before the statute of limitations was set to expire.

The case stems from an elderly woman’s rape and murder in 1991. A 20-year-old neighbor, Anthony Wright, spent two decades in prison before DNA testing seemed to clear him of the crime. His conviction was thrown out, but Krasner’s predecessor decided to retry him.

“That case was remarkable,” Maurice Possley, a senior researcher at The National Registry of Exonerations, said of the 2016 retrial. “There was a DNA exclusion, and they said they were going to try it anyway.”

The key piece of evidence remaining was Wright’s confession. His lawyers argued that it was coerced. Police denied it.

But asked to write down the nine-page confession in real time — as Devlin said he had done at the time — the once-famed homicide detective gave up after just a few words. The jury quickly acquitted Wright.

Krasner took office in 2018 with a focus on police accountability. He arrested the detectives just under the wire in August 2021.

Santiago and Devlin are accused of lying about the confession. Santiago and Jastrzembski are accused of lying when they denied knowing about the DNA problem. Jastrzembski is accused of lying about finding the victim’s clothes in Wright’s bedroom.

All three men have pleaded not guilty. Devlin is now 80, Jastrzembski is 77 and Santiago is 75. They face up to seven years in prison if convicted of perjury.

Their lawyers have asked the state Supreme Court to dismiss the case, but the court has so far declined to intervene. The defense says Krasner’s office tainted the grand jury that heard the case by telling the panel the detectives had a history of “committing perjury … and beating statements out of people.”

Wright, who spent 25 years in prison, received a nearly $10 million settlement from the city.

Krasner has championed some 50 exonerations since taking office.

Maryclaire Dale, The Associated Press

The wave of Israeli strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday was the culmination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to get out of the ceasefire with Hamas that he agreed to in January.

Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has faced dueling, possibly incompatible pressures: Families of the hostages want him to cut a deal with Hamas to free them, while his far-right coalition partners want to continue the war with the aim of annihilating the militant group.

On Tuesday, he appeared to cast his lot with the latter — and U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has backed Netanyahu’s decision to unilaterally walk away from the ceasefire it took credit for brokering.

Both Israel and the United States blame the renewed hostilities on Hamas’ refusal to release more hostages before negotiations on ending the war proceed — which was not part of the ceasefire agreement. Israel has accused Hamas of preparing for new attacks, without providing evidence. The militant group has denied those allegations.

Hamas — which has yet to respond militarily to the Israeli strikes — has spent weeks calling for serious talks on the ceasefire agreement’s second phase, which calls for the release of the remaining living hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.

Those talks were supposed to begin in early February. Now they may never happen.

What did the ceasefire agreement say?

The agreement reached in January, under pressure from the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump one, called for a phased ceasefire aimed at freeing all the hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack and ending the war it caused.

Under the first phase, which ran from Jan. 19 to March 1, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in return for nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners, including senior militants serving life sentences for deadly attacks. Israeli forces pulled back to a buffer zone, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to what remained of their homes, and there was a surge of humanitarian aid.

Each side accused the other of violations, and Israeli strikes killed dozens of Palestinians the military accused of engaging in militant activities or entering no-go zones. But the truce held.

Still, the second phase was always seen as far more difficult.

Through months of negotiations, Netanyahu had repeatedly cast doubt on it, insisting Israel was committed to returning all the hostages and destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities — two war goals that many believe are irreconcilable.

In a TV interview last June, Netanyahu cast doubt on the possibility of a lasting ceasefire before Hamas is destroyed. “We are committed to continuing the war after a pause, in order to complete the goal of eliminating Hamas. I’m not willing to give up on that,” he said.

On Jan. 18, the eve of the ceasefire, he said “we reserve the right to return to war if necessary with the backing of the United States.”

Why did Netanyahu back out of the ceasefire?

Agreeing to a permanent ceasefire would almost certainly plunge Netanyahu into a political crisis that could end his nearly uninterrupted 15-year rule.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to leave the coalition if Netanyahu progressed to Phase 2 instead of restarting the offensive. Opposition parties have promised to support him in any agreement that brings back hostages, but his coalition would still be severely weakened, making early elections likely.

By resuming the fighting, Netanyahu ensured Smotrich’s continued support. After the strikes, the Israeli leader regained another far-right partner, Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose party had bolted in January over the ceasefire but returned to the coalition Tuesday.

Beyond the political jockeying, Netanyahu’s stated goal of annihilating Hamas would have almost certainly eluded him had he stuck with the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas survived 15 months of Israeli bombardment and ground operations that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and destroyed much of Gaza. When the truce took hold, the militant group immediately reasserted its rule.

There’s no agreement on who should govern Gaza after the war, and even if the Western-backed Palestinian Authority were granted nominal control, Hamas would have strong influence on the ground and could rebuild its military capabilities.

For many Israelis, especially Netanyahu’s hawkish base and far-right allies, that would look like defeat. It would add to the criticism he already faces over security failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.

How did Netanyahu end the truce?

After the first phase ended, Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to what he described as a new U.S. proposal in which Hamas would release half the remaining hostages in return for a seven-week extension of the truce and a vague promise to launch negotiations over a lasting ceasefire.

Hamas refused, pointing out that the new proposal was different from the one they had agreed to in January and again called for the immediate launch of talks on Phase 2.

It even offered to return an America-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages to get the talks back on track, an offer dismissed as “psychological warfare” by Israel. Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas was claiming flexibility in public while making “entirely impractical” demands.

In an attempt to impose the new arrangement on Hamas, Israel halted the import of all food, fuel and other humanitarian aid to Gaza. It later cut off electricity, affecting a vital desalination plant. Israel also said it would not withdraw from a strategic corridor on Gaza’s border with Egypt, as stipulated in the agreement.

In recent days, Israel stepped up strikes across Gaza, targeting people it said were planting explosives or engaging in other militant activities. On Tuesday, at around 2 a.m., it launched one of the deadliest waves of strikes since the start of the war.

What has Trump said about the ceasefire?

Trump took credit for brokering the ceasefire in January, but since then has appeared to sour on it. He has warned that “all hell” will break loose if Hamas does not immediately release the hostages, while saying that’s a decision for Israel to make.

Trump has also proposed that Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians be permanently relocated so the U.S. can take ownership of Gaza and develop it as a tourist destination. Netanyahu has embraced the plan, which has been universally condemned by Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights experts, who say it would violate international law.

The White House said it was consulted ahead of Tuesday’s strikes and supported Israel’s decision.

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

Joseph Krauss, The Associated Press

This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.

The Associated Press

Armstrong did not ask Sean Kirby "are you going to continue to accept money coming from the U.S.?" That was literally an unthinkable question to ask the "expert."

The post How dare you, Scott Armstrong? PC MLA criticizes Ecology Action Centre for receiving some U.S. funding while the Houston government gives U.S.-based industries hundreds of millions of dollars appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

When people decide to start cycling to work, they sometimes go overboard. They think they need to buy excessive gear, specific clothes, the perfect bike — they commit to five days a week, no matter what.

“I mean, you don’t even have to buy a bike to get started,” said Yvonne Bambrick, author of The Urban Cycling Survival Guide.

“Depending on what city you’re in, there may be a bike share program. And the other option, of course, is to borrow a bike from someone. I definitely recommend starting (riding) off the streets. If it’s been a while, get your bike legs back before you try and be part of traffic.”

The barrier for entry can feel high — cycling culture can get extreme and serious bike shops might feel a little intimidating, said Tom Babin, creator of the YouTube channel Shifter, and author of Frostbike: The Joy, Pain and Numbness of Winter Cycling. But anyone can start, even at the lowest commitment level.

“I like to say the best bike for riding to work is the bike you have,” he said. “I ride a really simple bike to work. It’s a commuter bike. You know, not that many gears, not that expensive.”

There’s no requirement for pricey spandex outfits either, he added: “If you go to the great cycling cities of the world, or even Montreal, you see dozens of people riding their bikes and most of them are wearing regular clothes.”

Bikes and transit are best friends — you don’t have to commit to riding to work five days a week. If it’s cold or windy and you’re not in the mood, just hop on transit, Babin said. Or, combine biking and transit for your trip.

“There are some bike people who are kind of masochists about it,” Babin said. “They feel like they have to ride every single day. And that’s silly — just use the bike when you can.”

Cycling is also a great way to cut down on transportation costs. Car ownership, maintenance, insurance, gas and parking adds up to thousands over the year.

The City of Calgary developed a travel cost calculator, Babin pointed out, that lets you plug in a commute in kilometres to compare costs for all modes — walking, biking, public transit, and driving. The calculation even includes the costs on “society” via infrastructure, congestion and pollution, as well as subtracted costs from the health benefits of walking or cycling, such as fewer illnesses and sick days.

A 10-kilometre bike commute to work? $73 for the year, the calculator shows. Driving that distance? $8,468.

Another fun benefit: you’ll never have to text anyone to say you’re late.

“Predictable travel times — that’s worth its weight in gold,” Bambrick said. “You’re not subject to the whims of a transit schedule, or stuck in traffic or stuck looking for parking.”

Startup costs for biking may include the bike, helmet, lights, a basket up front or pannier bags in the back — and maintenance during the year is typically modest, most of which can be DIY.

Second-hand equipment is abundant at local shops, Bambrick pointed out, and you can also check out bike swaps, police auctions, cycling co-operatives and even Canadian Tire for affordable models. Join cycling clubs or associations for additional resources and social support, she added.

But don’t skimp on the lock, both Bambrick and Babin said. Buy a good one.

“There’s all this data about people who have their bikes stolen, and then they just never replace it. It just stops them from riding again,” Babin said. “It’s worth getting a good quality lock. Invest in the lock.”

Chris Eich, a 44-year-old Navy reservist, biked to work in his 30s — his job was at a financial institution in Prince George, B.C., and he could enjoy nature trails as part of his commute. He also saved $25,000 toward a home purchase, which he credits to cycling instead of driving. Today, he uses a bike to ride with friends, run errands, commute, and just for fun.

His tips for anyone starting out are to go slow, such as taking short trips to the store, or riding to work one day a week; stick to cycling paths or school zones where speed limits are lower; use Google Maps to find safe biking routes; and, if available, he suggested tapping your employer’s health spending accounts to cover related costs.

Safety is important when you’re starting out, of course.

“One (aspect) is just knowing your braking capacity and just being able to judge distance and speed, building your confidence, testing your skills out in different conditions as well,” Eich said.

“You’re always in the back of your head saying, ‘Could I stop on a dime here? If a little kid ran out, would I be able to stop immediately and dismount from my bicycle?’”

Set some financial goals for your saved money, Eich added. And to make sure your new habit lasts, find some cycling friends, and perhaps even commute to work together.

“If you’re riding together as a group, it can be safer and also hold you accountable to ride your bike as well,” Eich said. “Make it fun. Chances are, if it’s fun, you’re going to want to do it more often.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

Nina Dragicevic, The Canadian Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — On a gray March afternoon at the Port of Los Angeles, the largest in the U.S., powerful electric top-handlers whir, beep and grind as they motor back and forth, grabbing trailers from truck beds and stacking them as they move on or off the mighty container ships that ferry goods across the Pacific. Some of the ships, rather than burning diesel to sustain operations as they sit in harbor, plug into electricity instead.

The shift to electricity is part of efforts to clean up the air around America’s ports, which have long struggled with pollution that chokes nearby neighborhoods and jeopardizes the health of people living there. The landmark climate law championed by former President Joe Biden earmarked $3 billion to boost those efforts.

Some of the people who live near U.S. hubs now worry that President Donald Trump’s administration could seek to cancel or claw back some of that money.

“Our area is disproportionately affected by pollution directly related to the ports activity,” said Theral Golden, who’s lived in the West Long Beach area for more than 50 years. He pointed to the rivers of trucks moving back and forth on nearby highways and overpasses. “It’s all part of the same goods movement effort, and it has to be cleaned up.”

The Biden money aims to slash 3 million metric tons of carbon pollution across 55 ports in more than two dozen states, through cleaner equipment and vehicles, plus infrastructure and community engagement resources.

Some ports say they have already spent hundreds of millions to replace older, dirtier equipment. Members of the American Association of Port Authorities, representing more than 130 public port authorities in the U.S. and beyond, are planning at least $50 billion more of decarbonization projects. Many are easy: for example, drayage trucks — which drive short distances between ports and nearby warehouses — are good candidates for electrification since they don’t have to go far between charges.

The Biden money wasn’t enough to completely solve the problem — project requests alone topped $8 billion, per the Environmental Protection Agency — but it was a substantial investment that many experts, including Sue Gander, a director at the research nonprofit World Resources Institute, said would “have a real impact.” They also said it was the biggest outlay of federal funding they’d seen toward the problem.

But Trump, from his first day back in the White House, has attacked much of his predecessor’s climate policies in the name of “energy dominance”. He’s sought to roll back clean energy, air, water and environmental justice policies and frozen federal funding, disrupting community organizations and groups planning on the funds for everything from new solar projects to electric school buses to other programs.

EPA spokesperson Shayla Powell said the agency has worked to enable payment accounts for infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act grant recipients, “so funding is now accessible.”

While one port said the program was set to be active, others were waiting for the federal grant funding review process to be completed or were monitoring the situation.

Decades of pollution

The nation’s 300 public and private shipping ports have been centers of pollution for decades. There, the goods Americans want — from cars to building materials to orange juice — are moved by mostly diesel-fueled cranes, trucks and locomotives that emit planet-warming carbon dioxide and cancerous toxins that contribute to heart disease, asthma and shorter life spans. In addition to thousands of longshoremen, truckers and other workers, port operations affect some 31 million Americans living nearby, according to the EPA, often in largely Black, Latino and low-income communities.

Some ports have managed to get a little cleaner through state regulation, diesel pollution reduction efforts, international maritime requirements to cut emissions, and private investment. In voluntary emissions reporting, hubs including the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York and New Jersey say some aspects of their operations have significantly improved over the past two decades.

But by many of the ports’ own accounts, they are still releasing tons of sulfur oxides, particulate matters, nitrogen oxides and more. Certain emissions have grown.

Independent groups confirm this. The South Coast Air Quality Management District — a regulatory agency for parts of the Los Angeles region — said that while San Pedro emissions have dropped with more reduction efforts, that pace has slowed. The ports still contribute significantly to local emissions.

“Communities nearby are still going to be vulnerable,” said Houston resident Erandi Treviño, cofounder of outreach group the Raíces Collab Project. Local advocates and frontline groups like hers think Trump’s attack on pollution regulation will harm further efforts.

Treviño takes several medications and uses an inhaler to manage fatigue, stomachaches, headaches and body pain that she blames on pollution from the Port of Houston. The port itself said pollutants dropped from 2013 to 2019, but some emissions from more vessel activity increased. Houston itself has been flagged by the American Lung Association as one of America’s dirtiest cities based on ozone and year-round particle pollution, though the ALA didn’t detail the sources of pollution.

Ed Avol, a University of Southern California professor emeritus in clinical medicine, said the motivation to clean up air pollution to protect human and environmental health is clear. But the “whipsaw back-and-forth of the current administration’s decision-making process” makes it hard to move forward, he said.

Efforts with mixed results

Despite being major contributors to U.S. economic activity, ports say they are financially stretched by pressure to automate operations and by contentious labor issues.

And moving to electric equipment or vehicles “might not be the best option,” said ports association government relations director Ian Gansler. Electric equipment is more expensive than diesel-fueled, ports might need more of it due to charging time requirements and it might take up more room in a port.

Meanwhile, upgrading electrical service at a port could cost more than $20 million per berth, and some ports have dozens of berths. Ports, too, have to work with utilities to make sure they have enough power.

All this comes as imports have grown. Freight activity could rise 50% by 2050. according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Meanwhile, multiple agencies govern, operate in and regulate ports, said Fern Uennatornwaranggoon, climate campaign director for ports at environmental organization Pacific Environment, making it difficult to track “how many pieces of equipment are still diesel, how many pieces have been transitioned, how many more we need to go.”

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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at [email protected].

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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.

Alexa St. John And Etienne Laurent, The Associated Press

OTTAWA — Canada’s annual inflation rate was 2.6 per cent in February, Statistics Canada says. Here’s what happened in the provinces (previous month in brackets):

— Newfoundland and Labrador: 1.2 per cent (0.8)

— Prince Edward Island: 2.0 per cent (1.3)

— Nova Scotia: 2.1 per cent (1.3)

— New Brunswick: 2.0 per cent (0.9)

— Quebec: 2.0 per cent (1.8)

— Ontario: 2.7 per cent (1.7)

— Manitoba: 3.5 per cent (2.7)

— Saskatchewan: 3.1 per cent (2.4)

— Alberta: 2.8 per cent (2.5)

— British Columbia: 3.0 per cent (2.2)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

The Canadian Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Google owner Alphabet will buy cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion.

The all-cash deal is set to boost Alphabet’s profile in the cloud computing market, a space currently led by Amazon and Microsoft. Once the transaction is closed, the company says Wiz will join Google Cloud.

“Today, businesses and governments that run in the cloud are looking for even stronger security solutions, and greater choice in cloud computing providers,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement Tuesday — adding that Google Cloud and Wiz will “turbocharge improved cloud security and the ability to use multiple clouds” together.

Wiz, a four-year-old startup headquartered in New York, makes security tools designed to shield the information stored in remote data centers from intruders.

Google has had its eyes on Wiz for some time. The purchase price announced Tuesday surpasses a reported $23 billion buyout proposal that Wiz rejected last July.

The Associated Press

For 10 hours on Monday, citizens told the Public Bills Committee that a suite of proposed legislation that will reduce government transparency and accountability is a bad idea.  Most, if not all, speakers are keenly aware the Houston majority government can ignore their pleas but said they felt compelled to speak up at a time […]

The post People are really angry about the Houston government’s power grab appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

LAUREL, Md. (AP) — Rahmani worked for a U.S.-backed organization in Kabul, which put him at risk of Taliban retribution. Now, the father of two is among thousands of newly arrived refugees who lost financial assistance when the Trump administration cut off funding for the federal refugee program in January.

He moved here in November through the vetted form of legal migration. To fast-track self-sufficiency, it provides refugees with wraparound services for three months — help with housing, food and job placement — while other federal grants support their first five years.

Instead, Rahmani’s relocation services were largely halted after only two months, when the Trump administration upended the refugee program. He otherwise would have qualified for extended rental assistance for up to six months.

He has spent weeks looking for work, with no luck. Unable to pay his rent, his anxiety mounts by the day. Here’s a look at key elements of the plight he and his family face.

Resettlement agencies are reeling from disruption of funding

Rahmani is a client of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, a local faith-based resettlement agency that is waiting on $3.7 million in federal funding for work it has already provided.

LSSNCA has struggled to make payroll, and its support services have fallen like dominoes after it was forced to lay off 75 people and furlough seven others.

Two-thirds of its clients are Afghan allies, who were offered visas and protection in the United States after the Taliban returned to power. These Afghans worked alongside U.S. troops or, like Rahmani, were employed by U.S.-backed organizations. Rahmani is identified using only one of his names because he still fears for his family’s safety.

The risk of widespread evictions

By early March, at least 42 households under LSSNCA’s care had received eviction notices, putting nearly 170 people in Virginia and Maryland on the edge of homelessness, with more — like Rahmani’s family — at risk. The staff has been fundraising and negotiating with landlords to stave off evictions.

The organization raised $500,000 in six weeks, but that doesn’t fill the gap left by frozen government funds.

Global Refuge is the parent organization of LSSNCA and has long served as one of 10 national agencies partnering with the federal government to resettle refugees. It has received no federal reimbursements for work done since Inauguration Day and has laid off hundreds of staff. Nearly 6,000 refugees in its care were within 90 days of arrival, the initial aid window, when it received a stop-work order from the Trump administration.

Across resettlement agencies nationwide, support for at least 30,000 recent arrivals was affected. At LSSNCA, 369 people were within their first 90 days in the U.S., and another 850 clients were eligible for longer-term services.

“We’re seeing the de facto wholesale destruction of a longstanding bipartisan program that saved millions of lives,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge.

Refugees fled instability, only to find more of it in the U.S.

LSSNCA’s capacity has been stretched thin before. The chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 led to a surge of Afghans being resettled in the U.S.

LSSNCA went from serving 500 people a year to 500 people a month. They staffed up to deal with the influx of Afghans, with case managers working long hours. The quality of their work suffered: Federal reimbursements were often delayed, and they struggled to provide services. The difference then was they knew the federal government backed their work.

Marjila Badakhsh came to the U.S. in December of 2021. A journalist who worked for a U.S.-funded Afghan media organization, she was evacuated from Kabul and resettled in Virginia.

Once a LSSNCA client, she was later hired at the organization, only to be laid off in January when the agency received its stop-work order.

“After three years, with one policy I’m thinking that I’m back to the day that I came to the United States for the first time, and I should start again,” she said.

She stays busy applying to jobs in Virginia and California, where her brother — who worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan — was recently resettled. But her dreams of one day welcoming their parents and sister to the U.S. are on hold after the suspension of the U.S. refugee program.

The courts are still weighing in

Lawsuits against the Trump administration have been filed over its immigration policies, with one judge ruling in favor of three faith-based resettlement agencies. In a recent court filing, administration lawyers argued that initial refugee benefits are “not required by law.” They indicated it would take months to comply with a court order to restart the program.

This week, Global Refuge received some federal reimbursements for its work during the Biden administration. Those funds came through the Department of Health and Human Services. Global Refuge has not received federal payments for work done since late January, and it has not received reimbursements for the 90-day aid offered through the State Department, which did not respond to a request for comment.

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Associated Press writer Gary Fields contributed to this report from Washington.

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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.

Tiffany Stanley, The Associated Press

In today’s The Big Story podcast, imagine being so famous that there are university courses studying your every move.

Taylor Swift will be the subject of course being taught at Brock University this spring – by associate professor of history Elizabeth Vlossak.

Host Kris McCusker examines how the course was created – what it’s all about – and why it’s more relevant than you might think.

A government bill that’s been presented as a housekeeping measure risks repealing legislation that could prevent further tragedy, two women told MLAs on Monday night.

Traffic on the Macdonald Bridge heading to Dartmouth was disrupted during the Tuesday morning commute after police closed the ramp from Barrington Street.

Halifax Regional Police say the closure was due to an investigation into a car-pedestrian collision near the intersection of Barrington Street and Artz Street.

Police are asking motorists to avoid the area.

Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, saying it was hitting Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January.

The strikes killed more than 410 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.

Hamas warned that Israel’s new airstrikes breached their ceasefire and put the fate of hostages in jeopardy.

The surprise attack shattered a period of relative calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and raised the prospect of a full return to fighting in a 17-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza.

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Here’s the latest:

A doctor at a Gaza hospital speaks of ‘horror’ as casualties rise

A doctor working at a Gaza hospital said she had witnessed “a level of horror” that was hard to articulate after Israel’s surprise bombardment of the territory.

Dr. Tanya Haj Hassan, a volunteer with Medical Aid for Palestinians based at Nasser Hospital, said the pediatric intensive care unit was full. She said she had personally treated at least five patients who died in the emergency room.

“The ER was just chaos, patients everywhere, on the floor,” she said. “There were probably three men, and the rest were all children, women, elderly, everybody caught in their sleep, still wrapped in blankets. Terrifying.”

Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 413 Palestinians, officials say

The death toll from a wave of Israeli strikes in Gaza Tuesday has reached 413, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

The ministry says at least 660 people have been wounded in the strikes.

Israel launched a new offensive on Gaza Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire between it and the militant group Hamas and threatening to fully ignite the war in Gaza.

Palestinians describe a strike on a school-turned-shelter

Palestinians at a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City say they were shaken violently from their sleep early Tuesday when Israeli jets struck. Hospital officials said more than two dozen people were killed.

“People are sleeping peacefully, they set the alarm to wake up for suhoor, and they wake up to death,” said Fedaa Heriz, a displaced woman, referring to the early morning meal during the fasting month of Ramadan.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the school strike, which was part of a renewed offensive in Gaza.

“I heard screaming, my mother and sister screaming, calling for help. I came and entered the room and found the children under the rubble, under the stones,” said Majd Naser, a displaced Palestinian.

Hamas says at least 4 senior officials killed in Israeli airstrikes

The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said at least four senior officials, including two top police officers, in the Hamas administration have been killed in Israeli strikes.

They include Issam al-Daalis, head of the government administrative committee, Maj. Gen. Mohamed Abu Watfa, undersecretary of the Interior Ministry, Maj. Gen. Bahgat Abu Sultan, director of the domestic security agency and Ahmed al-Hetta, undersecretary of the Justice Ministry.

Egypt lashes out at Israel over new attacks in Gaza

Egypt, a key mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks, lashed out at Israel, calling its new offensive on Gaza a “flagrant violation of the ceasefire deal.”

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it rejects “all Israeli attacks which aim to … make ongoing efforts to de-escalate and regain stability fail.”

It called for the international community to “to immediately intervene to stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.”

It also urged the parties to “exercise restraint” and give mediators a space to “complete their efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire.”

UN human rights chief ‘horrified’ by Gaza strikes

The U.N. human rights chief says he’s “horrified” by Israel airstrikes in Gaza overnight that have killed hundreds, according to health authorities in the territory.

Volker Türk says the last 18 months of fighting between Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, and Israeli forces have shown that “the only way forward is a political settlement” and a “military path” offers no way out of the crisis.

The rights chief reiterated his calls for hostages held by Hamas and people held arbitrarily to be released “immediately and unconditionally.”

“This nightmare must end immediately,” he added in a statement.

Families of hostages call for a protest outside Israel’s parliament

The families of hostages held by Hamas are calling on supporters to protest with them outside Israel’s parliament, saying the resumption of fighting in Gaza puts their loved ones at risk.

“With each passing day, the danger to the hostages grows. Military pressure could further endanger their lives,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing the families, said in a statement announcing the protest.

Netanyahu set to meet top security officials on the next step

An Israeli official says Netanyahu is to meet with top security officials in the coming half-hour to discuss next steps in the war.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting.

— By Josef Federman in Jerusalem

UN secretary-general says he is ‘shocked’ by Israeli strikes in Gaza

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says he is “shocked” by the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and has called for the ceasefire in Gaza to be respected.

Guterres, in a statement, called for humanitarian aid to resume for people in Gaza and for the hostages held by Hamas to be released unconditionally.

Freed British-Israeli hostage says she is ‘crushed’ by resumption of fighting

Freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari says her “heart is broken, crushed and disappointed” by the resumption of fighting in Gaza. In a story on Instagram shared by Israeli media, she said she would keep fighting for the remaining hostages.

Israeli strikes kill at least 326 people

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli strikes across the territory have killed at least 326 people. The wave of strikes that began early Tuesday is among the deadliest since the start of the 17-month war.

Australian prime minister calls for ceasefire to be maintained in Gaza

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for the ceasefire to be maintained following Israel’s attack on Gaza.

“There’s already been enormous suffering there, which is why we’re calling upon all parties to respect the ceasefire and hostage deal that was put in place,” Albanese told reporters.

“We’ll continue to make representations. Australia will continue to stand up for peace and security in the region,” he added.

Israeli airstrike flattens prison, killing dozens of prisoners and police officers

An Israeli airstrike flattened a prison run by the Hamas-led government in Gaza Strip, killing dozens of prisoners and policemen, according to hospital records.

The prison was located in the urban Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Associated Press footage showed a collapsed building and people trying to reach bodies buried under the rubble.

The bodies of more than three dozen prisoners and guards were taken to the nearby Shifa hospital.

The Hamas-run government operates a police force that numbered in the tens of thousands before the war and quickly returned to the streets after a ceasefire took hold in January.

Israel’s military orders people to evacuate eastern Gaza after wave of strikes

The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza and move toward the center of the territory after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes across the territory.

The orders issued Tuesday indicate Israel could launch renewed ground operations.

Classes suspended in dozens of Gaza schools after airstrikes

The Hamas-run Education Ministry in the Gaza Strip says classes have been suspended in dozens of schools that had recently reopened.

The decision came after Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes across Gaza early Tuesday, shattering a nearly two-month ceasefire.

Schools shut down across Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war, and most were converted to shelters for displaced people.

The ministry said it had resumed classes in around 70 schools in recent weeks.

A UNICEF staffer describes a harrowing night in Gaza

A United Nations staffer in the Gaza Strip described a “very tough night” as Israel resumed heavy strikes across the territory after a nearly two-month ceasefire.

Rosalia Bollen, a communications specialist with the U.N. children’s agency, said she woke up around 2 a.m. on Tuesday to “very loud explosions.”

She said the UNICEF bass near the southern city of Rafah “was shaking very heavily.” When the strikes subsided, she heard “people yelling, people screaming and ambulances.”

“The bombardments have continued throughout the night,” though at a lower intensity than the initial barrage, she said. “The whole night, there’s been just the constant buzzing of drones and planes flying over.”

She said the strikes hit tents and structures housing displaced families. “We’re seeing, as of this morning, at least several dozen children killed,” she said.

Families of hostages held in Gaza say they are terrified by the resumed airstrikes

The main group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza has slammed the decision to return to fighting, saying the move shows the government “chose to give up on the hostages.”

The Hostages Families Forum said “military pressure endangers hostages.” It asked the government in a post on X why it “backed out of the agreement” with Hamas that set out a release of all the living hostages in exchange for an end to the war.

“We are shocked, angry, and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the group said.

Netanyahu’s hard-line ally welcomes return to fighting in Gaza

A key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the return to fighting in Gaza.

Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to leave the government if fighting did not resume, which would imperil Netanyahu’s rule. Critics said those political considerations were influencing Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making.

“We remained in the government for this moment despite our opposition to the (ceasefire) deal, and we are more determined than ever to complete the task and destroy Hamas,” Smotrich posted on X.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 235 people in the Gaza Strip

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 235 people, according to local hospitals.

The toll from the strikes overnight and into Tuesday is based on records from seven hospitals and does not include bodies brought to other, smaller health centers.

Rescuers are still searching for dead and wounded.

North Korea criticizes US over airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels

North Korea has criticized the United States over its new campaign of airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The state-run KCNA news agency on Tuesday quoted Ma Tong Hui, North Korea’s ambassador to Egypt and concurrently to Yemen, as describing the attacks as a “wanton violation of all international laws including the U.N. Charter and it is an open encroachment upon the sovereignty of other nation that can never be justified.”

He also criticized “U.S. hooliganism.”

Trump during his first term held summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but the diplomacy collapsed over disagreements on US sanctions.

Senior Hamas official says Gaza strikes amount to ‘death sentence’ for remaining hostages

A senior Hamas official says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to launch widespread strikes on the Gaza Strip amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages held there.

In a statement early Tuesday, Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, accused Netanyahu of resuming the war to try and save his far-right governing coalition.

“Netanyahu’s decision to return to war is a decision to sacrifice the (Israeli) occupation’s captives and a death sentence against them,” he said.

He said Israel didn’t respect its commitments in the ceasefire deal reached in January and urged mediators to “reveal facts” on which side broke the agreement.

US security official blames Hamas for renewed fighting

National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.”

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been leading mediation efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, had earlier warned that Hamas must release living hostages immediately “or pay a severe price.”

Israel expects further military action

Israeli officials said the latest operation was open-ended and was expected to expand.

“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

White House says it was consulted by Israelis before resuming attacks against Hamas

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the “Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight.”

“As President Trump has made it clear, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran — all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America — will see a price to pay: All hell will break lose,” Leavitt continued, speaking to Fox News on Monday evening.

Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First- and Fifth-Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

The Associated Press

Halifax Harbour Bridges CEO says "it's the government's decision" about the removal of tolls."

The post Traffic smooth as tolls removed on Halifax bridges; CEO, MLA recall surprise at election promise appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing at least 413 Palestinians, including women and children, according to hospital officials. The surprise bombardment shattered a ceasefire in place since January and threatened to fully reignite the 17-month-old war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.

The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza, including much of the northern town of Beit Hanoun and other communities further south, and head toward the center of the territory, indicating that Israel could soon launch renewed ground operations.

“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said.

The attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could resume a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions about the fate of the roughly two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.

A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu’s decision to return to war amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages. Izzat al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to try and save his far-right governing coalition and called on mediators to “reveal facts” on who broke the truce. Hamas said at least four senior officials were killed in Tuesday’s strikes.

There were no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the bombardment, indicating it still hoped to restore the truce.

The strikes came as Netanyahu comes under mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests planned over his handling of the hostage crisis and his decision to fire the head of Israel’s internal security agency. His latest testimony in a long-running corruption trial was canceled after the strikes.

The main group representing families of the captives accused the government of backing out of the ceasefire, saying it “chose to give up on the hostages.”

“We are shocked, angry and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

Wounded stream into Gaza hospitals

A strike on a home in the southern city of Rafah killed 17 members of one family, including at least 12 women and children, according to the European Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included five children, their parents, and another father and his three children.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, Associated Press reporters saw explosions and plumes of smoke. Ambulances brought wounded people to Nasser Hospital, where patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A young girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged.

Many Palestinians said they had expected a return to war when talks over the second phase of the ceasefire did not begin as scheduled in early February. Israel instead embraced an alternative proposal and cut off all shipments of food, fuel and other aid to the territory’s 2 million Palestinians to try to pressure Hamas to accept it.

“Nobody wants to fight,” Palestinian resident Nidal Alzaanin told the AP by phone from Gaza City. “Everyone is still suffering from the previous months,” he said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 413 people were killed in the strikes and hundreds more wounded. Rescuers were still searching the rubble for dead and wounded as the strikes continued. It was among the deadliest days of the war.

U.S. backs Israel and blames Hamas

The White House sought to blame Hamas for the renewed fighting. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.”

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas’ military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks. The official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks. Hamas militants and security forces quickly returned to the streets in recent weeks after the ceasefire went into effect.

A second Israeli official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting, said Netanyahu would meet with top security officials to discuss next steps in the war.

Talks on a second phase of the ceasefire had stalled

The strikes came two months after a ceasefire was reached to pause the war. Over six weeks, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in a first phase of the ceasefire.

But since that ceasefire ended two weeks ago, the sides have not been able to agree on a way forward with a second phase aimed at releasing the 59 remaining hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead, and ending the war altogether.

Hamas has demanded an end to the war and full withdrawal of Israeli troops in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Israel says it will not end the war until it destroys Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and frees all hostages — two goals that could be incompatible.

Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday said Hamas had “repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the U.S. presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators.”

Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wants to follow the ceasefire deal reached by the two sides, which calls for negotiations to begin on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, in which the remaining hostages would be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

A return to war would allow Netanyahu to avoid the tough trade-offs called for in the second phase of the agreement and the thorny question of who would govern Gaza. It would also shore up his coalition, which depends on far-right lawmakers who want to depopulate Gaza and re-build Jewish settlements there.

Gaza already was in a humanitarian crisis

The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefires or other deals, with israeli forces rescuing only eight and recovering dozens of bodies.

Israel responded with a military offensive that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s population. The territory’s Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and militants, but says over half of the dead have been women and children.

The ceasefire had brought some relief to Gaza and allowed hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to resume to what remained of their homes.

Netanyahu faces mounting criticism

The released hostages, some of whom were emaciated, have repeatedly implored the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining captives. Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken part in mass demonstrations calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.

Mass demonstrations are planned later Tuesday and Wednesday following Netanyahu’s announcement this week that he wants to fire the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency. Critics have lambasted the move as an attempt by Netanyahu to divert blame for his government’s failures in the Oct. 7 attack and handling of the war.

Since the ceasefire in Gaza began in mid-January, Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas.

Still, the deal has tenuously held without an outbreak of wide violence. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate the next steps in the ceasefire.

___

Federman reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press reporters Mohammad Jahjouh in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip; Abdel Kareem Hana in Gaza City, Gaza Strip; Fatma Khaled in Cairo; and Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed.

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

Wafaa Shurafa, Josef Federman And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

BRAMPTON, Ont. — McDonald’s Canada is trying its hand at a vegetable-based burger — again.

The fast-food chain announced Tuesday that it will test its new McVeggie at some restaurants in Langley, Richmond and Surrey, B.C., as well as Brampton and Windsor, Ont., and Dieppe, Moncton, Riverview and Sussex, N.S., until April 14.

The sandwich, which will come in regular and spicy habanero varieties, has a breaded patty made of carrots, green beans, zucchini, peas, soybeans, broccoli and corn. It comes on a toasted sesame bun and is topped with shredded lettuce and sauce.

The dish is the latest attempt by McDonald’s Canada at courting customers uninterested in or unable to consume popular staples like the Big Mac.

Prior attempts to cater to vegetarians have not succeeded, leaving the sandwich portion of the company’s menu full of beef and poultry options but little for those who don’t eat meat.

The chain’s most recent menu item prior to the McVeggie was the plant, lettuce and tomato or PLT.

The sandwich made with a plant-based Beyond Meat patty was tested in September 2019 at 28 restaurants, predominantly in London, Ont. It later expanded to 52 locations covering neighbouring Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph in a 12-week trial beginning in January 2020.

“That wasn’t quite what consumers are looking for,” chief marketing officer Francesca Cardarelli conceded while sitting at a McDonald’s restaurant in Brampton, Ont.

She figures part of why the PLT missed the mark was because its patty was designed to mimic meat as most of the hot plant-based meat alternatives did about six years ago.

At the time, a Nielsen study revealed that 43 per cent of Canadian consumers expected to increase plant-based food consumption, and in the two years prior, had bought four per cent less meat.

Buoyed by these reports and others suggesting the plant-based “meat” market would be valued at US$135 billion by 2035, fast-food joints such as Tim Hortons and McDonald’s rushed to offer such products. However, diners didn’t take to them and they were eventually pulled from menus because of a lack of demand.

The McVeggie attempts to learn from all that.

“This is just something that’s more craveable and more desirable,” said Cardarelli, who said she eats two a week.

Whether someone has dietary restrictions or is seeking variety, she thinks the dish’s appeal is obvious as soon as one takes a bite out of the sandwich and spots the mélange of chunky greenery that forms the patty.

“You can really see the vegetable component in it, which I think adds a bit of a vibrancy and uniqueness from what we’ve tested in the past,” she said. “This is what they’re looking for now.”

Testing that theory will be the culmination of months of product development, studying PLT feedback and looking at vegetable-based products McDonald’s trialed elsewhere.

India, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand have also sold sandwiches called the McVeggie at times, but they’re not the same as McDonald’s Canada’s offering, which was developed for this country specifically.

The sandwich, however, is not completely made with Canadian ingredients because Cardarelli said the country’s climate makes it “quite difficult” to source domestic produce year-round. The company would not name what countries other than Canada it will get vegetables from.

The pressure to ensure the McVeggie is a hit is high, not just because of the past failures but because McDonald’s stands to win over even more customers who might have eaten elsewhere because of a lack of plant-based options.

Its research shows about 35 per cent of Canadians have some sort of food limitation, whether it’s an allergy or a personal preference, and about half of the time that one-third determines where the group they’re dining with go to eat.

McDonald’s will watch whether the McVeggie shifts this trend and analyze how often people come in for the sandwich, what they’re ordering with it and whether it fits into their routines.

“I’m hopeful they will feel the excitement and then gravitate toward a product like this,” Cardarelli said.

“Ultimately, it’s going to be their voice that helps us determine whether this stands to something bigger or not.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland and the three Baltic nations said Tuesday that they want to withdraw from an international convention that bans antipersonnel land mines due to the growing threat from Russia to front-line NATO states.

The defense ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said in a joint statement that they “unanimously recommend withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention” — the international antipersonnel mine ban convention that went into effect in 1999.

They argue that the security situation along NATO’s eastern flank has “fundamentally deteriorated” since they signed on to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, and that “military threats to NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased.”

“With this decision, we are sending a clear message: Our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our territory and freedom,” they wrote.

Despite the intention to leave the treaty, they said they would remain committed to humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians during armed conflict.

The Ottawa Convention was signed in 1997 and went into force in 1999. Nearly three dozen countries have not acceded to it, including some key current and past producers and users of land mines such as the United States, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea and Russia.

In a report released last year by Landmine Monitor, the international watchdog said land mines were still actively being used in 2023 and 2024 by Russia, Myanmar, Iran and North Korea.

The Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union government ministers on Tuesday debated ways to keep Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped grants to the pro-democracy media outlet over the weekend.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty started broadcasting during the Cold War. Its programs are aired in 27 languages in 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Sweden’s European Affairs Minister Jessica Rozencrantz insisted on the need to ensure that “Radio Free Europe really continues to be an important voice for freedom and democracy, especially in those places where it is most needed.”

“Sweden encourages all countries and the (European) Commission to really look into what we can do in terms of financing, to make sure that we continue to have a strong Radio Free Europe,” she told reporters in Brussels ahead of the meeting.

The outlet got caught up as President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America and other government-run, pro-democracy programming.

“The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies,” the network’s President and CEO, Stephen Capus, said in a statement in reaction to the move.

On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas recalled the influence the network had on her as she was growing up in Estonia, which was part of the Soviet Union when she was a child.

“It is sad to hear that U.S is withdrawing its funding,” Kallas told reporters, after chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

“Coming from the other side of the Iron Curtain, actually it was (from) the radio that we got a lot of information,” she said. “So, it has been a beacon of democracy, very valuable in this regard.”

But Kallas said that finding “funding to fill the void that the U.S. is leaving” would not be easy. “The answer to that question is not automatically, because we have a lot of organizations who are coming with the same request,” she said.

The Czech Republic, which has hosted Radio Free Europe for 25 years, although its corporate headquarters is in Washington, is leading the push to keep the network alive. Kallas said that “there was really a push from the foreign ministers to discuss this and find the way.”

Lorne Cook, The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A Cambodian naval port expansion funded by China that has raised concerns over Beijing’s growing military reach in the region has been completed. The port will host a Japanese vessel as the first foreign warship to make a port call, officials said Tuesday.

The Ream Naval Base — with a new pier to accommodate much larger ships, a dry dock for repairs and other features — will be inaugurated on April 2 by Prime Minister Hun Manet, according to Maj. Gen. Thong Solimo, spokesman for Cambodia’s armed forces.

“Giving priority to Japanese warships … is a tribute to the high level of openness in cooperation, relations and mutual trust,” Thong said

China and Cambodia broke ground on the port project in 2022, prompting the United States to express concerns that it could become a strategically-important outpost for the Chinese navy on the Gulf of Thailand.

The Gulf is adjacent to the South China Sea, a key waterway that China claims almost in its entirety. The U.S. has refused to recognize China’s sweeping claim and routinely conducts military maneuvers there to reinforce that they are international waters.

Initial fears grew last year after Chinese warships docked at the newly built pier for months, and two Japanese destroyers that made a Cambodia port call were routed to a different facility nearby.

With the announcement about Japan’s planned port call, Cambodia is likely trying to project that it’s open to countries other than China, said Euan Graham, a senior defense analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“This would appear to be a conscious demonstration by Cambodia, that Ream is not exclusively for” China’s military, he said.

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force confirmed Cambodia’s invitation to Japanese ships, but refused to give any specifics, citing regular operational security regulations.

China is Cambodia’s biggest investor and closest political partner, and in recent years has been rapidly expanding its navy and becoming growingly assertive in pressing its vast maritime claims.

Fears over China’s activity at the Ream base arose in 2019 when The Wall Street Journal reported that an early draft of an agreement seen by U.S. officials would allow China 30-year use of the base, where it would be able to post military personnel, store weapons and berth warships.

Cambodia’s government has denied such an agreement or any intention to grant China special privileges at the base, though Beijing has funded its expansion and docked its warships there for months at a time.

In September, Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said that China would give Cambodia’s navy two warships of the type docked there while the expansion project was still underway.

Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Chhum Socheat said Tuesday that Cambodia intends the facility to be open to the U.S. and others.

“All warships from friendly countries are allowed to dock at the new pier but they must comply to our conditions first,” he said, without specifying what those conditions might be.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Sopheng Cheang And David Rising, The Associated Press