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Students head back to school as heat warnings blanket Central Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

TORONTO — While Tuesday marked the first day of school for many students across the country, summer certainly didn’t feel like it was over as heat warnings blanketed much of Central Canada.One school board in Quebec closed all elementary and high schools on Tuesday due to the heat, while other districts in that province and Ontario said they would put measures in place to adapt to the high temperatures. Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville, speaking to reporters at a high school inauguration in Gatineau, said Tuesday that the high temperatures — expected to reach 33 Celsius Tuesday with a humidex of 41 — were exceptional.“I trust that teams in the schools will well manage the (heat) situation, I don’t have any doubt,” he said. The province intends to build 150 new schools in the coming years, but they won’t be air conditioned.“In newly built schools, we will install mechanical ventilation systems, which isn’t air conditio...

From rapper to reporter to politician: A profile of Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

WINNIPEG — Rap artist. Journalist. Economics student.Wab Kinew’s path as a young man, including several brushes with the law and some convictions, did not appear a likely path to politics.But as he entered his 30s, he decided political office might be where he could make a difference. One of the reasons he cites is what happened to the family of his wife, Lisa Monkman, whose mother was on social assistance in the 1980s and was given an opportunity for education and a career. A government program helped the family out of poverty. Monkman would follow up with her own education, go to medical school and become a physician.“The trajectory of their lives was changed for the better — through their own hard work, first and foremost, but they also had a few public policy interventions that were made at that time and helped,” Kinew recalled in an interview.“That’s something that speaks to me — education, economic improvement, people doing it themselves, but mayb...

Book Review: ‘Reading Jane: A Daughter’s Memoir,’ by Susannah Kennedy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

“Reading Jane: A Daughter’s Memoir,” by Susannah Kennedy (Sibylline Press)When her mother Jane, a healthy 75-year-old, shockingly decides to take her own life, Susannah Kennedy is left reeling with innumerable questions. There are also 45 years worth of diaries that contain some answers and ultimately reveal some surprising secrets. This elegantly written memoir by Kennedy, a former newspaper reporter-turned-anthropologist, opens a window into the complicated relationships that can exist between mothers and daughters, especially when the mother is a narcissistic single parent.Jane is a charismatic woman who had a successful post-divorce career teaching in the inner city. She is widely liked and admired but has a fraught relationship with her daughter, Susannah, especially after the girl reaches puberty and becomes a rival for male attention. One of the constants in the pair’s lives are Jane’s diaries, each one marked by the year it was filled with her remarks...

Getting used to the spotlight: A profile of Manitoba PC Leader Heather Stefanson

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

WINNIPEG — Despite her 23 years as a politician — and almost two as Manitoba’s first female premier — Heather Stefanson says she is still getting used to the public spotlight. She is more accustomed to working in the background.“I’m not someone that seeks attention. I like to get things done,” Stefanson said in an interview.“I’ve always been … a little bit of a behind-the-scenes kind of person. So I think that spotlight is not something I’m used to. It’s not something I seek out. And I think that has been challenging for me because it’s just not something that comes naturally to me.”Stefanson, 53, was seven years old when she got her first taste of politics. Her father ran for a seat in the legislature, finishing second to Liberal Lloyd Axworthy.She studied political science at university and later worked for Mila Mulroney, whose husband, Brian Mulroney, was prime minister at the time.While in Ottawa, she met her futu...

Who will become Manitoba’s next premier? A look at party leaders vying for the job

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s provincial election has been called for Oct. 3. Here’s a look at the leaders of the province’s three parties that have seats in the legislature. Heather Stefanson, Progressive Conservative LeaderAge: 53. Born May 11, 1970. Pre-Politics: Political science degree from the University of Western Ontario. Worked as a special assistant in the Office of the Prime Minister under Brian Mulroney before returning to Manitoba in 1993 as an assistant to then-agriculture minister Charlie Mayer. Also worked as a financial planner at Wellington West Capital. Politics: Won a byelection in 2000 replacing former premier Gary Filmon as the member in Tuxedo. Has won her seat in every election since then. Under her predecessor, Brian Pallister, she held several roles and portfolios including deputy premier, minister of justice and attorney general, minister of families and health minister. Defeated former member of Parliament Shelly Glover in 2021 to become the fir...

Soccer player’s killing draws attention to struggles in one of Panama’s principal ports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

COLON, Panama (AP) — The killing of a member of Panama’s national soccer team in the rough Caribbean city of Colon has focused a light on the high levels of violence residents suffer here despite having a bustling port and one of the world’s largest free-trade zones.While massive cargo ships enter and exit the Panama Canal here 50 miles north of the capital, Colon has wrestled for years with high levels of unemployment and crime. It has become fertile ground for gangs battling over control of drug trafficking routes.“The gang war is costing innocent lives,” said Rafael Cañas, an evangelical pastor who is also the city of Colon’s director of citizen security. “There are a lot of hitmen too because of the lack of jobs and opportunities.”Defender Gilberto Hernández, 26, was shot Sunday afternoon while hanging out with friends in front of the apartment building where his mother lives beside a Catholic church. Gunmen riding in a taxi opened fire on the group, killing Hernández and woundi...

Israel’s Supreme Court delays pivotal judicial overhaul hearing after attorney general opposes plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday delayed the first of three pivotal hearings on the legality of the judicial overhaul, spearheaded by the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu, after the country’s attorney general expressed staunch opposition to the plan.For the eight months since the coalition took power, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a Netanyahu ally, has refused to convene the committee that selects the nation’s judges, leaving numerous judgeships open across the country. Lawyers for Attorney General Gail Baharav-Miara, will now argue against the justice minister’s counsel in court, a situation which experts said is highly exceptional. Levin, a key architect of the overhaul, seeks to change the makeup of the selection committee to give Netanyahu’s far-right ruling coalition the final say over the appointment of judges, part of a broader judicial overhaul proposed by Netanyahu’s government. Before the Court delayed the hearing f...

Israeli military kills 2 Palestinians in West Bank, a militant in an army raid and an alleged gunman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant during an army raid in the West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said, while elsewhere in the occupied territory a Palestinian gunman opened fire at Israeli soldiers, wounding one before being shot and killed. The events marked the latest violence to roil the territory during one of the most violent stretches of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in nearly two decades. Israel has pressed on with near-nightly raids in the West Bank while Palestinian militants have ramped up shooting attacks against Israelis.The early morning military raid into the Nur Shams refugee camp near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Tuesday prompted a firefight between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants. The army said troops found and demolished an explosives stockpile. Residents shared videos of bulldozers ripping off all the asphalt on the camp’s main road.The army also said that soldiers came under attack from ar...

Manitoba premier kicks off election campaign, calls provincial vote for Oct. 3

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson has launched an election campaign with voters set to go to the polls on Oct. 3.Stefanson, who became premier two years ago, said she visited Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville Tuesday morning and the writ for the election was officially dropped.“I am excited to be here with many excited members of our strong PC team to talk about affordability and how we will continue helping you — Manitobans — make ends meet,” Stefanson told a news conference flanked by cheering Progressive Conservative candidates.She said if re-elected, her party would remove the carbon tax on hydro within 10 days and lower income taxes.Stefanson is aiming to lead the Progressive Conservatives to a third consecutive majority.Opinion polls have suggested it will be an uphill battle, as support for the Tories dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Opposition New Democrats have been leading in the polls, especially in Winnipeg where most legislature seats are co...

Tropical Depression 13 forms in Atlantic, could become 'powerful hurricane' this week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:23 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Another major hurricane could be on the horizon as Tropical Depression 13 took shape in the central tropical Atlantic Ocean late Tuesday morning.The National Hurricane Center said Tropical Depression 13 officially formed over the central tropical Atlantic about 900 miles west-southwest of Cape Verde. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph with higher gusts. 2 bitten by shark at same Florida beach, officials say The NHC said the system will likely become Tropical Storm Lee before strengthening into a "powerful" major hurricane later this week as it nears the northern Leeward Islands.The NHC is also tracking a strong tropical wave that is forecast to move off the coast of West Africa on Tuesday.Once the wave moves offshore, the NHC said a tropical depression could form over the far eastern tropical Atlantic during the middle to the latter part of the week.The system is expected to move across Cape Verde Wednesday night and Thursday. It has a 70 percent ...