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US launches airstrike on site in Syria linked to Iranian-backed militants

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. launched an airstrike on a facility in eastern Syria linked to Iranian-backed militias, in retaliation for what has been a growing number of attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in the region for the past several weeks, the Pentagon said.The strike by two U.S. F-15 fighter jets was on a weapons storage facility linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.This is the second time in less than two weeks that the U.S. has bombed facilities used by the militant groups, many operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which U.S. officials say have carried out at least 40 such attacks since Oct. 17.Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press

Movie Review: Nicolas Cage finds fame to be highly overrated in chillingly funny ‘Dream Scenario’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

Quick: What’s a good adjective for Nicolas Cage’s screen presence? Mercurial, perhaps? Volcanic? Volatile?How about mundane, schlubby, average? Not the page we’d think to turn to in our Roget’s Thesaurus.Yet here Cage is, channeling his inner drabness to chillingly comic effect in Kristoffer Borgli’s “Dream Scenario.” As Paul Matthews (heck, even the name is drab), a college professor at nowhere famous, he performs his job with perfect mediocrity, and seems a fairly mediocre husband and dad, too. With his graying beard, wire-rimmed specs and shiny bald spot, Cage’s Paul is the guy in the room you ignore.Until, suddenly, you can’t. Because something weird starts happening. Paul starts appearing in people’s dreams. Everyone’s dreams.The premise is delicious — and precarious. It recalled for me the setup in a very different movie, “Yesterday,” where only one guy on Earth remembers the Beatles. It makes for a fantastic beginning, but you immediately worry how they’ll manage to kee...

Ambitious seven-year housing plan overwhelmingly approved by Toronto City Council

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

Toronto City Council overwhelmingly approved an ambitious affordable housing plan Wednesday with a price tag it can’t currently afford.Mayor Olivia Chow said she wants to see 65,000 rental homes built over the next seven years at a cost of $36 billion – money that the city doesn’t have in its budget. That money, and how to get it, was a point of contention during the debate in council chambers.Funding has already been secured to deliver 4,455 homes with an estimated cost to deliver the remaining 60,545 homes pegged at between $28.6 billion and $31.5 billion over the next seven years. Currently, the estimated amount of funding needed from each order of government is between $500 million and $800 million per year, in addition to repayable financing.“The ball is in the federal government’s court and that ball has been there for a while,” said Chow. “We are hoping to see action. We are hoping to see the funds that are needed to build housing now...

Manulife reports net income of $1 billion in third quarter

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

TORONTO — Manulife Financial Corp. says its net income rose in the third quarter from last year, supported especially by business growth in Asia.The insurer says it had a net income attributed to shareholders of $1 billion in the quarter ending Sept. 30, up from $777 million last year, when new reporting rules are factored in.Manulife core earnings, which the company says strips out short-term market fluctuations and is a better measure of long-term potential, came in at $1.74 billion, up from $1.34 billion last year.Core earnings rose the most in Asia, up 33 per cent, while in Canada core earnings were up four per cent and they slipped two per cent in the U.S. The company’s Asia division also saw a 16 per cent rise in unrealized profits on new business, the same amount as in Canada, while in the U.S. the measure dropped 39 per cent.Manulife chief executive Roy Gori says the insurer is in a position to weather macroeconomic uncertainties and continue to buy back shares to boos...

At trial, man accused of assaulting woman at US research station in Antarctica denies hurting her

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — A man accused of assaulting a woman at a U.S. research station in Antarctica testified at his trial Wednesday that he never hurt her during a physical altercation in a dorm lounge last year. Stephen Tyler Bieneman has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault over the incident at McMurdo Station. Bieneman got on top of a woman who had taken his nametag from his coat as a joke, pinned her down and put his shin across he throat, preventing her from being able to breathe, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mohammad Khatib told jurors at the start of trial this week in U.S. District Court in Honolulu.Bieneman, who worked as a field safety coordinator conducting searches and rescues, testified that the woman “kind of immediately got in my face” when he returned to the lounge after celebrating his birthday and Thanksgiving with a group. She cursed at him and was upset she wasn’t invited to the gathering, he said. At one point he left the lounge to return the key to the hut he u...

7 Nashville officers on ‘administrative assignment’ after Covenant school shooter’s writings leaked

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Seven Nashville police officers have been placed on “administrative assignment” amid an investigation into the unauthorized release of some writings by the shooter who killed six people, including three children, at a private elementary school in March, authorities said Wednesday. Earlier this week a conservative commentator released what he said were three images of Audrey Hale’s writings from the day of the March 27 shooting.The leak alarmed local authorities, who called for an investigation into the situation, and dismayed families closely connected to the Covenant school shooting who have opposed publishing the documents for months. Don Aaron, spokesperson for the Metro Nashville Police Department, said the officers were placed on administrative assignment to “protect the integrity of the active, progressing investigation.”The officers, whose names have not been released, still have “full police power” and the assignments are “absolutely non-punitiv...

Bridging an ocean, Angolan king visits Brazilian community descended from slaves

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Residents danced and chanted Wednesday in a community descended from runaway slaves in Rio de Janeiro as they welcomed the visiting monarch of the Bailundo kingdom in Angola where many of the residents trace their ancestry. King Tchongolola Tchongonga Ekuikui VI visited the community of Camorim as part of a trip to Brazil that began three weeks ago. Camorim dates back to 1614 when it would have been forested land and is Rio’s oldest “quilombo,” or community of escaped slaves. Nearly 100 people live there today, maintaining their traditional religion and medicinal plants. “This visit has been on the agenda for a long time,” the king told the crowd. “Our ancestors told us: ’Go, because there you will find your brothers.’”King Ekuikui VI arrived in a traditional black-and-white robe and hat, both featuring his kingdom’s emblematic eagle. He is his nation’s most important king, representing the largest Angolan ethnic group. While Bailundo is a non-sovereign k...

Suncor Energy reports third quarter profit of $1.54 billion

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

CALGARY — Suncor Energy Inc. says it earned a profit of $1.54 billion in the third quarter of 2023, compared to a net loss of $609 million in the prior year’s quarter.The Calgary-based energy giant says its earnings work out to $1.19 per share, compared to a loss of 45 cents per common share in the same three months of 2022.On an adjusted basis, Suncor earned $1.98 billion or $1.52 per common share in the third quarter of 2023, compared to $2.57 billion or $1.88 per common share in the third quarter of 2022.The company attributed the decrease in adjusted earnings to lower crude prices year-over-year and a weaker business environment, as well as increased royalties and decreased sales volumes due to international asset divestments.Suncor’s total upstream production was 690,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 724,100 boe/d in the same period last year.Refinery throughput was 463,200 barrels per day and refinery utilization was 99 per cent in the third quarter ...

National Bank no longer offering new safety deposit boxes

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

MONTREAL — National Bank won’t offer any more new safety deposit boxes, which allow customers to keep valuable items or important documents at bank branches. It’s the first large Canadian bank to stop offering this service. The bank stopped offering the service as of Nov. 1. The decision comes after the financial institution noted a decline in the popularity of safety deposit boxes, said spokeswoman Stéphanie Rousseau in an interview conducted in French. “That said, clients who already had boxes before that date will be able to keep them,” she said. National Bank is the first large Canadian bank to stop offering safety deposit boxes. The five other largest Canadian banks, and Desjardins Group, confirmed that they still offer the service and don’t currently intend to follow suit, though some institutions noted that safety deposit boxes aren’t necessarily available at all of their branches. The revenue generated by safety deposit boxes is “not large” for a bank, said Reena Atana...

Bus carrying crew for Shania Twain concert crashes on icy highway in Saskatchewan

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:43:38 GMT

WOLSELEY, Sask. — Members of Shania Twain’s concert production crew were on a bus that crashed today on an icy highway in southeast Saskatchewan.The music star’s management company, Maverick, says in a statement that the bus and a truck from her “Queen of Me” tour were in the crash on the Trans-Canada Highway near Wolseley.It says the vehicles had been driving between Winnipeg, where Twain had a show Tuesday night, and Saskatoon.Twain was not on the bus.Dwayne Stone, the fire chief for the nearby town of Grenfell, says firefighters were called out to the scene, where the bus had rolled onto its side.Stone says they used an emergency hatch in the roof of the bus and took out windows in order to get to the 13 people stuck inside.Stone says the people were taken to a nearby hospital and none of their injuries were life-threatening.The Canadian Press