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International crews in Morocco to recover bodies days after deadly 6.8 quake earthquake struck

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

IMI N’TALA, Morocco (AP) — The stench of death wafted through the village of Imi N’Tala high up in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains four days after a deadly earthquake struck, slicing off a chunk of mountain, killing residents and razing the hamlet to the ground.Bulldozers, rescue crews and Moroccan first responders work around the clock trying to dig through the wreckage to unearth the eight to ten corpses still underneath.“The mountain was split in half and started falling. Houses were fully destroyed,” Ait Ougadir Al Houcine said as rescuers worked on recovering bodies, including his sister’s. “Some people lost all their cattle. We have nothing but the clothes we’re wearing. Everything is gone.”The scene in Imi N’Tala, which mainly houses herders and famers and where 96 residents perished in Friday’s earthquake, mirrors that of dozens of places situated along the treacherous mountain roads south of Marrakech: Men in donated djellabas neatly arrange ru...

A fishing vessel in Greenland will try to free a cruise ship that ran aground with 206 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A fishing vessel owned by Greenland’s government will attempt to use a high tide to pull free a Bahamas-flagged Norwegian cruise ship carrying 206 people that ran aground in the world’s northernmost national park, authorities said.Capt. Flemming Madsen of the Danish Joint Arctic Command told The Associated Press that the passengers and crew on the ship stranded in northwestern Greenland were doing fine and ”all I can say is that they got a lifetime experience.”The scientific fishing vessel was scheduled to arrive later Wednesday and would attempt when the conditions were right to pull the 104.4-meter- (343-foot) long and 18-meter- (60-foot) wide MV Ocean Explorer free. The cruise ship ran aground Monday in Alpefjord in the Northeast Greenland National Park, which is known for icebergs and the musk oxen that roam the coast.The Alpefjord sits in a remote corner of Greenland, some 240 kilometers (149 miles) away from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoor...

Japanese boy-band production company sets up panel to compensate sexual assault victims

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese boys-band production company at the center of an unfolding sexual abuse scandal, Johnny & Associates, chose three former judges Wednesday to head its effort to compensate hundreds of victims.The Tokyo-based agency also said it will not take its usual cut from its performers’ earnings for the next year “in an effort to win back public trust,” and all the money for shows and other appearances will go to the individuals. The actions come after Johnny’s, as the company is known, acknowledged last week that Johnny Kitagawa, its late founder and former chief, had sexually assaulted at least several hundred teens and children over half a century.A special online site will be set up for people who worked under Johnny’s so they can be financially compensated, the company said in a statement. Privacy will be protected, and the monetary amount will be worked out in direct talks with each person, it said. Kitagawa died in 2019 and was never charged.Julie Keiko Fuji...

Simanic returns to Serbia with World Cup silver medal winners hoping to play basketball again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Borisa Simanic, the Serbian player who needed a kidney removed during the Basketball World Cup, has been discharged from a Philippines hospital and was able to join his team for its silver-medal celebration in Belgrade.Simanic told Radio Belgrade that he must rest for three months, and then the process of determining whether he can play basketball again will begin. Doctors who treated Simanic in Manila believe it is possible that the 25-year-old forward can resume his career.Simanic was injured during an opening-round game against South Sudan on Aug. 30. He was elbowed in his side as a South Sudan player attempted to get around him for a shot near the basket. Simanic needed emergency surgery that night to stop internal bleeding and fix other issues, and then doctors performed a second surgery to remove the kidney on Sept. 3 after determining how badly the organ was damaged.Serbia kept Simanic’s jersey draped over a chair throughout the rest of the tourn...

Russian spaceport visited by Kim has troubled history blighted by corruption and construction delays

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Vostochny space launch facility where President Vladimir Putin hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday reflects an ambitious attempt by Moscow to burnish its scientific glory that faded after the collapse of the Soviet Union.The new spaceport has a troubled history tarnished by construction delays and widespread corruption.Here is a glance at Vostochny’s creation and capability.POST-SOVIET CREATIONAfter the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia leased the Baikonur cosmodrome from Kazakhstan and continued to use it for most of its space launches. The agreement with Kazakhstan allows Russia to keep leasing Baikonur for $115 million a year through 2050.The relatively small Plesetsk launch pad in northwestern Russia has been used for some military satellite launches and military missile tests.Amid occasional disputes with Kazakhstan over Baikonur’s use, Russian authorities declared that the country needs a full-fledged space facility of its own whil...

Arrest made after victim shot during botched carjacking in Toronto’s west end

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

A Toronto man is facing nearly a dozen charges after someone was shot during a failed carjacking attempt in the city’s west end.Toronto police officers responded to reports of a robbery near Weston Road and Black Creek Drive on Aug. 11.It is alleged a victim was driving a 2016 Mercedes sedan and parked the car to attend a restaurant with a friend. Two vehicles pulled up on either side of the Mercedes and three suspects got out when the victim and his friend returned to their parked car.Police say two suspects attacked the victim while the third suspect got into the Mercedes. The two suspects who assaulted the victim fled the area in the two suspect vehicles.The third suspect was unable to start the victim’s Mercedes and attempted to run away. The victim confronted the man while he was trying to flee. The suspect pulled out a handgun and shot the victim before making good on his escape.The victim, a man in his 20s, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.Investigators...

3 wounded in southern Syria after shots fired at protesters at ruling party’s local headquarters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Security guards from the Syrian president’s Baath party on Wednesday fired shots at protesters trying to raid its local headquarters in southern Syria, wounding at least three people, activists said.The incident marked a major escalation in anti-government protests over the past month that have otherwise been calm.Anti-government protests have rocked the Druze-majority Sweida province over the past month. Hundreds continue to gather in demonstrations that were initially driven by the war-torn country’s spiraling economy and skyrocketing inflation but quickly shifted focus to calling for the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government.Protesters have raided and closed offices of Assad’s Baath party across the province and have torn images of Assad. On September 4, protesters smashed a statue of Assad’s father and predecessor, Hafez, as they they marked the 2015 assassination of a prominent anti-government Druze leader. Some of the offices h...

Palestinian Authority lashes out at renowned academics who denounced president’s antisemitic remarks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian political factions on Wednesday raged against dozens of Palestinian academics who had criticized President Mahmoud Abbas’ recent remarks on the Holocaust that have drawn widespread accusations of antisemitism.Politicians lambasted the open letter signed earlier this week by over a hundred Palestinian academics, activists and artists based around the world as “the statement of shame.” “Their statement is consistent with the Zionist narrative and its signatories gives credence to the enemies of the Palestinian people,” said the secular nationalist Fatah party that runs the Palestinian Authority. Fatah officials called the signatories “mouthpieces for the occupation” and “extremely dangerous.” The well-respected writers and thinkers released the letter after footage surfaced that showed Abbas asserting European Jews had been persecuted by Hitler because of what he described as their “social functions” and predat...

Hurricane Lee turns north on path that will take it past Bermuda as it aims for Atlantic Canada

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Lee began to spin away from the northern Caribbean on Wednesday as the Category 3 storm aimed for Atlantic Canada and left big waves in its wake.The storm was located about 475 miles (765 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda in the morning. It had winds of up to 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour) and was moving northwest at 6 mph (9 kph).Lee was expected to eventually pass just west of Bermuda, prompting forecasters to issue a tropical storm watch for the island. Wind and heavy rainfall were expected to lash Bermuda starting late Wednesday or early Thursday, forecasters said.Lee is then expected to keep traveling north and lose strength in cooler waters before potentially making landfall over the weekend in Nova Scotia, Canada, as a possible tropical storm.“Slow weakening is forecast during the next few days, however Lee is likely to remain a large and dangerous hurricane into the weekend,” the National Hurricane Center said. “Lee’s...

Dollarama reports second-quarter profit and sales up from year ago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:29 GMT

MONTREAL — Dollarama Inc. reported its second-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago as its sales also climbed nearly 20 per cent.The retailer says it earned $245.8 million or 86 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended July 30, up from a profit of $193.5 million or 66 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.Sales for the quarter totalled $1.46 billion, up from $1.22 billion a year earlier.Dollarama says the increase was driven by growth in its total number of stores compared with a year ago and higher comparable store sales.Comparable store sales for the quarter rose 15.5 per cent as the number of transactions gained 12.9 per cent and the average transaction size added 2.3 per cent.Dollarama had 1,525 stores at the end of its most recent quarter, up from 1,444 a year earlier.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:DOL)The Canadian Press