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War plunged Israel’s agricultural heartlands into crisis, raising fears for its farming future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

ASHKELON, Israel (AP) — The soldiers guarding Avi Chivivian’s organic vegetable farm in southern Israel must first scour every corner of his fields for militants before they give him the all clear: He has six hours to work.It’s potato planting season for the farms of southern Israel, a region near the Gaza border that the Agriculture Ministry calls the country’s “vegetable barn” because it supplies at least a third of Israel’s vegetables. But Chivivian — one of the few remaining farmers in the area since the brutal Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas militants — no longer lives by the harvest cycle. He’s on the military’s timetable.“If we don’t plant potatoes now, there won’t be any in the spring,” said Chivivian, who lives in the small village of Yated. “If we put our hands up, we will have a food crisis in Israel.”The Israel-Hamas war has plunged Israel’s agricultural heartlands, located around the Gaza Strip and in the north near the Lebanese a...

Telus partners with electric vehicle chargers producer Flo to provide real-time data

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

QUEBEC — Telus Corp. is partnering with electric vehicle charging network operator Flo to help improve reliability as adoption of clean vehicle technology is expected to ramp up.The Vancouver-based telecommunications company says Flo will use its internet of things connectivity platform to provide real-time visibility on at least 60,000 chargers in Canada and the U.S. over the next five years.That will allow Flo to monitor public and commercial charging stations, using data it receives to conduct diagnostics remotely and provide support when the products aren’t working as they’re supposed to.Flo says its charger network is functional about 98 per cent of the time, while Telus says its network is 99.99 per cent reliable.Telus vice-president of commercial sales for Quebec and Atlantic Ali Barakat says that with all light-duty vehicles sold in Canada required to be zero-emission by 2035, the company is aiming to support the development of critical infrastructure.Earlier thi...

Cyprus proposes to establish a sea corridor to deliver a stream of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus is working out with partners in the European Union and the Middle East the logistics to establish a sea corridor to deliver a stream of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza from the island’s main port of Limassol once the situation on the ground permits it, authorities said Tuesday.A senior government official — who spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to publicly discuss details of the proposal — said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “wasn’t opposed” to the idea pitched by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides last week.Gaza’s humanitarian needs have escalated after the Israel-Hamas war erupted following the Palestinian militant group’s surprise Oct.7 attacks in Israel which left nearly 1,400 Israelis dead and at least 240 taken hostage. Israel retaliated with a military operation that has so far left over 8,000 Palestinians dead. The underlying premise of Cyprus’ proposal is to have a constant ...

Toyota more than doubles investment and job creation at North Carolina battery plant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Toyota will invest an additional $8 billion in the hybrid and electric vehicle battery factory it’s constructing in North Carolina, more than doubling its prior investments and expected number of new jobs, the company announced Tuesday.The Japanese automotive manufacturer projects the new investment will create about 3,000 additional jobs, bringing the total to more than 5,000 jobs, when its first U.S. automotive battery plant begins operations near Greensboro in 2025. The plant will serve as Toyota’s epicenter of lithium-ion battery production in North America and will be a key supplier for the Kentucky-based plant tasked with building its first U.S.-made electric vehicles, the company said.Toyota’s fourth and largest investment in the North Carolina facility brings its total investment to about $13.9 billion to help meet its goal of selling 1.5 million to 1.8 million electric or hybrid vehicles in the U.S. by 2030. It will also add eight new ...

‘My heart was always just with the sheep.’ One Navajo’s push to keep tradition vibrant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

GANADO, Ariz. (AP) — Growing up in Ganado, a small town in Navajo Nation in eastern Arizona, Nikyle Begay always wanted to visit their grandmother’s sheep. Begay’s parents had grown up raising livestock, and their dad had always wanted to raise sheep and cattle, but it was a hard way to make a living. In a family with seven children, Begay and their younger sisters were the ones who felt drawn to the sheep. And as a kid, Begay, who is non-binary and uses the pronoun they, always felt connected to their grandmother. While she worked, carding and spinning wool outdoors, Begay would play with Hot Wheels cars, carving little roads in the sand and clay. “You can never say that you’re broke, that you’re hungry, that you’re bored, that you don’t know what to do, because you have two hands,” Begay remembered their grandmother saying while teaching them to weave. It was a sentiment passed through the generations, one Begay says their great-grandmother had proven by wi...

Canadian Tire buys back stake in financial services business from Scotiabank

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

TORONTO — Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. has signed a deal to buy back the 20 per cent stake in Canadian Tire Financial Services that is owned by Scotiabank for $895 million.The move restores the retailer’s full ownership over the business.Canadian Tire CEO Greg Hicks says the deal will give the company more control and flexibility when it comes to its Triangle Rewards loyalty program.It also says it will evaluate strategic alternatives for its financial services arm.The retailer says consideration will be given to the optimal ownership structure of the financial services business and its Triangle Rewards program and credit card portfolio.Canadian Tire will record a charge of $328 million related to the transaction.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:CTC, TSX:BNS)The Canadian Press

UN peacekeepers have departed a rebel stronghold in northern Mali early as violence increases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — United Nations peacekeepers on Tuesday withdrew from a rebel stronghold in northern Mali weeks earlier than planned because of insecurity, leaving the town in the hands of ethnic Tuareg separatists, residents said.An employee with the U.N. mission known as MINUSMA told The Associated Press that the peacekeepers left Kidal in two convoys after Mali’s military junta refused to authorize flights to repatriate U.N. equipment and civilian personnel.The employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists, said the former MINUSMA base and the town’s airport were now under rebel control.Earlier this year, Mali’s junta ordered the 15,000-strong U.N. mission to leave the West African country immediately, claiming it had failed in its mission in trying to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency. The junta, which overthrew Mali’s democratically elected president in 2021, has sought to distance the country from internatio...

Ontario to extend gas, fuel tax cuts until June 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

Premier Doug Ford says his government will be proposing legislation to extend the Ontario’s gas and fuel tax cuts until well into next year.If it passes the extension will lower the gasoline tax by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre until June 2024.The temporary tax cut of 5.7 cents per litre first went into effect on July 1, 2022 and was originally due to expire on Dec. 31. Ford announced an extension until the end of 2023 last fall.NEW – Premier Ford & Minister @PBethlenfalvy announce an extension to the 5.7 cents a litre provincial gas tax cut. It’s in place until June. pic.twitter.com/K0pFAo6m7H— Richard Southern (@RichardCityNews) October 31, 2023“We know that every dollar helps, and this gas tax cut is another way we’re keeping costs down for Ontario families and businesses,” said Premier Doug Ford in a statement. “As we continue to deal with lingering inflation, our government is continuing to provide people and businesses relief...

Spain’s bishops apologize for sex abuses but dispute the estimated number of victims in report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Catholic bishops on Monday apologized again for sex abuses committed by church members following a report by Spain’s Ombudsman that accused the church of widespread negligence. But the bishops dismissed as “a lie” media interpretations of the official report that put the number of victims involving the church in the hundreds of thousands. They said this was misrepresentative given that many more people had been abused outside of the church.“I reiterate the petition for pardon to the victims for this pain,” the president of the Bishops Conference, Cardinal Juan José Omella, told a press briefing. He added that the church would continue working “together on the comprehensive reparation of the victims, on supporting them and deepening the path to their protection and, above all, the prevention of abuse.”The bishops said the church would contribute to any economic reparation program once it included all victims of child sexual abuse, not just those abused within th...

Ex-military couple hit with longer prison time in 4th sentencing in child abuse case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:24:43 GMT

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former U.S. Army major and his wife accused of routinely beating their young foster children and denying them food and water as punishment have been sentenced for a fourth time. Carolyn Jackson was ordered Monday to serve nearly 12 years in prison, while her husband, John, was sentenced to 9 years. The terms were imposed by U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton, who was assigned to the case in April after a federal appeals court found U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden — who had handled the previous three sentencings — failed to follow its directions to consider the children’s multiple injuries “holistically and in the context of the jury’s findings of guilt” in determining causation.Federal prosecutors had appealed each of the sentences imposed by Hayden, arguing they were too lenient. Noting the repeated sentencings, the appellate panel also concluded that Hayden — who presided over the Jacksons’ 2015 trial — would have “substantial difficulty in putting...