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Covering over well at Indian temple collapses, killing 11

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A structure built over an old temple well in India collapsed Thursday as a large crowd of devotees prayed at a festival for Rama, one of the most widely worshipped Hindu deities, killing at least 11 people, officials said.Up to 35 people fell into the well in the temple complex in Indore in central Madhya Pradesh state when the structure collapsed and were covered by falling debris, police Commissioner Makrand Deoskar said. The structure apparently caved in because it could not handle the weight of the large crowd. The state’s top elected official, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, ordered an investigation.Chouhan said 18 people were rescued and hospitalized with injuries.Rescue workers were pumping the water out of the well looking for any more people still trapped there, local news reports said.Temple authorities had stopped using the well years ago and covered it with the structure.Witnesses said a large crowd of devotees had thronged the temple to perform a fire ritu...

Top UN court rejects Iranian bid to free assets frozen by US

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ top court on Thursday rejected Tehran’s legal bid to free up some $2 billion in Iranian central bank assets frozen by U.S. authorities to be paid in compensation to victims of a 1983 bombing in Lebanon and other attacks linked to Iran.In a 10-5 majority ruling, the International Court of Justice said it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the Iranian claim linked to the central Markazi Bank.The world court’s vice-president, Kirill Gevorgian, said the majority “upholds the objection to jurisdiction raised by the United States of America relating to the claims of the Islamic Republic of Iran” related to the bank.In a complex, 67-page judgment, the world court also found that some other U.S. moves to seize assets of Iran and Iranians in the United States breached a 1955 treaty between the countries and said they should negotiate compensation. If they fail to reach a number, they will have to return to the Hague-based court for a ...

A look at the 22 Nova Scotians killed in Canada’s worst mass shooting

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

TRURO, N.S. — The victims in Canada’s worst mass shooting included an RCMP officer, a teacher, health-care workers, retirees, neighbours of the shooter and two correctional officers killed in their home.Here is a look at the 22 lives lost on April 18-19, 2020:Elizabeth Joanne Thomas and John ZahlThomas and Zahl died in Portapique, N.S., where their home was among those set on fire by the gunman. During the inquiry it was revealed they bought their home from a woman who had warned police about the killer’s spousal violence in 2013. Thomas was in her late 50s and was known as Joanne to friends and family. She was from Winnipeg and fell in love with Nova Scotia on a trip during her teenage years, her son Justin Zahl said. After raising two boys in Albuquerque, N.M., Thomas and her husband retired to their dream home in Portapique in January 2017. Originally from Minnesota, John Zahl, in his late 60s, was a U.S. Navy veteran who served as a Russian linguist. He worked for Fe...

S&P/TSX composite up nearly 100 points, U.S. stock markets also climb higher

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was up nearly 100 points in late-morning trading as gains in the base metals sector helped lead a broad-based rally and U.S. stock markets also advanced.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 97.90 points at 19,935.55.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 89.55 points at 32,807.15. The S&P 500 index was up 23.31 points at 4,051.12, while the Nasdaq composite was up 103.47 points at 12,029.71.The Canadian dollar traded for 73.87 cents US compared with 73.66 cents US on Wednesday.The May crude contract was up US$1.23 at US$74.20 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was down six cents at US$2.12 per mmBTU.The June gold contract was up US$5.90 at US$1,990.40 an ounce and the May copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.08 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Used car prices are surging. Here’s why you should buy now

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

Well, it was nice while it lasted.For nearly a year, the average used vehicle in the United States had been edging toward affordable again for millions of people. The relief felt belated and relatively slight, but it was welcome nonetheless.From an eye-watering peak of $31,400 in April of last year, the average price had dropped 14% to $27,125 early this month.Now, with the supply of used vehicles failing to keep up with robust demand, prices are creeping up again, with signs pointing to further increases ahead. So many buyers have been priced out of the new-car market that fewer trade-ins are landing on dealer lots. Deepening the shortage, fewer used vehicles are coming off leases or being off-loaded by rental car companies.Average list prices for used car have edged up by about $700 in the past month, and Alex Yurchenko, chief data officer for Black Book, which tracks prices, expects them to keep rising at least into summer.“If you have to buy a used vehicle,” he suggested, ...

Maine 19-year-old will plead guilty in mosque attack plot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A 19-year-old from Maine who the FBI says built homemade explosives and plotted to attack a mosque in the name of the Islamic State group will plead guilty to providing material support to terrorists.Xavier Pelkey of Waterville faces a maximum of 15 years in prison under a plea agreement in which a second charge will be dropped, according to court documents filed Wednesday. The change-of-plea hearing is set for next week in U.S. District Court.Pelkey’s attorney did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment on Thursday. Law enforcement officials said Pelkey was in communication with two juveniles — one in Canada, the other in Illinois — about conducting a mass shooting at a Shiite mosque in the Chicago area and possibly other houses of worship. All three alleged plotters believed in a radical form of Sunni Islam that views the Shiite branch of Islam as nonbelievers, officials said. Pelkey was 18 when he was arrested last year by FBI agents who fo...

Israeli author: Netanyahu legacy imperiled by judicial plan

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli historian, philosopher and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari said Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may go down in history as the man who destroyed Israel.Harari, who has been vocal about his opposition to a proposed judicial overhaul by Netanyahu’s right-wing government, said the long-serving prime minister has divided the country to preserve his political longevity. This has caused rifts that will be difficult to heal, Harari said.“If Netanyahu had retired after two terms in office or after, say, eight years. I think even though I didn’t like many of the things he did, I think he would have retired as one of the great leaders of Israel,” Harari said during an interview with The Associated Press in Tel Aviv. “Now, his legacy is he is the certainly the divider of Israel, the person who divided the Israeli nation against itself. And I hope … we don’t get there,” he said. “But he could go down in history as the pe...

Nova Scotia mass shooting inquiry identifies many RCMP failings, recommends overhaul

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

A public inquiry has found widespread failures in how the Mounties responded to Canada’s worst mass shooting and recommends that Ottawa rethink the RCMP’s central role in Canadian policing.“The RCMP must finally undergo the fundamental change that many previous reports have called for,” commissioner Leanne Fitch said in written remarks prepared for delivery Thursday.In a seven-volume report spanning more than 3,000 pages, the Mass Casualty Commission also says police missed red flags in the years leading up to the Nova Scotia rampage that resulted in 22 people being murdered on April 18-19, 2020, by a denture maker disguised as an RCMP officer and driving a replica police vehicle.The murderer, Gabriel Wortman, was killed by two Mounties at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., 13 hours into his rampage.The final report delves deeply into the causes of the mass shooting. These include the killer’s violence toward his spouse and the failure of police to act on ...

Can the Cubs get back to the playoffs in 2023?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune joins "9 Good Minutes" on WGN News Now to talk about the start of the Cubs 2023 seasonCHICAGO - Could this be the year that a new core of players for the Cubs gets back into the postseason?Perhaps that's ambitious for a team that's been under .500 the last two seasons, but there is hope on the north side that the team is closer to a return to the playoffs than they were a year ago. Team president Jed Hoyer will start to find that out for sure when the Cubs face the Brewers to start the 2023 season, one in which there are a few new players on the roster along with others that joined last year as the team builds a new core.Shortstop Dansby Swanson, starting pitcher Jameson Taillon, catcher Tucker Barnhart and outfielder Cody Bellinger were among the key additions to the club in the offseason. Meanwhile, starting pitcher Marcus Stroman along with outfielder Seiya Suzuki enter their second year with the franchise. Ian Happ, one of the holdovers f...

These MLB teams have never won a World Series: Will that change this season?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:47 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - With Opening Day upon us, the MLB season is now underway. While last year's World Series winners, the Houston Astros, will be trying to defend their title, other teams will be vying for their first.Of the 30 active MLB teams, all but one franchise has made a World Series appearance: the Seattle Mariners. Since joining the American League in 1977 as an expansion team, the Mariners have appeared in three league championship games but never won.Twice, the Mariners fell victim to the team with the most World Series appearances and wins, the New York Yankees, ESPN records show. MLB Opening Day: Recipes that make you feel like you’re there Of the 118 World Series that have been played, the Yankees have appeared in 40, or one-third, winning 27. Seattle isn't the only team that has never brought home the Commissioner's Trophy. Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena celebrates with the trophy after their 4-1 World Series win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 on Saturda...