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South African government announces official inquiry into deadly Johannesburg building fire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A retired Constitutional Court judge will lead an official inquiry into last week’s fire at a derelict building in downtown Johannesburg that left at least 76 people dead in one of South Africa’s worst tragedies, the government said Tuesday.Justice Sisi Khampepe will lead a three-member panel seeking to establish “who must shoulder total responsibility for this tragedy,” the government said. The inquiry will also look at the prevalence of rundown buildings that are illegally “hijacked.”The fire ripped through a city-owned building that had effectively been abandoned by authorities and taken over by unofficial “landlords” who were illegally renting out space to around 200 poor families desperately looking for some form of accommodation.People were living in shacks and other informal structures crammed into the five-story building, including in the basement parking garage, emergency responders said. The crowding and lack of ...

GTA bracing for record-breaking heat as kids head back to class

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

Most students in the GTA are heading back to the classroom on Tuesday on what is expected to be the hottest day of the year.The sweltering temperatures could potentially break records as kids and teachers return to mostly unairconditioned schools amid a heat warning that remains in place for nearly all of Ontario.“A hot and humid airmass is expected through Wednesday,” reads the warning from Environment Canada. “Humidex values and daytime highs will be very atypical of early September.”Tuesday could be the hottest day of the year so far. Monday saw a high of 34 C, the CityNews guaranteed high for Tuesday is 35 C, feeling more like 43 with the humidity.“It could be the hottest day of summer and we could potentially break a record for Sep. 5,” says CityNews meteorologist Jill Taylor. “The record for this date, 34.2 C set in 2018.”Already feels like 30 as of 5:45am this Tuesday morning! It will feel close to 43 with the humidity this afte...

The next presidential campaign is coming into focus. It might look a lot like the last one

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The end of Labor Day weekend would typically mark the start of a furious sprint to the Iowa caucuses as candidates battle for their party’s presidential nomination. But as the 2024 campaign comes into greater focus, the usual frenzy is yielding to a sense of inevitability. Among Republicans, Donald Trump is dominating the primary field, outpacing rivals with resumes as governors, diplomats and entrepreneurs that would normally prove compelling. The former president’s strength comes despite — or perhaps because of — multiple criminal indictments that threaten to overshadow any serious debate about the future of the country. And for now, the tens of millions of dollars that Republican rivals are pouring into the race are doing little to diminish Trump’s stature, fueling concerns among his GOP critics who fear the primary is essentially over before it begins. As one troubled front-runner tightens his grip on the Republican nomination, President Joe Bid...

Myanmar won’t be allowed to lead Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2026, in blow to generals

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders decided that Myanmar won’t take over the rotating leadership of their regional bloc as scheduled in 2026, Asian diplomats and a leader said Tuesday, in the latest blow to efforts by its ruling generals to gain international recognition after violently seizing power in 2021.Western governments led by the United States have condemned the Myanmar army’s ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in 2021 and have demanded her immediate release from yearslong detention along with other officials.The Philippines agreed to take over the regional bloc’s chairmanship in 2026 at an ASEAN summit hosted by Indonesia on Tuesday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement, citing what he told fellow leaders in the closed-door meetings.“It is my pleasure to announce that the Philippines is ready to take the helm and chair ASEAN in 2026,” Marcos told his ASEAN counterparts in Jakarta, the statement said.Marcos ...

Egypt resumes commercial flights to Sudan for the first time since the war

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Tuesday resumed direct commercial flights to Sudan for the first time since a devastating war broke out between Sudan’s rival general earlier this year.A flight operated by Egypt’s national carrier EgyptAir was received in the Sudanese coastal city of Port Sudan by Sameh Farouq, Egypt’s consul general. He said EgyptAir would operate a weekly round trip to Port Sudan, according the state-run MENA news agency.Flight MS865 departed from Cairo and landed in Port Sudan at 6.30 a.m., according to tracking service Flightradar24. A return flight landed in Cairo on Tuesday afternoon. They were the first commercial flights to and from Sudan since the African nation descended into war in mid-April. The conflict pits Sudan’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.The resumption of flights came a week after Burhan met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in the Egyptian city of e...

Congress returns to try to prevent a government shutdown while the GOP weighs an impeachment inquiry

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of struggling to find agreement on just about anything in a divided Congress, lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill to try to avert a government shutdown, even as House Republicans consider whether to press forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.A short-term funding measure to keep government offices fully functioning will dominate the September agenda, along with emergency funding for Ukraine, federal disaster funds and the Republican-driven probe into Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings.Time is running short for Congress to act. The House is scheduled to meet for just 11 days before the government’s fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, leaving little room to maneuver. And the deal-making will play out as two top Republicans, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, deal with health issues.The president and congressional leaders, including Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are focused on...

Trial opens in Japan in the 2019 animation studio arson that killed 36 people. Suspect pleads guilty

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The suspect in a 2019 arson attack at an animation studio in Japan went on trial Tuesday, pleading guilty to the murder of 36 people. The trial for the deadliest crime in decades in the country had been long delayed to give the defendant time to recover from serious burns sustained in the attack. Shinji Aoba, 45, is charged with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder and arson after he stormed into Kyoto Animation’s No. 1 studio on July 18, 2019, and set it on fire. The blaze killed 36 people and left more than 30 others badly burned or injured. Aoba appeared before the Kyoto District Court in a wheelchair and wearing a surgical mask, Japanese media reported. Prosecutors said he carried out the crime in “revenge,” thinking the Kyoto Animation had stolen one of his novels, which he had submitted for a company contest, reports said. In his statement, Aoba said the attack was all he could think about at that time but that he never thought so many people would di...

Conservative book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — After parents in a rural and staunchly conservative Wyoming county joined nationwide pressure on librarians to pull books they considered harmful to youngsters, the local library board obliged with new policies making such books a higher priority for removal — and keeping out of collections.But that’s not all the library board has done.Campbell County also withdrew from the American Library Association, in what’s become a movement against the professional organization that has fought against book bans.This summer, the state libraries in Montana, Missouri and Texas and the local library in Midland, Texas, announced they’re leaving the ALA, with possibly more to come. Right-wing lawmakers in at least nine other states — Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming — demand similar action.Part of the reason is the association’s defense of disputed books, many of which have LGBTQ+...

Polish official harshly criticizes film that explores migration crisis at Poland-Belarus border

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A leading member of Poland’s conservative government has sharply criticized a film premiering at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday that explores the humanitarian disaster affecting migrants along the border between Poland and Belarus.“Green Border,” by Polish director Agnieszka Holland, puts a spotlight on the refugee crisis that emerged two years ago at Belarus’ borders with the European Union nations of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The film is in competition at the festival.Poland’s hard-right justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, slammed the film, comparing it to Nazi propaganda.“In the Third Reich, the Germans produced propaganda films showing Poles as bandits and murderers. Today they have Agnieszka Holland for that,” Ziobro wrote Monday on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter.According to the film festival’s description, the feature film dramatizes the tragedy that has played out in this “green border” of swamps and forests in a story sh...

The next presidential campaign may look a lot like the last one

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The end of Labor Day weekend would typically mark the start of a furious sprint to the Iowa caucuses as candidates battle for their party's presidential nomination. But as the 2024 campaign comes into greater focus, the usual frenzy is yielding to a sense of inevitability. How Trump’s House allies could try to help him fight indictments Among Republicans, Donald Trump is dominating the primary field, outpacing rivals with resumes as governors, diplomats and entrepreneurs that would normally prove compelling. The former president's position strength comes despite — or perhaps because of — multiple criminal indictments that threaten to overshadow any serious debate about the future of the country. And for now, the tens of millions of dollars that Republican rivals are pouring into the race are doing little to diminish Trump's stature, fueling concerns among his GOP critics who fear the primary is essentially over before it begins.As one ...