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The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Oslo. The laureate is picked from more than 350 nominees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

OSLO, Norway (AP) — The winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize is being announced Friday, chosen by a panel of experts in Norway from a list of just over 350 nominations.Last year’s prize was won by human rights activists from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, in what was seen as a strong rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart and ally.The prize can be awarded to individuals or organizations. Other previous winners include Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Aung San Suu Kyi and the United Nations. Unlike the other Nobel prizes that are selected and announced in Stockholm, founder Alfred Nobel decreed that the peace prize be decided and awarded in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee.The independent panel is appointed by the Norwegian parliament.This year, the committee received 351 nominations — 259 for individuals and 92 for organizations. People who can make nominations include former Nobel Peace Prize winners, me...

Icy flood that killed 31 in India’s northeast had been feared for years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of rescuers dug through slushy debris and fast-flowing, icy water Friday in a search for survivors after a glacial lake overflowed and burst through a dam in India’s Himalayan north, a disaster that many had warned was possible for years.The flood began in the early hours of Wednesday, when water overflowed a high mountain lake with enough force to break through the concrete of a major hydroelectric dam downstream. It then poured into the valley below, where it killed at least 31 people. One hundred are still missing, officials said, while thousands of people have had to flee their homes.It wasn’t clear what triggered the flood. Experts pointed to intense rain, and a 6.2 magnitude earthquake that struck nearby Nepal on Tuesday afternoon, as possible contributors.The deadly flood was the latest to hit northeast India in a year of unusually heavy monsoon rains. Nearly 50 people died in flash floods and landslides in August in nearby Himachal Prade...

A Russian missile attack in eastern Ukraine kills a 10-year-old boy, a day after a rocket killed 51

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile strike killed a 10-year-old boy and injured two dozen other people Friday in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, officials said, a day after a strike in the same region killed at least 51 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war in months.Associated Press reporters saw emergency crews pulling the boy’s body from the rubble of a building after the early morning attack. He was wearing pajamas with a Spiderman design.The explosion left a crater in a city street, just meters (feet) away from an apartment building. Debris and rubble littered the street. Surrounding buildings were blackened by the blast, which shattered windows and damaged parked cars.Yevhen Shevchenko, a resident of a nearby nine-story building, said he was in bed when the attack occurred. “There was a blast wave, a powerful explosion. It blew out the windows and doors in the apartment,” he said.The Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office said the boy was killed ...

Russian lawmakers will consider rescinding ratification of global nuclear test ban, speaker says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian lawmakers will consider revoking the ratification of a global nuclear test ban, the parliament speaker said Friday.The statement from Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house, the State Duma, followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning that Moscow could consider rescinding the ratification of the international pact banning nuclear tests since the United States has never ratified it.There are widespread concerns that Russia could move to resume nuclear tests to try to discourage the West from continuing to offer military support to Ukraine. Many Russian hawks have spoken in favor of resuming the tests.Volodin reaffirmed Moscow’s claim that Western military support for Ukraine means the U.S. and its allies are engaged in the conflict.“Washington and Brussels have unleashed a war against our country,” Volodin said. “Today’s challenges require new decisions.”He said that senior lawmakers will discuss recalling the 2000 ratification of the nu...

In the news today: Statistics Canada to release September jobs data

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Statistics Canada to release September jobs data this morningCanadians will get an updated picture of the jobs market when Statistics Canada releases its Labour Force Survey for September later this morning. The jobs market surprised to the upside in August as employers added 40,000 positions in the month, double the consensus expectation among economists. The jobless held steady at 5.5 per cent, ending a three-month streak of rising unemployment.—Here’s what else we’re watching …Canadians likely to spend more on Thanksgiving dinner this yearAfter more than a year of high food inflation, families gathering this weekend to gobble Thanksgiving dinner may feeling the pinch after their grocery shopping.Statistics Canada reported last month that prices for food purchased from stores rose 6.9 per cent in August, down from an 8.5 per cent incre...

Stricter state laws are chipping away at sex education in K-12 schools

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A dozen state or county agencies have parted ways with tens of thousands of dollars in federal grants meant to help monitor teenagers’ sexual behaviors and try to lower rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.The withdrawals reflect a shift in many states that is further complicating and polarizing sex education in K-12 schools as some Republican-led legislatures more strictly regulate when and what students learn about their bodies. The new laws are part of a broad push to fortify “ parents’ rights ” and strike LGBTQ+ content from the classroom, core themes that have flooded the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.Experts are concerned students won’t reliably learn about adolescence, safe sexual activity or relationship violence, topics they say are especially important since sexually transmitted diseases rose after the pandemic and access to abortion is increasingly restricted.Anne-Marie Amies Oelschlager, a pediatric ...

3 bears are captured after sneaking into a tatami factory as northern Japan faces a growing problem

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Three bears that snuck into a tatami mat factory in northern Japan and holed up inside for nearly a day have been captured, according to town officials.A patrolling town official spotted the bears, believed to be a parent and two cubs, as they walked into a tatami factory Wednesday morning in Misato, a town in Akita prefecture, where there’s been a growing number of reported bear attacks in or near residential areas.An owner of the tatami factory said he saw the bears walking outside but never thought they would come inside. Town officials and police officers rushed to the site, each wearing a helmet and carrying a shield, and kept watch. Local hunters used fire crackers to try to scare the intruders out, without success. They later set up a pair of cages at the entrance of the tatami factory and waited overnight.On Thursday morning, the bears were trapped in cages, two cubs in one and the adult in another. Television footage showed the cages being taken out of th...

Alanis Morissette explains her boisterous, uninhibited concert dance moves

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

TORONTO — Alanis Morissette knows her herky-jerky body movements in concert are unorthodox but says it’s because she has so much pent-up energy in her body that she “can barely hold it.”“I always felt like I was a poodle inside the body of a black stallion,” the Ottawa native said earlier this week of performing live.“Like, I’m an introvert in this wildly extroverted lifestyle.”Morissette said the intimacy of the stage feels “in a strange way … like this tiny, little glittery fishbowl.”And while she’s toned down the energy of her dance moves in recent years, she still lives for the “sacred moment” of performing live.The “You Oughta Know” singer reflected on her stage presence while speaking about Mirvish’s production of “Jagged Little Pill,” which begins its month-long run at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto on Oct. 24.The jukebox musical revolves around the struggles of a family, set to songs from Morissette’...

Statistics Canada to release September jobs data this morning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

OTTAWA — Canadians will get an updated picture of the jobs market when Statistics Canada releases its Labour Force Survey for September later this morning. The jobs market surprised to the upside in August as employers added 40,000 positions in the month, double the consensus expectation among economists. The jobless held steady at 5.5 per cent, ending a three-month streak of rising unemployment.While the labour market has been surprisingly resilient despite higher interest rates, cracks have been starting to show in the data.In September, Statistics Canada noted fewer workers switched jobs, as indicated by the falling job-changing rate, and job vacancies have been declining, signalling employers might be growing more reluctant to hire.However, wage growth has remained strong – coming in at 4.9 per cent on an annual basis for August – which remains a key concern for the Bank of Canada in its fight against inflation. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023....

Canadians likely to spend more on Thanksgiving dinner this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:48 GMT

After more than a year of high food inflation, families gathering this weekend to gobble Thanksgiving dinner may feeling the pinch after their grocery shopping.Statistics Canada reported last month that prices for food purchased from stores rose 6.9 per cent in August, down from an 8.5 per cent increase in July but still well above the month’s headline inflation rate of four per cent.“Prices haven’t went down, so you’re going to continue to see to see fairly large sticker shock on items and it’s making consumers re-think the traditional Thanksgiving meal,” said retail analyst Bruce Winder.“Some people are going to look at alternatives: is there a cheaper alternative that you can use to cook instead of maybe a turkey? Or do you maybe hold back on the big family gathering a little bit more? Do you make more and buy less from stores?”Last year, the price of a kilogram of fresh turkey was about $6.59, or $42.84 for a 6.5-kilogram bird, acc...