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This year’s Hajj was held in sweltering heat, and for those serving pilgrims there was little relief

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — As hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims walked in the footsteps of the prophets beneath a sweltering sun, contracted cleaners in lime-green jumpsuits held out matching plastic bags to collect their empty water bottles.It takes tens of thousands of cleaners, security personnel, medics and others to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage possible for 1.8 million faithful from around the world. As the Hajj concludes on Friday, the workers will begin a massive, weeklong cleanup effort.For the cleaners, who are migrant workers, it’s a much-needed source of income. But this year it was particularly trying, as temperatures regularly hovered around 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Farhrenheit) during the five-day pilgrimage, most of which is held outdoors with little if any shade.“This job is not easy,” said a 26-year-old trash collector as he took a quick break to splash water on his face before rushing back to his position as another wave of pilgrims approached...

Hydro One reaches tentative agreement with Power Workers’ Union

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

TORONTO — Hydro One Inc. says it has reached tentative agreements covering two contracts with the Power Workers’ Union, which represents the company’s front-line workers.Details of the proposed settlements were not immediately available.The power utility says the main agreement covers front-line staff, while the customer service operations collective agreement includes staff in customer facing roles.Union members will vote on the tentative agreements by the end of July. Once ratified, the new contracts will run until Sept. 30, 2025.Hydro One is Ontario’s largest electricity transmission and distribution provider. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June  30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:H)The Canadian Press

Weekend need to know: Canada Day, last performance of Harry Potter; road closures

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

The Canada Day long weekend is here and the city is hosting several events all day on Saturday, alongside annual firework displays. Toronto police have put out a safety plan for this weekend in hopes of avoiding violent behaviour.The city and several groups are also reminding people that July 1 is not a day of celebration for everyone, particularly for some First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples.A holiday long weekend also means certain businesses and services will be closed. Click here for a list of what’s open and closed for the weekend.Luckily, there are no scheduled subway closures this weekend, but there are ongoing road closures. Scroll below for those details.Here’s what to do this weekend:Reflecting on Canada’s historyAlthough the city and many others will be recognizing July 1 as Canada Day, the date is not a day of celebration for everyone.Several groups along with the city of Toronto say they encourage people to reflect on the country’s history when it c...

Boris Johnson ally quits UK government with a blast at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A British environment minister who is close to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson quit on Friday, accusing the current government of apathy toward climate issues.Zac Goldsmith said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was “simply uninterested” in the environment.“This government’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable,” he wrote in a resignation letter released on social media.He said Britain has “visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature.”Goldsmith, Sunak and Johnson are all members of the governing Conservative Party.Goldsmith, 48, is a long-time conservationist who was appointed to Parliament’s unelected House of Lords by Johnson before Johnson resigned almost a year ago amid ethics scandals.Goldsmith’s resignation comes the day after he was among eight allies of the former prime minister criticized by lawmakers for trying to undermine a committee investigating whe...

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen had been a huge Facebook fan. Now he’s threatening to ban it

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s long-serving, tough-talking leader, Hun Sen, on Friday said he is considering banning Facebook in his country, largely because he is fed up with the abuse he receives on it from his political enemies abroad.Pulling the plug on Facebook for millions of Cambodian users would be the last stage in a lightning estrangement this past week between the 70-year-old prime minister and the social media platform. He had been an enthusiastic user, posting family snapshots alongside dire warnings to his foes, and recently livestreaming his many, sometimes hours-long speeches.On Wednesday, he suddenly announced he will no longer upload to Facebook and will instead use Telegram to get his message across. Telegram is a popular messaging app that also has a blogging tool called “channels.”Hun Sen said he was making the switch because Telegram is more effective and makes it easier to communicate when he is traveling to countries that ban Facebook use — such as Ch...

Friday Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chance of afternoon storms

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

Friday: Mostly cloudy, chance for afternoon/eve thunderstorms, humid, cooler lakeside, W 5-10. High: 92, low: 86Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, chance for scattered storms, WSW 0-5. Low: 70Saturday: Mostly cloudy, still humid, thunderstorms, cooler lakeside, WSW 0-5. High: 86, low: 77wgntv.com/weather

Record-breaking travelers expected amid holiday weekend

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

 CHICAGO -- Record-breaking crowds of travelers are expected to hit the skies and roads this fourth of July holiday weekend. From a handful of cancellations and several delays giving a slow start to the holiday weekend -- that is expected to change. Triple is predicting more than 2.8 million people in Illinois will travel 50 miles or more this holiday weekend -- a four percent increase from 2022. Nearly 90 percent of those travelling this weekend will be driving but nearly 2 million passengers are expected to pass through both O'Hare and Midway between Friday and the rest of the weekend. LIST: Major NASCAR street closures in downtown Chicago Several O'Hare goers attested to the pain of travelling over a holiday weekend. "It actually got delayed like 4 times.," Cameron Culver, a traveler going to Atlanta said. "It's been delayed to 9:45. It was meant to leave at 9," another traveler, Robert Wright who is going to New Orleans said. Nationally, Triple believes a record-breaking 50.7...

Boy, 16, shot in knee in Chicago Lawn overnight

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

CHICAGO -- A 16-year-old boy was shot in the knee in the city's Chicago Lawn neighborhood overnight. According to police, the boy was walking on the sidewalk near the 6100 block of South Kedzie Avene around 2:40 a.m. when he heard shots and felt pain. 3 siblings missing from North Side; may be headed to Kentucky with older brother Police said a black sedan was seen speeding away northbound. The boy sustained a gunshot wound to the right knee and was transported to Christ Hospital in good condition. There is no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.

Kangaroo injured after jumping from car on Kansas interstate

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. (WDAF) – Police in Kansas have located the owners of a young kangaroo after they believe a driver hit the animal on an interstate Wednesday night.Officers from the Bonner Springs and Edwardsville police departments found the injured kangaroo hiding in tall grass near I-435 and Kansas Highway 32 in Kansas City, Kansas, around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Zebra bites man’s arm in Ohio: 'This zebra has been aggressive in the past' Police originally believed the animal was a wallaby. The owner later clarified that it was a young kangaroo. The owner said the kangaroo, named Star, had jumped out of the window of his car.Pictures provided by police in Bonner Springs show the kangaroo with numerous cuts and injuries.BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. -- Bonner Springs Police found an injured wallaby on I-435 June 28, 2023, They believe it was hit by a car. (PHOTO: Bonner Springs Police)BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. -- Bonner Springs Police found an injured wallaby on I-435 June 28, 2023, They beli...

Texas abortion ban led to almost 10,000 additional live births

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:16:00 GMT

(The Hill) - A research paper published on Thursday linked 9,799 additional live births in Texas to an abortion ban that the state passed in 2021, confirming what researchers had expected to happen after the bill was passed.The Texas Legislature passed a bill in September of 2021 that effectively banned abortions about 5 to 6 weeks after a woman's last menstrual cycle.While researchers generally expect abortions to drop and live births to rise after an anti-abortion measure is passed, the extent to which this will occur is not always known.Now researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have estimated that roughly 9,800 live births in Texas occurred between April and December 2022 that wouldn't have if the abortion ban hadn't been in place at that time.Through statistical modeling and looking back at previous live birth data from all 50 states and D.C., researchers found that there would have been 287,289 live births in Texas in that time period if the 2021 ...