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Community-building businesses look to fill societal gap

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

TORONTO — When Joshua Zachariah was a teenager, he was enamoured with bars — or at least his idea of them. Too young to visit them himself, he envisioned Enlightenment-style salons as described by his great-grandfather’s memoirs, which suggested bars were the only place that fostered true intellectual thought.When Zachariah was old enough to go to pubs, he found they were not, by and large, bastions of intellectualism, but he loved them nonetheless. So much so that he wanted to create the modern-day salon of his dreams: “A place for people to gather and talk about interesting things, and to build movements, and to discuss issues and to learn things,” he said, bemoaning a lack of public places for people to connect.“Over time, that idea became less about the salon and more about the community,” said Zachariah, now the proprietor of Danu Social House in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood.Danu is among a crop of business focused on filling a growing ho...

The GOP’s slim House majority is getting even tighter with Kevin McCarthy’s retirement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson’s margin for error in getting Republican priorities through the House is getting slimmer, complicating future votes and magnifying the ability of individual lawmakers to force concessions.Republicans had just a 222-213 margin before Rep. George Santos of New York was expelled in a broad, bipartisan vote a week ago. Then, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California announced Thursday he would be retiring at the end of the month. He was the first speaker ever booted from the position, a victim of a process he had agreed to implement that allowed just a few defections from within the GOP ranks to oust him.The margins before both representatives’ exits allowed Republicans to lose up to four votes on a party-line ballot and still get a bill over the finish line, assuming every lawmaker was in attendance. Now that margin is down to three votes. It could even drop to two if Democrats flip the Santos seat in a special election set for Feb. 13, ...

Advocates say a Mexican startup is illegally selling a health drink from an endangered fish

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Environmental watchdogs accused a Mexico-based startup Thursday of violating international trade law by selling a health supplement made from endangered totoaba fish to several countries including the U.S. and China.Advocates told The Associated Press they also have concerns that the company, The Blue Formula, could be selling fish that is illegally caught in the wild.The product, which the company describes as “nature’s best kept secret,” is a small sachet of powder containing collagen taken from the fish that is designed to be mixed into a drink. Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, to which Mexico and the U.S. are both signatories, any export for sale of totoaba fish is illegal, unless bred in captivity with a particular permit. As a listed protected species, commercial import is also illegal under U.S. trade law.The environmental watchdog group Cetacean Action Treasury first cited the company in Novem...

Shots fired outside Jewish temple in upstate New York as Hanukkah begins, shooter’s motive unknown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A 28-year-old man was in police custody for allegedly firing two rounds from a shotgun outside a Jewish temple in upstate New York on Thursday, hours before the start of Hanukkah. Officials said no one was injured and police said they did not know the man’s motive.The shots were fired outside of Temple Israel just before 2 p.m. and a suspect was in custody, said Albany police spokesperson Megan Craft. “We will update New Yorkers as we know more, but thankfully, there have been no injuries or fatalities,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a prepared statement. “I have spoken to the Rabbi at Temple Israel and assured her the State will do everything in our power to restore the sense of security her community needs.”Hochul said she directed the state police and New York National Guard to be on high alert and to increase existing patrols of at-risk sites that were planned for Hanukkah, which begins Thursday evening at sundown. “Any act of antisemitism is unaccept...

Armenia and Azerbaijan announce deal to exchange POWs and work toward peace treaty

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed Thursday to exchange prisoners of war and work toward signing a peace treaty in what the European Union hailed as a major step toward peace in the long-troubled region.The two countries said in a joint statement they “share the view that there is a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace.” They said they intend “to normalize relations and to reach the peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.”Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The offensive ended three decades of rule there by ethnic Armenians and resulted in the vast majority of the 120,000 residents fleeing the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.Until Thursday’s announcement, the two countries had bitterly argued on the outline of a peace process amid mutual distrust.As part of the deal, Armenia agree...

Paris 2024 chief pledges to find solutions to keep Olympic surfing in Tahiti after coral damage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

The Paris 2024 organizing committee president said Thursday he still wants the surfing competition at next year’s Olympics to take place in Tahiti despite the controversy surrounding the construction of the judging tower at the site, where coral has been damaged.Speaking to local media Polynesie La Premiere, Tony Estanguet said he’s going to pour “all (his) energy” to keep the surfing in French Polynesia at the Tahiti site of Teahupo’o.Because Teahupo’o’s surf breaks offshore, the Olympic judges have to be out in the lagoon. Organizers intend to install them and television cameras on an aluminum tower that will be attached to the reef.That plan has sparked protests in Tahiti, with critics fearing for coral and other marine life. That criticism reached another level last week after coral was damaged when organizers tried to test out a barge used to build the tower in the surfing lagoon, leading local authorities to halt the construction.“We need to find a solution to respect environm...

Rebels in Congo take key outpost in the east as peacekeepers withdraw and fighting intensifies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Armed rebels seized a town in eastern Congo on Thursday after violently clashing with the army, which has taken on an expanded role as peacekeeping forces withdraw from the mineral-rich, conflict-stricken region.Military officials and residents of Mushaki told The Associated Press that M23 militants had penetrated the town and occupied key military outposts, leading many to flee.“The fighting is still going on,” Sabimana Alexis, a resident, told AP. “The inhabitants are moving en masse.”M23 is a large and powerful rebel group that operates near Congo’s border with Rwanda, a mineral-rich region where armed groups have long waged campaigns of violence and been accused of mass killings. The group allegedly has support from neighboring Rwanda, though the country denies ties.Mushaki is a pivotal transport hub that paves the way to larger cities in east Congo’s Kivu region. It has traded hands between rebels and the army throughout the conflict and as recently as Februa...

Texas deputies confronted but didn’t arrest fatal shooting suspect in August, a month before new law

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A man suspected of killing six people in a shooting rampage through two major Texas cities was confronted by sheriff’s deputies in August during a mental health crisis and could have been arrested on a violation for cutting off an ankle monitor.Instead, deputies left Shane James Jr. — who was naked and yelling obscenities at deputies while barricaded behind a bedroom door — with his family.Had the encounter happened just a month later when a new state law made cutting off an ankle monitor a state jail felony, deputies could have pulled James out of the room and arrested him. James, 34, is now charged with two counts of capital murder after authorities said he left a trail of violence from his parents’ home in the San Antonio area to Austin on Tuesday. Authorities said James killed his parents, Phyllis and Shane James Sr., before driving about 80 miles (129 kilometers) to Austin, killing four more people, and wounding three others, including two Austin poli...

A Jan. 6 rioter praised Vivek Ramaswamy at his sentencing for suggesting riot was an ‘inside job’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former California police chief convicted of a conspiracy charge in the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Thursday to more than 11 years in prison after giving a speech that praised Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s suggestion the Jan. 6, 2021, attack could have been an “inside job.” Alan Hostetter, who prosecutors say carried a hatchet in his backpack on Jan. 6, spun conspiracy theories as he spoke to a judge at his sentencing hearing, falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump and referring to the riot as a “false flag” operation. Only eight other Jan. 6 defendants have received a longer term so far. His is the third-longest Jan. 6 sentence among those who were not charged with seditious conspiracy. Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur running his first political campaign, has drawn attention in the GOP field with his rapid-fire, wide-ranging speeches in which he often discusses things he says are “t...

B.C. housing plans could deliver 293,000 new units over next decade, says premier

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

VANCOUVER — Premier David Eby says the New Democrat government’s ambitious homebuilding agenda could result in up to 293,000 new housing units over the next decade.Eby provided details of the housing strategy at a British Columbia Chamber of Commerce luncheon.The New Democrats passed a series of housing-related bills this fall, including restrictions on short-term rentals, allowing more density on single-family lots, loosening building permitting processes and increasing housing density in public transit areas.Eby says the government has now provided regulations and policy manuals to local governments to work with developers on housing projects.Among the details are outlines for 104 transit-oriented development areas in 31 B.C. municipalities.B.C. opposition parties have criticized the government for using its majority in the legislature to limit debate on its housing agenda.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2023.The Canadian Press