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North Korea’s new reactor at nuke site likely to be formally operational next summer, Seoul says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A light-water reactor at North Korea’s main nuclear complex will likely be formally operational by next summer, South Korea’s defense minister said, amid suspicions that the North may use it as a new source of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.Concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program deepened recently as the U.N. atomic agency and foreign experts said they’ve detected signs indicating that North Korea had begun operating its light-water reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex.IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said last week that his agency had observed increased levels of activity at and near the reactor and since mid-October, a strong water outflow from its cooling system. He said the reactor is “a cause for concern” because it can produce plutonium — one of the two key ingredients used to manufacture nuclear weapons, along with highly enriched uranium.The South Korean Defense Ministry said Friday that Defense Minister Shin Wonsik told local repo...

An avalanche killed 2 skiers on Mont Blanc. A hiker in the French Alps also died in a fall

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

PARIS (AP) — An avalanche on Mont Blanc swept two skiers to their deaths and left another injured, while a hiker was killed on another slope in the French Alps, according to local authorities.The avalanche Thursday swept through an off-piste area of the Saint-Gervais-les-Bains ski resort at an altitude of 2,300 meters (7,545 feet), the administration for the Haute-Savoie region said in a statement.Dozens of mountain rescuers set out to search for skiers trapped, finding a man and a women dead and one person injured, and rescuing five others, the administration said.An investigation was opened into the cause of the avalanche.Saint-Gervais Mayor Jean-Marc Peillex said the weather conditions were too unstable for such risky outings.“It rained, it snowed, it was warm. There are enough marked paths to ski on,’’ he told BFM television. ‘’It’s terrible what happened. A family is decimated, and we are very sad in Saint-Gervais.’’To the north, a 31-year-old hiker was found dead after falling...

In the news today: Palestinians streaming into Rafah as Israeli offensive widens

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 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…Tens of thousands of Palestinians stream into Rafah as Israel expands its offensiveThe Israeli-Hamas war has already driven around 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes, leveling the northern part of the territory and heightening fears about a similar fate for the south as Israel’s air and ground offensive widened Friday.Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have streamed into the town of Rafah in the southernmost end of Gaza in recent days, according to the United Nations, crowding into an already overwhelmed area of the embattled territory.More than 20,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants among the dead.Canada to offer humanitarian visas to those fl...

Displaced Palestinians flood a southern Gaza town as Israel expands its offensive in the center

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have streamed into the overwhelmed town of Rafah in the southernmost end of Gaza in recent days, according to the United Nations, as Israeli forces on Friday continued to blast through dense areas in the center of the strip, killing dozens of people.Israel’s unprecedented air and ground offensive against Hamas has displaced some 85% of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents, sending swells of people seeking shelter in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless also bombed. That has left Palestinians with a harrowing sense that nowhere is safe in the tiny enclave.Israel’s widening campaign, which has already flattened much of northern Gaza, is now focused on built-up areas in central Gaza, where Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the urban refugee camps of Bureij, Nuseirat and Maghazi, leveling buildings, residents said.But fighting is raging across many areas of Gaza. It has not abated in...

Ottawa agrees climate adaptation saves money, but experts ask: where’s the funding?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

Canada’s first-ever climate adaptation strategy was little more than six weeks old when fast-moving wildfires swept through communities in British Columbia’s southern Interior, forcing thousands to flee and destroying hundreds of homes.It was part of Canada’s record-breaking summer of fire — more than 19,000 Yellowknife residents were ordered to escape a threatening blaze, fire ripped into suburban Halifax and smoke from fires in Quebec blanketed New York City and Washington, D.C. Some 200,000 people were evacuated from their homes across Canada.There was also flooding in Nova Scotia that killed four people.The disastrous events provided a taste of the worsening impacts of climate change, and recovering from such events costs many times more than adaptation, says the federal government. Supporters of the preventive approach worry there’s a lack of will and funding to implement the national adaptation strategy. And the longerit takes to both mitigate climate c...

Electric pickup trucks are reliable, save environment: experts

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

Michael Laroche replaced his Ford F-150 pickup truck with its electric twin, the F-150 Lightning, about a year-and-a-half ago. A Sherbrooke, Que., resident who installs electric vehicle chargers for a living, Laroche says he drives somewhere between 300 and 400 kilometres a day, three to four times a week. After he replaced the combustion-engine pickup with the electric alternative, he says the cost of his operations has dropped significantly.“I’m charging the truck during the night, for something like 14 to 15 hours to fully charge the truck, and I’m ready to go,” Laroche said in an interview.He said his monthly electric bill, which includes both household consumption and vehicle charging, is now at $350 on average for the last 15 months. The bill may be costly, but a better alternative when compared with Laroche’s $450 a week on gasoline – saving him $1,400 a month in fuel costs.The federal government has set sales targets for new vehicle sales, shift...

Banking changes to look out for in 2024

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

The federal government approved RBC’s $13.5-billion takeover of HSBC Canada in the waning days of 2023, despite concerns from critics that it will stifle competition. Banking customers will start to see next year how the acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter, shakes out.Here’s a look at some of the other changes expected in Canadian banking in 2024:Open banking The federal government said in its fall economic statement that it would introduce legislation in its 2024 budget to establish an open banking framework. Open banking, or what the government calls ‘consumer-driven banking’, would make it easier for Canadians and small businesses to safely share their financial data between services, including options like budgeting apps. For example, a customer could pool all of their various bank accounts into a single interface, making it easier to add and manage no-cost accounts or other products. Many in the financial tech community have been pushing for the adoption of open...

Warm weather wreaks havoc on some B.C. ski hills as lack of snow leaves trails barren

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s abnormally warm winter has left local ski resorts grappling with a lack of snow during the holiday tourism season, as resorts struggle to keep runs open.Fewer than half of Whistler Blackcomb’s trails are open, while Vancouver’s Mount Seymour is closed entirely while it waits for better conditions.Warmth related to the El Niño climate phenomenon this week has pushed temperatures to record highs in regions including Metro Vancouver, Greater Victoria, the Sunshine Coast and the Okanagan.In Whistler, 120 kilometres north of Vancouver, Environment Canada was reporting no snow on the ground on Christmas Day, compared to 40 centimetres last Christmas.On Thursday, the Whistler Blackcomb resort reported 117 of its 275 trails were open, as well as only 42 per cent of its terrain.Warm weather has hit Metro Vancouver’s three main ski hills even harder, with Cypress and Grouse mountains operating only one or two runs each. Mount Seymour clos...

Russia fires 122 missiles and 36 drones in what Ukraine calls the biggest aerial barrage of the war

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched 122 missiles and 36 drones against Ukrainian targets, officials said Friday, killing at least 13 civilians in what an air force official said was the biggest aerial barrage of the 22-month war.The Ukrainian air force intercepted 87 of the missiles and 27 of the Shahed-type drones overnight, Ukraine’s military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said.Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his official Telegram channel: “The most massive aerial attack” since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.According to the Ukrainian air force, the previous biggest assault was in November 2022 when Russia launched 96 missiles against Ukraine. This year, the biggest was 81 missiles on March 9, air force records show.Fighting along the front line is largely bogged down by winter weather after Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive failed to make a significant breakthrough along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) line of contact.Ukrainian officials have u...

Stock market today: World stocks are mixed in muted holiday trading as 2023 draws to a close

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:30:27 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — European shares opened higher on Friday after a mixed session in Asia on the last trading day of the year for most markets. Germany’s DAX rose 0.3% to 16,745.67 and the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.4% to 7,566.11. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher to 7,736.52. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1%. Some world markets logged solid gains in 2023 while many have sagged. Benchmarks in France and Germany made double-digit advances while Britain’s has climbed just under 3%. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gave up 0.2% to 33,464.17. It gained 27% in 2023, its best year in a decade as the Japanese central bank inched toward ending its longstanding ultra-lax monetary policy after inflation finally exceeded its target of about 2%. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended flat at 17,047.39, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.7% to 2,974.93. The Shanghai index lost about 3% this year and the Hang Seng fell nearly 14%. ...