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Dutch election winner Geert Wilders is an anti-Islam firebrand known as the Dutch Donald Trump

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — He’s been called the Dutch Donald Trump. He’s been threatened with death countless times by Islamic extremists, convicted of insulting Moroccans and Britain once banned him from entering the country.Now Geert Wilders has won a massive victory in a Dutch election and is in pole position to form the next ruling coalition and possibly become the Netherlands’ next prime minister.An exit poll revealing his landslide appeared to take even 60-year-old political veteran Wilders by surprise.In his first reaction, posted in a video on X, formerly Twitter, he spread his arms wide, put his face in his hands and said simply “35!” — the number of seats an exit poll forecast his Party for Freedom, or PVV, won in the 150-seat lower house of parliament.Wilders, with his fiery tongue has long been one of the Netherlands’ best-known lawmakers at home and abroad. His populist policies and shock of peroxide blond hair have drawn comparisons with Trump.But,...

Hudson’s Bay owner makes US$340 million from North American real estate sales

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

NEW YORK — The company that owns Hudson’s Bay says it completed real estate transactions in Canada and the U.S. resulting in a gain of around US$340 million. HBC LP,  which also owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks OFF 5th, says in a statement that it’s the owner and developer of a North American real-estate portfolio totalling approximately US$7 billion. The historic retailer announced layoffs twice this year as it said the retail sector is navigating significant pressures. In 2018, when the company was still publicly traded, investors challenged it to sell some of its substantial real estate holdings. In recent years, the company has introduced several initiatives such as a revamped loyalty program, partnerships with Forever 21 and MEC, and the revival of discount chain Zellers. Earlier this year, the company shut two of its Alberta department stores, saying the decision reflected changes in the market as well as its vision for the future. This report by The Canadian Press ...

Five border crossing facts to know in the wake of Rainbow Bridge explosion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

A car explosion on the American side of the Rainbow Bridge border crossing in Niagara Falls left two people dead on Wednesday and put authorities in both countries on high alert. Here are five facts about border crossings in the region: FOUR LAND CROSSINGS: The Rainbow Bridge is one of four land border crossings in the Niagara region connecting Ontario and New York state. The three other land crossings – the Queenston Lewiston Bridge, the Peace Bridge and the trusted-traveller Whirlpool Rapids Bridge – were closed for several hours after the explosion but reopened later on Wednesday. RAINBOW BRIDGE A TOURIST HUB: Commercial vehicles are not allowed to use the Rainbow Bridge, making it popular with tourists. About 6,000 vehicles cross the Rainbow Bridge each day, according to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory. The bridge, constructed in 1941, is just over 439 metres long and connects the New York state and Ontario sides of the Niagara Falls. FOOT TRA...

Ceremony for Les Cowboys Fringants singer Karl Tremblay next week in Montreal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebecers will get a chance to say goodbye to beloved folk-rock singer Karl Tremblay during a ceremony next week in Montreal.Quebec Premier François Legault announced today that the lead singer of Les Cowboys Fringants will be honoured at a tribute event at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.Tremblay died last week at age 47 after a long illness with prostate cancer. His death prompted a wave of grief and affection for Tremblay and the band, who have been mainstays of the province’s music scene for more than 25 years.Legault also announced the creation of an online condolence book and said the legislature flag will be lowered to half-mast the day of the ceremony.The non-religious event will begin at 7 p.m., with passes available to the public beginning Thursday.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2023.The Canadian Press

Walmart shooter who injured 4 in Ohio may have been motivated by racial extremism, FBI says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

A gunman who opened fire inside a Walmart in Ohio and wounded four people before killing himself may have been motivated by racist extremism, the FBI said Wednesday. Four shoppers — two Black women, a white woman and a white man — were wounded in the attack at the Walmart in Beavercreek, a suburb of Dayton, just days before Thanksgiving, the FBI said. Evidence, including journal writings, show the shooting may have been at least partially inspired by racially violent extremist ideology, according to the FBI. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Benjamin Charles Jones, of Dayton, entered the store Monday night, carrying a Hi-Point 45-caliber Carbine long gun, police said. He shot an undetermined number of rounds, leaving injured victims throughout the building, before turning the weapon on himself, authorities said.Attempts by The Associated Press to reach relatives of Jones were unsuccessful.Police said on Tuesday that three of the victims were in stable condition at area hospital...

Hawaii’s governor wants to make it easier for travelers from Japan to visit the islands

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii leaders want to make it easier for tourists from Japan to visit the U.S. state by creating a pre-clearance program allowing travelers from the country to save time at the Honolulu airport by completing immigration, customs and agricultural inspections before departure.Gov. Josh Green and other state officials proposed the idea during a recent visit to Tokyo. Green hopes the program will help boost tourism to the islands, Hawaii News Now reported Tuesday.Tourism from Japan, Hawaii’s top international visitor market, has been sluggish since the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawaii is keen on bringing more travelers from Japan back because “that’s the tourist that knows how to carry themselves in Hawaii and how to care for our aina and so on,” Green said, using the Hawaiian word for land.A pre-clearance program, which has been discussed for many years, could open direct routes to other islands, including Maui, Green said. Soon after a deadly wildfire wiped out m...

Shadowy Hamas leader in Gaza is at top of Israel’s hit list after last month’s deadly attack

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

The mastermind of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the worst Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in generations is a secretive figure, feared on both sides of the battle lines.In Gaza, no figure looms larger in determining the future trajectory of the war than Yehya Sinwar. Obsessive, disciplined and dictatorial, he is Hamas’ top leader inside the Palestinian territory, a rarely seen veteran militant who learned fluent Hebrew during years in Israeli prisons and carefully studied his enemy.Israeli officials have vowed to kill him and crush the militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007. But seven weeks into the war, the 61-year-old Sinwar remains alive, in hiding and at the helm of Hamas’ fighters as they battle Israeli forces. He also controls the group’s negotiations over the fate of nearly 240 hostages that militants captured during the Oct. 7 attack.With the devastating toll from Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion, Sinwar’s political fate may now depend on how the war...

Lawsuit blaming Tesla’s Autopilot for driver’s death can go to trial, judge rules

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A jury should decide whether Tesla and Elon Musk oversold the capabilities of the electric car company’s Autopilot system and caused the fatal crash of a software engineer who engaged it, took his hands off the steering wheel and seconds later slammed into a truck, a Florida judge has ruled. Circuit Judge Reid Scott rejected Tesla’s motion to summarily dismiss Kim Banner’s lawsuit accusing the company of causing her husband Jeremy Banner’s death in 2019. In a 23-page ruling, Scott found that Kim Banner’s attorneys presented sufficient evidence to let the case proceed to trial sometime next year. Scott also found that Banner can seek punitive damages from the company that, if awarded, could reach millions of dollars. Scott, citing other fatal crashes involving Autopilot, wrote last week that there is a “genuine dispute” over whether Tesla “created a foreseeable zone of risk that posed a general threat of harm to others.” Auto...

Argentina’s president-elect is racing against the clock to remake the government

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina ’s President-elect Javier Milei has called for the wholesale reinvention of the government but he has precious little time.And with less than three weeks until his Dec. 10 inauguration, Milei has no executive experience and few allies in his bullpen.From the moment of the wild-haired outsider ’s decisive victory on Sunday night, the clock started ticking. Argentina’s presidential transition period is one of the shortest in Latin America; it lasts at least six weeks in Colombia and two months in Brazil. Next year’s election in Mexico will feature a six-month handover. Milei “is new to politics, leads a minor political party and has not built an experienced team. He could use more time to prepare his agenda, recruit advisers and senior officials, and build coalitions in the new Congress,” Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told The Associated Press. “This is especially important because ...

The latest on the deadly explosion at the Canada-U. S. border crossing in New York

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:20 GMT

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Four of the busiest border crossing points between Canada and the United States were abruptly closed Wednesday after a vehicle exploded at a U.S. checkpoint in Niagara Falls. The FBI is investigating the blast, which took place on the U.S. side of the Rainbow Bridge crossing in Upstate New York.Here are the latest developments (all times are ET):—5:30 p.m.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says there is no evidence at this time that terrorist activity was behind the deadly explosion at the border crossing at Niagara.The governor says it’s not clear whether the driver was intentionally heading for the Rainbow Bridge across the Niagara River when the vehicle hit a median and flew into the air.United States Customs and Border Protection says three border crossings in the Niagara region have reopened to traffic.The border crossing at the Rainbow Bridge, which spans the Niagara River, remains closed.—5:30 p.m.A Toronto woman says she was in a building at t...