Tuesday, October 14

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Nova Scotia Tories appear safe with Liberals, NDP battling for second: polls
Politics

Nova Scotia Tories appear safe with Liberals, NDP battling for second: polls

With two days left before Nova Scotians elect their next government, polls suggest Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston’s decision to call an early vote will pay off and the real battle will be between the Liberals and NDP for second place. The Progressive Conservatives are seeking a second consecutive mandate Tuesday after sweeping the Liberals from power in August 2021. Tory Leader Tim Houston called the snap election on Oct. 27 citing the need for a fresh mandate and ignoring his government’s election law, which for the first time in Nova Scotia set a fixed election date — July 15, 2025.In a recent interview, Alex Marland, a political scientist at Acadia University, said the final result is shaping up to be what Houston hoped for when he called the election. Marland said several ...
Ukraine war: Russia launches drone strike on Kyiv – as commander ‘sacked for lying about war progress’ | World News
Business

Ukraine war: Russia launches drone strike on Kyiv – as commander ‘sacked for lying about war progress’ | World News

Russia launched a large drone attack on Kyiv overnight, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy warning the attack shows his capital needs better air defences.Ukraine's air defence units shot down 50 of 73 Russian drones launched, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries as a result of the attacks. Russia has used more than 800 guided aerial bombs and around 460 attack drones in the past week.Warning that Ukraine needs to improve its air defences, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: "An air alert has been sounded almost daily across Ukraine this week"."Ukraine is not a testing ground for weapons. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state. "But Russia still continues its efforts to kill our people, spread fear and panic, and weaken us."Russia did not comment on the attack. It comes...
Karen Read is accused of killing her boyfriend with her car, but she insists it’s all an elaborate cover-up
World News

Karen Read is accused of killing her boyfriend with her car, but she insists it’s all an elaborate cover-up

By Rebecca Armitage and Lucia Stein, ABC Massachusetts woman Karen Read. Photo: Screenshot / NBC What started with too many drinks at a bar in the small US town of Canton during a snowstorm, has ended in an intense legal battle and allegations of a sweeping conspiracy among law enforcement. On 28 January 2022, a severely wounded police officer was found close to death on the front lawn of a friend's house in the midst of a blizzard. No-one can agree how John O'Keefe got there. Prosecutors in the state of Massachusetts allege that the off-duty Boston police officer was run down by his girlfriend during an argument. But Karen Read insists she dropped John off at the house so he could keep drinking with his friends, and while she was angry at him, she did not mow him down with her car. ...
Missing Israeli rabbi found dead in UAE in ‘antisemitic terrorist act’, Israel says
World News

Missing Israeli rabbi found dead in UAE in ‘antisemitic terrorist act’, Israel says

By Tamar Michaelis, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Sophie Tanno, CNN Zvi Kogan had been missing in the United Arab Emirates since Thursday. Photo: Supplied / chabad.org An Israeli rabbi missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found dead, Israeli authorities said on Sunday, in what they described as an "antisemitic terrorist act". Zvi Kogan, who also holds Moldovan citizenship and is a representative of Chabad, a religious movement of Hasidic Jews with communities, synagogues and other institutions in many countries, had been missing since Thursday afternoon (local time). Chabads official website says he was abducted from Dubai. In a joint statement Sunday, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Kogan's body had been located by UAE authorities. "The mu...
Mark Jones pleads to not let daughter Bianca’s death be in vain, urges government action on methanol poisoning
World News

Mark Jones pleads to not let daughter Bianca’s death be in vain, urges government action on methanol poisoning

Melbourne teenager Bianca Jones has died after suspected Laos methanol poisoning. Photo: Facebook The father of a teenager who died from methanol poisoning while on holiday in Laos has pushed for the local government to act and prevent further tragedies. Mark Jones spoke to media outside Bangkok Hospital in Thailand, where his daughter Bianca Jones was transferred after falling ill from ingesting methanol. He thanked the Australian public for the "overwhelming" support and love shown to his family over the past week. Bianca, 19, was holidaying with friend Holly Bowles, also 19, at popular tourist town Vang Vieng in Laos when she fell ill after consuming alcoholic drinks. Jones said the trip to Laos was supposed to be the start of wonderful adulthood for his daughter. "Our daughter was o...
The Caspian Sea used to lie beneath these swings. Now it’s shrunk | Science, Climate & Tech News
Business

The Caspian Sea used to lie beneath these swings. Now it’s shrunk | Science, Climate & Tech News

On a beach just outside the Azerbaijani capital Baku, a pair of deserted swings creak back and forth in the wind.They were built to be close to the water of the Caspian Sea. Now the ground beneath them is parched, and they are just relics of what once was there.Less than 20 years ago, the land beneath them under the water of the "Mother Caspian", as they call it here.It is the world's largest inland body of water and the lifeblood of the five countries that surround it.But the whole sea is shrinking, and on this sliver of land in the Absheron national park, the shoreline is now 200 metres away. "It is sad… even heartbreaking sometimes," said Elana Alizade, who used to play on other beaches around Baku."This is the place where as a kid we first discovered what bi...
COP 29: Carbon credit trading scheme criticised as ‘get out of jail free card’
World News

COP 29: Carbon credit trading scheme criticised as ‘get out of jail free card’

COP29 said it expected the scheme to reduce the cost of implementing countries' national climate plans by up to US$250 billion Photo: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via AFP A new carbon credit trading deal reached in the final hours of COP29 has been criticised as a free pass for countries to slack off on efforts to reduce emissions at home. The deal, sealed at the annual UN climate talks nearly a decade after it was first put forward, will allow countries to buy carbon credits from others to bring down their own balance sheet. New Zealand had set its targets under the Paris Agreement on the assumption that it would be able to meet some of it through international cooperation - "so getting this up and running is really important", Compass Climate head Christina Hood said. "It's a tool, it's...
Daily home activities – like folding clothes and sitting on a sofa – could give off clouds of microplastics, scientists warn | Science, Climate & Tech News
Business

Daily home activities – like folding clothes and sitting on a sofa – could give off clouds of microplastics, scientists warn | Science, Climate & Tech News

Routine domestic activities could expose people to a cloud of plastic particles so small that they can be inhaled deep into the lungs, according to research seen exclusively by Sky News.The study at the University of Portsmouth found a fitness workout on a synthetic carpet could result in up to 110 plastic fibres or fragments being breathed in every minute. Folding clothes made from fabrics such as polyester, and even just sitting down on a foam-filled sofa, also produced a plume of microscopic particles in the surrounding air.The researchers say the findings underline the urgency of talks by the United Nations this week to agree a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution. Image: There is no direct evidence that microplastics cause ill health...
COP 29: Carbon credit trading scheme critisised as ‘get out of jail free card’
World News

COP 29: Carbon credit trading scheme critisised as ‘get out of jail free card’

COP29 said it expected the scheme to reduce the cost of implementing countries' national climate plans by up to US$250 billion Photo: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via AFP A new carbon credit trading deal reached in the final hours of COP29 has been criticised as a free pass for countries to slack off on efforts to reduce emissions at home. The deal, sealed at the annual UN climate talks nearly a decade after it was first put forward, will allow countries to buy carbon credits from others to bring down their own balance sheet. New Zealand had set its targets under the Paris Agreement on the assumption that it would be able to meet some of it through international cooperation - "so getting this up and running is really important", Compass Climate head Christina Hood said. "It's a tool, it's...
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’ | World News
Business

Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’ | World News

The body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in Abu Dhabi has been found, Israel has said.Zvi Kogan, the Chabad representative in the United Arab Emirates, went missing on Thursday. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Sunday said Mr Kogan was murdered, calling it a "heinous antisemitic terror incident"."The state of Israel will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death," it said.On Saturday, Israeli intelligence agency Mossad said it was investigating the disappearance.The Emirati government gave no immediate acknowledgment that Mr Kogan had been found dead.The rabbi lived in the UAE with his wife Rivky, who is a US citizen.Mr Kogan's disappearance comes as Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the t...