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Virginia court revives lawsuit by teacher fired for refusing to use transgender student’s pronouns

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by a Virginia high school teacher who was fired after he refused to use a transgender student’s pronouns was reinstated Thursday by the state Supreme Court. Peter Vlaming, a former French teacher at West Point High School, sued the school board and administrators at West Point High School after he was fired in 2018. A judge dismissed the lawsuit before any evidence was heard in the case. But the Supreme Court overturned that ruling and said the lawsuit can proceed to trial.Vlaming claimed in his lawsuit that he tried to accommodate a transgender student in his class by using his masculine name and avoiding the use of pronouns, but the student, his parents and the school told him he was required to use the student’s male pronouns.Vlaming said he could not use the student’s pronouns because of his “sincerely held religious and philosophical” beliefs “that each person’s sex is biologically fixed and cannot be changed.” Vlaming also said he wou...

Bill that lifts GST from rental developments, amends competition law to become law

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

OTTAWA — Legislation that lifts GST charges off rental developments and amends the country’s competition law has passed in the Senate and is poised to become law.Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland introduced the legislation this fall in response to growing concerns about housing and affordability in the country.The federal government is lifting GST charges off rental developments to incentivize developers to build more purpose-built rentals, a segment of the housing supply that experts say is in very short supply.The legislation also aims to boost competition in the country by giving new powers to the Competition Bureau.It will be empowered to compel information from companies to conduct market studies and block collaborations that stifle competition and consumer choice.It would also eliminate the “efficiencies defence” in the Competition Act, which allowed for anti-competitive mergers to be approved in cases where the efficiencies generated offset the competitive ...

A look at alcohol sales rules by province across the country

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

TORONTO — The Ontario government has announced sales of beer, wine, cider and ready-to-drink cocktails will be allowed in convenience stores and all grocery stores in Ontario by 2026.Here’s how alcohol is sold in other Canadian provinces:British Columbia: Beer, wine and spirits are sold in provincially-owned and private liquor stores. Craft beer can be purchased at a brewery. In 2015, the B.C. government allowed wine to be sold in grocery stores that met specific rules.Alberta: The province has operated a privatized liquor retail industry for 30 years, with 2,400 retailers offering more than 30,000 products overseen and regulated by the province. Liquor has also been sold at a handful of  7-11 retail stores since 2021. Saskatchewan: Customers can purchase alcohol from licensed retailers, including in standalone stores or businesses attached to a permitted restaurant. In smaller communities, businesses can sell alcohol alongside unrelated products, as long as they have a liquor...

Canada’s biggest banks come in at bottom of low-carbon finance ranking

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

TORONTO — A report by BloombergNEF finds that while Canada’s top five banks are among the biggest energy financiers globally, they rank among the worst of the top 100 when measured on how much of that funding is directed to low-carbon sources.The report found that in 2022 banks globally directed an estimated 73 cents toward low-carbon energy for every dollar supporting fossil fuel supply, or a 0.73-to-one ratio. That’s well off the four-to-one ratio the report notes they need to hit this decade to limit global warming to 1.5 C. Canada’s biggest banks ranged in ratios of between 0.45:1 for BMO’s $18.9 billion in energy funding, enough to place it 88th in the ranking, down to 0.32:1 for Scotiabank’s $35.9 billion in funding, which pushed it below the top 100.In between, CIBC had a 0.41:1 ratio for its $17.9 billion in funding, RBC had a 0.37:1 ratio for its $42.7 billion, and TD Bank had a 0.35:1 ratio for its $30.2 billion in funding, putting it at the b...

Amazon, Target and more will stop selling water beads marketed to kids due to rising safety concerns

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Three major retailers — Amazon, Target and Walmart — say they’re suspending sales of water-bead products marketed to young children due to growing safety concerns.Water beads are small, colorful balls made of superabsorbent polymers. They are often sold as toys, including in craft activity kits, and as sensory tools for children with developmental disabilities. But warnings about the dangers of the beads being ingested have been piling up. “When (water beads) absorb water, they can swell to many times their size,” said Dr. Joshua King, medical director of the Maryland Poison Center. “And while most even still pass through the gut without trouble, occasionally they swell to a size where they actually obstruct the bowel.”This can lead to severe discomfort and life-threatening injuries, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission notes in online guidance — adding that water beads can also end up in ears, causing damage or hearing loss. According to the regulator, ...

Palestinian envoy in Ottawa praises Canada’s UN vote for ceasefire, seeks more action

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

OTTAWA — The Palestinian ambassador in Ottawa is praising Canada’s vote at the United Nations for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, while urging the Canadian government to do more to stop Israel’s military campaign. Mona Abuamara, the chief representative of the Palestinian General Delegation to Canada, says Ottawa could act as a catalyst and inspire other countries to push for a peaceful two-state solution that would include a Palestinian country.Canada voted in favour of a non-binding resolution at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that called for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, a departure from its long-standing policy to side with Israel in major UN votes. The conflict began in October when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in brutal surprise attacks on Israel, taking another 240 people hostage.Israel has responded by withholding vital supplies from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, bombarding it with airstrikes and conducti...

GOP lawmakers sink aid to Penn as statehouses watch how universities are handling Israel-Hamas war

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania defeated legislation to send $35 million to the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school over criticism that the school has tolerated antisemitism, as statehouses across the U.S. eye how higher ed is handling tensions around the Israel-Hamas war.The bill’s defeat is perhaps the starkest example of how some lawmakers and governors around the country are trying to keep universities from taking sides and to toughen the schools’ response to acts of hate and discrimination, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.The vote came four days after Penn President Liz Magill resigned amid pressure from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was questioned about whether calls on campus for the genocide of Jewish people would violate the Ivy League school’s conduct policy.Annual state aid for Penn’s veterinary school normally draws strong bipartisan support in Pennsylvania’s Legis...

Ohio clinics want abortion ban permanently struck down in wake of constitutional amendment passage

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

Abortion clinics in Ohio are pushing for a court to strike down abortion restrictions now that voters have enshrined abortion rights into the state Constitution, arguing that even the state’s Republican attorney general says the amendment invalidates the ban.The push comes on the heels of an amendment that Ohio voters approved last month that ensures access to abortion and other reproductive health care. It took effect last week.A law signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in April 2019 prohibited most abortions after the first detectable “fetal heartbeat.” Cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.The law had been blocked through a federal legal challenge, briefly went into effect when the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was overturned, and then was again put on hold in county court.Republican Attorney General Dave Yost appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court, which is reviewing the case, but he decline...

Ukraine’s a step closer to joining the EU. Here’s what it means, and why it matters

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Ukraine got a green light Thursday to start sped-up talks on joining the European Union. That’s a big boost for war-ravaged Ukraine and a loud message to Vladimir Putin – but it could be years or even decades before the country actually becomes a member of the EU.Here’s a look at what Thursday’s decision means, and why joining the EU is especially important, and especially hard, for Ukraine.WHAT IS THE EU AND HOW DO YOU JOIN?The European Union was born after World War II as a trading bloc with a bold ambition: to prevent another war between Germany and France. The six founding members were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.Since then, the EU has steadily expanded to contain 27 democratic nations, many from the former communist bloc in Eastern Europe, inspired by the idea that economic and political integration among nations is the best way to promote prosperity and peace.This notably led to the creation of the shared euro currency in 199...

Brazil’s Congress overrides president’s veto to reinstate legislation threatening Indigenous rights

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:46 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Congress on Thursday overturned a veto by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva so it can reinstate legislation that undoes protections of Indigenous peoples’ land rights. The decision sets a new battle between lawmakers and the country’s top court on the matter.Both federal deputies and senators voted by a wide margin to support a bill that argues the date Brazil’s Constitution was promulgated — Oct. 5, 1988 — is the deadline by which Indigenous peoples had to be physically occupying or fighting legally to reoccupy territory in order to claim land allotments.In September, Brazil’s Supreme Court decided on a 9-2 vote that such a theory was unconstitutional. Brazilian lawmakers reacted by using a fast-track process to pass a bill that addressed that part of the original legislation, and it will be valid until the court examines the issue again.The override of Lula’s veto was a victory for congressional supporters of former President Jair Bols...