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Unifor says Metro terminating benefits of striking workers, plans to provide in lieu

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

TORONTO — The union representing striking Metro workers across the Greater Toronto Area says the grocery chain plans to terminate their access to benefits during the labour dispute.In a note to members on Wednesday, Unifor Local 414 says in lieu of employer provided benefits, the union will provide group insurance benefits to eligible striking workers through Green Shield Canada.It says participation in strike duty entitles members to benefits including hospital care, drug, life, accidental and dismemberment premiums and out-of-province, which is paid for by the Unifor Strike and Defence Fund.To access benefits, workers must complete an enrolment form that is available at local picket lines.Last week, workers at 27 Metro grocery stores rejected a tentative agreement that had been reached just after a strike deadline, as 3,700 frontline store employees walked off the job Saturday instead of accepting the deal.Metro Ontario Inc. a subsidiary of Metro Inc., issued a statement at the ti...

Greek authorities charge 2 migrants for destroying dinghy carrying 40 as rescue boat approached

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities rescued 40 migrants from a sinking dinghy in the Aegean Sea on Wednesday and charged two of them with causing a shipwreck and endangering lives for allegedly scuttling the flimsy vessel as a coast guard boat approached.A coast guard statement said all 40 people were in good health after being picked up from the inflatable dinghy off the eastern Greek island of Lesbos. Lesbos is close to the Turkish mainland and a major entry point for people from the Middle East and Africa seeking a better life in the European Union, who pay smuggling gangs for a berth on a small boat.The statement said one of the people on the boat slashed its rubber sides with a sharp implement “endangering the passengers” as the coast guard patrol boat approached, while the other threw the small outboard engine into the sea.It wasn’t immediately clear why the migrants sought to destroy the vessel. Similar incidents have been reported in recent weeks off Lesbos and oth...

Amazon to open robotics-backed fulfilment centre in Southwold, Ont., will hire 1,000

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

SOUTHWOLD, Ont. — Amazon Canada. says it will open a new robotics-backed fulfilment centre south of London, Ont. later this year.The e-commerce giant says the new fulfilment centre is expected to open in Southwold on Oct. 1.The centre, known as YXU1, will see employees work alongside robotics technology to pick, pack and ship up to 750,000 items a day.Amazon expects to hire more than 1,000 full-time employees to staff the centre.The company will begin its hiring efforts for the site in September.Amazon says that hires will receive competitive wages as well as medical, vision, and dental coverage and a group RRSP plan.  This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug 2, 2023.The Canadian Press

Movie Review: Passion and love get messy in Ira Sachs’ smoldering ‘Passages’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

If you’ve been wondering where all the sex has gone from the movies, you’re in luck: The new film “Passages” does not hold back in depicting the fresh passion of a love affair.But “Passages” should really come with a warning, and not because of its realistic illustrations of queer and heterosexual intimacy, which got the film slapped with an NC-17 rating. (Its distributor, MUBI, opted instead to release it in theaters as unrated.) No, “Passages” should come with a warning for its brutal honesty about the intoxicating haze of a new relationship and all its casualties.At least it’s fun and dangerous at the start (aren’t they all, though). Directed by Ira Sachs, working again with his co-writer Mauricio Zacharias, “Passages” is centered on Tomas (Franz Rogowski), a German living in France with his English husband Martin (Ben Whishaw), who begins an affair with a French woman, Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos).Tomas is a film director. We’re introduced to him micromanaging actors in a ...

FBI looks for more possible victims after woman escapes from cinderblock cage in Oregon

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man who posed as an undercover police officer kidnapped a woman in Seattle, drove her hundreds of miles to his home in Oregon, and kept her locked in a makeshift, cinderblock jail cell until she bloodied her hands while breaking open the door to escape, the FBI said Tuesday.The man now faces federal charges, and authorities said they are looking for additional victims after linking him to sexual assaults in at least four more states.“This woman was kidnapped, chained, sexually assaulted, and locked in a cinderblock cell,” Stephanie Shark, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland field office, said in a news release. “Her quick thinking and will to survive may have saved other women from a similar nightmare.”Negasi Zuberi, 29, of Klamath Falls, was arrested has been charged with interstate kidnapping. Court records did not list an attorney who might speak on his behalf.The FBI said Zuberi also went by the names Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justi...

IRS aims to go paperless by 2025 as part of its campaign to conquer mountains of paperwork

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

Most taxpayers will be able to digitally submit a slew of tax documents and other communications to the IRS next filing season as the agency aims to go completely paperless by 2025. The effort to reduce the exorbitant load of paperwork that has plagued the agency — dubbed the “paperless processing initiative” — was announced Wednesday by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel.The effort is being financed through an $80 billion infusion of cash for the IRS over 10 years under the Inflation Reduction Act passed into law last August, although some of that money already is being cut back. “Thanks to the IRA, we are in the process of transforming the IRS into a digital-first agency,” Yellen said in remarks prepared for delivery during a visit to an IRS paper processing facility in McLean, Virginia.“By the next filing season,” she said, “taxpayers will be able to digitally submit all correspondence, non-tax forms, and notice responses to the IRS.”“Of cour...

Wilt Chamberlain’s 1972 finals jersey expected to draw more than $4 million at Sotheby’s auction

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

Collectibles broker Sotheby’s expects Wilt Chamberlain’s 1972 NBA Finals jersey to sell for more than $4 million in an upcoming auction.Sotheby’s calls the jersey Chamberlain wore in the championship-clinching Game 5 victory over the New York Knicks the most valuable piece of his memorabilia ever to appear on the market. The current record sale for a Chamberlain sports memorabilia item is $1.79 million in June 2023. It was for a jersey worn his rookie season with the Philadelphia Warriors.Online bidding will run from August 28 to September 27. The 7-foot-1 Chamberlain anchored the team that won the Lakers’ first NBA title. Playing with a broken hand, he had 24 points and 29 rebounds in Game 5 against New York and was named Finals MVP.Chamberlain died at age 63 in 1999.“This jersey holds an extraordinarily significant place in the history of Los Angeles, not only adorned by the man many consider to be the greatest player ever to step on the court, but as a relic from one of the...

At least one home affected as Powder Keg Pine Fire in Bastrop estimated at 100 acres, 50% contained

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — Crews responded to a home on fire within the fire zone of a wildfire in Bastrop Wednesday just before noon, according to a KXAN reporter on the ground.Reporter Nabil Remadna noted firefighters were able to get there quickly, and there are still hotspots popping up in the fire area. The fire, which is called the Powder Keg Pine Fire, is estimated at 100 acres and is 50% contained as of 12 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. Initial reports had the fire's location listed in the area of Highway 71 and Harmon Road. First responders Tuesday afternoon said they were working to evacuate homes as a "precautionary measure" because of a wildfire burning near Bastrop State Park. Evacuees were later allowed to return home and no evacuations are in place as of noon Wednesday.The Bastrop County Office of Emergency said in an update time-stamped 2 a.m. Wednesday that forward progression had stopped. At 8:45 a.m., the...

APD releases video, audio related to deadly south Austin police shooting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

Editor's Note: The video above shows KXAN Live's top headlines for Aug. 2, 2023AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Wednesday, the Austin Police Department released relevant audio and video from a deadly south Austin shooting, as well as identified the officers involved.James Woodrome, 60, was shot by an APD officer near an apartment in the early morning hours of July 20. He later died, APD said. APD identifies man shot, killed by officer in south Austin Officers responded to a call regarding a woman stating a man was chasing her. Officers located the man, who approached while holding a knife and shouting at the officers to shoot and kill him, according to APD.APD said officers tried to de-escalate the situation by issuing commands and later discharging stun guns that were unsuccessful in stopping the man from moving toward officers.APD said the officer who discharged his department-approved firearm was Officer Adam Reinhart, and the officers who deployed their department-approved tasers are Office...

Suspicious package investigation underway in Liberty Hill

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:24 GMT

Editor's Note: The video above shows KXAN Live's top headlines for Aug. 2, 2023LIBERTY HILL, Texas (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department bomb squad and other authorities are investigating a suspicious package Wednesday morning in Liberty Hill, the Williamson County Sheriff's Office said.WCSO said investigators responded to 1000 San Gabriel River Ranch Rd., which is the address for the San Gabriel River Ranch Lake Dam.People in the immediate area have been evacuated. WCSO is asking others to avoid the area.This developing story will be updated as information becomes available.