As Hurricane Milton makes landfall, more than 1.6 million customers are left without power in Florida
The Category 2 storm has left 1.6 million homes and businesses without power in Florida as Milton pummels through the state.
Five European Union nations on the Mediterranean who fear possible waves of refugees driven by hunger out of Africa called Saturday for an end to the EU's "voluntary" solidarity on migrants and a better way to redistribute the burden of caring for them.
The Interior ministers from Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Spain wrapped up two days of talks in Venice amid worries that the blockade of Ukraine grain exports due to Russia's invasion could see huge numbers of refugees from Africa flooding southern Europe.
Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris told reporters that robust, common EU policy is needed on migration. "Solidarity is not a slogan, nor can it be void of substance," Nouris said.
Past EU policies in which member countries could offer to receive some of the hundreds of thousands of migrants landing in Italy, Greece and other southern shores proved grossly inadequate.
Many EU countries didn't step forward. Others, even with they did pledge to receive modest numbers of some of the hundreds of thousands of migrants rescued from smugglers' unseaworthy boats, didn't follow through.
"Solidarity in our mind cannot be voluntary," Nouris said.
He noted that after several years of Cyprus taking in migrants, now 5 per cent of the eastern Mediterranean island nation's population consists of asylum-seekers.
The meeting did not address the millions of Ukrainian refugees who recently flooded into northern EU nations like Poland, Hungary and Romania.
How Europe handles large numbers of migrants takes on particular urgency now, amid fears that drought in Africa and surging food prices even before the war made shipping Ukrainian grain to Somalia, Egypt and other poor nations impossible could drive up the already alarmingly numbers of hungry people.
In the Sahel, the part of Africa just below the Sahara desert, an estimated 18 million people are facing severe hunger as farmers endure their worst production season in more than a decade.
Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese cited the blocking of grain in Ukraine as just another reason for the EU to develop a "adequate mechanism of distributing migrants" among its members.
She also pressed for more repatriation agreements with countries whose people are seeking a better life in Europe but had their asylum bids rejected since they are fleeing poverty, not war or persecution.
Italy has an effective repatriation agreement with Tunisia, but not with most other countries in Africa or in Asia whose citizens take to smugglers' boats to try to reach southern European shores. As a result, even though their asylum applications fail, many migrants remain in Italy, often taking illegal jobs or resorting to begging.
Greece's interior minister expressed support for more legal paths for migration.
"We cannot let smugglers decide who comes to live in Europe," minister Notis Mitarachi told reporters.
The Category 2 storm has left 1.6 million homes and businesses without power in Florida as Milton pummels through the state.
A West Vancouver company has been ordered to repay a homebuyer's $1-million deposit after it failed to complete construction on the property in time.
During the campaign, BC Conservative Leader John Rustad has repeatedly said people are "dying on the streets" in the province 鈥 and on Tuesday he claimed to have witnessed that very thing in downtown Vancouver while he was on his way to the leaders' debate.
Sheriff's deputies in Washington's Kitsap County frequently get calls about animals -- loose livestock, problem dogs. But the 911 call they received recently from a woman being hounded by dozens of raccoons swarming her home near Poulsbo stood out.
Dozens of cars were pulled out of the Detroit River in west Windsor on Tuesday, causing many questions for Windsorites.
President Joe Biden warned on Wednesday that Hurricane Milton carried incredible destructiveness and urged people to take safe shelter while condemning misinformation about the storm as un-American.
Hundreds of thousands of vehicles are being recalled in Canada due to a steering-related issue that could increase a driver's risk of crash.
The leader of the Bloc Quebecois says his party 'might play a role' in helping the Liberals get House of Commons business rolling again 鈥 after days of Conservative-led debate on a privilege matter 鈥 but that his assistance would come at a cost.
A Turkish Airlines jetliner headed from Seattle to Istanbul made an emergency landing in New York on Wednesday after the captain died on board, an airline official said.
Jeff Warner from Aidie Creek Gardens in the northern Ontario community of Englehart has a passion for growing big pumpkins and his effort is paying off in more ways than one.
Saskatchewan鈥檚 Jessica Campbell has made hockey history, becoming the first ever female assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Have you ever seen videos of hovercrafts online or on TV and thought, 'Wow, I wish I could ride one of those.' One Alberta man did, and then built his own.
A B.C. couple is getting desperate 鈥 and creative 鈥 in their search for their missing dog.
Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.