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Joly calls out Israel judiciary reform and ‘unilateral actions’ that undermine peace

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

OTTAWA — Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly is pushing Israel to drop its reform of the country’s judiciary after two months of mass protests.An official readout of a conversation Joly had with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen says that she “underscored Canada’s support of democracy, the rule of law and the institutions that uphold them.”A Global Affairs Canada source familiar with the conversation says Joly specifically noted Israel’s judicial reform and said the country should only implement changes supported by the public.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far rejected compromises aimed at resolving the standoff over his plans to overhaul the country’s legal system by allowing the country’s parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions.The proposed change, which has been rebuked by U.S. President Joe Biden, would concentrate power for Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition, which he argues is necessary to counter what he deems to ...

Dellen Millard’s appeal in father’s murder dismissed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

Ontario’s highest court quickly dismissed Dellen Millard’s appeal in his father’s murder on Friday morning.A three-judge panel rejected the appeal just minutes after Millard, who represented himself, finished his arguments.Originally ruled a suicide, the 71-year-old Wayne Millard’s body was found in his bed with a bullet to the head on Nov. 29, 2012. Police reopened the investigation after Millard, along with Mark Smich, were charged with the murder of Tim Bosma.Dellen Millard was later convicted of his father’s death.Millard and Smich are also appealing their convictions in the murders of Bosma and Laura Babcock, but a decision on those appeals has been reserved.The Crown argued Millard and Smich set out to murder Bosma on May 6, 2013, when they met with him under the pretense of test driving his pickup truck, which they also planned to steal.Prosecutors brought evidence they stripped the truck, hid the murder weapon and burned Bosma’s body in Mi...

US ships mega generators to ease outages in Puerto Rico

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor announced Friday that the U.S. government has shipped three mega generators to the island to help stabilize the U.S. territory’s rickety electric grid and minimize continuing outages.The generators will add 150 megawatts of power, and additional generators that the U.S. is expected to ship soon will supply another 250 megawatts, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said.Officials said crews will install the generators before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1.“It’s the first step in a very, very complex process,” said Nancy Casper, a coordinator with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.FEMA is paying for 90% of the project and Puerto Rico’s government the remaining 10% as part of a deal reached last year, but both Casper and Pierluisi said the total cost was not yet available because it would depend in part on how long the generators will operate.Puerto Rico only recently started permanent repairs on an aging power grid ...

New judge to oversee Trump grand jury investigations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

A new judge is poised to assume oversight of grand jury investigations concerning former President Donald Trump, including the ongoing probe into classified documents found at his Florida estate. U.S. District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg is being sworn in Friday as chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, D.C. That role will give Boasberg, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, oversight of grand jury matters as well as sealed disputes that have surfaced in probes involving Trump.Boasberg is replacing the current chief judge, Beryl Howell, who is also an Obama appointee. Howell has served in the top job during numerous other high-profile investigations, including an earlier Justice Department investigation into links between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The chief judge position rotates on a seven-year basis.The position is important at a time when special counsel Jack Smith is conducting grand jury investigations into the retention by T...

New COVID origins data point to raccoon dogs in China market

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Genetic material collected at a Chinese market near where the first human cases of COVID-19 were identified show raccoon dog DNA comingled with the virus, suggesting the pandemic may have originated from animals, not a lab, international experts say. Other experts have not yet verified their analysis, which has yet to appear in a peer-reviewed journal. How the coronavirus began sickening people remains uncertain. The sequences will have to be matched to the genetic record of how the virus evolved to see which came first.“These data do not provide a definitive answer to how the pandemic began, but every piece of data is important to moving us closer to that answer,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday. He criticized China for not sharing the genetic information earlier, telling a press briefing that “this data could have and should have been shared three years ago.”The samples were collected from surfaces at the Huanan seaf...

Jim Gordon, rock drummer who killed mother, dies at 77

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jim Gordon, the rock ‘n’ roll session drummer who played on classic records by Eric Clapton, George Harrison and The Beach Boys but suffered from growing mental health problems and spent the second half of his life in prison for killing his mother, has died at 77.Gordon died Monday at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed Thursday. It’s believed he died of natural causes, but the official cause will be determined by the Solano County coroner. Gordon, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, had been in prison for four decades.From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, few drummers were more in demand than Gordon, a Los Angeles native and protege of the all-time versatile session man, Hal Blaine. Gordon had been drumming since his teens and — early in his career — was part of Phil Spector’s celebrated studio ensemble, “The Wrecking Crew,” which featured Blaine.“When I didn’t have the ...

Three dead in apparent stabbings inside Montreal apartment, police arrest suspect

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

MONTREAL — Three people were found stabbed to death inside an east-end Montreal apartment Friday and police have a suspect in custody.Montreal police Const. Julien Lévesque said a 911 call was received at about 9:20 a.m. for a person in need at an address on Bélanger Street, in the city’s Rosemont neighbourhood.Lévesque says officers found three bodies inside bearing marks of violence that appeared to be from a sharp object.The police service is calling the three deaths “suspicious.” Lévesque said it was too early release details about the link between the victims and the suspect.The suspect was arrested outside the apartment building and will be questioned by investigators.Authorities have barricaded off the street consisting of low-rise apartment buildings, across the street from the Montreal Heart Institute. An ambulance with lights flashing remained on scene, along with a police mobile command post and a large number of police vehicles.A spokesperson for the Ur...

Parent company of Silicon Valley Bank files for bankruptcy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

NEW YORK — The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday, a week after the tech-focused bank failed in a sudden collapse that set off fears of wider problems in the global banking system.The filing from SVB Financial Group was widely expected, with much of the company now under the control of banking regulators. The bank was seized last week by the federal government.In other developments, the bank, its CEO and its chief financial officer were targeted in a class action lawsuit that claims the company did not disclose the risks that future interest rate increases would have on its business.SVB Financial Group is no longer affiliated with Silicon Valley Bank after the bank was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The bank’s successor, Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, was not included in the Chapter 11 filing.The bankruptcy filing by SVB Financial Group creates a legal battle over the bank’s remaining assets between th...

Little Village woman missing since January found dead in laundry cart on West Side

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

CHICAGO — The family of a woman, reported missing from Little Village in January, has confirmed her body has been found.Relatives said the body of 21-year-old Rosa Chacon was found Wednesday in a laundry cart in an alley near 24th and Western Avenue on the city's West Side. Police identified Chacon by the multiple tattoos on her body, family members said.She was last seen by relatives outside her home on Jan. 18. Home security video captures Chacon getting into an Uber rideshare in the 2800 block of South St. Louis. Woman, 21, missing from Little Village since January, family says It is unclear where she was headed, but relatives said Chacon wasn’t the one who called for the ride. According to family members, Uber refused to give them the identity of the person who requested the rideshare.The Cook County medical examiner has not yet determined a cause of death.WGN has reached out to Uber for a response but have not yet heard back.

Ticketmaster gives partial refund, lower fees to Cure fans after Robert Smith's crusade

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:18:22 GMT

After saying he was "sickened" over Ticketmaster's fees, Robert Smith has gotten partial refunds for attendees of The Cure's upcoming tour.Additionally, Smith said lower fees will be offered for future shows on the tour which have not gone on sale yet."AFTER FURTHER CONVERSATION, TICKETMASTER HAVE AGREED WITH US THAT MANY OF THE FEES BEING CHARGED ARE UNDULY HIGH," Smith wrote on Twitter.He went on the say the company has offered a $5 to $10 refund for verified fan accounts as a "gesture of goodwill."On Tuesday, the band announced their upcoming tour will use Ticketmaster’s verified fan system in an effort to reduce scalping.Smith said the band declined to use Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing and platinum tickets, calling it a “greedy scam.” Previous — ‘Sickened’: Robert Smith blasts Ticketmaster fees ahead The Cure’s upcoming tour Once tickets went on sale, he noticed several tickets did end up in the hands of online resale marketplaces for much-higher prices than face value.One ma...