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Unsealed documents show again how Jeffrey Epstein leveraged his powerful connections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Newly released court documents describing Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls provide a reminder of how the financier leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes.The more than 40 documents released late Wednesday — the latest of thousands that have been made public — were sprinkled with the names of celebrities and politicians who socialized with Epstein or worked with him in the years before he was publicly accused nearly two decades ago of paying underage girls for sex.Most of those names were familiar to anyone who has followed the scandal closely, including the criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Epstein’s former girlfriend, household manager and chief recruiter of young, vulnerable females.It was during Maxwell’s criminal trial two years ago that Epstein’s victims, some of whom aspired to be models or artists, described how he dropped the names of his famous and infl...

Weekend need-to-know: Skate with Toronto’s mayor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

Fight off those holiday blues with some skating adventures happening across Toronto and it’s your last chance to head to the Distillery Winter Village.There are no TTC or GO Train interruptions this weekend as well.Mayor’s Skating PartyIf you’ve been waiting for your chance to rub shoulders with Mayor Olivia Chow and other city council members, this weekend is your chance.Chow will be hosting the annual Mayor’s Skating Party at Nathan Phillips Square this Sunday. There will be free skates, treats and an opportunity to meet the people who run your city.It’s all ages and kicks off from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.Toronto Marlies gamesThe Toronto Marlies will be taking on the Syracuse Crunch in a double-header this weekend, so there are two chances to catch the AHL team in action at Coca-Cola Coliseum.The first game will be happening Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. and puck drops on Sunday at 4 p.m. as well. Tickets are still available online.Last weekend of the Distille...

This glass ceiling-breaking Liberal mom is looking to give the Tories a time out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

OTTAWA — Karina Gould knows how to throw a hefty political punch, and she often does it with a smile. Just six months into her role as government House leader, Gould has redefined what it means to be a prime minister’s chief attack dog. During a fall parliamentary sitting that often looked out of control, political insiders say Gould was a steady thorn in her opponents’ sides: calm and cutting at the same time. They are crediting her with re-energizing the Liberal caucus after the party’s poll numbers plummeted last year, while Opposition Conservatives relished in their own gains.“For the last year, it felt like the Conservatives were the only party competing,” said Fred DeLorey, a former national campaign manager for the Conservative Party of Canada.“It wasn’t clear what the Liberals were doing, if they were in search of a narrative or if they didn’t understand they needed one. But it feels like in the last month, especially, there...

Oscar Pistorius is set to be released on parole. He will be strictly monitored until December 2029

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius is due to be released from prison Friday to live under strict conditions at a family home having served nearly nine years of a murder sentence for the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.The double-amputee Olympic runner from South Africa is set to leave the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Pretoria after being approved for parole in November, the second time he had applied. It will give the world a chance at its first glimpse in nearly a decade of the one-time sporting superstar who stunningly fell from grace after shooting Steenkamp multiple times through a closed toilet door at his home in the predawn hours of Valentine’s Day 2013.South Africa’s Department of Corrections declined to give any detail of when and how Pistorius would be released, saying “inmates and parolees are never paraded.” Pistorius’ public profile “does not make him different from other inmates nor warrant inconsistent treatmen...

The US Tennis Association is reviewing its safeguarding policies and procedures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Tennis Association has enlisted two lawyers at a Washington-based firm to look into its safeguarding policies and procedures to protect players from sexual misconduct and other abuse.Lew Sherr, the CEO and executive director of the organization that runs the U.S. Open and oversees the sport in the United States, wrote about the review in an email sent Thursday to the USTA Board of Directors, various staff and volunteers and obtained by The Associated Press.As part of efforts “to prevent harm to athletes and respond to reports of inappropriate conduct … the USTA has retained David O’Neil and Mary Beth Hogan of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP to review our policies and procedures for preventing, reporting, and responding to reports of abuse, including sexual misconduct,” Sherr wrote.The subject line of the email is “Reviewing Policies to Ensure Safety.”The announcement of the review comes nearly two years after a tennis player sued the USTA in federal...

Putin speeds up a citizenship path for foreigners who enlist in the Russian military

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree that speeds up a path to Russian citizenship for foreigners who enlist in the country’s military amid the 22-month-old war in Ukraine.The move comes as Moscow is trying to replenish its troops in Ukraine by various methods, including the recruitment of migrants. Russia is a magnet for hundreds of thousands of people from poorer Central Asian countries, and many of them seek citizenship each year.Putin first allowed fast-track citizenship for foreigners who sign contracts with the Russian army in September 2022, shortly after announcing a partial mobilization to draft 300,000 reservists for Ukraine.Those immigrants who signed a contract for at least a year and take part in active hostilities for at least six months were allowed to apply for citizenship without demonstrating sufficient knowledge of Russian or the fact that they’d lived in the country for five straight years under a residency permi...

Avian flu feared in Canadian polar bears after disease kills bear in Alaska

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

Scientists fear Canadian polar bears may be threatened by the spread of avian flu after officials confirmed the disease killed a bear in Alaska.University of Alberta polar bear expert Andrew Derocher says there’s a high likelihood the deadly wildlife disease already exists in animals on the Canadian side. Alaskan officials confirmed avian flu after a necropsy on the bear, found on the coast about 500 kilometres from the Canadian border. But Derocher says those procedures are hardly ever performed on dead bears found in Canada. Polar bears can range hundreds of kilometres and the dead bear was part of a population shared by the two countries. Derocher says it’s not clear yet what effect the disease could have on bear populations.But he says it’s one more stressor on a species that’s already under pressure from climate change. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2024.The Canadian Press

Toronto man arrested for yelling threats against gay community at downtown apartment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

A Toronto man is facing charges after allegedly making hate-motivated threats at a downtown apartment building.Toronto police were called to a residence in the Carlton and Jarvis streets area around 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 28.Investigators allege a man went to the building and started yelling threats towards the gay community. One of the residents became fearful of their safety and called police.Police arrested 29-year-old Trevor Dawkins, of Toronto, and charged him with uttering threats and two counts of failure to comply with a release order.The suspect appeared in a Toronto courtroom on Wednesday.Anyone with additional information is being asked to call police.

Second person pronounced dead from Jan. 1 South Side shooting in city's 1st homicide of 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

CHICAGO — The city's first homicide of 2024 is now a double-homicide.A woman shot in the early-morning hours of Jan. 1 in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on Chicago's South Side was pronounced dead around 9 p.m. Wednesday by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. The woman, 50, had sustained a gunshot wound to the head.She joins a 53-year-old man who was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene as victims of the double-homicide. Chicago crime stats 2023: Murders, shootings down but crime still stubbornly high A 48-year-old woman was also shot in the incident and taken to the hospital in fair condition, Chicago police said at the time.Police said the shooting occurred around 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 1 near 70th St. and S. Wabash Ave. Three people were inside a home when gunfire came through the window, according to police.

Exploding toilet at a Dunkin' store in Florida left a customer filthy and injured, lawsuit claims

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A customer has filed a negligence lawsuit against Dunkin', claiming he was injured by an exploding toilet at one of the coffee chain's locations in central Florida.Paul Kerouac is seeking more than $100,000 in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court in Orlando, claiming he suffered “severe and long term injuries” following the explosion of a toilet in the men's room of a Dunkin' location in Winter Park, Florida, a year ago. U-Haul: Illinois among top states for outbound movers in 2023 After the explosion left Kerouac covered in human feces, urine and debris, he walked out of the men’s room seeking help from workers and the store’s manager, according to the lawsuit. An employee told him that they were aware of the “problem with the toilet” since there had been previous incidents, the lawsuit says, without diving into further details about the explosion.When contacted Thursday by email for more details on Kerouac’s injuries, his attorney, Scott Spradley, said ...