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Senate passes long-delayed bill aimed at unblocking Canadian aid in Afghanistan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

OTTAWA — The Senate has passed a bill intended to unblock Canadian aid in Afghanistan without amendment. The Criminal Code changes allow development workers to apply for exemptions from terrorism laws, which currently criminalize paying taxes to the ruling Taliban because it is designated as a terrorist group.Amendments from the Conservatives and NDP in the House of Commons also added a blanket exemption for humanitarian workers who are providing life-saving aid in response to emergencies.The passage of the bill by both chambers of Parliament comes more than a year after many of Canada’s allies issued exemptions for aid workers in their own terrorism laws.Some senators had expressed fears about how bureaucrats might enforce the bill, but the Senate gave unanimous consent to pass multiple stages of the bill all at once, ensuring it will become law before a scheduled summer break.The government has said that civil servants are impartial and courts can be called in to review reje...

Florida man executed for 1984 killings of teenage babysitter, mother of 2 slain months apart

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man was executed Thursday for killing a 14-year-old babysitter and a 38-year-old mother of two in separate attacks months apart in 1984 while children were sleeping in the homes he targeted.Duane Owen was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office. One of Florida’s longest-held death row inmates, Owen was 23 at the time of the attacks and 62 when he was executed.He was sentenced to death for the March 24, 1984, rape and fatal stabbing of Karen Slattery, 14, and for the rape and deadly hammer attack two months later on Georgianna Worden, 38. Both killings occurred in Palm Beach County.Authorities said Owen attacked two other women in Palm Beach County who survived. All four attacks occurred just before and after Owen’s 23rd birthday. Of the more than 290 people on Florida’s death row, Owen was one of the longest held there. Besides his death sentences, he also had received six lif...

Iran’s president meets Cuban counterpart in last leg of Latin American tour

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel on Thursday, wrapping up a Latin America trip that also included visits to Iran’s two other allies in the region — Venezuela and Nicaragua.During a trade forum with local businesspeople in Havana, Raisi said Cuba and Iran would seek to work together in biotechnology, mining, electricity generation and other areas.“I hope this meeting will help facilitate integration as well as an exchange of ideas and opinions,” Raisi said.Unlike his previous stops in Nicaragua and Venezuela, Raisi refrained from making harsh comments in public against Washington or the economic sanctions imposed on his country and its three allies in the region.After the forum, Raisi and Diaz-Canel toured biotechnology production plants in the western part of the capital, then headed to a closed-door reception at Cuba’s Palace of the Revolution.The leaders also signed several agreements on customs, justice,...

Detroit bus driver charged in pedestrian’s death; her 2nd fatality in 8 years

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit bus driver is facing a criminal charge after fatally striking a pedestrian, the second death linked to her job behind the wheel.Janice Bauer, 67, was crossing a downtown street during a green light on June 2 when a bus hit her while making a left turn.The driver, Geraldine Johnson, 59, was charged Wednesday with a moving violation causing death.“This case is tragic on every level,” prosecutor Kym Worthy said.Johnson appeared in court without an attorney, and a not-guilty plea was entered by a magistrate.It’s not the first fatality linked to her driving. The city settled a lawsuit for $4.5 million following the 2015 death of a man who stepped off a Detroit bus and was hit while he tried to get a bike off a rack on the front of the coach, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.The newspaper posted bus video of Joey Davis talking to Johnson and then trying to remove his bike.“She killed a man and was allowed to get back behind a wheel. In what world is ...

Four found dead in Prince Rupert, B.C., home; police say deaths considered homicide

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. — A large police presence remains at a home in the northwest British Columbia city of Prince Rupert where four people were found dead.A neighbour, who didn’t want to disclose her name, said Thursday officers appear to be gathering evidence inside and outside the house and a police investigation tent has been set up in the front yard.She said she did not know the people whose bodies were found inside the home.Prince Rupert RCMP said a homicide investigation is underway after officers responded to a call Tuesday evening to the 100 block of Silversides Drive.Police said they do not believe there were outstanding suspects in the case, and there should be no further risk to the public.Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond and North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice said residents in the city of about 12,000 people are in shock over the deaths. “It’s heart wrenching,” said Pond in an interview. “In a community of 12,000 people everybody knows somebody who&#...

Sam Bankman-Fried could face 2 criminal trials after judge agrees to sever some fraud charges

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried may face two criminal trials after a federal judge on Thursday granted a request by prosecutors to sever the newest fraud charges against him from a trial set for October.A second trial date for March 11 was set by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan after prosecutors said they will only go ahead with new charges they filed against Bankman-Fried three months ago if authorities in the Bahamas — where Bankman-Fried was first arrested — agree to it.The order came hours after Bankman-Fried appeared before Kaplan as his lawyers argued for dismissal of charges alleging that he and other top executives cheated investors and looted FTX customer deposits, in part to fund lavish lifestyles. Kaplan seemed skeptical toward some of their arguments but didn’t immediately rule.When one defense lawyer finished speaking, the judge told him: “I congratulate you on an extraordinarily imaginative argument.”Assistant U.S. Attorney Thane Rehn told Kaplan...

Could the Bulls trade Zach LaVine? Report says team is gauging interest for guard

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

CHICAGO — Just a year after signing him to a max contract, could the Bulls trade their two-time All-Star guard this offseason?A report on Thursday indicates that the team is at least looking at the possibility. Per a report from Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, the Bulls are "quietly gauging the trade interest" from other teams in the league for guard Zach LaVine. This comes just short of a year since the team gave him a new five-year, $215 million contract after back-to-back All-Star Game appearances. As part of the report, Fischer did say that the Bulls' price for LaVine is "steep" should a team decide to engage in talks. This would go against the messaging from executive VP Arturas Karnisovas after the 2022-2023 season where he continued to preach continuity with the core of the team he assembled early in his tenure in Chicago. But with the Bulls finishing 40-42 last season and losing in the second round of the NBA Play-In Tournament to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Heat,...

New theory of Earth's rapid creation makes alien life more likely

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

(The Hill) – The formation of the Earth may have looked more like a fast, inevitable landslide than like a slow series of occasional cataclysms, as scientists have long theorized, according to findings published on Wednesday in Nature.If it did, Earth-like planets could be far more common than previously thought, the findings suggest.The paper represents a groundbreaking revision of the conventional understanding of how the Earth was created — and a new theory about the origin of the planet's life-giving water.The appearance of that water, its authors wrote, "might not have happened entirely by chance." Here’s the richest person in your state, according to Forbes That would represent very good news for the search for Earth-like planets — not to mention alien life.The findings put forward a radically revised model of how planets like ours — small, rocky and wet — tend to form across the galaxy, under wh...

State legislators invited to DC to discuss protecting reproductive rights

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- Ahead of the first anniversary of Roe v. Wade overturning, 80 legislators from across the country came to the White House this week to talk about how each of their states is protecting reproductive rights."We're still working really, really hard with those patients in mind who need access to care," Maryland State Sen. Ariana Kelly said.Joanna McClinton, Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, said it is important to preserve safe and legal access to abortion. "We need to make sure that in states where it's still available, it's still legal, it's still safe, that we recognize, we're not just servicing women in Pennsylvania, we're servicing our neighbors," McClinton said.The Biden administration invited them to share potential solutions with each other."We really get some great ideas and find better ways to work together to defend people's rights," Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks said.Said Illinois State Rep. Kelly Cassidy: "Being ab...

A historical look at Texas and its 8 SEC regular season opponents in 2024

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Some of the schools Texas will play in its inaugural season in the Southeastern Conference are firmly entrenched in program history as rivals, and some haven't played the Longhorns since the Coolidge administration.While Texas A&M and Oklahoma are the obvious rivals for the Longhorns, another one from the days of the Southwest Conference will be reborn when Texas goes to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. The schools have played occasionally in nonconference and bowl settings, but they'll be conference foes once again in 2024. Longhorns to renew rivalry with Aggies as SEC releases 2024 football matchups Here's a look at all eight of the Longhorns' conference opponents in 2024:Texas A&M AggiesIt has been 23 years too long since the Aggies and Longhorns have met on the gridiron. The teams last played an epic game at Kyle Field in 2011, and it ended on a Justin Tucker field goal with time expiring to lift the Longhorns to a 27-25 win. Tucker was ...