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Jury selection resumes at fraud trial for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The final stages of jury selection resumed Wednesday at the fraud trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in New York City.Opening statements were expected to begin by the early afternoon in Manhattan federal court, where Bankman-Fried has entered not guilty pleas to seven charges.Prosecutors say the California man defrauded thousands of investors and customers in his businesses by siphoning off their money for his own uses.Defense lawyers insist that their client had no criminal intent as he became famous in the crypto world while growing FTX and a related business, Alameda Research, into multibillion dollar heavyweights in the cryptocurrency industry.Attorneys and Judge Lewis A. Kaplan were reducing a pool of 45 prospective jurors to a jury of 12 with six alternates, who would sit through the duration of a trial projected to last up to six weeks.Bankman-Fried, 31, became a target of investigators when FTX collapsed last November amid a rush of customers seeking to r...

George Takei picture book on his years in internment camps will be published next spring

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — “Star Trek” actor and political activist George Takei has a picture book scheduled for next spring that draws upon his early childhood years spent in internment camps for Japanese Americans. Crown Books for Young Readers announced Wednesday that Takei’s “My Lost Freedom,” illustrated by Michelle Lee, will be published April 30, 2024. Takei, 86, spent three years in three different camps during World War II. The camps were established after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order in 1942 authorizing the forced removal on the West Coast of those considered security risks, leading to the incarceration of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans. “My childhood behind barbed wire fences is the reason I became an activist,” Takei said in a statement. “It was clear that the story about the injustices Japanese Americans faced should also be told in a way that young children and their caregivers could understand. Especially in today’s political clima...

After judge’s rebuke, Trump returns to court for 3rd day for fraud lawsuit trial

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump returned to his New York civil fraud trial for a third day Wednesday after running afoul of the judge by denigrating a key court staffer in a social media post. Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential race, is voluntarily taking time out from the campaign trail to attend the trial. New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accuses Trump and his business of deceiving banks, insurers and others by providing financial statements that greatly exaggerated his wealth. Judge Arthur Engoron already has ruled that Trump committed fraud by inflating the values of prized assets including his Trump Tower penthouse. The ruling could, if upheld on appeal, cost the former president control of his signature skyscraper and some other properties. Trump denies any wrongdoing. With familiar rhetoric, on his way into court Wednesday, he called James “incompetent,” portrayed her as part of a broader Democratic effort to ...

Vehicle crashes through daycare fence in Vaughan: police

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

York Regional Police are investigating after a vehicle crashed into the fence of a daycare in Vaughan.Emergency crews responded to a single-vehicle collision around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the area of Rutherford Road and Melville Avenue.Police say a car crashed into the fence of a daycare.No injuries have been reported.There is no word what cause the crash.More to come.

Rishi Sunak is promising to change Britain. He starts with railway cuts and a crackdown on smoking

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Battling gloomy opinion polls and mounting doubts, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday promised skeptical voters, and his own Conservative Party, that he would make tough choices to “fundamentally change our country.”Two of his boldest plans in a speech to the party’s annual conference — canceling a railway project that has already cost billions and proposing to ban smoking for the next generation — definitely caused ripples. Whether they translate into success for the right-of-center party in an election next year is another question. Opinion polls in recent weeks have put the left-of-center opposition Labour Party 15 to 20 points ahead.Sunak told hundreds of party members packed into a Manchester conference hall that he’s not afraid to make big decisions that will deliver “long-term success” rather than “short-term advantage.”He said proof was his decision to curtail the embattled High Speed 2 project — an overdue, overbudget h...

BRP denies findings from labour board that it underpaid workers

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

VALCOURT, Que. — BRP Inc. says it disagrees with findings from Quebec’s workplace health and safety board that the snowmobile maker broke the law in underpaying workers it brought in to work at its plant in Quebec from a facility in Mexico.The company acknowledges the board found what it deemed 76 serious offences that breach the province’s labour standards act following an investigation.The manufacturer behind Sea-Doos and Ski-Doos notes the incidents in question pertain to alleged payment shortfalls around overtime and minimum wage for 25 employees between December 2021 and November of last year.BRP spokeswoman Mélanie Montplaisir says the company paid the Mexican workers at its headquarters in Valcourt, Que., fairly and treated them with respect.She says the company made certain administrative mistakes linked to payroll processing, particularly around overtime, for the employees, who she says will be paid the amounts due.The health and safety board, which declined to comment on t...

Before a North Dakota lawmaker was killed in Utah plane crash, he told his sister: ‘Stay safe’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota lawmaker who had flown to Arizona to be part of his sister’s sendoff before she deployed overseas gave the woman a hug and told her to “stay safe.”Hours later, state Sen. Doug Larsen, his wife, and their two young sons were killed on their way home when the single-engine Piper Cherokee he was flying crashed in Utah on Sunday after a refueling stop.Peggy Steimel said it was the first time Larsen, of Mandan, and his family had flown the plane to visit her in Scottsdale, Arizona. She said her brother made the trip so he could be part of her sendoff before she deployed for about a year overseas with the Arizona National Guard.Larsen had been a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the North Dakota National Guard, and Steimel tearfully recalled their final conversation and the advice her older brother gave her.“He gave me a hug and we said we loved each other — and said, ‘Stay safe.’”Larsen, his wife, Amy, and the two boys died later Sunday when his plane cr...

Greek police arrest 2 in connection with gangland car ambush that left 6 Turks dead

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Two Turkish men have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the fatal gangland shooting of six other Turks in Greece last month, Greek authorities said Wednesday.Police said the six men killed in a Sept. 11 car ambush outside Athens were believed to have been members of an international crime group and had made a brief stop in Greece en route to Turkey.Mass shootings of that kind are practically unheard of in Greece, and authorities had from the outset suspected a connection with foreign-based criminal organizations.A police statement said one of the two detained suspects had made arrangements for the victims’ stay in Greece and travel plans to Turkey but allegedly led them into the fatal ambush in the seaside town of Artemida. The six were attacked in their car as they drove to the Athens airport, and police said the killers finished them off with shots to the head fired at closed range.Artemida is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Athens and ...

Larry's list of No. 1 songs from 1988

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

CHICAGO — We decided to take a trip back in time for "The List" on Wednesday morning - 35 years to be exact. Larry Potash took a look back at some of the big hits back in 1988 and compiled some of his favorites. That event included a look back at a more recent WGN Morning News moment that featured the artists of one of these tunes. So which of these hits did Larry choose for the "The List" on Wednesday?You can watch the entire segment from the October 4 show in the video above.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

Win the Powerball jackpot? Think twice before taking the cash

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:41:22 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — The Powerball jackpot has grown again, reaching an estimated $1.2 billion ahead of the next drawing. That makes it the third-largest Powerball jackpot on record, and the seventh-largest lottery prize in U.S. history. If you’re lucky enough to beat the overwhelmingly challenging odds of winning the jackpot — 1 in 292.2 million — there are a number of steps experts suggest following. That includes building your team — a financial advisor, a tax advisor, and a lawyer are highly recommended — and keeping the ticket secure. Once you’re ultimately ready to come forward and claim your prize, you’ll have a big decision to make: take the annuity option or a lump sum payment. The first is represented by the estimated $1.2 billion while the second is the cash value, currently listed as $551.7 million. These are the best, worst states to win the lottery in The cash option serves as the amount of money Powerball officials have determined is necessary to fund the annu...