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Prosecutors seek to bar Trump from injecting politics into federal election interference trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge on Wednesday to bar Donald Trump’s lawyers from injecting politics into the former president’s trial on charges that he schemed to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Smith’s office told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in a 20-page filing that Trump’s lawyers should be prevented from “raising irrelevant political issues or arguments in front of the jury,” including that the prosecution against him is vindictive and selective or was coordinated by President Joe Biden.“In addition to being wrong, these allegations are irrelevant to the jury’s determination of the defendant’s guilt or innocence, would be prejudicial if presented to the jury, and must be excluded,” prosecutors wrote.The motion to preclude Trump from introducing broad categories of arguments is a way for prosecutors to try to set parameters on what information they believe the jury should, or should not, hear when the case reaches ...

Toronto man facing charges after 3 alleged attempted car jackings in Ajax

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

A Toronto man is facing several charges in connection to car jackings in Ajax. Durham police say they received a call about a stolen vehicle in progress in the area of Bayly Street West and Kitney Drive. It’s alleged a man approached the victim after he returned to his vehicle in the parking lot of a local business. The suspect demanded the victim exit the vehicle and allegedly gestured that he had a weapon. The man then allegedly fled the area in the victim’s vehicle before colliding with a tree.The suspect then attempted to car jack another driver who had stopped to offer help after seeing the collision. The man was unsuccessful and then fled on foot. He was eventually arrested after officers set up a perimeter and the suspect unsuccessfully tried to attempt to car jack another vehicle from a third victim whose car was in a residential driveway. The man sustained minor injuries and was transporting to hospital.Ricardo Newell, 20, is facing 17 charges including robbery,...

The Golden Globes: How to watch, who’s hosting and other key things to know

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The Golden Globe Awards are back on the first Sunday in January with plenty of behind-the-scenes changes aimed at cementing a yearslong comeback effort.The show is known for its boozy celebration of film and television and as an early stop for awards season contenders. Scandals have led to a membership revamp and a new broadcaster for the Jan. 7 show, but a key question remains: Will viewers tune in?Here’s what to know about the 81st Golden Globe Awards.HOW CAN I WATCH THE GOLDEN GLOBES?Viewers in the United States can catch the ceremony, broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. It will air beginning at 5 p.m. on the West Coast.The three-hour show will have a strong lead-in since CBS is airing an NFL game directly before the Globes.CBS says the show will air on its app and stream on Paramount+, but there’s an important caveat. Only Paramount+ subscribers with the Showtime add-on will be able to watch the show...

Trump says he didn’t know his immigration rhetoric echoes Hitler. That’s part of a broader pattern

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has centered his unlikely rise from reality television star to onetime — and potentially future — president on the idea that he’s wiser than Washington’s bumbling political class, once going so far as to label himself a “very stable genius.”But when it comes to one of history’s darkest moments, Trump is professing ignorance.Facing criticism for repeatedly harnessing rhetoric once used by Adolf Hitler to argue that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump insisted he had no idea that one of the world’s most reviled and infamous figures once used similar words. The Nazi dictator spoke of impure Jewish blood “poisoning” Aryan German blood to dehumanize Jews and justify the systemic murder of millions during the Holocaust.“I never knew that Hitler said it,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday, volunteering once again that he never read Hitler’s biographical manifesto, “Mein Kampf.”“I know not...

Swimming sensation Summer McIntosh voted CP female athlete of the year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

Summer McIntosh’s continued assault on the international swimming podium in 2023 made her The Canadian Press female athlete of the year.“I’m very honoured to have it and it’s just really cool,” McIntosh said of the award.A talent for swimming fast combined with poise beyond her years has the Toronto teenager tracking for a monstrous 2024.A couple weeks shy of her 17th birthday, McIntosh defended her world titles in the 200-metre butterfly and 400-metre individual medley in Fukuoka, Japan, to become a double world champion in back-to-back years.“What I’m most proud of is just how much I’ve learned about myself and kind of how much I’ve gained from each experience,” McIntosh said.“Going into big meets like a world championship, I don’t really have exact expectations of myself especially when it comes to placement or medals, but I definitely tried to just reach my full potential in each one of my races and I think ...

Man arrested in Morocco connected to bomb threats in Ontario: OPP

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) confirmed the man arrested in Morocco in November for his alleged involvement in a series of bomb threats made in Belgium is also facing charges for similar threats across Ontario.El Hachm El Moussi, 45, of Casablanca, Morocco, has been charged with two counts of uttering threats, two counts of mischief and two counts of extortion.On Nov. 1, Kipling Collegiate Institute, Lakeshore Collegiate Institute and Western Technical Commercial School were evacuated for bomb threats, and students were sent home for the day before a sweep of the schools revealed no threat.OPP said the threats also included a demand for money in exchange for details about the alleged explosives, but no actual explosives were ever found.Multiple schools and other public facilities received threatening messages from an unknown individual, indicating that bombs had been placed at their locations.On Nov. 30, Belgian police arrested El Moussi in Morocco in connection with a s...

Occupancy rates surging at Quebec emergency rooms after dropping earlier this month

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

MONTREAL — Occupancy rates in Quebec’s emergency rooms are shooting up again after a small period of reprieve that began Dec. 19. Website Index Santé shows the average ER occupancy rate at six a.m. was 112 per cent, up from 95 per cent the previous day. Eight of Quebec’s regions showed a rate of over 100 per cent, including Montreal at 118 per cent, the Laurentians at 148 per cent, and 138 per cent in Lanaudière.The situation was slightly better in Quebec City and Chaudière-Appalaches, where rates ranged between 92 and 96 per cent as of this morning, as well as in Estrie and the North Shore, which showed 96 and 80 per cent occupancy.The average wait time on Tuesday was a little over four and a half hours, but that rose to 15 hours and 40 minutes for people waiting on stretchers. Last week the province’s health minister asked Quebecers to avoid ERs, noting that a large percentage of people who go for a consult there don’t have an urgent health problem. This re...

Was 2023 a tipping point for movies? ‘Barbie’ success and Marvel struggles may signal a shift

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Eight years ago, Steven Spielberg predicted that the superhero movie would one day go “the way of the Western.”Spielberg’s comments caused a widespread stir at the time. “Avengers: The Age of Ultron” was then one of the year’s biggest movies. The following year would bring “Captain America: Civil War,” “Deadpool” and “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” The superhero movie was in high gear, and showing no signs of slowing down.But Spielberg’s point was that nothing is forever in the movie business. These cycles, Spielberg said, “have a finite time in popular culture.” And the maker of “E.T.,” “Jurassic Park” and “Jaws” might know a thing or two about the ebbs and flows of pop-culture taste.As 2023 draws to a close, no one is sounding the death knell of the superhero movie. The Walt Disney Co.’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” made $845.6 million worldwide and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” ($691 million) was one of the most acclaimed film...

Cargojet renews shipping partnership with Canadian North airline

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

Cargojet Inc. says it has renewed a partnership with Arctic-focused airline Canadian North to deliver cargo to the region.Mississauga, Ont. based Cargojet says that under the deal, it will be the exclusive provider for air cargo from Winnipeg and Ottawa to Iqaluit, while Canadian North will continue to distribute shipments across Canada’s Arctic.It says the deal aims to increase shipping capacity to the region, and builds upon Canadian North’s recently-announced plans to double the size of its cargo facility in Ottawa by 2026.The five-year deal marks a continuation of a partnership between the two companies that has being going for more than 22 years.Canadian North is a fully Inuit-owned airline that in early December named Shelly De Caria as its first Inuk president and chief executive.Cargojet is also undergoing a leadership change starting Jan. 1, 2024, when current chief corporate officer Pauline Dhillon and chief strategy officer Jamie Porteous will be appointed co-...

The New York Times sues OpenAI, Microsoft over use of its stories used to train chatbots

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times has filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, seeking to end the practice of using its stories to train chatbots. In the suit filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, the Times said OpenAI and Microsoft are advancing their technology through the “unlawful use of The Times’s work to create artificial intelligence products that compete with it” and “threatens The Times’s ability to provide that service.” OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Media organizations have been pummeled by a migration of readers to online platforms and while many publications have carved out a digital space online as well, artificial intelligence technology has threatened to upend numerous industries, including media. Artificial intelligence companies scrape information available online, including articles published by media organizations, to train generative AI chatbots. Those companies ha...