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UK police open sexual offenses investigation after allegations about Russell Brand

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

By JILL LAWLESS (Associated Press)LONDON (AP) — British police have opened a sex crimes investigation triggered by news reports about comedian Russell Brand.London’s Metropolitan Police force said Monday that it had “received a number of allegations of sexual offences” after a television documentary and newspaper investigations. It said there have been no arrests.Brand, 48, denies allegations of sexual assault made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary and The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The accusers, who have not been named, include one who said she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with him when she was 16. Another woman says Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.The police force did not name Brand in its statement, but referred to the recent articles and documentary. It said detectives were investigating allegations of “non-recent” sexual offenses, both in London and elsewhere.“We continue to encourage any...

Woman stabbed in Vista; pursuit ends in suspect arrest

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

VISTA, Calif. -- A woman was stabbed Sunday night in Vista, and deputies arrested the suspect after a pursuit, authorities said.San Diego County Sheriff's Department received a call around 10:20 p.m. about a stabbing near Phillips Street and Civic Center Drive, near a SPRINTER station, the department said. The girl, who had been stabbed two to three times in her upper body, was taken to a hospital where she remained in stable condition Monday. Driver killed in North County rollover crash A deputy spotted a driver matching the suspect's description on a street in Vista, authorities said. A pursuit began but quickly ended when the driver crashed while attempting to get on state Route 76, authorities said. The driver got out of the car and ran, but was captured and arrested with the help of a K-9.The suspect was taken to a hospital and was then sent to Juvenile Hall, authorities said.It was not immediately known whether the suspect and victim knew each other.

At least 3 people are killed and 15 are missing in a landslide in Guatemala

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Heavy rains set off a landslide in Guatemala’s capital early Monday sweeping several humble homes into a river and leaving three people dead and at least 15 people missing, including 10 minors.Guatemala’s National Disaster Reduction Coordinator confirmed the three dead, including a young girl, in a statement Monday.The 5-year-old girl was recovered by firefighters partially buried in debris and mud some 3 miles (5 kilometers) down the Naranjo river.The landslide swept away six homes and the families who lived in them around 2 a.m. Around 5 a.m. the firefighters announced they would start a search.Landslides are a constant threat during Guatemala’s rainy season, which extends to November. There are few controls on where people build their homes, especially in poor settlements, putting them at greater risk.Images provided by rescuers showed a long path of the landslide and evidence of domestic life strewn along the river bank. The military set up a command ...

NDP, Bloc say Speaker should resign after honouring man who fought for Nazis

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it is deeply embarrassing to Parliament to all Canadians that the Speaker of the House of Commons invited a man who fought for the Nazis to attend a speech by the Ukrainian president. Trudeau says Speaker Anthony Rota has acknowledged his mistake.But that’s not enough for the New Democrats and Bloc Québécois, who are calling for Rota’s resignation. Both opposition parties say he has lost the confidence of the House.But the Conservative Party is placing the blame on the Prime Minister’s Office, saying the government has a responsibility to vet guests at high-profile events. Rota said in the House this morning that he alone was responsible for inviting and recognizing Yaroslav Hunka, who fought for the First Ukrainian Division in the Second World War, at an address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last Friday.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2023.The Canadian Press

France’s Macron unveils latest plan for meeting climate-related commitments in the coming years

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

PARIS (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron on Monday unveiled plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the country’s climate-related commitments within the next seven years, including via reducing dependency on fossil fuels and boosting electric car use.Macron said France’s goal to reduce its emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, in line with a European Union target, is “attainable,” after holding a special government meeting.To get there, he said, the country must go more than twice as fast as before. “We need to succeed in reducing emissions by 5% per year over the period 2022-2030” — to compare with a 2% reduction per year over the past five years, Macron said.“This whole strategy will enable us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, essentially coal, oil and gas… from 60% to 40% by 2030,” he added.Macron confirmed that the country’s two remaining coal-burning plants would cease operating and be converted to biomass energy, ...

Perinatal and child registry data breach affects health info of 3 million Ontarians

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

An Ontario agency that collects data on pregnancies and births in the province says a cybersecurity breach earlier this year resulted in a leak of personal health information of approximately 3.4 million people.The Better Outcomes Registry and Network Ontario (BORN) said Monday that the breach in May resulted in information leaked largely regarding approximately 1.4 million people seeking pregnancy care and 1.9 million newborns born in the province.The leak was the result of an international breach of file transfer software MOVEit, which the perinatal and child registry said it used to send information to authorized care and research partners.“As a result of the incident, unauthorized parties were able to copy certain files from one of BORN’s servers,” BORN Ontario, which is funded by the Ministry of Health, wrote in a news release.“Data in the copied files included personal health information collected from primarily Ontario fertility, pregnancy, and child h...

Former New Zealand prime minister and pandemic prep leader says we’re unprepared for the next one

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — If another pandemic happens, the world will again be unprepared.That’s the bleak assessment of former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, who co-chaired the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, after the U.N. General Assembly held a high-level summit aimed at heading off another pandemic. The upshot: Have another meeting. Other pandemic experts who tracked months of negotiations on the 13-page declaration adopted by the assembly’s 193 member nations were disappointed, too.“I think it’s fair to say that the declaration is a missed opportunity,” Clark said in an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the General Assembly’s high-level leaders’ meeting. “It has many pages and paragraphs and only one firm commitment and that is to hold another high-level meeting in three years’ time.”Clark who addressed last week’s summit, is the newest member of the group of former world leaders founded by the late Nelson Mandel...

Montreal man visited Toronto Zoo in between killing spree, coroner’s inquest hears

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

MONTREAL — A coroner’s inquest heard Monday that a man killed two people at random in Montreal in August 2022, then travelled to Ontario to visit the Toronto Zoo and Canada’s Wonderland before returning to Quebec to murder again.Police identified Abdulla Shaikh, 26, from video at the Ontario amusement parks, and receipts from the venues were found in his car, provincial police investigator Alexandra Caron Vadbonecoeur told the inquest.Shaikh killed three people in the Montreal area at random within a 24-hour period before police tracked him down and shot him dead, the inquest heard Monday. Coroner Géhane Kamel is presiding over the inquiry into the murders of André Lemieux, Mohamed Belhaj, Alex Lévis-Crevier and the police killing of the 26-year-old suspect.Kamel said in her opening statement that the hearings will shed light on the deaths and produce recommendations to help prevent similar murders from occurring.Caron Vadbonecoeur testified that there were no links betw...

A judge has rewritten Missouri ballot summary language that described ‘dangerous’ abortions

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge tossed Republican-written ballot summary language Monday that described several proposed constitutional amendments as allowing “dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth.”Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem rewrote the ballot summary to describe the language as establishing the “right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraception,” as well as undoing the state’s almost total ban on abortions. In Missouri, summaries are provided to voters on ballots to help quickly explain sometimes lengthy and complicated proposals. The office of Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, which wrote the summaries, plans to appeal.“We will not stand idly by while the courts hide the effects of this amendment and mislead the people as to what they may very well be voting on next year,” spokesperson JoDonn Chaney said. Ashcroft is running for governor in 2024.Missouri is among several states, including Ohio, wh...

Journalist killed in attack aimed at police in northern Mexico border town

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:32 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A journalist who ran a community Facebook news page was killed in the northern Mexico border town of San Luis Rio Colorado on Monday, when he was apparently caught in the cross-fire of an attack aimed at police. Jesús Gutiérrez ran Notiface Prensa Digital De San Luis, a Facebook page that included recommendations for local businesses as well as local news stories. Notiface confirmed his death, writing in a tribute “we think they killed the best journalist.”Prosecutors in the northern border state of Sonora said Gutiérrez was talking with the police officers, who were his neighbors, when they were hit by a hail of gunfire, killing one policeman and wounding the other three. They said Gutiérrez’ death was “collateral” to the attack on the police. San Luis Rio Colorado, located across from Yuma, Arizona, is best known as a border town where Americans go for inexpensive prescriptions and dental work. But it has increasingly been hit by drug cartel violence. At least t...