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Man charged in suspected hate crime following rally in Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

Toronto police are investigating a suspected hate crime and have charged a man with assault following a rally held in the city’s downtown core over the weekend.Authorities were called to the Yonge Street and Davenport Road area on Sunday, Nov. 5, for reports of violent behaviour.It’s alleged the victim was in the area of a demonstration near Yonge Street and Bloor Street and had a keffiyeh around his arm. A keffiyeh is a traditional headdress worn by men from parts of the Middle East, and the black and white chequered keffiyeh has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. Police said the victim and accused became involved in a verbal dispute, leading to the accused assaulting the victim by spraying them with a substance believed to be pepper spray. The victim suffered minor injuries. Police confirmed the investigation is being treated as a suspected hate-motivated offence.Investigators charged 36-year-old Brandon Stier with assault with a weapon. He&...

Significant update on Pathways Alliance project coming soon: MEG Energy CEO

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

CALGARY — The CEO of one of the oilsands companies behind the Pathways Alliance says the group expects to provide a significant update on its proposed $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage project within the next couple of months.Derek Evans, chief executive of MEG Energy, made the comments on a conference call with analysts discussing the company’s third-quarter financial results.MEG is one of six oilsands companies that have formed the Pathways consortium with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from oilsands production to net-zero by 2050.The companies have proposed jointly investing in the construction of what would be one of the largest carbon capture projects in the world. The project would take the form of a massive pipeline built to transport carbon from 20 separate carbon capture facilities at oilsands sites in northern Alberta to an underground hub near Cold Lake for safe storage.The proposed project would sequester up to 10 to 12 million tonnes of harmf...

Music Review: Todd Snider’s great ‘Crank It, We’re Doomed’ finally arrives after 16 years in the can

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

A singer-songwriter with the persona of a fried folkie can be expected to work at a poky pace, as is the case of Todd Snider. His “Crank It, We’re Doomed” album has been a long time coming, despite the urgency of its title.Snider recorded the 15-song album in 2007 before shelving it. Much of the material subsequently surfaced elsewhere and will be familiar to fans when “Doomed” is finally released Friday.Even so, it ranks among Snider’s strongest collections. Four songs have never been released before, including the bluesy stomper “Juice” and “What Made You Do It,” a marvel of cool jazz that evokes Tom Waits singing to Billy Joe Shaver.Other highlights include a brief star turn by Kris Kristofferson on “Good Fortune” and Snider’s duet with Loretta Lynn on “Don’t Tempt Me,” which they co-wrote. “Anyone can see you’re stoned as a rock,” she sings.These garage-folk versions of tunes, available elsewhere, are often significantly different. “Mercer’s Folly” combines the words for one lat...

How Lebanon’s Hezbollah group became a critical player in the Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — When the Lebanese militia Hezbollah announced last week that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, would deliver his first public speech since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, much of the region held its breath.Would Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the Arab world’s most powerful paramilitary force, continue its limited exchanges of fire with Israel or throw itself wholeheartedly into the war? In Lebanon, streets emptied as people sat glued to their screens to watch, ready to parse his words along with decision-makers in Israel and across the Mideast.Hezbollah has traded fire with Israeli troops along the border since the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack in southern Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip. Both sides have suffered casualties, but the fear is that the conflict will escalate and spiral into a regional fight.Nasrallah nodded to those concerns in his speech Friday. “Some say I’m going to announce that we have entered the battle,” he said. “We already enter...

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to share stage with former Fox host Tucker Carlson

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

CALGARY — A right-wing news commentator is to have a conversation with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in January when he’s scheduled to speak in Calgary.Tucker Carlson, who was fired by Fox News in April, is to appear at the Telus Convention Centre on Jan. 24.An itinerary posted on Carlson’s website says he will make remarks and have a conversation with Smith.The premier’s office says in a statement that Smith participates in a variety of public and private events, and does interviews with people from across the political spectrum.It adds that she doesn’t subscribe to every view of every interviewer or reporter.Opposition NDP members of the legislature say the premier shouldn’t give time to such a divisive personality.“Tucker Carlson is a pro-Putin white nationalist, so naturally Danielle Smith is scheduled to help him promote his event in Calgary in January,” finance critic Shannon Phillips wrote on the social media platform X, formerly kno...

Chile president calls for referendum on new constitution proposal drafted by conservative councilors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chilean President Gabriel Boric on Tuesday received the new Constitution draft and called for a national plebiscite next month so citizens can decide whether the new charter will replace the country’s dictatorship-era constitution.Chileans, who in September of last year resoundingly rejected a proposed Constitution that had been written by a left-leaning convention, will decide on Dec. 17 whether to accept the new document that was largely written by conservative councilors.“The definitive time for citizens has begun, and now it is their voice and their decision that truly matter,” Boric said during a formal ceremony in Congress to formally deliver the document and sign the decree that calls for the vote.After Chileans rejected the proposal for what many characterized as one of the world’s most progressive constitutions, they must now decide whether to vote for a document that some warn goes to the other extreme.One of the most controversial articles in the pr...

Biden administration says colleges must fight ‘alarming rise’ in antisemitism and Islamophobia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is warning U.S. schools and colleges that they must take immediate action to stop antisemitism and Islamophobia on their campuses, citing an “alarming rise” in threats and harassment.In a Tuesday letter, the Education Department said there’s “renewed urgency” to fight discrimination against students during the Israel-Hamas war. The letter reminds schools of their legal duty to protect students and intervene to stop harassment that disrupts their education.“Hate-based discrimination, including based on antisemitism and Islamophobia among other bases, have no place in our nation’s schools,” wrote Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the department.Universities have faced mounting criticism over their response to the war and its reverberations at U.S. schools. Jewish and Muslim students on many campuses say too little is being done to keep them safe. Protests have sometimes turned violent including at a recent dem...

DeSantis argues Iowa governor’s support may help him stop Trump and he labels his rivals as spoilers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ’ senior advisers are outlining a difficult path to the Republican presidential nomination that can succeed only by first denying former President Donald Trump “a big win” in Iowa, where the DeSantis campaign is promising to leverage the “vast statewide political operation” of his newest major endorser, Gov. Kim Reynolds.The memo, distributed late Monday to the campaign’s national donor network and to another group of uncommitted billionaires known as the American Opportunity Alliance, argues that other Republican candidates, including former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, are at best spoilers. Instead of cementing his place as Trump’s chief rival as many expected when he entered the race, DeSantis is locked in a distant second place in Iowa with Haley, who is gaining more interest from donors and voters heading into Wednesday’s third GOP debate. The memo, shared with The Associated Press, pointed to Reynolds’ surp...

Clerk denies tampering or influencing jury that found Alex Murdaugh guilty of murder

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The clerk of court accused of tampering with the South Carolina jury that found Alex Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder denied asking jurors if they thought he was guilty before deliberations or suggesting she thought he killed his wife and son.The sworn statement from Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill was filed Tuesday by prosecutors telling a judge there is no need to hold a hearing where jurors, Hill, other court employees and even the trial judge could be questioned under oath and their messages and texts subpoenaed.Defense attorneys said Murdaugh deserves a new trial because of Hill’s alleged actions. Murdaugh’s six-week murder trial, which concluded in March, became a sensation with its mix of privilege, brutality and power. The judges, lawyers and Hill herself all became minor celebrities.On Tuesday, prosecutors included statements from nine jurors and an alternate nearly contradicting what four jurors, one dismissed before deliberat...

Jury selection in Burke federal trial moving slowly

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:53 GMT

CHICAGO — With the judge hoping it would be wrapped up by the end of Tuesday, the jury selection process in Ed Burke's federal corruption trial appears to be moving slowly.At the speed things are going, opening statements may not start until Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.Former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke walked into the Dirksen Federal Building by himself on Tuesday morning for day two of jury selection.He is facing 14 counts of racketeering, bribery and extortion. Burke’s co-defendants are Peter Andrews, a longtime political aide, and Charles Cui, a real estate developer.So far on Tuesday, only a handful of potential jurors have been questioned with Burke listened in seated at the center table.He is specifically accused of withholding city permits to strong arm developers and businesses into using his private law firm — which handled tax appeals. Previous: Jury selection underway in Ed Burke corruption trial It’s been nearly five years since the FBI raided Burke’s offices in...