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Biden calls reports of Hamas raping Israeli hostages ‘appalling,’ says world can’t look away

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday forcefully denounced the reported rape and sexual violence against Israeli girls and women by Hamas militants following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, calling on the world to condemn such conduct “without equivocation” and “without exception.”Speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Boston, Biden noted that in recent weeks, female survivors and witnesses to the attacks have shared “horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty.”“Reports of women raped — repeatedly raped — and their bodies being mutilated while still alive — of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them,” Biden said. “It is appalling.”Israel has said it is investigating several cases of sexual assault and rape from the Hamas attack on Israel. Witnesses and medical experts have said that Hamas militants committed a series of rapes and other attacks before killing the victims in the Oct....

Meet the candidates vying to be the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

OTTAWA — The Assembly of First Nations is set to elect a new national chief this week during a three-day special assembly in Ottawa.The contest comes after the dramatic ouster of former national chief RoseAnne Archibald, who was voted out after colleagues accused her of creating a toxic work environment, an allegation she has denied.After candidates plead their case one last time on Tuesday evening at an all-candidates forum, chiefs or their proxies from more than 600 member First Nations will elect the next national chief on Wednesday. Here are the six candidates competing to be the assembly’s chief advocate. Reginald Bellerose: Bellerose, who is the chair of the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority and the Saskatchewan Indian Training Assessment Group, is hoping to secure the top job after an unsuccessful attempt in the last election. He wants to build generational wealth in communities, strengthen nation-to-nation relationships and to close the gap with northern and remote ...

B.C. says 578 foreign-educated nurses registered in 2023, doubling intake

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

VANCOUVER — The number of foreign-educated nurses newly registered in British Columbia this year has more than doubled from last year, as the province makes progress on a $1-billion, multi-year plan to attract more health-care workers.The first yearly update on B.C.’s health human resources strategy says 578 internationally educated nurses became fully registered in the province in 2023.The province says “thousands” more international nurses are working toward getting registered and will be getting the required clinical experience next year.The update says the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives has registered 6,258 new nurses this year, including registered nurses and nurse practitioners, and has seen an increase of more than 14,000 net new nurse registrants since 2017.It says 666 international medical graduates were registered with the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons this year.The government says its focuses next year will include expanding the pool of tr...

Florida man, already facing death for a 1998 murder, now indicted for a 2nd. Detectives fear others

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A convicted murderer already on Florida’s death row for the 1998 slaying of one woman is now charged with a second killing that happened two weeks later, with investigators believing he may be tied to even more deaths. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that former mortician Lucious Boyd, 64, has been indicted for the murder of 41-year-old Eileen Truppner, a mother of two, a former businesswoman and native of Puerto Rico whose body was found along a highway west of Fort Lauderdale in December 1998. He is already facing execution for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 21-year-old nursing student Dawnia Dacosta earlier that month. Sheriff Gregory Tony, Detective Zack Scott and Capt. John Brown said that Truppner’s body had been unidentified until earlier this year when its DNA was matched to her family. DNA testing of evidence left by the killer matched Boyd, they said. “For 20 some years, there had been no justice, no ...

Regulator denies Trans Mountain’s pipeline variance request

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

CALGARY — The Canada Energy Regulator has denied a request by Trans Mountain Corp. for a variance on a section of pipeline in B.C.The Crown corporation had previously warned that if its request for a variance wasn’t granted, it may not be able to complete the Trans Mountain expansion project in time for an anticipated first-quarter 2024 start date.Trans Mountain Corp. had said it had run into construction issues in B.C. that would require it to use a different diameter, wall thickness and coating for a 2,300 metre section of pipeline.At a recent oral hearing, Trans Mountain Corp. said that being denied the variance could add an additional 55 to 60 days to the project’s construction schedule.The Canada Energy Regulator says it will issue its reasons for denying the variance at a later date.Several oil shippers who use the Trans Mountain pipeline had expressed concerns about the possibility of a potential delay in the pipeline’s start date.This report by The Canadian...

El Salvador is seeing worst rights abuses since 1980-1992 civil war, Amnesty reports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador is experiencing one of the worst human rights crises since the country’s 1980-1992 civil war, because of President Nayib Bukele ’s harsh anti-gang crackdown, Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday.The rights group claimed that the almost 74,000 people jailed in the crackdown were subjected to “systematic use of torture and other mistreatment.”“The deterioration in human rights that we have documented in recent years is extremely worrisome,” said Ana Piquer, the Americas director for Amnesty International. “The adoption of a highly repressive security policy and the weakening of the rule of law has led the country to one of its worst crises since the civil war,” Piquer said, referring to the 1980s conflict between leftist guerrillas and government forces that left 75,000 dead.The group based its report on 83 interviews in El Salvador, including victims of abuses.The Associated Press interviewed two former inmates who were ...

Attorneys for family of absolved Black man killed by deputy seeking $16M from Georgia sheriff

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

WOODBINE, Ga. (AP) — Attorneys for the family of a Black man fatally shot by a Georgia deputy during an October traffic stop have given formal notice of plans to sue the sheriff’s office in a letter demanding $16 million in restitution.Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels told reporters Tuesday that the sum represents $1 million for every year Leonard Cure spent imprisoned in Florida on a wrongful conviction. He was killed just three years after Florida authorities set him free.“Everything was going right for Leonard, things were looking up, until he had this encounter with this sheriff’s deputy,” Crump said during a news conference with members of Cure’s family.Camden County Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge killed 53-year-old Cure during a violent struggle on the shoulder of Interstate 95 after pulling him over for speeding and reckless driving.Dash and body camera video of the Oct. 16 shooting show Aldridge shocking Cure with a Taser after he refused to put his h...

Bridgeport mayor says supporters broke law by mishandling ballots but he had nothing to do with it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

The mayor of Connecticut’s largest city said Tuesday that he believes his supporters broke the law while handling absentee ballots and he doesn’t plan on appealing a judge’s decision to toss out the results of a Democratic primary and possibly rerun the general election.Speaking in a radio interview, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim denied having anything to do with rule-breaking during the Sept. 12 primary, in which some backers of his campaign were recorded on surveillance videos stuffing multiple absentee ballots into outdoor collection boxes.“I’m embarrassed and I’m sorry for what happened with the campaign. Granted, I had no knowledge of what was going on,” Ganim said on the Lisa Wexler Show on WICC 600AM. He acknowledged that “there were people in the campaign that violated, you know, the election laws, as the judge clearly saw from the evidence.”Ganim called on state elections officials to do more to curb potential absentee ballot abuse. He also claimed that the v...

Man charged with murder in Philadelphia store stabbing that killed security guard, wounded another

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man accused of stabbing two security guards who stopped him from stealing merchandise from a department store in Philadelphia — killing one and critically injuring the other — has been charged with murder and several other counts, prosecutors said Tuesday.Tyrone Tunnell, 30, was being held without bail and a preliminary hearing in his case will be held within two weeks. It was not known if he has an attorney. The prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email or voicemail seeking further information.The stabbings occurred around 11 a.m. Monday at a Macy’s store. Police said the security guards — Eric Harrison, 27, of Frankford, and Christian Mitchell, 23 — saw Tunnell attempting to steal some hats and took back the merchandise.Tunnel then left the store but returned a short time later armed with a knife, authorities said. He confronted Harrison and stabbed him in the neck, and stabbed Mitchell in the face and arm when the guard tried to ...

Duelling housing messages showcase different Conservative, Liberal strategies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:49 GMT

OTTAWA — Every week now for more than a month, cabinet ministers have been appearing in front of cameras on Parliament Hill in an effort to convince Canadians that the Liberal government has the housing crisis in hand. Ever since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s summer cabinet shuffle, they’ve been scrambling to be seen making the cost of living a top priority, hoping to catch up to the runaway Conservatives on the issue of affordability. Like clockwork, Housing Minister Sean Fraser appeared Tuesday alongside Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, this time to announce millions in spending to build or upgrade thousands of co-operative homes. The Conservatives, meanwhile, have been racking up the clicks, views and shares with a slick 15-minute explainer video, complete with graphs, news segments and narration from none other than leader Pierre Poilievre. Welcome to the main event of Canadian politics: the battle to become the party voters can trust to confront one of the...