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Highlights of Trump’s hours on the witness stand at New York civil fraud trial

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump went off. Again and again. Making the witness stand at his New York civil trial his podium, the former president laid into the presiding judge and the state attorney general who sued him.During 3 1/2 hours of testimony on Monday, the Republican denied Attorney General Letitia James’ allegations that he duped banks by exaggerating his wealth on financial statements used to make deals and secure loans.“There was no victim. There was no anything,” he said.He bragged about his riches, saying he has “a lot of cash” and described one of the grown sons he put in charge of his company as a “hard working boy.” He said of his priorities while president: “My threshold was China, Russia and keeping our country safe.”Trump’s often verbose responses — replete with anecdotes about development projects, the intricacies of property valuations and complaints that he was a victim of a “political witch hunt” — led a frustrated Judge Arthur Engo...

Florida House passes measures to support Israel, condemn Hamas

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida House passed measures during a special session Tuesday to help secure Jewish institutions and other places that could be targets of hate crimes, express support for Israel and further sanction companies that do business in Iran.Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to tout the measures as he campaigns for president. And though the bills were mostly symbolic, there was one lone attempt seeking lawmaker support for calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. That was angrily shot down by Democrats and Republicans alike.“The fight is not just over there, but the fight is right here at home,” Rep. Randy Fine, the only Jewish Republican in the House, said as he introduced a resolution condemning Hamas and supporting Israel. “Every person that walks through a college campus or marches through the street saying, ‘Kill the Jews,’ is an extension of what we’re seeing over there.”The resolution passed on a 103-3 vote.The House also passed a bill to ...

SIU investigating death of man after he was bitten by OPP police dog

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is probing the death of a 45-year-old man after he was bitten by a police dog during an arrest in Midland.Police first encountered the man on October 13 after officers responded to a gun-related call involving two men in Midland.“One man fled and an OPP police service dog located and bit the man,” the SIU said in a release Tuesday.Police say the man died on November 5 in hospital. An autopsy is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.No further information was released.The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of police that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person.

Judge tells Ibrahim Ali jury to disregard testimony of Crown witness who died

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

VANCOUVER — The judge in the first-degree murder trial of Ibrahim Ali, who is accused of killing a Burnaby, B.C., teenager six years ago, has told the jury to completely disregard the testimony of a witness who died before the end of her cross-examination.Dr. Tracy Pickett, a sexual assault expert called by the Crown, had not finished testifying when she was found dead on Sept. 28.Justice Lance Bernard has instructed the jury to disregard Pickett’s testimony and to resist all speculation or research into her death.He says Pickett’s unexpected death significantly curtailed cross-examination by defence lawyers and his instructions to the jury recognize the importance of cross-examination as a cornerstone of the adversarial justice system.Bernard told the jury that Pickett’s death and its circumstances are not relevant to their deliberations and the trial will continue in B.C. Supreme Court as though she had never testified.Ali has pleaded not guilty to first-degree m...

Waterfront Toronto takes Mayor Chow on tour of area from Lake Ontario

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

The ongoing development of the waterfront was centre stage Tuesday with Waterfront Toronto and George Brown College hosting Mayor Olivia Chow and others on a boat to discuss what’s happening right now and what’s still badly needed. “There was never a big federal or provincial plan for the Waterfront to the east. And you can really see the difference. So as we take this tour, you’re gonna see a much less evolved part of the waterfront that is really turning into this city within a city as we move along,” said Chris Glaisek, Chief Planning and Design Officer at Waterfront Toronto Those on board the boat were asked to envision what is now the empty land and condos now under construction as future communities in Quayside and Villiers Island. “One hundred and 30 thousand new people, 75,000 new homes 50,000 new employees all coming in the future, mixed-use, mixed income and with parks and public spaces and employees to celebrate,” said Joe Cressy, former City...

World Series 9-inning games averaged 3 hours, 1 minute – fastest since 1996

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — If you think the World Series sped by, it did.Nine-inning games averaged 3 hours, 1 minute, the fastest since 1996, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The first postseason of the pitch clock also included defensive shift limits and larger bases, leading to increased stolen bases and appearing to contribute to higher batting averages.“From what I’ve heard of people that pay attention to our games, it’s really more interactive and the pitch clock is good for baseball,” said first baseman Nathaniel Lowe of World Series champion Texas.Postseason nine-inning games overall averaged 3:02, down from 3:23 last year and 3:37 in 2021, the last season before the PitchCom electronic pitch-calling device. That mirrored a regular season with an average game time of 2:40, the lowest since 1985.Just one postseason game topped 4 hours, when the Rangers beat Arizona in an 11-inning World Series opener. Six of 40 postseason games exceeded 4 hours in 2022. Three World Series games end...

Blue diamond sells for more than $44 million at Christie’s auction in Geneva

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The largest fancy vivid blue diamond to ever come to auction sold Tuesday for more than $44 million, far outstripping the pre-sale estimate, Christie’s said.The “Bleu Royal” — a ring featuring a fancy vivid blue pear-shaped diamond of 17.61 carats — was one of the standout pieces to go under the hammer at the auction house for Geneva’s Luxury Week.Christie’s had estimated the ring would fetch around $35 million.The auction house said the sale made the “Bleu Royal” the most expensive jewel sold at auction this year. Christie’s said the gemstone would be handed over to another private collection for the first time in 40 years.The Associated Press

Ex-CIA officer accused of sexually abusing dozens of women pleads guilty to federal charges

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former CIA officer accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least two dozen women during various overseas postings pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal sex abuse charges.Brian Jeffrey Raymond kept nearly 500 videos and photographs he took of naked, unconscious women, including many in which he can be seen opening their eyelids, groping or straddling them, prosecutors say. The images date to 2006 and track much of Raymond’s career, with victims in Mexico, Peru and other countries.The case was just the latest embarrassment for the CIA, which in recent months has seen a reckoning over its often secretive and antiquated handling of sexual misconduct claims within the spy agency. The Associated Press found at least two-dozen women have come forward to tell authorities and Congress about sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they contend are the CIA’s efforts to silence them. A CIA officer trainee was convicted in August of assault and battery for wrapping a s...

Defence, Crown make final arguments to the jury in Peter Nygard’s sex assault trial

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

TORONTO — The sexual assault case against Peter Nygard is built on a “false narrative” created by women whose testimony was not credible, his lawyer argued on Tuesday while the Crown urged the jury to reject the former fashion mogul’s “blanket denials.” Defence lawyer Brian Greenspan said in his closing arguments that the Crown’s case is based on “contradictions and innuendo” that do not meet the burden of proof, and that much of what has been said about his client in court is “revisionist history.”“You cannot, you must not act on speculation or suspicion,” Greenspan told the jury as he outlined his argument for Nygard’s acquittal. While Greenspan said it’s “possible” his client may have interacted with the women Nygard has said he has no recollection of, “what never occurred were the sexual assaults described by the complainants.” Assistant Crown attorney Ana Serban, on the o...

Biden will meet with United Auto Workers president in Illinois on Thursday

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:39:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday will meet in Belvidere, Illinois, with the head of the United Auto Workers union, and the two leaders are expected to highlight plans to reopen an auto factory that Stellantis wanted to close. The White House announced in a statement Tuesday afternoon that during the visit, Biden will deliver remarks and meet with UAW members and the union’s president, Shawn Fain.The event will be an opportunity for the president and Fain to publicly showcase tentative contract agreements that ended a nearly 45-day union strike that targeted General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, maker of Jeep, Dodge and Ram vehicles.Biden will “highlight his commitment to delivering for working families and creating good-paying union jobs, as well as the UAW’s historic agreement that includes bringing thousands of UAW jobs back to Belvidere and reopening a plant,” the White House said. The contracts, if approved by 146,000 union members in the coming weeks, woul...