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In report on police killing, Quebec coroner says officers need ‘less-lethal’ weapons

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

MONTREAL — A coroner’s report into the death of a Black man shot and killed by police in a city northeast of Montreal says officers showed restraint during the intervention.Jean René Junior Olivier, 37, was killed by police on Aug. 1, 2021, in Repentigny, Que., as he was experiencing a mental health crisis.Earlier this year, lawyers for the deceased man’s mother, Marie-Mireille Bence, said they felt race may have played a role in his death, as they announced a lawsuit against the city and the local police for$430,000.But coroner Karine Spénard pushed back against that claim in an eight-page report released Tuesday, saying officers did not provoke Olivier’s actions. “Relatives of Mr. Olivier said they were convinced that the police had gone to him with the intention of killing him,” Spénard said. “With respect, I do not subscribe to this opinion, particularly because the police attempted a de-escalation while remaining at a distance.”The coro...

Canada’s oil output would plummet by 2050 in a net-zero world, new modelling shows

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

CALGARY — New modelling from the Canada Energy Regulator suggests Canadian oil production will plummet by 2050 — and large portions of Alberta’s oilsands facilities will be shut down — if the world is successful in reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within that time.The scenario is one of three laid out in a report released Tuesday, and marks the first time the regulator has presented a long-term outlook for Canadian energy using net-zero as a baseline. In an interview, federal natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson cautioned against focusing too much on the most dramatic scenario, adding that the regulator’s report also paints a picture of an alternate future in which progress to net-zero occurs at a slower pace.But he said the report makes it very clear that in order for Canada’s energy sector to remain competitive on the world stage, it will need to act quickly to reduce emissions.“This report helps us in the context of the argument I have b...

Ottawa aims to shed more light on how well airports are working, as travel ramps up

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

The federal government moved this week to bolster accountability at airports, introducing new legislation that would compel them and other operators to cough up more information on their performance.Tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the bill paves the way for new rules requiring airports and an array of industry players to create service standards and publish data that can be compared against those benchmarks.The standards could track outcomes ranging from security screening wait times to how long it takes luggage to reach the carousel. They would apply to parties including Canada’s air transport security agency, airlines, navigation service and baggage handling firms.“As we’ve seen over the last few years, a disruption in one part of the system can have wide effects across the entire network,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said at a news conference in Ottawa.“The idea is that once you set a service standard, then airports will be accountabl...

West Virginia cash-for-worker program adds 5th destination

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A program offering cash and free outdoor adventures to remote workers to move to West Virginia with the hope of offsetting population losses has added a fifth destination where out-of-state workers can apply to live.The public-private program Ascend West Virginia said Tuesday that applications are being accepted for the scenic New River Gorge region in the southern part of the state that encompasses the nation’s newest national park. The New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville is the site of a festival every October where thrillseekers parachute off the 876-foot-high (267-meter) span.Under the remote worker program, successful applicants will receive $12,000 along with free passes to indulge in whitewater rafting, golf, rock climbing, horseback riding, skiing and ziplining. The full relocation package is valued at more than $20,000.Applications also are being accepted to four areas previously announced since the program launched in April 2021: the nor...

Cuban officials conclude Russia trip with agreements on oil, wheat, and renewed tourism

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Cuba said Tuesday it is reaffirming its alliance with Russia through a series of agreements considered key for the island nation, including on the supply of oil, the sale of wheat and the resumption of flights between both countries that were halted by the war in Ukraine.The agreements between two longtime allies facing economic sanctions from the United States were the result of a recent visit by Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to Russia and were disclosed Tuesday by Gerardo Peñalver, Cuba’s vice minister of foreign affairs, in an interview with state-run Cubadebate website.“There was progress in the high-level political dialogue, taking into account that both nations are strategic allies and are under the effect of unilateral coercive measures,” said Peñalver, who was in Russia with Marrero and other high-level officials from June 6-17. It was the most recent in a series of meetings between Russian and Cuban officials seeking to reinforce their strate...

What are senior citizens looking for in Toronto’s next mayor?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

Senior citizens make up almost 16 per cent of Toronto’s population and as a new mayor is set to be voted in next week, CityNews finds out their perspective on how they need to make Toronto a livable city.Maria Mikelenas-McLoughlin is almost 81 years old. She has been a widow for 12 years now and lives alone in the home she has had for about 40 years in EtobicokeShe also had a bad fall recently. She needs to walk, but uneven sidewalks and potholes are a big concern. Mikelenas-McLoughlin blames failed promises from past politicians.“We were going to have a terrific walkable neighbourhood … well the sidewalks are uneven and if you have mobility issues like I do … it’s pretty easy to trip and fall,”Mikelenas-McLoughlin lost her husband 12 years ago and wishes there was a community hub in her Etobicoke neighbourhood where she might be able to find some companionship.“like ppl, I talk to everybody … but there is no one to share a Saturday ni...

Ex-CNN producer sentenced to more than 19 years for luring 9-year-old into sex acts

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A former CNN television producer who had pleaded guilty to luring a 9-year-old girl into illegal sexual acts was sentenced Tuesday to more than 19 years in prison and an additional 15 years of supervised release during a U.S. District Court hearing in Vermont.John Griffin of Stamford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty in federal court in December to using interstate commerce to entice and coerce the girl to engage in sexual activity at his Vermont ski house. As part of the 2022 plea deal, the government dropped two remaining counts of enticement of a minor against Griffin, then 45 year old.Griffin had initially pleaded not guilty in 2021. He has been ordered to pay restitution to the victims. According to the plea deal, Griffin met a woman on a website during the summer of 2020 and persuaded the woman to bring her daughter to his Ludlow, Vermont, ski home for sexual activity.Griffin paid the woman and girl to fly from Nevada to Boston, picked them up and drove them ...

Thousands take to the streets in Colombia to protest leftist government’s reforms

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Thousands of people marched in Colombia on Tuesday to voice their frustration with President Gustavo Petro’s government and its attempts to make sweeping changes to the nation’s health and pension systems, and its labor laws.The protests were held as Colombia’s first leftist president struggles to keep his coalition in congress together and sees a slump in his approval ratings as violence between rebel groups grows in some parts of the country. A corruption scandal involving two members of Petro’s inner circle has also put the government on the defensive, with the president now fighting allegations that his campaign was financed with undeclared donations.“This government is going to take us back decades,” said Jimmy Rosero, a retired army officer, who helped carry a 40-foot-long Colombian flag at a march in Bogota. “We don’t want any of its reforms to be approved” by congress. Petro was elected a year ago following massive protests over social and economic in...

Greek court orders 9 smuggling suspects held pending trial over migrant ship disaster

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Nine men suspected of crewing a migrant smuggling ship that sank off Greece leaving more than 500 missing were ordered held in pretrial custody Tuesday, as new accounts emerged on the sinking and the appalling conditions on the trip from Libya towards Italy.The Egyptian suspects face charges that include participation in a criminal organization, manslaughter and causing a shipwreck. A court in Greece’s southern city of Kalamata ordered their detention after questioning them for hours.Only 104 men and youths — Egyptians, Pakistanis, Syrians and Palestinians — survived one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea early on June 14; 82 bodies have been recovered, the last late Tuesday as a large search continued for a seventh day.Survivors said women and children were trapped in the hold as the ship capsized and sank within minutes to one of the deepest spots in the Mediterranean.Survivor accounts emerged Tuesday confirming that about 750 peop...

52,000 more Illinois residents died during the pandemic than is typical

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

So many more Illinois residents died in the past three years than is typical they could more than fill Wrigley Field. The Illinois Department of Public Health reports there were 52,108 “excess deaths” as they’re known. Epidemiologists track the number because simply put: The ultimate indicator of health is death. The number of people who died in Illinois (from all causes) varied by only 1,000 people in each of the three years before COVID-19 arrived. Then it soared.Illinois’ official COVID-19 death count stood at 36,000 people as of the start of this year, making it the top underlying cause of excess deaths in our state in recent years. “We can see that COVID-19 accounted for approximately 70% of excess deaths in 2020-2021, but nearly all leading causes of death had increases during that time period as well,” IDPH officials said in a statement responding to an inquiry from WGN Investigates. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: WGN Investigates ‘excess death’ in Illinois during coronavirus pand...