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Trial to begin for former RCMP intelligence director accused of disclosing secrets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

OTTAWA — More than four years after Cameron Jay Ortis was charged with breaching Canada’s secrets law, the former RCMP intelligence director is about to get his day in court.Ortis was taken into custody in Ottawa on Sept. 12, 2019 — an arrest that deeply shocked the national police force.As the head of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Co-ordination Centre, Ortis had access to some of the country’s most closely held information.Ortis, 51, is charged with violating the Security of Information Act by allegedly revealing secrets to three individuals and trying to do so in a fourth instance, as well as breach of trust and a computer-related offence.A multi-week trial is slated to get underway in Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday with the selection of a jury.Jon Doody, co-counsel for Ortis, says he plans to plead not guilty to all charges.“He intends to take the stand in his own defence. He is eager to have his side of the story told,” Doody said. “He f...

North Dakota state senator, his wife and 2 kids killed in Utah plane crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A state senator from North Dakota, his wife and their two young children died when the small plane they were traveling in crashed in Utah, a Senate leader said Monday.Doug Larsen’s death was confirmed Monday in an email that Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue sent to his fellow senators and was obtained by The Associated Press. The plane crashed Sunday evening shortly after taking off from Canyonlands Airfield about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Moab, according to a Grand County Sheriff’s Department statement posted on Facebook. The sheriff’s office said all four people on board the plane were killed. “Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children died in a plane crash last evening in Utah,” Hogue wrote in his email. “They were visiting family in Scottsdale and returning home. They stopped to refuel in Utah.” “I’m not sure where the bereavement starts with such a tragedy, but I think it starts with prayers for the grandpar...

House prepares to vote on new Speaker in rare mid-session election as MPs vie for job

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

OTTAWA — The House of Commons will vote for a new Speaker Tuesday in a rare mid-session election.Steven Chaplin, a fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Public Law Centre, said this is only the third time in Canadian history that a Speaker didn’t complete their full term. Anthony Rota resigned from the position last week amid controversy. He had invited parliamentarians, during a visit by Ukraine’s president, to applaud a veteran who served in a Nazi unit in the Second World War.The longest-serving member of the House, Bloc Québécois MP Louis Plamondon, was put in as an interim Speaker — a move Chaplin said is a first in Canada’s history, but one that signals the House aims to rise above partisanship.“It’s unprecedented, but they’ve managed to work their way through a very orderly process and I think that says a lot about the House in many ways,” Chaplin said Monday.All members of Parliament, except for party leaders and ministers, can ...

A riled Trump sounds off outside the New York fraud trial that accuses him of lying about wealth

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Aggrieved and defiant, former President Donald Trump sat through hours of sometimes testy opening statements Monday in a fraud lawsuit that could cost him control of Trump Tower and other prized properties. “Disgraceful trial,” he declared during a lunch break, after listening to lawyers for New York Attorney General Letitia James excoriate him as a habitual liar. The state’s lawsuit accuses the business-mogul-turned-politician and his company of deceiving banks, insurers and others by misstating his wealth for years in financial statements.“They were lying year after year after year,” Kevin Wallace, a lawyer in James’ office, said as Trump sat at the defense table. He looked straight ahead, arms crossed, facing away from a screen that showed details of Wallace’s presentation. Defense lawyers, in response, said the financial statements were legitimate. Trump’s holdings are “Mona Lisa properties” that can command top dollar, attorne...

Stock market today: Most of Wall Street slips as the bond market cranks up the pressure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Most stocks are drifting lower Monday as the constrictor of higher interest rates tightens its coils around Wall Street.The S&P 500 was 0.4% lower in afternoon trading, coming off its worst month of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 157 points, or 0.5%, as of 2:20 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.Slumps for oil-and-gas stocks weighed on the market after crude prices gave back some of their sharp gains since the summer. The majority of stocks fell alongside them, with over 80% of S&P 500 stocks dropping, but gains for Apple and some other influential Big Tech stocks helped limit the market’s losses.Stocks have broadly given back about 40% of their strong gains for the year since the end of July. The main reason is Wall Street’s growing acceptance that high interest rates are here to stay a while as the Federal Reserve tries to knock high inflation lower. That in turn has pushed Treasury yields to their highest level...

Arajet latest entrant to Canada’s crowded budget airline market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

MONTREAL — Arajet, a discount airline based in the Dominican Republic, is set to launch flights between that country and Toronto and Montreal this fall.The announcement by the year-old carrier marks the latest entrant to an already crowded field of low-cost airlines, and comes two weeks after U.S. budget carrier Breeze Airways made a pitch to Quebecers bound for Florida.Unlike many low-price players, Arajet CEO Victor Pacheco said his strategy will bank on a hub-and-spoke model that connects passengers from far-flung airports via the airline’s hub of Santo Domingo, his home country’s capital.As proof, he said well over half of the 10,000-plus Arajet tickets sold to Canadians so far are for other destinations in the Caribbean and Central and South America, to be reached via connecting flights from the Dominican Republic.“The ULCCs (ultra-low-cost carriers) are mainly point-to-point airlines,” Pacheco said in an interview. “We’re bidding on connections. A...

Europe Union’s top diplomat dismisses concern about bloc’s long-term support for Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief on Monday led a delegation of top diplomats on an unannounced visit to Kyiv and dismissed concerns about political tension in the bloc over its long-term support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.Though largely symbolic, the informal meeting between EU and Ukrainian diplomats demonstrated the EU’s “clear commitment” to Ukraine in its 19-month-long war, Josep Borrell said.“The EU remains united in its support to Ukraine … I don’t see any member state folding on their engagement,” Borrell told a news conference in the Ukrainian capital.The gathering was the first time EU foreign ministers have met outside the bloc — and in a war zone, according to Borrell.The talks took place after the weekend election victory in EU member Slovakia of former Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose pro-Russian agenda has increased the question marks about the EU’s continued support for Kyiv.The small eastern European country could bring mo...

Black man’s 1845 lynching in downtown Indianapolis recounted with historical marker

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The story of a Black man beaten to death in Indianapolis in a racist 1845 lynching is now part of the city’s cultural trail in the form of a historical marker.The marker describing John Tucker’s slaying was unveiled Saturday by state and local leaders and members of the Indiana Remembrance Coalition, The Indianapolis Star reported. It was placed along downtown Indianapolis’ cultural trail close to where Tucker was killed nearly 180 years ago.“Uncovering and documenting uncomfortable history is an obligation that we all must share. We must always seek to tell the full story of our history,” Eunice Trotter, director of Indiana Landmark’s Black Heritage Preservation Program, said at the unveiling.Tucker was born into slavery in Kentucky around 1800 and later obtained his freedom. He moved to Indianapolis in the mid-1830s and was a father to a boy and a girl.On July 4, 1845, Tucker was assaulted by a white laborer, Nicholas Wood, as Tucker walked along Washingt...

Gunfire erupts amid alleged armored car robbery near Walmart in Country Club Hills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

COUNTRY CLUBS HILLS, Ill. — Police have responded to a Walmart parking lot in Country Clubs Hills following a possible armored car robbery that allegedly resulted in an exchange of gunfire. SkyCam9 flew above the scene at 167th Street and Pulaski, where evidence markers were visible near the front entrance of the department store. SkyCam9 captured the aftermath of an apparent collision involving the armored car and another vehicle, possibly an SUV, mere feet away from the entrance to Walmart. SEE ALSO: 5 years later, pregnant Chicago postal worker Kierra Coles still missingA witness who did not wish to be identified told WGN News that the alleged armed robbers targeted the armored car security. Amid the robbery, however, witnesses say a shootout ensued, resulting in the shock and dismay of shoppers nearby."It's heartwrenching. It really is," one woman told WGN News. "I don't know what this world is coming to at this point, but this world is crazy." No one is in custody. According to...

Man, 19, denied pre-trial after allegedly having machine gun at Topgolf in Naperville: Docs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — An Indiana man was denied pre-trial after he was charged for allegedly bringing a machine gun to a Topgolf location in Naperville, the state's attorney office said. A DuPage County judge charged 19-year-old Jalen Littleton, from Hammond, Indiana, with a felony of unlawful use of machine gun. On Saturday around 9:51 p.m., police were doing routine check at TopGolf when they observed a gun in plain sight on the driver's side floorboard of a black Chevy. 5 years later, pregnant Chicago postal worker Kierra Coles still missing Police said Littleton returned to the car with another individual and got in the driver's seat. Officers then boxed in his vehicle and enacted a search of his car, finding a fully loaded handgun with an extended magazine, a laser sign and an auto switch that fires fully automatic when engaged. According to the police report, Littleton did not possess a valid FOID or CCL card when he was taken into custody. Littleton's next court appearance wi...