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Human rights in the air, millet and mushrooms on the plates at the White House dinner for India

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerns about human rights and freedom in India were in the air for Thursday’s White House state dinner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while a plant-based menu of millet, mushrooms and strawberry shortcake filled the tables for the vegetarian premier and hundreds of guests.Despite deep differences over human rights and India’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Joe Biden extended to Modi the administration’s third invitation for a state visit. It included the state dinner, a high diplomatic honor that the U.S. reserves for its closest allies.Biden hopes all the pomp and attention being lavished on Modi — from the thousands who gathered on the White House lawn to cheer his arrival in the morning to the splashy dinner at the end of the day — will help him firm up relations with the leader of a country the U.S. believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come. Rich and famous Indian Americans from the fields of business, entertain...

Quebec wildfires: Northern town Lebel-sur-Quévillon evacuated for second time

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

MONTREAL — The northern Quebec city of Lebel-sur-Quévillon is being evacuated for the second time in less than three weeks because of forest fires.Mayor Guy Lafrenière says one of two routes connecting the community to the rest of the province has been blocked by a fire.He says everyone must leave before 6:30 p.m.Residents of the city of about 2,000 people had been forced from their homes for two weeks because of fires and had only returned Sunday.The city has been under alert since then and residents had been encouraged to leave because of the presence of heavy smoke.Provincial officials said earlier in the day that around three-quarters of the town’s residents had already left.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2023.The Canadian Press

Burlington teacher charged for possessing child pornography

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

Halton police have laid charges against a Burlington teacher for the possession of child pornography.Investigators said 29-year-old Matthew Wicks of Burlington was taken into police custody on June 21.The accused was a part-time teacher at Mohawk College and had been the head percussion instructor for the Burlington Teen Tour Band.Wicks is facing two counts of possessing child pornography and one count of accessing child pornography.He’s being held in custody pending a bail hearing, police said.

Congressional report says there’s an extremely high risk Temu’s supply chains have forced labor

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A Congressional report published Thursday offered a blistering critique of popular Chinese retailers Shein and Temu, with lawmakers accusing the latter of failing to maintain “even the façade of a meaningful compliance program” that seeks to prevent goods made by forced labor from being sold on its platform. In the report, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said Temu’s business model essentially allows the company to avoid responsibility in complying with a U.S. law that block imports from China’s Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove the items were made without forced labor. “American consumers should know that there is an extremely high risk that Temu’s supply chains are contaminated with forced labor,” the report said.Temu is owned by Pinduoduo Inc., a popular e-commerce site in China. It was launched in the U.S. last year and has grown in popularity by offering cheap goods, from apparel and home products, from China-based sellers. The...

Pop star Kesha and producer Dr. Luke settle longstanding legal battle over rape, defamation claims

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Pop star Kesha and producer Dr. Luke have settled nearly a decade of suits and countersuits over her accusation that he drugged and raped her and his claim that she made it up and defamed him, they announced Thursday, with the singer saying that “only God knows what happened that night.”Dr. Luke, meanwhile, said he was “absolutely certain that nothing happened. I never drugged or assaulted her.”Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, as both she and he revealed on Instagram that they had agreed to “a resolution” of the case and to a statement from each of them. Messages seeking comment were sent to their attorneys. “I cannot recount everything that happened,” Kesha wrote, adding that she wishes “nothing but peace to all parties involved.” Dr. Luke, in turn, said he wished her well and wanted “to put this difficult matter behind me” after years of fighting to clear his name.The deal averts a trial that had been scheduled for this summer over allegations that...

Orville Peck, Andy Shauf both cancel shows, citing health

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

Canadian-American country music star Orville Peck has postponed all his upcoming shows due to his mental and physical health.The “Take You Back” singer announced the news on social media Wednesday.He says he needs to replenish his mental and physical health before he can return to his “Bronco” tour and bring audiences his best.The cancelled shows include performances in Montreal, Ottawa and Edmonton, as well as the Winnipeg Folk Festival. The news came the same day that Regina-born singer-songwriter Andy Shauf cancelled his July shows, citing chronic back pain.The only Canadian date affected is a show in Quebec City on July 13.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2023.The Canadian Press

Kentucky attorney general asks FBI to investigate donations to his rival in governor’s race

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office on Thursday asked the FBI to investigate a large infusion of campaign donations linked to a single credit card that flowed to the Kentucky Democratic Party and Gov. Andy Beshear ‘s reelection campaign.The controversy has major political undertones because Cameron is challenging Beshear in this year’s election showdown for governor in the Bluegrass State.While the donations were in multiple people’s names, they were all charged to the same credit card — connected to a Kentucky mayor. The contributions came from the mayor’s family and business connections, according to media reports. The Democratic governor’s campaign and the state party said they moved to refund more than $200,000 that they determined to exceed limits set by law.But the fallout escalated when Cameron’s office asked the FBI to investigate “circumstances surrounding” the contributions. The letter, sent to...

‘Hugo is fine’: RCMP say Richmond, B.C., resident harassed over false cruelty claim

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

RICHMOND, B.C. — Police in Metro Vancouver are telling the public to leave a pet owner and their dog Hugo alone after the resident was “mercilessly harassed” over unfounded claims of animal abuse.A statement from Richmond RCMP says they have received multiple calls since June 16 to investigate the pet owner after posters were put up around the city listing the address and accusing the resident of cruelty.But the RCMP say the claims have been “thoroughly investigated and determined to be unfounded” by police, the city and the BC SPCA.The statement says the Mounties have had to post officers outside the home “to preserve public safety” and tell the public the claims are baseless.Cpl. Adriana O’Malley says in Thursday’s statement that officers have observed a “steady stream of people” turning up at the home, some of them “aggressive and confrontational.”RCMP say the situation is now being investigated as a case of ...

Suspect in deadly Minneapolis crash charged with homicide, federal weapons and drug counts

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A suspect in a crash that killed five young women in Minneapolis was charged Thursday with 10 state counts of criminal vehicular homicide as well as federal firearms and drug charges that carry a potential sentence of life in prison.Derrick John Thompson, 27, of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, rented a Cadillac Escalade SUV at a Hertz counter at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport only about 24 minutes before the fatal crash Friday night, according to the complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court. He had been freed from a California prison just a few months earlier after serving time for a hit-and-run crash.Investigators recovered a Glock .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine from the wreckage of the SUV, along with 2,169 fentanyl pills, a plastic bag containing 14 grams of powder fentanyl, 13 MDMA pills, 35 grams of cocaine and a digital scale, state and federal prosecutors said. As a convicted felon, Thompson is prohibited from...

Adnan Syed asks appeals court to deny request from victim’s family

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:20:59 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Adnan Syed, whose protracted legal odyssey was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” is asking Maryland’s highest court to deny a petition to expand the rights of crime victims in post-conviction proceedings.Syed, who was convicted in 2000 of killing his high school ex-girlfriend, regained his freedom last year after Baltimore prosecutors found flaws in the evidence presented at trial and a judge agreed to vacate his conviction. But surviving relatives of the victim, Hae Min Lee, appealed the ruling, arguing they didn’t receive sufficient notice to attend the conviction vacatur hearing that set Syed free.In a March decision, the Maryland Appellate Court agreed, reinstating Syed’s conviction and ordering a redo of the hearing. That decision prompted celebration within the crime victims rights movement and criticism from criminal justice reform advocates who warned of a potential chilling effect on existing efforts to fight wrongful convictions and excessive sentenc...