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Lawyer in Ali murder trial says 13-year-old B.C. victim was not an ‘innocent’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

VANCOUVER — Ibrahim Ali’s lawyer says the 13-year-old girl he’s accused of murdering in a British Columbia park wasn’t the “innocent” depicted in a “rose-coloured” portrayal by the Crown at trial. Kevin McCullough told the B.C. Supreme Court jury in his closing arguments that the version of the girl’s lifestyle presented by the Crown is “at best, a partial picture” or “at worst, a lie.”He says the Crown’s case rests on the belief it would have been out of character for the teen to have sex with Ali.The body of the girl, who can’t be named because of a publication ban, was found in a Burnaby, B.C., park in July 2017, just hours after her mother reported her missing. McCullough says the only evidence they have against Ali is his semen, found inside the girl’s body, and the Crown has come up with a “crazy theory” where no one saw or heard anything connecting Ali to the murder. Crown at...

UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico, reaches 5 million visitors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — The International UFO Museum & Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico, is celebrating an out-of-this-world milestone: 5 million visitors. A father and daughter from Roswell became the lucky visitors when they entered the museum earlier Nov. 21, the Roswell Daily Record reported. Chris and Hannah McDonald received balloons, memorabilia and a lifetime family museum membership.Museum Executive Director Karen Jaramillo said it was a surprise that Roswell residents brought them to 5 million because so many guests are from out of state. The UFO Museum, which opened in 1992, draws over 220,000 visitors each year, Jaramillo said. Roswell has been a hub for people fascinated by space and extraterrestrial phenomenon since the 1947 so-called Roswell Incident.Something crashed at what was then the J.B. Foster ranch, with the U.S. Army announcing it had recovered a “flying disc” but later saying the debris was merely the remnants of a high-altitude weather balloon.Specul...

Liberals say Tories delaying help for Ukraine as advocacy group pleads with Poilievre

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Liberals are accusing Conservatives of delaying help for Ukrainians, after a Tory motion prevented the House of Commons from voting today on a bill meant to modernize the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement.The heated exchange in the House today comes after the Ukrainian Canadian Congress sent a letter to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asking him to change his position on the bill.The Tories have voted against the legislation, which would implement an update to the trade agreement signed in September, saying that’s because of language in the deal that says both countries will promote carbon pricing. The bill passed through the committee stage earlier this week with the support of other parties, and the House was supposed to vote on the committee report today so the bill could move into a final stage of debate. But before that could happen, the Tories brought forward a motion to concur in an 18-month-old report on Canada’s food security.Deputy government Ho...

Man pleads guilty to 2022 firebombing of Wisconsin anti-abortion office

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty Friday to firebombing the office of a prominent anti-abortion group last year.Hridindu Roychowdhury, 29, admitted to throwing two Molotov cocktails through the window of Wisconsin Family Action’s Madison office on May 8, 2022, less than a week after the leak of a draft opinion suggesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s intention overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.One of the Molotov cocktails thrown into the office failed to ignite; the other set a bookcase on fire. Roychowdhury also admitted to spray-painting the message “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” on the outside of the building. No one was in the office at the time.Investigators connected Roychowdhury to the firebombing in January, when police assigned to the state Capitol in Madison reviewed surveillance footage of a protest against police brutality. The video showed several people spray-painting graffiti on Capitol g...

Indiana coroner identifies remains of teen girl found buried on land of man charged in her death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

ARLINGTON, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana coroner has identified the remains of a 17-year-old girl who vanished in June and whose body was found this week in a box buried on land owned by a man now charged in her slaying.The remains discovered Tuesday on suspect Patrick Scott’s property were positively identified as those of Valerie Tindall. Rush County Coroner Brenda McMahan said the cause and manner of Tindall’s death are pending toxicology reports and a final autopsy report.In a statement Thursday announcing the coroner’s findings and charges against Scott, the Rush County Sheriff’s Office said that it offered its “deepest condolences to the family and friends of Valerie Tindall during this time of mourning.”Scott, 59, was charged Thursday with murder, obstruction of justice and false informing. A judge ordered him held without bond and appointed a public defender to represent Scott during his initial hearing. The Rush County Public Defender’s office declined to c...

Putin orders Russian military to add 170,000 troops for a total of about 1.32 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the country’s military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.32 million, as Moscow’s military action in Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.Putin’s decree was released by the Kremlin on Friday and took force immediately. It brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2,200,000, including 1,320,000 troops. It is the second such expansion of the army since 2018. The previous boost by 137,000 troops, ordered by Putin in Aug. 2022, put the military’s numbers at about 2 million personnel and about 1,150,000 troops. The Defense Ministry said the order doesn’t imply any “significant expansion of conscription,” saying in a statement that the increase would happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers. The ministry cited what it called “the special military operation” in Ukraine and the expansion of NATO as the reasons for beefing up the army. NATO...

Kenyan cult leader sentenced to 18 months for film violations but still not charged over mass graves

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The leader of a doomsday cult in Kenya was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison for the illegal distribution of films and operating a film studio without licenses.The senior magistrate in the city of Malindi, Olga Onalo, handed down the sentence for Paul Mackenzie. The controversial preacher can appeal within 14 days. Mackenzie was found guilty last month of exhibition of films through his Times Television network without approval of the Kenya Film Classification Board in charges dating back to 2019. He pleaded not guilty to the charges saying he didn’t know he required a license to distribute films.Mackenzie had been accused of using the TV channel and his sermons to radicalize children and parents against Western education and medicine. Prosecutors also alleged that some of his followers had refused to go to school or attend hospitals when sick. He was acquitted of those charges.The preacher has been in police custody since April, when he was arrested in c...

Minister tight-lipped on whether it’s looking at new regulator to fight online harms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Justice Minister Arif Virani is keeping tight-lipped about whether the federal government is considering a new regulator that would hold online platforms accountable for protecting users from harmful content. Asked about the prospect of a new agency, Virani says the government is looking at the consultations that have been done to date and how other countries have confronted the issue. Virani’s response comes after a group of experts, assembled by the government last year to advise on a prospective new law, penned an open letter urging the government to hurry up with the bill. Those experts and others say the legislation must create a regulator that has the power to investigate and audit platforms, order corrective actions and impose fines.Virani says the government is working with online companies while also looking at best practices in other jurisdictions.The Canadian Heritage Department was originally responsible for drafting the legislation before J...

43 arrested in anti-child porn operation in Quebec, Ontario, N.B.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

Police in three provinces arrested at least 43 men this week as part of an anti-child pornography operation.Quebec provincial police say 26 men, aged between 17 and 84, have been charged with a range of offences, including producing and distributing child pornography.Police say there’s no link between the men who were arrested between Monday and Thursday in 19 municipalities across the province. Lt. Marc-Antoine Vachon, who heads the Quebec unit that investigates online child exploitation, says two victims were identified in the province, aged 10 and 12.He says Quebec police asked colleagues in neighbouring provinces for assistance, and the Ontario Provincial Police arrested at least 15 men in connection with the operation.Cpl. Stephane Esculier of the New Brunswick RCMP says two search warrants were executed in that province in conjunction with the operation and two people were arrested, but no charges have yet been laid.

Calgary sees another home sales gain in November as prices jump nearly 11%

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:45:25 GMT

CALGARY — The Calgary Real Estate Board says the city saw 1,787 home sales in November, marking an 8.8 per cent increase compared with the same month last year as the ratio of sales to new listings remained high at 80 per cent.New listings rose nearly 40 per cent compared with last year, reaching 2,227 units, with the most significant gains coming from homes priced over $600,000 hitting the market.But CREB chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie says inventory declined four per cent from last year, as the uptick in new listings has “not been enough to change the low inventory situation thanks to strong demand.”The unadjusted home benchmark price rose to $572,700, marking a 10.7 per cent jump compared with November 2022.So far this year, the average benchmark price has risen more than five per cent.The board says it again saw record-high sales of apartment condominiums due to the relative affordability in that category, while a decline in detached home sales was driven by limited...