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Sexual misconduct claims against former Tory MP to be reinvestigated

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

LONDON — Sexual misconduct allegations against the former Conservative MP David Warburton will be reinvestigated after his appeal against the original probe was upheld.Parliament’s Independent Expert Panel (IEP) said Tuesday that an investigation into the ex-MP’s conduct was “procedurally flawed,” and ordered a fresh look at the case.Warburton, who served as a Tory MP from 2015 to this year before quitting, had the Conservative whip withdrawn in 2022 after a Sunday Times report alleged that he harassed three women and used cocaine. Warburton later admitted using the drug, but has denied all other allegations against him.A member of staff in Warburton’s Westminster office made a formal complaint to parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) in March 2022. It opened an investigation into four sexual misconduct allegations and two bullying and harassment claims against him.The parliamentary commissioner for standards opted to uph...

Macron: ‘Peak’ of French riots has passed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

PARIS — The “peak” of rioting that has taken place across France in the past week has passed, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday. “I’ll still be very cautious over the coming days and weeks, but the peak we experienced in the first nights [of the riots] is over, and now it’s the lasting, republican order we all want … and that’s the absolute priority,” he told French mayors, according to BFMTV. The French president gathered at the Elysée Palace with some 250 mayors of cities targeted during the riots. The killing of a 17-year-old of North African descent by a police officer last week has thrown France into chaos, sparking violent demonstrations across the country and reigniting long-simmering tensions between the youth and the police, who have been accused of brutality and racial discrimination. In the past week, rioters have looted stores, targeted many symbols of the French Republic such as schools, police stations...

Police responding to separate crashes involving tractor-trailers on 93 southbound in Boston

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

Emergency crews are responding to two crashes involving a tractor-trailers on Route 93 in Boston that are tying up traffic into the city on Tuesday.Video showed traffic at a standstill as crews worked to remove a tractor-trailer from the roadway near the Greater Boston Food Bank.Another crash involving an Amazon tractor-trailer was also being cleared closer to the gas tank.The cause of both crashes remain under investigation.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Palestinian attacker wounds 8 in Tel Aviv as Israel presses on with West Bank operation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

JENIN, West Bank (AP) — A Palestinian man drove his car into a crowded bus stop in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and then began stabbing people, wounding eight in an attack praised by the Islamist militant group Hamas as a response to Israel’s ongoing military operation in the occupied West Bank.Police chief Kobi Shabtai told reporters at the scene that an armed civilian shot and killed the assailant.The attack came as Israeli troops pressed ahead with their hunt for Palestinian militants and weapons in a refugee camp, after military bulldozers tore through alleys and thousands of residents fled to safety. The two-day Palestinian death toll rose to 10.The large-scale raid of the Jenin camp, which began Monday, is one of the most intense military operations in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades. It bore hallmarks of Israeli military tactics during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s and came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure from his ult...

Putin says Russia is ‘united as never before’ during Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the Russian people were “united as never before,” as he sought to project confidence in the wake of a short-lived revolt, at a meeting of a rare international organization where he can find a sympathetic audience.The Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, hosted via videoconference by India, was Putin’s first multilateral summit since an armed rebellion rattled Russia and comes as he is eager to show that the West has failed to isolate Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.The Asian security grouping, founded by Russia and China to counter Western alliances, also welcomed Iran as a new member, bringing its membership to nine nations. Speaking by video link from the Kremlin, Putin praised the organization for “playing an increasingly significant role in international affairs, making a real contribution to maintaining peace and stability, ensuring sustainable economic growth of the participating states, and strengtheni...

Spain calls an end to COVID-19 health crisis and obligatory use of masks in hospitals, pharmacies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government on Tuesday declared an end to the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and says people no longer have to wear masks in health and care centers as well as pharmacies. Over the past two years, Spain has gradually ended the mandatory mask wearing, first in public and then on public transport. The country has registered 14 million cases and 122,000 deaths from the coronavirus since 2020. The government approved the measure at a weekly Cabinet meeting. It takes effect once it’s published in the State Gazette in the coming days.The Associated Press

British Columbia port strike enters day four as talks stall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

VANCOUVER — The strike at British Columbia ports enters its fourth day after talks between the two sides stalled on Monday.More than 7,000 workers who load and unload cargo at more than 30 B.C. ports have been on strike since Saturday morning.Representatives for the BC Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada negotiated over the long weekend before the association issued a statement Monday saying it didn’t think more bargaining is going to produce a deal.It said the union’s demands were “outside any reasonable framework for settlement.”The union, meanwhile, has accused the association of changing its position on a key issue at the last minute to “muddy the waters.”News of a strike at the ports, including Canada’s largest, the Port of Vancouver, led many business groups to raise red flags, suggesting it would have far-reaching implications for Canada’s economy.This report by The Canadian ...

Kremlin open to talks over potential prisoner swap involving detained US reporter Evan Gershkovich

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin on Tuesday held the door open for contacts with the U.S. regarding a possible prisoner exchange that could potentially involve jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but reaffirmed that such talks must be held out of the public eye.Asked whether Monday’s consular visits to Gershkovich, who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on charges of espionage, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in U.S. custody on cybercrime charges, could potentially herald a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow and Washington have touched on the issue.“We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “They must be carried out and continue in complete silence.”He didn’t offer any further details, but added that “the lawful right to consular contacts must be ensured on both sides.”The U.S....

Paramount lowers first half 2023 average sales volumes guidance due to wildfires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

CALGARY — Paramount Resources Ltd. says it expects its average sales volumes for the first half of 2023 will come in below its earlier guidance as it works to restore the last of the production that was put on hold due to the Alberta wildfires.The company says average sales volumes for the first half 2023 are expected to be about 92,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).The figure is down from its previous guidance of between 96,000 to 101,000 boepd for the first half of this year.Paramount says it is working to restore the last of the curtailed production and continues to assess the impact of the fires due to interruptions to maintenance and development work.It says it has successfully restored all but about 2,500 boepd of the production that had been curtailed as a result of the wildfires. Paramount was one of several energy companies that were forced to stop production temporarily in Alberta earlier this year due to wildfires.This report by The Canadian Press was first pu...

How to counter residential school denialism

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:54 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, as awful as the legacy of Canada’s residential schools is, there are some in this country who don’t want to believe it. In recent months, this has led to a rise in attempts to use linguistic missteps on the part of journalists or Indigenous leaders to ‘expose’ what minimizers claim is a lack of proof that thousands of children died at these schools.Niigaan Sinclair is a professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba, he wrote about residential school denialism for The Tyee.“If you had a crime that was perpetrated, you would want to hear from the victims of that crime … But in the case of denialists they’re saying we know better than those who have firsthand experience,” says Sinclair.So how do the searches at the school sites work? What, precisely, has been found there? And if we know there are remains in the ground, why haven’t more of them been exhumed?You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast ...