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Florida OKs bill to carry concealed guns without a permit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Floridians will be able to carry concealed guns without a permit under a bill the Legislature sent to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday. The governor said at a suburban Atlanta gun store that he will sign the bill.The Senate passed the bill on a 27-13 vote. It will allow anyone who can legally own a gun in Florida to carry one without a permit. It means training and a background check will not be needed for people to carry concealed guns in public.The arguments over the legislation were divided on political lines, with Republicans saying law-abiding citizens have a right to carry guns and protect themselves and Democrats saying a state that has seen horrific mass shootings such as the Parkland high school and Pulse nightclub massacres will become even more dangerous.“The second amendment of the Constitution gives its people the right to keep and bear arms. It doesn’t say if you have a permit; it doesn’t say if you’ve gone through tra...

Legal changes would require explanation for questionable wealth in B.C.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

VICTORIA — People or companies in British Columbia will need to explain how they obtained their cash, fancy homes, cars and luxury goods if there’s a suspicion they came from criminal activity. The provincial government has tabled changes to its Civil Forfeiture Act that would allow for the creation of unexplained wealth orders to help prevent money laundering by those who hide their assets in goods or through family members or associates. If there is reason to suspect property was used in or acquired through crime or the person doesn’t appear to have sufficient income to own what they have, a B.C. Supreme Court judge could require them to explain their income sources.Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Thursday organized crime and money laundering techniques have become increasingly sophisticated, so the province has to become more agile.“Too many people are recruited into organized crime with dreams of exotic cars, fancy homes and glamorous lifestyle. It i...

U.S. argues for immunity in MK-ULTRA mind-control case before Quebec Court of Appeal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

MONTREAL — A proposed class-action lawsuit over infamous brainwashing experiments at a Montreal psychiatric hospital was before Quebec’s highest court Thursday, as victims attempted to remove immunity granted to the United States government.The U.S. government successfully argued in Quebec Superior Court last August that the country couldn’t be sued for the project known as MK-ULTRA — allegedly funded by the Canadian government and the CIA. U.S. lawyers argued that foreign states had absolute immunity from lawsuits in Canada between the 1940s and 1960s, when the program took place.But survivors, and their families, of the experiments at Montreal’s Allan Memorial Institute — which included experimental drugs, rounds of electroshocks and sleep deprivation — appealed that decision.On Thursday, a lawyer representing the United States government told the Quebec Court of Appeal that the country should be immune from prosecution and that any lawsuit against the U.S. gover...

Toronto Star owner calls on Cdn companies to spend 20% of ad budget on local media

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

TORONTO — The publisher of the Toronto Star is calling on Canadian companies to dedicate at least 20 per cent of their advertising budgets to local media.Jordan Bitove made the request Thursday at a Canadian Club luncheon in Toronto, where he said convincing local companies to dedicate their ad spending within Canada is crucial because tech giants who link to articles published by his papers and others are “basically stealing the great work that our team does.”“The advertising revenue that once funded newsrooms has been moved ironically to companies that use our content for their own benefit … and those companies don’t want to pay us for it,” he said.“The result is we are seeing local news disappear at an alarming rate.”Bitove’s remarks come after years of media organizations laying off staff and closing papers to cope with shrinking subscriber counts and advertising revenues diminished by large tech companies such as Google, Twitter and Meta. A 2018 report from the Canadian Media C...

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark wins AP Player of the Year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Caitlin Clark has put together one of the greatest individual seasons in NCAA history with eye-popping offensive numbers.Iowa’s junior guard, though, saved her best performance for the game’s biggest stage, recording the first 40-point triple-double in NCAA history to get Iowa to the Final Four for the first time in 30 years.Clark was honored Thursday as The Associated Press women’s basketball Player of the Year. She received 20 votes from the 28-member national media panel that votes on the AP Top 25 each week. Voting was done before March Madness began.“It’s a huge honor,” Clark said. “I picked a place that I perfectly fit into and that’s allowed me to show my skill set. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t mean something. It’s not the reason you play basketball, it’s just something that comes along with getting to do what you love.”The Iowa coaching staff surprised Clark by sharing that she won the award while they were visiting the Iowa Children’s Hos...

Indiana’s Teri Moren wins AP Coach of the Year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Teri Moren has led Indiana to some unprecedented heights this season.The team won its first Big Ten regular season championship in 40 years, rose to No. 2 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll and earned the school’s first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.Moren was honored Thursday as the AP women’s basketball Coach of the Year, the first time she has won the award. She received 12 votes from the 28-member national media panel that votes on the AP Top 25 each week. South Carolina’s Dawn Staley was second with eight votes. Utah’s Lynne Roberts received five and Virginia Tech’s Kenny Brooks three.Voting was done before the NCAA Tournament.“I think a lot of people were like this is going to be a year where Indiana is reloading, rebuilding, they won’t be as good as they had been the year prior. We were picked third in the Big Ten,” Moren said. Moren was surprised by her team, who told her she won in an elaborate ruse. “A...

Quebec pedophile hunters face child pornography distribution charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

GATINEAU, Que. — Members of a self-proclaimed group of Quebec pedophile hunters have been arrested and face 38 charges including distribution of child pornography.Gatineau police say six people were arrested Thursday as part of a crackdown on the vigilante group.Five of the suspects, four men and a woman aged 24 to 27, face charges of distributing child pornography.Some of them also face charges of intimidation and forcible confinement while a sixth suspect, a 40-year-old man from a nearby Western Quebec region, faces criminal harassment, intimidation and forcible confinement charges.Police say the group’s activities were widely advertised on social media with the alleged vigilantes filming their meetings with alleged pedophiles after contacting them online.Const. Andrée East, a Gatineau police spokeswoman, says the distribution of child pornography charges relate to the methods that are alleged to have been used to corner suspects, using explicit photos faked to make it look ...

6 people charged in deadly fire at Mexican detention center

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican court on Thursday issued arrest orders for six people in relation to the fire that killed 39 migrants at a detention facility earlier this week in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, according to the federal prosecutor leading the investigation.Sara Irene Herrerías said the six include three officials from the National Immigration Institute, two private security guards contracted by the agency and the person who allegedly started the fire. She said they would face charges of homicide and causing injuries.At least 39 migrants died after apparently starting a fire inside a holding cell at the facility Monday night. More than two dozen other migrants were injured. Video from inside the facility showed the fire starting, but guards not making any apparent attempt to release th migrants from the cell.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.MEXICO CITY (AP) — The top immigration official in the Mexican state where a detention center fire...

Concerns raised over recommendation to phaseout RCMP police training Depot in Regina

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

REGINA — Saskatchewan politicians are raising concerns after a report recommended RCMP’s Depot police training academy in Regina be phased out for a new degree-style system.A report released Thursday into the 2020 shooting rampage in Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead recommended the phaseout by 2032, and that provinces instead establish three-year policing degree programs.The RCMP has been training recruits at the Depot for the past 140 years. It has strong ties to Regina and has been a source of heritage, employment and tourism in the province.Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck, the member of the legislative assembly for Regina Lakeview, said she opposes the proposal.“It’s deeply concerning and not only as an MLA for Regina, but also as someone very proud of the tradition of the RCMP in this province,”  Beck told reporters. “I think this seems an extreme measure, especially at a time when we have a shortage of officers across the country.”The report denounces the RCMP response to ...

MPs debate bill that would outlaw advertising sugar to Canadian kids

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:12 GMT

OTTAWA — Trix may be for kids, but a Quebec Liberal MP does not want that kind of cereal or other sugary foods marketed that way anymore.A parliamentary health committee is discussing Patricia Lattanzio’s private member’s bill, which seeks to reduce childhood obesity by forbidding advertisements for sugary food and drinks aimed at kids under 13.Conservatives have opposed the bill, which passed an initial vote in the House of Commons in September, on the basis that it may create a whole bunch of regulations without accomplishing the goal of actually changing kids’ eating habits.But the NDP has indicated support for the prospective law.“I think we have to send a clear message: if we want to protect our kids from the very, very effective and sophisticated advertising techniques, and billions of dollars spent to try to attract children to products that will harm their health, then I think that has to be the dominant goal of this bill,” health critic Don Dav...