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GOP says Biden family financial records a smoking gun. White House calls it a ‘political stunt’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

By FARNOUSH AMIRI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing growing pressure to show progress in their investigations, House Republicans on Wednesday detailed what they say are concerning new findings about President Joe Biden’s family and their finances.The smoking gun, according to the GOP, is recently obtained financial records connected to the president’s son Hunter Biden, brother James Biden and a growing number of associates who received millions of dollars in payments from foreign entities in China and Romania. They suggest, without evidence, that the payments were part of a wide-ranging scheme to enrich themselves off the family name.To help them get here, Congressional Republicans relied on more than 150 suspicious activity reports as a roadmap to follow what they call the Bidens’ complicated financial money trail. The confidential reports, called SARs for short, are often routine, with larger financial transactions automatically flagged to the gove...

Invicta: Elizabeth Holmes gives newborn daughter a ‘defiant’ name while preparing to leave her

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

In a controversial New York Times profile published Sunday, writer Amy Chozick briefly addressed Elizabeth Holmes’ choice to twice get pregnant — the first time after the Theranos founder was indicted in “one of the most notorious fraud cases in recent history,” and the second time after she was found guilty on four counts of swindling investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars and faced the possibility of going away to prison for many years.Holmes chalks up her curious family planning choices to “just bad timing” and said she tries to ignore what others might think, while Chozick said the disgraced tech mogul and her partner Billy Evans believed she could be immune to consequences. “They did not anticipate that she would be indicted,” Chock wrote. “They did not anticipate that she would be sentenced to 11 years. They always wanted a big family.”But as Holmes was preparing to leave her 3-month-old daughter and 20-month-old son to spend more than a decade in prison, she gave th...

Coast Guard searching for 3 people near San Clemente Island

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- A search and rescue operation has been launched by U.S. Coast Guard Air Station San Diego after an aircraft debris field was found off San Clemente Island, officials said.In a tweet around 8:50 a.m. Wednesday, USCG Southern California said an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew was searching for three people who were onboard an aircraft reported down about one mile southwest of San Clemente Island. Man who caught 2 Navy ships nearly colliding ordered to take cameras down By around 10:20 a.m., the Coast Guard said it had joined U.S. Navy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection crews in a search after a debris field was located.This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.

Toronto police seek suspect in unprovoked streetcar sucker punch

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

A suspect is being sought by Toronto police after a man was sucker punched while sitting in a streetcar at Dundas West subway station last week.Police say the victim was sitting on the streetcar at around 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, May 2, when a man he didn’t know suddenly punched him in the head for no apparent reason.In a release, police said the attack happened “without provocation.”Video released by police on Wednesday shows the suspect suddenly get up from his seat and walk over to the victim, throwing a powerful left-handed punch.The suspect is described as 30 to 40 years old, tall with a large build, and sporting a moustache and goatee.He was wearing a blue hoodie with a rip in the back, blue jeans with a tear in the back left pocket, and black sneakers with white soles.Police believe the same man may have been involved in a recent assault in the Yonge and Dundas streets area, but didn’t provide further details on that incident.

Shots fired at Markham home, police say it appears to be targeted

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

Police in York Region are investigating after several shots were fired at a house in Markham.Officers were first called to Settlement Park Avenue near Highway 7 and Ninth Line just before 4:30 a.m. on May 8 for a report of shots fired near an address on the street. However, police said when they searched the area there were no signs that a firearm had been discharged.Later in the morning at 9 a.m., police responded to another address on Settlement Park Avenue after a resident called saying they found bullet holes in their house.When police arrived at the scene, they found bullet holes on the exterior of the house and shell casings nearby.No injuries were reported.Police say the shooting appears to have been targeted.There is no word on a suspect or suspects at this time.

Sudan doctors syndicate says 25 dead in tribal fighting, as truce talks stall

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Tribal clashes over several days killed 25 people in southern Sudan, the country’s doctors union said Wednesday, raising fears the war between the country’s rival top generals — currently centered in the capital — could set off more violence in far-flung provinces. It remained unclear whether the tribal clashes were related to the brutal fighting that ignited mid-April across the country as a result of a power struggle between the military’s head, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands a powerful paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces.The tribal violence in the south erupted Monday between the Hausa and Nuba tribes in the city of Kosti, the capital of White Nile province bordering South Sudan, according to Sudanese local media reports. Deadly tribal violence is not uncommon in Sudan’s south and west, where disputes dating back to the country’s split from South Sudan remain unresolved. The country&...

Indigenous guardians help restore nature and community

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

OTTAWA — On the shores of the eastern arm of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, Iris Catholique and the Ni Hat’ni Dene Indigenous Guardians have spent several years watching the ice take longer and longer to form every winter.It’s another sign of climate change and the changing environment in the north, and one more thing they are keeping track of as the group tasked with conserving both their traditions and their lands.“We call it ‘Dene Chanie’ and that means who we are, our way of life,” said Catholique.The Ni Hat’ni Dene program is one of 150 different Indigenous Guardians programs that have blossomed in the last five years.First Nations account for 120 of those, while Inuit and Métis communities make up the rest.This week, 250 guardians from almost all the existing programs are meeting in Ottawa for the largest national gathering yet. It is a networking event for most, and a chance to see what’s working elsewhere and ho...

Senators push overhaul of classification rules after Trump, Biden cases

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Responding to a series of intelligence breaches over the last year, senators on Wednesday introduced legislation that would require the National Archives to screen documents leaving the White House for classified material. Classified material was found at the homes of President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and former Vice President Mike Pence. And a 21-year-old Air National Guard member is accused of leaking hundreds of Pentagon assessments in an online chatroom. Under two bills unveiled Wednesday, anytime a president seeks to classify a mix of official and unofficial papers as personal records, the archivist would first have to conduct a security review to ensure nothing is classified. In the cases of Biden, Trump, and Pence, classified material was found commingled with personal records. “The notion that there was no checking process by the archivist so that that becomes a formal step rather than a ‘nice to do,’ I think, is terribly important,” said ...

GTA police forces review deaths for links to man charged in sale of sodium nitrite

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

Several police forces say they are reviewing sudden deaths in their regions that could be linked to an Ontario man accused of selling a lethal substance to people at risk of self-harm.Peel Regional Police arrested Kenneth Law last week and charged the 57-year-old with two counts of counselling or aiding suicide after investigating two recent deaths in the area.Law, who is in custody awaiting a bail hearing, appeared briefly at a Brampton courthouse by video link on Wednesday before his case was put over until Monday.Peel Region police allege the Mississauga man used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance that is commonly used to cure meats but can be deadly.The force has said one person died in Peel Region at the end of March after consuming sodium nitrate allegedly bought from an online company owned by Law. Investigators said they later learned of a second death.Three other police forces said that they were reviewing past deaths in light of the allegat...

West Virginia’s Huggins agrees to pay cut, suspension for homophobic slur, AP source says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:06:54 GMT

Bob Huggins will remain basketball coach at West Virginia after agreeing to a suspension and pay cut for using a homophobic slur during a radio show, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday.The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the university had not finalized its decision. The person could not give details on the suspension or amount of salary reduction.ESPN first reported Huggins would remain coach, but with conditions.In a blunder that will leave a lasting mark on his Hall of Fame career, Huggins used the slur to refer to Xavier fans on Monday while also denigrating Catholics during an appearance on Cincinnati radio station WLW. He later apologized in a statement. The West Virginia athletic department called the comments “offensive” and said it was reviewing the matter.During the radio show, Huggins was asked about the transfer portal and whether he had a chance of landing a player at West Virginia from Xavier, a Jesuit school.“...