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DEA agent leaked secret information about Maduro ally targeted by US, prosecutor says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal narcotics agent leaked sensitive case information about one of Washington’s top criminal targets in Venezuela as part of a scheme to sell government secrets to defense lawyers seeking to attract deep-pocketed clients, a jury was told this week. In a wiretapped phone call, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent John Costanzo Jr. revealed the exact date in 2019 when prosecutors in Miami planned to bring charges against businessman Alex Saab for allegedly siphoning $350 million from state contracts.The leak, not previously made public, marks yet another embarrassing case of high-profile agent misconduct at the U.S.’ premier anti-narcotics agency and could complicate the Justice Department’s already-fraught prosecution of Saab.Saab has become a cause célèbre among allies of President Nicolas Maduro. The socialist leader claims the Colombian-born businessman is a Venezuelan diplomat targeted for his efforts to bypass American sanctions imposed by the T...

Executive committee proposes Exhibition Place as alternative for Therme megaspa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

Toronto City Council’s executive committee has asked city staff to look into the feasibility of having the Therme health spa moved from its proposed location at Ontario Place to the Exhibition Place grounds. Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik says feedback from public consultations on the project has suggested an alternative site be found for the private spa and waterpark on the western part of Ontario Place.“Exhibition Place may benefit from and provide an improved location for this use due to factors such as proximity to transit, hotel accommodations, parking, existing servicing and other infrastructure.”Malik’s motion suggests part of the spa and waterpark would be included within the Better Living Centre on the CNE grounds.Among the more than 100 letters submitted to the committee in favour of exploring alternative options submission was one from former Canadian Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, who says the CNE is a “very good alternative” for the me...

Canadian Dairy Commission delays farmgate milk price hike by three months

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

OTTAWA — The Canadian Dairy Commission is delaying a planned increase to the farmgate price of milk by three months as the food industry grapples with pressure to stabilize food prices. On Wednesday, the dairy commission said an increase of 1.77 per cent will go into effect on May 1, 2024, instead of February 1, when it would normally take place. The increase translates to just over a cent per litre. Inflation is affecting Canadians and the entire dairy supply chain, from farmgate to consumers’ plates, said CDC chair Jennifer Hayes in a statement. “The CDC always strives to balance consumer impacts with sustainability of the dairy industry.” The commission, a Crown corporation, reviews the price dairy farmers are paid for their milk every fall. Price adjustments normally come into effect the following February. In October, the commission said that according to its pricing formula, the price of milk at the farm level could go up by 1.77 per cent in February.Ahead of...

Ontario hospitals warn stolen patient, employee data may be published

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

Five Ontario hospitals affected by a recent ransomware attack, along with their shared IT provider, are warning patients and staff that their data may be published.The attack caused an outage of some online services at Bluewater Health, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, Erie Shores HealthCare, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and Windsor Regional Hospital on Oct. 23.Affected hospitals have been forced to postpone and reschedule many surgeries and appointments.The hospitals and TransForm, a non-profit group tasked with overseeing the hospitals’ I-T systems, say an investigation involving “leading cybersecurity experts” has determined certain patient, employee and professional staff data has been taken and may be released publicly.They say the hospital organizations are working to restore systems, and updates related to the restoration of systems are expected in the next week.The group says it’s working closely with law enforcement including local police departments, On...

Trooper accused of withholding body-camera video agrees to testify in deadly arrest of Black driver

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

Prosecutors have dropped charges against a Louisiana state trooper accused of withholding graphic body-camera footage that shows another officer dragging Black motorist Ronald Greene by his ankle shackles during his deadly 2019 arrest.Lt. John Clary, the ranking officer at the scene, has agreed to take the stand in the trial of Master Trooper Kory York, a former colleague charged with negligent homicide in the case. York is accused of forcing the heavyset Greene to lie facedown and handcuffed for more than nine minutes, which use-of-force experts said likely restricted his breathing.“Mr. Clary has and will continue to cooperate with the state and testify truthfully in this matter,” said John Belton, the Union Parish district attorney.It was not immediately clear why prosecutors dismissed the obstruction of justice indictment against Clary before he provides his testimony, and the single-paragraph dismissal makes no mention of his pledged cooperation.York is expected to stand trial n...

Biden nominates a top adviser on Asia to be the State Department’s No. 2 diplomat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nominating a top adviser on Asia to serve as the State Department’s second-ranking diplomat, the White House said Wednesday, elevating one of the architects of the administration’s efforts to develop a more Asia-focused foreign policy.Kurt Campbell currently is deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the National Security Council. He has played an important role in helping Biden reinvigorate the diplomatic grouping of the United States, Japan, Australia and India, and has helped to ease historic tensions between South Korea and Japan and shape America’s approach to China.If confirmed, he would replace Wendy Sherman, who retired in July, as deputy secretary of state.“Kurt is a tremendous asset,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. “His passion and commitment to our alliances and partnerships is unquestionably strengthening America’s strategic position ...

Ozone hole is about average size, despite undersea volcano eruption that was expected to worsen it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

With last year’s undersea volcano injecting massive amounts of water high into the atmosphere, scientists were bracing for a big Antarctica ozone hole this fall. But it didn’t happen.Instead this year’s ozone hole was about average size for the last 20 years, even a bit smaller than 2022’s, according to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.From September to mid October, the ozone hole this year averaged 8.9 million square miles (23.1 million square kilometers), which is the 16th largest since satellites started tracking in 1979. It peaked this year at 10 million square miles (26 million square kilometers), about the size of North America.When ozone, three joined oxygen atoms, is 5 to 30 miles high (8 to 50 kilometers) in the atmosphere it protects Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet rays that could cause skin cancer, cataracts and even could sterilize crops. Because of chemicals in aerosol sprays and refrigerants that produce chemicals that munch ozone, Ea...

House weighs censure efforts against Rashida Tlaib and Marjorie Taylor Greene over their rhetoric

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is expected on Wednesday to consider resolutions that would punish two of its most polarizing members, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, in a partisan tit-for-tat over inflammatory rhetoric. The resolutions would deliver the punishment of censure, one step below expulsion from the House, to both lawmakers. Votes on the measures will be among the House’s first acts of business after a nearly monthlong gridlock caused by the removal of Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California as speaker. It’s unclear whether the resolutions will pass. The votes reflect the growing divisiveness of the House, where severe forms of punishment that had long been viewed as an option of last resort, to be triggered only for the most egregious wrongdoing, are quickly becoming routine, often wielded in strikingly partisan ways. While the censure itself carries no practical effect, it leaves a historic fo...

WATCH LIVE: Powell addresses latest Federal Reserve interest rate decision

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to address the media on today's interest rate decision at 2:30 p.m. ET. Those remarks will be livestreamed within this story.WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in nearly two years, the Federal Reserve is set Wednesday to keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged for a second straight policy meeting — the clearest sign to date that the Fed is edging closer to the end of its rate-hiking campaign.The Fed is standing pat, for now, in part because the economy has been moving mostly in the direction that Chair Jerome Powell has hoped for: Inflation has tumbled, even though hiring, consumer spending and economic growth have remained robust. A widely predicted recession hasn't materialized.But the deceleration of inflation has slowed, and solid economic growth could keep inflation elevated or even send it higher. As a result, Powell and other Fed officials aren't yet willing to take a final rate hike off the table. At a new confere...

Infant mortality rate rises for first time in 20 years: CDC

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:39 GMT

(The Hill) — The infant mortality rate in the U.S. rose for the first time in 20 years last year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with significant increases observed in two of the top causes of death.Between 2021 and 2022, infant deaths in the U.S. rose by 3% or 5.60 fatalities per 1,000 live births. The mortality rate for newborns also increased by 3% while the mortality rate for non-newborn infants rose by 4%. The CDC noted this goes against a nearly 20-year trend."The infant mortality rate for the United States rose 3% from 2021 to 2022, the first year-to-year increase in the rate since 2001 to 2002," the agency's report stated. "From 2002 to 2021, the infant mortality rate declined 22%."The mortality rate among infants born to American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanic and White non-Hispanic mothers rose significantly more than the overall change, the CDC noted in its report. The changes in mortality rates observed among i...