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Sunak’s former deputy Raab latest Tory to head for the hills as election looms

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak’s former Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab is planning to stand down as an MP, as an exodus of big-name Conservatives quitting before the next election continues.According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Raab has informed his local Tory association that he doesn’t plan to stand in his Esher and Walton constituency at the next nationwide vote, expected next year.In a letter to the association, Raab — who quit government last month after a bruising inquiry into claims he bullied civil servants — wrote that he has “become increasingly concerned” about the impact of the job on his young family, the Telegraph reported.Raab is only the latest senior Tory figure to announce they won’t stand at the next election, as the Conservatives fret over polling that puts the opposition Labour Party well ahead. The former deputy PM’s Esher and Walton seat is particularly vulnerable, and he defeated his Liberal Democrat challenger by just 2,74...

OBF: For Celtics, more questions than answers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

Instead of raising Banner 18, the Celtics have opted to wave a white flag.Boston trails Miami 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Game 4 is in South Florida tonight.Miami’s airport abbreviation is MIA. The Celtics have been all that in more during this series. Boston was DOA 10 minutes into Game 3. By the start of the fourth quarter, it was RIP for this run to the NBA Finals. Afterward, the entire basketball universe asked “WTF?”In 2023, the DNA of the Celtics no longer includes winning championships. It’s been 15 years. This version lacks heart, hustle, and muscle. They are more 1998 than 2008. They’ve replaced “Ubuntu” with “Oh, not you, too?”The good news? According to ESPN Analytics, the Celtics still have a 114% chance to win this series.The motto of these Celtics has morphed from “Unfinished Business” to “Next Question.”There will be so many this offseason.Will the coach be fired? Will they offer Jaylen Brown a max contract? How much more Marcus Smart can anyone take? Has an...

Israel demolishes home of Palestinian behind Tel Aviv attack that killed 1

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army said on Tuesday it demolished the home of a Palestinian involved in an attack in Tel Aviv that killed one and wounded two others last March.Video footage of the attack shows a man the army says was Moataz Khawaja, 23, shooting three men from behind, including one in the head — in one of Tel Aviv’s busiest streets — before being shot and killed by Israeli police. Hamas claimed him as a member of its armed wing.On Tuesday, the army destroyed Khawaja’s home in the town of Naalin, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. The army said people burned tires, threw stones and shot fireworks at Israeli forces who were razing the site.Israel demolishes the homes of attackers in an attempt to deter others, a tactic critics say amounts to collective punishment. Khawaja’s attack came after months of relentless violence in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has been conducting near-nightly raids in response to Palestinian attacks ...

Germany detains 3 more suspects linked to far-right coup plot

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that criminal police have detained three more suspected far-right extremists who are linked to an alleged plot by the Reichsbuerger, or Reich Citizens, movement to topple the country’s government.The three suspects, who were only identified as Johanna F.-J., Hans-Joachim H. and Steffen W. in line with German privacy rules, were detained Monday evening in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.The defendants are suspected of membership in a terrorist organization, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. In December, German police detained 25 people including a self-styled prince, a retired paratrooper and a former judge who are accused of plotting the violent overthrow of the government.Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for bringing down the government.Authorities say the three people who were arrested Monday evening were lin...

Hong Kong leader condemns unusual uptick in registration withdrawals from organ donation system

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee condemned an unusual rise in the number of withdrawal requests to the city’s organ donation system, saying Tuesday that police would investigate suspicious cases. According to the government, the city’s centralized organ donation registration system received nearly 5,800 withdrawal applications in the five months since December, when the government raised the possibility of establishing an organ transplant mutual assistance program with mainland China. More than half of the withdrawal applications were found to be invalid, either as duplicate applications or coming from people who had never opted in.At a regular press briefing, Lee pointed to those who withdrew their applications without ever registering, calling the moves suspicious. “I severely condemn those who attempt to cause damages to this noble system which saves lives through organ donations,” he said. “This is a shameful act.” Hong Kong, a former British colony that retur...

In The News for May 23, 2023: Is a public inquiry into foreign interference coming?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Tuesday, May 23, 2023 …What we are watching in Canada …The man charged with recommending how best to deal with foreign interference in Canada’s federal elections will finally say whether he believes a public inquiry is necessary. Former governor general David Johnston, the special rapporteur appointed in March by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will issue an interim report Monday on what he considers the best way forward. Parliament Hill has been seized for months with whether Johnston will advise a public inquiry into whether the governing Liberals did enough to confront claims that China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 elections.But his mandate allows for broader recommendations as well — and Johnston will announce his preferred courses of action during a long-awaited news conference at noon ET. In addition to...

“To Kill a Mockingbird” among offerings for Off-Mirvish season lineup

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

TORONTO — Four reimagined takes on classic plays will anchor the lineup for the 2023-24 Off-Mirvish season at Canada’s largest theatre company.Mirvish Productions says Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” will make its Canadian premiere on Nov. 21-27 at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, coming directly to the company from Broadway.“Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of),” the five-star, Olivier Award-winning Best Comedy direct from London’s West End, will follow from Dec. 14 to Jan. 7 at the CAA Theatre, providing an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel.From Feb. 2-25 Theatre buffs can catch Crow’s Theatre’s acclaimed production of “Uncle Vanya,” which Mirvish says previously had an extended  that was still not long enough.Neptune Theatre’s production of Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead” will close the lineup from March 5-24.Mirvish says the comedy turns the spotlight on two minor c...

Johnston to release decision on need for public inquiry into foreign interference

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

OTTAWA — The man charged with recommending how best to deal with foreign interference in Canada’s federal elections will finally say whether he believes a public inquiry is necessary. Former governor general David Johnston, the special rapporteur appointed in March by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will issue an interim report Monday on what he considers the best way forward. Parliament Hill has been seized for months with whether Johnston will advise a public inquiry into whether the governing Liberals did enough to confront claims that China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 elections.But his mandate allows for broader recommendations as well — and Johnston will announce his preferred courses of action during a long-awaited news conference  at noon ET. In addition to the inquiry question, Trudeau also tasked Johnston with recommending any other mechanisms or processes needed to “reinforce Canadians’ confidence in the integrity of our democratic institutions.”His manda...

Quebec police to give update on 1975 murder investigation after identifying suspect

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

MONTREAL — Police in a Montreal suburb are scheduled to provide an update today on the investigation into the 1975 slaying of a 16-year-old girl after exhuming the remains of a suspect earlier this month. The rape and killing of Sharron Prior has gone unsolved since she disappeared after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlor near her home in Montreal’s Pointe-St-Charles neighbourhood.Her body was found three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil, Que. on Montreal’s South Shore.Last June, DNA evidence led police to suspect Franklin Maywood Romine in her death.The body of Romine, who died in 1982 at the age of 36, was exhumed from a West Virginia cemetery in early May for DNA testing intended to confirm his link to the crime. Police say Romine, who had a long criminal record, was in Montreal at the time of the killing but was never suspected in Prior’s death. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2023. The Canadian Press

RCMP to reflect on painful history as Canada’s police service on 150th anniversary

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:41:07 GMT

OTTAWA — When Canada’s founding leaders first conceived of a federal police service, history tells us it was merely an emergency measure, a contingency plan to enforce Canadian laws throughout what was then known as the North-West Territories. The day Parliament voted the service into existence on May 23, 1873, is now recognized as the official founding of what would eventually become the RCMP.But the first big case, months later, truly kick-started the force’s long and sometimes painful history.The RCMP marks 150 years of that history Tuesday with events the service says are meant to demonstrate pride, but also humility and reconciliation.In spring 1873, a famine had pushed a group of Nakoda to venture south of their traditional territory toward Cyprus Hills, in modern-day southern Saskatchewan.They were camped not far from some whisky traders when they encountered a group of American wolf hunters whose horse had been stolen.“When the hunters encountered the innoc...