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Open Society Foundations commit $50M to women and youth groups’ work on democracy

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Open Society Foundations, the major philanthropy now led by Alex Soros, said Tuesday it will commit $50 million to increase civic engagement among women and young people over the next three years as part of its strategy to support democracy in the U.S. Alex Soros, chair of the Open Society Foundations and son of its founder billionaire investor George Soros, said advocacy from women and younger generations is essential to stopping the advancement of authoritarianism. “In the early stages of the Trump administration, philanthropic support for organizations seeking to protect and defend progressive policy wins and to counter democratic suppression efforts surged,” Alex Soros said in a statement. “But groups dedicated to the civic engagement of women and young people did not see similar increases in levels of support.”The new Open Society commitment will support nonprofits working on a wide range of issues impacting these groups, including reproductive justice, cl...

Tom Hanks draws on his love of space for immersive documentary ‘The Moonwalkers’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

LONDON (AP) — You won’t see Tom Hanks on one of those space tourism flights that whisk celebrities and millionaires on a suborbital jaunt for a few hours. He says it wouldn’t be enough time out of this world.“I don’t need to go up and down,” Hanks said Tuesday. “I think I’d need a little bit longer in paradise.”Going to the moon is another matter – and the subject of “The Moonwalkers,” an immersive documentary co-written and narrated by Hanks.“I’d do that in a second,” Hanks said. “I don’t have the math. I do not have those abilities, but I’m sure there’s something I could do in order to help the program.”The two-time Academy Award-winning actor is a lifelong space buff, and he has channeled his passion into “The Moonwalkers,” which opens Wednesday at the Lightroom, a London venue specializing in interactive art and film experiences.Visitors sit on benches surrounded by imagery as the 50-minute film brings NASA’s Apollo space missions to life. The focus is on the 12 men who walked o...

FBI chief makes fresh pitch for spy program renewal and says it’d be ‘devastating’ if it lapsed

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Christopher Wray called Tuesday for the reauthorization of a U.S. government surveillance tool set to expire at the end of the year, warning Senate lawmakers that there would be “devastating” consequences for public safety if the program is allowed to lapse.At issue is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. government to collect without a warrant the communications of targeted foreigners outside the United States.The program, created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is due to expire at the end of this month unless Congress votes to reauthorize it. But Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike have balked at renewing the program in its current form, recommending a slew of reforms through competing legislative proposals that are jockeying for support in the coming weeks.The fact that Wray devoted a significant portion of his prepared remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee to the issue underscore...

App company Amp Me to pay fine in settlement agreement with Competition Bureau

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

GATINEAU, Que. — The Competition Bureau says Amp Me Inc. has agreed to pay a fine to settle the regulator’s concerns about false or misleading claims by the mobile application and the purchase of positive reviews.Amp Me offers a mobile application in Canada and the U.S. that synchronizes multiple devices to amplify the sound of music. The regulator says an investigation found Amp Me allegedly bought positive reviews from third parties between 2019 and 2022 to promote its application and concluded these reviews created a false or misleading general impression.The bureau also said some claims made outside of Quebec gave the impression that the application was available free of charge when it was a limited free trial.Under the agreement, the regulator imposed a penalty of $1.5 million, but because of Amp Me’s limited ability to pay, it will pay a partial penalty of $310,000. If it turns out that Amp Me’s financial statements were inaccurate or incomplete, the bureau h...

6 held in Belgium and the Netherlands on suspicion of links to Russia sanction violations

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Six people have been taken into custody in Belgium and the Netherlands in connection with an inquiry into suspected exports of “sensitive” products and technology that might be banned under sanctions against Russia, Belgian prosecutors said Tuesday.The investigation was launched following a tipoff and information provided by unidentified U.S. “government agencies,” prosecutors said in a statement. They said the agencies were investigating illegal exports of dual-use goods and money laundering in the United States.The six were detained during searches of private homes and company headquarters in Knokke-Heist and Eeklo in Belgium, and just over the border in Sluis and Rotterdam, Netherlands, the statement said. No names of suspects or companies were provided.The 27-nation European Union has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Part of the aim is to stop high-tech and other products with possible military uses from...

2 suspects sought in assault outside Oshawa bar

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

Police are looking to identify two suspects sought in connection with an assault outside a bar in Oshawa back in October that left the victim with serious facial injuries.The alleged assault happened in the parking lot of Chasers Bar and Grill located on King Street East near Townline Road North around 3 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 15.According to Durham Regional Police Service, the victim was in the lot when they were allegedly assaulted by two females.“Investigators have been unable to locate or identify the suspects and are reaching out to the public for assistance,” police say in a release.Police are also seeking security camera or dash-cam footage of the incident and looking to speaking with anyone who has additional information.

S&P/TSX composite flat in late-morning trading, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was flat in late-morning trading as losses in the base metal stocks were offset by gains in the technology and telecommunication sectors and U.S. stock markets were mixed.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 1.56 points at 20,411.77.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 140.92 points at 36,063.52. The S&P 500 index was down 6.03 points at 4,563.75, while the Nasdaq composite was up 33.78 points at 14,219.27.The Canadian dollar traded for 73.67 cents US compared with 73.85 cents US on Monday.The January crude oil contract was up 54 cents at US$73.58 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up six cents at US$2.76 per mmBTU.The February gold contract was down US$5.90 at US$2,036.30 an ounce and the March copper contract was down five cents at US$3.79 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) The Canadian Press

Former president of Mauritania gets 5-year prison sentence for corruption

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) — A Mauritanian court handed down a five-year prison sentence to the country’s former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz after finding him guilty of money laundering and self-enrichment, his attorneys said Tuesday.The Monday verdict wraps up a rare corruption trial in west Africa and closes a chapter in the long trajectory of a strongman who helped lead two coups before serving two terms as president and becoming a counterterrorism partner to Western nations including the U.S.In the landmark 11-month trial, Aziz and other top Mauritanian officials were accused of siphoning money from the country to enrich themselves. It marked a rare instance in which an African leader was tried for corruption, though Aziz’s lawyers long framed the trial as a matter of score-settling between him and current President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani.“This is a political verdict whose ultimate objective is to deprive the president of civic rights,” defense lawyer T...

Rain, wind pummels B.C. coast as atmospheric river makes landfall

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

VANCOUVER — Parts of southwestern British Columbia remain under a rainfall warning as a potent atmospheric river made landfall along the province’s coast Monday, bringing ample rain and high winds while disrupting roads and utilities.Environment Canada says the weather system brought as much as 132 millimetres of rain in the last 24 hours, reported at the Kennedy Lake on Vancouver Island.The highest precipitation recorded in the Lower Mainland and southwestern B.C. was in Port Mellon on the Sunshine Coast with 102 millimetres, followed by Mission, Porteau Cove and Pitt Meadows with 97, 91 and 90 millimetres of rain respectively.Meanwhile, strong winds also pummeled the B.C. coast Monday, with gusts reaching 150 kilometres an hour at Sartine Island near the northern tip of Vancouver Island and 115 kilometres an hour at Sandspit in Haida Gwaii.Pooling water wreaked havoc on several major roadways in southwestern B.C., with Highway 99 in Richmond, Highway 7B in Port Coquitlam and...

Ozempic shortage taking financial toll on vulnerable diabetes patients

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:21:26 GMT

A Toronto pharmacy owner says it’s by far the most disruptive drug shortage he’s seen in the last four years — and he’s seen a lot. Diabetes patients who usually take Ozempic are facing hefty bills for alternatives and the situation may last even longer than expected.Kyro Maseh operates two pharmacies, including Lawlor Pharmasave on Kingston Road, and says about 15 per cent of his day — every day — is managing this shortage and answering questions.“I know that a lot of people are using it (Ozempic) for weight loss, but the majority of the patients that I look at – at Rylander Pharmacy out in Scarborough are using this for diabetes and they’re not finding anything that’s covered,” he said.“A lot of them are low socio-economic, a lot of them are seniors and they are diabetic and they have nothing that is covered by the government.”Maseh says alternative drugs can cost anywhere from $250-$400 out of pocket. R...