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The remaining dates on comedian Russell Brand’s tour are postponed after sexual assault allegations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

By JILL LAWLESS (Associated Press)LONDON (AP) — British police said Monday that they had received a sexual assault allegation after media outlets published claims by several women against Russell Brand. Promoters postponed the remaining dates in a string of live gigs by the comedian, who denies the allegations.A talent agency and a publisher also parted company with Brand over the claims, which have left the U.K. entertainment industry facing questions about whether the comedian’s bad behavior went unchallenged because of his fame.Brand, 48, denies allegations of sexual assault made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary and The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The accusers, who have not been named, include one who said she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with him when she was 16. Another woman says Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.London’s Metropolitan Police force said that since the allegations were made public it had received &...

Lawmakers take aim at ‘endless scandals’ on Massachusetts Cannabis Commission, seek answers, oversight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

If you’ve been wondering what’s up with the state’s Cannabis Control Commission lately then you are not the only one.On Monday, five lawmakers wrote to the joint committee overseeing the state’s marijuana regulators to ask them to look into what is bringing the CCC to “crisis.”“Since its creation in 2017, The Cannabis Control Commission has faced what sometimes feels like an endless stream of scandals. The public deserves some accountability on why these issues have proven so hard to stamp out, and what long-term changes the agency is making to get its work done with more transparency and efficiency,” State Sen. Michael Moore said in a statement Monday.Moore, in a letter sent to the chairs of the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, cites several recent headlines surrounding the commission as his reason for asking his colleagues to hold hearings on the matter.Last week, Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien was unceremoniously suspended by Treasurer Deb Goldberg. No reas...

5 prisoners freed in US swap with Iran, arrive in Qatar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

By JON GAMBRELL, LUJAIN JO and MATTHEW LEE (Associated Press)DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Five prisoners sought by the U.S. in a swap with Iran were freed Monday and headed home as part of a deal that saw nearly $6 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen.Despite the deal, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the U.S. and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.The planned exchange has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the possibility of U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” President Joe Biden said in a statement released as the plane carrying the group from Tehran landed in Doha, Qatar.After the plane slowed ...

Netanyahu visits Elon Musk in California to hold discussion about artificial intelligence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is starting a U.S. trip in California to talk about technology and artificial intelligence with billionaire businessman Elon Musk.The Israeli leader posted Monday on Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he plans to talk with the Tesla CEO “about how we can harness the opportunities and mitigate the risks of AI for the good of civilization.”Netanyahu’s high-profile visit to the San Francisco Bay Area comes at a time when Musk is facing accusations of tolerating antisemitic messages on his social media platform, while Netanyahu is confronting political opposition at home and abroad. Protesters gathered early Monday outside the Fremont, California factory where Tesla makes its cars.The video livestream kicked off shortly before 9:30 a.m. with Netanyahu and the Tesla CEO. Netanyahu’s official X account posted that he is holding a “a one on one conversation” with Musk. The two kicked of...

Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley discharged from hospital after pneumonia bout: wife

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

TORONTO — Deryck Whibley, the lead singer of pop-punk band Sum 41, is back home after being hospitalized with a case of pneumonia.The musician’s wife Ari posted an Instagram update over the weekend saying Whibley was discharged after responding well to medical treatment.She says he’s now under the care of both her and his mother, who is a registered nurse.Days earlier, Ari used her Instagram account to share with fans that Whibley spent a night in the emergency room with a case of pneumonia, sidelining plans to spend their eight-year wedding anniversary in Chicago.While he was in the hospital, she wrote that doctors told them “a lot of strain on his heart” could lead to possible heart failure.The 43-year-old has faced other major health issues in the past. In 2014, he was placed in a medically induced coma after his alcoholism led to severe damage of his liver and kidneys.“This is obviously not our first time in a situation like this but it brings back ...

1 injured, 1 arrested following stabbing at Whitby high school

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

One person has been injured and another person is in police custody following a stabbing at a high school in Whitby.Father Leo Austin Catholic Secondary School, located at 1020 Dryden Blvd. near Taunton Road East and Thickson Road North, was placed on lockdown just before 12:30 p.m. on Monday. It has since been lifted.Police confirm the stabbing took place on school property but it is not clear if it happened inside or outside the school.Police say the victim’s injuries are not life-threatening.No further details have been released about the victim or suspect at this time.

Class-action lawsuit application for COVID-19 response in care homes begins in Quebec

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

MONTREAL — A Quebec Superior Court judge is being asked to authorize a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all residents of public long-term care homes that experienced COVID-19 outbreaks during the pandemic’s first two waves.Montreal lawyer Patrick Martin-Ménard said today in court that Quebec’s early response to COVID-19 in long-term care homes was marked by improvisation and that a pre-existing pandemic plan was ignored until it was too late.The lawsuit would also include family members of residents who died between March 2020 and March 2021.Martin-Ménard says that outbreaks at care homes would have been prevented had the existing plan been put into action.He says long-term care centres were ill-prepared to receive patients from hospitals, and couldn’t properly care for residents after the government banned visits from family caregivers.Lawyers for the Quebec government are scheduled to argue against the lawsuit later this week. This report by The Canadian Press w...

Indiana’s attorney general faces misconduct complaint over remarks about abortion doctor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A complaint filed Monday alleges that Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita violated professional conduct rules in statements he made about a doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim last year.The Indiana Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission references an interview Rokita gave in July 2022 about Dr. Caitlin Bernard on a Fox News show, The Indianapolis Star reported.The commission also alleges in its complaint that Rokita, a Republican who is anti-abortion, violated confidentiality requirements by making statements about an investigation into Bernard prior to filing a complaint with the state’s Medical Licensing Board.Rokita’s office told the newspaper Monday that it would file a response to the complaint.Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, gave the girl a medication-induced abortion in June 2022 and received widespread attention after she gave an interview to the Indianapolis Star about the child.The doctor’s account o...

China’s foreign minister holds talks in Russia after meeting with US national security adviser

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — China’s top diplomat on Monday began several days of security consultations with Russian officials following his weekend talks with U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser in Malta.Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who simultaneously holds the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy post, will be in Russia through Thursday for strategic security consultations, the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement.Wang opened his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov by hailing “strategic cooperation” between the two countries and their shared commitment to a “multipolar world” and a “more just world order,” terms Moscow and Beijing use to describe their efforts to counterbalance the perceived U.S. domination of global affairs.“China and Russia, as leading global powers and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, bear special responsibility for maintaining global strategic stability and global development,” Wang said. ...

Trump calls DeSantis abortion ban ‘a terrible mistake,’ sparking anger from some key Republicans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:30 GMT

Donald Trump is facing new blowback from anti-abortion activists for refusing to commit to national abortion restrictions and for calling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of a six-week ban on the procedure a “terrible mistake.”Speaking Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump repeatedly declined to say whether he would support a federal ban on abortion. He said he could “live with” the procedure being banned by individual states or nationwide through federal action, though he said “from a legal standpoint, I think it’s probably better” to be handled at the state level.Regarding the bill signed by DeSantis, which bans abortions before many women know they are pregnant, Trump said, “I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” So far, the former president has dominated the 2024 field while at times spurning the anti-abortion groups that traditionally have huge influence in Republican primaries. But Trump’s direct attack on DeSantis, whom he’s lon...