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‘Probably organized crime’: Montreal police probe wave of arsons, extortion attempts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

MONTREAL — The greater Montreal area has witnessed a notable increase in arsons in recent months, with restaurants, cafés and vehicles the frequent targets.Police and other law enforcement experts say most of the fires are likely tied to extortion attempts by organized crime.“The first common denominator is there’s probably organized crime involved,” André Gélinas, a retired Montreal police sergeant-detective, said Monday in an interview.Gélinas, a former intelligence officer, said some of the fires could be connected to turf wars — notable examples in Montreal occurred among pizzerias and towing companies, he said. But what’s very likely is that most of the cases involve protection rackets, he added.Criminals, he said, offer business owners “protection” in exchange for fixed monthly payments. Those who fail to pay are vandalized by the same criminals.“What’s particular is organized crime is asking for money to protect the owners from ...

YouTube’s recommendations send violent and graphic gun videos to 9-year-olds, study finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When researchers at a nonprofit that studies social media wanted to understand the connection between YouTube videos and gun violence, they set up accounts on the platform that mimicked the behavior of typical boys living in the U.S.They simulated two nine-year-olds who both liked video games. The accounts were identical, except that one clicked on the videos recommended by YouTube, and the other ignored the platform’s suggestions.The account that clicked on YouTube’s suggestions was soon flooded with graphic videos about school shootings, tactical gun training videos and how-to instructions on making firearms fully automatic. One video featured an elementary school-age girl wielding a handgun; another showed a shooter using a .50 caliber gun to fire on a dummy head filled with lifelike blood and brains. Many of the videos violate YouTube’s own policies against violent or gory content.The findings show that despite YouTube’s rules and conten...

Police make arrest in fatal downtown stabbing, identify victim

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

Toronto police have made an arrest after a man was fatally stabbed in downtown Toronto on Monday.Police say two men became involved in an altercation in the Charles and Yonge streets area at around 4:15 p.m. and one of the men stabbed the other with a sharp-edged weapon.The victim was rushed to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.He has since been identified as Marcus Roberts, 39, of Toronto.On Tuesday police arrested a suspect, charging Markland Watt, 49, of Toronto, with first-degree murder.Just days earlier, another man was fatally stabbed nearby in the Yonge-Dundas Square area.Richard Sasaki, 40, died after he was stabbed in front of a city-run supervised injection site on Victoria Street on Friday, May 12, just before 2 p.m.Toronto police identified the victim as 40-year-old Richard Sasaki. Photo: TPS.The suspect in Sasaki’s killing remains at large.

Clarification: Climate-Kerry story

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a story published May 14, 2023, The Associated Press reported that the American Petroleum Institute declined comment. The story should have made clear that the organization declined to comment on whether carbon capture technology could be fully online quickly enough. The story also included an incomplete sentence about the API’s position on federal carbon capture policies.The Associated Press

IRS moves forward with free e-filing system in pilot program to launch in 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Most taxpayers are interested in filing their taxes directly to the IRS for free, a new report says, and that option will be tested next year.The IRS has spent the past nine months studying whether U.S. taxpayers want to see a free, e-filing system run by the government — and is now preparing to launch a pilot program.The prospect of a free, government-run, online tax filing system has been debated for a long time. Supporters argue that the option would make tax return services more equitable and accessible for taxpayers nationwide. But there’s also been pushback from some big tax-prep companies.Now, the IRS plans to launch a pilot program for the 2024 filing season to test a “direct file” system and help the federal government decide whether to move forward with potentially implementing it in the future, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel and the Treasury’s Chief Implementation Officer Laurel Blatchford said Tuesday.There are still few details available about the p...

UN: Africa’s Sahel desperately needs help to fight violent extremism and stop its spread

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Africa’s Sahel region has become a hot spot for violent extremism, but the joint force set up in 2014 to combat groups linked to the Islamic State, al-Qaida and others has failed to stop their inroads, and a senior U.N. official warned Tuesday that without greater international support and regional cooperation the instability will expand toward West African coastal countries.“Resolute advances in the fight against terrorism, violent extremism and organized crime in the Sahel desperately need to be made,” U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee told a U.N. Security Council meeting.The counterterrorism force, now comprised of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger, lost Mali a year ago when its ruling junta decided to pull out. Pobee said the force hasn’t conducted any major military operations since January.She said the force is adjusting to new realities: France moving its counterterrorism force from Mali to Niger due to tensions with t...

Pennsylvania House control up for grabs again in special elections

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats’ narrow majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is on the line Tuesday with two special elections that will determine which party controls the chamber.One of those contests is expected to swing Republicans’ way, but the other in Delaware County, in the Philadelphia suburbs, will be more competitive. It’s the second time this year that Democrats have sweated the outcome of House special elections, and they hope to be just as lucky as before.The stakes are high: A Democratic victory in Delaware County would give first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro at least one chamber to aid his agenda going into the final month of budget negotiations. The results could also affect a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights that legislative Republicans are one House vote away from putting before voters as a referendum.In that race, Democrat Heather Boyd, a former congressional and state legislative aide, is competing against Republic...

Brazil’s Bolsonaro questioned in fake vaccine card investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro was questioned Tuesday by Federal Police in an investigation into allegations that COVID-19 vaccine cards were falsified to get around U.S. vaccine requirements.Police haven’t publicly named the targets of their investigation, but local media reports have said authorities are looking into the vaccine cards of Bolsonaro, his advisors and members of his family and whether they were altered ahead of U.S. visits.Bolsonaro, who arrived Tuesday afternoon at the police headquarters in Brasilia to give a sworn deposition, has denied wrongdoing, saying he never claimed to be vaccinated nor presented documentation saying that he was. Vehicles thought to transport Bolsonaro were seen arriving around 1:30 a.m. local time and left over four hours later.During the COVID-19 pandemic, the former president spent months sowing doubt about the efficacy of the vaccine. A police statement about the investigation alleges that alterations to t...

'Pneumonia Front' to send temps crashing Tuesday night

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

A Pneumonia Front will send temps crashing Tuesday evening.A 20 to 30 degree drop in temps is expected over just a few hours Tuesday eveningA strong southbound cold front is to shift winds NNE in Chicago with the flow arrived after a "full fetch" trip down the length of Lake Michigan over its still chilly waters. Temps will dive here--likely falling from the low 80s to the low and mid 50s by 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.While Wednesday is to be cool--hovering in the low to mid 60s inland but in the 50s along Lake Michigan, temps are to recover to more seasonable levels (normal highs this time of year are in low 70s; normal lows in the upper 40s and low 50s) the remainder of the week and through the coming weekend.Dry Spring continuesShowers are expected Friday but the overall pattern over the coming two weeks is to remain dry. This will continue the "much drier than average" spring trend observed to date. To date, May 2023 ranks among the 19% of driest Mays of the past 151 years and the meteoro...

Funeral services set for slain CPD officer Aréanah Preston

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:06 GMT

CHICAGO — Visitation and funeral services will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday for fallen Chicago Police Officer Aréanah Preston.Visitation began at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, located at 4727 W. 103rd St in Oak Lawn.The 24-year-old officer had just returned from a shift in the 5th District when she was shot and killed in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue. Four suspects have been charged in her fatal shooting.Preston's mother told WGN she was a smart and driven woman who was looking forward to her graduating with her master's from Loyola University. On Saturday, Loyola posthumously awarded Preston's degree to her mother.Her law enforcement colleagues said she was brave and compassionate. Preston's last arrestee, taken into custody just hours before her death, reportedly wept when they heard the news.Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Police Department Interim Superintendent Fred Waller both attended Tuesday's visitation. ‘It was my work’: Teen bragged to...