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Biden taps WH aide Neera Tanden as domestic policy adviser

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Friday that he has chosen Neera Tanden, a veteran Washington insider who currently serves as White House staff secretary and senior adviser, to be his new domestic policy adviser. Tanden will be the first Asian American to lead any of the three major White House policy operations, he said. She will succeed Susan Rice, a longtime foreign policy expert who surprised Washington by shifting to a domestic policy focus when she joined Biden’s White House. In her current role, Tanden has overseen decision-making involving his domestic, economic and national security teams. He cited her 25 years of experience in public policy, her past work for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and her tenure running the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress, one of the country’s largest think tanks, for nearly a decade. She also helped write the Obama-era Affordable Care Act health care law. Biden initially had nominated Tanden, the ...

Poor communication, inconsistent information behind record increase in complaints: Toronto ombudsman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

Toronto’s ombudsman says a record increase in complaints to his office is an indication that the City isn’t always putting the public first.Kwame Addo says his 2022 annual report shows a 28 per cent increase in complaints over 2021, up to a total of 3,587 cases, noting that unclear communication, inaccessible services, or inconsistent decision-making were at the root of most complaints.“The vast majority of complaints continue to be about poor communication, including delays in the City getting back to people and staff providing inconsistent information or unclear messages,” said Addo.He acknowledged that 2022 was a difficult year with the pandemic, job losses, rising costs and increased food insecurity exacerbating the housing crisis in the city.Graph showing percentage of where complaints were coming from to Toronto ombudsman. OMBUDSMAN TORONTO ANNUAL REPORT/HORELATED: Toronto opted for speed over people in clearing encampments last summer: OmbudsmanThe ombudsman says ...

Messi apologizes to PSG for unapproved Saudi Arabia trip

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Lionel Messi apologized to Paris Saint-Germain and his teammates on Friday for going to Saudi Arabia on an unauthorized trip that resulted in his suspension.Messi posted a short video on Instagram to ask for forgiveness and chalk up the controversy to a scheduling misunderstanding.He missed practice on Monday while he was on a promotional trip to Saudi Arabia, and a day later the French club announced it suspended the World Cup winner.Messi said he thought the team had Monday off.“Hello, I wanted to make this video about what is happening. First of all, ask for forgiveness from my teammates and the club. Honestly, I thought we were going to have an off day as it had been the case in the weeks prior. I had this trip to (Saudi) Arabia organized, which I had canceled before, and this time I couldn’t cancel. Again, ask for forgiveness from what I did and I will be waiting for whatever the club decides. Hugs.”Earlier on Friday, coach Christophe Galtier said the club and Mess...

Ex-officers get house arrest in girl’s gunfire death at game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Three fired police officers who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the death of an 8-year-old girl killed when they opened fire outside a high school football game near Philadelphia have been sentenced to five years of probation — the first 11 months of it on house arrest. Former Sharon Hill officers Brian Devaney, Devon Smith and Sean Dolan had each pleaded guilty to 10 counts of reckless endangerment. Authorities said they could not determine which officer fired the shot that killed Fanta Bility on Aug. 27, 2021.An investigation found the officers negligently fired 25 shots at a car they mistakenly thought was involved in gunfire that broke out as spectators left the football game in 2021. Bility had attended the game at Academy Park High School with her mother and an older sister who was grazed by a bullet. In all, four people were hit by police gunfire that sped past the car.The sentencing Friday capped an emotional 90-minute hearing during which the de...

ICC chief prosecutor says he has ‘every confidence’ South Africa will arrest Putin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

OTTAWA — The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor says he has every confidence that South Africa will arrest Vladimir Putin when the Russian president is expected to attend an international summit there in August.Karim Khan defended his decision to issue the arrest warrant at a news conference in Ottawa today, saying it is a “litmus test” for whether the international community will take collective action against Putin for Russia’s year-old assault against Ukraine. The court is trying to hold Putin personally responsible for war crimes including the abduction of Ukrainian children. He is expected to attend the BRICS summit as Russia’s representative, alongside the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa. South Africa’s ambassador to Canada recently told The Canadian Press that the country prefers the idea of peace talks to the West’s approach of trying to punish the Russian aggressors. Khan says that, “God willing,&...

Kenyan pastor suspected in cult deaths to remain jailed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A court in Kenya on Friday gave police five more days to hold a pastor facing possible terror-related charges in the deaths of more than 100 his congregants, many of whom are believed to have starved to death. Police rescued 15 emaciated parishioners from the 800-acre Kilifi County property of Paul Mackenzie last month. Four of them died after the group was taken to a hospital, and survivors told investigators the pastor had instructed them to fast to death before the world ends so they could meet Jesus. A search of Mackenzie’s property, located in a remote forested area, found more than 100 bodies and dozens of mass graves dug out, authorities have said. Autopsies on the bodies were ongoing, but completed ones showed some of the buried people had died of starvation, strangulation or suffocation.Mackenzie was arrested two weeks ago for alleged links to cultism. A lower court freed him this week but he was rearrested and presented to a higher court. Police...

King Charles III surprises crowd outside Buckingham Palace

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III surprised cheering fans who started gathering outside Buckingham Palace on Friday, a day ahead of his coronation, as final touches were made in preparation for an occasion that London hasn’t celebrated in 70 years. People in the crowd screamed his name as Charles stepped from a chauffeur-driven Bentley wearing a blue suit. One person could be heard yelling “God save the king” as the British monarch approached the throng lined up behind a barricade.Charles thanked the well-wishers for coming, shaking hands as he slowly moved along the line.Theresa Iredale, wearing a plastic crown, said she trembled when the king approached her after she screamed his name. “I saw his hand coming out to mine and I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m shaking the king’s hand,’” she said. Prince William, heir to the throne, and his wife, Kate, also greeted the public during the walkabout, talking to fans on the opposite side of The Mall, posing for selfies and chit-chatting...

New Enbridge tolling deal will protect Mainline pipeline from impacts of TMX opening

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

CALGARY — Enbridge Inc.’s successful negotiation of a tolling deal for its Mainline pipeline system will help protect the company against significant volume losses once the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion opens, analysts say.The Calgary-based pipeline giant has been trying to reach a deal with oil shippers on a new tolling agreement since November 2021, when Enbridge’s proposal to fill the Mainline network through long-term contracts was rejected by the Canada Energy Regulator.The Mainline network is Canada’s largest oil pipeline system, providing about 70 per cent of the total oil pipeline transportation capacity out of Western Canada.On Thursday, Enbridge announced a new agreement covering both the Canada and the U.S. portions of the Mainline system. Once finalized and approved by the regulator, the new tolling deal will be in place through 2028.Demand for shipping on the Mainline has exceeded capacity over the past few years, and the pipeline system is current...

Lebanon’s finance minister questioned in Central Bank probe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — A European judicial team questioned Lebanon’s caretaker finance minister on Friday in an investigation related to corruption probes of the country’s Central Bank governor, officials said.The questioning is part of a probe by a delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg, now on its third visit to Lebanon to interrogate suspects and witnesses in the case. Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh is being investigated abroad over several financial crimes and the laundering of some $330 million.During Friday’s session, caretaker Finance Minister Youssef El Khalil was questioned about his work as a close associate of Salameh while working at the Central Bank, before he became a Cabinet minister, officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing probe. El Khalil worked for the Central Bank from 1982 until he became finance minister nearly two years ago and was last the executive director of its financial operations department.On Thursday, the E...

2 mass shootings in 2 days plunge Serbia into shock, dismay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The first shooting left Serbia weeping. The second set off waves of soul-searching in a deeply divided nation, awash in weaponry, where war criminals are glorified and memories run deep of years of civil war.Two mass killings in two days. Nineteen people dead and 21 injured. "We walked around like zombies for 24 hours, not believing what has happened and looking for reasons,” President Aleksandar Vucic, a populist authoritarian who began his political career as a far-right Serbian nationalist during the Yugoslav civil wars, said Friday in a nationwide TV address. The back-to-back bloodshed sent shockwaves through a Balkan nation scarred by wars, but unused to mass murders. Though Serbia is full of weapons left over from the conflicts of the 1990s, the last mass shooting before this week was in 2013, when a war veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village.In Thursday's attack, a gunman apparently firing at random killed eight people and wounded 14 in ...