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Scottish National Party in turmoil after Nicola Sturgeon arrest

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

LONDON — Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf rebuffed calls to suspend his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon from the ruling Scottish National Party after she was questioned by police.Sturgeon was arrested and then released without charge pending further investigation Sunday amid a Police Scotland probe into the SNP’s funding and finances. She has described herself as “innocent of any wrongdoing.”But the arrest has further highlighted deep splits in the SNP as Yousaf, who succeeded Sturgeon at the top of the party and Scottish government after a bruising leadership contest earlier this year, battles to escape the shadow of the police probe.High-profile SNP lawmakers on Monday followed Scottish opposition parties in calling for Yousaf to suspend Sturgeon’s membership of the SNP, which she continues to represent as a member of the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood.Ash Regan, who ran against Yousaf in the leadership election triggered by Sturgeon’s resign...

Repairs to the collapsed section of I-95 in Philadelphia will take months

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

(CNN) — The governor of Pennsylvania is expected to issue a disaster declaration Monday as officials set up alternate routes following the collapse of an Interstate 95 overpass in Philadelphia, which came down Sunday after a tanker truck caught fire below the roadway, leaving a portion of the East Coast’s primary highway with major damage that could take months to repair.The declaration from Gov. Josh Shapiro will allow the state to dip into federal funds and cut through red tape to expedite repairs on the damaged roadway, which usually carries about 160,000 vehicles through the city daily, making it “likely the busiest interstate in our commonwealth,” according to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll.The National Transportation Safety Board is also sending a team to the site of the collapse to conduct a safety investigation, the agency said Sunday. “The investigators are specialists in motor carrier and hazardous materials safety, hig...

JPMorgan reaches settlement with Jeffrey Epstein victims

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

New York (CNN) — JPMorgan Chase has settled a class-action lawsuit from Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse victims.The victims had accused the bank of enabling sex trafficking by the deceased financier when he was a client.A joint statement from the nation’s largest bank and attorneys for the victims said they “have informed the court that they have reached an agreement in principle to settle the putative class action lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.”The agreement is subject to court approval, and as part of the settlement in principle, JP Morgan will pay about $290 million to the victims, a person familiar with the settlement said. Under the deal, the bank will not admit or deny any wrongdoing, the person said.The bank and the victims’ lawyers said the settlement is in the best interests of all parties, “especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse.”The lawyers representing the victims issued their own statement, calling the settlement “lif...

Inside the Tony Awards: No script, but plenty of song, dance, high spirits and history

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

By JOCELYN NOVECK (AP National Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — No script? No problem!There was plenty of uncertainty in the run-up to this year’s Tony Awards, which at one point seemed unlikely to happen at all because of the ongoing Hollywood writer’s strike.But the ceremony went off without a hitch on Sunday night. The event was scriptless, to honor a compromise with striking writers, but chock-full of high-spirited Broadway performances drawing raucous cheers from an audience clearly thrilled just to be there at all. It was a night of triumph for the small-scale but huge-hearted musical “Kimberly Akimbo,” about a teenager with a rare aging disease, but also a night notable for inclusion: Two nonbinary performers, Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee, made history by winning their respective acting categories. The ceremony also touched on the specter of antisemitism in very different places: World War II Europe, with best play winner “Leopoldstadt,” an...

Jeffrey Epstein victims settle sex trafficking lawsuit against JPMorgan for $290 million

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

By KEN SWEET and MICHELLE CHAPMAN (AP Business Writers)JPMorgan Chase announced a tentative $290 million settlement Monday with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein who had accused the bank of being the financial conduit that allowed the financier to continue operating a sex trafficking operation. Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges accusing him of paying underage girls for massages and then molesting them at his homes in Florida and New York. He was found dead in jail in August of that year, at age 66. A medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court in November sought to hold JPMorgan financially liable for Epstein’s decades-long abuse of teenage girls and young women. A related lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. Virgin Islands.The proposed settlement comes roughly two weeks after JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testified in a deposition for the case, where he denied knowing about Epstein and his crimes until the financier was ar...

Utah woman accused of killing husband then writing grief book for kids requests bail

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Attorneys for a Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death, and was later accused of fatally poisoning him, argued in court on Monday she should be released on bail for the duration of her trial.Kouri Richins, 33, is charged with murder and drug possession and listened intently as prosecutors questioned the lead detective investigating her husband’s death. As a rapt gallery made up of locals, including employees of Eric Richins’ construction company, sat behind her, Richins grabbed tissues and inhaled deeply as detective Jeff O’Driscoll testified about the drugs authorities believe were used to kill him. She kneeled her head and was crying when they talked about finding him “cold to the touch.”Prosecutors say in court documents that Richins slipped five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a Moscow mule cocktail she made for her husband, Eric Richins, amid marital disputes and fights over a mult...

Many Quebec fire evacuees being allowed to return home as situation improves: premier

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

MONTREAL — Thousands of Quebecers who were forced by out-of-control wildfires to evacuate their towns and cities are starting to return home as the situation improves.Those returning home today include the approximately 7,500 residents of Chibougamau, 500 kilometres northwest of Quebec City, and several Indigenous communities.Premier François Legault told a news conference today there should be fewer than 4,000 evacuees remaining by the end of the day, down from a peak of more than 13,500 on Friday.  He says the northwestern Quebec town of Lebel-sur-Quévillon remains under evacuation, as does Normétal, where firefighters managed on Sunday to contain a blaze that had come within 500 metres of the town.Legault says there are now more than 1,200 people fighting fires across the province, including reinforcements from New Brunswick and France.Quebec has been having a record wildfire season with 449 fires to date, including 130 burning as of this morning.This report by The Canadian Press...

Vancouver container port places second-last on global efficiency ranking

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

The Port of Vancouver placed second-to-last on a global ranking of hundreds of container ports, after some cargo ships waited weeks to unload their cargo last year.Compiled by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, the container port performance index lists Vancouver at No. 347 out of 348 — and dead last for ports of similar size.The study uses vessel wait times as an indicator of overall efficiency.Vancouver Fraser Port Authority spokesman Alex Munro says strong consumer demand drove a surge of imports to ports all along the North American West Coast in 2021 and 2022, causing congestion that has eased since December.In 2022, container volumes at the Vancouver port fell by four per cent year over year amid softer consumer demand and overstocked inventories, but last year’s total still marked its third-highest amount on record.Full container yards and a lack of storage space at distribution hubs meant cargo vessels sat at anchor for roughly 10 days on average in the f...

S&P/TSX composite down as price of oil falls below US$70 a barrel, U.S. stocks higher

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was down slightly in late-morning trading as the price of oil fell below US$70 per barrel and losses in the energy helped lead the Toronto stock market lower.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 18.45 points at 19,873.61.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 17.28 points at 33,894.06. The S&P 500 index was up 8.98 points at 4,307.84, while the Nasdaq composite was up 78.87 points at 13,338.01.The Canadian dollar traded for 74.82 cents US compared with 74.96 cents US on Friday.The July crude contract was down US$2.26 at US$67.91 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.23 per mmBTU.The August gold contract was down US$8.40 at US$1,968.80 an ounce and the July copper contract was down three cents at US$3.76 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Vatican court convicts climate activists for damaging statue, fines them more than 28,000 euros

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:54:54 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican court convicted two environmental activists of aggravated damage Monday and ordered them to pay more than 28,000 euros (US$30,000) in restitution after they glued their hands to the base of an ancient statue in the Vatican Museums in a protest to draw attention to climate change.The two members of the Last Generation environmental activist group, Guido Viero and Ester Goffi, also received a nine-month suspended sentence and were fined 1,620 euros apiece. A third activist on trial with them, Laura Zorzini, was fined 120 euros.The trial stemmed from an Aug. 18 protest in the Vatican Museums, during which Viero and Goffi glued their hands to the base of the Laocoon statue, one of the most important ancient works in the collection that is believed to date from the 1st century B.C. They hung up a banner reading “Last Generation: No gas and no carbon,” as Zorzini filmed them. Their action was part of a wave of Last Generation and related activist protests aro...