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Boris Johnson called Rishi Sunak’s Treasury a ‘pro-death squad,’ COVID inquiry hears

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

LONDON — Boris Johnson joked that the U.K. Treasury was a “pro-death squad” as he pushed to ease coronavirus restrictions, the country’s official COVID-19 inquiry heard.Extracts from the contemporaneous diary of Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, were read out by inquiry counsel Dermot Keating during the probe’s latest evidence session Monday.They center on Johnson views about progressively relaxing COVID restrictions through the country’s “tier” system of regional curbs — and suggest Johnson wanted to enlist lockdown-skeptics from the top finance department run at the time by Rishi Sunak, who eventually succeeded Johnson as prime minister.The inquiry heard that Johnson “wants tier 3 [by] March 1, tier 2 [by] April 1, tier 1 [by] May 1 and nothing by September.” According to Vallance’s diary, Johnson ended the meeting “by saying the team must bring in the pro-death squad fro...

Judge chides Trump as ex-president testifies in civil fraud trial: ‘This is not a political rally’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The judge presiding over the civil fraud trial of Donald Trump admonished him to keep his answers concise, reminding him and the courtroom that “this is not a political rally” as the former president and leading Republican president candidate began testifying in a lawsuit accusing him of dramatically inflating his net worth.“We don’t have time to waste. We have one day to do this,” an exasperated Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engeron said at one point. At another, he said, “In addition to the answers being non-responsive, they’re repetitive.”Trump’s turn on the witness stand, in a case that cuts to the heart of the business brand he spent decades crafting, represents a remarkable convergence of his legal troubles and his political ventures at a time when he also faces criminal indictments while vying to reclaim the White House in 2024.The testimony gives him the opportunity to try to use the witness stand as a campaign platfor...

More than 10,000 killed in Gaza, Hamas-controlled health ministry says, as condemnation of Israel’s campaign grows

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

(CNN) — More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive nearly a month ago, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said Monday.Israel declared war on Hamas after the Islamist militant group launched a brutal attack on October 7, killing 1,400 in Israel and kidnapping more than 240. Israel retaliated by launching an air and ground offensive on Gaza, vowing to eliminate the militant group.Ashraf Al Qudra, spokesperson for the ministry, said 10,022 Palestinians in the enclave had been killed by Israeli strikes, including 4,104 children, 2,641 women and 611 elderly people. Those numbers suggest about three-quarters of the dead are from vulnerable populations. The ministry also reported 25,408 injured.It’s unclear how many combatants are included in the total. CNN cannot independently verify the numbers released by the ministry in Gaza, which is sealed off by Israel and mostly sealed by E...

Pedestrian hit, killed by vehicle

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A pedestrian was hit and killed by a vehicle early Monday in San Diego's Skyline neighborhood.The collision was reported at 6 a.m. at 68th Street and Imperial Avenue, according to San Diego police.A Ford pickup truck with frontend damage was at the scene. Police investigate shooting outside Home Depot No other information was immediately available.Check back for updates on this developing story.

MPs to vote on Pierre Poilievre’s pitch to exempt carbon price from all home heating

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

OTTAWA — Members of Parliament will vote today on a motion from the federal Conservatives calling for the carbon price to be lifted from all forms of home heating and not just heating oil.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the temporary heating oil exemption Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last month is divisive.Poilievre says Trudeau is engaging in regional favouritism in a bid to reverse the Liberals’ sluggish poll numbers in Atlantic Canada. Trudeau says heating oil is much pricier to use than natural gas and that a disproportionate number of households in Atlantic Canada still use heating oil, and need more time to replace their furnaces with heat pumps.But the Liberals say there are actually more Canadians outside the Atlantic region that use home heating oil but only three Atlantic provinces have signed on to a program to help oil users switch to electric heat pumps.The New Democrats plan to vote in favour of Poilievre’s motion after failing to convi...

7 bystanders wounded in shooting at Texas college homecoming party, sheriff’s office says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) — Authorities outside of Houston were searching Monday for those responsible for a shooting at a large college homecoming party that left seven people wounded. Gunfire broke out around 10 p.m. Sunday at a Prairie View A&M University homecoming party near the school’s campus, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of downtown Houston, according to the Waller County Sheriff’s Office.Detectives arrived at the “trail ride pasture party” and found two men, two women and a male minor had been shot, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. They all suffered gunshot wounds “to their lower extremities” that appeared not to be life threatening, according to the statement. The sheriff’s office said more than 1,000 people attended the party and that police were called after an argument escalated into gunfire. Investigators are unclear on how many people opened fire but said each of those injured was a bystander.A promotor, who authorities did...

Telecom companies discuss increased adoption of AI at annual conference

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

TORONTO — As Canada’s telecom sector undergoes technological changes, artificial intelligence could be leveraged to predict and reduce network outages or change the way customer service is provided.That is one of the key messages from Telus Corp.’s chief information officer Hesham Fahmy, who says AI is useful for recognizing data patterns and detecting anomalies.His comments came on the opening day of the Canadian Telecom Summit taking place Monday to Wednesday in Toronto, where topics such as AI and industry evolution are front and centre.Fahmy says any debate of whether there needs to be more integration of AI in the sector is over and predicts more adoption happening at a rapid pace in the years to come.Raising the level of transparency surrounding network outages is an ongoing focus of the federal regulator, as the CRTC launched a consultation in March with the goal of developing a framework to improve the reliability and resiliency of telecommunications networks.Fah...

30 people dead in Kenya and Somalia as heavy rains and flash floods displace thousands

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Heavy rains and flash flooding have killed at least 30 people and displaced tens of thousands in Kenya and Somalia, aid agencies reported Monday. In Somalia, the federal government declared a national emergency after the extreme weather killed at least 14 people and destroyed homes, roads and bridges. Emergency and rescue workers were trying to reach an estimated 2,400 residents trapped by flood waters in the Luuq district of southern Somalia’s Jubaland state. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned of a high risk of flooding along the Juba and Shabelle rivers and called for the evacuation of people living along the entire stretch of the Juba.The heavy rains in Somalia follow four consecutive years of drought that pushed the country to the brink of famine.In neighboring Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross said the death toll had risen to 15 since the heavy rains began Friday, with the port city of Mombasa and the northeastern counties o...

Myanmar resistance claims first capture of a district capital from the military government

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Armed resistance groups fighting Myanmar ‘s military government seized a district capital in the north Monday after taking state offices and a police station in a four-day offensive, according to residents, the country’s major opposition coalition and media reports.Kawlin in Sagaing region is the first administrative capital seized by the resistance forces in continuing strife since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.Sagaing has been a stronghold of armed resistance to the army, which has responded with major offensives using ground troops supported by artillery and air strikes, burning down villages and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Loosely organized resistance groups opposed to army rule, known as the People’s Defense Force, or PDF, have sprung up around the country since the army’s takeover. They have made alliances with well-established armed ethnic minority groups such as the Ka...

4 men charged in theft of golden toilet from Churchill’s birthplace. It’s an artwork titled America

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:26:09 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Four men were charged Monday over the theft of an 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born. The toilet, valued at 4.8 million pounds ($5.95 million), was the work of Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan. It was part of an art installation at Blenheim Palace, near the city of Oxford, a few days before it vanished overnight in September 2019. The Crown Prosecution Service said Monday it has authorized criminal charges against four men, ages 35-39, over the theft. They are accused of burglary and conspiracy to transfer criminal property. The golden toilet, titled “America,” was intended to be a pointed satire about excessive wealth. The lavatory was fully functioning, and prior to the theft, visitors to the exhibition could book a three-minute appointment to use it. The artwork has never been found.At the time of the theft, police said that because the toilet had been connected ...