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Brazil police conduct searches targeting intelligence agency’s use of tracking software

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police in Brazil conducted searches and made two arrests Friday in an investigation targeting members of the country’s intelligence agency who were suspected of using spy technology to track cellphones without judicial authorization, the Federal Police said in a statement. Officials at the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, which is known by its Portuguese acronym ABIN, allegedly used the GPS-based software during the first three years of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration to monitor the phones of his opponents, journalists and lawmakers, Brazilian media reported.O Globo newspaper first reported in March about the alleged illegal use of the FirstMile software developed by Israeli company Cognyte. The newspaper did not disclose the source of its information. The Federal Police declined a request for comment by The Associated Press on Friday. Police arrested two people and carried out 25 search warrants across the states of Sao Paulo, Santa Catari...

UN nuclear agency team watches Japanese lab workers prepare fish samples from damaged nuclear plant

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

ONJUKU, Japan (AP) — Scientists from the U.N. nuclear agency watched Friday as Japanese lab workers prepared samples of fish collected at a seafood market near the Fukushima nuclear plant to test the safety of treated radioactive wastewater released from the damaged plant into the sea. The discharge of wastewater began on Aug. 24 and is expected to continue for decades. It has been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries, including China and Russia, which have banned all imports of Japanese seafood.Japan’s government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, say the discharge is unavoidable because wastewater storage tanks at the plant will be full next year. They say the water produced by the damaged plant is treated to reduce radioactivity to safe levels, and then diluted with massive amounts of seawater to make it much safer than international standards. On Friday, a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency watched as fish s...

2 charged in fraudulent towing of vehicles in Vaughan

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

York police have charged two men in connection with fraudulently towing vehicles in Vaughan.In May 2023, officers started to investigate a towing company named A Better Way Towing, after receiving complaints from drivers that their vehicles had been towed from a plaza parking lot in the area of Jane Street and Avro Road. Between May and August, as many as 73 victims had their vehicles illegally towed to an impound lot, being forced to pay in excess of $500 to get their vehicle back. The tow company collected roughly $38,000 through doing this.Police learned through investigation that the owner and another employee from A Better Way Towing were towing vehicles from the plaza parking lot under the direction of the property management. The towing company then charged the vehicle owners for the towing and storage fees when the fee should have been paid by the property manager that directed the vehicles be removed.The owner, Arthur Kogan, 38, and a tow truck driver, Timur Blagushin, 28, ...

Cyberattack hits 2 New York hospitals, forces ambulance diversions

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP) — Two hospitals in New York were hit with a cyberattack and are diverting patients to other facilities, hospital officials said Friday.The cyberattack affected computer systems at HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston along with Margaretville Hospital and Mountainside Residential Care Center — all part of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network.The health care network planned to shut down IT systems at the three facilities starting at 10 p.m. Friday “to address the threat and take necessary steps to fully retore our secure network,” network officials said in a statement.Ambulances are being diverted from HealthAlliance Hospital as a precaution and some current patients have been discharged to other facilities, officials said.HealthAlliance Hospital and Margaretville Hospital remain open and walk-in patients will be treated, assessed and either released or stabilized and transferred to other facilities, officials said. They added that no disruption to care at ...

A jury is deliberating the case of a man accused of killing a New Hampshire couple on a hiking trail

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A jury on Friday began deliberating the case of a man charged with fatally shooting a retired New Hampshire couple on a hiking trail, with prosecutors saying he lied to police to cover up his crimes and defense attorneys saying authorities arrested the wrong person. Logan Clegg, 27, is charged with second-degree murder for what prosecutors described as “knowingly and recklessly” causing the deaths of Stephen and Djeswende “Wendy” Reid. The couple, who had done international development work, had recently retired and were shot multiple times after going for a walk on the trail near their apartment in the city of Concord on April 18, 2022.Their bodies, found several days later, had been dragged into the woods and covered with leaves, sticks and debris, police said. Clegg was living in a tent near the trail at the time. His trial began Oct. 3 and lawyers delivered closing arguments Thursday. Clegg also is charged with several counts of falsifying physical evidence ...

CRTC might ease Corus’ Canadian content spending requirements after profit plunge

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s telecommunications regulator says it’s looking to ease some Canadian content spending requirements for Corus Entertainment Inc. after the company said in a filing its financial situation is increasingly dire. Corus vice-president and associate general counsel Matt Thompson wrote to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission last week, asking the regulator to “urgently” change some conditions for its English-language television stations and discretionary services.That includes lowering its obligation to spend 8.5 per cent of revenues on programs of national interest for its English-language stations to five per cent, as Corus cites a 22 per cent drop in third-quarter profits this year compared with the same period in 2022.The company says it’s facing multiple challenges, including recent strikes by the Writer’s Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild in the U.S. that have affected its TV lineup, along with ongo...

Former Florida lawmaker who sponsored ‘Don’t Say Gay’ sentenced to prison for COVID-19 relief fraud

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The former Florida lawmaker who sponsored the controversial law critics call “Don’t Say Gay” was sentenced to six months in federal prison Thursday for defrauding a federal coronavirus relief loan program for small businesses.Former state Rep. Joe Harding, a 36-year-old Republican, resigned in December after being charged with fraudulently obtaining more than $150,000 from the Small Business Administration in pandemic aid loans. He pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements in connection with COVID-19 relief fraud.“The theft of any amount of taxpayer funds is inexcusable,” said U.S. Attorney Jason Coody in a news release. “However, the defendant’s deceptive acts of diverting emergency financial assistance from small businesses during the pandemic is simply beyond the pale.”According to court documents, Harding made false statements to the Small Business Administration while applying for an Economic Injury Disast...

Man facing charges after woman sexually assaulted on bus in Vaughan

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

A 28-year-old man is under arrest following a sexual assault investigation and police in York region suspect there may be other victims.Police say around 4 p.m. on Oct. 18 a woman was on a York region bus in the area of Jane Street and Rutherford Road when a man sat down beside her and allegedly touched her in a sexual manner.The woman notified the bus driver and police were called. The man was later located at a bus terminal on Bass Pro Drive, where he was arrested.Kevin Ogbogu of no fixed address has been charged with sexual assault and breach of probation.Police have released his photo because investigators believe there may have been at least one other interaction with another victim who has yet to come forward and report the incident to police.

EU discusses Bulgaria’s gas transit tax that has angered Hungary and Serbia

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The European Commission said Friday it is discussing with Bulgaria its introduction of a fee on Russian gas transits, a measure that has angered EU co-member Hungary as well as Serbia — both recipients of Russian gas. Bulgaria last week introduced the new energy tax on Russian natural gas transfers through its territory. It believes the tax will reduce the privileged position of Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom in southeastern Europe and deter Russian influence in the region in general.“We are assessing and discussing with the Bulgarian authorities this recently enacted measure,” EC spokesperson Olof Gill said in Brussels on Friday. “I can add that the EU sanctions policy towards Russia is designed, reviewed and adopted at EU level as has been the case since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine,” he said.Russian officials have not commented on the new Bulgarian gas fee.Bulgaria was cut off from Gazprom shipments soon after the Russian ...

There isn’t much Cher hasn’t done in her career. A Christmas album is new territory, though

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:45:39 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — There isn’t much Cher hasn’t done in her career. She’s achieved EGOT status, she’s the only artist to have a No. 1 song in each of the past six decades — heck, she’s got her own gelato business, Cherlato. But a Christmas album? That’s new territory. So, why now?“I just didn’t want to do one,” she told The Associated Press. “I didn’t know how I was going to make it a ‘Cher Christmas album.’”The secret, of course, was to lean into the incredible eclecticism of her career, all while avoiding the sleepy, saccharine pitfalls of a “Silent Night” -heavy holiday release.Her first new album in five years, the appropriately titled “Christmas,” releases Friday. In some ways, it required Cher to find her voice again. She hadn’t sang since a March 12, 2020, performance in Oklahoma City was canceled when a Utah Jazz basketball player tested positive for the coronavirus. So she called up her vocal teacher, “Adrienne Angel, wh...