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York police join GTA officers warning of pizza delivery scam

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

A message from another Ontario police force: be wary of the pizza delivery scam taking hold across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).York Regional Police are warning of an increase in the ongoing crime after investigators in Toronto recently issued a similar plea to residents to be extra vigilant if approached by suspects claiming to need cash to pay for pizza.Typically, a suspect approaches a victim posing as someone who ordered a pizza delivered by a second suspect posing as the delivery person.It’s alleged that two suspects tell the victim that the delivery person only accepts debit cards and won’t take cash, convincing the victim to use their debit card.The victim will then receive a fake but similar-looking card, and the suspects use the real one to withdraw money or make purchases.Police say legitimate delivery services accept cash, so it’s likely a scam if someone suspicious tries to convince you otherwise.Toronto police said recently if you’re asked to i...

1 dead in Oklahoma college shooting, suspect in custody

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. (AP) — One person was shot and killed Monday at a small Oklahoma college and police said a suspect was in custody after school officials told students to stay inside. No other injuries were reported. Midwest City Police Chief Sid Porter said the shooting on the campus of Rose State College appeared to be “domestic-related.” He told reporters at the scene that both the suspect and victim were male. He did not provide additional details about what led to the shooting on the campus in suburban Oklahoma City, which has about 13,000 students.Porter said that weeks before the shooting, students and staff at Rose State College had completed an exercise about what to do in the event of an active shooter.“Thing got locked down real quick,” Porter said. “I just think they did a fantastic job listening to the school and everybody staying down and not panicking because we didn’t know what was going on.”The Associated Press

Guaidó travels to Colombia ahead of conference on Venezuela

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Monday said he crossed the border into Colombia “on foot” to seek a meeting with international delegations gathering there for a conference focused on his country’s political crisis.Guaidó, one of the most recognizable figures of Venezuela’s opposition and a presidential hopeful, announced his trip to Colombia in a statement. His campaign told The Associated Press he crossed the border through one of the bridges connecting the neighboring South American countries.After the re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in 2018 was deemed a sham by dozens of countries, Guaidó declared himself Venezuela’s interim president in 2019. However, his popularity has waned since then and opposition lawmakers voted in January to strip him of that role and instead appoint a committee to run what they call their “interim government.”Tuesday’s international conference organized by Colombian President Gustavo Petro is meant ...

Speaker McCarthy faces big test as debt bill heads for vote

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy is hurtling toward one of the most consequential weeks of the new House Republican majority as he labors to pass a partisan package that would raise the nation’s debt limit by $1.5 trillion in exchange for steep cuts that some in his own party oppose.McCarthy has almost no room for error with his slim five-seat majority hold on power in the House, but has scoffed at the drama bearing down on him, mocking public interest at the will-he-or-won’t-he anticipation of the embattled Republican speaker’s ability to bring his fellow Republicans in line. But the political stakes are sky-high for McCarthy, who is trying to entice President Joe Biden to the negotiating table. The nation is teetering toward a debt default crisis, needing to lift the borrowing cap to keep fully paying the bills in a matter of weeks. “We will hold a vote this week, and we will pass it,” McCarthy vowed in a Sunday interview on Fox News.Even if M...

German plane airlifts 58 Canadians from Sudan, as Canadian plane readies for more

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Canadian military will aim to airlift Canadians out of Sudan using a C-17 transport plane that is in the region. He says he heard earlier today that a German plane lifted off from the capital, Khartoum, carrying 58 Canadian citizens and one German citizen.Trudeau made the comments at a photo-op with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Ottawa today, adding that the recent airlift is an example of great co-operation between Canada and Germany.Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said earlier today that Canada is working with “like-minded countries” to help citizens who remain in Sudan flee the country as an armed conflict there escalates.Hundreds have been killed and thousands injured in just 10 days after power-sharing negotiations between the country’s armed forces and its paramilitary troops rapidly deteriorated.Joly says Global Affairs Canada is trying to contact all Canadians in Sudan who have registered w...

Canada’s financial support for clean energy compares favourably to U.S: TD Bank

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

CALGARY — The financial support Canada is offering for the clean energy transition is competitive with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) south of the border, a new report from TD Economics says.The report Monday essentially refutes the arguments made in recent months by Canadian business leaders, who have held up the U.S. IRA as the gold standard in the global race for energy transition investment.TD said it has crunched the numbers and the government of Canada has spent $139 billion since budget 2021, or five per cent of the country’s nominal GDP, on supports for clean energy development.The bank said this compares favourably to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act’s estimated US$393 billion in spending, or 1.5 per cent of that country’s nominal GDP.“Despite criticism, Canada’s financial support for the clean energy transition is yielding positive results and has established a competitive position relative to the U.S,” the report’s author, TD managing dire...

Boy, 16, facing slew of charges in Toronto carjacking investigation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

A 16-year-old boy is among three people arrested in connection with carjackings that occurred in various areas of the city in mid-April.Toronto police say four carjackings took place between April 17 and April 19 in the neighbourhoods of Parkwoods and Wexford/Maryvale, both near Hwy. 401 and Don Valley Parkway, and Humber Summit near Jane Street and Finch Avenue West.According to investigators, in each incident, a male would approach a driver with a handgun and demand their vehicle. In three of the incidents, the male allegedly drove away with the victim’s vehicle. He left the area empty-handed in the fourth vehicle.Police identified three suspects and spotted two of them — a man and a woman — with the alleged stolen vehicles on April 20, and they were both arrested.At some point in the investigation, police located the third vehicle.Investigators searched all three vehicles and recovered evidence related to the investigation, including an airsoft handgun with an e...

Iqaluit water treatment plant to return to service after more than a year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

IQALUIT, Nunavut — The City of Iqaluit says its water treatment plant is to return to service Tuesday morning, more than a year after it was shut down due to contamination.The plant was initially shut down in October 2021 after fuel was detected in the city’s water supply.A do-not-consume order was lifted in December of that year, but less than a week later it was discovered the water was contaminated by a tar-like substance.The city has since been using a water treatment bypass system while repairs were completed on the plant.The city says when the plant becomes operational at 8 a.m., residents will be under a precautionary boil water order that could last as long as a week.It says as the filtration system takes over, residents will notice gradual improvement in the taste and clarity of the water coming from their taps. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023. The Canadian Press

Ottawa will host celebrations to mark coronation of King Charles

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

OTTAWA — Canadians will be able to celebrate the coronation of King Charles at a special event in Ottawa on May 6. The federal Heritage Department says an hour-long program is being prepared to mark the occasion featuring music, art and poetry. Those include the Algonquin Eagle River Singers and a speech by Algonquin spiritual adviser Albert Dumont. Canada Post is set to reveal its first stamp with the King’s image at the event.There will also be free activities at Rideau Hall through the weekend and it’s expected that lieutenant-governors will host events across the country. Canadian Heritage says it is spending $257,000 to create learning materials commemorating King Charles’s ties to Canada, focused on the environment and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023.The Canadian Press

Review: ‘Home for Wayward Girls’ about rising above abuse

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:18 GMT

“The Home for Wayward Girls” (Harper) by Marcia BradleyThere have been a number of recent accounts of young people, particularly young women, who were sent to schools for so-called “troubled” or “bad” kids. In 2022, Elizabeth Gilpin published “Stolen: A Memoir,” about her experience in one of these schools that touted therapy for troubled teens. Paris Hilton is the most famous example. She revealed in a 2020 documentary and a recent memoir about how her parents, frustrated with her rebellious teenage behavior, sent her to multiple facilities that promised to straighten her out, places where she says she was abused mentally and physically.“The Home for Wayward Girls” by debut novelist Marcia Bradley takes an inside-out approach to the concept by following a young woman named Loretta, who calls one of these facilities home because it’s at the ranch where she lives with her parents, who also run it.Loretta’s mother and father, William, rule with a tyrannical approach,...