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Ex-UK health chief blames WHO for Britain’s lack of pandemic planning

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

LONDON — Britain’s former health secretary said the U.K. would have been more prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic if the government had not been reassured by the World Health Organization (WHO) that its plans were up to scratch.Speaking at the U.K.’s official inquiry into its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, Hancock said that prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the U.K. was seen as “one of the best-placed countries in the world for responding to a pandemic. And indeed, in some areas, categorized by the World Health Organization as the best place in the world.”The former health secretary said “that was quite a significant reassurance that turned out to be wrong,” and said this explained why he focused on other priorities in the U.K.’s health service.Britain drew up an influenza preparedness plan in 2011, but the government has faced scrutiny over whether it prepared for the right kind of outbreak and whether funding cuts to public health service...

2023 NHL draft: Chicago Blackhawks are expected to select Connor Bedard with No. 1 pick. Here’s what else to know.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

The 2023 NHL draft begins Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., and the Chicago Blackhawks are on the clock.The Hawks, who finished last season with the league’s third-worst record, defied the 11.5% lottery odds and secured the No. 1 pick for the second time in franchise history. And it’s no secret: They’re expected to select Connor Bedard, widely considered a generational talent.In 2007 the Hawks won the lottery despite having the fifth-best odds and spent the No. 1 pick on Patrick Kane, winner of three Stanley Cups in Chicago. They traded him to the New York Rangers on Feb. 28 after nearly 16 seasons in a Hawks sweater.Here’s what to know about the draft.When is the draft, and how can I watch?The first round begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN. Rounds 2-7 start at 10 a.m. Thursday on NHL Network.How many picks do the Blackhawks have?Kyle Davidson, who took over as general manager on March 1, 2022, has lined up an impressive draft haul. The Hawk...

In an audio recording Donald Trump discusses a ‘highly confidential’ document with an interviewer

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An audio recording from a meeting in which former President Donald Trump discusses a “highly confidential” document with an interviewer appears to undermine his later claim that he didn’t have such documents, only magazine and newspaper clippings.The recording, from a July 2021 interview Trump gave at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort for people working on the memoir of his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, is a critical piece of evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Trump over the mishandling of classified information. The special counsel’s indictment alleges that those in attendance at the meeting with Trump — including a writer, a publisher and two of Trump’s staff members — were shown classified information about a Pentagon plan of attack on an unspecified foreign country.“These are the papers,” Trump says in a moment that seems to indicate he’s holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran. “This was done by the m...

Canada’s inflation rate falls to 3.4%, lowest rate since June 2021

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

Statistics Canada says the country’s inflation rate fell to 3.4 per cent in May — the lowest it’s been since June 2021.The federal agency says the slowdown was largely due to lower gasoline prices compared with a year ago.Meanwhile, grocery prices were still skyrocketing last month, rising nine per cent from last May.The slowdown in the headline rate comes after inflation ticked up slightly in April to 4.4 per cent, setting off some alarm bells at the Bank of Canada.Forecasters were widely anticipating a sharp decline in inflation this year, as price increases slow compared to the rapid run-up in the first half of 2022.The Bank of Canada will be paying close attention to today’s report as it gears up for its next interest rate decision on July 12.

How a murder in Surrey, B.C., spans the globe

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, nine days ago, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was killed in a targeted daylight shooting in a crowded area outside of a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C. Nijjar was a well-known community leader and pro-Khalistan activist who the Indian government has previously accused of terror offences — allegations he vehemently denied.His activism and controversial past have spawned many theories about who may have done this and why, but more than a week after his death, the public has seen little evidence to substantiate those rumours. Meanwhile, a community is in mourning, and they took to the streets on Sunday to demand answers.Sonia Aslam has been covering the case for CityNews Vancouver, and she says the politics surrounding the killing have made people lose sight of the tragedy at the center of the investigation.“His past … then becomes the overshadowing focus of what’s really happened here, and what’s happened here is that a 45-year-old man, father ...

Judge will weigh whether Donald Trump’s New York criminal case should be moved to federal court

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. judge is set to hear arguments Tuesday over President Donald Trump’s attempt to move his criminal case in New York out of the state court, where he was indicted, to a federal court where he could potentially try to get the case dismissed.Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein will listen to the afternoon arguments, though he isn’t expected to immediately rule.Trump’s lawyers sought to move the case to Manhattan federal court soon after Trump pleaded not guilty in April to charges that he falsified his company’s business records to hide hush money payouts aimed at burying allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.While requests to move criminal cases from state to federal court are rarely granted, the prosecution of Trump is unprecedented.The Republican’s lawyers say the charges, while related to his private company’s records, involve things he did while he was president. U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be removed from state court if th...

Hunger kills hundreds after US and UN pause food aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, officials say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Hunger has killed at least 700 people in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in recent weeks after the United States and the United Nations paused food aid, local officials and researchers say.The U.N. and the U.S. first suspended food aid to Tigray in March after the discovery of a scheme to steal donated wheat intended for needy people. They extended the pause to the rest of Ethiopia in early June, affecting 20 million people in need, or about one-sixth of the country’s population.Tigray’s Disaster Risk Management Commission has recorded 728 hunger-related deaths in three of the region’s seven zones since the food aid was suspended in March. The data is based on information gathered by district officials, said the commission leader, Gebrehiwot Gebregziaher.“The situation in Tigray is very difficult. Many people are dying because of the food shortage,” Gebrehiwot said.The figure includes 350 hunger deaths in the northwest zone of Tigray, which hosts thousa...

Toronto daycare hit by bullets during reported drive-by shooting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

Toronto police say no injuries have been reported after after bullets struck a daycare near St. Lawrence Market.Police responded to the scene at The Esplanade and Market Street just after 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday for reports of a drive-by shooting, with shots hitting a daycare.The daycare was not open at the time.There is no word on suspects.Police haven’t released further details at this time.SHOOTING:Market St + The Esplanade7:33 a.m.– Police have responded to reports of a drive-by shooting, with bullets striking a daycare – No reported injuries, daycare was not open– Officers are on scene investigating– Anyone w/info contact police @TPS51Div#GO1482496^lb— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) June 27, 2023

Conditions for Guantanamo detainees are cruel, inhuman and degrading, UN investigator says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The first U.N. independent investigator to visit the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay said Monday the 30 men held there are subject “to ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.” The investigator, Irish law professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, said at a news conference releasing her 23-page report to the U.N. Human Rights Council that the 2001 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that killed nearly 3,000 people were “crimes against humanity.” But she said the U.S. use of torture and rendition against alleged perpetrators and their associates in the years right after the attacks violated international human rights law — and in many cases deprived the victims and survivors of justice because information obtained by torture cannot be used at trials.Ní Aoláin said her visit marked the first time a U.S, administration has allowed a U.N. investigator to visit the facility, which opened in 2002.She praised the Biden administr...

Stock market today: Wall Street mixed in muted early trading Tuesday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:52 GMT

BEIJING — Trading was mixed and light early Tuesday as inflation, interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty continue to hang over Wall Street and global markets.Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.1% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%. The Nasdaq gained 0.4% early, clawing back some of the previous day’s losses.Trading has been mostly muted in financial markets around the world as the fundamental, unanswered question remains the same: Will the economy be able to avoid a painful recession after central banks around the world hiked interest rates at a blistering pace to get inflation under control?Adding to the uncertainty was a short-lived armed rebellion in Russia over the weekend. The war in Ukraine has already helped push upward on inflation around the world, but investors mostly looked past the brief mutiny by mercenary soldiers. Stock prices have surged this year on hopes that a recession expected after the Federal Reserve and ce...