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A friendship forged over 7 weeks of captivity lives on as freed women are reunited

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — In the depths of captivity, they formed an unlikely but prized friendship. And reunited in a video call this week, the bond between a recently freed Israeli mother and daughter and a Thai woman who had been held hostage alongside them filled an Israeli hospital room with unbridled joy.“Both of us give you a big hug,” Danielle Aloni, one of dozens snatched by Hamas militants from a kibbutz in southern Israel on Oct. 7, told her friend Nutthawaree Munkan, an agricultural worker who was seized the same day and held captive in the Gaza Strip. “I love you and I told you while we were there that we are family.”Aloni, 45, spoke in Hebrew in a five minute video of the Wednesday meeting released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Nutthawaree, speaking from the hospital, replied in Thai — and with a flurry of air kisses and a wide smile that required no translation at all. With her partner — another freed captive — looking on and a Thai-speaking Israeli psychologist assisti...

In the news for today: Heritage Minister to talk online news deal with committee

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed tobring you up to speed on what you need to know today …Heritage Minister appearing at a committee hearingHeritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is appearing at a committee hearing this morning, fresh from finally ending Canada’s standoff with Google over the Online News Act.St-Onge called the agreement announced Wednesday a “historic development” that gives a win to both the federal government and the local news publishers the law is designed to support.That’s despite the fact Google has only agreed to spend a maximum of $100 million a year compensating Canadian news outlets for the use of their content, a far cry from the $172 million that initial government calculations would’ve demanded.The legislation, which is to take effect next month, requires tech giants like Google and Meta to reach compensation deals with news publishers for content that generates revenue on their platforms.Meta, ...

Federal ministers expected to announce sole-source deal for Boeing patrol plane today

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal ministers are expected to announce today that Boeing is the company of choice to replace the military’s aging patrol planes in a multibillion-dollar deal.The decision to go with a sole-source contract would close the door on Quebec-based business jet maker Bombardier, which has been pushing for an open bid.Two sources familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly say that, following cabinet approval last week, the Treasury Board held a special meeting Tuesday and rubber-stamped the purchase of 16 P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft to replace the half-century-old CP-140 Auroras.The procurement department has stated that Boeing’s off-the-shelf reconnaissance plane is the only currently available aircraft that meets Royal Canadian Air Force needs, particularly around submarine-hunting technology.Bombardier CEO Éric Martel has argued that its plane, which is currently a prototype and slated to roll off the line in the early 2030s, would...

Who is U.S.-Canadian lawyer Gurpatwant Pannun, alleged target of murder plot?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

A decade ago this month, lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and his friend Hardeep Singh Nijjar were in Geneva to deliver a petition calling on the United Nations to declare widespread killings of Sikhs in India in 1984 a genocide.Pannun says the pair had travelled to Sikh temples throughout Canada for years, starting around 2009, to gather support for the effort. Today, Nijjar is dead, gunned down outside his gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., last June. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says “credible allegations” have linked Nijjar’s killing to India’s government.Pannun, meanwhile, is at the heart of an alleged international plot that U.S. prosecutors say targeted him for assassination and was orchestrated by an Indian government employee.An indictment unsealed in New York on Wednesday says Indian national Nikhil Gupta, 52, was recruited by the Indian official to arrange the killing. The alleged target isn’t named in the document, but has previously been identified b...

Constitutional challenge in Indigenous lobster fishing case moving ahead this week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

HALIFAX — An Indigenous fisherman is expected to appear Thursday in a northern New Brunswick courtroom, where he will launch a constitutional challenge that could prove pivotal for First Nations across the Maritimes.Cody Caplin, a member of the Eel River Bar First Nation, was fishing for lobster in the Bay of Chaleur in September 2018 when he and his brother Kyle were arrested and their boat was seized by federal fisheries officers. A year later, they were charged with 10 fishing offences, including trapping lobster out of season.Caplin says his brother eventually pleaded guilty to the charges, mainly because of the financial burden of going to trial. But Caplin has pressed on, claiming the Mi’kmaq have constitutionally protected Indigenous and treaty rights to fish and hunt to feed themselves whenever they want.“If we win, we could set a precedent and make some case law for other Mi’kmaq fishermen throughout the province,” he said in a recent interview, conf...

Statistics Canada to release third quarter GDP numbers today

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is set to release its gross domestic product reading for the third quarter this morning.The federal agency’s preliminary estimate suggested the economy shrank 0.1 per cent.A decline in real GDP would mark the second consecutive quarterly contraction, meeting the definition of a technical recession.However, economists tend to have a higher bar for calling a recession as they look for signs of a broader slowdown.The softening economy comes as high interest rates put a damper on business and consumer spending.Forecasters anticipate that slowdown to continue into next year, likely leading to a rise in unemployment as well. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2023. The Canadian Press

Crown to lay out conspiracy argument in ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers’ trial

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

OTTAWA — The Crown is expected to lay out its case for why evidence against one “Freedom Convoy” organizer should apply to the other in the criminal trial of two of the protest’s leaders.Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are co-accused for their role in the 2022 demonstration that blocked streets around Parliament Hill for weeks in protest of COVID-19 public health restrictions.The Crown alleges that the two worked together so closely that they should be considered co-conspirators in the trial.The pair’s lawyers have opposed the allegation, and say that planning a protest together isn’t inherently illegal.But prosecutors say that just because the protest wasn’t violent, that doesn’t make the organizers’ actions lawful. The Crown closed its case in the trial last week, but the defence is seeking a ruling on the conspiracy allegation before it calls any evidence.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2023.The Canadian ...

Fresh off big win in Google news standoff, heritage minister to testify at committee

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is appearing at a committee hearing this morning, fresh from finally ending Canada’s standoff with Google over the Online News Act.St-Onge called the agreement announced Wednesday a “historic development” that gives a win to both the federal government and the local news publishers the law is designed to support.That’s despite the fact Google has only agreed to spend a maximum of $100 million a year compensating Canadian news outlets for the use of their content, a far cry from the $172 million that initial government calculations would’ve demanded.The legislation, which is to take effect next month, requires tech giants like Google and Meta to reach compensation deals with news publishers for content that generates revenue on their platforms.Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, has steadfastly refused to negotiate, opting instead to block its Canadian users from accessing news content.The new law is de...

Closing arguments to begin in B.C. first-degree murder trial of Ibrahim Ali

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

VANCOUVER — Closing arguments in the first-degree murder trial of Ibrahim Ali are expected to begin today in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.Ali pleaded not guilty in April to murdering a 13-year-old girl in Burnaby, B.C.The body of the girl, whose name has been protected by a publication ban, was found in Burnaby’s Central Park in July 2017, just hours after her mother reported her missing.The jury heard from about four dozen Crown witnesses over the course of the almost nine-month trial, including police, civilians and experts who said the girl was sexually assaulted and strangled, and Ali’s DNA was found inside her body. Ali’s lawyer Kevin McCullough told the jury last week that they would not be calling any evidence in defence of the allegations because the Crown hadn’t proved its case against Ali.  Crown lawyers are expected to give their closing remarks first, with defence to follow, and the judge will give his final instructions to the jury before memb...

Liberal minister to testify after heated testimony from Métis, First Nations groups

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:25 GMT

OTTAWA — As Indigenous leaders engage in heated debate over a federal bill that would formalize several Métis self-governance agreements, the Liberal minister for Crown-Indigenous relations is expected to face tough questions on Wednesday afternoon.While the leaders of Métis groups in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario say the legislation would unlock new opportunities and foster a new relationship with Ottawa, prominent First Nations voices are raising concerns about irreparable damage to treaty rights. They say that with the bill, the federal government is essentially giving Métis organizations a blank sheet of paper to write treaties on, with no oversight.Now it’s Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s turn to take questions at the House of Commons Indigenous and northern affairs committee, which has been studying Bill C-53 for more than a month. His appearance comes after weeks of acrimonious testimony.The Chiefs of Ontario, a group representing the...