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ACLU sues Tennessee district attorney who promises to enforce the state’s new anti-drag show ban

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law placing strict limits on drag shows is once again facing a legal challenge after a local district attorney warned Pride organizers that he intends to enforce the new statute despite a federal judge ruling the ban was unconstitutional.The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee filed the lawsuit late Wednesday on behalf of a organization planning a Blount County Pride festival on Sept. 2. The ACLU is also representing drag performer Flamy Grant, who was hired to perform at the event. The plaintiffs are asking the federal court in eastern Tennessee to block the law from being enforced and declare it illegal.Earlier this year, a federal judge in Memphis ruled that Tennessee’s so-called anti-drag show law was “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad,” and encouraged “discriminatory enforcement.” The ruling was celebrated by LGBTQ+ advocates, but quickly sparked questions because the court decl...

Senior US envoy looks into possibilities for solving Lebanon-Israel border dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — A senior U.S. envoy visiting Beirut said Thursday that Washington is looking into possibilities for solving a decades-old border dispute between Lebanon and Israel, a year after he brokered a deal on the maritime frontier between the two nations. Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, also expressed disappointment with Lebanon’s reluctance to implement reforms amid the country’s historic economic meltdown. He spoke to reporters at the end of a two-day visit to Lebanon during which he met with the caretaker prime minister, the Parliament speaker and other officials.Hochstein last year brokered a maritime border deal between Lebanon and Israel paving the way for gas exploration in the area, in what many hope will eventually help pull Beirut out of its economic crisis. Lebanon and Israel have formally been at war since Israel’s creation in 1948.Asked whether he is coming to mediate between Lebanon and Israel over their disputed land border, Ho...

Delegation to Syrian prison camps calls on Ottawa to swiftly help Canadian detainees

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

OTTAWA — A civil society delegation that visited Syrian prison camps is calling on Ottawa to give immediate consular assistance to Canadian detainees and to swiftly repatriate all citizens wishing to return to Canada.The four-person delegation says it held meetings with officials and saw several Canadian men, women and children, as well as non-Canadian mothers of Canadian children.The detained Canadians are among the many foreign nationals in ramshackle centres run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-ravaged region from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.Delegation members, including Sen. Kim Pate, also want Canada to issue temporary residence permits to ensure that non-Canadian mothers and siblings of Canadian children can travel to Canada.The delegation met with two Canadian men held in Syria, including Jack Letts, saying both want consular assistance and to be able to return to Canada.Letts’s mother Sally Lane says she is “overjoyed” to hea...

Laurentian Bank reports Q3 profits down as strategic review continues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

MONTREAL — Laurentian Bank of Canada reported a dip in third-quarter profits as it continues to work through a strategic review.“The review is still underway, and we do not intend on disclosing further developments until it concludes,” said chief executive Rania Llewellyn on an earnings call Thursday.“During this time, we remain committed to executing on the bank strategy and our fiscal 2023 priorities with the full support and confidence of the board.”The review, which was announced in July and will explore a range of options including a potential sale, comes as the bank reported a third-quarter profit of $49.3 million, down from $55.9 million in the same quarter last year.Revenue totalled $260.8 million for the quarter compared with $260.0 million in the same quarter last year.Laurentian’s provision for credit losses amounted to $13.3 million for its third quarter compared with $16.6 million a year earlier.On an adjusted basis, the bank says it earned...

Scotiabank announces senior executive changes including new oversight for Tangerine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

TORONTO — Scotiabank announced a raft of changes in its senior executive ranks, including a new head for the group overseeing its Tangerine online banking business and a new chief human resources officer.The moves follow the appointment of Scott Thomson, former chief executive of heavy equipment dealer Finning International Inc., as chief executive of the bank in February.Scotiabank announced it has hired former ING executive Aris Bogdaneris as group head, digital transformation, Tangerine, marketing and analytics.Bogdaneris will be responsible for overseeing the bank’s Tangerine business, which was owned by ING before it was acquired by Scotiabank in 2012, as well as global marketing, customer insights, data and analytics and real estate.The bank also said Barb Mason, group head and chief human resources officer (CHRO) will retire at the end of 2023. She will be replaced by RBC executive Jenny Poulos who becomes deputy CHRO, effective Oct. 2, and CHRO, effective Dec. 4.Scotia...

B.C. Premier Eby writes to Bank of Canada governor, urging him to halt rate hikes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia Premier David Eby is calling on the Bank of Canada to halt further interest rate hikes.In a letter Thursday to Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, Eby urged him to consider the “human impact” of rate hikes.The Bank of Canada is set to make an interest rate decision next Wednesday.“While the role of the Bank of Canada is to make decisions about monetary policy, my role as premier is to stand up for people in B.C. and ensure their voices are heard as decisions are made that impact them,” said Eby’s letter.“People in B.C. are already hurting,” he said. “In your role as governor, I urge you to consider the full human impact of rate increases and not further increase rates at this time.”The letter said the Bank of Canada had raised rates 10 times since March last year, with the current interest rate at five per cent, the highest in 22 years.Eby also wrote Thursday to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling ...

Belarus journalist jailed for “facilitating extremism” after collecting data for human rights group

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Belarus has sentenced a high-profile journalist to 3 1/2 years for “facilitating extremist activities” and “discrediting Belarus” after she provided data for a renowned human rights group, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) said Thursday.Larysa Shchyrakova, 50 — sentenced during a closed trial in the city of Gomel — will serve her sentence in a high-security penal colony and must pay a fine of 3,500 Belarusian rubles (about $1,100).Belarusian authorities detained Shchyrakova in December 2022. Officials initially placed her son in a state orphanage before transferring custody to her ex-husband.Shchyrakova is the latest in a string of journalists jailed in Belarus after covering the large-scale political repression that has rocked the country since its last presidential elections three years ago.Large-scale protests erupted in Belarus in August 2020, when President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in a vote that both the opposition an...

Housing minister Steve Clark apologizes, won’t resign amid Greenbelt scandal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

Beleaguered Housing Minister Steve Clark addressed Ontarians hat in hand on Thursday to “accept responsibility” for his lack of oversight over the province’s scandalous Greenbelt land swap.More notable was what he didn’t have in his hands — his resignation.Clark maintained he would stay on in his role with a firm mandate to build 1.5 million homes over the next decade.It was no surprise that Clark didn’t resign amidst calls for him to step down. At an earlier news conference in Etobicoke on Thursday morning, Premier Doug Ford made it clear that Clark would remain in his current position.“We’re going to work with Minister Clark as we work with the other ministers to fulfil our mandate,” Ford said. “Our mandate is to build homes.”While Ford angrily clashed with reporters who grilled him about the integrity commissioner’s damning Greenbelt report, Clark was comparatively contrite.RELATED: ‘You don’t att...

B.C. officer who assaulted UBC nursing student receives conditional discharge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

KELOWNA, B.C. — The BC Prosecution Service has confirmed a Mountie who pleaded guilty to assaulting a University of British Columbia student during a wellness check in Kelowna has received a conditional discharge and was placed on probation for two years.It says Const. Lacy Browning must also complete 160 hours of community service over the first year, and a $200 “victim fine surcharge” was also imposed.The service says if she completes all the terms of the discharge, she will not have a conviction or a criminal record.Browning was accused of punching Mona Wang and dragging the student from her apartment in January 2020 after Wang’s boyfriend called police asking them to check on her.Surveillance video taken from inside an apartment building, which was disclosed as part of a civil lawsuit filed by Wang, shows the RCMP officer dragging Wang by the arms face down along a carpeted hallway, then stepping on her head in the lobby.Browning pleaded guilty to one count of ...

Lincoln Park Zoo offers memory enrichment program for people with dementia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:14 GMT

CHICAGO — The Lincoln Park Zoo is starting its first ever Memory Enrichment program to allow individuals with Dementia to connect with nature in a safe and welcoming environment.The Memory Enrichment program is free, monthly, and allows people with dementia to connect with wildlife and build community through socialization at a set time each month, the zoo said.Trained staff members will implement practices used in memory cafes and dementia-friendly sites like administering multi-sensory experiences and low-impact physical activity. Chris Getz named White Sox general manager Sensory-Friendly Hours is also a quarterly program inviting guests with sensory disabilities to experience the zoo with less environmental stimulations and less crowds.For more information, visit: Wildlife Experience in the Heart of Chicago | Lincoln Park Zoo (lpzoo.org)ASL interpretation is also offered through partnership with Columbia College's ASL department. The Memory Enrichment Program will take place ...