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6 GTA men charged in Home Depot gift card scam targeting U.S. residents: police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

Police have arrested six men from the GTA, accused of operating an alleged million-dollar-worth gift card scam that investigators say targeted more than 50 people in the U.S.Investigators with York Regional Police say the probe began in February of this year when an elderly man got a pop-up message on his computer telling him that his computer security has been compromised.The man called the number shown on the pop-up message and was told to buy $22,000 in Home Depot gift cards.After providing the serial numbers of the gift cards to the suspects, police say the cards were redeemed at a store in Markham.York police investigators say with the assistance of Home Depot and the FBI, they were “able to identify over 50 confirmed victims across the United States who had fallen victim to the same suspects.”“All of the purchased gift cards had been redeemed by a small group of contractors in the Greater Toronto Area, with purchases totalling over $3 million,” police s...

Weekend need-to-know: Winter markets and a carnival in Dundas Square

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

A winter carnival in Dundas Square kicks off this weekend if you would like to take advantage of some milder temperatures this weekend. Although there are still lots of activities to take advantage of indoors in the days leading up to Christmas.Luckily, there will be no TTC or GO closures to get in the way of your travels, however, there will be several roads closures to keep in mind (full list below).Winter GlowYonge-Dundas Square will be hosting a winter carnival this year that kicks off on Dec. 14 and runs through to Dec. 23. There will be a 45 foot tall Ferris Wheel and a carousel available to ride for a cost. A $6 ticket will get you on each ride and they will be running from Monday to Friday from 4 p.. to 10 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. The Rotary Club is also offering a chance to write a message to a loved one on a yellow ribbon with a donation and attach it to their 40ft Tree of Remembrance.Winter Market at Evergreen BrickworksThe final day of th...

The Dodgers are ready to welcome Shohei Ohtani to Hollywood

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers are ready to welcome Shohei Ohtani to Hollywood.The biggest superstar in baseball will be formally introduced by the team at a news conference Thursday.A unique two-way star as both a hitter and pitcher, the 29-year-old Japanese sensation left the Los Angeles Angels as a free agent after six years. He’s moving 30 miles up Interstate 5 after the Dodgers outbid the competition by offering a $700 million, 10-year contract in a deal announced Monday.It will be Ohtani’s first time speaking with the media since Aug. 9, two weeks before a pitching injury that required surgery and will keep him off the mound until 2025. He had the operation on Sept. 19, but the nature of the surgery was not fully announced. Ohtani had Tommy John surgery on Oct. 1, 2018.The two-time AL MVP has a .274 batting average with 171 homers, 437 RBIs and 86 stolen bases along with a 39-19 record with a 3.01 ERA and 608 strikeouts in 481 2/3 innings. Ohtani has 34.7 Win...

Canadian home sales down in November, average price up from year ago: CREA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

OTTAWA — The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales fell in November as the average price of a home sold inched higher compared with a year ago.The association says November home sales fell 0.9 per cent compared with the same month last year.On a seasonally adjusted basis, November home sales were also down 0.9 per cent compared with October this year. The number of newly listed homes fell 1.8 per cent on a month-over-month basis in November.CREA says with new listings down more than sales in November, the national sales-to-new listings ratio rose for the first time since April to come in at 49.8 per cent compared with 49.4 per cent in October. The actual national average price of a home sold in November was $646,134, up two per cent from November 2022This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2023.The Canadian Press

Putin questions Olympic rules for neutral Russian athletes at Paris Games

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin questioned the International Olympic Committee rules mandating Russian athletes compete at the Paris Olympics as neutrals.Putin also indicated on Thursday that Russia has yet to take a final decision on whether its competitors will take part next year.The IOC rejected a blanket ban last week when it confirmed Russians will be allowed to compete under the name of Individual Neutral Athletes. The IOC wants no national symbols such as the flag or anthem, no team sports, and to exclude athletes who are contracted to the Russian military or security services, or who have publicly supported Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.Similar measures apply for Russia’s ally Belarus, which Moscow used as a staging ground for troops and equipment before sending its army into Ukraine.“I’ve always said that athletes train for years and that they need to be given the opportunity to compete at the largest competitions, including the Oly...

Turkish lawmaker who collapsed in parliament after delivering speech, dies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish opposition legislator died Thursday, days after he suffered a heart attack and collapsed in parliament just after delivering a speech critical of Israel and of the Turkish ruling party’s relationship with the country.Hasan Bitmez, 53, a member of parliament from the Islamist Saadet Partisi, or Felicity Party, died at the Ankara City Hospital, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced.Bitmez collapsed at the lectern of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on Tuesday after speaking for some 20 minutes. Legislators in the hall assisted Bitmez before he was rushed to the hospital in “extremely serious and critical” condition.During his speech, he was seen holding a sign that read: “Murderer Israel, Collaborator AKP,” in reference to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party.Bitmez accused the AKP government of continuing to engage in trade with Israel even as it became one of its most vocal critics. AKP lawmakers heckled during h...

Family of Chicago woman who died in hotel freezer agrees to $10 million settlement

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The family of a Chicago woman who froze to death after she became locked in a hotel freezer has agreed to a $10 million legal settlement.Kenneka Jenkins’ mother, Tereasa Martin, will receive about $3.7 million, according to court records made public Tuesday, the Chicago Tribune reported. Other family members will receive $1.2 million and $1.5 million. Another $3.5 million will cover attorney fees, with $6,000 covering the cost of Jenkins’ funeral.Jenkins was found dead in the walk-in freezer at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in suburban Rosemont in September 2017, a day after she attended a party there. The Cook County medical examiner’s office determined that she died of hypothermia and that her death was accidental. Alcohol intoxication and the use of a drug for treating epilepsy and migraines were “significant contributing factors” in her death, the office said. Surveillance videos released by police showed Jenkins wandering alone through a kitchen area n...

Preparations to deploy Kenyan police to Haiti ramp up, despite legal hurdles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The head of Haiti’s national police visited Kenya Thursday, as local authorities prepare for the deployment of Kenyan police to the Caribbean nation plagued by gang violence. Kenyan authorities said Thursday that Frantz Elbe, on a fact-finding mission, met Kenyan police chief Japhet Koome Thursday. Elbe “is on a three-day official visit to Kenya for bilateral security discussions between the two law enforcement agencies,” a statement from Koome’s office said. No more details were given. In October, the U.N. Security Council approved the deployment of a Kenyan-led foreign armed force to Haiti to help bring gang violence under control. More than 1,230 killings and 701 kidnappings were reported across Haiti from July 1 to Sept. 30, more than double the figure reported during the same period last year, according to the U.N.Elbe’s visit comes days after a Kenyan team flew to Haiti for discussions with authorities there. Kenyan police would lead a U.N.-ba...

Germany and Turkey agree to train imams who serve Germany’s Turkish immigrant community in Germany

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany and Turkey agreed Thursday to gradually end the deployment of Turkish state-employed imams to Germany and to instead have imams trained in Germany to serve the country’s large Turkish immigrant community. German authorities have sought for many years to increase the number of imams educated domestically to decrease the influence of foreign countries on its Muslim communities.As part of the joint German-Turkish training initiative, 100 imams are to be educated in Germany annually starting next year, while the number of imams assigned from Turkey is to be gradually reduced by the same number.German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the agreement “an important milestone for the integration and participation of Muslim communities in Germany.”“We need preachers who speak our language, know our country and stand up for our values,” Faeser said. “We want imams to get involved in the dialogue between religions and discuss questions of ...

Movie Review: In harrowing ‘Zone of Interest,’ the Holocaust’s evils are cloaked in mundanities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:34 GMT

It’s just a woman trying on a fur coat alone in her room, and sampling a lipstick. It’s just a few friends discussing toothpaste orders over coffee in the kitchen. It’s just a housewife showing off her new garden and children’s pool, or a dad taking his kids fishing in a river.The crucial context is that these scenes are occurring only a stone wall away from the gas chambers and crematoriums of Auschwitz. And it’s their very mundanity that makes them evil — the “banality of evil,” to use Hannah Arendt’s well-known phrase. In his meticulous and harrowing film “The Zone of Interest,” writer-director Jonathan Glazer has found a way to convey evil without ever depicting the horror itself. But though it escapes our eyes, the horror assaults our senses in other, deeper ways.How does one even begin to depict the Holocaust? The question has challenged filmmakers for eight decades. Attempts to humanize the horror often lose sight of the scale of the genocide. And efforts to do justice ...