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Missouri Supreme Court hears case on latest effort to block Planned Parenthood funding

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Attorney General’s Office defended the Republican-led Legislature’s latest attempt in a years-long struggle to block taxpayer dollars from going to Planned Parenthood during arguments before the state Supreme Court on Wednesday.Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office had appealed after a lower court judge found it was unconstitutional for lawmakers in 2022 to specify that Planned Parenthood would get zero dollars for providing family planning services to Medicaid patients despite reimbursing other health care providers for similar treatments.Solicitor General Josh Divine told Supreme Court judges that creating a state budget is a core power granted to lawmakers. Divine said if the high court rules in favor of Planned Parenthood in this case, it will “wreck the appropriation process that has been used for decades.”Chuck Hatfield, Planned Parenthood’s lawyer, told judges that’s “not so.” He said the case ...

No, Dior didn’t replace Bella Hadid with an Israeli model over her comments on the Israel-Hamas war

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

Social media users are sharing a baseless claim that Dior has dropped Bella Hadid due to the supermodel’s recent comments on the latest Israel-Hamas war. Here are the facts:CLAIM: Dior has ended its partnership with Bella Hadid because she posted a message of support for Palestinians, and the brand replaced her in a new ad campaign with Israeli model May Tager.AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Hadid’s contract with the luxury fashion house ended in March 2022, long before the latest conflict, a person close to the matter told The Associated Press. And while Tager is one of several models appearing in Dior’s 2023 holiday campaign, she was also in the 2022 version — and both ads more prominently featured actor Anya Taylor-Joy.THE FACTS: Hadid, whose father is Palestinian, has repeatedly made public remarks criticizing the Israeli government and supporting Palestinians in the years since she was named a brand ambassador for Dior’s makeup in 2016.After the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas...

3 charged with running sex ring that catered to elected officials, other wealthy clients

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Three people have been arrested on allegations that they ran a sophisticated commercial sex ring in Massachusetts and Virginia that catered to well-connected clients such as elected officials and military officers, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. Prosecutors allege the individuals used two websites and a network of brothels in Massachusetts and eastern Virginia to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Clients often paid a monthly fee to be part of the “illicit club,” Acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy told reporters. “This commercial sex ring was built on secrecy and exclusivity, catering to a wealthy and well-connected clientele, and business was booming, until today,” Levy said. Authorities believe potentially hundreds of people bought sex services through the ring, including doctors, lawyers, accountants, elected officials, military officers, government contractors, professors and executives at tech companies, Levy said. “They are the men who...

‘Iconic’ Christmas tree making anticipated return to Toronto’s Eaton Centre

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

After a one-year hiatus, Toronto’s Eaton Centre will once again feature its iconic Christmas tree in the heart of the populous mall. A tree-lighting event will be held next week on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. Dubbed the tallest tree in North America, the unveiling will be the unofficial kickoff to Toronto’s 2023 holiday season and showcase “[Cadillac Fairview] Winterville.” A ceremony will be hosted by The Barenaked Ladies, who will lead a sing-along performance featuring the Toronto Children’s Chorus onstage. In 2022, Toronto’s Eaton Centre did not showcase the massive Christmas tree due to a roof construction project. “The tree is a special part of the CF Toronto Eaton Centre holiday experience, and after a year-long hiatus, we are thrilled to bring it back — bigger and better than ever,” said Sheila Jennings, General Manager, CF Toronto Eaton Centre. “We have some special plans in the works that we can’t wai...

Defence policy update: Industry demand for clarity has Blair back at drawing board

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

OTTAWA, Kan. — Defence Minister Bill Blair says he recently instructed his team to rejig the Liberals’ long-promised defence policy update, so as to give industry more clarity on long-term spending plans“As the world becomes an increasingly difficult and challenging place, we have to make those investments,” Blair told an industry conference on Wednesday.Blair told a summit held by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada that the group helped him realize the current plans would not adequately answer questions raised by defence companies.“It’s in part as a result of the meeting I had with you and your team the other day — a couple weeks ago — that I went back to my own team, and I said, ‘We really got to — as we now recraft and refine the defence policy update, it has to be an industry policy as well,'” he said.Blair said that he met with the Prime Minister’s Office “earlier this week” about the new changes to a polic...

Indianapolis Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett easily wins reelection after expensive race

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett easily won a third term after an expensive race against a Republican challenger who had a significant fundraising advantage.Hogsett received 59.51% of votes while businessman and former city-county councilman Jefferson Shreve received 40.49% of votes in Tuesday’s election. Hogsett also won the 2015 and 2019 elections by wide margins. The expensive race was marked by the candidates’ stances on national issues, such as abortion and former President Donald Trump, on top of local concerns such as pedestrian safety and the economic development of Indianapolis’s downtown following the COVID-19 pandemic. Both candidates pledged to lobby the Legislature for gun control measures in the state’s largest city. Hogsett was the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Indiana before becoming mayor of the city about 880,600 people. The Associated Press emailed Hogsett’s campaign Wednesday seeking a comment o...

Nuvei shares jump nearly 20% after reporting Q3 revenue up more than 50%

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

MONTREAL — Shares in Nuvei Corp. were up nearly 20 per cent in trading Wednesday morning after the company reported its revenue rose more than 50 per cent and raised its financial guidance.The Montreal-based payment technology company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported late Tuesday it lost US$18.1 million or 14 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with net income of US$13.0 million or eight cents per share a year earlier.Revenue for the quarter totalled US$304.9 million, up from US$197.1 million in the same quarter last year.On an adjusted basis, Nuvei says it earned 39 cents per diluted share, down from an adjusted profit of 43 cents per diluted share a year earlier.In its outlook, Nuvei says it expects revenue for 2023 between US$1.18 billion and US$1.2 billion, up from earlier expectations for between US$1.17 billion and US$1.2 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the full year are expected between U...

English Montreal school board sues after it’s forced to communicate in French only

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

MONTREAL — The English Montreal School Board says it will take the Quebec government to court over strict language rules requiring the board to communicate exclusively in French.The board says it will file the motion in Quebec Superior Court today after it received a warning about its internal communications from the province’s language watchdog — Office québécois de la langue française.It says the watchdog has interpreted the new language law — known as Bill 96 — to mean that English school boards must correspond with commissioners, principals and parents in French only.The Montreal board — the largest English school board in the province — says that the interpretation is shocking and would place an undue burden on staff.Bill 96 was adopted in May 2022 and most of its provisions came into effect in June 2023.The EMSB has also brought one of several constitutional challenges to numerous other provisions of Bill 96.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2...

Movie Review: Iman Vellani is a scene-stealer in low-stakes ‘The Marvels’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

The stakes feel immensely low in “ The Marvels,” and it’s not because this is a movie that spends a fair amount of time following cats or has an out-of-nowhere musical number. It’s possibly that somewhere along way, Marvel movies just stopped feeling like events. And this galactic trifle from director Nia DaCosta does not seem to be the one to make them feel like a must again for anyone who has not kept up with all their Disney+ series and who has forgotten what phase the MCU is in and why it matters.Yes, Iman Vellani (as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan) gets her big moment on the big screen and nails it, as does Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau). Yes, there is a new villain, and it’s a woman (Zawe Ashton as Dar-Benn) with a powerful new toy. Yes, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) will have to face her past to move forward. And, yes, there is plenty of action, butt-kicking, wormhole jumping, glowing eyes and smashing of concrete walls.But this is also a movie that teases danger, like a bad guy who ...

Gov. Beshear says his reelection in Kentucky shows how Democrats can overcome US political divisions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:22 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Fresh off his emphatic victory in Republican-leaning Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday that Democrats can overcome America’s deep divisions by trying “to lead with compassion” and improving the lives of the people who elect them.After a bitter campaign against GOP state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the governor stressed a message of working on behalf of voters who put them in office. Beshear said in his victory speech Tuesday night that his reelection sent a “clear message” that “anger politics” should end. In his first sit-down interview since securing a second term, the Democrat talked at length about how to defuse such tactics and cited his own campaign as an example.“You look at all of the different things that they did in this campaign, from trying to demonize groups of people to just so many different attacks, trying to find a boogeyman,” Beshear told The Associated Press.The best counter, he said, is “to show leadership in a diff...