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Aruba requests van der Sloot case documents, including his description of killing Natalee Holloway

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Aruba have requested documents from the U.S. Department of Justice in the extortion case against Joran van der Sloot, including his description of killing Natalee Holloway on the island nearly 20 years ago. Van der Sloot, as part of a plea deal in the extortion case, agreed to describe what happened to Holloway in 2005. Van der Sloot said he bludgeoned her to death on a beach after she resisted his sexual advances and then put her body in the ocean, according to court documents.“We have requested the U.S. Department of Justice for the court documents, transcripts and all the documents related to the investigation,” Ann Angela, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Aruba, wrote in an email. She said they will, “review and analyze them before deciding on the procedural steps to be taken against Joran van der Sloot.”“The disappearance of Natalee Holloway, is still an open investigation in Aruba,” she wrote. An attorney for Holloway...

Suspects sought in daytime robbery at Sherway Gardens

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

Toronto police are searching for multiple suspects following a daytime robbery at Sherway Gardens mall in Etobicoke.Authorities were called to the shopping centre at around 1:45 p.m. on Monday for reports of a robbery.It’s alleged that three male suspects used a hammer to smash displays and steal merchandise. The men then fled the area on foot.No injuries were reported. It’s unclear what store was targeted. Investigators said the three men were wearing black hoodies and blue face masks. ROBBERY:Sherway Gardens Plaza1:45 pm– police o/s– 3 male suspects used a hammer to smash displays– merchandise stolen– fled on foot– no reported injuries– all male, black, wearing hoodies, and blue face masks#GO2460816^sc— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) October 23, 2023

US Forest Service sued over flooding deaths in the wake of New Mexico’s largest recorded wildfire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Relatives of three people who died last year in a flash flood stemming from the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history are suing the U.S. Forest Service.The wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges the Forest Service was negligent in the management of the prescribed burn and also failed to close roads and prevent access to areas at risk for flooding that followed the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire.The three West Texas residents were staying at a family cabin in northern New Mexico in July 2022 when monsoon rains hit the burn scar near Tecolote Creek. That created a flash flood that swept the three victims to their deaths.According to the Albuquerque Journal, the lawsuit also contends that the Forest Service failed to provide adequate warnings to the victims about the dangers caused by the wildfire and the dangers of potential flooding in the area.Neither the Forest Service nor its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Agricult...

Book Review: ‘A Brief History of Intelligence’ may help humans shape the future of AI

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

Ever wonder how Homo sapiens got so smart? How come we developed actual language when all the other animals didn’t? How about what first made a nematode turn its body in a different direction? Or… what’s a nematode?Answers to those questions and much, much more can be found in the pages of Max Bennett’s new book “A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI and the Five Breakthroughs that Made Our Brains.” At 365 pages plus 45 more with a glossary, chapter notes and a bibliography, readers can quibble whether it’s indeed brief, but it is certainly thorough. Bennett’s premise — he’s a software entrepreneur who founded a company called Bluecore that “helped predict what consumers would buy before they knew what they wanted” — is that humans won’t ever create true artificial intelligence without understanding exactly what led to the real intelligence we already possess. So he begins with those nematodes — worms, to you and me — and painstakingly details the five breakthroughs that ov...

School shooting in Brazil’s Sao Paulo leaves one student dead

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — A teenager opened fire at a high school in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo early Monday, killing one student and wounding two others, authorities said.The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper identified the assailant as a male student at the high school who was a frequent target of bullying and said that the victim who died was a 17-year-old girl who was shot in the head. Authorities did not immediately release details about the suspected shooter, but the Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that police took him into custody. Two students were wounded in the shooting, and one other was hurt in a scramble to escape. All three were brought to a hospital, it said. “At this moment, the priority is attending to the victims and psychological support to students, teachers and family members,” the statement said. This was Brazil’s first school attack in months, following a rash of them earlier this year. There have been almost two dozen violent episodes in Brazilian s...

School bus with numerous students rolls over north of Calgary, RCMP say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

DIDSBURY, Alta. — RCMP in central Alberta say there has been a collision involving a school bus.An officer from Didsbury came across the school bus rollover on Highway 2A at Township Road 320, police said in a news release Monday. “The bus contained numerous students,” Didsbury RCMP said. “The extent of injuries is unknown at this time.”Highway 2A, which is north of Calgary, is closed and no traffic can get through the area.Police said they were responding Monday to multiple collisions in the area, including potentially 12 between Carstairs and Olds on Highway 2, due to poor road conditions.Albertans woke up to freezing rain ahead of a predicted snowfall that Environment Canada says could see accumulations of 10 to 15 centimetres before Tuesday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct .23, 2023. The Canadian Press

Theft of 2 million dimes from truckload of coins from US Mint leaves four facing federal charges

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal authorities have released more details and unsealed charges in the theft of more than 2 million dimes earlier this year from a tractor-trailer that had picked up the coins from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.The truck driver was bound for Miami when he pulled into a parking lot to sleep on April 13. During the night, thieves made off with a portion of its cargo of $750,000 in dimes, a shipment weighing about six tons, authorities had said earlier. Thousands of coins were left scattered all over the lot in northeast Philadelphia.The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that prosecutors contend that the theft — which they now say totaled $234,500 in stolen dimes — was part of a spree of robberies from tractor-trailers passing through the region that also netted the thieves frozen crab legs, shrimp, meat, beer and liquor.Detectives said at the time that surveillance video showed six men, dressed in gray hoodies and armed with bolt cutters, approaching the truck in t...

Judge orders release of man who was accused of plotting ISIS-inspired truck attacks near Washington

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ordered the release of a Maryland man who has been imprisoned for more than four years on charges that he plotted Islamic State-inspired attacks at an airport and at a shopping and entertainment complex in the Washington, D.C., area.Rondell Henry, 32, of Germantown, Maryland, pleaded guilty in August to attempting to perform an act of violence at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis agreed to sentence Henry to the jail time that he already has served since his March 2019 arrest.Accepting terms recommended by both prosecutors and defense attorneys, the judge also sentenced Henry to lifetime supervised release with mandatory participation in a mental health treatment program. “It’s an unusual resolution for a highly unusual case,” Xinis said.Henry, then 28, abandoned his plan to plow a stolen U-Haul van into pedestrians at the airport because he didn’t think the early-morning crowd was lar...

AC Milan reports a profit for the first time in nearly two decades with record revenue

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Italian soccer club AC Milan has recorded a profit for the first time in nearly two decades.Milan reported a profit of 6.1 million euros ($6.51 million) for the 2022-23 financial year at a shareholders meeting on Monday. That compared to losses of 66.5 million euros (then $66.7 million) last year, which had been reduced from the previous season.It is the first time Milan has been in the black since 2006. The turnaround has been driven by club record revenue of 404.5 million euros ($431.4 million) — about 100 million more than last year.“Combining sporting performance, global competitiveness and financial sustainability in soccer, when on a virtuous path, is possible: the financial statement that has just been approved is a testament to that,” Milan president Paolo Scaroni said. “This marks an important step in our club’s history with a return to net profit after 17 years.”Milan’s finances were boosted by the team reaching the Champions League semifinals last year. That ...

B.C. to remove barriers for internationally trained professionals: premier

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:38 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government has introduced legislation that is expected to add skilled workers into the labour force more quickly by reducing barriers for internationally trained professionals. Premier David Eby says B.C. cannot leave people with skills and experience on the sidelines, given labour shortages the province is facing now and in the coming years.He says the legislation would require regulatory bodies to remove “unfair barriers” for 29 different professions, including veterinarians, lawyers, teachers, paramedics, early childhood educators, architects, natural resource professionals and others.Eby says the act introduced in the legislature today builds on work the B.C. government has been doing to support internationally trained health-care workers.Andrew Mercier, the minister of state for workforce development, says international professionals face unnecessary barriers, such as redundant language testing and a “catch-22” requirement...