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Ex-Goldman Sachs banker gets 10-year sentence for fraud

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — A former Goldman Sachs banker was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for his role in looting a Malaysian development fund of billions of dollars used to finance lavish parties, a superyacht, premium real estate and even the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”Roger Ng was convicted last April by a U.S. District Court jury in Brooklyn, but he continues to deny charges that he conspired to launder money and violated two anti-bribery laws.Prosecutors said Ng and his co-conspirators helped the Malaysian fund, known as 1MDB, raise $6.5 billion through bond sales — only to participate in a scheme that siphoned off more than two-thirds of the money, some of which went to pay bribes and kickbacks.Reading from a prepared statement, Ng pleaded for mercy from U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie.“I’m embarrassed. I’m ashamed,” he told the judge.“I don’t want to live in resentment,” he said. “I want to redeem myself.”The judge admonished...

ChatGPT wrote a bogus newsletter reporting a fictitious fight at a Connecticut middle school

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

A middle school in South Windsor, Conn. has advised parents that someone was circulating a fictitious school newsletter evidently written by the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.The phony newsletter described a fictitious conflict between students, and listed names and penalties they sustained, according to the school system.Administrators were not taking questions this week, and police said they had received no complaint related to the incident.“It has come to our attention that a fictitious newsletter was shared among some students and families that closely resembled the formatting of the TEMS monthly communication to families,” Principal Candice Irwin of the Timothy Edwards Middle School said in a letter to parents Feb. 27.“This writing was generated using ChatGPT (open AI) and reported false information about a fabricated altercation that occurred between TEMS students.”Irwin’s letter did not state whether the phony newsletter was distributed electronically or in print, h...

Ontario bans TikTok app from government-issued mobile devices

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

The Doug Ford government is banning the use of the social media app TikTok from government-owned mobile devices, following the lead of the federal government and other Canadian provinces.Last month, the federal government banned the app from such devices days after federal and provincial privacy watchdogs launched an investigation into the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform, delving into how the app collects, uses, and discloses personal information.On Thursday, Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, President of the Treasury Board, issued the following statement:“Effective immediately, the Ontario government has started the removal of the social media application TikTok from all Ontario government-issued devices. Also effective immediately, all Ontario PC party caucus members will begin the removal of the application from all personal mobile devices. As part of this ban, government advertising campaigns will also be removed from TikTok.“The decision to block the TikTok application from governm...

Georgia to drop foreign agents law after massive protests

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s governing party said Thursday it would withdraw draft legislation that opponents — and tens of thousands of protesters who swarmed the capital — warned could stifle dissent and curtail media freedoms, ushering in Russian-style repression.The bill would have required media and nongovernmental organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign sources to register as “agents of foreign influence.” Its opponents argued the bill was inspired by a similar law in Russia that’s used to silence critics, and could hinder Georgia’s aspirations of one day joining NATO and the European Union.Protests against the bill began last week in the capital, Tbilisi, but swelled in recent days and were met with tear gas and water cannons. The Interior Ministry said 133 demonstrators were arrested, although Georgian police late announced they had released all who face administrative charges and not criminal prosecution, without specifying how many...

3 wounded in Tel Aviv shooting, hours after West Bank raid

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A Palestinian gunman opened fire on a crowded street in central Tel Aviv late Thursday, wounding three people before he was shot and killed, Israeli officials said. The shooting came hours after an Israeli military raid killed three Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.The incidents were the latest violence in a year-long wave of Israel-Palestinian fighting that shows no signs of slowing.The Tel Aviv shooting occurred on Dizengoff Street, a popular thoroughfare filled with shops and restaurants. The city was filled with people on Thursday night, the start of the Israeli weekend, and as anti-government protests were taking place in the Mediterranean city .An image on social media showed what was believed to be the attacker standing in the middle of the road as he pointed a pistol. The MADA rescue service said one of the wounded was in critical condition, while authorities said security forces in the area quickly killed the shooter. Amateur video app...

Wisconsin court sides with AP, others in open records case

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin appeals court ruled Thursday that the state Assembly violated the open records law when it initially rejected, then fulfilled with redactions, documents sought by The Associated Press and three other media outlets related to sexual harassment allegations against a former legislator.The AP, the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sued in March 2020 after their open records requests seeking copies of the complaint against then-state Rep. Staush Gruszynski and other related documents were denied by the clerk of the Assembly.The 4th District Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a lower court’s ruling from 2021 in favor of the AP and others. The appeals court agreed with a circuit court’s ruling that Assembly leaders misapplied a balancing test, erroneously finding that the complainant’s privacy outweighed the public’s interest in the documents.The appeals court also found that the Assembly violated the...

4 ‘Ostomy Athletes’ to climb the Seven Summits around the world

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

A group of four people from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. who each have Crohn’s Disease and Ileostomy are setting their sights on a lofty goal, climbing the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents and pursing the Explorer’s Grand Slam.The group, which calls themselves the Ostomy Athletes, hope to begin their epic adventure in September this year and it’s expected to take until Dec. 2026 to complete.The seven summits including Everest, Kilimanjaro and Denali while the Explorer’s Grand Slam will consists of skiing to the North and South Pole.Patrick Belton, a Toronto native, put together the team and will be joined by the only man to ever climb some of the world’s tallest mountains, including Everest with an ostomy and an inflammatory bowel disease.The team will be the second.Belton tells CityNews he came up with the idea after he was two to three years into his recovery from his 13th intestinal surgery and began hiking a trail in Cape Breton.&#...

Norfolk Southern train derails in Alabama, no public threat

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

PIEDMONT, Ala. (AP) — A Norfolk Southern train derailed in Alabama on Thursday, but company and local officials said there was no threat to the public.The Alabama accident came on the same day the company’s CEO testified before Congress about the impact of a hazardous materials train derailment in Ohio. The derailment in Calhoun County, Alabama involved about 37 train cars, though none were carrying hazardous materials, said Connor Spielmaker, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern. Two of the cars are considered “residue” cars because they previously contained hazardous materials but they were not compromised, he said. “They did not breach. There is no hazardous material leak. There is no risk at all to the public,” Spielmaker told reporters during a news conference. Photos posted by local news outlets showed train cars on their side or leaning off the tracks in the wooded rural area. Myles Chamblee, director of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, said no injuries or ro...

Weather advisory issued for Toronto ahead of next winter blast

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

Mother Nature isn’t letting up, as another round of snow is set to hit Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) just ahead of the weekend.Environment Canada has issued a winter weather travel advisory in Toronto for Friday, with snow accumulations ranging from 4 to 8 cm by the time the system passes. Snow is expected to start falling around noon and will taper off by late evening.“Widespread snow will push across southwestern Ontario and the Golden Horseshoe on Friday. The evening commute will be affected by this snowfall,” Canada’s weather agency said.“Motorists should expect hazardous winter driving conditions and adjust travel plans accordingly. Be prepared to adjust your driving to changing road conditions. If visibility is reduced while driving, turn on your lights and maintain a safe following distance.”RELATED: Messy, snowy sidewalks posing a hazard to residents, clean-up to begin Monday nightWinter weather travel advisories span the GTA,...

OAS boss traveled with female aide at center of ethics probe

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:09:27 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — The head of the Organization of American States made almost three dozen work trips with a female staffer with whom he maintained a long-running intimate relationship, according to travel records uncovered by The Associated Press.The revelations come as an external probe is expected to wrap up this month looking into whether OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro’s romance with the Mexican staffer two decades his junior violated the Washington-based group’s ethics code.The trips together, all but one between July 2018 and December 2019, included a four-day visit to Oxford, England to deliver a talk on Latin America, a newspaper publishers’ conference in the historic Colombian city of Cartagena and a quick jaunt to Miami to receive the “Executive Mastermind Latino” award. Listings of the trips were found in publicly available reports the secretary general files periodically with the OAS’ permanent council and which are buried deep in the organization’s website.It’s not clear...