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Canada may face ‘big fight’ with U.S. over digital tax plans, American envoy warns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

OTTAWA — The United States ambassador to Canada says there could be a “big fight” looming if the federal government goes through with its plans for a digital services tax. U.S. envoy David Cohen made the remarks today in a question-and-answer session following a luncheon speech hosted by the Canadian Club of Ottawa. The three per cent levy, which is slated to take effect in January, targets foreign companies such as streaming services that generate revenue from Canadian users.It was delayed until 2024 in hopes of waiting out a similar international digital tax regime being assembled under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.Cohen says the U.S. understands Canada’s position, but wants more time for the OECD framework to fall into place. Last month, members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee wrote to warn of “significant consequences” if Canada proceeds with the tax. “That will be an area of contention unless it is...

Construction of at least 25,000 housing units blocked in Quebec: survey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

MONTREAL — A new survey by a housing construction industry association suggests that stalled construction projects are holding up the delivery of at least 25,000 homes across Quebec.The survey of 42 real estate developers found that more than half of those units, around 14,500, were planned for Montreal and the regions to its north and south.Association vice-president Isabelle Demers says the number of blocked units is likely much higher since many developers might have hesitated to disclose projects that are ongoing or contested.Respondents cited factors including burdensome permit-granting processes, zoning obstacles and public resistance to densification projects in residential areas as reasons for the holdups.That last kind of opposition, known as the “not-in-my-backyard” phenomenon, is characterized by existing residents’ suspicion of attempts to alter the character of their neighbourhoods with multi-dwelling buildings.Demers gives the example of a recent proj...

Biden to welcome Trudeau to Washington this week: U.S. Ambassador David Cohen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to be in Washington on Friday as part of U.S. President Joe Biden’s push for greater economic integration across the Western Hemisphere.U.S. Ambassador David Cohen says Trudeau will be part of meetings in to help shape the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, a Biden-backed trade framework.The project aims to create more jobs and restore faith in democracy by having roughly a dozen countries bolster the region’s economic competitiveness.Biden announced the program at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June 2022.Cohen says Canada shares the values the U.S. is trying to champion in the region, adding there will be “some nice and interesting announcements” at the meeting.Trudeau’s office is not confirming the prime minister’s schedule.“I’m pretty sure that the first invitation that was extended, to come to this conference, was extended to Prime Minister Trudeau,” ...

Trial moved to late 2024 for Indiana man charged in killings of 2 girls slain during hiking trip

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — The trial for an Indiana man charged in the killings of two teenage girls slain in 2017 during a hiking trip was moved Tuesday from January to next October after the presiding judge told the suspect she will not allow his former attorneys to represent him.At Tuesday’s hearing, Special Judge Fran Gull officially removed Allen’s former court-appointed defense attorneys, Bradley Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin, from the case after they had sought to represent him pro bono, or at no cost.“I cannot and will not allow these attorneys to represent you,” Gull told Allen during a hearing in Fort Wayne. “I’m sorry that this has happened, Mr. Allen.”Gull had announced before a scheduled Oct. 19 hearing that Baldwin had made an oral motion to withdraw from the case and that she expected Rozzi to submit a motion to withdraw within days amid questions about the security of evidence in the case.Allen, 51, was arrested in October 2022 and charged with two counts o...

Antisemitism policies at public city colleges in New York will be reviewed, the governor says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An independent party will review antisemitism policies at the City University of New York, the nation’s largest urban public university system, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday, as protests about the war between Israel and Hamas erupt on college campuses across the country. Hochul, a Democrat, said the review will assess how the college system handles antisemitism complaints and will make recommendations on how administrators can better protect Jewish students and faculty. It will be conducted by Jonathan Lippman, a former chief judge of New York’s highest court.Political tensions over the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict have long run high at City University of New York schools, which include 25 campuses and almost a quarter-million students, with protests and rallies sometimes gaining widespread attention and leading to accusations of antisemitism. “We will take on the antisemitism we have seen on college campuses,” Hochul said. “The prob...

Officials say small plane crash in southwest Nebraska kills 1, seriously injures another on board

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

McCOOK, Neb. (AP) — A single-engine plane crash in a southwestern Nebraska town killed one person and injured another on board and left a nearby house uninhabitable, officials said.The crash happened just after noon near the McCook airport on Monday, McCook City Manager Nate Schneider said in a news release. One person on board was declared dead at the scene and another aboard the plane was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, Schneider said. Officials have not released their names or speculated on what caused the crash. A house just feet from where the plane went down was damaged and left temporarily uninhabitable because of spilled jet fuel and other hazards, according to the McCook Daily Gazette. Two hunting dogs were also injured in the crash, and were being treating for their injuries, the Gazette reported.The Federal Aviation Administration’s website shows the Piper six-seater plane is registered to a corporation based in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Associated Press

Prosecutors: Supreme Court decision closes door on criminal prosecutions in Flint water scandal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan attorney general’s office said Tuesday that the state prosecution of former Gov. Rick Snyder and other officials for their roles in the Flint water scandal has ended.A decision Tuesday by the state Supreme Court to decline to hear appeals of a lower court’s dismissal of misdemeanor charges against Snyder “effectively closes the door on the criminal prosecutions of the government officials,” prosecutors said in a release.“At this time the court has left us with no option but to consider the Flint water prosecutions closed,” the prosecution team said.The Michigan Supreme Court in September rejected a last-chance effort by prosecutors to revive criminal charges. The attorney general’s office used an uncommon tool — a one-judge grand jury — to hear evidence and return indictments against nine people, including Snyder. But the Supreme Court last year said the process was unconstitutional, and it struck down the charges as invalid.Snyder was ...

The Supreme Court wrestles with social media cases that have echoes of Donald Trump

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court wrestled Tuesday with whether public officials can block critics from commenting on their social media accounts, an issue that first arose in a case involving former President Donald Trump.The justices heard arguments in two cases involving lawsuits filed by people who were blocked after leaving critical comments on social media accounts belonging to school board members in southern California and a city manager in Port Huron, Michigan, northeast of Detroit.The cases force the court to deal with the competing free speech rights of public officials and their constituents, and all in a rapidly evolving virtual world.“More and more of our democracy operates on social media,” Justice Elena Kagan said during three hours of arguments.The cases are part of a term-long focus on the relationship between government and the private digital platforms. Justice Clarence Thomas hinted at coming cases when he described as “the looming elephant in the room” ...

Philadelphia picks winning design for Harriet Tubman statue after controversy over original choice

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The city of Philadelphia has picked the winning design for a Harriet Tubman statue outside City Hall after facing criticism over its original choice of a white artist who’d been selected without competition.Alvin Pettit beat out four other semifinalists with a design called “A Higher Power: The Call of a Freedom Fighter.” His nearly 14-foot bronze statue — the first of a Black woman who is a historical figure in the city’s public art collection — will portray Tubman as a military leader and freedom fighter. The famed abolitionist — who escaped slavery and led other enslaved Black women and men to freedom on the Underground Railroad — worked as a scout, spy and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War, and helped lead 150 Black soldiers on a gunboat raid in South Carolina. “She is shown in majestic prayer. Perhaps she is calling upon her faith or contemplating a battle,” said Pettit, a Baltimore-bred artist based in Jersey City, New Je...

Third First Nation wants use of Jasper National Park, saying they were evicted

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:11 GMT

A third First Nation wants Parks Canada to give its members limited hunting rights in Jasper National Park, saying they were evicted when the park was created in western Alberta. The Aseniwuche Winewak Nation says it wants in on a deal signed last weekend with the Simpcw and Stoney First Nations.That deal gives the bands a stronger voice in park management and opens the door to limited harvesting in the park. But AWN president David MacPhee says his people were cast out from the park in 1911.He says they maintain a strong connection with the area and have traditional lands immediately north of Jasper. In a letter to the park’s superintendent, MacPhee says his people don’t want to deprive other First Nations, but want the same rights as others and to safeguard their own. A response from Parks Canada was not immediately available. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023.The Canadian Press