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Lawmakers vote on Paris Olympic law with surveillance fears

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A proposed French law for the 2024 Paris Olympics that critics contend will open the door for privacy-busting video surveillance technology in France and elsewhere in Europe faces an important hurdle on Tuesday with lawmakers set to vote on it. The bill would legalize the temporary use of so-called intelligent surveillance systems to safeguard the Paris Games, which run next year from July 26-Aug. 11, and the Paralympics that follow. The systems combine cameras with artificial intelligence software to flag potential security concerns, such as abandoned packages or crowd surges. Human operators would decide whether action is needed.French authorities insist the surveillance wouldn’t involve facial recognition. Supporters of the bill argue that the technology could help avert disasters like the deadly crowd crush that killed nearly 160 people during Halloween festivities in South Korea in October.“It’s not about recognizing ‘Mr. X’ in a crowd,” Interior Minister Gér...

Montreal single-use plastics ban comes into effect, covering range of products

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

MONTREAL — A Montreal municipal bylaw banning the use of single-use plastic items comes into effect today, with glasses, stir sticks, straws and utensils among the items that will be prohibited.The ban also applies to polystyrene or compostable plastic products, whether used on-site in restaurants or for takeout, with the only exception being trays for raw meat and fish.The bylaw was passed 18 months ago and covers the 19 boroughs that make up the city of Montreal, with officials estimating some 8,400 businesses will be affected.There are certain exceptions, including for non-profit groups like charities or organizations that deliver meals to vulnerable people.Inspectors will be able to give a warning during the first visit, but from the second violation, merchants are exposed to fines ranging from $400 to $4,000.Marie-Andrée Mauger, the city’s executive committee member in charge of ecological transition, says the city will show some leniency to allow merchants to clear their...

B.C. to announce plan for access to diabetes drug Ozempic, hyped for weight loss

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s health minister plans to announce how the government will ensure patients in the province will have secure access to the diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic. Adrian Dix said in January that the government would be investigating why almost 10 per cent of prescriptions for the drug in B.C. were filled for American citizens. Dix said at the time that the dramatic increase in demand for the diabetes drug was partly because of social media “influencers” who spoke about its weight loss benefits. He said he asked PharmaCare, the publicly funded program that helps B.C. residents pay for some prescription drugs, to review the drug’s use by U.S. residents. Dix announced in January that PharmaCare coverage of Ozempic would be widened to more patients with Type 2 diabetes, although it wouldn’t be part of regular benefit coverage. Several celebrities in the United States have promoted the drug, even though it’s not approved for ...

Bring title insurers under anti-money laundering rules, former executive says

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

Title insurers need to be brought under anti-money laundering rules to fight against scam artists who impersonate homeowners to sell or mortgage their properties, a former insurance executive says. Tim Hyde, who spent years in the title insurance business in Ontario, said dozens of cases involving impersonators in Ontario and B.C. showed the need for title insurers to be designated as “reporting entities” under Canada’s money laundering law.Hyde has been lobbying the federal government for the changes alongside fellow lawyer Kevin Comeau and Denis Meunier, an anti-laundering consultant who previously worked at both the Canada Revenue Agency and Fintrac, Canada’s financial intelligence agency.The spate of title fraud cases include that of a Toronto condo owner who discovered her property had been listed and sold last year for $970,000 by someone using her name.Owner Moffy Yu, who lives in China, told The Canadian Press in January that she was shocked to discov...

Liberals to go after predatory lending in today’s budget, invest in dental care plan

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is set to table a federal budget in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon, which a federal source says will include plans to go after predatory lending and more details on dental care as part of a pitch to make life more affordable.The government official, who was granted anonymity to discuss matters that will not be public until the budget is released, said the federal Liberals intend to amend the Criminal Code to lower the amount of interest legally allowed to be charged.Predatory lending often involves short-term loans at sky-high high interest rates. Often marketed to people in financially precarious situations, they can create a cycle of debt tough to escape.The Criminal Code currently caps the legal interest rate at 60 per cent effective annual interest, which has been the case since it was set in 1980 — a time when the key overnight rate set by the Bank of Canada was 21 per cent, compared to the 4.5 per cent it is today.There is...

Senior Mounties involved in N.S. mass shooting response either retired or in new jobs

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

HALIFAX — As a public inquiry prepares for the release of its final report into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting, its findings are sure to refocus the spotlight on the RCMP’s problem-plagued response to the 13-hour rampage that claimed 22 lives.Almost three years after a man disguised as a Mountie started murdering people in Portapique, N.S., on the night of April 18, 2020, the senior RCMP officers and staff involved in the tragic case have all either retired or moved into new jobs.Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University in Manitoba, says there’s no guarantee the inquiry’s findings will have much impact on the RCMP’s senior ranks.“Police accountability is not easily realized, even in the most grave of circumstances,” said Schneider, who has published extensively on policing issues.“Given how grave it was and how many people lost their lives … the RCMP could have, at the very least, demoted or meted out some sort of punishment to s...

LGBTQ+ advocates protest Texas bill affecting trans people

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Advocates for trans rights gathered inside the Texas Capitol early Tuesday morning after the end of a hearing into a bill that would ban minors from receiving medical treatment to change their gender.HB 1686 by State Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress) would prohibit physicians from providing gender transition surgery or “puberty blockers” to Texans under 18. It would also exempt that care from coverage under state health insurance plans.“This whole cottage industry operates without self regulation to the detriment of vulnerable children,” Rep. Oliverson tweeted Monday.The House Committee on Public Health hearing ended just after 12 a.m. Tuesday. Some of the people signed up to testify tell us they didn't get to speak because the hearing wrapped. The House committee clerk on Monday told KXAN 372 people signed up to testify.After the hearing, protestors gathered for a brief rally and "die-in". They used their bodies to symbolize how many transgender lives c...

Daily horoscope for March 28, 2023

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

Moon Alert: After 6:30 a.m. EDT today (3:30 a.m. PDT), there are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The Moon is in Cancer.Happy Birthday for Tuesday, March 28, 2023:Your work is important to you, as is the affection of others. You are a caring, independent person. This is a slower paced year that will allow you to rejuvenate yourself. Focus on your needs and what brings you happiness, especially in relationships.ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★★This is a day for important family discussions. It’s also a great day to make domestic improvements and discuss long-range plans that affect family members, the home and possibly real estate. Listen to the advice of someone older. Their experience might be an important help right now. Tonight: Finish work.TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★★★You have wonderful chances to learn and study today. Likewise, you can teach others or share your ideas. You will be persuasive and convincing. This is because your mind is open and clear. You c...

Ukraine's Avdiivka becoming 'post-apocalyptic', official says

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

Russia is making Ukraine's Avdiivka "a place from post-apocalyptic movies", intensifying the shelling and forcing a near complete shutdown of the frontline, a top local official stated on Sunday (26 March).Officials estimate that there are approximately 2,000 civilians still in Avdiivka. It is a Donetsk city located 90 km (56 miles) south of the besieged Bakhmut. According to officials, the city was home to more than 33,000 people before the war.Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the military administration in the city, stated that Avdiivka was becoming "more and more like a movie set" via the Telegram messaging app.Barabash said that the evacuation of utility workers who were left in the city is underway and that mobile reception will soon be cut "because there are informers for the Russian occupiers" in the city.The Russian forces have made recent steady gains on the flanks Avdiivka's Avdiivka. Last week, the Ukrainian military warned that the city could become "second Bakhmut". This i...

Miss Manners: Best man is on the hook for 5-day bachelor party and two weddings

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:51 GMT

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My daughter’s husband, Liam, has been asked to be the best man at the fall wedding of his friend Cody. Cody and Liam have communicated, at most, three or four times via text in the last three years.Cody has asked Liam to throw a five-day destination bachelor party. Not only that, he and his fiancee are asking the members of the wedding party to fly to Austria for their “first” wedding, stay there for six days, then travel to Italy for their “second” wedding and stay there for another six days. (No one in the wedding party has any connection to these places.) And of course they are also expected to bestow a gift on the greedy couple.My daughter figures attending the wedding would cost them about $20,000, and that’s without the bachelor party. They would also have to take their young son with them.Liam is afraid that if he says no, he will lose Cody as a friend, while my daughter is telling him that Cody already isn’t his fr...