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Jury starts deliberations in suit accusing Trump of rape

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

By LARRY NEUMEISTER (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — A jury in New York City began deliberating Tuesday in the lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll, who alleges that Donald Trump raped her in a luxury Manhattan department store in 1996.U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan read instructions on the law to the nine-person jury for about an hour before the panel began discussing Carroll’s allegations of battery and defamation.If they believe Carroll, jurors can award compensatory and punitive damages. Trump, who did not attend the trial, has insisted he never sexually assaulted Carroll or even knew her.Kaplan told jurors that the first question on the verdict form will be to decide whether they think there is more than a 50% chance that Trump raped Carroll inside a store’s dressing room. If they answer yes, they will then decide whether compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded.Otherwise, the judge instructed, they will decide whether Carroll had prov...

Stefan Bondy: 4 things the Knicks must reverse to pull off a miracle against the Heat

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

MIAMI — Listen, stranger things have happened. It’s sports. Human error is heavily involved. Teams have risen from playoff ashes to recover from 3-1 deficits.Although the Knicks haven’t shown much in the way of chutzpah during this series, they’re still technically just one road victory away from recapturing home court advantage.But before ideas of miracles can be muttered, there are a few problems the Knicks need to figure out.“Every shot we take is contested,” Derrick Rose told the Daily News. “And it’s vice versa for them.”That’s the simplified version from a player, a veteran of 52 playoff games, who has witnessed this entire series from the Knicks bench.Left unsaid are the layered reasons why it’s been so difficult for the Knicks to score and defend.So here are four that best explain why the Knicks trail 3-1 to the Heat. It also can be read as four things Tom Thibodeau’s squad needs to reverse for an improb...

Nathaniel Hackett on taking Jets’ OC job: ‘It just looked like a great staff, a great group of men’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

After being fired last December, Nathaniel Hackett could have sat at home or on a sunny beach drinking Mai Tais and collecting checks from the Broncos.But Hackett was motivated to return to coaching as the Jets’ offensive coordinator a month later for several reasons.“Being with a guy like Robert [Saleh], somebody that I’ve known and other guys that I’ve known on this staff that I knew, [Aaron] Whitecotton, Ron Middleton, to be able to have [Zach] Azzanni join us, Todd Downing, so many different guys — it just looked like a great staff, a great group of men.“But Robert, he’s the guy that I respected for so long after working with him and now what he has done in his career. I have some great memories from when my dad [Paul Hackett] was here. Back then, with Chad Pennington, Curtis Martin, Kevin Mawae and that crew winning the division, those were some great times.“I think all those things added up and I think it made it right for me and...

Man who caught 2 Navy ships nearly colliding ordered to take cameras down

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

SAN DIEGO - The man whose livestream caught two Navy ships nearly colliding in the San Diego Bay has been ordered to take the cameras down. The Navy Criminal Investigative Service says the camera's livestream shows military activity in the area, but the camera owner says he has the right to film. “It might be the San Diego Web Cam today, but if you don't stand up and call foul, we don’t know what's it going to be tomorrow," said Barry Bahrami who runs a group called San Diego Web Cam which provides livestreams across the city. It was Bahrami's video that showed the near collision of two Navy ships at the San Diego Bay back in November. The incident is also commonly referred to as "Warship Chicken" which now stands at the center of a new controversy. "Now we have government censorship simply out of spite because we showed something they didn’t like," said Bahrami. He said the National Park Service has removed two of his cameras at Cabrillo National Monument per the Navy's request, ci...

No set timeline for when full Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service will resume

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. – Pacific Surfliner passengers hoping to travel between San Diego and counties to the north will have to do so with a bus detour between Oceanside and Irvine a while longer.“I was used to how smooth the train would run and I had to figure out how a bus worked, which was not very easy,” said Kylie Acuña.As of now, no one can say how long this latest detour will last.The Orange County Transportation Authority told FOX 5 in a statement Monday there is no timeline set for restarting service, writing:“We at OCTA, working with Metrolink and Pacific Surfliner, and with the city of San Clemente, are working to collect data on the hillside’s movement and reviewing options for being able to keep the debris from the hillside off the tracks. We of course want to reestablish passenger service as soon as possible but safety is always our guide. We will all work together to continue to update passengers as soon as we know more.” 4 castles within driving distance of San Diego Th...

US busts Russian cyber operation in dozens of countries

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Tuesday that it had disrupted a long-running Russian cyberespionage campaign that stole sensitive information from computer networks in dozens of countries, including the U.S. and other NATO members.Prosecutors linked the spying operation to a unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, and accused the hackers of stealing documents from hundreds of computer systems belonging to governments of NATO members, an unidentified journalist for a U.S. news organization who reported on Russia, and other select targets of interest to the Kremlin.“For 20 years, the FSB has relied on the Snake malware to conduct cyberespionage against the United States and our allies — that ends today,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement.The specific targets were not named in court papers, but U.S. officials described the espionage campaign as “consequential,” ha...

Goldman settles gender discrimination suit for $215 million

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Goldman Sachs will pay $215 million to settle a years-long class action lawsuit that claimed the bank discriminated against women when it came to pay, performance evaluations and promotions.The lawsuit, initially filed in September 2010, was set to go to trial next month. The plaintiffs in the case are women who worked for Goldman as an associate or vice president in the U.S. in the investment banking, investment management or securities divisions. The settlement covers about 2,800 female associates and vice presidents in Goldman’s investment banking, investment management and securities divisions.“My goal in this case has always been to support strong women on Wall Street. I am proud that the result we achieved here will advance gender equity,” plaintiff Allison Gamba said in a prepared statement. Aside from the payment, the settlement includes a three-year period during which Goldman will work with an independent expert to perform more analysis on its perform...

Suspects sought after man, woman targeted in hate-motivated assaults in Vaughan

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

York Regional Police are searching for suspects after a man and a woman were the victims of a hate-motivated assault in Vaughan.It’s alleged that at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 6, a group of men approached a man and woman outside a liquor store in the Jane Street and Major Mackenzie Drive West area.Police said one of the suspects commented on the male victim’s choice of alcohol and uttered anti-homosexual derogatory slurs at him. The female victim stepped between them and was assaulted.Two other male suspects got involved in the altercation, and the two victims were assaulted, with the male victim being knocked to the ground.Authorities said a bystander intervened, and the men drove away in a black Nissan Rogue vehicle with Ontario licence plate CLHL733.A 27-year-old woman required hospital treatment for her injuries, police said. It’s unclear how serious the injuries were.A 26-year-old man suffered minor injuries and did not require medical attention.Investi...

Metaverse to contribute $45.3B to Canada’s annual GDP by 2035: Meta

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

TORONTO — A new report commissioned by Facebook-owner Meta estimates the metaverse could contribute between $45.3 billion and $85.5 billion to Canada’s annual GDP by 2035.The report prepared by consulting firm Deloitte says the virtual interactive world known as the metaverse could make up 1.3 to 2.4 per cent of the country’s GDP.Meta has been one of the most prominent companies to place a big bet on the metaverse, which Meta chief executive Zuckerberg has predicted people will use for work and socializing.Meta and Deloitte’s report says several Canadian companies already use metaverse-like technology to train medical students for surgery and augment the online shopping experience.As such endeavours broaden, their report suggests the market for augmented and virtual reality technologies will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.5 per cent between 2022 and 2027.However, an Ipsos study cited in their report found less than one-third of Canadians surveyed feel positi...

What to know as UK hosts Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:35:57 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Last week, Britain crowned a king. This week, it will help bestow Europe’s pop crown. The Eurovision Song Contest is returning to the U.K. this week for the first time in 25 years, but the heart of the glitzy music competition will be in Ukraine. Britain is hosting the event on behalf of the war-battered country, and organizers have vowed to make it a celebration of Ukrainian spirit and culture.The contest will see musical acts from 37 countries perform original songs in the English city of Liverpool, with semi-finals Tuesday and Thursday and a grand final on Saturday watched by an estimated 160 million people.For fans and first-timers alike, here’s an essential Eurovision guide:WHAT IS EUROVISION, ANYWAY?First staged in 1956, Eurovision was founded to help unite a shattered continent after World War II and to test nascent live-broadcasting technology. Initially a sedate affair featuring crooners in ballgowns and tuxedos, it began to let its hair down during the swingi...