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Prosecution rests in rape trial of former prosecutor Gary Zerola

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

The prosecution has rested its case on day three of the rape trial of former prosecutor and one-time “most eligible bachelor” Gary Zerola.Prosecutors rested their case at the opening of Thursday’s session immediately after the jury was seated.Zerola, 51, who served as a prosecutor in both Essex and Suffolk counties before becoming a defense attorney, has pleaded not guilty to accusations that he raped a 23-year-old woman in 2016.On the first day of the trial at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, which began on Tuesday, prosecutors first called Jacqueline Hurley, a bartender at the former Four Winds in Boston, who testified that she had served drinks to the party of four the night of Nov. 9, 2016.That party included Zerola; Colleen Daley, the esthetician he had once represented in court and later began a “sexual relationship” with; a man named Jonathan Plaut, Zerola’s friend who he was at a concert with before they came to the Four Winds together and the owner of the...

Life-saving fentanyl test strips still illegal in some states under ’70s-era war on drugs law

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — At Cleveland’s Urban Kutz Barbershop, customers can flip through magazines as they wait, or help themselves to drug screening tests left out in a box on a table with a somber message: “Your drugs could contain fentanyl. Please take free test strips.”Owner Waverly Willis has given out strips for years at his barbershop, hoping to protect others from unwittingly being exposed to the highly potent synthetic opioid ravaging the U.S. and often secretly laced into other illegal drugs.“When I put them out, they just fly out the door,” said Willis, who proudly hands out about 30 strips a week as part of The Urban Barber Association, a Cleveland organization that provides health education to the community via local barbershops.Nearly 18 years into his own sobriety from drugs, Willis isn’t shy about making the strips available. He figures he’d be dead if fentanyl were so widely prevalent when he was using. Fentanyl has driven overdose deaths in the U.S. since...

Main suspect in 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway departs Peru on extradition flight to US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

LIMA, Peru (AP) — The main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. student Natalee Holloway was handed over to U.S. custody and departed Peru on a flight to the United States on Thursday, roughly a month after both countries agreed on his extradition.Joran van der Sloot is wanted in the U.S. on one count each of extortion and wire fraud, the only charges to have ever linked the Dutch citizen to Holloway’s disappearance on the Caribbean island of Aruba. His extradition moved forward after a Peruvian judge on Tuesday affirmed the government’s decision to temporarily transfer custody to U.S. authorities.Video and photos released by Peruvian authorities Thursday show him wearing jeans and a black puffer jacket, shaking his shoulders and grimacing as officers adjusted his handcuffs and removed an Interpol-marked vest. Footage and images also show law enforcement officers from Peru, FBI and Interpol as well as one health care professional in a conference room with van der Sl...

UN commission accuses Israel of taking aim at Palestinian human rights groups

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Investigators commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body on Thursday accused Israel of “delegitimizing and silencing civil society” by outlawing Palestinian human rights groups and labeling their members as “terrorists.”The findings came in the annual report by the Human Rights Council’s “Commission of Inquiry.” The commission, led by a three-member team of human rights experts, was established in 2021 following an 11-day war between Israel and the Hamas militant group in Gaza. Israel accuses the rights council, and the commission, of being unfairly biased.The report also accused both Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of committing rights violations. But it said most of the violations it had uncovered were committed by Israel as part of a campaign it says is aimed at “ensuring and enshrining its permanent occupation at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people.”Former U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay, who ...

The Republican presidential field is largely set. Here are takeaways on where the contest stands

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — After a trio of new announcements this week, the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential field is all but set.A handful of stragglers may jump in later, but as of now there are at least 10 high-profile Republican candidates officially seeking their party’s nomination. And with the announcement phase of the primary campaign largely over, several leading Republican contenders will gather in North Carolina this weekend to begin a more aggressive sorting period. It will be a long road to the GOP’s national convention in Milwaukee next summer when Republican delegates across the country gather to finalize their nominee to run against President Joe Biden. Surprises are guaranteed. Fortunes will change. But as of now, every Republican White House hopeful is looking up at former President Donald Trump, who is the undisputed frontrunner in the crowded contest.Here are some takeaways on where the Republican contest stands: IT’S A LARGE FIELD AFTER ALLTrump...

Transat revenues take off, but more than two years of losses continue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

MONTREAL — Transat AT Inc. shrunk its losses by more than two-thirds in its latest quarter amid a major sales boost propelled by solid leisure travel demand on top of higher prices.The travel company saw revenues more than double year over year while it reported a second-quarter loss of $29.2 million compared with a loss of $98.3 million a year ago.“The demand for leisure travel, which is Transat’s primary niche, is holding steady,” CEO Annick Guérard said in a statement.The high volume drove up prices by 15 per cent at the outset of the quarter and nearly 24 per cent by the end compared with a year earlier, she said.“In addition, Transat actively continued its fleet optimization plan, deploying in winter 2023 a capacity comparable to winter 2019 with 20 fewer aircraft in service.”Transat plans to deploy 89 per cent of its seat capacity this summer relative to 2019 levels, with the vast majority bound for Europe. More than 60 per cent of those seats are...

Stretched thin, parents have swath of options to save for children’s education

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

MONTREAL — Parents are finding it tougher than ever to save for their children’s post-secondary education as the rising cost of living ramps up financial pressures.But the mainstays of post-secondary saving — RESPs, especially — remain key tools, as do clear goals and plenty of planning.Julie Petrera, a senior strategist for client needs at Edward Jones, said the first step is getting a handle on cost estimates, which can range from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the type and length of schooling and whether the child is leaving home.Other considerations include whether family members, such as a grandparent or the child themself, will contribute and where education ranks on parents’ list of savings priorities.“Are they paying for post-secondary education and saving for their own retirement and funding other expenses, like renovations and vacations?” Petrera asked. According to an online survey of 1,000 parents with at least one child und...

Rights group says Myanmar’s military rulers have cracked down on lawyers, abused legal system

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Lawyers representing critics of Myanmar’s military government face harassment and attacks ranging from threats and arrests to unfair trials and even torture, a human rights organization charged Thursday, saying such actions reflect a broader assault on the country’s justice system.Human Rights Watch also accused the country’s military authorities of imposing systematic obstacles and restrictions on lawyers to prevent them from taking the cases of political detainees.“Myanmar’s already tenuous justice system has declined drastically, failing to uphold basic due process rights,” the group said in a statement marking the release of a 39-page report, “‘Our Numbers are Dwindling’: Myanmar’s Post-Coup Crackdown on Lawyers.”The report cites the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group which keeps detailed records of arrests and casualties perpetrated by the authorities, as tallying at least 32 lawyers who are in pretrial detention or serving sentences on vario...

Ex-boyfriend of missing Minnesota woman arrested after human remains found along roadway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

WINONA, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, after a deputy found human remains in a rural area.Madeline Kingsbury, whose 27th birthday was June 1, was last seen on March 31 after dropping off her two young children at daycare in Winona, a southern Minnesota town of about 26,000 residents. Police said a deputy found human remains Wednesday afternoon in brush along a highway near Mabel, about 46 miles (74 kilometers) south of Winona.The Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office is working to identify the remains, but a news release from Winona police said the body was discovered “using information generated during the Madeline Kingsbury investigation.”Later Wednesday, police arrested a 29-year-old man who is the father of Kingsbury’s two children. Jail logs show that he was being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. As of Thursday morning, charges ...

Romanian health care workers protest for higher wages, more staff, and better working conditions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:22 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of health care workers held a protest in Romania’s capital on Thursday, demanding higher wages, more staff, and better working conditions amid what they say are shortfalls that will lead to declining medical service standards. Medical workers from across the country converged on central Bucharest, where they blew whistles, honked horns, and waved flags. Some brandished signs that read: “Only together we can succeed.”The “Health Solidarity” Federation which organized the protest said it was concerned that a “decline in real wages driven by inflation” would lead to a “decrease in the quality of health care” in Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007.“Previous wage increases have driven higher quality of health services, with wage spending proving to be the best investment for public health,” the federation said in a press release. After Romania joined the EU, high levels of health care workers moved abroad seeking higher wages, which also s...