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Rally rabbit: MLB team’s good luck charm has four lucky feet

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

In a game where much depends on fate – a ball that takes an unlucky bounce, a sudden gust that sends a sure home run just foul, a hard hit ball that careens off the corner of a base and miraculously ends up in the first baseman’s glove – is it any wonder that ball players put a lot of stock in good luck charms?They follow rituals, wear lucky socks, eat the same pre-game meals, all in hopes of recapturing a bit of baseball magic. The San Francisco Giants’ lucky charm is a rabbit’s foot. Four of them, actually.Alex the Great, a giant Flemish rabbit who weighs in at 32 pounds (34 during the offseason), has become the Giants’ unofficially official rally rabbit. He has a proven record, when it comes to bringing good luck to the boys by the Bay. The Giants have won 24 games when Alex was in attendance and lost just four.Many of those victories, says Alex’s owner, Josh Row, were come-from-behind wins, including Alex’s first game, where the Giants were down two runs, before the rabbit magic...

UN says its female Afghan staffers banned from working

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Female Afghan employees of the United Nation have been banned by the ruling Taliban from working in the country, U.N. officials said Tuesday.The U.N. mission expressed “serious concern” after its female staffers were prevented from reporting to work in eastern Nangarhar province.“We will continue to pursue all avenues to ensure that we can reach the most vulnerable people, especially women and girls,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.He said U.N. officials were told through “various conduits” that the ban applied to the whole country.Taliban spokesmen were not immediately available for comment and the group did not issue a statement.Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during its previous stint in power, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since seizing power in 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces were pulling out of Afghanistan after two decades of war.Girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade and women are barred from working, stu...

Woman charged with dangerous driving following fatal collision in Markham

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

A female driver has been charged following a fatal two-vehicle collision in Markham.York Regional Police were called to the Bur Oak Avenue and McCowan Road area just before 2:30 p.m. on January 14 for reports of a crash between two vehicles — an SUV and a Hyundai Elantra.It’s alleged that a 45-year-old male driver and a 75-year-old female passenger in the Hyundai were rushed to a local hospital with serious injuries. The woman died of her injuries in the hospital. Police did not update the man’s current condition.A 59-year-old female driver of the SUV was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.Police identified the woman as Joanne Chan of Markham. She’s been charged with dangerous driving causing death and will appear in court on May 4, 2023.

Winnipeg police say another Indigenous woman’s body has been found in a landfill

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

Winnipeg police are reporting the discovery of another Indigenous woman’s body in a landfill.Police say the remains of Linda Mary Beardy, 33, were found Monday afternoon by staff at the city-run Brady landfill in south Winnipeg.Insp. Shawn Pike said Tuesday the death is suspicious and is being investigated by the homicide unit.He said Beardy’s body appears to have not been in the landfill for a long time.“From the time that these remains were left at or located at the Brady landfill was probably a matter of a couple of hours,” Pike said.Pike said the case is not believed to be linked to the remains of Rebecca Contois that were found in the same landfill last year, or the killings of three other women.“We have no information to suggest that there are any other victims, or that this investigation is related to any previous incidents.”Police have said they believe the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are in a different, privately run Prair...

Biden says tech companies must ensure AI products are safe

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday met with his council of advisers on science and technology about the risks and opportunities that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence development pose for individual users and national security.Biden said that “tech companies have a responsibility to make sure their products are safe before making them public.”“AI can help deal with some very difficult challenges like disease and climate change, but it also has to address the potential risks to our society, to our economy, to our national security,” Biden told the group.The White House said the Democratic president would use the AI meeting to “discuss the importance of protecting rights and safety to ensure responsible innovation and appropriate safeguards” and to reiterate his call for Congress to pass legislation to protect children and curtail data collection by technology companies.Artificial intelligence burst to the forefront in the national and global conv...

Experts urge CRTC to take action forcing companies to provide cell service on TTC

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

TORONTO — Amid calls for the Big Three telecommunications companies to provide wireless phone service on the TTC following a recent wave of violence, experts say the federal telecommunications regulator should force Rogers, Bell and Telus to use the subway system’s existing infrastructure.Ben Klass, a PhD candidate at Carleton University who researches telecommunications policy, said it’s within the CRTC’s powers to issue a mandate if the providers won’t voluntarily give their customers the ability to call, text or browse the web while underground.He pointed to Section 24 of the Telecommunications Act, which sets out powers for the regulator to impose conditions on carriers governing the “offering and provision of any telecommunications service.” “The CRTC has the power to order these companies to offer service and also to set the conditions on which they do so,” said Klass.“It has extremely broad powers to deal with these types ...

New antitrust lawsuit against NCAA seeks millions in damages

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

The attorneys who beat the NCAA in the Supreme Court have filed a new class-action antitrust lawsuit against the association and the five wealthiest college sports conferences that seeks millions of dollars in damages for thousands of athletes.The case was filed Tuesday — the day after the NCAA Tournament concluded — in the Northern District of California, where several other landmark cases involving college sports have been heard.The plaintiffs are listed as former Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard, who is currently with the Carolina Panthers, and former Auburn track athlete Keira McCarrell, but the lawsuit seeks triple damages for all current and former Division I athletes as far back as 2018.The defendants named in the lawsuit are the NCAA, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference.A 2019 ruling by a federal judge in the so-called Alston case against the NCAA made it permissible for schools to provide nearly $6,000 in academic bene...

$55-million lotto winner in Sidney, B.C., plans to buy a new house with a dock

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

VICTORIA — Bookkeeper William Scott Gurney says he’s sure he won’t be back for another tax season. He doesn’t have to after claiming the winning ticket on Tuesday for the $55-million Lotto Max draw on Feb. 28. Gurney, who’s from Sidney on Vancouver Island, says news of the single winning ticket purchased locally was all over the radio, so he checked his Lotto App. He says he called in his assistant to confirm the number, which she originally thought was $55,000, but then they realized it was $55 million and couldn’t do anything for the rest of the day. Gurney says he’s taking some time to decide what’s next, but he does plan to buy a new home on Vancouver Island, something with a dock, because he loves to go crabbing. For now, he says he’s focused on finding someone to look after his clients before he retires from bookkeeping. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 4, 2023. The Canadian Press

Dealer at Toronto casino accused of cheating with players: Ontario police

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have made several arrests following allegations of illegal play at a well-known casino in Toronto.Investigators say that Ontario’s Alcohol and Gaming Commission was contacted in October 2022 with allegations that a table games dealer was colluding with patrons at Woodbine Casino in Rexdale.Following a lengthy investigation, the OPP said five people were charged, including the now-former employee, identified as 52-year-old Arthur Segovia of Etobicoke.He faces four charges, including criminal breach of trust, cheat at play, theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000.Toronto residents Khalil Evans, 29, Donovan Smyth-Todd, 30, and Daniel Hatton, 25, were charged, along with Oakville resident Andrey Gayle-Bourne, 33, with cheat at play, theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000.An OPP spokesperson said the accused were released from custody and are scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto at later dates.

Lawsuit against Favre should be dismissed, attorneys argue

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:11:32 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre argued in a new court filing Monday that a civil lawsuit against him seeking to recover misspent welfare money in Mississippi’s largest ever corruption case should be should be dismissed because the state Department of Human Services lacks evidence and is attempting to deflect from its own culpability.Millions of federal welfare dollars intended to help low-income Mississippi residents — some of the poorest people in the country — were instead squandered on projects supported by wealthy or well-connected people, including projects backed by Favre, between 2016 and 2019, prosecutors say. In a response to the department’s statements that a judge should ignore Favre’s request to be removed from the lawsuit, Favre’s attorneys wrote there is “no legal, factual, or moral basis” for the agency’s claims.“It is plain that, as it did in its original complaint, MDHS — which itself carried out the allegedl...