
RCMP say 2 Manitobans charged with arson in connection with wildfires
Police said a man from Lake Manitoba First Nation, 55, was charged after a controlled burn got out of control and caused a blaze that spread over more than 200 acres Wednesday.
The same day, a 46-year-old Fort Alexander man's controlled burn damaged a home and a shed, according to police.
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Cpl. Melanie Roussel said Friday that the incidents shouldn't have occurred.
'These fires could have been prevented and should not have been started,' Roussel said.
'Lives and communities are being put at risk. Our officers will strictly enforce all laws related to burning restrictions that are in place across the province; this is for the safety of all Manitobans.
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Mounties said they're working with provincial officials to help curtail the spread of wildfires.

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10 minutes ago
- Global News
Family of Virginia Giuffre pleads with Trump not to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell
The family of Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's most high-profile sex trafficking survivors, is asking U.S. President Donald Trump not to pardon the late financier's aide, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Epstein's underage abuse ring. The request comes in the wake of U.S. deputy attorney General Todd Blanche's meeting with Maxwell at a Florida prison, and days after Trump suggested that he ended his friendship with Epstein because he poached employees from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, including Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year. Blanche facilitated the meeting with Maxwell, a British socialite and the daughter of late media mogul Robert Maxwell, in an ongoing effort by the Justice Department to cast itself as transparent following fierce backlash from some of Trump's supporters over an earlier refusal to release additional records in the Epstein investigation. Story continues below advertisement The encounter stoked speculation that Trump may pardon Maxwell. On Friday, she was moved from a prison in Florida to a lower-security prison camp in Texas. 'We can confirm, Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan, in Bryan, Texas,' the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. The prison is described as a minimum-security federal prison camp housing 635 female inmates. Maxwell had previously been held at FCI Tallahassee, a low-security federal correctional institution with a detention centre housing 1,191 male and female inmates. Giuffre's family said Trump's invocation of her earlier this week was unexpected and questioned whether he was aware of the full extent of Maxwell and Epstein's abuse of their late relative. 'It was shocking to hear President Trump invoke our sister and say that he was aware that Virginia had been 'stolen' from Mar-a-Lago. It makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal actions, especially given his statement two years later that his good friend Jeffrey 'likes women on the younger side … no doubt about it.' We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this,' the family said. View image in full screen Pictured are Ghislaine Maxwell and Donald Trump at the 50th anniversary of the Ford Modeling Agency and Pantene hair care products on Oct. 30, 1997. Richard Corkery / Getty Images On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president mentioned Giuffre in response to a question from a reporter who mentioned her. Story continues below advertisement 'He did not bring her up. The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees,' she said in a statement, NBC News reported. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Giuffre's family said it was 'convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell who targeted and preyed upon our then 16-year-old sister, Virginia, from Mar-a-Lago, where she was working in 2000, several years before Epstein and President Trump had their falling out.' The Giuffre family responded Friday to Maxwell's transfer to a new prison facility and criticized the Trump administration's 'preferential treatment' of the convicted sex offender, as reported by CNN's Kaitlan Collins. A new statement from the family of Virginia Giuffre and several of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's accusers: 'It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received. Ghislaine Maxwell is a… — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 1, 2025 Story continues below advertisement 'Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency. Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas,' they said. The family said Maxwell's transfer is 'the justice system failing victims right before our eyes,' and that the American people should be outraged by it. They also urged the Trump administration not to 'credit a word Maxwell says,' and accused the government of orchestrating 'a cover-up.' 'The victims deserve better,' the statement concluded. Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus, said Friday there have been 'no asks and no promises' regarding a pardon but told reporters that his client 'would welcome any relief.' Meanwhile, Giuffre's family had previously said clemency for Maxwell should never be an option. 'The government and the President should never consider giving Ghislaine Maxwell any leniency,' the family said. 'Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life for the extraordinary violence and abuse she put not just our sister Virginia through, but many other survivors, who may number in the thousands,' they said. Story continues below advertisement Asked last week if he would pardon Maxwell, Trump told reporters he had not considered it but that he was 'allowed to do it.' A Trump administration official told the outlet after the family's initial statement was released that 'no leniency is being given or discussed.' 'The president himself has said that clemency for Maxwell is not something he is even thinking about at this time,' they said. — With files from The Associated Press


Global News
40 minutes ago
- Global News
Tesla found partly liable for fatal Autopilot crash, must pay over US$200M
A Miami jury decided that Elon Musk's car company Tesla was partly responsible for a deadly crash in Florida involving its Autopilot driver assist technology and must pay the victims more than $200 million in punitive damages. The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cell phone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars. The decision comes as Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months. The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial. Many similar cases against Tesla have been dismissed and, when that didn't happen, settled by the company to avoid the spotlight of a trial. Story continues below advertisement 'This will open the floodgates,' said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. 'It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.' The case also included startling charges by lawyers for the family of the deceased, 22-year-old, Naibel Benavides Leon, and for her injured boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. They claimed Tesla either hid or lost key evidence, including data and video recorded seconds before the accident. Tesla has previously faced criticism that it is slow to cough up crucial data by relatives of other victims in Tesla crashes, accusations that the car company has denied. In this case, the plaintiffs showed Tesla had the evidence all along, despite its repeated denials, by hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up. Tesla said it made a mistake after being shown the evidence and honestly hadn't thought it was there. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Today's verdict is wrong,' Tesla's lawyers said in a statement, 'and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology,' They said the plaintiffs concocted a story 'blaming the car when the driver – from day one – admitted and accepted responsibility.' The lawyers said Tesla plans to appeal. 0:41 Tesla confirms driver had autopilot engaged before crash It's not clear how much of a hit to Tesla's reputation for safety the verdict in the Miami case will make. Tesla has vastly improved its technology since the crash on a dark, rural road in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019. Story continues below advertisement But the issue of trust generally in the company came up several times in the case, including in closing arguments Thursday. The plaintiffs' lead lawyer, Brett Schreiber, said Tesla's decision to even use the term Autopilot showed it was willing to mislead people and take big risks with their lives because the system only helps drivers with lane changes, slowing a car and other tasks, falling far short of driving the car itself. Schreiber said other automakers use terms like 'driver assist' and 'copilot' to make sure drivers don't rely too much on the technology. 'Words matter,' Schreiber said. 'And if someone is playing fast and lose with words, they're playing fast and lose with information and facts.' Schreiber acknowledged that the driver, George McGee, was negligent when he blew through flashing lights, a stop sign and a T-intersection at 62 miles an hour before slamming into a Chevrolet Tahoe that the couple had parked to get a look at the stars. The Tahoe spun around so hard it was able to launch Benavides 75 feet through the air into nearby woods where her body was later found. It also left Angulo, who walked into the courtroom Firday with a limp and cushion to sit on, with broken bones and a traumatic brain injury. But Schreiber said Tesla was at fault nonetheless. He said Tesla allowed drivers to act recklessly by not disengaging the Autopilot as soon as they begin to show signs of distraction and by allowing them to use the system on smaller roads that it was not designed for, like the one McGee was driving on. Story continues below advertisement 'I trusted the technology too much,' said McGee at one point in his testimony. 'I believed that if the car saw something in front of it, it would provide a warning and apply the brakes.' The lead defense lawyer in the Miami case, Joel Smith, countered that Tesla warns drivers that they must keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel yet McGee chose not to do that while he looked for a dropped cell phone, adding to the danger by speeding. Noting that McGee had gone through the same intersection 30 or 40 times previously and hadn't crashed during any of those trips, Smith said that this isolates the cause to one thing alone: 'The cause is that he dropped his cell phone.' The auto industry has been watching the case closely because a finding of Tesla liability despite a driver's admission of reckless behavior would pose significant legal risks for every company as they develop cars that increasingly drive themselves.


Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Ontario mother accused of killing her newborn baby, faces murder charge
Police in Kingston, Ont., have arrested and charged a mother with second degree murder after her newborn child was found dead earlier this week. On July 27 police started to look into a suspicious death at a home on the 1400 block of Albany Dr., in Kingston's west end. The investigation included assistance from several departments and the Office of the Chief Coroner and Ontario Forensic Pathology Service. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Then on Tuesday, police said 22-year-old Thi My Nguyen, who is the baby's mother, was arrested by detectives and charged with improperly interfering with a dead body. She appeared in Kingston's bail court on Wednesday and was held in custody at that time. As a result of the investigation, police say the mother has now also been charged with the second-degree murder of a newborn child. Story continues below advertisement Due to the circumstances of the incident under investigation, police say no prior release was made, as there was no apparent risk to public safety. Kingston police are asking anyone who believes they may have information about this crime to contact police.