Military helicopter crashes at airport in Somalia's capital, killing 5
The Mi-24 helicopter was arriving from an airfield in the Lower Shabelle region with eight people on board at the time of the crash. It originally belonged to the Ugandan Air Force but was being operated by the African Union peacekeeping mission.
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Winnipeg Free Press
30 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
California utility creates fund for victims of January's deadly Eaton Fire near LA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California Edison announced this week that it will create a fund to compensate victims of January's devastating Eaton Fire near Los Angeles. Investigators haven't yet determined a cause for the blaze that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 homes and other structures in Altadena. The creation of the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program seems to suggest that the utility is prepared to acknowledge what several lawsuits claim: that its equipment sparked the conflagration. 'Even though the details of how the Eaton Fire started are still being evaluated, SCE will offer an expedited process to pay and resolve claims fairly and promptly,' Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, the utility's parent company, said in a statement Wednesday. 'This allows the community to focus more on recovery instead of lengthy, expensive litigation.' It is not clear how much money the utility will contribute to the fund, but a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles County in March claims that costs and damage estimates were expected to total hundreds of millions of dollars. SCE said the compensation program, which will go into effect this fall, would be open to those who lost homes, rental properties or businesses. It would also cover those who suffered injuries, were harmed by smoke or had family members who were killed. The plan is being created by administrators who helped form similar programs, including the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. LA County previously won more than $64 million in a settlement with Southern California Edison over the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Investigators determined SCE's equipment sparked that blaze, and the utility also paid more than $2 billion to settle related insurance claims. Utility equipment has sparked some of the deadliest and most destructive fires in state history in recent years. Investigators are also working to determine the cause of the Palisades Fire, which broke out shortly before the Eaton Fire and killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures in Los Angeles.
Winnipeg Free Press
30 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump's onetime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein is well-known – and also documented in records
WASHINGTON (AP) — The revelation that Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump that his name was in the Jeffrey Epstein files has focused fresh attention on the president's relationship with the wealthy financier and the Justice Department's announcement this month that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the case. But at least some of the information in the briefing to Trump, which The Wall Street Journal said took place in May, should not have been a surprise. The president's association with Epstein is well-established and his name was included in records that his own Justice Department released back in February as part of an effort to satisfy public interest in information from the sex-trafficking investigation. Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and the mere inclusion of someone's name in files from the investigation does not imply otherwise. Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, also had many prominent friends in political and celebrity circles besides Trump. Trump's ties to Epstein It should have been no shock to Trump that his name would be found in records related to Epstein. The February document dump from the Justice Department included references to Trump in Epstein's phone book and his name was also mentioned in flight logs for Epstein's private plane. Over the years, thousands of pages of records have been released through lawsuits, Epstein's criminal dockets, public disclosures and Freedom of Information Act requests. In January 2024, a court unsealed the final batch of a trove of documents that had been collected as evidence in a lawsuit filed by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre. Records made public also include 2016 deposition in which an accuser recounted spending several hours with Epstein at Trump's Atlantic City casino but didn't say if she actually met Trump and did not accuse him of any wrongdoing. Trump has also said that he once thought Epstein was a 'terrific guy,' but that they later had a falling out. 'I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,' Trump said in 2019 when video footage unearthed by NBC News following Epstein's federal indictment showed the two chatting at a party at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in 1992, when the now president was newly divorced. 'He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling-out with him a long time ago. I don't think I've spoken to him for 15 years.' The department's decision to not release additional files from the case The Justice Department stunned conspiracy theorists, online sleuths and elements of Trump's base this month when it released a two-page letter saying that a so-called Epstein 'client list' that Bondi had once intimated was on her desk did not exist and that officials did not plan to release any additional documents from its investigation despite an earlier commitment to provide transparency. Whether Bondi's briefing to Trump in May influenced that decision is unclear. The Justice Department did not comment directly on her meeting with Trump but Bondi and Blanche said in a joint statement that a review of the Epstein files showed that there was nothing warranting further investigation or prosecution. 'As part of our routine briefing,' the statement said, 'we made the President aware of our findings.'
Winnipeg Free Press
30 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Justice Department will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's imprisoned girlfriend
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department officials were set to meet on Thursday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned girlfriend of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a person familiar with the matter. The meeting in Florida, which Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he was working to arrange, is part of an ongoing Justice Department effort to cast itself as transparent following fierce backlash from parts of President Donald Trump's base over an earlier refusal to release additional records in the Epstein investigation. In a social media post Tuesday, Blanche said that Trump 'has told us to release all credible evidence' and that if Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the Justice Department 'will hear what she has to say.' A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Thursday. The person who confirmed the meeting insisted on anonymity to describe a closed-door encounter to The Associated Press. A lawyer for Maxwell confirmed on Tuesday there were discussions with the government and said Maxwell 'will always testify truthfully.' The House Committee on Oversight issued a subpoena on Wednesday for Maxwell to testify before committee officials in August. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence and is housed at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida. She was sentenced three years ago after being convicted of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. Officials have said Epstein killed himself in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell's links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires. Earlier this month, the Justice Department said it would not release more files related to the Epstein investigation, despite promises that claimed otherwise from Attorney General Pam Bondi. The department also said an Epstein client list does not exist. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Bondi told Trump in May that his name was among high-profile people mentioned in government files of Epstein, though the mention does not imply wrongdoing. Trump, a Republican, has said that he once thought Epstein was a 'terrific guy' but that they later had a falling out. A subcommittee on Wednesday also voted to subpoena the Justice Department for documents related to Epstein. And senators in both major political parties have expressed openness to holding hearings on the matter after Congress' August recess. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, has introduced legislation with bipartisan support that would require the Justice Department to 'make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials' related to Epstein and his associates. House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican majority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, both of Louisiana, have said they will address whatever outstanding Epstein-related issues are in Congress when they return from recess. Epstein, under a 2008 non-prosecution agreement, pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender. In 2019, Epstein was charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for nearly identical allegations. ___ Williams reported from Detroit.
