Arrests made after gunshots fired at Toronto Jewish girls' school
A 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy are facing multiple charges after allegedly firing gunshots at a Jewish girls' school last weekend.
A federal judge tossed out former U.S. President Donald Trump's countersuit against the writer who won a sex abuse lawsuit against him, ruling Monday that Trump can't claim she defamed him by continuing to say she was not only sexually abused but raped.
The ruling shuts down, at least for now, Trump's effort to turn the legal tables on E. Jean Carroll, who won a $5 million judgment against him in May and is pursuing her own defamation suit against him. Trump attorney Alina Habba said his lawyers would appeal "the flawed decision" to dismiss his counterclaim.
Carroll's lawyer, Robbie Kaplan, said she was pleased with the ruling and looking ahead to a trial scheduled in January in her defamation suit, which concerns a series of remarks that Trump has made in denying her sexual assault allegation.
"E. Jean Carroll looks forward to obtaining additional compensatory and punitive damages" in that trial, Kaplan said.
Carroll accused Trump of trapping her in a luxury department store dressing room in 1996, forcibly kissing her, yanking down her tights and raping her as she tried to fight him off.
He denies any of it happened, even that they ran into each other at the store. He has called her, among other things, a "nut job" who invented "a fraudulent and false story" to sell a memoir.
In this spring's trial, a civil court jury concluded that Trump sexually abused Carroll but rejected her claim that he raped her. Legally, the difference depended on specifics of how, in the jury's view, he penetrated her against her will.
When a CNN interviewer asked her what was going through her mind when she heard the rape finding, Carroll responded, "Well, I just immediately say in my own head, `Oh, yes, he did. Oh, yes, he did."' She also said she had told one of Trump's attorneys that "he did it, and you know it."
Trump then sued Carroll, saying her statements were defamatory. He sought a retraction and money.
"These false statements were clearly contrary to the jury verdict," the attorneys argued in court papers, saying the panel had found that rape "clearly was not committed."
Jurors in the case were told that under the applicable New York law, rape requires forcible penetration by a penis, whereas sexual abuse would cover forcible penetration by a finger. Carroll alleged that both happened.
Carroll's lawyers said that her post-verdict statements were "substantially true."
So did the judge.
"The difference between Ms. Carroll's allegedly defamatory statements -- that Mr. Trump `raped' her as defined in the New York Penal Law -- and the `truth' -- that Mr. Trump forcibly digitally penetrated Ms. Carroll -- are minimal," Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in Monday's ruling. "Both are felonious sex crimes."
"Indeed, both acts constitute `rape"' as the term is used in everyday language, in some laws and in other contexts, added Kaplan, who isn't related to Carroll's lawyer.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
A 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy are facing multiple charges after allegedly firing gunshots at a Jewish girls' school last weekend.
Facing a massive bill and a looming federal deadline, town officials in Conception Bay South, N.L. are turning to algae for water filtration help.
A First Nations community in Manitoba is turning to Minecraft, a popular sandbox game, to connect kids with ancestral traditions.
Cuba plunged into a countrywide blackout on Friday after one of the island's major power plants failed and caused the national electrical grid to shut down, its energy ministry said.
Days after a man was recorded walking behind the counter at a frozen yogurt shop in Richmond, B.C., and scooping product with his hand, a suspect has been criminally charged.
A move to a new city, remote work from home all day or a big change to social networks — your life experiences sometimes create loneliness that’s hard to shake.
Sydney Sweeney is tapping into the ring as she prepares for a new film role that will stand out as compared to her previous body of work.
If you're heading out trick or treating this Halloween, you may end up with more chips, gummies, licorice and other goodies rather than chocolate. Cocoa prices have spiked, and that could be playing a trick with what your kids come home with and what you give out on Halloween night.
Jerry Seinfeld says he 'officially' takes back his claim that the 'extreme left' is suppressing the art of comedy.
The image of a sleepy Saskatchewan small town with 'not a lot going on' is a well-known anecdote. However, one Saskatchewan company is hoping to change that – and allow communities both on and off the beaten path to share their stories and advertise what they have to offer.
A Moncton, N.B., home has been donated to the Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation and will be transformed into a resource hub for people living with cancer.
A Nova Scotia man crossing Canada on foot is passing through southwestern Ontario. Trevor Redmond is perhaps better known as the ‘Fellow in Yellow.’
John Cantin vividly remembers opening day for his Victoria diner. Stress levels were high, tables were full, and one of the most popular menu items couldn’t be freed from the unyielding grip of the waffle maker.
A Manitoba professor is warning the public after a book on regional mushrooms that he suspects is AI-generated was delisted from Amazon.
A B.C. judge has issued a decision in a years-long dispute between neighbours that began with a noise complaint over barking dogs, crowing roosters and quacking ducks – awarding $15,000 in damages to the plaintiffs in the case.
An Ottawa man was arrested after taking a shower in a stranger's house, Ottawa police say.
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) Chef Paul Natrall, the man behind Indigenous food truck Mr. Bannock, is bringing cooking classes on First Nations fare to schools and offices throughout Metro Vancouver.
The Celtic Colours Festival is taking place at venues around Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia from Oct. 11 to 19.