HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A military veteran who rushed to the aid of Connecticut’s first Muslim state representative when she was being attacked after a prayer service and subdued the suspect is seeking to have a misdemeanor assault charge erased.

Jason Spencer, 43, applied Wednesday for the state’s accelerated rehabilitation program, which would result in the charge being dismissed if he successfully completes a period of probation.

“I took an oath to defend this Constitution, to defend the country, to defend all the

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian prosecutors have appealed a that a man who kept his daughter captive for 24 years and raped her thousands of times, fathering seven children with her, can be moved from psychiatric detention to a regular prison.

Ferdinand Schuster, a spokesperson for the state court in Krems, on Thursday confirmed a report by broadcaster ORF that prosecutors have challenged last week’s ruling in the case of and that a court in Vienna will now have to decide, the Austria Press Agency said.

The court in

on Thursday urged Russians to show their protest of President Vladimir Putin during next month’s presidential balloting by voting at a specific time on election day.

In a social media statement relayed from the where he is being held, Navalny argued that by forming long queues at noon on March 17 to vote against Putin, people would make “a powerful demonstration of the country’s mood.” He said it could be “a real, all-Russia protest action that will take place not just in every city,

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine claimed Thursday it used sea drones to sink a small Russian warship in the as Russian investigators alleged that a that crashed last month was brought down by two U.S.-made Patriot missiles fired by Kyiv’s forces.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known by its Ukrainian acronym GUR, published a video that it said showed naval drones assaulting the Russian missile-armed corvette Ivanovets on Wednesday night.

The footage released on GUR’s social media purports to show multiple

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose last week to the highest level in 11 weeks, though layoffs remain at historically low levels.

Applications for unemployment benefits climbed to 224,000 for the week ending Jan. 27, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose by 5,250, to 207,750.

Weekly

EDMONTON — The Alberta Investment Management Corp. has set up a new $1-billion fund dedicated to investing in the global energy transition and decarbonization sectors.

The investment manager says the money represents new capital and investments made through the fund will be in addition to its other climate-related investments across asset classes.

AIMCo chief investment officer Marlene Puffer says it has been strategically evaluating climate change risks and opportunities for the last decade and the organization has a strong track record of making investments in the energy transition space.

AIMCo says

The Ontario Liberal Leader is asking Premier Doug Ford to be more transparent about the decision to move ServiceOntario outlets into Staples Canada stores, saying she has “deep concern” about the province’s “continued backroom deals.”

In a letter addressed to Ford, Bonnie Crombie urges the premier to start answering questions about his government’s sole-sourced deal and “end the ServiceOntario cover-up.”

“We later learned that this selloff of ServiceOntario would include using millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to renovate these privately

ROME (AP) — Street artist Maupal, whose cartoon-like depictions of as a “Super Pope” have graced buildings around the Vatican for a decade, got an official stamp of approval on Thursday when he appeared at a Vatican news conference.

Maupal, in life Mauro Pallotta, designed a series of posters to illustrate Francis’ 2024 Lenten message, which this year emphasizes the need for the faithful to let go of hopelessness and bondage to find a path of inner freedom. The posters will be released

In today’s Big Story Podcast, recently, in an effort to keep children from hurting themselves, the City of Toronto banned tobogganing at 45 hills it deemed to be too dangerous. This is the latest example of a decades-long trend where parents, schools and governments have taken action on all sorts of things, to supposedly make them safer for kids. But is that actually good for our children?

Dr. Marianna Brussoni heads up the Play Outside Lab at the University of British Columbia. She says that