Three people are facing various charges after a traffic stop in Brantford.
On Dec. 5, police officers spotted a suspicious vehicle in the area of Darling and Peel Street.
They conducted a traffic stop and determined that the 31-year-old man was a prohibited driver.
Officers arrested him for driving while under suspension, and discovered he had a butterfly knife in his possession.
During a search of the vehicle police found: suspected meth with an estimated street value of $663, suspected fentanyl with an estimated street value of $275, drug paraphernalia, a replica firearm, a loaded long rifle, ammunition and accessories for the gun, and body armor.
Police later determined that the man did not possess a gun license.
They also searched the 31-year-old's residence where they found: a loaded 12-guage shotgun, licence plates which had been reported stolen, brass knuckles, ammunition, and gun components.
The Brantford man is facing a total of 11 charges including: unauthorized possession of a weapon, possession of a restricted firearm with ammunition, and possession of a controlled substance.
Items seized as a result of a traffic stop in Brantford. (Courtesy: Brantford Police)
Two other people were charged in connection to the investigation.
They’re also facing multiple charges including: unauthorized possession of a weapon, possession of a restricted firearm, and possession of stolen goods.
(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s government rejected a suggestion from a hardline coalition leader that it could stop paying into the European Union budget in an apparent attempt to lower the temperature in its clash with the bloc over the rule of law.
The government distanced itself from a comment from Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro , who told the Financial Times newspaper that Poland should suspend payments to the EU budget and veto its policies if a standoff that has delayed the payout of 36 billion euros ($40.6 billion) in recovery aid escalates.
Ziobro was expressing his “private opinion” in the comments, and the minister only represents a junior member of Law & Justice-led administration, cabinet spokesman Piotr Muller said Monday.
Ziobro plays a crucial part in the standoff because the EU’s executive commission and top court have demanded that Poland roll back parts of a controversial judicial overhaul that he authored, including a panel that punishes judges that an EU court has found to be illegal. The minister has so far adamantly refused to heed the EU’s demands.
The government has for months promised and failed to present a plan of how it intends to dismantle the disciplinary mechanism. Its failure to do so has blocked the release of the recovery aid, while the European Court of Justice has also imposed a 1 million-euro-a-day fine for its failure to end the system.
Ziobro also opposes reinstating judges who lost jobs in disciplinary proceedings. EU Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said this month that the commission is unlikely to approve the disbursement aid this year, suggesting both sides remain apart in finding a compromise.
While Poland receives more in funding from the bloc than it pays in contributions, suspending its budget payments would set a dangerous precedent. It would also mark an escalation in the conflict with Brussels after the country’s top court ruled in October that some of the EU’s laws are incompatible with its constitution.
Ziobro has long cultivated a role of a bad cop to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s more conciliatory attitude in dealing with Brussels. The ruling coalition depends on Ziobro’s United Poland party to keep its narrow majority in the parliament.
Ziobro made headlines in August by publicly musing that Poland shouldn’t remain in the EU at any cost. He gave EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders two framed photos of Warsaw leveled by Nazi Germany during the World War II as a gift during their meeting in Poland last month.
Last week, Liricon and Plenary two of the key players in spearheading a passenger rail line from Calgary to Banff made an official proposal to deciding groups. The 1.5 billion dollar passenger rail line is now considered to be one step closer to reality, in the design stage, and looking for approval from the province. If the project were to go ahead, it would have a profound effect on Cochrane as it would be one of the stops on the 150 kilometre route.
Mayor Jeff Genung has been advocating for the project for years now and says, “I’m extremely excited, I’ve been talking about this project for four years.” He is pleased to confirm that the overall mood is a positive one for the project and is cautiously optimistic that it may actually come to fruition by 2025.
When asked about the latest update which saw Liricon submitting a proposal to Alberta Transportation, Invest Alberta, and the Canada Infrastructure Bank to push for a completion date of 2025, Genung says he is excited and hopeful. The mayor admits that previous meetings have resulted in a lot of wishful thinking, hoping, and dreaming but he admits this time around there appears to be a great deal of optimism saying, "Finally it looks like things are starting to reach towards the start line and it could become a reality and I think it’s a matter of not if but when it’s extremely exciting.” Genung took part in a meeting on November 27 with the Invest Alberta group that is helping push the project forward. There were some heavy hitters, in attendance including the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Transportation, Associate Minister of Energy, the Plenary group out of Quebec, all the mayors from Calgary, Cochrane, Canmore, and Banff as well as the president of the Airport in Calgary. It was a big group and Genung says it was very encouraging. The money is in place it is just a matter now of if the province will sign off on it.
Genung says, “They are looking to have this in place and operational by the end of 2025. That’s a tight timeline and it’s exciting. From a Cochrane perspective, we were highlighted in the presentation as one of the communities that have been very forward-thinking and really ready for this to occur in our community. Given the transit hub sight down on Railway St. we’ve already penciled in a train stop so we’ve positioned ourselves perfectly for this.” The mayor says now it is just a matter of when and how to prepare our community for a possible influx of tourists and commuters which is as far as Genunug is concerned is a good problem to have.
It has been nearly 30 years since there has been a passenger rail line between Calgary and Banff. In Canada, freight became the focus for the rails but Genung points out, “The cool thing about this is there will be a secondary track built so that it can be dependable, reliable service that is not interrupted by moving the freight.” Genung says one of the details that was discussed at the meeting, but not in his opinion touted enough, was the fact that they are contemplating hydrogen locomotives. “Hydrogen power would be instrumental and transformational for the province.” He feels it would send a powerful message to the country and the world that Alberta does care about the environment. With the added fact that the UCP government has already been flirting with the idea of becoming a major supplier of hydrogen, it would seem remiss for them not to use it in their own backyard. Genung says, “We could be a leader and build a project such as this, and I think they said it would be the first hydrogen locomotive in North America. So, that would really put us on the map provincially and internationally.”
The mayor had a chance to chat with the Transportation Minister and reminded him that the province is on the brink of spending upwards of 80 million dollars on one interchange in Cochrane's transportation network and that’s just one project of many to the tune more millions of dollars. So, Genung pointed out to the Minister, “If the train can take a significant percentage of motorists off the highways, perhaps the need for some of those (projects) is a little more distant.” Hence, a cost-saving in the end for the province that would likely be music to their ears. Plus, Genung adds, “Not very often, do you get to be involved in something that can shape and shift the future of not just our community of our entire region and our province.”
The effects would be profound for Cochrane and all the communities on the line, “Transformational again for moving people throughout the Bow Valley corridor, I think they said every 15 minutes from the Airport to downtown Calgary and then it would be a two-hour ride from downtown to Banff. I’m not sure how often or how frequent they would stop in Cochrane, but at least every two hours would be the minimum and that’s great!” says Genung.
Genung says all the communities on the line, including Calgary, Cochrane, Morley, Canmore, and Banff have been meeting together to see what they can do as communities to push the project forward. “We’re meeting in early January, to put our heads together again and really put some pressure on the province to say this is something our communities really believe in, are really behind, and want to see it happen as soon as possible.”
There will no doubt some hurdles and maybe even delays, but the general consensus is a passenger rail line between Calgary and Banff is definitely edging closer to reality.
Maybe by December of 2025, “Next stop Cochrane!” will be a frequently heard phrase.
Charles Oliveira had something to prove on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Sure, he was already the UFC lightweight champion, but many still doubted his status, opting to believe that Dustin Poirier was the best lightweight in the world. No longer.
With a third-round submission victory over Poirier, Oliveira secured his place as one of the best fighters in the world, likely moving up ESPN's pound-for-pound list in the coming days. He also showed his heart, not backing down despite getting rocked time and time again in the first round.
Sean O'Malley also showed us something. As did Kai Kara-France, Dominick Cruz and Erin Blanchfield. UFC 269 was a card filled with standout moments and a few head-turning surprises that will definitely lead us to a memorable 2022.
Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi, Jeff Wagenheim and Carlos Contreras Legaspi react to the action in Las Vegas.
Charles Oliveira is no quitter
Okamoto: It's kind of ridiculous that this needs to be stated, but it does. Charles Oliveira is not a quitter. That's been the narrative on him for years, and it traces back to a few results he had back at featherweight. But not only has he established himself as, unquestionably, the No. 1 lightweight in the world now -- he's also put that narrative to rest for good. He was forced to come back from knockdowns in both of his championship fights this year, against Michael Chandler and now Poirier. He could have taken numerous outs at UFC 269 on Saturday, and ended up winning the fight in dramatic fashion in the third round.
One of the fighters who pounded this drum the most was Justin Gaethje, who figures to be Oliveira's next opponent. Time will tell, but I can't imagine Gaethje keeping up this idea of Oliveira quitting. But in Gaethje's defense, he wasn't the only one. I spoke to numerous coaches and fighters ahead of this fight, who agreed Oliveira lacked some "dog" in his fighting ability. At the very least, it was agreed on that no one could "out-dog" Poirier. When a fight turns ugly, is when Poirier shines.
That wasn't the case on Saturday. Oliveira landed several key strikes, many of them to the body, and that turned the tide of this fight. He fought intelligently in the second and third rounds, when his grappling came into play. And he appeared to be getting stronger as the fight wore on, as Poirier faded -- which no one would have predicted.
This champion came from the favelas of Sao Paulo, Brazil, so the idea of him 'quitting' should have always been absurd. He told me this week he never had a role model who showed him good things were possible in life. His mother told him to dream big, but that's what it was -- dreams.
He had to visualize all of this himself, and in doing so, he's become a legitimate champion in arguably the sport's most difficult weight class.
MMA world is O'Malley's oyster in 2022
Raimondi:Sean O'Malley has this great gimmick working where he calls himself the "unranked champion." It's a glib response to fans' criticisms that he has not beaten any ranked opponents and remains unranked himself. Well, the "Suga Show" might need a new moniker beginning in 2022. After his lights-out TKO win over Raulian Paiva in the first round at UFC 269, O'Malley has a significant chance to be ranked next week. And at this point, if you don't think he's one of the top 15 bantamweights in the world, I'd say you might be putting your biases in front of your logic.
Look, not everyone is going to get O'Malley. His multi-colored, curly hair looks like cotton candy. His demeanor is more SoundCloud rapper than MMA fighter. But he taps into a demographic that many others don't in the UFC: Generation Z. And last I checked, that generation is the one that's going to be crucial from a marketing and financial perspective in the very near future. O'Malley's appeal to younger fans is not dissimilar to what Jake Paul has going on right now in boxing. Paul is polarizing, too, but the proof is in the pudding. The guy is drawing new, young fans to boxing. O'Malley has a chance to do that for the UFC in 2022 and beyond.
The tricky part now is to figure out who the UFC will give O'Malley next. They are rightly moving him along fairly slowly, especially since his lost to Marlon Vera last year. UFC president Dana White said last week that O'Malley was not ready yet for that elite-level of competition. That's OK. Maybe White is right. The UFC has invested in O'Malley since Dana White's Contender Series. Promotion brass knows his success can equal dollar signs, so he will be put in the best position to succeed.
There will be a step up in competition, though, starting next year. And if O'Malley can start knocking out those guys in one of the toughest divisions in the world like he has been, the UFC could have its next big star on its hands.
Wagenheim: Smaller is not always better. Cody Garbrandt should have been familiar with that plotline.
He no doubt was watching (and probably enjoying what he saw) back in 2019 when his former teammate/friend TJ Dillashaw, the man who had dethroned him as UFC bantamweight champ, lasted all of 32 seconds in a challenge of then-flyweight champ Henry Cejudo.
And in the leadup to his own 125-pound debut, Garbrandt trained with ex-lightweight titlist Frankie Edgar, who in recent years moved first to featherweight, then to bantamweight -- and has lost four of his last five fights, four by KO.
Join the club, Cody.
He looked bigger and stronger than natural flyweight Kai Kara-France. He looked crisp in his movement and striking early on. But when the Aussie clipped him with a right hand midway through Round 1, it was downhill from there. Garbrandt got off the canvas and waved his opponent in, and Kara-France obliged with a vicious KO.
Where does Garbrandt go now, after losing for the fifth time in his last six fights, all but one by knockout? Well, he did do a lot of jawing at fight week's press conference with Sean O'Malley, who won the main card opener and could use a step up in competition. Despite this result, Garbrandt would fulfill that need and then some.
Kai Kara-France is officially a contender
Contreras Legaspi: With a number of powerful shots, Kara-France ended Garbrandt's title shot aspirations. Garbrandt was supposed to be the flyweight challenger a year ago, and now that will probably never happen, his chin a real problem even in a smaller weight class.
Kara-France is known as a very technical striker, but he showed raw power with his right hand several times against the former bantamweight champion before knocking him out. The City Kickboxing fighter proved himself as a real contender with his second consecutive win, which is perfect timing since Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo are facing each other again next month.
Kara-France had a close fight against Moreno back in UFC 245. He's now on the short list, along with Alexandre Pantoja and Askar Askarov, for a future title opportunity. The three of them have a history with the current champion, and now that the fan favorite Garbrandt is out of the picture, it's all about being ready.
Even in his loss to Brandon Royval, Kai put on a fight of the night performance and can be a good match of styles against whomever is the champion after UFC 270. If the promotion decides to give him another fight before going for the belt, Alex Perez, the former challenger who was supposed to face Matt Schnell could be a good option.
Cruz as relevant as ever in bantamweight division
Raimondi: Death. Taxes. Dominick Cruz being near the top of the bantamweight division.
Cruz, a surefire future UFC Hall of Famer, first won a title at 135 pounds in the WEC back in 2010. More than a decade later, Cruz is every bit as good in a division that continues to get better and better. At 36 years old, "The Dominator" doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.
Cruz defeated Pedro Munhoz, one of the toughest and most battle-tested fighters in the division, via unanimous decision. He came back after taking a ton of damage from Munhoz in the first round to put on a vintage Cruz performance -- heavy on footwork, angles and punching combinations -- in the second and third rounds. Cruz has now won two straight after falling to Henry Cejudo in a bantamweight title fight in May 2020. He's probably only one or two wins away from a shot at the belt that he has held twice before, which is remarkable considering he has fought just three times since 2016 due to injuries.
It would be a dream fight if Cruz were to be matched up next with Jose Aldo, a bout between two of the best lighter weight fighters in the history of MMA and a throwback to the WEC days. The UFC might have other plans -- Aldo wants former champ TJ Dillashaw next -- but it would be a shame if we don't see Aldo vs. Cruz at some point. Other potential options for Cruz would be Merab Dvalishvili and Marlon Vera.
But regardless of who is next, Cruz is just as relevant at bantamweight now going into 2022 as he was in 2010. Very few can say that. Cruz has to be on the short list of best 135-pound fighters ever.
Erin Blanchfield is the best prospect in the flyweight division, and a serious future title challenger
Okamoto: One of the very best prospects in all of MMA. If she's not No. 1, she's in the Top 5, easy. When you consider the age -- 22 -- the experience she's already earned, the composure, confidence, fight IQ, versatility. This female flyweight division has some very good young talent. It's probably the best division in female MMA in that regard. And right now, Blanchfield clearly stands out as the best up-and-comer.
She just dominated Miranda Maverick. Right now, I'd give her a higher ceiling than Maycee Barber and Casey O'Neil. She strikes me as the full package already, with nothing but time to get better. She has a great grappling base to build on. The versatility and mechanical awareness she showed in various takedowns in this fight was truly impressive. Top control was outstanding. She's ahead of the curve in terms of what she's accomplished at a young age. Her prime is probably at least -- at least! -- six years away. That's terrifying.
A critical vulnerability in a widely used software tool — one quickly exploited in the online game Minecraft — is rapidly emerging as a major threat to organizations around the world.
“The internet’s on fire right now,” said Adam Meyers, senior vice president of intelligence at the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike. “People are scrambling to patch,” he said, “and all kinds of people scrambling to exploit it.” He said Friday morning that in the 12 hours since the bug’s existence was disclosed that it had been “fully weaponized,” meaning malefactors had developed and distributed tools to exploit it.
The flaw may be the worst computer vulnerability discovered in years. It was uncovered in a utility that’s ubiquitous in cloud servers and enterprise software used across industry and government. Unless it is fixed, it grants criminals, spies and programming novices alike easy access to internal networks where they can loot valuable data, plant malware, erase crucial information and much more.
“I’d be hard-pressed to think of a company that’s not at risk,” said Joe Sullivan, chief security officer for Cloudflare, whose online infrastructure protects websites from malicious actors. Untold millions of servers have it installed, and experts said the fallout would not be known for several days.
Amit Yoran, CEO of the cybersecurity firm Tenable, called it “the single biggest, most critical vulnerability of the last decade” — and possibly the biggest in the history of modern computing.
Bug in iPhone, iPad may have opened door to hackers, security company says
Bug in iPhone, iPad may have opened door to hackers, security company says – Apr 22, 2020
The vulnerability, dubbed `Log4Shell,’ was rated 10 on a scale of one to 10 the Apache Software Foundation, which oversees development of the software. Anyone with the exploit can obtain full access to an unpatched computer that uses the software,
Experts said the extreme ease with which the vulnerability lets an attacker access a web server — no password required — is what makes it so dangerous.
New Zealand’s computer emergency response team was among the first to report that the flaw was being “actively exploited in the wild” just hours after it was publicly reported Thursday and a patch released.
The vulnerability, located in open-source Apache software used to run websites and other web services, was reported to the foundation on Nov. 24 by the Chinese tech giant Alibaba, it said. It took two weeks to develop and release a fix.
But patching systems around the world could be a complicated task. While most organizations and cloud providers such as Amazon should be able to update their web servers easily, the same Apache software is also often embedded in third-party programs, which often can only be updated by their owners.
Yoran, of Tenable, said organizations need to presume they’ve been compromised and act quickly.
The first obvious signs of the flaw’s exploitation appeared in Minecraft, an online game hugely popular with kids and owned by Microsoft. Meyers and security expert Marcus Hutchins said Minecraft users were already using it to execute programs on the computers of other users by pasting a short message in a chat box.
Microsoft said it had issued a software update for Minecraft users. “Customers who apply the fix are protected,” it said.
Researchers reported finding evidence the vulnerability could be exploited in servers run by companies such as Apple, Amazon, Twitter and Cloudflare.
Cloudflare’s Sullivan said there we no indication his company’s servers had been compromised. Apple, Amazon and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Laurent Dubreuil didn’t just break Jeremy Wotherspoon’s Canadian record, he shattered it.
Dubreuil of Levis, Que., won gold in the men’s 500 metres in a track-record time of 33.77 seconds on the opening day of the ISU World Cup speedskating event at Calgary’s Olympic Oval.
The 29-year-old sprinter’s time broke Wotherspoon’s 14-year-old record of 34.03, which Dubreuil narrowly missed breaking by 2/100ths of second at last weekend’s World Cup stop in Salt Lake City.
“It was a goal of mine this year to both beat Jeremy Wotherspoon’s Canadian record and skate under 34,” said Dubreuil. “I was very close last week, 34.05, but I made a few mistakes, so to have another chance to do it this weekend was big.”
With Wotherspoon in attendance, Dubreuil beat what he referred to as a “mythical time.” After the race, the two talked about the record-setting accomplishment.
“He’s a competitor, but he told me he was happy that it was somebody he saw grow up skating and got better and (worked) hard to beat it,” said Dubreuil, who will now have to set his sights on breaking the world record of 33.61 set in 2019 by Russia’s Pavel Kulizhnikov.
Dubreuil will have another shot to skate even faster on Sunday during the second 500m men’s race of the three-day event.
Canadian trio set world record on opening day of Calgary long track speed skating World Cup
Canadian trio set world record on opening day of Calgary long track speed skating World Cup – Dec 1, 2017
China’s Tingyu Gao won silver in a time of 33.87, while Japan’s Yuma Murakami captured bronze in 33.89. Both skated before Dubreuil as did Russia’s Viktor Mushtakov, who finished in 33.96.
“I saw the guys doing 33 earlier in the race and I was like, `I need to do 33 to win a medal today,’ so it’s going to be tough,” Dubreuil said. “I’ve tried all my life to go 33. I’ve never done it until today.
“It’s difficult, but when you’re dialled in, when you’re on a good day and you feel great, skating is easy. It takes a lot of hard work for it to be easy, but today it felt easy because I was in the zone.”
Inspired by Dubreuil’s accomplishment, Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann set a personal best with a time of 3:55.33 to win silver in the women’s 3,000m.
“Oh my gosh, the girls and I were warming up on the track when he skated and we were mind blown,” said Weidemann, who has a chance to win another medal Saturday when she, Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais of Saguenay, Que. skate in the women’s team pursuit. “We knew that he was cooking up something good for a long time, but I don’t think anybody really expected him to go that fast.
“We were so hyped — just on the track vibing from his time. The team is really cool to be a part of right now. We’re just feeding off each other and using the excitement to fuel our own races.”
Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida won gold in the women’s 3,000 in a time of 3:54.43, while Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic finished third in 3:55.50.
Maltais placed sixth in 3:59.73, while Blondin clocked a time of 4:01.86 to finish 14th.
In the men’s 5,000m, Calgary’s Ted-Jan Bloemen won bronze with a time of 6:09.52.
“I found something near the end of the race again and managed to finish really strong,” said Bloemen, who wasn’t happy with how he started. “I found a lot of confidence there. Unfortunately I couldn’t find that earlier.
“I’ve got more to come,” he added. “Last weekend I had a really bad race. This was so much better already. I’m really happy with the progression.”
Sweden’s Nils van der Poel, who has been dominating the World Cup circuit in the long-distance category, won gold in time of 6:04.29, while Italy’s Davide Ghiotto finished in a time of 6:09.34 to take home silver.
Earlier in the day, Russia’s Olga Fatkulina set a personal best time of 36.72 on her way to winning gold in the women’s 500m. Japan’s Nao Kodaira won silver in 36.81, while Russia’s Angelina Golikova earned bronze in 36.82.
Marsha Hudey of White City, Sask., was the top Canadian in 18th place in a time of 38.05.
The Canadian contingent at the event includes 16 men and 11 women and it’s the last chance for the skaters to pre-qualify for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China.
Items seized as a result of a traffic stop in Brantford. (Courtesy: Brantford Police)
