Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
The Duchess of Sussex has apologized for misleading a British court about the extent of her cooperation with the authors of a sympathetic book about her and Prince Harry.
The former Meghan Markle, 40, is embroiled in a court battle in London over a British newspaper's publication of portions of a letter she wrote to her estranged father after her 2018 marriage to Harry, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II.
She sued the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website for breach of privacy and copyright. A High Court judge ruled in her favor in February, saying publication of the letter Meghan wrote to her father, Thomas Markle, was "manifestly excessive and hence unlawful."
Publisher Associated Newspapers is trying to overturn that decision at the Court of Appeal. The publisher argues that Meghan wrote the letter knowing it might be published, and made private information public by cooperating with Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, authors of "Finding Freedom."
The duchess' lawyers have previously denied that she or Harry collaborated with the authors. But the couple's former communications director, Jason Knauf, said in evidence to the court that he gave the writers information, and discussed it with Harry and Meghan.
In a witness statement, Knauf said the book was "discussed directly with the duchess multiple times in person and over email." Emails released as part of Knauf's statement showed he also emailed Harry to discuss the book and to say he would meet the authors.
Knauf said Harry replied: "I totally agree that we have to be able to say we didn't have anything to do with it. Equally, you giving the right context and background to them would help get some truths out there."
In a witness statement made public on Wednesday, Meghan accepted "that Mr. Knauf did provide some information to the authors for the book and that he did so with my knowledge, for a meeting that he planned for with the authors in his capacity as communications secretary." She added that "the extent of the information he shared is unknown to me."
The duchess said she did not remember the discussions with Knauf when she gave evidence earlier in the case, "and I apologize to the court for the fact that I had not remembered these exchanges at the time."
"I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court," she said.
Associated Newspapers says Knauf's evidence also undermines Meghan's claim that she did not intend the letter to be seen by anyone but her father.
In his witness statement, Knauf said the duchess "asked me to review the text of the letter, saying `obviously everything I have drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked."'
Knauf said Meghan asked whether she should address her father in the letter as "Daddy," adding that "in the unfortunate event that it leaked, it would pull at the heartstrings."
In her own written evidence, Meghan said she had not believed that her father "would sell or leak the letter, primarily because it would not put him in a good light."
"To be clear, I did not want any of it to be published, and wanted to ensure that the risk of it being manipulated or misleadingly edited was minimized, were it to be exploited," she said.
Lawyers for Meghan told the Court of Appeal Thursday that if she had wanted to put the letter to her father in the public domain, the "Finding Freedom" book would have been the "perfect opportunity" to do so.
Defending the newspaper, lawyer Andrew Caldecott also argued that Thomas Markle had the right to publicly rebut misleading claims about his relationship with Meghan that surfaced in a 2019 People magazine interview with five of her close friends.
"Thomas Markle has been royally attacked in the People magazine... and this is his reply," he said.
The appeal continues Thursday before three senior judges. A ruling is expected at a later date.
Meghan, a former star of the American TV legal drama "Suits," married Harry at Windsor Castle in May 2018.
The couple announced in early 2020 that they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.
They have settled in Santa Barbara, California, with their two young children.
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.