More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Michael Avenatti, the once high-profile California attorney who regularly taunted then-U.S. president Donald Trump during frequent television appearances, was introduced Thursday to prospective jurors who will decide whether he cheated porn star Stormy Daniels out of book-deal proceeds.
Jury selection hit full stride a week after written questionnaires were filled out as U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman introduced over 60 prospective jurors to Avenatti and the lawyers on both sides who will present evidence during a trial projected to last up to a month.
He asked Avenatti and the lawyers to briefly take off their COVID-19 masks so prospective jurors could see their faces and make sure they don't know them from their private lives.
Some jurors were in a courthouse assembly room while others watched the judge by video in a ceremonial courtroom. Everyone was spaced apart to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Among 49 questions presented to possible jurors was one in which they were asked if they could be fair even after hearing evidence that Daniels once worked in the "pornography profession."
The prospective jurors made it to the Manhattan courthouse despite a morning storm. Late in the day, the judge instructed about 40 of them to return on Friday for the final step in the jury selection process, when lawyers on both sides can eliminate some individuals from a jury of 12 people without providing a reason.
Once chosen, the jurors will hear opening statements on Monday before they hear and see evidence to help them decide whether Avenatti cheated Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to Daniels from a book deal.
Lawyers for Avenatti, 50, have said he is likely to testify in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.
Avenatti became well known in 2018 when he represented Daniels in lawsuits against Trump. He was treated so well in some circles that he considered running for president himself before federal prosecutors in New York and Los Angeles announced criminal charges against him in separate cases.
In early 2020, Avenatti was convicted by a jury of trying to extort up to US$25 million from Nike and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, though he has not yet begun serving that sentence.
Besides the trial over book proceeds, Avenatti also faces a retrial in California on federal charges alleging that he stole millions of dollars in settlement money from his clients. His first trial ended in a mistrial in August.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
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.