VANCOUVER, British Colombia (AP) — A Canadian man facing murder charges for allegedly selling lethal substances online to people at risk of self-harm has agreed to plead guilty to counseling or aiding suicide, his lawyer confirmed Saturday.
In turn, Canadian prosecutors will withdraw all 14 murder charges laid against Kenneth Law, lawyer Matthew Gourlay told The Associated Press in a email. “The plea will be to the charges of aiding suicide,” he said in an email.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported the plea.
Law’s case is scheduled to return to a Newmarket, Ontario, court on Monday afternoon. Calls to Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General were not immediately answered.
Canadian police say Law, from the Toronto area, used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested.
Canadian police say Law is suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries. Authorities in the United States, Britain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand also have launched investigations.
It is against the law in Canada for someone to recommend suicide, although assisted suicide has been legal since 2016 for people aged at least 18. Any adult with a serious illness, disease or disability may seek help in dying, but they must ask for assistance from a physician.
Law has been in custody since his arrest at his Mississauga, Ontario, home in May 2023.
According to the Canadian Criminal Code, abetting suicide carries a maximum sentence of 14 years. A murder conviction automatically means life in prison, with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.
Gillies reported from San Francisco.
FILE - York Regional Police Inspector Simon James speaks during a news conference in Mississauga, Ont., Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, with the image of Kenneth Law, a Canadian man accused of selling lethal substances on the internet to people at risk of self harm, seen on screen. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP, FIle)
LUANDA, Angola (AP) — Pope Leo XIV arrived in Angola on Saturday, hoping to bring a message of joy and encouragement to its long-suffering people, as he opened the third leg of his four-nation trip through Africa.
Leo’s plane touched down at Luanda’s international airport after the flight from Yaounde, Cameroon, where he celebrated a morning Mass before an estimated 200,000 people.
En route, he had further comments about his ongoing back-and-forth with U.S. President Donald Trump over the Iran war, which began on Feb. 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes followed by Tehran's retaliation. Leo said that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate the president, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.
In Cameroon, Leo sought to encourage young people to have hope and demanded that elites stop exploiting the land and its people for profit. It’s a message he was expected to echo in Angola, another mineral-rich former European colony where many of the people live in poverty.
In his homily Saturday, delivered in French, Leo said that the respect for human dignity was a cornerstone of every society.
“For this reason, every community has the obligation to create and sustain structures of solidarity and mutual aid in which, when faced with crises — be they social, political, medical or economic — everyone can give and receive assistance according to their own capacity and needs,” he said.
In Angola, Leo will meet with President Joao Lourenco and deliver his first speech before Angolan government authorities.
Angola, a southern African country of around 38 million, gained independence from Portugal in 1975. But it still bears the scars of a devastating civil war that began straight after independence, and raged on and off for 27 years before finally ending in 2002. More than 500,000 people are believed to have been killed.
For years, the civil war was a Cold War proxy conflict, with the United States and apartheid South Africa backing one side and the Soviet Union and Cuba backing the other.
“I would like to hear a message of peace, a message of reconciliation," Luanda resident Sergio Jose said. "I would also like to hear good political messages, and I would also like to hear that the pope would also talk about the upcoming elections in Angola.”
Angola today is the fourth-largest oil producer in Africa and among the world’s top 20 producers, according to the International Energy Agency. It’s also the world’s No. 3 diamond producer and has significant deposits of gold and highly sought after critical minerals.
But despite its varied natural resources, the World Bank estimated in 2023 that more than 30% of the population lived on less than $2.15 a day.
In Cameroon, Leo had railed against the “chains of corruption” that were hindering development, as well as the “handful of tyrants” who were ravaging Earth with war and exploitation. He's expected to raise similar points in Angola.
Late former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who led Angola for 38 years from 1979 to 2017, was accused of diverting billions of dollars of public money to his family, largely from the country’s oil revenue, as millions struggled in poverty.
After Lourenco took over as president, his administration estimated that at least $24 billion was stolen or misappropriated by dos Santos. Lourenco's administration has vowed to crack down on corruption and has worked to recover funds allegedly stolen during the dos Santos era.
But critics note that Angola still has deep problems with corruption and have questioned if Lourenco’s actions were more aimed at political rivals so as to consolidate his power.
Angola, on the southwest coast of Africa, was considered to be the epicenter of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as a Portuguese colony. More than 5 million of the roughly 12.5 million enslaved Africans were sent across the ocean on ships departing from Angola, more than any other country, though not all of them were Angolans.
The highlight of Leo’s visit to Angola is expected to be his visit Sunday to Muxima, south of Luanda. It's a popular Catholic shrine in a country where around 58% of the population is Catholic.
The Church of Our Lady of Muxima was built by Portuguese colonizers at the end of the 16th century as part of a fortress complex and became a hub in the slave trade. It remains a reminder of the inextricable link hundreds of years ago between Roman Catholicism and the exploitation of the African continent.
Leo, history's first U.S.-born pope, has Black and white ancestors who included both enslaved people and slave owners, according to genealogical research. He's going to Muxima to pray the Rosary, in recognition of the site becoming a popular pilgrimage destination, after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833.
Gerald Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
People traveling on a motorcycles ride past a mural featuring Pope Leo XIV, in Luanda, South Africa, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
The plane carrying Pope Leo XIV arrives in Luanda, Angola, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Pope Leo XIV arrives in procession to celebrate Mass at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Cameroon's President Paul Biya, left, and his wife Chantal wait for the start of a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
People wait for Pope Leo XIV at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate Mass at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate Mass at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
