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840,000 Afghans who’ve applied for key US resettlement program still in Afghanistan, report says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 840,000 Afghans who applied for a resettlement program aimed at people who helped the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan are still there waiting, according to a report that lays out the challenges with a program intended to help America’s allies in the two-decade long conflict. The report released Thursday by the State Department’s inspector general outlines steps the department took to improve processing of special immigrant visas for Afghans. But two years after the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power, challenges remain.The visa program was started in 2009 to help Afghans who worked side-by-side with Americans and faced significant risks for doing so. A similar program exists for Iraqis. Both programs have been plagued by criticism that cases move much too slowly, leaving applicants in dangerous limbo.And since the U.S. left Afghanistan the number of people applying for the visas has skyrocketed. According to the...

Former Harrods’ owner Mohamed Al Fayed dies at 94

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Mohamed Al Fayed, former owner of the famed Harrods department store in London whose son was killed in a car crash with Princess Diana, has died, his family said. He was 94.Al Fayed, a self-made Egyptian businessman who was also a former owner of Fulham Football Club, was devastated by the death of son Dodi Fayed in the car crash in Paris with Princess Diana 26 years ago. He spent the rest of his life mourning the loss and fighting the British Establishment he blamed for their deaths.“Mrs Mohamed Al Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday August 30, 2023,″ his family said in a statement released by the Fulham Football club, which he once owned. “He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones.″Source

An explosion in Ecuador is seen as gangs asserting power after inmates take hostages

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Criminal groups in Ecuador used explosives Friday to damage a bridge, authorities said, demonstrating their grip on the South American country where prison inmates took dozens of law enforcement officers hostage less than two days earlier. Government officials described the violent acts as the work of criminal groups with members in prisons responding to efforts by authorities to regain control of several large correctional facilities by relocating inmates, seizing weapons and other steps. Four car bombs and three explosive devices went off across the country in less than 48 hours. The latest explosion with dynamite happened early Friday on a bridge linking two cities in the coastal province of El Oro, National Police commander Luis García told The Associated Press.Hours earlier, a domestic gas tank with wads of dynamite attached exploded under a different bridge in Napo province of Napo, located within Ecuador’s portion of the Amazon rainforest.During th...

Sabotage damages monument to frontiersman ‘Kit’ Carson, who led campaigns against Native Americans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Police in New Mexico’s capital city on Friday were investigating the partial destruction of a public monument to a 19th century frontiersman and U.S. soldier who had a leading role in the death of hundreds of Native Americans during the settlement of the American West.The monument to Christopher “Kit” Carson has been encircled by a plywood barrier for its own protection since 2020, when Santa Fe was swept by the movement to remove depictions of historical figures who mistreated Native Americans amid a national reckoning over racial injustice.The monument’s upper spire was toppled Thursday evening. Photos of the aftermath showed an abandoned pickup truck and cable that may have been used to inflict damage. Last year, the monument was splattered with red paint by activists on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber issued a statement that described the latest damage as a “cowardly act.” “I want those who did this to be caught an...

Russia deploys ICBM that Putin says will make enemies ‘think twice’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — The head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said Friday that the country has deployed an advanced intercontinental ballistic missile that President Vladimir Putin once said will make Russia’s enemies “think twice.”Agency head Yuri Borisov said Sarmat missiles have been placed on combat duty, according to Russian news agencies. Further details were not reported.The Sarmat is one of several advanced weapons whose development Putin announced in 2018. The silo-based missile, capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, is intended to replace the R-36 ICBMs that are known by the NATO reporting name of Satan.The Sarmat reportedly has a short initial launch phase, allowing little time for surveillance systems to track it. In 2022, about two months after sending troops into Ukraine, Putin said the Sarmat would “reliably ensure the security of Russia from external threats and make those who, in the heat of aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country, think tw...

Hartford USL teams says league refuses to reschedule game despite COVID-19 outbreak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Hartford’s USL team says the league refuses to reschedule its game Saturday despite an outbreak of COVID-19 that has sidelined 10 players.The Hartford Athletic soccer team posted on social media that those 10 players tested positive for the virus this week. That will leave the team with just 12 available players for its game at Tampa Bay, none of them goalkeepers.The team said despite asking the league and the Rowdies to reschedule, they have been told the game will go on.“We are beyond disappointed in this decision, which is in no way aligned with the spirit of competition and fails to put the best interests of the players, staff and fans first,” Hartford Athletic wrote in its statement.Email messages seeking comment from the league were not immediately returned. A spokesman for the Rowdies declined to comment.The game between the Athletic (4-18-4), who are in last place in the Eastern Conference, and Tampa Bay (14-6-5), which currently sits in se...

Liverpool completes midfield overhaul with $43M signing of Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool completed the overhaul of its midfield by signing Netherlands international Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich in a deal worth 40 million euros ($43.1 million) on Friday, the final day of the summer transfer window.Gravenberch joins fellow midfielders Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo in joining Liverpool this summer while Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have left.The 21-year-old Gravenberch has signed a five-year deal just 12 months after joining Bayern from Ajax.Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel was willing to let Gravenberch leave because he didn’t fit into the system.“He’s a box-to-box midfielder for me, an attacking player,” Tuchel said on Friday before the signing was finalized. “The main problem for him is that we don’t really have a No. 8 in our 4-2-3-1 system. And we’re spoilt for choice up front, with really experienced players.“Ryan is a very nice, hard-wo...

Rudy Giuliani pleads not guilty to charges in Georgia election case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani on Friday pleaded not guilty to Georgia charges that accuse him of trying, along with former President Donald Trump and others, to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.In filing his not guilty plea with the court, the former New York mayor and Trump attorney also waived his right to appear at an arraignment hearing set for Sept. 6. He joins the former president and at least 10 others in forgoing a trip to Atlanta to appear before a judge in a packed courtroom with a news camera rolling.Trump and Giuliani are among 19 people charged in a sprawling, 41-count indictment that details a wide-ranging conspiracy to thwart the will of Georgia’s voters who had selected Democrat Joe Biden over the Republican incumbent.Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the case under Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, has said she wants to try all 19 defendants together. But the legal wrangling has already begun in a slew of court fi...

As Lukaku settles at Roma, Leão still making an impact for AC Milan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

ROME (AP) — While Romelu Lukaku is just getting started at Roma, AC Milan’s most emblematic player remains impactful.Rafael Leão’s acrobatic goal in a 2-1 win at struggling Roma on Friday extended the Rossoneri’s perfect start to three straight victories in Serie A.The Italian league’s most valuable player when he helped Milan to the title in 2022, Leão was lying on the ground when he whipped his right leg around to meet a cross from Davide Calabria and strike the ball in off the far post while seemingly not even seeing the goal.“He was the reference point for our attack tonight,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli said. “Rafa is an exceptional player.”Lukaku came on in the 70th for his Roma debut after his high-profile loan from Chelsea and immediately put a shot toward goal, missing high narrowly.Olivier Giroud put Milan ahead with an early penalty kick for his fourth goal in the opening three games — a feat no Rossoneri player has achieved since Andriy Shevchenko more than two...

Masked robbery attempt now suspected in US 287 shooting that led to fiery crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — A suspected road rage shooting along U.S. 287 Thursday may instead have been a planned robbery attempt, investigators say.The Larimer County Sheriff's Office said "additional evidence" led to the new narrative on what happened. The incident was reported around 4:50 p.m. Thursday as a shooting between two vehicles near Owl Canyon Road and U.S. 287."An SUV with multiple passengers reportedly pulled in front of the victim vehicle, a Kia Sedona van, forcing it to stop. Masked suspect/s from the SUV then fired shots at the van. The van driver tried to leave but lost control of the vehicle, which crashed and caught fire. The suspect vehicle left the scene before first responders arrived," the sheriff's office said in a Friday release.Investigators say eight people were in the van, but none were hit by gunfire. They suffered non-life-threatening injuries from the crash and were transported to a hospital, either by ambulance or helicopter.SkyFOX was over the scene Thursday, ...