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POLITICO reviews ‘The Diplomat’ — Meloni surprises Brussels — The key to Ukraine’s victory

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Stitcher .st0{fill:#EB8A23;} .st1{fill:#FAC617;} .st2{fill:#612368;} .st3{fill:#3792C4;} .st4{fill:#C33727;} Acast As the EU defense industry gets the green light to ramp up ammunitions production, we hear from former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe Ben Hodges on why Crimea holds the key to a Ukrainian victory. ...

New surveillance video shows explosion at chemical plant in Newburyport, 1 person remains missing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

One person is missing and four others are injured after an explosion caused a seven-alarm fire at the PCI Synthesis chemical plant in Newburyport Thursday morning, officials say. Firefighters from multiple communities responding to an alarm and multiple reports of an explosion just before 1 a.m. were met heavy flames and smoke. Crews said an industrial-sized vat from inside the building had moved about 30 feet because of the explosion and was in the parking lot when they got there. Officials say the four injured workers were taken to the hospital, where they were treated and released. One person remains unaccounted for as of 12 p.m., but officials say they cannot enter the building to look for the worker until they make sure it is safe. PCI Synthesis said in a statement: “The authorities arrived quickly on site and we are grateful for their support and quick work… All our attention is focused on the situation of our employees.”The plant is also the site of two othe...

Midtown mass shooter facing multiple charges, victim identified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

Click here for updates on this storyATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — The 24-year-old man who was wanted in connection to the deadly Midtown Atlanta shooting on Wednesday afternoon has been arrested and is in custody, officials confirmed to Atlanta News First.The U.S. Marshals office and Cobb County Police said the alleged shooter, 24-year-old Deion Patterson, was in custody as of 8 p.m.Several Georgia officials, including Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, provided an update at a press conference after the alleged gunman in the shooting was brought into custody.“Law enforcement has taken the suspect into custody. He will be charged and stand trial for his crimes. Our law enforcement kept us safe during an enormously tense afternoon and evening,” Mayor Dickens said. “I want to thank our citizens for keeping calm, staying in place, and providing us with important information throughout the day.Chief of Atlanta Police Darin Schierbaum said Patterson left the city and remained a threat everywh...

Suspect with own name tattooed on neck identified by police, arrested in Cambridge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

A man on the Boston Police Department’s “Most Wanted” list was taken into custody after officers spotted and identified him with the help of his own, name-bearing tattoo, according to officials.Boston police said Francisco Mahon, 40, was arrested after being observed by members of the department’s Fugitive Unit on Wednesday near 109 Main Street in Cambridge.In a news release, officials said officers were able to positively identify the Boston resident, thanks in part to a “clearly visible” neck tattoo of the suspect’s first name, “Francisco.” According to Boston PD, Mahon was arrested on an outstanding armed robbery warrant related to an incident in Dorchester that occurred in 2022.Authorities said it was Jan. 2 when police were called to Columbia Road for a report of a robbery in progress. Responding officers learned that during the incident, a suspect pulled a knife on a victim and attempted to assault him. No injuries were rep...

Proud Boys’ Tarrio guilty of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were convicted Thursday of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election.A jury in Washington, D.C., found Tarrio guilty of seditious conspiracy after hearing from dozens of witnesses over more than three months in one of the most serious cases brought in the stunning attack that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021, as the world watched on live TV.It’s a significant milestone for the Justice Department, which has now secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the leaders of two major extremist groups prosecutors say were intent on keeping Democratic President Joe Biden out of the White House at all costs. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.Tarrio, behind bars since his...

White Sox reliever Keynan Middleton on striking out Carlos Correa: ‘I enjoyed that a lot. I mean, he’s a cheater’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

The Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal is a thing of the past for most. Their 2022 World Series victory put a lot of noise to rest for their 2017 trash-can banging scheme.However, there still appears to be hatred left over, and no, it’s not just the fans who still chant “f—k [Jose] Altuve!” every so often at Yankee Stadium.Chicago White Sox reliever Keynan Middleton loved every second of blowing a 96-mph fastball by Carlos Correa on Wednesday night to close out their 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins.“I knew I was going to face Correa, and I don’t like him. So it was kind of cool,” Middelton said. “I like that. I enjoyed that a lot. I mean, he’s a cheater.”Correa was one of the core players of the 2017 Astros who were disciplined by Major League Baseball for their sign-stealing scheme of decoding signs and indicating what was coming by banging a trash can so the batter could hear. The organization was fined $5 million and ...

Fire consumes popular street market near Haiti’s capital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

PETIONVILLE, Haiti (AP) — A large fire tore through a street market in Haiti early Thursday, consuming thousands of dollars’ worth of goods as vendors wailed over their losses.The market, known as Shada, is located in Petionville, next to the capital of Port-au-Prince.Vendors began arriving before sunrise to try and quell the flames, throwing bucketsful of sand on blazing roofs before firefighters arrived.Stevenson Midi, 42, said he lost hundreds of dollars’ worth of produce including plantains, and that he and other vendors were worried about their bank loans.“It’s going to be even harder to pay back,” he said as he surveyed the smoking rubble behind him.While he spoke, vendors walked by screaming and yelling, “Why did this happen to me?!” and “What did we do wrong?!” A bulldozer began clearing the debris.The market is popular within the community, with hundreds of vendors gathering daily to sell bananas, charcoal, yams, spinach and other goods.It wasn’t immediately clear what caus...

Billy-Ray Belcourt, Jessica Johns in the running for the $60K First Novel Award

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

TORONTO — A horror story that highlights the cultural significance of dreams and an exploration of intimate encounters in a northern Alberta town are among the six debut novels in the running for this year’s Amazon Canada First Novel Award. Jessica Johns’ “Bad Cree,” published by HarperCollins, and Billy-Ray Belcourt’s “A Minor Chorus,” from Hamish Hamilton Canada, are vying for the $60,000 top prize.“Bad Cree” is about a Cree millennial grappling with dreams that have “terrifying, real-life consequences” and prompt her to seek strength from her female relatives. Meanwhile Griffin Poetry Prize winner Belcourt is in the running for “A Minor Chorus,” which features a narrator who goes back to his hometown to seek answers to “existential questions about family, love and happiness.” Other prize finalists are Kai Thomas’s “In the Upper Country” from Viking Canada; Andre Forget̵...

Belgium detains 7 on suspicion of planning terror attack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Authorities have detained seven people, most of them Chechen origin, on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack in Belgium, the federal prosecutor’s office said Thursday. The office said in a statement that the suspects had not yet selected a precise target but police decided to pick them for questioning anyway.“All of them are suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in Belgium,” the statement said. “The examining magistrate will decide at a later stage whether to bring them before him and possibly issue an arrest warrant.” Three of the suspects are Belgian nationals, according to federal prosecutors. The office’s statement said all seven allegedly belonged to a group of “strong supporters” of the Islamic State extremist group.“Possible charges are attempted terrorist assassination, participation at the activities of a terrorist group and preparation of a terrorist attack,” according to the statement. Belgium was hit by several terror attacks in the pa...

Lula’s push to curb Brazil’s guns starts with counting them

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:21 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — Jonathan Schmidt just made the deadline, arriving at Federal Police headquarters in the center of Rio de Janeiro with a travel bag carrying a golden pistol and seven rifles, one peeking out of the zipper.“I’m in love with guns,” said Schmidt. “I’d have over 2,000 if the government allowed.” He had already registered his firearms with the army, as required by law for sport shooters like him, but experts have cast doubt on the reliability of its database, and said lax oversight has allowed such guns to fall into criminal hands. Schmidt was adding his guns to the police registry on Wednesday on the final day to comply with a decree by Brazil’s new left-wing president — or face confiscation.Over four years in office, former President Jair Bolsonaro tried to convert a country with few weapons into one where firearm ownership and lack of regulation meant personal freedom. Now, his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been moving to undo Bolsonaro’s pro-gun polici...