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Special prosecutor ends Trump-Russia investigation, saying FBI acted hastily

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A special prosecutor found that the FBI rushed into its investigation of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and relied too much on raw and unconfirmed intelligence as he concluded a four-year probe that fell far short of the former president’s prediction that the “crime of the century” would be uncovered.The report Monday from special counsel John Durham represents the long-awaited culmination of an investigation that Trump and allies had claimed would expose massive wrongdoing by law enforcement and intelligence officials. Instead, Durham’s investigation delivered underwhelming results, with prosecutors securing a guilty plea from a little-known FBI employee but losing the only two criminal cases they took to trial.The roughly 300-page report catalogs what Durham says were a series of missteps by the FBI and Justice Department as investigators undertook a politically explosive p...

Orioles minor league report: Pair of top prospects earn weekly honors for standout performances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

The Orioles’ second-best hitting and pitching prospects still in the minor leagues dominated last week and were honored as a result.Outfielder Colton Cowser was named the International Player of the Week after posting a 1.477 OPS for Triple-A Norfolk, and pitcher Cade Povich won the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week Award after his spectacular start for Double-A Bowie.Cowser, the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect still in the minors behind Jackson Holliday, according to Baseball America, continued his torrid start to the season, going 11-for-22 with nine runs, five RBIs, two doubles, two home runs and nine walks. He reached base in 20 of his 31 plate appearances.The 23-year-old reached base in five of the Tides’ six games and tallied four multi-hit games. On Thursday, he went 3-for-3 with two home runs and two walks. He then reached base five times on Saturday, going 3-for-4 with two walks.In 36 games, Cowser is slashing .336/.477/.567 for a whopping 1.044 OPS. His .477 on-...

Battenfeld: Durham report vindicates Trump’s belief he was targeted by FBI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

Special counsel John Durham’s report on the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” Russia probe of Donald Trump vindicates the former president’s belief that he was targeted by enemies in the Justice Department and will only embolden Trump on the 2024 campaign trail.“Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,” Durham wrote in his 306-page report.The special counsel appointed by the Trump administration nearly four years ago – which has so far failed to send anyone to jail – rapped the FBI for relying on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence” to support its Russia probe.Durham also wrote there was a “predisposition to open an investigation into Trump” among “certain personnel” at the FBI.No kidding.The report now becomes political fodder for Trump and Republicans a...

Wealthy residents fleeing Massachusetts and have been for years, study shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

High-income residents have been fleeing the state for years, according to recent research from the Pioneer Institute, in a pattern that is worsening as taxpayers stare down the state’s newly passed millionaire’s tax.According to research of Internal Revenue Service data conducted by the economic policy think tank, Massachusetts is the fourth worst state in the country when it comes to out-migration, behind only California, New York and Illinois.“Net out-migration has nearly quintupled and the largest spike in departures occurred in 2020 and 2021, as remote work took hold and most other states were cutting taxes,” Pioneer Executive Director Jim Stergios said with the release of the study.Pioneer’s research showed that $900 million worth of wealth left the state in 2012, a number that skyrocketed to $4.3 billion in 2021. According to Pioneer, those making over $200,000 per year account for 60% of lost wealth due to out-migration. In 2021, those taxpayers took about $...

A rare, endangered seal named Yulia basks on Tel Aviv beach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An unexpected visitor spotted sunbathing on a beach in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv is turning heads and causing a media buzz. But it’s not American film director and Tel Aviv mainstay, Quentin Tarantino, or another Hollywood celebrity — it’s Yulia, an endangered Mediterranean monk seal.The seal cow first appeared south of Tel Aviv’s main beachfront last Friday. On Tuesday, Yulia drew clusters of curious onlookers to the rocky beach south of Jaffa’s historic center.These seals are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with as few as 350 mature specimens estimated to exist in the wild. Its populations have dwindled due to historic seal hunting, fishing, and habitat destruction. Rarely spotted on Israel’s shores, the dwindling Mediterranean monk seal populations are believed to survive only in a handful of places in the Mediterranean Sea. Israel’s Nature and Park Authority has fenced off the section of bea...

EU countries adopt law banning products which fuel deforestation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The 27 European Union countries have formally adopted new rules that should help the bloc reduce its contribution to global deforestation by regulating the trade in a series of goods.Under the legislation, companies trading palm oil, cattle, wood, coffee, cocoa, rubber and soy will need to verify that the goods they sell in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation anywhere in the world since 2021.The regulation also covers derived products such as chocolate or printed paper.Forests are an important natural means of removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, since plants absorb carbon dioxide when they grow.According to the World Resource Institute, a forest area the size of 10 soccer pitches disappears in the world every minute and the EU says that without the new regulation it could be responsible for the loss of 248,000 hectares of deforestation per year — a surface almost as large as member country Luxembourg. The law will force comp...

South Korea’s president vows to expand non-lethal aid to Kyiv in meeting with Ukraine’s first lady

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to expand the country’s non-lethal aid to Kyiv when he met with Ukraine’s first lady Tuesday in Seoul.Olena Zelenska visited South Korea as a special envoy of President Volodymyr Zelensky. During her meeting with Yoon, Zelenska requested South Korea expand its support of non-lethal military supplies, including equipment for detecting and removing mines and ambulance vehicles, according to Yoon’s office.Yoon replied that his government would closely coordinate with NATO and other international partners to “actively support the Ukrainian people,” his spokesperson Lee Do Woon said during a briefing.Yoon also condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying the “horrific losses of innocent lives, especially women and children, are unacceptable under any circumstances,” according to remarks shared by his office. Lee said Zelenska made no request for South Korean weapons supplies during her conversation with Yoon.Sou...

Philadelphia Democratic primary voters choosing from crowded field of progressives, moderates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

Voters in Philadelphia are determining who will likely lead the nation’s sixth-largest city in a crowded field of Democratic candidates on Tuesday, as the city faces upticks in gun violence and quality-of-life issues that make people feel unsafe.Five front-runner candidates — including former city council members, former city officials and a grocery store franchiser — have sought to differentiate themselves in a tight contest. The Philadelphia race serves as the latest barometer of how residents of some of the nation’s largest cities hope to emerge from the pandemic, which heightened concerns about crime, poverty and inequality. The results have sometimes been tumultuous in other parts of the country, leading to the defeat of the incumbent mayor of Chicago in February and the ouster of San Francisco’s district attorney last year.Philadelphia voters will choose between front-runner candidates including former council members Allan Domb, Helen Gym and Cherelle Parker; former cit...

Ex-Audi chief pleads guilty in automaker’s diesel emissions scandal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The former head of Volkswagen’s luxury division Audi pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges tied to the automaker’s diesel emissions scandal, becoming the highest-ranking executive convicted over cars that cheated on emissions tests with the help of illegal software. Rupert Stadler answered “yes” to a statement read in court by his attorney that said Stadler admitted wrongdoing and regret for his failure to keep rigged cars off the market even after the scandal had become public knowledge, the dpa news agency reported.Stadler entered the plea under an agreement with the judge and prosecutors that provides probation instead of jail time and orders him to pay a 1.1 million euro ($1.2 million) fine in return for a thorough admission of guilt. Three lower-ranking managers also have taken plea deals in the 2 1/2-year-long trial in Munich. Stadler had been charged with fraud and false certification by prosecutors who said he let cars with rigged software b...

6 children seriously injured when school bus and truck collide in Australia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:12 GMT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Six children were seriously injured and some were trapped in wreckage on Tuesday when a truck hit a school bus on the outskirts of Melbourne in southeastern Australia, officials said.The bus, which was carrying as many as 45 children, tipped over after being hit in the rear by the truck at an intersection in Eynesbury, police said.An adult and 21 children were taken to a hospital, including six with “serious traumatic injuries,” an ambulance statement said. The conditions of the 16 others were described as stable.About six children were temporarily trapped in the wrecked bus, the Country Fire Authority said. Emergency crews entered the bus through a skylight in its roof. The windshield was the main emergency exit.Paramedics assessed dazed victims who didn’t appear to need hospitalization in the grassland surrounding the crash scene.The bus driver sustained minor injuries. Police crash investigators were questioning the driver of the truck, which was damag...