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EU set to approve military sanctions against Belarus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

EU countries informally agreed to a package of military sanctions targeting Belarus on Tuesday, three EU diplomats told POLITICO. The package will include restrictions on battlefield equipment, including aviation parts, two of the diplomats said. The exact items will mirror the sanctions against Russia — an effort to crack down on military components being illegally routed through Belarus to Russia.The new Belarus sanctions are seen as a stepping stone toward a broader, more global deal to penalize Belarus, said the diplomats, who were granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations.The talks are separate from another discussion over how to fully align the Belarusian sanctions with penalties against Moscow. Those negotiations have stalled over a push to exempt Belarusian fertilizer from EU sanctions. Most EU countries are in favor but Lithuania has been staunchly opposed, arguing the carveout would give President Alexander Lukashenko a lifeline and do little to alleviate food ins...

New Bedford police detective recovering after being struck in face during shooting, driving to hospital on his own

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

The New Bedford Police Department says a veteran detective assigned to its Organized Crime Intelligence Bureau is in stable condition and recovering after being struck during a shooting in the city’s South End.The department said Detective Lavar Gilbert had been working undercover in an unmarked vehicle when “shots were suddenly fired” by Rivet and Orchard Streets around 8:45 p.m. on Monday.According to officials, Gilbert was “struck in the face” during the shooting, which shattered one of his car windows, but the detective remained conscious afterwards and was able to drive to a hospital for treatment.In addition to investigating the scene, state and local police could be seen blocking off the emergency room at St. Luke’s Hospital Monday night, where, according to New Bedford PD, another adult male “presented at the emergency room who had sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his foot.”“The circumstances surrounding ...

Taco Bell and Taco John’s drop their ‘Taco Tuesday’ fight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

New York (CNN) — Taco John’s, the regional chain that has “Taco Tuesday” trademarked, announced Tuesday that it’s ending its fight in defending the phrase and will “abandon” it because it doesn’t want to pay the legal fees that come with a fight against Taco Bell.“We’ve always prided ourselves on being the home of Taco Tuesday, but paying millions of dollars to lawyers to defend our mark just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do,” Taco John’s CEO Jim Creel said in a statementTaco Bell filed a petition in May with the US Patent and Trademark office to cancel the trademark owned by rival Taco John’s for 34 years because Taco Bell claims the commonly used phrase “should be freely available to all who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos.”As a result of the trademark being abandoned, Creel said that it’s donating $40,000 ($100 per its roughly 400 locations) to Children of Restaurant Employees (CORE). CORE is a nonprofit organization that “supports restaurant workers wit...

Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial reaches final death penalty sentencing stage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

(CNN) — The final phase of the Pittsburgh synagogue gunman’s death penalty trial began Monday as prosecutors laid out why the shooter should be sentenced to death, including his continued lack of remorse in the attack that left 11 worshippers dead and six others wounded.“He defiled a house of worship, turning it into a place of violence and death,” prosecutor Nicole Vasquez Schmitt said. “He made these decisions, and he is proud of them.”“At the end of this trial, we will ask you to return a verdict of death, a verdict of justice,” she added. “The defendant made his decisions, and he must be held accountable.”In contrast, defense attorneys for the gunman, Robert Bowers, emphasized his difficult upbringing and told jurors to follow their own moral code. They said a life sentence was enough of a penalty.“The death penalty is never required – not in this case and not in any other case. It is each of you who decides Mr. Bowers’ fate,” defense attorney Elisa Long said. “You are neve...

Trump is notified he’s a target of the US criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has received a letter informing him that he is a target of the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, an indication he could soon be charged by U.S. prosecutors.New federal charges, on top of existing state and federal counts in New York and Florida and a separate election-interference investigation nearing conclusion in Georgia, would add to the list of legal problems for Trump as he pursues the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Trump disclosed the existence of a target letter in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying he received it Sunday night and that he anticipates being indicted. Such a letter often precedes an indictment and is used to advise individuals under investigation that prosecutors have gathered evidence linking them to a crime; Trump, for instance, received one soon before being charged last month in a separate investi...

Gas leaked from bad fitting at Pennsylvania chocolate factory where 7 died in blast, report says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

Natural gas leaked from a defective fitting at a Pennsylvania chocolate factory where a powerful explosion leveled one building, heavily damaged another and killed seven people, federal safety investigators said Tuesday, while noting they have yet to determine the cause of the blast.The leak at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in West Reading was traced to a gas fitting that was installed in 1982 and was determined to have fractured, according to an investigative update released by the National Transportation Safety Board.The fitting, made by DuPont, had a known tendency to crack, and was added to a federal government list of pipe materials with “poor performance histories” in 2007, the safety board said.Investigators also determined there was a small leak on a natural gas fitting installed in 2021, the board said.About 70 Palmer production workers and 35 office staff were working in two adjacent buildings at the time of the March 24 blast. Employees in both buildings told federal in...

Dozens of officers respond to South Carolina gunfire; no injuries immediately reported

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Reports of gunfire around noon Tuesday brought dozens of police officers to a busy intersection near Columbia, South Carolina, authorities said.No injuries were immediately reported, and officers were trying to find the shooter, Columbia police tweeted.Several hotels are near the intersection about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from downtown Columbia, and police were evacuating them as they searched for a male suspect, authorities said.Patients at nearby clinics and people in other businesses were asked to stay inside. Police asked reporters and others to stay away, saying the area was not secure.The area blocked off is also about a half-mile (600 meters) from the Riverbanks Zoo.The Associated Press

US soldier facing military disciplinary actions flees to North Korea while touring a border village

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An American soldier facing military disciplinary actions fled across the heavily armed border from South Korea into into North Korea, U.S. officials said Tuesday, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years.Two U.S. officials said the soldier detained was Private 2nd Class Travis King, who had just been released from a South Korean prison where he’d been held on assault charges and was facing additional military disciplinary actions in the United States.King, who’s in his early 20s, was escorted to the airport to be returned to Fort Bliss, Texas, but instead of getting on the plane he left and joined a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom, where he ran across the border, the officials said on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of a public announcement.Details about King, including his hometown and what additional charges he faced, were not immediately available. It was also unclear how he ...

Record wildfire season in B.C. for area burned with almost 400 fires in the province

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

British Columbia’s disastrous wildfire season has set a new record for the total area burned in a year, with almost 14,000 square kilometres scorched and hundreds of fires burning across the province.The B.C. Wildfire Service website says 13,935 square kilometres have been burned since April 1, surpassing the previous record of 13,543 square kilometres set in 2018.But there are still months to go in this year’s season and the service says there are almost 400 fires currently burning.There have been 1,186 fires so far this year, suggesting the average size of the fires this year has been 84 per cent larger than in 2018.Bowinn Ma, minister of emergency management, said in a statement Tuesday that this fire season has been the most persistent on record. “We know that the road ahead of us is long, complex and challenging,” she said. Canadian Armed Forces troops are arriving in B.C. this week to join the battle, bringing helicopters and a Hercules aircraft, while ...

Saskatchewan government releases recommendations from review of Prince Albert police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:35:35 GMT

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — The Saskatchewan government has released the recommendations from an investigation into Prince Albert police amid ongoing concerns from Indigenous leaders over how the force handled several cases.Last year, the Saskatchewan government appointed former Edmonton police chief Rod Knecht to conduct an independent review of the force in the city 140 kilometres north of Saskatoon.The report was completed this spring and included 45 recommendations.Christine Tell, minister of policing, says the recommendations identify a number of areas for improvement and the province is working with the force, police union and the interim chief to move forward so people can be confident in the service’s ability to keep the community safe.Recommendations include the creation of an annual strategic plan and clearly defined processes and training around discipline and human resources.The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations called for changes after the deaths of three Indigenous...