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The Kremlin’s new targets: Russia goes after Alexei Navalny’s lawyers

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

For the nearly three years Alexei Navalny has spent in jail, the Russian opposition leader has fought deprivation with stoicism and humor. At different moments, he has complained of being denied access to walks, food parcels, the radio, contact with his family and even fellow prisoners — all while seemingly remaining unfazed.  But when last Friday he was told by journalists at a court hearing that he had no lawyer, he seemed genuinely stunned. “No way! There’s a raid at Kobzev’s?” Navalny can be heard saying in an audio recording, referring to his long-time lawyer Vadim Kobzev. Several days later he learned, again from journalists, that Kobzev and two other lawyers he had worked with, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin, were in pre-trial detention. They face up to six years in prison for “participation in an extremist organization.”  Two other acting lawyers of Navalny’s, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedyulov, are outside Russia ...

Cairo peace summit is a long-shot to end Israel-Hamas war

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

BEIRUT — Egypt’s leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is forging ahead with a peace summit in Cairo on Saturday that he hopes can avert the Gaza crisis from escalating into a broader regional war, but his key problem is the all-important trio who won’t be there: the U.S., Israel and Iran. Leaders of a dozen countries, including top officials from Turkey, Qatar and Europe, are converging on Egypt for the conference, but the absence of the big three at the heart of the conflict makes it highly unlikely the summit can pull anything out of the hat.Iran is the heavyweight player looming over the conflict. Tehran is both an ally of Hamas, whose militants killed more than 1,400 people in Israel in the attack of October 7, and of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which many observers fear is poised to enter the war against Israel from the north. Only increasing the fears that Iran is fomenting a destabilizing proxy war across the Middle East, Tehran-backed militant groups launched a series of ...

Red Flag Thrown Over Everett Casino Parking Expansion

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

Just like commuters on nearby Interstate 93, the planned expansion of the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett is being held up by traffic.The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs this week declined to approve the project’s environmental impact report. Instead, the state ordered the casino company to submit an updated version that includes “a comprehensive response” to public comments that EEA said “raise serious concerns about the level of parking proposed by the project, question the methodology used to estimate parking needs for the project change, and request further analysis and consultation to ensure that mitigation commitments are commensurate with the increase in impacts proposed.”Encore parent company Wynn Resorts is seeking to construct a new development across Broadway from its resort casino to host a dedicated poker room, a second sports betting parlor, a relocated nightclub, a theater, a comedy club, parking garage an...

CVS Health pulls some cough-and-cold treatments with ingredient deemed ineffective by doctors

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

CVS Health is pulling from its shelves some cough-and-cold treatments that contain an ingredient that has been deemed ineffective by doctors and researchers.The drug store chain said it will remove a small number of products that contain phenylephrine as the only active ingredient. CVS also said it will still sell “many other oral cough and cold products to meet consumer needs.”A company spokeswoman declined to elaborate on how many products will be removed when contacted by The Associated Press Friday morning.CVS Health runs more than 9,000 stores in the United States. Representatives of its national rival, Walgreens, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on whether it would follow suit.U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers voted unanimously last month against the effectiveness of phenylephrine, which is found in popular versions of Sudafed, Dayquil and other medications stocked on store shelves.The FDA had asked its outside a...

Man United manager Erik ten Hag tries to stay out of ownership talks and stay focused on the team

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — With the ownership of Manchester United up in the air and the team struggling early in the Premier League season, manager Erik ten Hag is doing his best to keep his focus on the field and out of the boardroom.Ignoring the noise surrounding the club’s potential sale isn’t easy, however, with British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe looking to become a minority shareholder alongside the Glazer family.If the Ineos owner’s bid is successful, he could also take control of United’s soccer operations.“I’m not involved in this. Others in the club are dealing with this,” Ten Hag said Friday. “I am focusing on my team, I’m focusing on the coming block (of games), and I am focusing on the most important priority, the next game — it’s all about that.”The Dutch coach met with Ratcliffe when an Ineos delegation took a tour of United’s stadium and training center in March as part of the sale process.Ratcliffe is bidding for a 25% stake in Uni...

Hurricane Norma has weakened slightly but remains a major storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Norma weakened slightly but remained a major storm Friday as it took aim at the twin resorts of Los Cabos at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said that Norma had 115 mph (185 kph) maximum sustained winds and was located about 265 miles (425 kilometers) south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas. The Category 3 storm was moving north-northwest at 7 mph (11 kph).Hotels in Los Cabos, which are largely frequented by foreign tourists, remained about three-quarters full and there has been no major move by visitors to leave, Baja California Sur state tourism secretary Maribel Collins said.The government posted 500 Marines to the resort to help with storm preparations, and municipal officials said that as many as 39 emergency shelters could be opened if needed.Norma was expected to starting hitting Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo by Saturday, and the local port was closed to navigation as a precaution.A ...

Estonia says damage to Finland pipeline was caused by people, but it’s unclear if it was deliberate

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Damage to an undersea gas pipeline and telecom cable connecting Finland and Estonia was caused by people but it remains unclear who was behind it and whether it was deliberate, Estonian officials said Friday.Estonian and Finnish investigators are looking into vessels that were in the area at the time earlier this month, but it is “too soon to indicate a culprit” or say if the damage was “deliberate and designed to impair critical infrastructure,” the Estonian government said in a statement.Finnish and Estonian operators noticed an unusual drop in pressure in the Balticconnector pipeline on Oct. 8 and subsequently shut down the gas flow. Two days later, the Finnish government said there was damage both to the pipeline and the telecom cable between the two NATO countries. A repaired cable will hopefully be in place by next week, Estonia said Friday. The 77-kilometer-long (48-mile-long) Balticconnector pipeline runs across the Gulf of Finland from the Finnish...

REVIEW: Killers of the Flower Moon is heartbreaking and necessary viewing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

Martin Scorsese is mostly known for his crime dramas. Whether the jovial nature of small-time crooks in Goodfellas, the expensive tastes of gambling tastemakers in Casino, or the lonely memories on display in the Irishman, it’s the genre that has come to define the patron saint of cinema. But they’re not the only films he makes. From the spiritual conflict seen in Silence, the high-society melodrama of the Age of Innocence, to the madcap comedy of After Hours, Scorsese has touched almost every genre. With his latest film he combines his passion for crime storytelling and exploration of spirituality with a true story that’s 100 years old.Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon, courtesy of Apple Original Films.Killers of the Flower Moon, like the Irishman, is about three and a half hours long. As it tells its expansive story about a community in crisis it never feels dull nor slow, it moves along at an appropriate pace. It’s about th...

Canada’s Christine Sinclair retiring from international soccer at end of the year

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

After leading Canada to gold at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021, captain Christine Sinclair came to a realization.“After Tokyo, deep down inside, I knew I didn’t want to play in Paris,” she said, referencing the 2024 Olympics. “The way the Tokyo Olympics ended, you can’t beat it.“I wanted to give it one more shot for the World Cup, just because I really thought we could be successful there and we hadn’t been successful in a long time at World Cups.”It wasn’t to be. Canada came home early from Australia this summer, failing to make the knockout round in Sinclair’s sixth trip to the soccer showcase.It was not the ending she wanted. So Sinclair kept going, helping Canada qualify for the Paris Olympics last month in a 35-minute cameo off the bench in the second leg of the 4-1 aggregate win over Jamaica. But the 40-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., is now calling time on her Canada career, saying she will retire from international ...

Judge rules Alex Jones can’t use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying Sandy Hook families

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:12:52 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying more than $1.1 billion to families who sued over his conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax. The decision is another significant defeat for Jones in the wake of juries in Texas and Connecticut punishing him over spreading falsehoods about the nation’s deadliest school shooting. U.S. District Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston issued the ruling Thursday.Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year and more recent financial documents submitted by his attorneys put his personal net worth around $14 million. But Lopez ruled that those protections do not apply over findings of “willful and malicious” conduct.“The families are pleased with the Court’s ruling that Jones’s malicious conduct will find no safe harbor in the bankruptcy court,” said Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer for the families. “As a result, Jone...