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Nebraska’s Johansson, Otabor win NCAA track and field titles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Nebraska shot putter Axelina Johansson and javelin thrower Rhema Otabor each won individual titles on Thursday night at the NCAA outdoor championships.Johansson and Otabor are the first Husker women to win NCAA titles since Dace Ruskule (discus) in 2006.Johansson won the shot put, reaching 63 feet, 3 1/4 inches. All six of Johansson’s throws topped the 62-foot mark and no one else in the field reached 61 feet. Otabor broke her own school record with a throw of 195-2. She’s the second woman in program history to win a javelin national title, joining Denise Thiemard (1983). Nebraska topped the team standings with 25 points after six of the 21 events have been completed. Texas A&M was second with 14 points, followed by Oregon with 12.Harvard became the third team in NCAA championship history to sweep the hammer in women’s and men’s — and the first since 2011. Stephanie Ratcliffe earned the Crimson’s first women’s hammer title...

What to know about the newest Trump indictment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

Donald Trump has been indicted again, this time in connection with his handling of classified documents after he left the White House.The case stems from the former president’s alleged retention of sensitive national-security documents at his residence in Florida and his alleged efforts to impede authorities’ attempts to retrieve them. The precise charges are not yet public.Last year, the federal government recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, including some materials labeled “top secret” that the FBI seized in a raid months after Trump’s lawyers turned over 15 initial boxes of documents.The new indictment comes two months after Trump was charged in New York state court for allegedly falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn star. But the federal indictment in the classified-documents probe will differ in many respects from the New York charges and may carry far more severe ...

Trump indicted in federal classified documents probe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges connected to his handling of classified national security records, writing on social media that he has been summoned to federal court on Tuesday in Miami.Prosecutors are charging the former president with seven criminal counts, according to a person familiar with the indictment granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.The precise charges that federal prosecutors have obtained against Trump were not immediately clear. But one of Trump’s attorneys indicated that a summons issued by prosecutors listed a provision of the Espionage Act and a federal statute criminalizing the obstruction of an official proceeding.The Justice Department notified Trump’s lawyers on Thursday that a grand jury had returned the indictment. Todd Blanche, an attorney whom Trump has tasked with helming his defense, called the former president to inform him of the news. Trump has been staying recently at hi...

Sudan’s government declares UN envoy, a mediator in the conflict, no longer welcome

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations envoy to Sudan, a key mediator in the country’s brutal conflict, is no longer welcome in the African country, Sudanese authorities say.A terse statement issued by Sudan’s Foreign Ministry late Thursday comes just weeks after the head of the country’s military, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, demanded in a letter to envoy Volker Perthes that he should be removed from his post.UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been notified that Perthes has been formally declared “persona non grata,” the Foreign Ministry said.Since Apr. 15, Sudan’s military, headed by Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have been locked in a violent power struggle that has killed more than 860 civilians, according to Sudan’s Doctors’ Syndicate which tracks civilian casualties. The actual death tally is likely to be much higher.Perthes has been a key mediator in Sudan since being appointed as special envoy in 2021, fi...

Cyprus labors to shield reputation amid new US, UK action on Russian ‘sanctions evasion network’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — For Cypriots, it was a collective “here we go again” moment.In April, the U.S. and the U.K. included a handful of Cypriot nationals and Cyprus-registered companies on a list of “enablers” helping Russian oligarchs skirt sanctions. It was an unwelcome reminder of the lingering perception that the island nation somehow remains Moscow’s financial lackey. For years, authorities in this tiny European Union member country have tried hard to shake that reputation, partly buttressed by a 2013 financial crisis when all eyes were on Cypriot banks flush with Russian cash. At the time, nearly a third of the 68 billion euros in deposits — more than triple the country’s entire economy — was held by Russians.That was compounded by a badly structured and shoddily executed citizenship-for-investment program. For more than a decade, it generated billions by handing Cypriot passports — and by extension access to the EU — to hundreds of wealthy Russians and others, wi...

How Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis talks about his own Catholic faith on the presidential campaign trail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — As Ron DeSantis wrapped up a 12-stop campaign tour that began in an Iowa evangelical church and ended here in a South Carolina convention center, dozens of pastors met backstage to pray for the presidential candidate. Later, to the 1,500 people in the auditorium, DeSantis closed out his speech with a paraphrased Bible verse: “I will fight the good fight, I will finish the race, and I will keep the faith.” The governor’s religious rhetoric and hard-charging policies are at the center of his outreach to white evangelicals — an important voting bloc in the early GOP nominating contests. When it comes to his own Catholicism, DeSantis is more guarded, rarely mentioning his specific faith practices. “I don’t think he’s a wear-your-religion-on-your-sleeve kind of guy,” said Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, a conservative advocacy organization that hosted a fall rally for DeSantis.Burch argue DeSantis’ policies are the true measure of his faith, from Florida’s...

A little white pill, Captagon, gives Syria’s Assad a strong tool in winning over Arab states

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — A little white pill has given Syrian President Bashar Assad powerful leverage with his Arab neighbors, who have been willing to bring him out of pariah status in hopes he will stop the flow of highly addictive Captagon amphetamines out of Syria. Western governments have been frustrated by the red-carpet treatment Arab countries have given Assad, fearing that their reconciliation will undermine the push for an end to Syria’s long-running civil war.But for Arab states, halting the Captagon trade is a high priority. Hundreds of millions of pills have been smuggled over the years into Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries, where the drug is used recreationally and by people with physically demanding jobs to keep them alert. Saudi Arabia has intercepted large shipments of pills hidden in crates of fake plastic oranges and in hollowed out pomegranates — even pills crushed and molded to look like traditional clay bowls.Analysts say Assad likely hopes ...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis woos GOP Christian voters but stays tight-lipped on his own Catholic faith

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — As Ron DeSantis wrapped up a 12-stop campaign tour that began in an Iowa evangelical church and ended here in a South Carolina convention center, dozens of pastors met backstage to pray for the presidential candidate. Later, to the 1,500 people in the auditorium, DeSantis closed out his stump speech with a paraphrased Bible verse: “I will fight the good fight, I will finish the race, and I will keep the faith.” The governor’s religious rhetoric and hard-charging policies are at the center of his outreach to white evangelicals — an important voting bloc in the early GOP nominating contests. And yet, when it comes to his own Catholicism, the culture warrior is much more guarded, rarely mentioning the specifics of his faith and practice. “I don’t think he’s a wear-your-religion-on-your-sleeve kind of guy,” said Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, a conservative advocacy organization that hosted a rally for DeSantis last fall. Burch argues DeSanti...

Serbia's PM Ana Brnabic says she is willing to resign amid protests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

Serbia's Prime Minister Ana Brnabic (pictured, centre) said on Wednesday (7 June) she was willing to resign to test popularity of the ruling coalition, following weeks of opposition protests.For five consecutive weeks, tens of thousands of people have gathered for weekly anti-government rallies in Belgrade, blaming a culture of violence for the deaths of 18 people in two mass shootings in May.Protesters demand resignations of government officials and a ban of violent reality shows, and a fresh rally is scheduled for Friday.Brnabic said her government, dominated by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was ready to meet the opposition and discuss how to improve the situation."When the society is in a crisis, talks are the only way ... and they do not want to talk. I am ready and you may count on my resignation," she told a news conference in Belgrade.The opposition leaders have said they would meet the government once all their requests including dismissal of the interior minist...

Wrong-way driver dead, 3 injured in Long Beach crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:56 GMT

Authorities in Long Beach are investigating a four-car crash that killed a wrong-way driver and sent three other men to the hospital Thursday night.  Officers with the Long Beach Police Department responded to the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Junipero Avenue at around 7:19 p.m. on reports of the multi-vehicle collision.  Early reports suggest that the male driver of an SUV who was traveling westbound on PCH at Junipero Avenue went into the eastbound lanes of traffic and crashed into three other vehicles, an LBPD news release stated. Dash-cam video of the crash obtained by KTLA shows the moment the SUV came hurling into the wrong lanes, smashing into a minivan. Despite life-saving measures by personnel with the Long Beach Fire Department, the male driver, who was the sole occupant of the SUV, was declared dead at the scene. Three other male adults from different vehicles were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. An image from a vehicle's da...