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Qatargate comeback? Kaili & Co. want to resume work in European Parliament

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

Eva Kaili wants her job at the European Parliament back. The Greek celebrity politician, one of the main suspects in an alleged cash-for-influence scandal, will soon attempt to have her house arrest conditions lifted so she can resume her duties as a European parliamentarian, Kaili’s lawyers told POLITICO.The two other MEPs involved in the probe — Belgian Marc Tarabella and Italian Andrea Cozzolino — could soon follow suit. As of Tuesday, Tarabella will no longer have to wear an electronic bracelet and will be able to leave house arrest albeit under certain conditions.The three are still charged with corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organization in a probe that has come to be known as Qatargate.But as the Parliament’s press office says, they “remain members of the European Parliament with all the rights related to the function.”Which means they all are being paid a salary from the EU budget — and can still vote.The alleged ringleader of the corruptio...

French parliament designates Wagner a ‘terrorist group’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

PARIS — France’s National Assembly voted Tuesday to designate Russia’s paramilitary Wagner group as a terrorist entity.All lawmakers present in parliament — 331 in total — voted in favor of the resolution, which is non-binding. The resolution calls on the European Union to register Wagner on the EU list of terrorist groups.“This resolution and its European scope aims … at reinforcing legal tools against [the Wagner group]. Adding it to the EU list would affect all the stakeholders, the banks, that make its activity possible,” said Benjamin Haddad, an MP belonging to Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party and one of the authors of the text. The resolution is non-binding but sends “a political and symbolic message,” said Haddad.“They aren’t just mercenaries, there’s a will to massacre civilians for political gain … to destabilize institutions,” Haddad told POLITICO ahead of the vote.The Russian mercen...

Western security services dismantle premier Russian spy tool

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

Law enforcement authorities have disabled a piece of advanced malware that Russian intelligence services used to steal secrets from U.S. and NATO countries for more than 20 years, Justice Department officials announced Tuesday.Russia’s modern day equivalent of the KGB, the FSB, deployed the Snake malware to purloin sensitive information from U.S. and NATO government agencies, defense companies. foreign ministries, media organizations and high-tech research facilities, a senior FBI official told reporters Tuesday.Overall, the Kremlin spies used the carefully crafted computer program to steal intellectual property and sensitive information from victims in more than 50 countries.“This is what we assess to be the most sophisticated malware deployed by the FSB when it comes to espionage campaigns,” the FBI official said.Russian spies did not use Snake to stage physical attacks, U.S. officials said Tuesday.Still, it represented something of a Swiss-army-knife of digital spying, giving Rus...

Husband recovering after losing new wife in alleged drunken driving accident

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

(CNN) — Less than two weeks after a car hit a newly married couple leaving their South Carolina wedding, killing the bride, her groom is leaving the hospital to recover from his injuries and mourn his wife.Aric Hutchinson and his new wife, Samantha, were hit by a drunken driver as they left their wedding reception in Folly Beach, South Carolina, according to police. Samantha was killed.Aric “is physically recovering at home while trying to come to terms with the loss of his beautiful wife,” the groom’s mother, Annette Hutchinson, posted in an update to their GoFundMe post verified by CNN.“We are missing Sam more than anything, she instantly fit into our family from the first day Aric and Sam met, she was everything to my son and changed him for the better,” she added.“Aric received multiple injuries including two broken legs, one which had to be surgically repaired. Broken bones in his face which also had to be surgically repaired. Brok...

Maine stroke survivor credits research for saving her life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) — May is Stroke Awareness Month. The American Heart Association funds research that not only saves lives but also helps people get back to a normal life after a stroke.WMTW caught up with a survivor we first spoke with five years ago to the day who says that research is why she’s still here.“I’m just incredibly grateful,” Sarah Belliveau said.She had a stroke in 2017. She says quick action by her husband who found her that morning to the paramedics and doctors is why she could walk out of the hospital two days later. But she says research is why she’s still alive.“Research-funded protocols not only saved my life but made sure I had a quality of life that I had before,” she said.Belliveau says doctors discovered she had a hole in her heart called a patent foramen ovale or PFO.“It’s essentially a hole in the heart that didn’t close at birth and allows a clot to pass from one side of the heart to the other and bypass the lungs so that’s so...

Man accused of installing hidden camera in public bathroom on Royal Caribbean cruise ship

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

(CNN) — The FBI’s San Juan Division is working to identify potential victims after a man was charged with video voyeurism and attempted possession of child exploitation material for allegedly installing a hidden camera in a public bathroom on a Royal Caribbean ship.The camera was allegedly installed on the cruise line’s Harmony of the Seas ship during a seven-day cruise departing from Miami, Florida, in late April, according to the criminal complaint in the case.The man, identified as Jeremy Froias, boarded the Harmony of the Seas in Miami, and while the cruise ship was navigating in international waters, allegedly installed a hidden Wi-Fi camera in a public bathroom on the ship’s top deck between a surfing simulator and a bar, the criminal complaint said.Several days later, another passenger noticed the hidden camera and reported it to Harmony’s crew. Security personnel searched the bathroom and found and seized the hidden camera. According to the crim...

Undocumented immigrant students would qualify for in-state tuition under Senate plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

Eligible Massachusetts students, regardless of their immigration status, would qualify for in-state tuition rates at public colleges or universities under a plan floated by Senate leaders Tuesday morning.To qualify, students would need to have attended a local high school for at least three years and graduated or obtained a GED in the state. It is a measure Senate officials say will increase immigrants’ access to higher education and put Massachusetts in line with 23 other states and the District of Columbia.“We have so many jobs being unfulfilled. We need a trained, educated, qualified workforce,” Senate President Karen Spilka told reporters. “We are falling behind other states, including the red states, in offering what is not only the right thing for these immigrant students, but good for our atmosphere of inclusion, equity, and overall success.”The Senate included the measure as part of a $55.8 billion fiscal 2024 budget proposal they released Tuesday. The state budget Sen...

Senate snubs online lottery push in proposed fiscal 2024 state budget

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

Senate leaders threw cold water on a push to legalize online lottery sales as part of the state’s fiscal 2024 budget, saying the House and Gov. Maura Healey-backed provision “needs more time to be vetted.”The Senate unveiled a $55.8 billion budget proposal Tuesday morning, a week after the state reported a massive drop in tax revenues for the month of April that has since pushed parallel debates on tax reform to the forefront of the Beacon Hill agenda.Senate Ways and Means Chair Rep. Michael Rodrigues said the state lottery consistently sets revenue records, a point he used to squash concerns the gambling service would fall victim to the rise of digital sports betting.“We’ve also heard very clearly from our current lottery agents, all of the convenience stores that are currently servicing that, that they have issues with online lottery,” Rodrigues told reporters. “We don’t think it will generate the type of revenue that they’re proposing to generate.”House leaders included online lo...

Denny Crum, who coached Louisville to 2 NCAA titles, dies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Denny Crum, who won two NCAA men’s basketball championships and built Louisville into one of the 1980s’ dominant programs during a Hall of Fame coaching career, died Tuesday. He was 86.The school announced Crum’s death in a release after being informed by his wife, Susan. No cause was given, but Crum had battled an extended illness. He had a mild stroke in August 2017 while fishing in Alaska and another two years two ago.Nicknamed “Cool Hand Luke” because of his cool, unflinching sideline demeanor — legend has it he never uttered a curse word — Crum retired in March 2001 after 30 seasons at Louisville with 675 victories, which ranked 15th all-time then, and championships in 1980 and ’86. The disciple of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden often wore a red sport coat and waved a rolled-up stat sheet like a bandleader’s baton as he directed Louisville to 23 NCAA tournaments and six Final Fours.The second half of his tenure was not nearly as successful as the ...

Russia’s wildfire death toll rises to 21 in Ural Mountains

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:14 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — The death toll from wildfires in Russia’s Ural Mountains rose to 21 Tuesday, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing local emergency service agencies. Wildfires have raged in the Kurgan region of the Urals and in Siberia all week. A resident of western Siberia’s Tyumen province died while attempting to extinguish a fire. According to local authorities, most of the deaths occurred Sunday in the Kurgan province village of Yuldus, which is located on the border between the Ural Mountains and Siberia. “The death toll may increase,” regional emergency service officials said.A state of emergency was introduced in the province, where more than 5,000 buildings have burned down. Fires also have engulfed thousands of hectares (acres) in Sverdlovsk province, and in Siberia’s Omsk and Tyumen provinces. During a Monday visit to Kurgan province, Russia’s emergency situations minister of Emergency Situations said settlements were no longer at risk from...