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Venezuela arrests U.S. fugitive as part of oil graft purge

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities in Venezuela have brought corruption charges against a businessman who is a fugitive in a separate U.S. money laundering case targeting a top ally of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.Alvaro Pulido, wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed, was among a group of seven Venezuelan officials and businessmen escorted by a masked security agent on their way to an initial judicial hearing in Caracas in images shared Friday by Venezuela’s government.The men were taken into custody as part of a sprawling investigation into corruption in the state-run oil company PDVSA focused on the payment of massive bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts to move tankers of Venezuelan crude sanctioned by the U.S.Pulido stands out among the more than 50 alleged schemers already arrested because of his relationship to Alex Saab.The two Colombians were long-time business partners who made a fortune selling food and other items to Venezuela’s socialist gover...

Juice mission launches to explore Jupiter’s icy ocean worlds

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

(CNN) — The European Space Agency has sent a spacecraft to explore Jupiter and three of its largest and most intriguing moons.The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission, or Juice, launched Friday at 8:14 a.m. ET aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.The spacecraft separated from the Ariane 5 rocket 28 minutes after launch, and ESA received a signal from Juice about an hour after liftoff, confirming that Earth-based mission control is able to “talk” to the vehicle.“We have #AcquisitionOfSignal from #ESAJuice! The spacecraft has said its first words from its new home in space, captured by our New Norcia ground station in Western Australia. @ESA_Juice, we hear you loud and clear,” read a post from ESA operations‘ Twitter account.Over the course of the next 17 days, Juice will deploy its solar arrays, antennas and other instruments, followed by three months of testing and preparing the instruments.Juice will take...

In ‘Florida Man,’ Edgar Ramirez ‘has fun with’ popular meme

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

Edgar Ramirez says his new series “Florida Man,” now on Netflix, may share a name with the popular meme of the same name, but it is not making fun of the state or its residents.“It does not make fun of that, it has fun with it, which is completely different,” said Ramirez in an interview.In “ Florida Man ” — the TV show — Ramirez plays Mike Valentine, an ex-cop in Philadelphia who falls from grace because of a gambling addiction. He also still owes a big debt to a local mob boss (Emory Cohen) so he often has to do his dirty work. On his orders, Ramirez’s character begrudgingly returns to his home state of Florida to track down his boss’ runaway girlfriend (Abbey Lee). What he intends to be a quick trip turns into a wild treasure hunt that opens up a Pandora’s box about his past.“It is funny, but it’s dark. It’s offbeat, it’s strange, it’s weird,” Ramirez said. “The absurdity of the situations is where the comedy lies.”He says Valentine is one ...

Federal judge orders Massachusetts Air National Guardsman to remain jailed in classified documents leak case

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Billing records of an Internet social media platform and interviews with another user helped the FBI identify a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman as a suspect in the leak of highly classified military documents, according to court records unsealed Friday.The new details came as Jack Teixeira, 21, appeared in court to face charges under the Espionage Act of unauthorized removal and retention of classified and national defense information.A federal magistrate judge ordered him held until a detention hearing next week.Teixeira was arrested by heavily armed tactical agents on Thursday following a weeklong criminal investigation into the disclosure of the government records, a breach that exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments on the war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other national security issues.He appeared in court Friday in tan jail clothes for a brief proceeding at which U.S. Magistrate Judge Davi...

Leak suspect appears in court as US reveals case against him

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and NOMAAN MERCHANT (Associated Press)BOSTON (AP) — Billing records of an Internet social media platform and interviews with another user helped the FBI identify a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman as a suspect in the leak of highly classified military documents, according to court records unsealed Friday.The new details came as Jack Teixeira, 21, appeared in court to face charges under the Espionage Act of unauthorized removal and retention of classified and national defense information.A federal magistrate judge ordered him held until a detention hearing next week.Teixeira was arrested by heavily armed tactical agents on Thursday following a weeklong criminal investigation into the disclosure of the government records, a breach that exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments on the war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other national security issues.He appeared in court Friday in tan ...

2-year-old family dog dies after being poisoned, Ontario police say

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

Police in southwestern Ontario are investigating an animal cruelty complaint from March after a two-year-old family dog was fatally poisoned.Norfolk County Police said two-year-old Bain, a French Mastiff, was rushed to a veterinary hospital around 1:30 p.m. on March 16 in Waterford and later died.The dog’s owners filed a report with investigators that same day. OPP Const. Ed Sanchuk said veterinarians determined that Bain had ingested “a large amount of poison.”“I spoke to [Bain’s owner], and the owner is still visibly upset, physically upset with what’s happened to their family pet,” Const. Sanchuk said. “We’re asking anyone in the community that has information, to please pick up their phone and call us.”“We want to try and bring some type of resolution to the family,” Const. Sanchuk added.Photo: OPP West Region/Twitter.

Hezbollah chief: Israel didn’t hit Hamas in Lebanon strikes

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group on Friday claimed that Israel did not hit Hamas or Hezbollah targets in last week’s strikes on southern Lebanon.The strikes last Friday in south Lebanon came a day after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there at Israel, wounding two people and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said it had targeted installations of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, in southern Lebanon. Speaking at an a ceremony in Beirut marking “Quds Day,” or Jerusalem Day — an annual show of support for the Palestinians held on the last Friday of every Islamic holy month of Ramadan — Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah called the Israeli statements “a barefaced lie” and that “no Hezbollah or Hamas infrastructure was struck.”Rather, he said, the Israelis hit “banana groves” and a water irrigation channel. There was no immediate comment from Israel.While Israeli military officials have not said they hit any Hezbollah targ...

Olymel to close pork plant in Vallée-Jonction, Que., lay off nearly 1,000 workers

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec pork producer Olymel says it will close a major slaughterhouse south of Quebec City and lay off 994 workers.The company said today the Vallée-Jonction plant in the Beauce region will be the latest factory to shutter, after previously announcing the closure of several other facilities in recent months.Olymel CEO Yanick Gervais told reporters in St-Hyacinthe, Que., that the pork industry has lost $400 million in the last two years because of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, labour shortages and the instability of export markets.He says the Vallée-Jonction plant was chosen because of the decline in the available workforce and the poor condition of the facilities, which he says require tens of millions of dollars in renovations.Gervais says the company is open to relocating any of the laid-off workers who want to work at Olymel’s three remaining slaughterhouses or its other facilities.He says the plant’s operations will wind down gradually over the ...

Black church, NHL’s Penguins reach historic land-use accord

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — More than 60 years ago, a historic Black church was forced to give up its sanctuary, compensated for what it says was a fraction of its value, to an urban renewal project that wiped out the heart of an African American neighborhood known as the Hill District.Now, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is poised to recoup some of that loss and reclaim a spot near its former home. It has reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins — the NHL franchise that now holds development rights to the site near its current arena — for the church to use a 1.5-acre parcel that it envisions using for housing and other revenue-generating development.The agreement came after years of public calls and demonstrations by the church, which has described its efforts as seeking reparations. And the church battle is a microcosm of a larger one over the legacy of the 1950s project, in which leaders in the Black community have long sought redress from the powers that be in Pittsburg...

‘Golden Age of homelessness’ is over, says one former homeless man

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:12:49 GMT

Editor’s note: Olivier prefers the word “homeless” over the term “unhoused” since he strongly identifies with the former term.The “Golden Age of homelessness” is over, says one Toronto man who was chronically homeless for over a decade.Olivier M., who preferred not to be identified by family name, first sought temporary shelter in Toronto 14 years ago. He says that from 2009 to 2013, it was easier to find help in the city, compared to today.“I call it the ‘Golden Age of Homelessness in Toronto,’ because I could arrive through the Greyhound station at Bay and Dundas, and maybe sleep somewhere at a friend’s place or book into a backpacker’s hostel with whatever little dollars I [had],” Olivier explained. “The next day, I’m not worried. I came to the Salvation Army [Hope Shelter] here [at College Street and McCaul Street] and they got a bed for me. It was not a worry. There was no stress.”As of late 202...