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Judge orders release of 3 of ‘Newburgh Four’ and assails FBI’s role in a post-9/11 terror sting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Three men convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting have been ordered freed from prison by a judge who deemed their lengthy sentences “unduly harsh and unjust” and decried the FBI’s role in radicalizing them in a plot to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes.Onta Williams, David Williams and Laguerre Payen — three of the men known as the “Newburgh Four” — were “hapless, easily manipulated and penurious petty criminals” caught up more than a decade ago in a scheme driven by overzealous FBI agents and a dodgy informant, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said in her ruling Thursday.“The real lead conspirator was the United States,” McMahon wrote in granting the men’s request for compassionate release, effective in three months. She said that it was “heinous” of the men to agree to participate in what she called the government’s “made for TV movie.” But, the judge added, “the sentence was the product o...

Ticket sales nearing 1.6 million for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ticket sales are nearing 1.6 million for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand after surpassing pre-tournament targets and FIFA revised record expectations.The previous record was around 1.35 million who attended a 52-game tournament in Canada in 2015. The 2023 edition has been expanded to 32 teams and will include 64 matches.Soccer’s international governing body said a combined 547,713 fans attended the first 21 games across Australia and New Zealand. The revised total target of 1.5 million was surpassed on Monday.FIFA said the average of 26,802 per game to that point was a 48% increase from France 2019, where the average after 21 games was 18,068. It did not give a breakdown for Australia and New Zealand.The opening games on July 20 set records for women’s soccer matches in both co-host countries. The crowd at New Zealand’s upset win over Norway last week set a new national mark of 42,137. Australia’s 1-0 over Ireland later that day attracte...

Japan’s central bank keeps its benchmark interest rate unchanged but pledges greater flexibility for bond purchases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s central bank keeps its benchmark interest rate unchanged but pledges greater flexibility for bond purchases.Source

DC man charged in hit-and-run near National Mall that left tourist dead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

The driver accused in a hit-and-run near the National Mall that left a tourist dead earlier this month has been arrested, U.S. Park Police announced Thursday.Benjamin Robertson, 33, of Washington, D.C., has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the July 12 crash, which happened at the intersection of 17th Street NW and Constitution Avenue NW.Police said Robertson was driving with expired tags. When Secret Service officers tried to stop him, he initially indicated he’d comply with the stop, then fled southbound on 17th Street, crossing a red light and striking pedestrians in the crosswalk, according to police.Seventy-five-year-old Bing Wong, a tourist from Philadelphia, was killed. The Washington Post reported Wong was crossing the street with his 13-year-old granddaughter, who was treated at the scene for minor injuries.The Secret Service issued an alert to other area law enforcement agencies after the crash, leading to a multi-jurisdictional search for the...

Caught on video: Repeat vandal strikes Denver non-profit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Security video shows a man smashing windows, the aftermath leaves a non-profit with thousands of dollars in damage.JAMLAC, the Justice and Mercy Legal Aid Center, said the same man has hit the non-profit repeatedly. Why did Jeffco wait to warn about the trail predator? "Someone vandalized our building; this has been happening since a year ago," Marlene Bedoya, with JAMLAC, said.The man has been back 10 times over the last year, according to JAMLAC."He broke our window, he broke our main door, the main windows," Bedoya said, "he put some type of material on our walls and it's just destroyed."There are security cameras around their building and those cameras caught video of him approaching their main door, now covered in plywood, and using a baseball bat to shatter the windows."It's unfair," Bedoya said. "We're a non-profit, legal aid center that helps the community and to have this type of damage, it will cost us a lot." Multi-burglary truck found in Arvada, susp...

Coral reefs off Florida Keys are in danger from extreme heat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

LAYTON, Fla. (WSVN) — South Florida’s coral reefs are in danger of being harmed by the extreme heat, researchers say. The record-high temperatures have caused coral bleaching and even killed marine animals. Now researchers are taking action to protect the reefs from this deep sea emergency.The coral reefs off the Florida Keys are getting bleached by the unprecedented heat in the water. Experts said it could potentially be the hottest seawater ever measured.“Hot water has been steadily increasing for the entire month of July, and to temperatures that we’ve never seen or rarely see, and the real main difference is that we’re seeing this temperature earlier,” said Dr. Cynthia Lewis, director of the Florida Keys Marine Laboratory. Coral bleaching and deaths are being seen in what had been one of the most resilient reefs. Temperature readings have hit or exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit.It all comes as sea surface temperatures worldwide broke monthly re...

5 rescued after Monroe County sheriff spots sinking boat off Marathon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

Crews came to the rescue of five people after their boat started to sink in the Florida Keys.According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay on Thursday spotted the partially submerged vessel from U.S. 1 and got help out to them near the Old Seven Mile Bridge.Authorities safely brought the boaters back to shore in Marathon. None of them were hurt.

St. Onge: Inflation – who’s really at fault?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

Did greedy grocers and grabby workers cause the inflation?That’s what the central bankers of the world would have us believe. Apparently losing confidence that they can fix the inflation they created, they’re turning to Plan B: blame the people, so we fight each other.As the European Central Bank succinctly put it on Twitter: “What really drives inflation? Profits or wages?”Get it, voter? Is it the greedy right-wing capitalists or the greedy left-wing socialists?Central bankers actually have a name for this scapegoating: “greedflation.” As in, double-digit inflation had nothing to do with central bankers printing up $7 trillion and handing it to governments, bankers and to the rich in asset purchases. Rather, it all happened because people like you and me suddenly got greedy.In fact, something sudden did happen: By early 2022 one of every three dollars in existence had been printed in just two years. For centuries, economists have known that reckless money printing causes inflation....

Editorial: Wu & security guard union should return to table

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

The Boston city budget is apparently flush with cash when it comes to funding Mayor Michelle Wu’s pet projects, from the establishment of new City Hall departments, to the $18M+ proposed overhaul of the West Roxbury Education Complex. But when it comes to a better boost in pay for municipal security guards, the cupboard is bare.That’s the gist behind Wu’s plans to give lower raises than what a municipal security guards union is seeking. As the Herald reported, her administration said the two sides have reached an impasse and the city can’t afford the group’s demands.Another sticking point: the raises the union sought were voted in by the City Council as part of this year’s budget, but Wu nullified them. A Wu spokesperson stated that “this union’s and the City Council’s attempts to circumvent the collective bargaining process through the budgeting process were unfortunate and unfair to all of the city’s labor partners” who respect the proper protocols for nego...

Want to be scared out of your wits? See ‘Talk to Me’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:33 GMT

I’m going to bet that this buzzy Aussie fright film is going to become the thing-to-see with a group. This is what going to the movies is all about, right, the shared experience of being scared out of your wits?Written and directed by brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, who hail from Adelaide, Australia, making their feature film debut, “Talk to Me” is the story of a group of young people, who get their, ahem, hands on an embalmed hand encased in hardened clay and covered in runic signs. The hand allegedly once belonged to a psychic. In a pre-credit sequence, we see a young man looking for his brother at a raucous party, breaking down a door, getting his brother out of a room, only to have two very horrific things happen. This is BEFORE the opening credits.“Talk to Me” is about the terrible trouble young people can get themselves into, and Lord knows they can. We are introduced to an extended family. The single mother is Sue (the great, dazzling Miranda Otto of “The Lord of ...