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Battenfeld: Rachael Rollins exit an example of bad judgement by Biden, Elizabeth Warren

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

Thanks, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.Can’t wait to find out who you recommend next to be U.S. Attorney. Is Monica Cannon Grant available?Warren and Markey should be held accountable for giving our state U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, a call that has spectacularly flamed out and stands as one of the worst appointments Joe Biden has ever made.Even after Rollins – at the time the Suffolk District Attorney – harassed a motorist in a parking lot and pulled a nutty on a TV reporter outside her home, Markey and Warren still thought it would be great to promote her to the Justice Department’s top Massachusetts law enforcement post.The two Massachusetts senators put out a statement on Wednesday calling the Rollins reports “deeply troubling” and agreeing with her decision to resign.But the reality is they should have known that Rollins would be a disaster. There were plenty of warning signs.Rollins is resigning in disgrace on Friday amid damning dual reports by the Department of Justice Ins...

Ravens’ Odafe Oweh using last season’s struggles as motivation in ‘critically important’ third year

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

David Ojabo is sick of talking about last year. The Ravens outside linebacker fell to the second round of the draft after tearing his Achilles tendon during his pro day at Michigan, didn’t make his debut until Week 14 and played just three games.Odafe Oweh — Ojabo’s friend and former high school teammate from New Jersey — looks at last season differently, though.“I never forget,” he said during the Ravens’ voluntary “football school” on Wednesday. “I use it as motivation.“As a competitor, you remember things that you’ve gotta work on, that you missed on so you can bounce back the next year.”The Ravens could use the bounce back.Despite a dominant training camp last summer, the 6-foot-5, 251-pound outside linebacker who the Ravens spent a first-round draft pick on in 2021 saw his production drop from five sacks as a rookie to three in 2022.It wasn’t just getting to the quarterback where he struggled, e...

‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ debuts Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford will swing into Cannes on Thursday for the world premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” in one of the most anticipated events of the French Riviera festival.Ford, who has said “Dial of Destiny” will be his last performance as the character, is also set to receive an honorary Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Cannes feted “Top Gun Maverick” and Tom Cruise in a similar manner. It’s not the first “Indiana Jones” film to premiere in Cannes. The fourth installment, “Indiana and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” launched at the 2008 edition of the festival. Critics and fans alike dismissed “Crystal Skull” as a misjudged sequel, though it still made $790 million worldwide. This time, “Dial of Destiny” is hoping to make a similar if not larger global impact without its famous filmmakers. The new film, which the Walt Disney Co. will release June 30 in the U.S., is the first “Indiana” film not di...

Jill Biden touts efforts to bring better internet to Alaska Native villages

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — For years, when the tiny Alaska Native village of Rampart’s awful internet service would go down, the only way to reach the outside world was to await the small airplane that touched down daily with supplies and the occasional visitor.“We had no way of getting ahold of anybody out of Rampart other than going to the airport and telling the pilot,” said tribal administrator Margaret Moses. The pilot would relay messages — including word of medical emergencies — after flying 100 miles (161 kilometers) to Fairbanks.The Koyukon Athabascan village of about 50 people eventually upgraded to a satellite company, at a hefty price of $3,000 a month. It’s one of scores of Alaska Native villages where spotty and expensive internet coverage is the norm — if it’s available at all. And such service can be the only lifeline for remote communities, many of which can be reached only by boat or plane. Now, efforts to address inequities in a longstanding digita...

China asks Australia to increase search for 39 aboard capsized boat as 2 bodies reportedly found

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A Chinese envoy asked Australian authorities on Thursday to increase efforts to find survivors in the search for 39 crew members who were aboard a Chinese fishing boat that capsized in the Indian Ocean, as Chinese media reported two bodies had been recovered.“We wish that they could send more — more aircraft, more ships and more staff,” Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian told reporters. “We wish that our Australian colleagues would coordinate with other international or foreign vessels or ships near that area … to help the search and rescue to save as many lives as possible.”Xiao said China wanted to coordinate with “friendly countries,” including Australia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, in the search and rescue effort.The search coordinator, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, said three aircraft and seven ships including three Chinese navy ships were involved in the search in the center of the Indian Ocean on Thursday. A Sri Lankan navy shi...

Top leaders of Pakistan, Iran inaugurate border market in their first meeting in 10 years

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The top leaders of Pakistan and Iran on Thursday inaugurated the first border market as relations warm between the two countries, officials said.Located in the remote village of Pashin in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, the marketplace is the first of six to be constructed along the Pakistan-Iran border under a 2012 agreement signed by the two sides.Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also inaugurated an electricity transmission line, which will provide some of Pakistan’s remote regions with Iranian electricity. In a televised meeting, Sharif, sitting next to Raisi, assured him Pakistan would do its best to improve security along the Iranian border. He added that both sides agreed to enhance trade and economic ties, and extended an invitation to Raisi to visit the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Iran-Pakistani relations have been contentious because of cross-border attacks by Pakistani militants along their s...

Biden consults with Japan’s Kishida ahead of Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — President Joe Biden arrived in Japan on Thursday and greeted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida by saying, “When our countries stand together, we stand stronger” — a sign of how the economic and national security alliance between the two countries has grown.The U.S. president began his remarks by noting that Kishida said during a January Washington visit that the world faced one of the “most complex” security environments in recent history. “I couldn’t agree with you more,” Biden said.“We very much welcome that the cooperation has evolved in leaps and bounds,” Kishida told Biden about Japan’s relationship with the U.S. in their meeting ahead of the Group of Seven summit that begins Friday.The Kishida family’s home city of Hiroshima will host the gathering of major industrialized nations known at the G-7. The setting of Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped the first nuclear bomb in 1945 during World War II, carries newfound resonance. T...

Leader of Thai opposition party that won election announces 8-party coalition plan to take power

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The leader of the progressive opposition party that won a stunning victory in Thailand’s national election said Thursday that eight parties have agreed to form a coalition government with him as prime minister, despite fears among supporters that his military-aligned opponents may use the unelected Senate to block them.Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat said at a news conference that the proposed coalition would have a total of 313 seats in the House of Representatives, a solid majority of its 500 members.But under Thailand’s Constitution, drafted under military rule after a 2014 coup, the lower house and the 250-seat Senate must vote together to select a new prime minister. All of the senators were appointed by the military junta that took power after the coup. Because of the joint vote, Sunday’s election victor is not certain to take power.“The key message of today’s news conference is to assure the public that my coalition is firmly taking shape,” sa...

84-year-old climber rescued from mountain in Nepal while seeking record

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An 84-year-old climber attempting to become the oldest person to summit all the world’s highest peaks was rescued Thursday from a mountain in Nepal where he was injured.Spanish climber Carlos Soria was attempting to scale Mount Dhaulagiri but was hurt on his way to the top. He was flown from the mountain by a rescue helicopter and brought to a hospital in Kathmandu for treatment. Sherpa guides and fellow climbers had helped him down the mountain to base camp after he was injured on Wednesday.Soria had scaled 12 of the 14 highest mountains in the world above 8,000 meters (26,240 feet) including Mount Everest, which is the tallest of them all.Hundreds of climbers and their guides try to scale the highest peaks in Nepal during the popular spring mountaineering season when the weather conditions on the mountains are most favorable. The season begins in March and ends in May after which the weather deteriorates, making it dangerous to remain on the mountain....

SUV smashes into restaurant in downtown Toronto, police investigating

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

Police are investigating after a vehicle crashed into the front doors of a restaurant in downtown Toronto.Officers were called to Yonge and Wellington streets around 4:30 a.m. Thursday for reports of a collision.Images from the scene show a BMW SUV with significant front-end damage and the smashed-in front doors of a Subway restaurant.Police say one person suffered minor injuries. It’s unclear what caused the crash.Yonge Street was closed from King to Wellington for the investigation but the road has since reopened.Toronto police are investigating after a vehicle crashed into the front of a Subway restaurant in downtown Toronto. CITYNEWS/Bertram Dandy