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US envoy flies to Beirut in a surprise visit, says Washington doesn’t want Gaza war to expand

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

BLIDA, Lebanon (AP) — A top U.S. envoy said in Beirut Tuesday that Washington doesn’t want the ongoing war in Gaza to expand to Lebanon after a Lebanese woman and her three granddaughters were killed in an Israeli strike two days ago.The comments from Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden come during a previously unannounced visit to Beirut to discuss the volatile situation with Lebanon’s parliament speaker and caretaker prime minister. Hochstein told reporters after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that restoring calm along Lebanon’s southern border is of “utmost importance.”Hochstein said he heard Berri’s concerns over the tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border where fighters of the militant group Hezbollah and their allies have been exchanging fire with Israeli troops for about a month, after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct.7.“The United States does not want to see conflict in Gaza escalating and expanding into Lebanon,” Hochstein sa...

Steinbrenner questioned players over whether Boone should return as Yankees manager

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner questioned current and former players along with staff on whether to keep Aaron Boone before deciding the New York manager will return next year.“We had a winning season. … That’s not an accomplishment, that’s a requirement,” Steinbrenner said Tuesday during an online news conference.Boone replaced Joe Girardi before the 2018 season. New York faded from contention by mid-August and finished 82-80, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.“He’s extremely intelligent. He’s hardworking. The players respect him,” Steinbrenner said. “He’s able to take all the information we throw his way.”Boone is entering the final season of his contract. Steinbrenner said he typically does not consider early extensions.New York fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson at the All-Star break and his replacement, Sean Casey, left after the season.Steinbrenner said the team is relying heavily on a pair of former general m...

Victor Wembanyama’s NBA education is underway. The French teen is passing the early tests

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

Here’s some of what San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama has experienced so far in the NBA: Scoring 38 points in a game, playing in a back-to-back for the first time, being part of two 40-point losses, wasting a huge lead and losing, overcoming a huge deficit and winning.It’s been an education.And by all accounts, the French rookie who stands nearly 7-foot-4 is passing the tests.Wembanyama’s numbers so far — 19.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. The last player to have such averages over the first seven games of his career was Shaquille O’Neal in 1992. Back then, the consensus was O’Neal was one of a kind. The refrains are familiar today.“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said.It’s a different game now, but it’s hard to argue what Carlisle is saying when factoring in the inside-outside game that Wembanyama possesses. There’s never been a rookie who averaged so many points and rebounds along with one 3-pointer made per game. Larry Bird was the ...

Area of deadly Park Hill shooting has a history of violent crime

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A day after a shooting that left two people dead and five others injured, there were still remnants of the chaos that broke out at a place Denver Police described as the Hells Lovers Motorcycle Club.The shooting took place Sunday around 3 a.m. and, in addition to the seven people who were shot, bullets also entered nearby businesses. 73-year-old man found shot to death in Lone Tree Police described the place as an after-hours club located at 5514 E. 33rd Ave., a notable crime spot according to the Denver Police Department."There have been incidents in this block of 33rd and Hudson. We've had several homicides and several shootings," Denver police commander Matt Clark said.While investigators were at the scene Monday morning, surveillance cameras were visible on the sidewalk where the shooting occurred. It's not clear if a nearby HALO camera operated by the city captured the shooting.Neighbors talking to FOX31's Vicente Arenas said they are concerned."Violence ther...

No. 10 FAU kept its Final Four team together. The Owls hope that leads to a bigger prize

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — It was logical to think when Florida Atlantic’s season ended in the Final Four last spring that everything would change.Dusty May surely would be going to a bigger coaching job and getting a much larger paycheck. The Owls’ best players would either be going to the NBA or to higher-profile schools, moves that would have likely come with richer sponsorship opportunities.Only none of it happened.May is still in Boca Raton. All his players, except one who graduated and exhausted his eligibility, are still in Boca Raton. A couple of guys briefly dipped a toe into the NBA draft waters, but nobody entered the transfer portal.So, when No. 10 FAU — which has its highest ranking and loftiest expectations ever — opens its season Wednesday at Loyola Chicago, the Owls from the Final Four last season will be the Owls in the first game this season. And the reasons seem very clear.“It’s their commitment to each other,” May said.“We’re family, and we mean it,” guard Alijah Ma...

AfD in Saxony-Anhalt classified as right-wing extremist

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

The Saxony-Anhalt state chapter of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been classified as a right-wing extremist group by Germany’s domestic intelligence service. Strong evidence of democratic violations by the party — including Islamophobic, anti-semitic and racist statements by elected officials — were collected by the German authorities and “prove the efforts of this party against the free democratic basic order,” said Jochen Hollmann, head of the country’s domestic intelligence service, to German news outlet mdr on Tuesday. AfD is now classified as having “definitely extremist aspirations” — the highest threat category used by the domestic intelligence service, which allows intelligence services to increase monitoring of the party branch. AfD has become increasingly extreme since its founding in 2013, with the Saxony-Anhalt AfD branch suspected of being the first to radicalize in January 2021. According to the autho...

Boris Johnson asked to be injected with COVID virus on TV to calm public, inquiry hears

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

LONDON — Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with the coronavirus live on television at the start of the pandemic to show the virus “did not pose a threat,” the U.K.’s official coronavirus inquiry heard Tuesday.The claim came in a witness statement to the ongoing probe from Edward Lister, the then-prime minister’s chief of staff from 2019-2021 and a trusted aide who also worked with Johnson as mayor of London. He said Johnson “suggested to senior civil servants and advisors that he wanted to be injected with Covid-19 on television to demonstrate to the public that it did not pose a threat.”Lister, now a Conservative member of the House of Lords, said the comments came “at a time when COVID was not seen as being the serious disease it subsequently became,” and described it as an “unfortunate comment.” Noting that he was unsure of the exact timing of the comment, he said it was “made in the heat of the moment.”It’s the second time such a claim has been made abou...

Belgium in race to burn seized cocaine before gangs steal it back

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

Belgium’s drug gangs want their cocaine back.The country has seized so much of the white powder lately that it now faces a new problem: Its stashes of confiscated cocaine are becoming a target for criminals looking to steal them back.Belgium and the Netherlands are among the top European destinations for drugs coming from Latin America — mostly cocaine — and seizures in Belgium have ramped up over recent months. But while the Netherlands has the ability to incinerate any cocaine it seizes the same day, Belgium is not there yet — giving criminals an irresistible opportunity.“We used to seize quantities that were part of the calculated risk for criminal organizations,” Ine Van Wymersch, Belgium’s drugs commissioner, told public broadcaster VRT on Tuesday evening. “But the quantities we seize today are much bigger and no longer part of the calculated risk. [Drug criminals] are clearly willing to go great lengths to recuperate the drugs.”On Friday, t...

Ukraine fumes as Polish truckers block border crossings

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

WARSAW — Polish truckers are blocking border crossings with Ukraine to protest an EU deal that allows easy access for much cheaper Ukrainian drivers into the bloc.This follows a Polish ban of Ukrainian grain imports to protect farmers from an influx of cheap produce from its war-torn neighbor. Unlike the grain blockade, which was imposed by the Polish government, the trucker protests aren’t sanctioned by Warsaw.Starting Monday, the protesters blocked three key border crossings at Dorhusk-Yagodin, Korczowa-Krakovets and Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska and said they’re going to halt commercial traffic until the government in Warsaw and decision-makers in Brussels restore limits on transport operations for Ukrainian haulers that used to be in place before Russia invaded Ukraine last year.“We’re going to do it the way farmers did — keep protesting until the government acknowledges there is a problem and does something about it,” said Jacek Sokół, who owns a small trucking company in Łuków in ...

‘Tiger King’ star pleads guilty to trafficking endangered species

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:22:58 GMT

(CNN) — Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, who appeared in the 2020 Netflix docuseries “Tiger King,” has pleaded guilty to wildlife trafficking and money laundering charges, according to federal court records.Antle, 63, who is not the first figure from “Tiger King” to face criminal charges, admitted in court to directing the sale or purchase of two cheetah cubs, two lion cubs, two tigers and one juvenile chimpanzee – all of which are protected under the Endangered Species Act, the US Attorney in South Carolina said in a news release.“Antle used bulk cash payments to hide the transactions and falsified paperwork to show non-commercial transfers entirely within one state. Antle also requested that payments for endangered species be made to his nonprofit so they could appear as ‘donations’,” the release said.“The defendant held himself out as a conservationist, yet repeatedly violated laws protecting endangered animals and then tried to cover up those violations,” Assistant Attorney ...