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‘Stalinist.’ Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny gets 19 more years in prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

A Russian court on Friday sentenced opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to an additional 19 years in a maximum-security prison, finding him guilty on extremism charges in what critics have lambasted as a “sham trial.”Navalny, who is already serving a nine-year prison term in a maximum-security facility in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers east of Moscow, now faces decades behind bars.Prosecutors had requested a 20-year sentence for Navalny, who said on social media on Thursday before the verdict that he expected to receive a lengthy “Stalinist” sentence.“When the figure is announced, please show solidarity with me and other political prisoners by thinking for a minute why such an exemplary huge term is necessary,” he wrote. “Its main purpose is to intimidate. You, not me.”Although he has visibly lost weight, Navalny cut a relaxed figure, chatting to co-defendant Daniel Kholodny ahead of the hearing and appearing to crack jokes with the defense team while the verd...

Kremlin critic Navalny convicted of extremism and sentenced to 19 years in prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

MELEKHOVO, Russia (AP) — A Russian court convicted imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny on charges of extremism and sentenced him to 19 years in prison Friday. Navalny is already serving a nine-year term on a variety of charges that he says were politically motivated.The new charges related to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. It was his fifth criminal conviction and the third and longest prison term handed to him, all of which his supporters see as a deliberate Kremlin strategy to silence its most ardent opponent. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he would serve this new term concurrently with his current sentence on charges of fraud and contempt of court. The prosecution had demanded a 20-year prison sentence, and the politician himself said beforehand that he expected to receive a lengthy term. Navalny was also sentenced in 2021 to two and a half years in prison for a parole violation. The extre...

Column: Chicago Cubs face a measuring stick for October with a weekend series against the MLB-best Atlanta Braves

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

The best team in baseball comes to Wrigley Field on Friday when the Atlanta Braves meet the Chicago Cubs for a three-game series.Shortstop Dansby Swanson faces his former teammates for the first time since signing a seven-year, $177 million deal in December, and the Cubs get a chance to prove their recent 13-3 stretch isn’t just a byproduct of a soft part of the schedule.If not for Lollapalooza, the Cubs-Braves series might be the hottest ticket in town. After their 5-3 victory against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night at Wrigley Field, the Cubs are 30-17 since June 9, the second-best winning percentage in baseball behind the Braves’ .705 (32-13).They’re 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and two games back of the third wild-card spot.It’s a proverbial measuring-stick series for a Cubs team that’s barely over .500 but looking more and more like it could do damage in the postseason if it makes it — like last ...

Pioneering mothers are breaking down barriers to breastfeeding in Olympic sports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

PARIS (AP) — When Clarisse Agbégnénou won her sixth world judo title, confirming the reigning Olympic champion as one of the athletes to watch at next year’s Paris Games, the French star’s smallest but greatest fan was less wild about her mother’s newest gold medal than she was about her breast milk.After a peckish day of few feeds — because mum had been busy putting opponents through the wringer — 10-month-old Athéna made amends that night.“She didn’t let my boobs out of her mouth,” Agbégnénou says. “I was like, ‘Wow, okay.’ I think it was really something for her.”Breastfeeding and high-performance sports were long an almost impossible combination for top female athletes, torn for decades between careers or motherhood, because having both was so tough.But that’s becoming less true ahead of the 2024 Olympics, where women will take another step forward in their long march for equality, competing in equal numbers with men for the first time, and with pio...

US employers add a still-solid 187,000 jobs in July; unemployment dips to 3.5%

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The job market has cooled over the summer. But it’s still strong enough to defy predictions that higher interest rates would tip the United States into recession. U.S. employers added 187,000 jobs last month, fewer than expected. But the unemployment rate dipped to 3.5% in a sign that the job market remains resilient.Hiring was up from 185,000 in June, a figure that the Labor Department revised down from an originally reported 209,000. Economists had expected to see 200,000 new jobs in July.Still last month’s hiring was solid, considering that the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest 11 times since March 2022. And the Fed’s inflation fighters will welcome news that more Americans entered the job market last month, easing pressure on employers to raise wages to attract and keep staff.“This is a good strong report,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at the jobs website ZipRecruiter. ”The worst fears that people had of a painful downtur...

Global food prices rise after Russia ends grain deal and India restricts rice exports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Global prices for food commodities like rice and vegetable oil have risen for the first time in months after Russia pulled out of a wartime agreement allowing Ukraine to ship grain to the world, and India restricted some of its rice exports, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, increased 1.3% in July over June, driven by higher costs for rice and vegetable oil. It was the first uptick since April, when higher sugar prices bumped up the index slightly for the first time in a year. Commodity prices have been falling since hitting record highs last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Disrupted supplies from the two countries exacerbated a global food crisis because they’re leading suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable food products, especially to nations in parts of Africa, the Middle East an...

Mississippi governor ignores low-budget challengers in GOP primary, focusing on Democrat in November

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves barely acknowledges his two challengers in next week’s Republican primary — a clear indication that he expects to secure his party’s nomination.Reeves is already focusing his energy on defeating Brandon Presley, a utility regulator who is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Reeves brings the power of incumbency, but Democrats are hoping the cousin of rock legend Elvis Presley can break Republicans’ 20-year hold on the governorship.Reeves’ Republican primary opponents, Dr. John Witcher and David Grady Hardigree, have never held public office. Reeves has won five statewide campaigns since 2003 — two for treasurer, two for lieutenant governor and one for governor.Unseating any governor is difficult, and the task is even larger when the incumbent has a hefty campaign fund. Reeves is sitting on more than $9 million, while Witcher has spent about $64,000 and Hardigree has spent less than $800.Witcher, 57, is a...

As Typhoon Khanun makes a U-turn, residents of Okinawa brace for another lashing with wind and rain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Residents of Japan’s southwestern islands were warned of high winds and rain Friday through the weekend as Typhoon Khanun made a U-turn and is now moving back east.The Japan Meteorological Agency said Khanun was heading to Okinawa and nearby islands that were already lashed by its winds and rain earlier this week.Khanun had sustained surface winds of 126 kph (78 mph) with higher gusts Friday afternoon, the JMA said. Up to 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) of rain was expected in the Okinawa region by Saturday and up to 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) in the Amami region, an island group belonging to the main southern island of Kyushu, by Sunday, the JMA said.Khanun was stronger on its first pass, with sustained winds of 180 kph (111 mph), when it crossed the islands Tuesday, damaging homes and knocking out power. The Okinawa prefectural government said 47 people were injured, three of them seriously. Two deaths were being investigated as typhoon-related but are not include...

New York authorities identify woman whose remains were found along Long Island coast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) — Law enforcement authorities said Friday they’ve identified a woman whose remains were found as far back as 1996 in different spots along the Long Island coast, some of them near the Gilgo Beach locations of bodies investigators believe were left by a serial killer.The woman, who investigators had called the “Jane Doe No. 7,” was Karen Vergata, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said Friday. She was 34.He said she disappeared around Feb. 14, 1996, and had been living in Manhattan.Her partial remains were first discovered in 1996 on Fire Island. More of her bones were later found near Gilgo Beach in 2011.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) — Law enforcement authorities in New York have scheduled a news conference Friday to announce a new development in their investigation of multiple sets of human remains found along the Long Island coast, some of which have been blamed on the work of a serial...

Enbridge sees $1.8 billion profit in Q2 as Mainline pipeline settlement reached

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:16:08 GMT

CALGARY — Enbridge Inc. says its most recent quarter delivered a profit of $1.8 billion as it reached a settlement with shippers for tolls on its Mainline pipeline system and moved toward proceeding with its Rio Bravo pipeline project.The Calgary-based pipeline giant says its second-quarter profit compared with $450 million a year earlier.Enbridge’s first-quarter profit amounted to 91 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30 compared with 22 cents per share in the same quarter a year earlier.On an adjusted basis, Enbridge said it earned 68 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 67 cents per share a year earlier.The result matched the average analyst estimate for adjusted profit per share, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.The company says its financial results come as it reached a seven-and-a-half-year agreement in principle on its Mainline pipeline that is subject to regulatory approvals.This report by The Canadian Press was...