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Haitian businessman gets life sentence in 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami sentenced a Haitian-Chilean businessman Friday to life in prison for his role in helping a group of Colombian mercenaries obtain weapons to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.Rodolphe Jaar, who has dual Haitian and Chilean citizenship, had pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, and to providing material support resulting in death. Federal Judge José E. Martínez handed down the sentence at a hearing in federal court in downtown Miami. Jaar received the maximum sentence he faced despite pleading guilty and pledging to cooperate with investigators in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence.The businessman, who was an informant for the U.S. government and had been convicted of drug trafficking a decade ago, is one of 11 people arrested and charged in the United States for the murder of Moïse, and the only one to plead guilty. The other 10 are scheduled for a jury trial in July, ...

At least 9 killed in eastern Congo’s latest extremist rebel attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Extremist rebels in eastern Congo killed at least nine people with knives and guns, a civil society organization said Friday.The attack happened Thursday evening on the Kyondo-Kyavinyonge road in North Kivu province, said Meleki Mulala the coordinator for the Congolese civil society group for the Ruwenzori sector. Civilians were taken from their homes before they were killed, and many homes were looted, he said. The death toll is preliminary because some people are missing, Mulala said. He said members of the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel organization believed to have ties to the Islamic State group, carried out the attack. Conflict has simmered for decades in eastern Congo, where more than 120 armed groups are fighting. Most are vying for land and control of mines with valuable minerals, while some groups are trying to protect their communities.Since last April, ADF attacks have killed at least 370 civilians, and the group has abducted several hundred peo...

Gladbach coach Daniel Farke leaves after slump to 10th in Bundesliga

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

MOENCHENGLADBACH, Germany (AP) — Borussia Moenchengladbach coach Daniel Farke left the German club on Friday after his season in charge ended with the club missing out on qualifying for European competitions.Farke had been at Gladbach since June 2022 and led the team to a 10th-place finish in the Bundesliga after a late slump.That result was the same as the season before but represented a failure to turn around the club’s recent slide after qualifying regularly for European competitions over the previous decade, including three appearances in the Champions League since 2015.Gladbach said the decision followed a “detailed analysis” of the season. “After several intensive discussions, Daniel Farke and the club have come to the decision to go our separate ways,” sporting director Roland Virkus said in a statement.Farke was previously coach of Norwich in England from 2017-21 and left his next job with Russian club Krasnodar without coaching a single game following the Russian inva...

UN renews European Union’s authority to inspect ships suspected of violating Libya arms embargo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Friday renewing the European Union’s permission to inspect vessels off Libya’s coast suspected of violating the an arms embargo on the troubled North African nation.The vote on the resolution sponsored by France and Malta was 14-0, with Russia abstaining, just as it did last year. It claimed the EU operation has been ineffective in stopping the flow of illegal weapons to Libya.The brief resolution extends the authorization for inspections for a year and reaffirms the Security Council’s “determination that terrorism, in all forms and manifestations, constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace and security.” The authorization to monitor the U.N. arms embargo can be extended to other countries and regional organizations.Oil-rich Libya plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. It then became divided between rival governments — ...

Italian media say border police are under investigation over shipwreck that killed 94 migrants

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

ROME (AP) — Three members of Italy’s border police force are under investigation for a suspected role in a shipwreck off the country’s southern coast this year that killed more than 90 migrants, Italian news outlets reported Friday. Quoting from a search warrant issued by prosecutors, the Corriere della Sera newspaper said investigators cited “significant anomalies” in the activity log for a motorboat Italian border police used in an abandoned search for the overcrowded migrant vessel.A surveillance aircraft operated by European Union border and coast guard agency Frontex first spotted the old wooden boat in the Ionian Sea on the night of Feb. 25. The agency indicated to Italian authorities that no life vests were visible but the boat, which human smugglers had launched in Turkey, showed no signs of distress. Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, or financial police, which also has a border and customs role, dispatched two patrols to “intercept the vessel.” Not long after the search was calle...

Lo que se sabe de Noor Alfallah, la novia embarazada de Al Pacino

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

La leyenda de la actuación de 83 años Al Pacino y su novia, Noor Alfallah, aparecieron recientemente en los titulares después de que un representante del actor le confirmara a E ! News que está embarazada de ocho meses del cuarto hijo del actor. Antes de que se hiciera pública la noticia, Pacino y Alfallah mantuvieron su romance en gran parte en privado desde que fueron fotografiados juntos por primera vez en abril de 2022. Entonces, ¿quién es Alfallah? Aquí está todo lo que debes saber sobre la novia de Pacino: Famosos están teniendo hijos en la vejez: los médicos advierten sobre los riesgos en los bebés El actor Robert De Niro revela que acaba de tener un bebé a los 79 años; su séptimo hijo 1. Trabaja en la industria del entretenimiento: Está acreditada como productora del cortometraje de 2019 “La Petite Mort” y como productora ejecutiva del cortometraje de televisión de 2018 “Brosa Nostra”, según su pági...

El Salvador president wants to cut the number of municipalities from 262 to 44

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele says he wants to cut the number of municipalities in the country from 262 to 44 to reduce the tax burden.The proposal would require the approval of the country’s Legislative Assembly, in which Bukele’s party and its allies hold a majority. The president also proposed reducing the number of lawmakers in that body from 84 to 60.“How is it possible that in a territory of 8,100 square miles (21,000 square kilometers) we have 262 municipalities?” Bukele said in a speech Thursday marking his fourth year in office. The president’s New Ideas party controls the majority of the current municipalities.The president said the names of municipalities would not be lost because they would be converted into districts by the same name.The conservative National Republican Alliance (Arena) party said it saw clear electoral motivation behind the move just one year before Bukele plans to seek re-election despite a widespread interpretati...

Hard Rock Cafe in Denver to close this summer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The Hard Rock Cafe has been a staple of Denver's 16th Street Mall for more than two decades, but that run is coming to an end.Opened in 1998, the iconic chain restaurant's final day will be July 29. 3.9 earthquake hits Wyoming, just north of Colorado The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment reports it has been notified that 54 employees will be laid off when Hard Rock Cafe closes.The Denver location is the only one in Colorado, and once it closes the closest Hard Rock Cafe will be Las Vegas, which is about 10 hours away by car.The Hard Rock is a cornerstone business for the Denver Pavilions but not the only eatery at that specific portion of the mall. The Pavilions also house 5280 Burger Bar, Lucky Strike, Henry’s Tavern, Maggiano’s and several other restaurants.The 16th Street Mall has been under construction for several years and many businesses have closed along the shopping corridor since the COVID-19 pandemic began.The Denver Pavilions is located towar...

Police kill 14-year-old armed robbery suspect in Aurora

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) -- Police shot and killed a 14-year-old boy and took two more into custody after an armed robbery in Aurora on Thursday afternoon, according to interim Police Chief Art Acevedo. Friday morning, the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office identified the boy who was killed as Jor'Dell Da'Shawn Richardson.A regional search was underway for more young males, possibly teenagers, who fled the scene in a dark-colored Kia minivan, that had been reported stolen, Acevedo said. He did not release ages but said officers believe they were all boys.The dark-colored Kia Sedona minivan had a CNS-P11 plate, according to police.Acevedo said robbers took vapes from a store near 8th Avenue and Dayton Street. The boy who police shot and killed had a semiautomatic pistol when he threatened the store clerk, the chief said. 2 escaped inmates from Adams County jail taken into custody A sergeant with Aurora's Gang Intervention Unit first spotted the alleged robbers in hoodies and surgical ma...

Fitch warns it could still downgrade America’s credit rating despite debt ceiling resolution

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:53 GMT

New York (CNN) — Fitch Ratings is keeping the United States on watch for a potential credit rating downgrade even after Congress passed a last-minute bill to avert a disastrous default.In its first statement since the Senate passed the debt ceiling legislation Thursday night, Fitch Ratings on Friday said it is keeping the United States on rating watch negative and plans to make a decision on a potential downgrade by the end of September.Although the resolution to the debt ceiling fight is a “positive,” Fitch expressed deep concern about the recurring brinksmanship and worsening polarization in Washington.“Fitch believes that repeated political standoffs around the debt-limit and last-minute suspensions before the X-date (when the Treasury’s cash position and extraordinary measures are exhausted) lowers confidence in governance on fiscal and debt matters,” the ratings company said in a statement.That reasoning is similar to the rationale behind the&...