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Lukashenko’s Belarus isn’t going anywhere just yet

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

Sergei Kuznetsov is a freelance journalist covering Eastern Europe. His work has been published in European outlets, including the Financial Times and POLITICO.The health of a nation’s leader would hardly disrupt the stability of a country with democratically elected institutions and prevailing rule of law. However, it may spell great trouble for authoritarian Belarus, where the entire political system has been concentrated in the hands of a single person.Sixty-eight-year-old Alexander Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994, and his apparently shattered health was thrust into the spotlight recently, after an unusual public absence for almost a week after the Victory Day parade in Moscow earlier this month.Lukashenko looked unhealthy during the celebrations, which he left ahead of other attending post-Soviet leaders. And when he reappeared in public in Belarus, his battered appearance and bandaged left arm only added to mounting speculation regarding his condition.“There are many ru...

Greece’s ruling conservatives in election pole position but messy outcome likely

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

ATHENS — Greece’s conservative ruling party is expected to come out on top in Sunday’s election, but the marathon to form a government may be just starting.The New Democracy party of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis maintains a safe lead over its main rival, the left-wing Syriza, according to the latest polls, despite his premiership being burdened with a spying scandal, spiraling inflation and mounting concerns over the rule of law. Perhaps most importantly in Sunday’s vote, his government has also faced pressure over its handling of a deadly train crash earlier this year. But Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras seems to be still carrying the baggage of the tumultuous first months of his leadership in 2015 at the height of the financial crisis, which led to Greece’s third international bailout program.Nonetheless, New Democracy is unlikely to get enough votes — 45 percent — to win an outright majority, as these elections are being held under a new proportional representation...

Woman sliced in the neck at South Shore Plaza in Braintree

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

An investigation got underway Friday after an altercation at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree. A woman working at the plaza was sliced in the neck and was seen being put into an ambulance after the incident. Braintree police later confirmed the incident happened just before 6 p.m., describing the woman’s injury as “minor.” The woman’s coworkers said she works at the Madrag store on the second floor of the mall, where they said she was followed and attacked on her break. Other mall employees said they heard a scream and saw security and police officers running. Police spent hours at the mall Friday evening, maintaining a presence on top of a mall parking garage. The site of this incident, the South Shore Plaza has previously also been the scene of other violent situations in recent years. Last year, a 26-year-old man was shot inside the mall. He later died at a hospital. In 2020, a 15-year-old girl, described as an innocent bystander, was hit twice during a...

Baseball fans gather at Fenway Park for 11th annual Boston College ALS Awareness Game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

Baseball fans swarmed Fenway Park Friday for the 11th annual Boston College ALS Awareness Game.BC faced Norte Dame in the game, raising money for the Pete Frates Family Foundation, which helps ALS patients and their families with the cost of specialized home health care required as the disease progresses. Friday’s game was also a celebration of life for former BC captain Pete Frates. Frates, who passed away in 2019 after a seven-year battle with ALS, also inspired the viral Ice Bucket Challenge.“I get a lot of people saying, ‘What do you think Pete would think?’ and I said ‘Well, Pete would be so honored’ because Pete was so honored that everyone did the Ice Bucket Challenge,” Frates’ mother, Nancy Frates told 7NEWS. “I know what Pete would think tonight,” she continued. “‘Those bird ball guys better win.’ Because that would be top of mind.”The Ice Bucket Challenge raised millions of dollars toward ALS research.

Francisco Lindor hits walk-off against former team to cap thriller against Cleveland Guardians in extra innings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

Pete Alonso continues to put together an MVP campaign carrying the Mets as of late, but he needed some help from Francisco Lindor to secure the victory.Lindor came up huge in the bottom on the 10th inning, hitting a walk-off single to defeat his former team, 10-9. It was his first ever game against Cleveland.Guardians pinch-hitter Gabriel Arias almost got Cleveland the win. He hit a two-run homer off of reliever Drew Smith in the top of the 10th to go up 9-7. It was Smith’s first homer given up this season.Arias almost spoiled the night for the Alonso and the Mets. The slugger, with the Mets down four runs in the seventh inning, smoked a grand slam 400 feet to right-center field to tie the game and give hope to the home crowd. It was Alonso’s 17th homer of the season and the fourth in as many days.This matchup started out rough.Guardians manager Terry Francona said pregame that he “loves” former Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco but hoped to “beat his b...

Debt limit talks start, stop as Republicans, White House face ‘serious differences’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

By LISA MASCARO, FARNOUSH AMIRI and ZEKE MILLER (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Debt limit talks between the White House and House Republicans stopped, started and stopped again Friday at the U.S. Capitol, a dizzying series of events in high-stakes negotiations to avoid a potentially catastrophic federal default.President Joe Biden’s administration is reaching for a deal with Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as the nation faces a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise the country’s borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, to keep paying the nation’s bills. Republicans are demanding steep spending cuts the Democrats oppose.Negotiations came to an abrupt standstill earlier in the day when McCarthy said it’s time to “pause” talks. But the negotiating teams convened again in the evening only to quickly call it quits for the night. The president, who has been in Japan attending the Group of Seven summit, had no immediate public comme...

Orioles beat Blue Jays, 6-2, behind Ryan Mountcastle’s 3-run homer, Kyle Gibson’s steady start

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

The Orioles’ first game against the Toronto Blue Jays in 2023 was similar to many the teams have played over the past few years.Not as much in the fact that Baltimore won the game, as the Orioles haven’t posted a winning record against their American League East foe since 2017. Rather, it was Ryan Mountcastle blasting a home run off Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi that evoked familiar feelings.Mountcastle clobbered a three-run home run off Kikuchi in the third inning to propel the Orioles to a 6-2 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. There are few pitchers, teams or venues the Orioles slugger is more effective against than those three.The 26-year-old entered Friday’s series opener with a 1.014 OPS against Toronto in his four-year career — his best mark off any team he’s tallied at least 50 plate appearances against. But it’s his success versus Kikuchi that is even more profound, as Mountcastle is now 5-for-10 with a double, four home runs R...

Man sought after groping child in East County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Authorities were asking for the public's help in identifying and locating a man suspected of groping a child in Santee, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO) said.The incident occurred Thursday around 4 p.m. near Big Rock Park in the 8100 block of Arlette Street, Lt. Anthony O'Boyle said in a news release Friday.A 12-year-old student from Chett F. Harritt School was walking towards the park when a man approached the girl and inappropriately touched her chest, according to the sheriff's department. The girl's friend was able to intervene and push away the suspect, who then took off on an electric black and gray scooter going eastbound towards Mesa Road, authorities said.The Santee Sheriff's Station received the report from the victim's mother and sent out an ASTREA helicopter to search for the suspect, per SDSO. He was not found. Rapper ‘Boosie’ charged with firearm possession after San Diego arrest The suspect, who has short hair and a mustache, is describe...

‘A day of joy:’ Brittney Griner set to open 1st WNBA season since detainment in Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the first time since last season, Phoenix coach Vanessa Nygaard opened her pregame comments without announcing how many days Brittney Griner had been jailed in Russia.Griner has been free s6-ince December when she was part of a high-profile prisoner swap. She hit the court for warmups about 90 minutes before the Mercury’s WNBA season opener against the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday night.“Until the day we got the news in the morning that she was on her way home, no one thought that it was going to happen,” Nygaard said. “We did our jobs probably with less joy than professional athletes do. It was heavy every day.”Not anymore.“Today is a day of joy,” Nygaard said. “An amazing, amazing thing has happened.”Griner scored 10 points in 17 minutes in an exhibition loss to the Sparks last week. It was the 32-year-old center’s first game action since she was arrested at a Moscow airport in February 2022 after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage ...

Former 49ers lobbyist testifies he received illegally leaked report on team’s political influence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:31 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The former chief lobbyist for the San Francisco 49ers has testified that a Silicon Valley city councilman illegally leaked a confidential report criticizing the team’s political influence, it was reported Friday.Rahul Chandhok told a criminal grand jury March 21 that Santa Clara City Councilmember Anthony Becker digitally sent him the report — which was made by a civil grand jury — last October, the San Francisco Chronicle reported after reviewing a transcript of his testimony. Prosecutors accuse Becker of providing the secret report to Chandhok and a local news outlet ahead of its official release and then lying to the grand jury about it. He has pleaded not guilty to one felony count of perjury under oath and a misdemeanor count of willful failure to perform duty. He could face up to four years in state prison if convicted.The 49ers play in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) south of San Francisco. Santa Clara owns the stadium ...