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Europe’s plan to stabilize West Africa erupts — again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

BRUSSELS/PARIS — Europe’s hope it could buoy an island of stability in West Africa is drowning as Niger slips under military rule. The EU — and France particularly — bet big on Niger, with Paris sending resources and troops to the country and the EU committing €40 million to help train and equip the Nigerien military. The goal was to arrest Russia’s seeping influence in the region, eradicate burgeoning terrorist threats and stem the migration routes snaking through Niger. All of that is now in doubt. This week, Niger’s military — the same one the EU pledged to train — took the country’s democratically elected president hostage and proclaimed it was now in charge. As the coup unfolded, the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group was quick to take (dubious) credit for helping and Russian propagandists gladly spread the message widely. For Europe, it’s a major setback. The Continent has lost significant sway in the region after similar military coups in...

Murdered Maltese journalist’s son blasts EU media freedom law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

When a car bomb killed Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017, Brussels promised action to better protect journalists. The European Commission last year forwarded a directive to combat strategic lawsuits against public participation (or SLAPPs), which are used to censor and silence public critics.But in an interview with POLITICO’s EU Confidential podcast, Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son Andrew Caruana Galizia has lambasted the EU’s watershed anti-SLAPP law as insufficient. “In reality, the proposal as it stands would not have helped my mother in any of her cases,” he said. Daphne Caruana Galizia faced 43 civil and five criminal lawsuits at the time of her death.In recent years, the EU has seen a rise in SLAPPs: unfounded cases brought against journalists, activists or other public figures, often by wealthy and powerful people, which explicitly aim to stifle free speech and kill legitimate investigation or criticism. Unfounded cases place a massive financial bu...

4 workers rushed to the hospital after fall from scaffolding in Milford

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

Four workers were rushed to the hospital Friday afternoon after falling from scaffolding while working on a project on Main Street in Milford. Emergency crews responded to the scene around 3 p.m. Two of the injured people were taken to nearby Milford Hospital. Two others who suffered more serious injuries were taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center.Crews could still be seen cleaning up the area around 5 p.m. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration and police are inspecting the building and working to determine what caused the fall.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Authorities searching for person who fled multi-vehicle crash in Topsfield that left 1 dead, 1 seriously injured

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

Authorities are still searching for a person who ran away from a multi-vehicle crash on I-95 in Topsfield on Friday that left one person dead and another person hospitalized with serious injuries, officials said.Troopers responding to a reported crash near Exit 70 around 4:20 p.m. learned that three vehicles had been involved in a chain-reaction crash, according to a statement issued by Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker. The first vehicle ended up in the breakdown lane, the second vehicle collided with the third vehicle, which ended up overturned in the median. Two passengers of the third vehicle were ejected. One was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was flown to a hospital in Boston.The name of the person who died has not been released.Two other passengers of the third vehicle were taken to the hospital. Two occupants of the first vehicle ran away into the woods, where one was captured, Tucker said. The other is still being sought. The cause of the crash remains under i...

Trump and his top 2024 primary rivals mostly ignore the case against him during key Iowa GOP event

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump and his top rivals for the GOP presidential nomination took the stage one by one Friday night to address an influential gathering of Iowa Republicans, with none of the top-tier hopefuls mentioning that new federal charges had been filed against the former president just a day earlier.Instead, Trump’s competitors mostly reserved their sharpest criticism for President Joe Biden and a Democratic Party they argued had lost touch with mainstream America — failing to pounce on additional counts over Trump’s retention of classified documents that might have otherwise been an opportunity to cut into his comfortable early lead in the polls.“The time for excuses is over. We must get the job done,” said Ron DeSantis. “I will get the job done.”The Florida governor also repeated his frequent promise to halt the “weaponization” of the Justice Department, an allusion to Trump’s legal troubles. But he offered no specific thoughts on the cases against...

Pedestrian struck and killed in Scarborough, impaired driver arrested

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

A pedestrian has died after being struck by an alleged impaired driver in Scarborough.Toronto police were called to the Ellesmere Road and Warden Avenue area around 10:15 p.m. on Friday for reports of a collision involving a pedestrian.Investigators said the pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene. An impaired driver was taken into police custody.No other details were provided.Road closures are expected in the area, including northbound Warden Avenue, closed at Ellesmere Road, and southbound Warden Avenue, closed at Sylla Avenue.

UN says it’s forced to cut food aid to millions globally because of a funding crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations has been forced to cut food, cash payments and assistance to millions of people in many countries because of “a crippling funding crisis” that has seen its donations plummet by about half as acute hunger is hitting record levels, a top official said Friday.Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, told a news conference that at least 38 of the 86 countries where WFP operates have already seen cuts or plan to cut assistance soon — including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and West Africa.He said WFP’s operating requirement is $20 billion to deliver aid to everyone in need, but it was aiming for between $10 billion and $14 billion, which was what the agency had received in the past few years.“We’re still aiming at that, but we have only so far this year gotten to about half of that, around $5 billion,” Skau said.He said humanitarian needs were “going through the roof” in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war...

Aaron Hernandez’s brother now facing federal charges over alleged threatening messages

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The troubled brother of the late NFL player Aaron Hernandez was charged Friday, now in federal court, with new counts of threatening and stalking after authorities say he threatened to shoot up the University of Connecticut and kill three people in another state. Dennis Hernandez was ordered to be held in custody after his appearance in the court in Hartford. A message seeking comment was sent Friday night to his attorney. The new charges came days after it emerged that Hernandez was arrested July 18 on state charges after police said he threatened to kill officers and then urged them to shoot him at his home in Bristol. Officers had gone there after two people close to him raised concerns about his mental health, police said.The arrest report said the 37-year-old had sent threatening messages, including ones about carrying out a shooting at UConn. He was a Huskies quarterback and wide receiver who went by DJ Hernandez in the mid-2000s. Court filings in the ne...

Man questioned in Montana after Arizona woman reappears following four years missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — A man was detained and questioned by police and his Montana apartment searched as authorities tried to piece together the mysterious disappearance and sudden reappearance this week of Alicia Navarro, who was 14 when she vanished from her Arizona home four years ago.Police on Friday provided no details about Wednesday’s search or the identity of the man, who was released. But Garrett Smith, who lives in the apartment next to the one that was searched, said for at least a year Navarro lived there with the man who was questioned. He described them as quiet and said he hasn’t seen the man since the night police were there.Navarro’s whereabouts were revealed Sunday when she showed up at the Havre police station and told officers she wanted her name removed from the missing persons list. Police in Glendale, Arizona, the community where she lived before disappearing, held a news conference Wednesday to announce that she’d been found.Outside of a brief video appearance a...

Judge criticizes prosecutors’ handling of Venezuela case against ex-Miami congressman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami on Friday criticized prosecutors for an apparent attempt to undercut a court order and take control of a oceanside condo belonging to a former Republican congressman ahead of a high-profile trial connected to a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government.When David Rivera and an associate were charged last November with money laundering and acting as unregistered foreign agents for President Nicolás Maduro’s government, prosecutors obtained a judge’s order freezing several banking and brokerage accounts as well as Florida properties that they said were the product of some $24 million in ill-gotten gains.Prosecutors also blocked eight more properties belonging to Rivera and his associate in Florida and Georgia that, while unrelated to criminal activity, would likely be seized if the two are found guilty.This month, in a harshly worded ruling, Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said that the government had no right...