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Ukraine wants commitment on NATO membership bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

BRUSSELS — Kyiv is seeking a commitment on its NATO membership aspirations at a summit next month, Ukraine’s ambassador to the alliance said on Tuesday.Speaking to POLITICO in Brussels, Ukrainian Ambassador to NATO Natalia Galibarenko said her country wants “some kind of invitation — or at least commitment […] to look at the timeframe and modalities of our membership.”NATO leaders will gather in Vilnius in mid-July for the alliance’s annual summit, and the question of Ukraine’s membership push is set to be the most politically sensitive item on the agenda. But Galibarenko, who has been representing Ukraine at NATO since 2021, presented a clear understanding of that possibility.She acknowledged how, for many, any commitment “is a red line […] because they do believe that it creates a burden for them.” “I can understand the point — I cannot support it,” Galibarenko said, while underscoring that “we are realistic, we are not pushing right now to give us the membership.”...

Falmouth police issue ‘Missing Person Alert’ for 44-year-old man suffering from mental health conditions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

The Falmouth Police Department is asking for the public’s help in finding a 44-year-old man who is believed to suffer from mental health conditions, according to officials.The department said Adam Wacholder had been reported missing from 587 Gifford Street, describing him as a white male with a height of 6’1″ and weight of 220 pounds. Wacholder was also said to have brown eyes and black/white hair.Details on how long Wacholder has been missing or what direction he may have travelled in were not released. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Falmouth Police Department at 774-255-4527.

Boston police investigating “fraudulent enrollment” case after adult woman enrolled at multiple high schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

Boston Public Schools officials say an adult woman has been ordered to stay away from BPS facilities after authorities found she fraudulently enrolled in multiple high schools as a student.In a letter to the Jeremiah E. Burke High School community obtained by 7NEWS, Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper told students, parents and staff that the Boston Police Department was investigating after an adult woman allegedly used “falsified identification and paperwork to register as a student this academic year.”“At various points during the 2022-2023 school year, this individual attended the Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Brighton High School, and English High School utilizing the student transfer process and enrolling under multiple pseudonyms,” Skipper stated in the letter.According to the superintendent, actions were taken last week after a BPS staff member “observed irregularities in the paperwork on file and reported it to District leadership...

READ: Unsealed documents detailing Harmony Montgomery homicide investigation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

Documents detailing findings from the Harmony Montgomery homicide investigation have been unsealed in New Hampshire. The documents reveal how investigators learned from the 5-year-old girl’s stepmother, Kayla Montgomery, that Adam Montgomery, the child’s father, struck Harmony on Dec. 7, 2019, which appeared to cause her death.Read the 54 pages worth of documents released to the public here.216-2022-CR-02372 6 Unsealed Harmony Montgomery Homicide Investigation documentsDownload

Hunter Biden will plead guilty in a deal that likely avoids time behind bars in a tax and gun case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter has reached a deal with federal prosecutors on charges he failed to pay federal income tax and illegally possessed a weapon, according to a letter in U.S. District Court in Delaware, and will plead guilty to tax offenses but likely avoid time behind bars. Hunter Biden will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as part of the agreement made public Tuesday. The agreement will spare him prosecution on a charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user if he adheres to conditions set by prosecutors. It is somewhat unusual to resolve a federal criminal case at the same time the charges are filed in court, though it is not totally unheard of.The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into Biden’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden. It also averts a trial that would have gener...

Peter Jensen: Oriole’s players should be the next ‘Real Housewives’; bring reality TV to the MLB | COMMENTARY

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

. My most memorable experience in sports writing, which I’m no expert in, was helping cover Pete Rose when he surpassed Ty Cobb’s career base hits mark in 1985. I was a young reporter working for the now-defunct Cincinnati Post, and it was quite the jaw-dropping moment to walk into a real Major League Baseball locker room and ask questions of a legend like Rose. But I quickly learned something about baseball that everyone involved with the game no doubt takes for granted: The players were a bunch of kids. They acted like kids. They were excited by kid things. They had little awareness of the world around them, just about their game.Oh, they’d straighten up like they were in Sunday school for their on-camera moments with TV reporters or when the ballclub’s public relations staff dragged them to the podium to deal with the rest of the media. And their juvenilia wasn’t about chronological age. Rose was 44 years old on Sept. 11, 1985, when he officially rec...

Patriots cornerback Jack Jones pleads not guilty on weapons charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

Patriots cornerback Jack Jones pleaded not guilty to a medley of firearms-related charges and continues to be released on bail following his arraignment.Jones, 25, was arrested by Massachusetts State Police on Friday after they say two pistols were found in his carry-on bag as he was going through a TSA security checkpoint at Boston Logan International Airport, where MSP has jurisdiction, at around 5:30 p.m. He was planning to board a flight to Los Angeles, according to the initial TSA information of the incident which did not mention him by name.He was charged with two counts each of possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm and possession of a large-capacity feeding device. He posted $30,000 cash bail.Jones appeared in municipal court in East Boston Tuesday morning with his attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio.Related Articles Will P...

Hunter Biden agrees to plea agreement on federal tax, gun charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, will plead guilty to tax crimes in a plea deal with prosecutors, and he reached a diversion agreement relating to unlawful possession of a weapon, according to court papers filed Tuesday.The plea deal, which must be accepted by a judge, likely would keep Hunter Biden out of jail.Biden, 53, has been under investigation for tax matters since 2018. He reportedly paid off his tax liability in 2020, a sum that surpassed $1 million.Biden was charged with two counts of willful failure to pay income tax. The third charge stems from possession of a firearm in 2018, a weapon he was in possession of while using crack cocaine. Biden denied drug use when applying to secure the gun.In a separate agreement on the gun charge, the president's son will be entered into a pretrial diversion program, meaning those charges are likely to be removed from his record if he complies with the terms of the program. “With the announcement of two agreements between my cli...

Belarus human rights activist gets 7-year prison term for work documenting police crackdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Belarus convicted a prominent human rights activist Tuesday of “inciting social hatred” for her work documenting alleged police abuses against political opposition groups. The Minsk City Court sentenced Nasta Loika, 34 to seven years in prison. She rejected the charges as trumped up and said during her closed-door trial that police used an electroshock weapon on her during her arrest. Loika, who has spent nine months in custody, also said that she was once kept in the prison yard for eight hours without warm clothes in freezing winter temperatures and became gravely ill.She protested her treatment to the United Nations, and the U.N. human rights watchdog demanded last week that Belarusian authorities ensure her access to independent medical care.Loika’s prosecution came amid a relentless crackdown on dissent in Belarus, a Russian ally which President Alexander Lukashenko has led with an iron fist since 1994. Viasna, a Belarusian human rights ...

OSFI raises capital requirements for big banks to 3.5% amid higher debt levels

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:37 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s financial regulator is raising the amount of capital the country’s major banks need to have on hand to cover potential losses as it says financial system vulnerabilities remain elevated and in some cases have continued to increase.The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said Tuesday that the domestic stability buffer will increase by half a percentage point to 3.5 per cent, effective Nov. 1.It follows a move in December by the regulator to increase the buffer by half a percentage point to three per cent.The federal regulator said current vulnerabilities facing the banking industry include high household and corporate debt levels, the rising cost of debt and increased global uncertainty around fiscal and monetary policy.Peter Routledge, the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, said households and companies remain highly indebted, making them more vulnerable to economic shocks. “At the same time, the Canadian financial sector...