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GOP and FBI are at odds as Republicans move to stop the agency’s new headquarters after Trump probes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested recently he might stop the FBI from relocating its downtown headquarters to a new facility planned for the Washington suburbs, it was more than idle thinking about an office renovation.The nod from the Republican speaker is elevating a once-fringe proposal to upend the FBI in the aftermath of the federal indictment of Donald Trump over classified documents and the Justice Department’s prosecution of his allies, including some of the nearly 1,000 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.Moving from far-right corners into the mainstream, the emerging effort to overhaul the nation’s premier law enforcement agency is rooted in increasingly forceful conservative complaints about an overly biased FBI that they claim is being weaponized against them. “This is a pretty dramatic reversal of what the politics would have been 50 years ago,” said Beverly Gage, a historian at Yale who won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for her ...

Exclusive: Mother of Aurora man shot at house party wants justice

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — Armando Ramirez's mother, Jessica Lobato, said he was at a friend's house party when he was shot Sunday morning. Now, he will likely be paralyzed for the rest of his life."He's a hard worker, he's a good kid, friendly kid," Lobato said. "He likes to make money, so he's always finding ways to do little side jobs."Early Sunday morning, Lobato got news no parent wants to hear."I received a door knock, banging. I went downstairs and there were Armando's friends," Lobato said. Shooting in Aurora leaves 1 with life-threatening injuries His friends had to break the news to her that he'd been shot and was taken to the hospital."[The bullet] went through his arm, his chest and his spinal," Lobato said.Ramirez was at a house party in the 13000 block of East Louisiana Avenue when he and his friends told uninvited guests to leave. Aurora Police said the shooting was targeted, and Rameriez was the only person hit."He arrived with no pulse, he lost a lot of blood," Lobato...

Denver weather: Heat advisory Monday before midweek storms

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Monday will be a hot one along the Front Range with highs nearing the triple digits and mostly sunny skies in the Denver weather forecast. Denver offers public cooling centers during extreme heat A heat advisory is in effect along Interstate 25 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. as temperatures climb. Time outside should be limited. Pinpoint Weather: Advisories on July 17. Weather today: Hot and sunnyDenver will see plenty of sunshine Monday, helping highs climb to the upper 90s. Winds could pick up a little in the evening hours with slow cooling in the early overnight hours.Pinpoint Weather: Daily forecast on July 17. Weather tonight: Still warmOvernight lows will be mild in the upper 60s with a slowing wind and partly cloudy skies.Pinpoint Weather: Overnight forecast on July 17. Looking ahead: Storms and slow coolingTuesday will still be hot with highs near the seasonal average in the middle 60s. Sunny skies are expected with a small chance for an afternoon shower. Seaso...

Russia pulls out of Ukraine grain deal, in potential blow to global food supplies

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

(CNN) — Russia said Monday it was suspending its participation in a crucial deal that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain, once again raising fears over global food supplies and scuppering a rare diplomatic breakthrough to emerge from Moscow’s war in Ukraine.The agreement, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, was officially set to expire at 5 p.m. ET on Monday (midnight local time in Istanbul, Kyiv, and Moscow).Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russia would not renew the pact right now, saying it “has been terminated.”Russia has for some time complained that it is being prevented from adequately exporting its own foodstuffs, and Peskov cited that objection as the reason for pulling out of the deal. “As soon as the Russian part is completed, the Russian side will return to the implementation of this deal immediately,” he told reporters.Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the main objectiv...

Orioles reset: The Manny Machado trade started Baltimore’s rebuild 5 years ago. Here are 5 moves from it paying off now.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

Five years ago Tuesday, the Orioles’ rebuild began.One could argue for earlier, when it was obvious from practically the jump that Baltimore’s 2018 season was going nowhere, or later, when general manager Mike Elias was hired to steward the process. But when the Orioles traded star infielder Manny Machado to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 18, 2018, it marked the end of an era and the start of a project that was painful both in terms of the players it sent away and the on-field product it produced.It’s plausible that other approaches could have been taken, that Baltimore didn’t have to be one of the majors’ five worst teams with one of its five lowest payrolls year after year. Yet, the rebuild led to here — a young Orioles team that’s won eight straight around an All-Star break it entered with the franchise’s best first half in more than a quarter century.And it started when Baltimore sent Machado, in his final season before free agenc...

Flying Russian flags, more Wagner troops roll into Belarus as part of deal that ended their mutiny

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

More mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner military contractor rolled into Belarus Monday, a monitoring group said, continuing their relocation to the ex-Soviet nation following last month’s short-lived mutiny.Belaruski Hajun, a Belarusian activist group that monitors troops movements in Belarus, said that a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying Russian flags and Wagner insignia entered the country Monday heading toward a field camp that Belarusian authorities had offered to the company.The group said it was a third Wagner convoy entering the country since last week.Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered a deal that ended last month’s rebellion launched by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said that his country’s military could benefit from the mercenaries’ combat experience. On Friday, Belarusian state TV broadcast video of Wagner instructors training Belarusian territorial defense forces at a firing range in the Asipovichy region, where a...

A 5-story apartment building collapses in Cairo and kills at least 9 people

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A five-story apartment building collapsed Monday in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, leaving at least nine people dead, authorities said, as rescuers searched through the rubble.Building collapses are common in Egypt, where shoddy construction and a lack of maintenance are widespread in shantytowns, poor city neighborhoods and rural areas.The state-run MENA news agency reported that rescue teams recovered at least nine bodies from under the rubble of the building in Cairo’s neighborhood of Hadaeq el-Qubbah, roughly 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the city’s center.Four survivors were also taken to a hospital and authorities evacuated a neighboring apartment building, MENA said.Following an initial inspection, Cairo’s deputy governor, Hossam Fawzi, said the collapse was caused by one of the ground floor residents who removed a number of walls during earlier maintenance work. The man has been detained and will be investigated, he said.Egypt’s Ministry of Social So...

Turkish President Erdogan heads to Persian Gulf states seeking funds for ailing economy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to Saudi Arabia on Monday in a three-stop tour of Persian Gulf states to seek trade and investment opportunities for Turkey’s floundering economy.Erdogan will arrive in Jeddah accompanied by an entourage of some 200 businesspeople, according to the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey. He is expected to meet King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Business forums have been arranged in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates during Erdogan’s three-day trip.“We are hoping to improve our relations and cooperation in many fields. We will focus on joint investment and commercial initiatives to be realised in the upcoming period,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul before leaving.The visit comes as Turks are hit with sales and fuel tax hikes that Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has said are necessary to restore fiscal discipline and bring inflation down.The official annual inflation rate stood at 38% la...

The pope’s Ukraine peace envoy heads to Washington with the plight of children top of his agenda

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ peace envoy was traveling to Washington on Monday as part of the Holy See’s peace initiatives for Ukraine, hoping to support humanitarian operations especially concerning children, the Vatican said Monday.Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s visit, which lasts through Wednesday, follows his recent mission to Moscow and an earlier stop in Kyiv, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Zuppi is a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peace initiatives and has been tasked by Francis to try to find “paths of peace” between the warring sides.In Moscow, Zuppi met with Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, as well as Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has strongly supported the war.Francis has taken up Ukraine’s request to intervene where possible to return Ukrainian children transported to Russia following Moscow’s invasion. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova and Russi...

G20 finance chiefs meeting in India address global challenges like climate change and rising debt

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:12 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations meeting in India on Monday are poised to address critical global economic challenges, including the threats posed by climate change and rising debt among low-income countries.The finance minister of India, which is hosting the global grouping, said the G20 will focus on strengthening the global economy as growth remains uneven and below average.“What we need are coordinated international efforts to navigate this challenging period,” Nirmala Sitharaman said in her opening remarks ahead of the meetings being held in Gandhinagar, a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Earlier on Monday, Sitharaman and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the two countries were working together to further the group’s agenda. They spoke after holding talks on the sidelines of the G20 meetings, a sign of the importance of their countries’ relationship at a time of tension with China.“The world is looking to the G20 to...