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French senator demands footballer Karim Benzema lose citizenship over Muslim Brotherhood claim

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

A French senator on Wednesday called for Karim Benzema to be stripped of his French citizenship after Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin suggested the football star was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist party considered to be a terrorist group in several Middle Eastern countries.“If the minister’s comments are true, we have to consider sanctions against Karim Benzema,” said Valérie Boyer, vice-president of the conservative Les Républicains party, in a statement on X.Boyer said taking away Benzema’s Golden Ball — the highest individual award a professional football player can receive, which Benzema won in 2022 — could be a “first, symbolic sanction,” and suggested “the deprivation of his nationality” as a second punitive measure against the Franco-Algerian player.“We cannot accept that a world-famous French binational can dishonor and even betray our country,” Boyer’s statement read.The French senator&#...

US unveils new sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone programs as UN restrictions expire

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

(CNN) — The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled new sanctions targeting Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs as the United States and dozens of other partners vowed to continue to counter those programs as a set of United Nations restrictions expired.The US Treasury Department said in a news release that it was imposing the sanctions on “11 individuals, eight entities, and one vessel based in Iran, Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Venezuela that are enabling Iran’s destabilizing ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs.”In a separate move, the US State Department imposed sanctions on two Iranian officials “for engaging in activities that have materially contributed to Iran’s missile program,” as well as on “two Iran-based entities and four Russia-based entities.” Russia has been using Iranian drones in its war in Ukraine.The announcement of the new sanctions comes on what is known as “Transition Day,” when the rema...

Student with heart condition seeks scooter after it was stolen while she interned at local hospital

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

A local college student who needs a scooter to help get around the city due to a heart condition is looking for answers after someone stole her transportation while she was at work.Ava Poole, a Simmons University student, said she was interning at Brigham and Women’s Hospital when her scooter was stolen last week.According to Poole, the scooter was one of her main ways of getting around the city because of a heart condition that makes it difficult for her to walk long distances. Now, she’s hoping the thief returns it to her.“It was awful, it was horrible,” she told 7NEWS.Poole, a senior at Simmons, said that after training at the hospital last Wednesday, she came out to find her scooter had been stolen from a bike rack. The scooter had been a necessity for her, given Poole’s condition – arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, which she was diagnosed with at age 12.“My heart works only half as well as the average person’s,̶...

WATCH: Deer struggling in cold Alaskan waters saved by wildlife troopers who give them a lift in their boat

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two deer struggling in the waters of southeast Alaska’s famed Inside Passage finally made it to land, thanks to two Alaska Wildlife Troopers who gave the deer a lift in their boat.Sgt. Mark Finses and trooper Kyle Feuge were returning from a patrol in nearby Ernest Sound to Ketchikan on Oct. 10 when they spotted the deer, agency spokesperson Justin Freeman said in an email to The Associated Press.The deer were about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) from any island in the channel, which is favored by large cruise ships taking tourists in summer months to locations such as Ketchikan and Juneau.The deer were floating down Clarence Strait about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) northwest of Ketchikan, but not toward any particular island, Freeman said. They were fighting the current during midtide.“Out in the middle of Clarence, they’re in rough shape, like on their last leg,” Finses said on a video he shot with his phone and that the troopers posted to social media.The troope...

Can a cover song be better than the original version? Absolutely! Here are 6 of the all-time best

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

George Varga | The San Diego Union-TribuneWhat’s the difference between a great cover song and a banal cover song that brings little or nothing to the table?One is like tasting a delicious, unexpectedly creative version of your favorite dish — a new take on a tried-and-true treat that thrills with its skill, vision and ingenuity. The other is like being force-fed a bowl of pudding made out of lard and skim milk.Sometimes, the most memorable cover songs remain reverent to the original version, at least in terms of their musical arrangements. What elevates them is a transcendent performance that brings new depth, drama or nuance to the work at hand.For some young artists, a great cover song can ignite their careers and become their signature number — be it Sinead O’Connor’s version of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” or Joan Jett’s version of The Arrows’ “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.”In other instances, an imaginatively d...

Groton native Malcolm Fry to make the jump to MLS with Revolution

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

The New England Revolution’s Homegrown Player program has developed another teenage MLS-ready athlete.The Revolution on Wednesday signed Revolution II forward Malcolm Fry as a Homegrown Player with the first team starting next season through the 2026 with a club option for 2027. Fry, 18, is an attacking forward from Groton, Mass., who became the 13th Homegrown Player overall and eighth to ascend from Revolution II to the parent team roster.Fry made 37 appearances with Revolution II in MLS Next Pro and recorded six goals with three assists since signing his first contract on Oct. 28, 2022. If Fry can transition onto the Revolution’s 2024 roster, he will join Revolution II alumni Noel Buck, Esmir Bajraktarevic, Jack Panayotou, Justin Rennicks and Damian Rivera.“Malcolm has excelled at every level of our pro player pathway and his consistently strong performance with our second team put him in the position to make the next step in his career,” said Revolution Technical Director Curt On...

Hulu’s new LGBTQ+ ghost-hunting show investigates haunted US landmarks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

Abigail Gruskin | Baltimore Sun (TNS)When Baltimore native Juju Bae finally submitted an application to star in a new ghost-hunting docuseries on Hulu, after weeks of mulling over the casting call, she took an extra step: She consulted her dead relatives.“I was like, ‘Ancestors’ — because I talk to my ancestors all the time, I talk to dead people all the time — I was like, ‘Ancestors, if this is for me, make it easy,’” said Bae, a 31-year-old spiritualist born in Beechfield, who now lives near Patterson Park and works as a psychic.A few minutes after her plea to those who have crossed over into a different realm, someone from the show’s casting team called Bae to express interest in having her audition, she said.“Living for the Dead,” Hulu’s new series narrated by actor Kristen Stewart, who also served as an executive producer of the show, puts an LGBTQ+ spin on the supernatural and follows five queer ghost hunters as they investigate haunted landmarks across the country. Bae joined...

Investigation into deadly South Bay shooting continues

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- One person is dead and another person was wounded Tuesday in a shooting in Chula Vista, authorities said. Around 6:33 p.m., SkyFOX was over Palomar Street and Broadway where a large police presence could be seen shutting down multiple roads.Witnesses told FOX 5 the shooting occurred at a mobile home park nearby, prompting the two shooting victims to drive off in a white Jeep. San Diego takes top spot in ranking of most expensive places to live in U.S. The two victims, both males, were traveling along Palomar Street and Broadway, when they flagged down a cop that was driving in the area, the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) watch commander told FOX 5. That's where authorities found the Jeep driver and passenger with gunshot wound injuries.Both were taken to the hospital, where the passenger died, per CVPD. The driver did survive their injuries. The victims are in their late teens or early 20s, according to police.Homicide detectives are investigating the ...

“They burned her:” At the end of an awful wait for news comes word that a feared hostage is dead

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Because of the fracture in her right leg, Karin Journo had talked herself out of going to the Tribe of Nova music festival and sold her ticket. But a week before Hamas militants turned the party into a killing ground, she bought another.The 24-year-old French-Israeli airport worker who loved to travel had learned that a bunch of her friends were going to celebrate the departure of one of them to the United States. She didn’t want to miss out.Before heading out to dance the night away, she snapped a photo of herself in her party gear — black shorts and black halter top for a joyous night of electronic music in a dusty field. She’d left her long dark hair untied and painted her nails bright red. She was clearly excited, giving a V-sign in her selfie. And dance she did: Video shot that night showed her waving her arms to the thumping beats, though she was rooted to the spot by the gray protective boot that encased her right foot and calf all the way up to her k...

Florida Democrat Mucarsel-Powell gets clearer path to challenge US Sen. Rick Scott in 2024

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:11 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s path to the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida became clearer Wednesday when her main primary opponent dropped out of the race to seek a U.S. House seat. Phil Ehr, a retired Navy commander who left the Republican Party in 2017, appeared with Mucarsel-Powell in Miami to announce he will drop out of the Senate primary and instead challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a move embraced by the state Democratic Party.Mucarsel-Powell served one term in Congress before losing to Gimenez in 2020.So far, the Senate race has been overshadowed by the attention focused on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign for president, similar to 2022, when Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings failed bid to unseat Republican Sen. Marco Rubio took a backseat to DeSantis’ reelection.Ehr has twice tried to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz in one of the state’s most co...