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Three Bulgarians charged as UK police probe suspected Russian spying

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

LONDON — Three Bulgarian nationals face criminal charges amid a British police investigation into suspected spying on behalf of Russia.In February, officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Operations Unit arrested five people on suspicion of an offense under the U.K.’s Official Secrets Act, according to a statement from the force.Three people have subsequently been charged “with possession of false identity documents with improper intention” under the Identity Documents Act, the Met said.The charges were first reported by the BBC on Tuesday. The broadcaster said the arrests took place as part of a “major national security investigation” and that it is alleged those held “were working for the Russian security services.”The Metropolitan Police named the individuals as 45-year-old Orlin Roussev, 42-year-old Biser Dzambazov and Katrin Ivanova, 32.The defendants last appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court on July 31 and were ...

U.N. Security Council to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh crisis amid genocide warnings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

YEREVAN — The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, after Armenia urged the international community to help end Azerbaijan’s months-long blockade of the isolated territory.A schedule for the work of the Security Council, published late Monday night, confirmed that the appeal will be discussed on Wednesday. Armenia’s ambassador to the U.N., Mher Margaryan, last week wrote to the international conflict resolution body to warn Nagorno-Karabakh is “on the verge of a full-fledged humanitarian catastrophe.” The country’s Foreign Minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, will fly to New York to take part in the session.Inside Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized borders, the mountainous region is home to tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians, governed autonomously as an unrecognized, self-declared state since the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2020, the Azerbaijani gove...

Retail sales rise 0.7% in July from June as inflation continues to ease

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans increased their spending last month as inflation continued to ease on eggs, electronics and other items, and the job market remains healthy.Retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.7% in July from June. The gain followed a revised 0.3% gain the previous month, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.Excluding autos and gas, sales rose a solid 1%.Sales at a number of different outlets increased. Department stores posted a 0.9% increase, while clothing and accessories stores had a 1% gain. At restaurants, sales rose 1.4%. while online sales rose 1.9%. But furniture and home furnishings stores and electronics stores remained weak, registering declines.The uptick reflects the economy’s resiliency despite a still challenging economic environment of still high prices and higher interest rates that make borrowing on credit cards and getting a mortgage for a home more expensive. Yet spending has been volatile this year after surging nearly 3% in January. S...

Police searching for motorcyclist who struck couple outside Falmouth restaurant, ran from scene

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

Police are searching for a motorcyclist who they say struck a couple while they were walking in a crosswalk in Falmouth Monday night before running away from the scene. Officers responding to a report of a motorcycle that had just hit two pedestrians on Main Street in front of Estia Restaurant around 9 p.m. found a husband and wife from Falmouth injured in the roadway, according to Falmouth police. They were both taken to nearby hospitals and their condition was not immediately available.Prior to police arriving on scene, the driver of the motorcycle ran off into a wooded area surrounding Siders Pond behind Town Hall. A search of the area with a K9 officer did not find the rider. His identity is unknown at this time.The Cape Cod Law Enforcement Crash Recon Unit as well as the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation assisted at the crash scene and will continue to assist with the ongoing investigation.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air...

Israeli military raid in West Bank kills 2 Palestinians

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, in a raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said, the latest violence to shake the region.Some of that violence has been perpetrated by radical Jewish settlers in the West Bank and on Tuesday, an Israeli court ordered that Jewish settler allegedly involved in the shooting death of a 19-year-old Palestinian be released from detention and placed under under house arrest. The ruling follows the release from detention last week of another settler accused of involvement in the same incident who was also transferred to house arrest. Israel has been carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank since last year in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks, fueling tensions in the region and sending the death toll soaring. Tuesday’s developments come amid a spike in attacks on Palestinians by radical Jewish settlers, settlement expansion and as Israel i...

Texas sues Shell over May fire at Houston-area petrochemical plant

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas is suing Shell and is seeking more than $1 million, alleging a fire at the oil giant’s Houston-area petrochemical plant damaged the environment.The May 5 fire at the plant in the suburb of Deer Park resulted in nine workers being treated at and released from a hospital. The lawsuit, filed Aug. 7 in Travis County by the Texas attorney general’s office, alleges air and water contamination and violations of state laws at the plant, including those of the Clean Air Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act and the Water Code.A Shell spokesperson said the company is aware of the lawsuit but does not comment on pending litigation.“The Deer Park chemicals facility remains in a recovery phase as we continue to investigate the cause of the fire and rebuild the damaged portion of the plant,” Gunnell said. The lawsuit contends that heavy black smoke contaminated the environment and that millions of gallons of water used to cool the areas and extinguish the flames...

Canada’s inflation rate rose to 3.3% in July

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

Canada’s annual inflation rate rose to 3.3 per cent in July as worries grow that progress on getting prices under control will stall.Statistics Canada released its July consumer price index report Tuesday, which shows price growth gained pace last month.This comes after inflation tumbled to 2.8 per cent in June, falling within the Bank of Canada’s target range of between one and three per cent for the first time since March 2021.Lower gasoline prices have largely driven the decline in inflation over the last year. Now, economists say underlying price pressures need to ease for inflation to fall further.The federal agency says the rise in inflation is due to the fact that gasoline prices fell less dramatically on a year-over-year basis than they did in June.The report says July gasoline prices were being compared to when prices had declined significantly in July 2022, as fears of an economic slowdown grew.Excluding energy prices, the consumer price index decelerated to 4....

Are our governments siding with big grocers?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, there are thousands of grocery store workers are on strike right now because, they say, they can’t afford to buy food at the chain they work for. Food bank use has skyrocketed. Shoplifting has increased so rapidly that stores are using it as a reason to try to check customers’ bags and receipts. Food inflation still hovers near double digits, even as general inflation has cooled. And the heads of Canada’s huge grocery chains have testified that billions in profits don’t come from hikes to food prices.Amid all this, the federal government has given some Canadians a one-time grocery rebate and … so far, that’s it, across all levels of government.Corey Mintz is a food reporter and author of The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, and What Comes After. He said that although food inflation in Canada isn’t as high as other countries, it doesn’t mean the government shouldn’t step in and do more.“A one-...

MUST-WATCH: Only the biggest stars in the Top 10

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

The latest season of Only Murders in the Building is here, and it’s bringing some major talent this year! But will the latest season of this fantastic comedy reign from the top spot, or could it go to a miniseries about the opioid epidemic? Perhaps a film about Dracula’s adventures on the ocean? You’ll have to keep reading to find out!PainkillerWhere to watch: NetflixFirst up, let’s start with a dramatic miniseries!Painkiller is a show similar to Dopesick. It’s about the investigation into Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, specifically their role in the creation of the opioid epidemic. Matthew Broderick (from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) plays Richard Sackler, the chairman of the company. Uzo Aduba (from Orange is the New Black) plays a lawyer investigating the company’s role in the ongoing epidemic, determined to bring them to justice. This show also stars Taylor Kitsch (from True Detective), Clark Gregg (from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and ...

Advocates sue federal government for failing to ban imports of cocoa harvested by children

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:59:41 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Child welfare advocates filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday asking a judge to force the Biden administration to block imports of cocoa harvested by children in West Africa that can end up in America’s most popular chocolate desserts and candies. The lawsuit, brought by International Rights Advocates, seeks to have the federal government enforce a 1930s era federal law that requires the government to ban products created by child labor from entering the U.S. The nonprofit group says it filed the suit because Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security have ignored extensive evidence documenting children cultivating cocoa destined for well-known U.S. candy makers, including Hershey, Mars, Nestle and Cargill. The major chocolate companies pledged to end their reliance on child labor to harvest their cocoa by 2005. Now they say they will eliminate the worst forms of child labor in their supply chains by 2025. “They will never stop until they...