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What’s next for Wagner chief Prigozhin’s hydra-headed media empire?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

MOSCOW — On a Friday evening after work, Vladimir Yagudayev was halfway through his dinner when he almost choked on his macaroni. His de facto boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had just published an audio message on Telegram threatening to advance on Moscow if Russia’s top military brass was not booted out. “We’d been expecting something to happen, but nothing this brash,” said Yagudayev, a 25-year-old social media manager with blue eyes and a bushy beard, referring to the June 23 mutiny led by the leader of the Wagner mercenary group. “Many of us understood straight away that it would affect us in one way or another,” said Yagudayev, who works at the media holding Patriot, better known as part of what has become known as Prigozhin’s troll farm.Yagudayev and his colleagues weren’t wrong. A week later, a top manager at Patriot, Yevgeny Zubarev, announced in an online video that the group would be “exiting the country’s informational sphere.” The aftermath of Prig...

Spanish election: Drug trafficker links trigger questions for Feijóo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

MADRID — A controversial history of cozy relations between frontrunner Alberto Núñez Feijóo and a notorious drug trafficker burst back into life during Spain’s election contest, threatening to dampen the opposition leader’s campaign for victory ahead of Sunday’s vote. Feijóo’s conservative Popular Party is on track to become the largest group in the July 23 election, if opinion polling proves accurate — an outcome that would herald a sharp change in direction for Spain after Pedro Sánchez’s five years of socialist rule. But during a rally in Madrid on Sunday, far-left candidate Yolanda Díaz brought up the friendship Feijóo struck up with Galician narco-trafficker and money launderer Marcial Dorado during the 1990s and early 2000s.“Feijóo had an intimate friendship with one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world,” said Díaz, who challenged the Popular Party leader to join an upcoming debate to “tell Spaniards about his relationshi...

Italy’s decision on China’s Belt and Road Initiative and beyond

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

André Gattolin is a French senator, who serves as the French Senate’s vice president of Foreign Affairs and EU Affairs. Jianli Yang is the founder and president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China and the author of “Its Time for a Values-Based ‘Economic NATO.’”During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Italy in March 2019, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). And with this memorandum, Italy became the only G7 country to join the BRI — which was seen as a major diplomatic breakthrough by Beijing.Still the subject of ongoing debate within Italy itself, this agreement has faced strong criticism from both the United States and the European Union, as many Western countries view the BRI as a Trojan horse for Beijing’s geopolitical interests. And now, the memorandum is to be automatically renewed in March 2024, unless Italy formally requests to withdraw from it three months in advance.Along these lines, Prime Minister Gior...

Investigation underway after police officer shot in New Bedford

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

A New Bedford police officer was shot in New Bedford on Monday night, prompting a large police response, officials said.The New Bedford police detective sustained an injury from a gunshot in the area of Rivet and Orchard streets around 8:45 p.m. He is receiving medical treatement and the injury is not considered to be life-threatening, according to New Bedford police.Sources tell 7’s Steve Cooper that two other people were also injured as a result of the shooting.State police say they are assisting New Bedford police with a shots fired incident in that area. https://twitter.com/scooperon7/status/1681114288054738946No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Dodgers’ sixth-inning grand slam ends Orioles’ winning streak with 6-4 defeat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

Even while playing some of their best baseball, the Orioles hinted at their need for relief help. Their eight-game winning streak was not free of bullpen blemishes, but they managed to cover them up.They were not as capable in Monday’s 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Chris Taylor’s sixth-inning grand slam off right-hander Bryan Baker resulting in Baltimore’s first loss in almost two weeks and exemplifying its need for middle relief help before the approaching trade deadline.The Orioles (57-36) entered the decisive frame with a 4-1 lead as top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez pitched effectively in his return to the majors. In his first inning back with Baltimore since a disastrous outing in late May against the Texas Rangers, Rodriguez threw six straight fastballs of at least 100 mph after never topping 99.3 mph in his first big league stint. He remained in the upper 90s for the rest of his outing, but his changeup was particularly a weapon in a two-st...

1-year-old 'accidentally shot' by 3-year-old sibling dies in North County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

FALLBROOK, Calif. -- A 1-year-old girl was shot and killed Monday in the Fallbrook area by her 3-year-old sibling when they got ahold of an unsecured handgun and accidentally shot the infant, authorities said.Deputies received a call around 7:30 a.m. about a shooting in the 1100 block of S. Stagecoach Lane, Lt. Joseph Jarjura with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a news release.When law enforcement arrived on scene, they confirmed a 3-year-old got ahold of an unsecured gun, and found the 1-year-old with a head injury, according to authorities.The victim was taken to a hospital but later died due to her injuries despite lifesaving efforts, per the sheriff's department. Passenger killed in East County crash that hurt 4 others identified "The Sheriff's Department extends our sympathies to the family and those affected by this death. Sheriff's Homicide investigators are working to gather more information to determine the circumstances of the death," Jarjura said.The i...

California bill would require e-bikers to have license, mandate training

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A bill moving through the California legislature could tighten the rules on electric bikes and make it illegal for people under a certain age to ride them. If Assembly Bill 530 is put into law as it's written, it would prohibit people under 12 years old to ride e-bikes, it would require an online written test and a state-issued identification for riders who do not have a driver's license.The bill also would establish an e-bike training program and would work with several organizations including the DMV and California Highway Patrol.“It's long, long overdue," said Bob Cosgrove who works in Encinitas. He says he sees young kids riding their e-bikes daily, some which concern him."A lot of kids just ride those recklessly, many of them don’t have helmets on, and it's concerning, now they have an increased speed to some degree, it can cause accidents, obviously," Cosgrove said.He is in favor of the crackdown on e-bike riders.“I think it's a great idea because you’re not going...

US attorney in Manhattan seeking federal takeover of city’s troubled Rikers Island jail complex

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal prosecutor said Monday his office is seeking to have control of New York City’s trouble-plagued Rikers Island jail taken away from Mayor Eric Adam’s administration, calling conditions there a “collective failure with deep roots.”U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York said Rikers “has been in crisis for years” over several mayors’ administrations and leaders of the corrections system and he favors a court-appointed outside authority to take charge of the complex.“But after eight years of trying every tool in the toolkit, we cannot wait any longer for substantial progress to materialize,” he said in a statement, adding that his office would seek to have a court-appointed receivership put in place.Adams has resisted the idea of a federal takeover of the system and has said his administration has been taking steps to stabilize Rikers, which was hit hard by the pandemic.In an email response, a spokesperso...

Plane hits hangar where people were sheltering in storm in Poland. Pilot and 4 others die and 8 hurt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Five people were killed and eight others were injured Monday when a Cessna 208 plane crashed into a hangar at a sky diving center during bad weather, authorities said.The plane’s pilot and four people sheltering in the hangar from stormy weather died in the afternoon crash in Chrcynno in central Poland, firefighters spokesperson Monika Nowakowska-Brynda said. An additional eight people were injured, two of them seriously, police said. A child was among the injured, the provincial governor, Sylwester Dabrowski, said. Chrcynno is about 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of Warsaw. Firefighters and airborne ambulances took the injured to hospitals in the Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki area. Rescuers were still checking the hangar for additional victims, said Katarzyna Urbanowska, another spokesperson for local firefighters. Prosecutors and police were investigating the cause of the accident.It was the worst accident related to sky diving in Poland since 2014, when 11 ...

Few answers one month after suburban mass shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:43 GMT

WILLOWBROOK, Ill. —  It’s now been one month since gunfire abruptly ended a Juneteenth gathering in unincorporated Willowbrook.Twenty-three people were shot and one person killed.No one has been charged and the lack of information from police since then is unsettling to those who were there.Ashley Miller was there that night. Her fiancée Reggie Meadows was killed.“It started off with three loud gunshots.  Then it seemed like numerous shots.  You just heard them whipping past you,” she said. “We lost a very important person in our lives and the least we need to know is an update. I have no answers to say to his beautiful children. They took someone that was so peaceful and loved by so many.”Darren Meadows is Reggie Meadows’s brother.“I just want to know what’s the reason of my brother being killed? There’s no information. There’s been nothing displayed to me or the mother of his children,” he said. Resident: Willowbrook shooting scene has been a problem for years DuP...