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Foreign Relations chair seeks answers from US oil firms on Russia business after Ukraine invasion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

The head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has asked the country’s top three oilfield services companies to explain why they continued doing business in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, and demanded that they commit to “cease all investments” in Russia’s fossil fuel infrastructure.Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, cited an Associated Press report that the companies — SLB, Baker Hughes and Halliburton — helped keep Russian oil flowing even as sanctions targeted the Russian war effort. Russia imported more than $200 million in technology from the three companies in the year following the invasion in February 2022, customs data obtained by B4Ukraine and vetted by The AP showed. Market leader SLB, formerly Schlumberger, even slightly grew its Russian business. Much of Russia’s oil is hard to reach, and analysts say that had U.S. oilfield services companies all pulled out, its production would have taken an immediate hit.Menendez, in letters to ...

Poland bank governor says interest rate cut justified by falling inflation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The governor of Poland’s central bank said Thursday that its large interest rate cut was justified despite high inflation because prices are stabilizing and the era of high inflation is ending. Adam Glapinski spoke a day after the bank’s monetary council announced that it was cutting interest rates by 75 basis points, a much larger reduction than had been expected by economists.Critics of Poland’s populist authorities accused Glapinski and members of the bank’s monetary policy council of acting to help the governing party ahead of parliamentary elections next month with a large cut seen by economists as premature. Glapinski is an ally of the party, which is fighting for an unprecedented third term.The bank cut its reference rate from 6.75% to 6%, and other interest rates by the same amount.Poles have been suffering from sharply rising prices of food, rents and other goods. Inflation reached over 18% earlier this year and registered 10.1% in August.G...

Former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin, who was one of Europe’s youngest leaders, quits politics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin, who was one of Europe’s youngest leaders and a strong voice in supporting Ukraine, said Thursday she’s quitting Finnish politics and will join a London-based non-profit organization.Marin, who was 37 years old when she took office in 2019, led a five-party center-left governing coalition until April of this year. She received praise for her Cabinet’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and her vocal support of Ukraine in the last year had increased her international visibility. She also also saw her country become the 31st member of NATO. “Time to move on,” Finnish public broadcaster YLE quoted her as saying. “I am eager to step into a new role. I also believe that it can benefit the whole of Finland.”In April, Finland joined the NATO military alliance, dealing a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a historic realignment of Europe’s post-Cold War security landscape triggered by Moscow’s invasio...

Funeral held for victims of Russian market attack amid more strikes, as Blinken visits Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Victims of a deadly Russian missile attack that struck a busy market in eastern Ukraine were buried Thursday, as Moscow kept up its assault on Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure, hitting a Ukrainian port for the fourth time in five days.At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded in Wednesday’s attack on the market in Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s Donestsk region — another grim reminder of the war’s civilian toll. Among the victims were Mykola and Natalia Shyrai, whose bodies were laid to rest in a village outside Kostiantynivka on Thursday. The married couple, in their 50s, had been selling flowers in the market when they were killed in the blast. Dozens of people from the small settlement arrived to say their final farewells as caskets covered white cloth were shut and lowered. The attack the previous day had turned an outdoor market into a fiery, blackened ruin, and overshadowed a two-day visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed at ...

Police officer killed, another injured in Hartford after cruiser struck by speeding car

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A police officer was killed and another was injured Wednesday night when their cruiser was struck by a car speeding through a red light in Connecticut’s capital city, authorities said, adding one person was in custody.Officer Bobby Garten, an eight-year veteran of Hartford police, died from his injuries, police said. The other officer was in stable but guarded condition at a hospital.“We are devastated at the loss of Bobby,” Police Chief Jason Thody said in a statement. “He was an amazing person that exemplified what it means to be a Hartford Police Officer. His commitment to serve was above reproach. Our HPD family has come together to support Bobby’s family, honor his memory, and do what he would want us to do, protect and serve the Hartford community.”Police have not released details about the person in custody.The crash happened just west of downtown Hartford. The police cruiser had extensive damage to the passenger side.Early Thursday mo...

Indigo Books & Music CEO Peter Ruis resigns as leadership changes continue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

TORONTO — Almost a year since he took on the top job, Indigo Books & Music Inc.’s chief executive is moving on.The Toronto-based books and home goods retailer announced Thursday that Peter Ruis has resigned, adding the board “thanks him for his contributions to the company and wishes him well as he moves on to new challenges in his career.”His departure — for which the company offered no explanation — is the latest surprise shakeup at Indigo, which has faced a slew of leadership changes over the last year.The biggest was the departure of Heather Reisman, the company’s famed founder known for building Indigo into a Canadian retail stalwart with 171 stores and for adding lucrative “Heather’s Pick” stickers on top reads. She served as chief executive until last year, when Ruis took over, and retired from the board on Aug. 22.Before her retirement, four of Indigo’s 10 directors left the board, with Chika Stacy Oriuwa attributing her r...

Rail operator pleads guilty in Scottish train crash that killed 3 in 2020

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A British rail operator pleaded guilty Thursday to safety failures that led to a train derailment that killed three people and injured six others three years ago in Scotland.Network Rail admitted in High Court in Aberdeen, Scotland, that it failed to ensure the safety of passengers and rail workers before extreme rainfall unleashed a slide that buried the tracks in rocks and gravel and caused the train to derail and topple down a hill. Train driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, were killed in the Aug. 12, 2020 crash near the coastal town of Stonehaven.Stuchbury, who died on his wedding anniversary, wasn’t supposed to be on that train but had boarded it in hopes of making a transfer down the line after his original train headed toward Edinburgh was canceled because of severe weather. “He had one last trip before retirement,” his widow, Diane, said in a statement read in court by a prosecutor. “On ...

3 charged after 2 men shot, killed in Chicago Heights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. — Three men have been charged following a deadly double shooting in Chicago Heights on Sunday morning.At around 4 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to the 500 block of 14th Place on the report of shots fired.When officers arrived on scene, they found two men, ages 30 and 32, with apparent gunshot wounds.Both men died at the hospital.Three men were taken into custody during the initial investigation. Alexis Mendoza, 19, and Adrian Romo-Trejo, 24, were both charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Previous: 2 dead after apparent shooting in Chicago Heights, police say Additionally, Jesus Mendoza, 43, was charged with aggravated battery.Alexis Mendoza and Romo-Trejo were held without bond. Jesus Mendoza was given a $100,000 bond.

Pedestrian, 61, struck and killed by car in Peotone

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

PEOTONE, Ill. — A 61-year-old pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle in Peotone.The incident happened around 7:50 p.m. Wednesday on Route 50 and Corning Avenue. Police said the 61-year-old man was transported to St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee, where he was pronounced dead. The victim's identity has not yet been released. 16-year-old seriously injured, 3 others hurt in Northwest Indiana crash The 17-year-old driver of the vehicle was treated and released at the scene.The crash remains under investigation.

An American researcher is trapped more than 3,000 feet inside a cave in southern Turkey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish and international cave rescue experts worked Thursday to reach an American researcher who got trapped inside a cave in southern Turkey at a depth of more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) after he became ill.Mark Dickey, 40, was in Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains when he experienced gastrointestinal bleeding, according to the European Cave Rescue Association. He was unable to leave the cave on his own, the association said on its website.It described Dickey as “a highly trained caver and a cave rescuer himself” who is well known as a cave researcher, or speleologist, from his participation in many international expeditions. He is secretary of the association’s medical committee.Dickey was on an expedition mapping the 1,276-meter (4,186-feet) deep Morca cave system for the Anatolian Speleology Group Association (ASPEG) when he was about 1,000 meters down, according to Yusuf Ogrenecek of the Speleological Federation of Turkey.Ogrenecek told The As...