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No Russia sympathizers: Ukraine eyes postwar elections as Moscow’s assault continues

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

BRUSSELS — Ukraine might still be at war, but it’s already gearing up for elections in peace time — and weighing how to deal with Russian infiltrators.Hundreds of miles from the battlefield, Ukrainian officials were in Brussels this week to discuss how to organize the country’s first postwar elections — which will be closely watched within the European Union — and in this sphere too, fear of Russian interference looms large.In an interview with POLITICO, Ukraine’s top election official Oleh Didenko said his country needed to prepare for the risk that Russia would try to “install their representatives, their agents, in Ukrainian authorities.”Ukraine was set to hold a parliamentary election in October, and a presidential election next year — but preparations for both of these have been put on hold because of the war.“I understand that Ukraine should ensure democratic standards when conducting postwar elections in terms of the rights of being elected...

How Austria became Putin’s Alpine Fortress

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

For Vienna, neutrality is simply good business.By MATTHEW KARNITSCHINGIllustration by Tim Bouckley for POLITICOIt didn’t occur to the Austrian chamber of commerce that hosting a cozy networking event on the outskirts of Moscow might raise eyebrows in some quarters.As record cold gripped the Russian capital in January, the local chapter saw an opportunity to pierce the ennui of the snowbound winter with “a sporty Austrian Business Circle in Moscow featuring cross-country skiing in Odintsovo, a park for culture, sport and relaxation.”Hoping to lure some of the hundreds of Austrian companies active in Russia and their business partners, the chamber even offered free equipment and instructors to help the uninitiated navigate the “snowy woods,” followed by a reception at a local watering hole.It was only after a reporter from the Austrian investigative platform ZackZack enquired about the event that the chamber nixed it.The failed Moscow outing exemplifies the ambivalent approach the Alp...

The future of Russia — and its opposition

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former political prisoner and CEO of Yukos Oil company, is the author of “The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin’s Power Gambit — and How to Fix It.”At the initiative of Lithuanian MEP Andrius Kubilius and others, a two-day conference will take place in the European Parliament in Brussels this week, with the participation of over 200 representatives from Russia’s anti-war and opposition groups, journalists, prominent cultural figures, as well as European politicians.There are just two topics for discussion on the agenda: the future of Russia and the future strategy of the Russian opposition.Previous experience, both in Russia and elsewhere, has long shown that personality-based regimes — such as the one in Moscow today — can often implode without warning, unable to withstand the stresses caused by a failed war. And at that critical moment, the country’s future depends, in large part, on who picks up the reins of power — and how.Interestingly, the p...

Autopsy results released in Franklin, NH shooting that left woman, her toddler daughter dead, 5-year-old injured

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

Authorities have announced autopsy results in connection with an incident in Franklin, New Hampshire on Saturday during which a man fatally shot his 1-and-a-half-year-old daughter and her mother, and also wounded the woman’s 5-year-old daughter before he was found dead on a river bank.Officers responding to a reported shooting at a home at 124 Elkins St. around 12 p.m. found Nicole Hughes, 35, and her daughter, Ariella Bell, dead from gunshot wounds, according to the New Hampshire Attorney Generals’ Office. Her 5-year-old daughter was also suffering from a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital.The toddler’s father, Jamie Bell, 42, was found dead near the Merrimack River around 5:30 p.m.Hughes’ death was determined to have been caused by multiple gunshot wounds, and that the manner of her death was homicide. The cause of Ariella’s death was multiple gunshot wounds, and that the manner of her death was homicide.Bell’s cause of death was a single, self-inflicted incised wound of ...

Orioles promoting Heston Kjerstad, former No. 2 overall pick, to Triple-A Norfolk

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

It took Heston Kjerstad two years after he was drafted to make his professional debut. He needed less than one to reach the cusp of the majors.The Orioles are promoting Kjerstad, the second overall pick in the 2020 draft, from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk, a team source confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. The 24-year-old hit .310 with a .959 OPS for the Baysox.Kjerstad developed myocarditis, a heart condition, shortly after Baltimore unexpectedly took him with its top pick in 2020. In the spring of 2022, he suffered a severe left hamstring straight that further delayed the start of his career. On June 10 — two years to the day after he was drafted — he made his professional debut with Low-A Delmarva.He largely hasn’t stopped hitting since. Kjerstad, a left-handed hitter who impressed the Orioles with his power at the University of Arkansas, hit .463 with a 1.201 OPS for the Shorebirds. He struggled with High-A Aberdeen, a level that has challenged many of Baltimo...

Roger Craig, first Mets starting pitcher, dies at 93

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

Roger Craig, who started the first game in Mets franchise history, has died.He was 93-years-old.The news was announced Sunday afternoon by the San Francisco Giants.Craig took the mound for the Mets on April 11, 1962 in an eventual 11-4 loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis.Craig went 10-24 for the team, which finished 40-120, a modern record for futility that hasn’t been matched since. He went 5-22 for the Mets in 1963 before a trade to the Cardinals.Craig had a long career in baseball, the 6-foot-4 righty debuted with the World-Series-winning Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955. He won another championship with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1959. He won his third World Series with the Cardinals in 1964.Craig retired after the 1966 campaign with career marks of a 74-98 record and 3.83 ERA in 368 games, including 186 starts.Craig later became a manager, leading both the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. In parts of eight seasons in the Bay Area, his teams went 566-509 and beat the Chic...

Yankees beat Dodgers with help from small ball and German before Volpe’s homer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

LOS ANGELES — Anthony Volpe’s two-run homer in the ninth put a dagger in the Dodgers, but the Yankees also needed some small ball to win Sunday’s rubber match, 4-1.The first run of the game would not have been possible without a well-placed Isiah Kiner-Falefa bunt and an inexplicable, off-balance throw from Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol, who fired to an uncovered first base. The ill-advised decision gave the Yankees runners on second and third with one out in the seventh, and Jake Bauers proceeded to score on a broken bat groundout from Kyle Higashioka.J.D. Martinez answered back with a solo home run off Domingo German in the bottom of the seventh, but the Yankees responded in the eighth with a walk from Anthony Rizzo and a double from Giancarlo Stanton. The recently demoted and promoted Oswaldo Cabrera then brought the game-winning run home with a soft groundball to the first base side of the mound.Volpe then gave the Yankees breathing room, crushing his ninth...

No survivors found after plane that flew over DC and led to fighter jet scramble crashes in Virginia

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nation’s capital Sunday afternoon caused the military to scramble a fighter jet before the plane crashed in Virginia, officials said. The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom that was heard across the capital region.Hours later, police said rescuers had reached the site of the plane crash in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley and that no survivors were found. The Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethtown, Tennessee, on Sunday and was headed for Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane turned around over New York’s Long Island and flew a straight path down over D.C. before it crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia, around 3:30 p.m.It was not immediately clear why the plane was nonresponsive, why it crashed or how many people were on board. The plane flew directly over the nation’s capital, though it was technicall...

Heat roar back in final quarter, beat Nuggets 111-108 to tie NBA Finals

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Gabe Vincent scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo each had 21 and the Miami Heat evened up the NBA Finals by overcoming a monster effort from Nikola Jokic to beat the Denver Nuggets 111-108 in Game 2 on Sunday night.Max Strus scored 14 and Duncan Robinson had 10 for the Heat, who had a big early lead, then got down by as many as 15 before reclaiming the lead in the fourth. Miami outscored Denver 36-25 in the final period, erasing an eight-point deficit going into the final frame.And even then, they had to dig deep to finish it off.Jokic scored 41 points and was 16 of 28 from the floor, the last of those shots a 4-footer with 36 seconds left to get the Nuggets within three.Denver elected not to foul on the ensuing Miami possession. Butler missed a 3, and with a chance to tie, Jamal Murray missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.Murray had 18 points and 10 assists for Denver, while Aaron Gordon had 12 points and Bruce Brown scored 11.Game 3 is Wednesday in Miami. Denv...

Australian mother pardoned and freed because of reasonable doubt she killed her 4 children

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian state government attorney-general said on Monday a woman who has spent 20 years in prison for killing her four children had been pardoned and released.New South Wales Attorney-General Michael Daley said he had advised Gov. Margaret Beazley to unconditionally pardon Kathleen Folbigg, now 55.Daley said former justice Tom Bathurst had advised him last week that there was reasonable doubt about Folbigg’s guilt based on new scientific evidence that the deaths could have been from natural causes.Bathurst conducted the second inquiry into Folbigg’s guilt.Folbigg was serving a 30-year prison sentence which was to expire in 2033. She would have become eligible for parole in 2028.The children died separately over a decade, at between 19 days and 19 months old, and their mother insisted their deaths were from natural causes.Bathurst’s final report could recommend that the New South Wales Court of Appeals quash her convictions. The Associated...