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Finland closes last crossing point with Russia, sealing off entire border as tensions rise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — NATO member Finland on Wednesday closed its last remaining border crossing with Russia after the government decided to seal the entire border with its eastern neighbor amid rising political tensions.The Cabinet of Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo decided to temporarily close the entire 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border between the two countries a day earlier over concerns that Moscow was using migrants to destabilize the Nordic country in an alleged act of “hybrid warfare.” The Raja-Jooseppi crossing point in Finland’s Arctic Lapland region, located some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the northern Russian city of Murmansk, closed at 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to the checkpoint’s normal November schedule.Ville Ahtiainen, a deputy commander with the Finnish Border Guard in Lapland, told reporters that the remote border crossing, located in the middle of rugged wilderness, was quiet during the four hours it remained open Wednesday, with a handful of vehicles passin...

US sanctions financial network tied to Iranian oil sales

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday said it imposed a new round of sanctions on a group of 20 people and firms allegedly involved in a financial facilitation network for the benefit of the Iranian military.The Treasury Department sanctions impact firms and people spanning Hong Kong to the United Arab Emirates.Included in the sanctions package are employees, brokers and purchasers from Iranian firm Sepehr Energy, which is also subject to sanctions.The U.S. alleges that Sepehr acts as a front company for the Iranian government’s oil sales, which “fund its destabilizing regional activities and support of multiple regional proxy groups,” including Hamas and Hezbollah, according to a Treasury statement.A representative from Sepehr Energy did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment. The sanctions block access to U.S. property and bank accounts and prevent the targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans.Iran engages in “illicit finance sc...

Autoworker strike cost GM $1.1B, which it says it can absorb as it announces massive stock buyback

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

FILE - The General Motors logo is seen, Jan. 27, 2020, in Hamtramck, Mich. The venture capital arms of General Motors and Stellantis are among investors sinking $33 million into a Minnesota company with technology to make magnets for electric vehicle motors without using expensive rare-earth metals. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)(AP/Paul Sancya) FILE - The General Motors logo is seen, Jan. 27, 2020, in Hamtramck, Mich. The venture capital arms of General Motors and Stellantis are among investors sinking $33 million into a Minnesota company with technology to make magnets for electric vehicle motors without using expensive rare-earth metals. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)(AP/Paul Sancya) DETROIT (AP) — General Motors s...

German authorities arrest a 15-year-old on suspicion of planning an attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning and preparing a terror attack, authorities said Wednesday.Prosecutors in Duesseldorf said the teenager was detained Tuesday during a search at his home. A court in nearby Leverkusen ordered him kept in custody Wednesday pending a possible indictment, they said in a statement. The prosecutors said they could not give additional details for now.German news agency dpa, which cited unidentified security sources, reported that the 15-year-old and a 16-year-old in the eastern German state of Brandenburg were arrested after allegedly discussing carrying out an attack on “infidels.” The younger suspect allegedly named a synagogue and a Christmas market as possible targets, dpa said. It wasn’t immediately clear how serious the alleged plans were.Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said earlier Wednesday that the threat situation in the country has escalated following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attac...

Prosecutors say paramedics ignored Elijah McClain's distress after stop and killed him with overdose

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado prosecutor said Wednesday that two paramedics ”did nothing" to help an ailing Elijah McClain as he lay on the ground and instead injected him with an overdose of a powerful sedative that killed the 23-year-old Black man after he had been weakened by police neck holds when officers forcibly restrained him walking home from a convenience store.The paramedics are charged with manslaughter and other felonies in the final jury trial over McClain's 2019 death in a Denver suburb. The trial is expected to explore largely uncharted legal territory because it is rare for medical first responders to face criminal charges.Initially no one was charged because the coroner’s office could not determine exactly how McClain died. But social justice protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd drew renewed attention to McClain’s case, and a grand jury indicted the paramedics and three officers in 2021. The officers already have gone to trial and two were acquitt...

EdFed brings finance learning on wheels to Miami-Dade high schools

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

High schoolers in Miami-Dade County are getting a unique opportunity to dive into finance and banking, paving the way for financial confidence as they approach adulthood.Edison Senior High School in Miami hosted a celebratory event on Wednesday, marking the launch of a transformative program. The Educational Federal Credit Union, affectionately known as EdFed, is taking financial education directly to 12 Miami-Dade school campuses through its innovative mobile branch.This mobile branch operates like a traditional bank, offering students, EdFed members, Miami-Dade County Schools employees, and Miami-Dade College students the ability to conduct transactions, withdrawals, and deposits right on campus.Dr. Jose Dotres, the Superintendent of Miami-Dade Schools, expressed his support, drawing on his own experience starting a career in banking after high school. “I started when I graduated from high school, what did I do? My first job was at a bank,” he said. “We always ha...

MDPD investigate alleged elderly exploitation at assisted living facility in SW Miami-Dade

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

Miami-Dade Police executed a warrant at an assisted living facility that is facing an investigation for possible elderly exploitation.7News cameras captured MDPD Medical Crimes officers arriving at the assisted living facility in Southwest Miami-Dade, Wednesday afternoon. They claim that the home has been operating as an unlicensed assisted living facility. The Florida Department of Children and Families and the Florida Department of Health are also investigating the assisted living facility. Police told 7News that the facility has been in business for quite a long time. While the condition inside the home are unknown, 7News has learned that several people have been living there. There are bunk beds and locker rooms inside the home. The employees at the home, police said, are not medically trained. “So you’re looking at 30 individuals that are living inside a home, where of course, it’s not certified by the state, it doesn’t have a license to be an adult li...

Lithuania asks EU not to drop ammo refunds for Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

BRUSSELS — Small EU countries would encounter financial difficulty in helping Ukraine if the bloc were to halt a funding scheme that pays for arms and ammunition, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told POLITICO.The future of the fund is in limbo, as the attempt to carve out a new Ukraine assistance package worth €20 billion over four years from the European Peace Facility (EPF) remains unsettled thanks to opposition from Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is threatening to hijack a December summit of EU leaders over the issue. That’s prompting some countries to contemplate ways to work around Budapest and keep aid flowing to Kyiv, including by sending direct financial aid via bilateral arrangements rather than EU structures like EPF.“The problem is, if EPF is no longer continued … small countries like mine, we would be less able to assist Ukraine with the resources that we have,” Landsbergis said.He warned th...

Security guard fatally shot at New Hampshire hospital remembered for dedication to community, family

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

TILTON, N.H. (AP) — A security guard who was shot to death at New Hampshire Hospital is being remembered for his dedication to his community and family.Law enforcement from multiple departments joined state officials and family members on Monday for a celebration of life service for Bradley Haas, 63, who died following the shooting on Nov. 17. A police escort brought his remains through the city of Franklin, where he grew up and served as police chief, on its way to Winnisquam High School in Tilton, WMUR-TV reported.“Behind every badge is a person, and in our law enforcement community, there are a lot of genuinely good people, and Brad was one of them,” said Stephen Houten, an Army veteran and former Sanbornton police officer.Haas, also an Army veteran, served with the Franklin Police Department for 28 years before retiring in 2008. He then became a security guard at the psychiatric hospital in Concord.“He was known as a quiet professional, and I knew him that way,” s...

Wolverines receive protection under Endangered Species Act as climate change threatens their habitat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:19 GMT

(CNN) — The North American wolverine has officially been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and will receive long-anticipated federal protections, US officials announced Wednesday, as the climate crisis melts away their snowy mountain habitats.The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to list the wolverines as threatened in the contiguous US comes as scientists warn that warming temperatures are rapidly diminishing the mountain snowpack that the species rely on for food, reproduction and ultimate survival.“Current and increasing impacts of climate change and associated habitat degradation and fragmentation are imperiling the North American wolverine,” Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Regional Director Hugh Morrison said in a statement. “Based on the best available science, this listing determination will help to stem the long-term impact and enhance the viability of wolverines in the contiguous United States.”Adding wolverines to t...