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Former career US diplomat charged with secretly spying for Cuban intelligence for decades

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A former American diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been charged with serving as a mole for Cuba’s intelligence services dating back decades, the Justice Department said Monday.Newly unsealed court papers allege that Manuel Rocha engaged in “clandestine activity” on Cuba’s behalf since at least 1981, including by meeting with Cuban intelligence operatives and providing false information to U.S. government officials about his travels and contacts.The complaint, filed in federal court in Miami, charges Rocha with crimes including acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and comes amid stepped up Justice Department criminal enforcement of illicit foreign lobbying on U.S. soil. The 73-year-old had a two-decade career as a U.S. diplomat, including top posts in Bolivia, Argentina and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.The charging document traces Rocha’s illegal ties with Cuba’s notoriously sophisticated intelligence ser...

UK signs agreement to rejoin EU’s Horizon science program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

LONDON — The U.K. has passed the final milestone in rejoining Horizon Europe after leaving the EU science program in 2021 as part of Brexit.British researchers will again participate in the program from the beginning of next month, after the EU-UK Specialised Committee on Participation in Union Programmes formally approved a new association agreement on Monday.Speaking to reporters on a visit to Brussels to mark the occasion, U.K. Science Minister Michelle Donelan described the agreement to join the program as “a bespoke deal.”“Our association with Horizon gives us a seat at the table in the world’s largest research collaboration program,” she said.“So there’s good news for scientists, for researchers, up and down the country in the U.K. We’re delighted that we’ve managed to get to a point where we reached an agreement.”The Cabinet minister conceded that the U.K. would not have voting rights in the scheme under the agreement, but noted that when the U.K. was ...

Keir Starmer breaks the great Labour taboo: Praising Margaret Thatcher

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

LONDON — You can overhaul your party, expel your predecessor, and rip up a host of left-wing pledges. Just don’t praise Margaret Thatcher.Keir Starmer — the opposition Labour leader who polls suggest is firmly on track to become the U.K.’s next prime minister — provoked howls of outrage this weekend in mildly praising the former free-marketeer Conservative PM, who remains a deeply divisive figure on the left.On Monday, Starmer was forced once again to defend his respect for Thatcher for having had “a mission and a plan,” as his comments risked overshadowing a major economic speech.The tempest erupted after Starmer made a deliberate pitch to Tory voters in the right-leaning Telegraph newspaper. The Labour boss hailed Thatcher as one of the few modern leaders to enact “meaningful change in modern British politics.”“Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism,” he said of the ...

France breathes sigh of relief as Mercosur trade talks stall

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

PARIS — French officials are relieved that the free-trade deal between the EU and countries of the South American Mercosur bloc is unlikely to land anytime soon. Brussels was hoping to push talks over the controversial trade deal over the finish line during a meeting in Rio de Janeiro this week. But negotiations faced a setback as Brazil — the rotating president of Mercosur bloc — signaled that the agreement will need the nod of the new Argentinian government led by anarcho-capitalist Javier Milei. The news prompted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trade Commisisoner Valdis Dombrovskis to ditch a visit to Rio de Janeiro at the last minute. What sounds like bad news for EU negotiators is music to French ears. “It’s good news,” said Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, a French MEP and trade specialist from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renew group, echoing the view of other French officials. France has been a long-time opponent of the EU-Mercosur deal,&n...

Israel, Turkey and South Korea big winners in the Ukraine war arms race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

The West has pledged to do whatever it takes to support Ukraine while also returning militaries to a war-ready status, but it is defense contractors in South Korea, Turkey and Israel which are reaping many of the early deals.Arms makers in those countries, where governments sustain military investment and production pipelines to maintain their own security, made early gains in the months following the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, according to the latest analysis of weapon sales and military services revenue from the world’s top 100 contractors carried out by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).“South Korea, Israel, Turkey are countries that stand out as being able to respond to the increased expenditure,” said Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, who helped compile the data for SIPRI as part of an annual update that’s been ongoing since the end of the Cold War.Turkey’s four largest defense companies saw their 2022 revenues rise by 22 percen...

Doug Burgum announces he’s suspending his 2024 presidential campaign

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

(CNN) — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced Monday he’s suspending his campaign for president.“Our decision to run for President came from a place of caring deeply about every American and a mission to re-establish trust in America’s leadership and our institutions of democracy,” he said in a statement. “While this primary process has shaken my trust in many media organizations and political party institutions, it has only strengthened my trust in America.”The conservative second-term governor, who launched his 2024 bid in June, focused his campaign on the economy, energy and national security, and warned of China being the “No. 1 threat” to the United States. Burgum leaned into his small-town roots and his business background as a former software firm CEO and Microsoft executive.Burgum poured millions of his own dollars into his campaign to boost his candidacy.But he lacked the national name recognition compared with his rivals, and his appearances at t...

US Supreme Court scrutinizes controversial opioid crisis settlement that would give Sackler family immunity

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

(CNN) — The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments Monday morning in one of the highest-profile bankruptcy cases in recent memory: Whether or not to approve OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s controversial agreement that would give billions of dollars to victims of the opioid epidemic while protecting members of the Sackler family, who owned the company, from current and future opioid-related civil lawsuits.While the up-to-$6 billion deal was initially approved by a New York court in May, it was blocked from moving forward after the US Trustee Program, a division of the US Justice Department, requested that the highest court review the settlement. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Monday.Purdue Pharma, which was owned and operated by the families of the late brothers Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, has said there will be no $6 billion settlement without releasing family members from liability, but the US Trustee has argued that such an arrangement i...

US kills 5 Iran-backed militia members in drone strike in Iraq

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

(CNN) — US forces killed at least five Iran-backed militia members in a drone strike after the US “identified an imminent attack” was likely to be launched by militia forces in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Sunday, a US official said.It wasn’t immediately clear which group the forces killed on Sunday belonged to.The number of attacks by Iran-backed proxy groups on US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria has risen to 76 since October 17, a defense official told CNN.The latest attack occurred on Sunday morning, when a multi-rocket attack was launched against US and coalition forces at Rumalyn Landing Zone, Syria; no infrastructure damage or injuries were reported.The near-daily attacks on US and coalition forces by Iranian-backed groups began in the weeks following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.The US has responded to these near-daily attacks in recent months by launching strikes in eastern Syria and Iraq, targeting weapons depots and storage facilities being used by Iran’s...

Meet ‘Cuyahoga,’ a harbor seal weanling now recovering after rescue in Essex, Mass.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

A small harbor seal weanling is on the mend after a marine mammal rescue team found her struggling in Essex, Massachusetts.The Seacoast Science Center’s Marine Mammal Rescue team said they were first alerted to the animal on Monday, Nov. 27, when they learned that a female harbor seal had been making its way onto the decking of the Essex Marina boat ramp.Officials initially found small wounds on the seal’s mouth and other minor maladies, but opted to monitor the seal for the time being, noting that she would continue to come and go over the following days.It was on Wednesday when the rescue team noticed the seal was struggling with breathing and congestion, leading to personnel taking her in.“Her blood values and examination showed that she’s fighting an infection and her size and weight are small for this time of year,” the SSC Marine Mammal Rescue page stated on Facebook. “Our team triaged and held her overnight to allow her some time to de-stre...

Chicago Bears rookie report: How draft picks — including Darnell Wright and Gervon Dexter — have fared through 12 games

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:18 GMT

Chicago Bears rookie running back Roschon Johnson had one of the biggest games of his NFL career last week in a 12-10 win against the Minnesota Vikings.With D’Onta Foreman out with ankle and shin injuries and Khalil Herbert still getting back to his old self after an ankle issue, Johnson received more work than he had all season. The 2023 fourth-round pick out of Texas played 74% of the offensive snaps — his previous high was 45% — and logged a career-high 10 carries for 35 yards and five catches for 40 yards as the Bears utilized their screen and short passing game.There was plenty of good to see from Johnson’s performance. A clip of him taking out two Vikings defenders while protecting quarterback Justin Fields went viral after the game. But coach Matt Eberflus also noted there were “a couple of hiccups” in pass protection against the high-pressure defense.Johnson played a part in two of the Vikings’ three sacks of Fields. He whiffed again...