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Georgia hedges its bets on the EU — and Russia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. TBILISI — Even by the disorderly standards of Georgian politics, last week’s Independence Day celebration in Tbilisi’s Liberty Square was strikingly odd, with the country’s feuding president and prime minister delivering dueling speeches to the crowd.President Salome Zourabichvili — who stood as an independent candidate in 2018, winning with the support of the ruling Georgian Dream Party — renewed her criticism of the government for what she dubbed its “anti-Western policy,” and focused sharply on the recent restoration of direct flights with Russia, describing them as “incomprehensible and insulting.”For his part, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili insisted that Georgia’s “progress on the path to European integration is particularly impressive,” reassuring the packed square that he’s sparing no effort to persuade the European Union that Georgia deserves to be granted candidate status. “In today’s most difficult geopolitical s...

Group protests planned closure of maternity ward at Leominster hospital 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

A group of people rallied in a show of support Tuesday as they try to keep the maternity ward at UMass Memorial Health Alliance-Clinton Hospital open.  UMass Memorial Health recently announced that they plan to close the ward in September. Protestors, though, have said the shutdown will have a negative impact on the region. “It’s like the worst thing they could possibly be doing,” said labor and delivery nurse Amy Gagnon. “It’s so dangerous for our patients. We’re going to be having moms deliver in the emergency room.”Gagnon was one of dozens of people showing up outside the hospital in LeominsterUMass Memorial Health Alliance-Clinton Hospital President Steve Roach discussed the planned closure in a statement, blaming the move, in part, on hiring challenges.“In recent years, industry-wide workforce shortages have exacerbated the challenges of fully staffing our maternity inpatient unit,” Roach said. “This, along with the steadily declining number of births in North Centra...

Orioles explode for seven runs early, hold on late in 8-5 win over Guardians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

Despite their success in May, the Orioles’ bats have, at times, gone cold.After spending April as one of the best offenses in the majors, Baltimore was shut out Monday for the fourth time this month. However, the possibility of it happening again Tuesday was put to rest early, as the Orioles exploded for seven runs in the first two innings en route to an 8-5 win over the Cleveland Guardians.The Orioles entered Tuesday with just 11 runs across their previous five games, and it wasn’t going to get easier with leadoff hitter Cedric Mullins being placed on the injured list earlier in the day with a right groin strain. But Gunnar Henderson’s two-run double in the first inning and Anthony Santander’s bases-clearing triple amid a five-run second snapped the club’s lumber lull and provided enough offense to stave off Cleveland’s comeback attempt.“We hate that he got injured in that way, but we all have great approach and great players behind him,...

North Korea fails on attempt to launch its first spy satellite

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG (Associated Press)SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s attempt to put the country’s first spy satellite into space failed Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise.After its unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after learning what went wrong with its rocket liftoff. It suggests Kim remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal to apply more pressure on Washington and Seoul while diplomacy is stalled. A satellite launch by North Korea is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from conducting any launch based on ballistic technology. Observers say North Korea’s previous satellite launches helped improve its long-range missile technology, though the latest launch likely was more focused on deploying a spy satellite. North Korea has already ...

Yankees Notebook: Harrison Bader lands on IL, Jose Trevino gets activated

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

SEATTLE — Harrison Bader is back on the shelf.The Yankees placed the center fielder on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday after an MRI revealed a right hamstring strain. Franchy Cordero was recalled in Bader’s place shortly before first pitch against the Mariners.Bader exited Monday’s game after legging out an infield single in the third inning. He ran hard to first base but departed after some stretching and a brief conversation with Aaron Boone and trainer Mike Schuk.Bader, who started the season on the IL due to an oblique injury suffered in spring training, has been a linchpin for the Yankees since making his season debut on May 2. In addition to playing elite defense, the impending free agent is hitting .267 with an .806 OPS, two triples, six home runs, 19 RBI and five stolen bases over 26 games.Bader has played in just 40 regular-season games — in addition to nine playoff contests — since being acquired from the Cardinals last August in a deal tha...

MLB takes over Padres broadcasts Wednesday after Bally misses payment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Major League Baseball will take over broadcasts of San Diego Padres games beginning Wednesday after Diamond Sports missed a rights fees payment to the regional sports network's parent company and let the grace period expire.Diamond Sports, which owns 19 networks under the Bally Sports banner, said in a statement that it decided “not to provide additional funding to the San Diego RSN that would enable it to make the rights payment to the San Diego Padres during the grace period and will no longer be broadcasting Padres games after Tuesday.”San Diego began a three-game series at the Miami Marlins Tuesday night. The Padres RSN is owned by a joint venture of the team and Diamond.The Padres become the first team that MLB will take over production of its broadcasts. MLB set up a local media department during the offseason to prepare for a bankruptcy filing by Diamond Sports, which took place in March. Distribution plans for Padres games have not been announced, but it is like...

Brother: Authorities told family that body of missing Missouri ER doctor was found in Arkansas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

CASSVILLE, Mo. (AP) — The body of a Missouri emergency room doctor who has been missing for more than a week has been found in northwest Arkansas, his brother told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Dr. John Forsyth was last heard from in text messages around 7 a.m. May 21. His brother, Richard Forsyth, said authorities called the family Tuesday night to say his brother was found deceased. He provided no other details. Messages left with the Missouri State Highway Patrol were not immediately returned. John Forsyth, 49, was last heard from in text messages around 7 a.m. May 21. Police said he was reported missing when he failed to show up for work later that day at Mercy Hospital in Cassville, a town of 3,100 residents deep in the Missouri Ozarks.His black Infiniti was found parked in a remote area near an aquatic park in Cassville. The car was unlocked with his wallet, two phones and a laptop inside.“It doesn’t seem like a person who left with a plan,” Richard Forsyth told the A...

‘It’s chaos’: Halifax man learns home was destroyed as officials warn of wildfire danger

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

For the second time in the past seven years, Danny Osborne has fled his home because of a wildfire.In May 2016, he escaped the devastating fires in Fort McMurray, Alta., which forced the evacuation of 90,000 people and destroyed 2,400 homes and businesses. And his Alberta home survived the disaster.But on Tuesday, Osborne learned the Halifax-area wildfire that has been burning out of control since Sunday had gutted his new residence in Nova Scotia.He was among a group from the Yankeetown subdivision northwest of Halifax who were led by RCMP to their properties to retrieve pets after the wildfire swept through.“It’s gone,” the 45-year-old construction worker said after he returned from seeing what was left of his home. “It is completely flattened.”Osborne recalled how when he left his house after an evacuation was ordered, he saw black, churning smoke in his rear-view mirror and felt the same “gut-wrenching” emotions he endured during the Alberta d...

Donald Trump’s legal team and Manhattan prosecutors spar over where he will stand trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ten months before Donald Trump is scheduled to stand trial in his historic New York City criminal case, Manhattan prosecutors are turning the former president’s words against him in a tug of war over precisely where he will be tried.Trump’s lawyers have spent weeks angling to have the hush money case moved to federal court. The Manhattan district attorney’s office responded Tuesday that the case should remain in the state court where it originated, citing old Trump tweets that they say undermine his lawyers’ jurisdictional challenge.Trump, a Republican, pleaded not guilty in state court last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to money paid to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for orchestrating hush money payments during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.Prosecutors allege that Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, falsely logged the Cohen payments as being for a legal retainer that didn’t exist.Tr...

US Border Patrol chief is retiring after seeing through end of Title 42 immigration restrictions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the U.S. Border Patrol announced Tuesday that he was retiring, after seeing through a major policy shift that seeks to clamp down on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border following the end of Title 42 pandemic restrictions.Chief Raul Ortiz said in a note to staff Tuesday obtained by The Associated Press that he will leave June 30. It’s not clear yet who will replace him. “I leave at ease, knowing we have a tremendous uniformed and professional workforce, strong relationships with our union partners, and outstanding leaders who will continue to tirelessly advocate for you each day,” Ortiz said in the note. Ortiz managed the Border Patrol and its roughly 20,000 agents through the COVID-19 pandemic and Title 42 emergency health restrictions that began in March 2020 and allowed agents to quickly return migrants over the border. He also oversaw a new set of restrictions rolled out May 11 meant to discourage migrants from crossing illegally while ...