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Mark Meadows testified to grand jury investigating Trump

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

By Kristen Holmes, Katelyn Polantz and Hannah Rabinowitz | CNNMark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, has testified to a federal grand jury as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing investigation into the former president, according to one source familiar with the matter.It is not clear whether Meadows testified as part of the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s potential mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House or his probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.George Terwilliger, a lawyer representing Meadows, said in a statement that “Without commenting on whether or not Mr. Meadows has testified before the grand jury or in any other proceeding, Mr. Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so.”A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.The New York Times first reported on Meadow’s appearance before the grand jury.Meadows ...

Disney prepara la producción de “Hocus Pocus 3”

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

(CNN) — Disney se dispone a crear otra secuela de una película muy querida.Según un perfil de Sean Bailey, presidente de Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, publicado recientemente en The New York Times, “Hocus Pocus 3” está en fase de desarrollo.“Hocus Pocus 2” se estrenó en octubre de 2022, casi 30 años después de que Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy y Sarah Jessica Parker nos bendijeran –¿o debería decir nos maldijeran?– con la que se considera la película oficial de la temporada de Halloween.Las tres han expresado su interés en aparecer en la tercera película.Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker y Kathy Najimy provocaron la histeria al mejor estilo de “Hocus Pocus” con una foto de ellas reunidasEn la original, estrenada en 1993, un adolescente (interpretado por Omri Katz) convoca sin querer a un trío de brujas conocidas como las hermanas Sanderson, interpretadas por Midler, Najimy y Parker.La trama de la secuela de 2022 se centraba en...

Wilson leads Las Vegas against Connecticut after 23-point outing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

Las Vegas Aces (7-0, 4-0 Western Conference) at Connecticut Sun (6-2, 4-1 Eastern Conference)Uncasville, Connecticut; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Las Vegas visits the Connecticut Sun after A’ja Wilson scored 23 points in the Aces’ 90-84 victory against the Connecticut Sun.Connecticut finished 25-11 overall last season while going 13-5 at home. The Sun averaged 8.9 steals, 2.7 blocks and 14.4 turnovers per game last season.Las Vegas went 13-5 on the road and 26-10 overall a season ago. The Aces allowed opponents to score 84.1 points per game and shoot 43.7% from the field last season.INJURIES: Sun: None listed.Aces: None listed.___The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.Source

No, I’m Batman: DC Comics wins EU bat trademark fight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

Batman publisher DC Comics won European Union court backing in a trademark row with an Italian company that wants to use an image of a black bat inside a white oval frame on its products.Commerciale Italiana and Luigi Aprile tried to show that people don’t always link the bat sign to the masked crime fighter in their attempt to invalidate DC Comics’ trademark on clothing and novelty items like party hats, which the comic creator has held for just over 25 years.They previously failed to win European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) support to cancel the trademark and had asked the General Court to reverse that refusal.Judges said in a Wednesday ruling that the trademark “refers, for the relevant public, to the Batman character.” Even though Batman is fictional that didn’t mean the court couldn’t link the trademark to him, they said.DC Comics obtained the trademark from EUIPO in February 1998. The losing party could still seek vengean...

OBF: Golf goes Gordon Gekko

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

Lefty landed on the right side of history.Phil Mickelson led the charge of PGA Tour players who jumped to Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed LIV Golf. Mickelson, never one to be shy about his opinions, made it clear he made the move because it kept his wallet phat.With Tuesday’s announced plan to merge the PGA Tour and LIV, Mickelson and the other golfers who took that monstrous bag of dirty Saudi cash hit PowerBall, or PowerPlayBall. They bet it all on which version of golf was going to ultimately prevail. And won.“Awesome day today,” Mickelson tweeted, with a smiley face emoji.The Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF) created LIV Golf with the goal to force a merger with the PGA Tour. That’s exactly what happened Tuesday. A new golf global entity, which doesn’t even have a name, will supplant all the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and any other mens’s golfing body that doesn’t have a couple of billion in reserve to stop this tidal wave.Norman said this was coming earlier a few months ago. “You ...

Pope Francis to undergo intestinal surgery and will be hospitalized for several days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is going to the hospital Wednesday for intestinal surgery, two years after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed because of an inflammation and narrowing of the large intestine.The Vatican said Francis, 86, would be put under general anesthesia and would be hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for several days.The pope was undergoing what the Vatican said was a “laparotomy and abdominal wall plastic surgery with prosthesis” to treat a “recurrent, painful and worsening” constriction of the intestine.A laparotomy is open abdominal surgery. It can help a surgeon both diagnose and treat issues.“The stay at the health facility will last several days to allow for the normal post-operative course and full functional recovery,” the statement said.In July 2021, Francis spent 10 days at Gemelli to remove 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his large intestine. He had suffered what the Vatican said was a severe inflammation and narrowing of th...

Turkish lira declines to record lows following start of Erdogan’s new presidential term

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish lira tumbled to a fresh record low Wednesday, extending its slide against the U.S. dollar since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started his third term.The lira weakened by more than 6% on Wednesday hitting 23.15 against the dollar. The decline took the currency’s loss since the appointment of Erdogan’s new government to 8%. The currency has weakened by around 20% since the start of the year.The Turkish currency has declined in value since 2021 due to what economists say is Erdogan’s insistence on keeping borrowing costs low to stimulate growth despite skyrocketing inflation. The policy runs contrary to conventional economic approaches that call for higher interest rates to tame inflation.Analysts say Erdogan’s government propped up the lira in the run-up to Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections last month, using foreign currency reserves to keep the exchange rate under control.On Saturday, Erdogan reappointed Mehmet Sims...

White woman who fatally shot Black neighbor is arrested in Florida

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman accused of fatally shooting her neighbor last week in the violent culmination of what the sheriff described as a 2 1/2-year feud was arrested Tuesday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, who is white, was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault in the death of Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four, Sheriff Billy Woods said in a statement.Authorities came under pressure Tuesday to arrest and charge the white woman who fired through her front her door and killed a Black neighbor in a case that has put Florida’s divisive stand your ground law back into the spotlight. Woods said that this was not a stand your ground case but “simply a killing.”When interviewed, Lorincz claimed that she acted in self-defense and that Owens had been trying to break down her door prior to her discharging her firearm. Lorincz also claimed that Owens had come after her in the pas...

NATO allies prepare unprecedented air deployment exercise over Europe in show of force to Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany is preparing to host the biggest air deployment exercise in NATO’s history, a show of force intended to impress allies and potential adversaries such as Russia, German and American officials said Wednesday.The Air Defender 23 exercise starting next week will see 10,000 participants and 250 aircraft from 25 nations respond to a simulated attack on a NATO member country. The United States alone is sending 2,000 U.S. Air National Guard personnel and about 100 aircraft to take part in the training maneuvers. “This is an exercise that would be absolutely impressive to anybody who’s watching, and we don’t make anybody watch it,” U.S. Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann said.“It will demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt the agility and the swiftness of our allied force in NATO as a first responder,” she said.“I would be pretty surprised if any world leader was not taking note of what this shows in terms of the spirit of this alliance, which means the strength of...

In The News for June 7 : Will the Bank of Canada hike its interest rate?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:42 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of June 7 …What we are watching in Canada …The Bank of Canada is set to announce its interest rate decision this morning as speculation about another rate hike heats up. Recent economic data suggests the Canadian economy is running hotter than forecasters had expected, raising concerns about the inflation outlook. Last week, Statistics Canada reported real gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 3.1 per cent in the first quarter, while a preliminary estimate suggests it expanded again in April. Economists — many of whom expected high interest rates to send the economy into a recession by now — say the recent data suggests the central bank may have to hike interest rates again to get inflation back to the two per cent target.The Bank of Canada, which paused its rate-hiking cycle earlier this year after ra...