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Americans detained for years in Iran arrive in US after release and tearfully embrace loved ones

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans detained for years in Iran arrived home Tuesday after being freed as part of a politically risky deal that saw President Joe Biden agree to the release of nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets.The prisoners landed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with clapping and cheers heard in the predawn hours. Siamak Namazi, the first off the jet, paused for a moment, closed his eyes and took a deep breath before leaving the plane. Loved ones, some holding small American flags, enveloped them in hugs as they tearfully embraced and exchanged greetings in English and Farsi, the main language of Iran.The successful negotiations for the Americans’ freedom brought Biden profuse thanks from their families but heat from Republican presidential rivals and other opponents for the monetary arrangement with one of America’s top adversaries.“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” the Democratic president said in a statemen...

Erdoğan: I trust Russia and the West equally 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

Russia and the West? No difference in my eyes, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday. “To the extent the West is reliable, Russia is equally reliable. For the last 50 years, we have been waiting at the doorstep of the EU, and, at this moment in time, I trust Russia just as much as I trust the West,” Erdoğan — whose country is a member of the NATO transatlantic military alliance — said in an interview.Erdoğan’s comments on the American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) followed a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Black Sea grain deal, which Putin exited in July amid his long-running lethal onslaught against Ukraine. “Russia happens to be one of my closest neighbors. And we have a common history,” the Turkish president added.Good political relations — with the EU, the U.S. or Russia — are based on “win-win” calculations for Ankara and therefore, Erdoğan added, he will continue to foster them all.Last week, E...

Azerbaijan launches attack in Nagorno-Karabakh, announces ‘evacuation’ of Armenian population

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

Azerbaijan has announced a major new military offensive in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, declaring it will “evacuate” some of the Armenian population there in a crisis that risks spiralling into all-out war.The escalation comes after months of fruitless negotiations and amid growing speculation that Turkey-backed Azerbaijan has been gearing up to use force to bring a decades-long frozen conflict to an end. A war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020 killed thousands on each side. Over the past months, Azerbaijan has been tightening a supply blockade of food and medicines into the ethnic Armenian enclave that lies entirely within its territory. Baku’s defense ministry said on Tuesday it was launching “local anti-terrorist activities” to “suppress large-scale provocations” in the territory. Reports and film footage from Nagorno-Karabakh showed heavy shelling and gunfire in the enclave. Air raid sirens wailed in Stepanakert, the de facto capital of the unrecognized st...

Column: Which way will the ball bounce down the stretch for the Chicago Cubs?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

I woke up Sunday morning to a text from a Chicago Cubs fan who had a sleepless night after watching their 13-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.“I guess the good lord doesn’t want the Cubs to win,” the text read.He was referring to Harry Caray’s call of a 3-2 win over the Montreal Expos on Aug. 2, 1984, before any of the current Cubs players were born. Expos star Pete Rose hit a liner off closer Lee Smith that deflected into the air and was caught on the fly by shortstop Dave Owen, who threw to first for a game-ending double play.“Cubs win, Cubs win, what a lucky break,” Caray yelled. “The good lord wants the Cubs to win.”Flash forward 39 years later to Saturday night, when the Cubs were one out from beating the Diamondbacks in 13 innings before Emmanuel Rivera hit a line drive that deflected off reliever Hayden Wesneski’s right elbow and into the air toward shortstop Dansby Swanson.Instead of running in and attempting a gam...

Patriots-Dolphins film review: What Bill Belichick can and can’t fix after an 0-2 start

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

Bill Belichick’s decision to bench his most dynamic offensive playmaker for the last three quarters Sunday will eventually fade into the white noise of this Patriots season.What it represented in the moment, however, encapsulates the conundrum the Patriots now face at 0-2.The Patriots offense unequivocally needs Demario Douglas, a sixth-round rookie from Liberty University, to function at its highest level. But being a rookie, Douglas is prone to rookie mistakes, like his fumble in the first quarter against Miami.To Belichick, that fumble meant something more: an inexcusable repeat of the mistakes that cost the Patriots their season opener, a game they would have won were it not for two first-quarter turnovers.Belichick pulled Douglas because he saw the rookie as a problem he could fix, something he could control. And right or wrong, Belichick believed eliminating the added risk of another turnover was in the Patriots’ best interest; a way to raise the floor on their win...

Americans released by Iran arrive home, tearfully embrace their loved ones and declare: ‘Freedom!’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans detained for years in Iran arrived home Tuesday, tearfully hugged their loved ones and declared “Freedom!” after being let go as part of a politically risky deal that saw President Joe Biden agree to the release of nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets.The prisoners landed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with clapping and cheers heard in the predawn hours. Siamak Namazi, the first off the jet, paused for a moment, closed his eyes and took a deep breath before leaving the plane. Loved ones, some holding small American flags, enveloped them in hugs and exchanged greetings in English and Farsi, the main language of Iran.“The nightmare is finally over,” Namazi’s brother, Babak, said at the airport.“We haven’t had this moment is over eight years,” he added, his arm around his brother and his formerly detained father, Baquer, who had been earlier released by Iran. “It’s unbelievable.”The former prisoners later posed for a group photograph with their families, c...

Far from home, Ukrainian designers showcase fashion that was created amid air raid sirens

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

LONDON (AP) — For Ksenia Schnaider and her fellow Ukrainian fashion designers, the show must go on despite the war in their country — or precisely because of it. For much of the past year, Schnaider and her team of seamstresses toiled away in their Kyiv studio, crafting her new collection of designer denim and luxury daywear even as air raid sirens, drone attacks and power cuts took over their lives and made production almost impossible to continue.Schnaider, 39, fled Ukraine with her husband and young daughter when Russia invaded her country in 2022. They found a temporary home with a British family in a peaceful corner of southern England. But she hasn’t put down the fashion business she founded 12 years ago, dividing her time between the U.K. and Kyiv, where all her garments are still being made against the odds.“My team needs this sense of normality — they told me they want to go to work and have something to do, to support each other, rather than staying home hiding,” she added...

Trial of man accused in London attack set to hear more evidence today

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

Jurors at the trial of a man accused of murdering four members of a Muslim family in Ontario are set to hear more evidence today.Nathaniel Veltman is accused of deliberately hitting five members of the Afzaal family with his truck while they were out for a walk in London, Ont.Prosecutors have alleged his actions in June 2021 amount to an act of terrorism and have argued he was motivated by white nationalist beliefs.Veltman, 22, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.Jurors watched a video of Veltman on Monday telling a detective he had been motivated by white nationalist beliefs that he had kept private in order to avoid detection by authorities.He was also seen telling the detective that his attack was politically motivated and an act of terrorism.Salman Afzaal, 46, his 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were killed in the attack. The couple’s n...

Jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appears at a Moscow court to appeal his arrest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained on espionage charges, appeared in a Moscow court Tuesday to appeal his arrest. The 31-year-old United States citizen was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip to Russia in late March. He and his employer deny the allegations, and the U.S. government declared him to be wrongfully detained. Russian authorities have not provided any evidence to support the espionage charges.Gershkovich is the first American reporter to face espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB.The Associated Press

Spain players arrive at camp after Hermoso accuses federation of threatening World Cup winners

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:48 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Some of Spain’s World Cup-winning players started reporting to training camp on Tuesday despite not wanting to be called up for the national team while fighting for changes in the soccer federation.Local media showed some of the players arriving at the hotel where the team will stay in Madrid, with their arrival coming a day after new coach Montse Tomé ignored their decision not to play until their demands for reform at the federation were met.The players had said in a statement on Monday that they were caught by surprise by the call-up and did not plan to end their boycott, but those who don’t show up risk breaking a Spanish sports law that requires athletes to answer the call of national teams unless there are circumstances that impede them from playing, such as an injury.It was the latest embarrassing chapter in Spanish soccer in a crisis ignited by former federation president Luis Rubiales kissing player Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain won the Wom...