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In Lebanon, Iran FM visits Israel border, extolls Hezbollah

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat visited Lebanon’s border with Israel on Friday where he expressed support for the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group in its struggle against their common enemy: Israel.Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian began his visit to Lebanon since Wednesday, meeting top officials and expressing Tehran’s readiness to help build power stations in an effort to try to end the Mediterranean country’s prevailing electricity crisis.Lebanon is in the throes of the worst economic crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the small nation’s ruling class. The crisis erupted in October 2019 and has plunged three quarters of Lebanon’s 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, into poverty.Amirabdollahian visit to the border village of Maroun al-Ras came three weeks after Israel launched rare strikes into southern Lebanon, hours after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there at Israel, wounding two peopl...

Smokey Robinson turns seductive with new album ‘Gasms’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — When Smokey Robinson started dating his-now wife more than 20 years ago, she didn’t want people to know about it. Robinson and Frances Glandney, who married in 2002, were part of a group of longtime pals and she knew they’d start gossipping about her and the legendary singer-songwriter. “When we first started started seeing each other, she wanted to keep it on the down-low. She didn’t want anybody to know because we were friends. And then all our friends were going to be talking about us,” Robinson said.Naturally, that became fodder for a song — “I Keep Calling.” Robinson has been holding onto it for years — complete with the lyrics “Simple things like touching in public/Private touches goin’ unseen” — until this month when it appears on his “Gasms” album, his first collection in almost a decade.“Gasms” finds the 83-year-old in a frisky mood, with the Motown icon writing a collection for the bedroom, with yearning across its nine tracks. Just a few titles...

Biden declares Fort Lauderdale disaster area after flooding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President Joe Biden declared Florida’s Broward County a disaster area Friday, two weeks after record-breaking rain left parts of Fort Lauderdale and its suburbs flooded. Gov. Ron DeSantis had requested the declaration earlier this week. The declaration makes Broward residents and business owners who incurred damage to their homes and other property eligible for a wide range of federal loans and other assistance. Local governments and nonprofit organizations are also eligible.More than 2 feet (0.6 meters) of rain fell in some parts of the county on April 12. The 1-in-1,000-year deluge left some neighborhoods with up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) of water. About 1,000 homes were severely damaged, according to the state.The flooding also closed the airport for almost two days. Gas deliveries to the port were also slowed, causing long lines at the pump.The Republican governor is expected to soon announce that he will seek his party’s nomination to challenge B...

Ed Sheeran adds intimate Denver show for 1,800 fans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran is set to visit the Mile High City during his stadium tour in August, but the English superstar has just announced a second Denver date. This show will be in a very intimate and small venue. The "Subtract Tour" was announced on Friday and it is described as a special run of tours that will coincide with Sheeran's massive stadium tour, "The Mathematics Tour."So, on Aug. 18, Sheeran will bring his one-of-a-kind intimate tour to the Paramount Theatre in Denver. The show will indeed be intimate because the theater only has a capacity of 1,865. Ed Sheeran to bring ‘+ – = ÷ x Tour’ to Empower Field in Denver This new tour follows his forthcoming album "Subtract," which will be released on May 5."Written against a backdrop of grief and hope, Ed wrote and recorded the fourteen-track record with Aaron Dessner (of The National) in February last year after a series of hard-hitting events impacted his life," said a press release about Sheeran's...

6 gallons of chemical solvent dubbed ‘coma in a bottle’ destined for Florida seized: CBP

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Florida (WFTS) — Six gallons of a chemical solvent known as liquid ecstasy or “coma in a bottle” destined for Hillsborough County were seized in Philadelphia, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers announced this week.According to a press release, the gallons of gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) arrived in two shipments from France and were meant to go to an address in Hillsborough County.GBL is a DEA Schedule 1 controlled substance, according to CBP. It’s used as a date-rape drug and by bodybuilders to increase growth hormone, the press release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.GBL is a chemical analog of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), a highly addictive central nervous system depressant that poses potentially severe health consequences, including respiratory distress, coma and death, according to the DEA.When used as intended, officials said GBL is an industrial solvent that strips paint and rust.No arrests have been mad...

Jimmy Butler, the most interesting man in the Heat world

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler is different.Some players hit beaches over All-Star break; Butler went to Argentina to watch tennis and learn about coffee. Some players rest with one day off between games; Butler spent 10 hours flying round-trip to be at Pau Gasol’s Los Angeles Lakers jersey retirement one night and back in Miami for shootaround the next morning. Some Miami teammates jumped around the locker room to celebrate after eliminating top-seeded Milwaukee; Butler simply watched while sipping a drink.He does things his way, which is not a bad thing — and the results prove it. Butler has led Miami to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third time in his four seasons with the Heat; this year, a matchup with the New York Knicks awaits, starting Sunday.“He wants to live an interesting life,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You’ve got to respect that. But he is very serious about winning.”Very, very serious. A championship is what lured Butler...

‘Hunger Games’ prequel reveals first look

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

(CNN) — “Every saga has a beginning.”That’s part of the message in the newly released trailer for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.”The prequel for the “Hunger Games” franchise tells the story of Lucy Gray Baird, played by “West Side Story” star Rachel Zelger, and a teenage Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth.The latter character goes on to become the villainous President Snow, who was played by Donald Sutherland in the first films.Things get dark quickly in the trailer as Lucy and young Snow try to survive the deadly games.“With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates,” according to the film’s synopsis. “With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, ...

Rihanna set to star in new ‘Smurfs’ movie

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

(CNN) — RiRi smurf?Superstar Rihanna is set to play Smurfette in the upcoming “Smurfs” animated film.On Thursday, Paramount Pictures announced the news during their CinemaCon presentation, revealing that the singer will create and perform original music for the film. She will also serve as a producer.“Getting to do animation is a fun journey for me,” Rihanna said. “I’m usually front and center with everything with my likeness…but this was fun, I got to imagine, I got to show up in my pajamas in my third trimester, and be a blue badass.”Chris Miller and Matt Landon will co-direct the movie. Pam Brady penned the script.The “Smurfs” film franchise kicked off in 2011 with “The Smurfs,” starring Neil Patrick Harris. Katy Perry formerly played Smurfette.“The Smurfs 2” was released in 2013, followed by 2017’s “Smurfs: The Lost Village.”As for her acting career, Rihanna starred in 201...

Eastern EU countries strike deal with EU Commission to clear Ukrainian grain glut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

BRUSSELS — Five EU countries have struck a deal with the European Commission on shifting millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain out of the region after almost two weeks of intensive negotiations, EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said Friday.“I’m glad to announce that we have reached a political agreement concerning Ukrainian agrifood imports in the EU. We’ve agreed with the five neighboring EU member states and Ukraine on how we’ll tackle the situation,” Dombrovskis said. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria restricted imports of Ukrainian produce earlier this month following protests by farmers unable to sell their crops due to a supply glut.As previously announced, the European Commission will put forward emergency safeguard measures for wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, Dombrovskis said, adding that investigations into other products could follow.He did not provide more details on what the emergency measures entail, but EU diplomats say that the imports of those...

Sanctions-busting states could be next in Brussels’ crosshairs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:22 GMT

European governments are drawing up plans to hit third countries with economic penalties if they fail to comply with Western sanctions or can’t explain a sudden rise in trade in banned goods, according to three EU diplomats briefed on the discussions. Such a mechanism, which is being discussed as part of the EU’s next sanctions package against Russia over the Ukraine war, would be a first step toward so-called secondary or extraterritorial sanctions — a practice that is already used by the United States.“This would be an important policy shift for the EU,” one of the diplomats said.The idea illustrates the EU’s growing frustration over circumvention of Western sanctions against Russia by unscrupulous states and businesses. After adopting 10 sanctions packages against Moscow, the EU has appointed David O’Sullivan as special envoy to make sure European sanctions are implemented and not open to evasion. But O’Sullivan — a former secretary-...