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2 children killed, 7 injured in Aurora house fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Two people died and several others were injured in an Aurora house fire late Wednesday night.Aurora Fire Rescue responded to a fire at a multi-story, single-family home in the 2800 block of South Oakland Circle at 11:30 p.m. The neighborhood is north of Cherry Creek Reservoir.When crews arrived at the home, they found nine people inside. All nine residents were taken to local hospitals. Iraqi refugee killed in carjacking sought ‘freedom from violence’ in the US FOX31's Lisa D'Souza spoke with the public information officer on scene and learned that two children were killed as a result of the fire. According to the officer, the victims were a 1 and 9-year-old girl. Four other children remain in critical condition, two adults were treated at the hospital and released and one child was also treated and released. Aurora Fire Rescue was also able to safely rescue a dog.Crews said the fire was quickly brought under control, and crews did not find any other victims insid...

Opening statements begin in Davonte Barnes’ murder case following 2021 banquet hall mass shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

The long-awaited trial in the aftermath of the 2021 banquet hall mass shooting will commence with opening statements on Thursday in the case against Davonte Barnes.The incident unfolded on May 30, 2021, at the El Mula Banquet Hall located at 7630 NW 186th St., leaving the Miami community in shock and mourning. Desmond Owens and Clayton Dillard III lost their lives in the horrific incident, while Shankquia Lechelle Peterson later succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.The case took a twist when a second suspect, Warneric Buckner, was initially charged with the shootings. However, the proceedings against Buckner were abruptly dropped by prosecutors after they determined that Miami-Dade homicide detectives had violated his right to remain silent following his request for an attorney.Barnes was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and 21 counts of attempted first-degree murder.Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

Russian soldiers deliberately kill Ukrainian kids, new film says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

KYIV — Russia’s army has killed more than 500 children in Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian prosecutors say.    In the new documentary “Bullet holes,” journalists from the Kyiv Independent — a Ukrainian English-language news website — tell stories of three children killed by Russian troops in Ukraine: 10-year-old Kateryna Vinarska; 12-year-old Vladyslav Mahdyk; and 15-year-old Mykhailo Ustianivsky. All three were shot dead by Russians at close range, according to Kyiv Independent reporters.Vinarska was killed by Russian soldiers as they shot at a civilian car belonging to her grandparents at a checkpoint in an occupied village in the Kharkiv region. Mahdyk was shot dead by a single Russian bullet that also wounded his older sister as the family was trying to evacuate from Russian-occupied territory in the Kyiv region. And Ustianivsky was shot in the back for running away from a Russian armored vehicle in his vill...

Poland, Ukraine ready to hold talks over grain dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

Poland and Ukraine said they are ready to start negotiations “in the coming days” to resolve their dispute over imports of Ukrainian grain.  Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi said on Thursday he and his Polish counterpart had agreed to “find a solution that takes into account the interests of both countries” after a phone conversation.“The parties confirmed the close and constructive relations that they have repeatedly demonstrated and agreed, taking this into account, to develop a variant of cooperation on export issues in the near future,” Ukraine’s agriculture ministry said in a statement.The dialogue is difficult but it has begun, said Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus after the phone call: “We are always ready to talk, but invariably the interest of the Polish farmer is the most important for us.”The talks are the first move to break a cycle of escalation that has, in less than a week, seen Poland, Hungary and Slovakia ban imp...

Boost for Rishi Sunak as Bank of England hits ‘pause’ on interest rate hikes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

LONDON — Don’t speak too soon, but Rishi Sunak might just have a good story to tell on the British economy.As the Bank of England moved Thursday to halt interest rate rises after fourteen successive lifts in the cost of borrowing, it capped a better-than-expected week of news on key measures that matter to the British prime minister’s re-election chances.The BoE’s nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-4 in favor of pausing its tightening cycle, keeping its key lending rate unchanged at 5.25 percent. Despite that, it repeated that further rate hikes may still be necessary if inflation turns out stronger than currently expected.But the move suggests the independent central Bank — which has a mandate to get inflation down to 2 percent — sees an end in sight to Britain’s protracted cost-of-living crunch, likely to be the defining issue of an election expected next year.Reacting to the news Thursday, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt — Sunak’s top finance minister — said: “We are star...

King Charles calls for climate action 24 hours after Sunak’s net zero U-turn

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

LONDON — Britain’s prime minister may be paring back his green pledges — but King Charles III had a different message on the global stage Thursday.In a historic speech to the French Senate, the monarch said France and the U.K. must work together in order to “answer more efficiently” the challenges posed by climate change, as he talked up the “existential” importance of the issue.His speech came less than 24 hours after U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the paring back of several policies aimed at driving down Britain’s carbon emissions to zero by 2050 — a move that was greeted with fury from opposition politicians, green activists and some business groups.Charles, noted for his outspoken views on climate change, had already called for “fighting the scourge that is climate change” in an address at the Palace of Versailles Wednesday night. He went further on Thursday, as he addressed the Senate, the upper house of parliament, in both French and En...

Former Kremlin lobbyist picked as UK Conservative candidate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

LONDON — A Conservative election hopeful ran a public affairs firm which counted the Russian government and state-owned energy firm Gazprom among its clients in the 2000s.Nigel Gardner was selected for the new Harpenden and Berkhamstead parliamentary seat earlier this month.A former European Commission spokesperson, Gardner founded agency GPlus in the early 2000s before selling a majority stake to Omnicom in 2006. He retained his role working on the firm’s business strategy until his departure in late 2009.Under the Omnicom banner, GPlus and sister agency Ketchum landed a deal with the Russian government in 2006, and Gazprom in 2007. The Kremlin contract was initially focused on media work around Russia’s presidency of the G8 — seen at the time as a chance for closer cooperation with the West.A 2006 report from the Financial Times said the decision to contract the Western firms had been signed off by Russian President Vladimir Putin.Attitudes ‘were very different’Speakin...

Column: ‘Royalization’ of the Chicago White Sox is full steam ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

Whenever Chris Getz hears Lorde sing “We could be Royals,” he must feel compelled to sing along at the top of his lungs.On his first day as Chicago White Sox general manager, Getz revealed manager Pedro Grifol, his former coach with the Kansas City Royals, would be retained. Among his first front office hires, Getz is reported to be bringing in San Francisco director of pitching Brian Bannister, a former Royals teammate, and Gene Watson, the former Royals assistant general manager/scouting. Longtime Royals GM Dayton Moore has been linked to the Sox as well, according to USA Today.So the standard has been set for the Sox, and the question must now be asked:Could they be Royals, or at least a version of the organization that managed to win a championship without a team full of superstars back in the 2010s?The Royalization of the Sox is underway.Anyone with ties to the Royals might be Zillowing the southwest suburbs of Chicago right now, looking for available homes for 2024...

Callahan: Bill Belichick has hamstrung Bill O’Brien, but O’Brien has to deliver anyway at the Jets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

FOXBORO — Bill Parcells famously wanted to shop for his own groceries.Parcells cooked dinner for four seasons as the Patriots’ head coach, his last a Super Bowl supper in 1996. Then, unhappy with his lack of personnel control, AKA the grocery list, he left for the Jets.As the Pats prepare to face the Jets this weekend, it’s worth separating the groceries Bill Belichick assembled this offseason from the meal he appears to be burning now at 0-2.The roster talent, from the team.Per usual, Belichick nailed his shopping down the defensive aisle. He retained key ingredients that stirred a top-3 defense last season, including cornerback Jonathan Jones and safety Jabrill Peppers. He tossed in first-round rookie corner Christian Gonzalez, an emerging stud, as well as grass-fed thumpers in Keion White and Marte Mapu.And in true Belichick fashion, he managed to pick all the rotten produce in the offensive market.Former star receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is not viewed internally as a...

Pakistan will hold parliamentary elections at the end of January, delaying a vote due in November

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s election oversight body announced on Thursday that it will hold the next parliamentary elections in the last week of January, delaying the vote which was to be held in November under the constitution.However, the announcement by the Election Commission of Pakistan has ended uncertainty about the fate of the vote. Earlier, some political parties had feared that the election could be delayed for an indefinite period. Pakistan has been in deepening political turmoil since April 2022, when then-Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office through a parliamentary vote of no confidence. Khan was arrested in early August on corruption charges and imprisoned after a court convicted and sentenced him to three years in prison. Pakistan’s electoral map is being redrawn to reflect the latest census. In a brief statement, the election commission said a final list of constituencies would be published on Nov. 30. The Election Commission will announce the exac...