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Inside the secretive committee wiring Europe’s finances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

It’s a tale of intrigue, improbable friendship and backroom deal-making that gets to the heart of where political power in the EU really lies.And it concerns one of the bloc’s most secretive — yet influential — bodies, and two of its leading members who have just been booted off it.You’ve probably not heard of the body, and you’ve almost certainly never heard of the pair of officials, yet a clearer example of power-behind-the-throne you’re unlikely to find. Backstage, the strings they pulled helped steer the bloc through choppy economic waters.The twin departures of the Italian and German senior treasury officials, Alessandro Rivera and Carsten Pillath, leave a gap at the center of EU decision-making at a time when governments are battling record inflation, facing a potential banking crisis, and bickering over how to change EU spending rules.Rivera and Pillath sat on the Economic and Financial Committee, and its smaller eurozone-only cousin, the Eurogroup Working Group. No public ag...

Div. 1-2 baseball preview: Defending champs Milton still rule

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

As Milton gears up to defend its Div. 2 state title, Brendan Morrissey is seeing the same poise in his club he saw from a year ago.While the Wildcats graduated the likes of Charlie Walker, Brian Foley, and Shea Donovan, they are still the clear favorite in Div. 2 as the 2023 MIAA baseball season gets underway. Elon-bound junior left-hander Tommy Mitchell and two-way standout Owen MucHugh front the rotation while Jimmy Fallon and sophomore budding star Scott Longo spearhead the lineup.“I’ve been impressed with our mindset so far coming into the season. It’s really no different than last year,” Milton coach Brendan Morrissey said. “Our guys know they have the talent to get to where we want to get to, but they also have a lot of work to do to get there.”The Div. 2 state finalist from a year ago, King Philip, will be in contention to finish the job this time around. Brendan Senjac is one of the best pure hitters in Eastern Mass and when healthy, Tommy...

San Diego gas prices expected to rise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Gas prices are on the move again as experts warn of the summer gas demand expected just around the corner.“The gas price average in San Diego is now $4.90 for a gallon of regular unleaded. That is 3 cents higher than a week ago, it’s 3 cents less than a month ago,” said Doug Shoupe from the Auto Club of Southern California. Price increases are happening just as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the conglomerate of oil producing nations, is cutting oil production, sending prices higher as well.   California Lottery players win $1 million each from scratcher games “They are going to cut back on supply and so when supply is reduced there's not as much of it out there and that tends to drive up prices,” said Alan Gin from University of San Diego’s Knauss School of Business. While it sounds like prices are going to soar, signals in the economy are slowing and Gin says U.S. oil producers are pumping more oil than ever into the U.S. market. “...

Why do Jerusalem tensions fuel regionwide unrest?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — It’s become something of a grim, springtime tradition in the Holy Land. Israeli police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians stockpiling rocks and fireworks inside one of the most bitterly disputed holy sites on Earth. The violence ripples across Israel and the occupied West Bank, and militants from as far away as Gaza and Lebanon respond with rockets.Similar tensions in 2021 boiled over into an 11-day Gaza war. Violence at the holy site in 2000 ignited a five-year Palestinian uprising and a fierce Israeli military crackdown across the occupied territories. One of the first major outbreaks of Jewish-Arab violence occurred in Jerusalem’s Old City in the spring of 1920, in what became known as the Nebi Musa riots.What is it about Jerusalem? What is it about the hilltop compound in the heart of the Old City known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount?WHY IS THE JERUSALEM HOLY SITE SACRED TO MUSLIMS AND JEWS?The Noble S...

Mikko Rantanen’s hat trick completes Avalanche’s first 50-goal season in 20 years, as Avs beat Sharks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

Mikko Rantanen has reiterated for weeks that the individual achievements don’t matter to him. Not true, said Jared Bednar. The Avalanche coach noticed Rantanen has been “squeezing his stick a little tight” in recent games.The chances kept piling up, but the results weren’t as frequent.“You’re going to think about it It’s human nature,” Bednar said last Saturday after Rantanen scored his 49th goal. “You’re at 48. You’re not thinking about it when you’re maybe at 40, 39. … I don’t want him to have it in his head. But I think now he can taste it.”Once he finally got it, there was no looking back.With a game-tying goal in the first period of a 6-2 win over the Sharks, Rantanen became the Avalanche’s first 50-goal scorer in a season since Milan Hejduk in 2002-03. Then Rantanen scored twice more by the halfway point of the second period, becoming the first Avs player ever with three hat tricks ...

Video captures glimpse of serial arsonist terrorizing some Los Angeles neighborhoods

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

Surveillance footage captured a glimpse of a suspected serial arsonist who has allegedly started some two dozen fires in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Mt. Washington, Silver Lake and Glassell Park. While officials with the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigate, residents in the area have been circulating flyers with an image of the suspect and his car.  "A firebug, nobody needs this guy going around lighting up Cypress trees,” Mt. Washington resident Chris Murphy told KTLA. LAFD said the suspected serial arsonist has been terrorizing the neighborhoods for more than a month now.  “We’ve had a total of 26 tree fires that have been reported in those communities since March 1 of this year,” LAFD Capt. Erik Scott said. During one of the incidents, surveillance cameras captured the suspect walking toward some trees near a home on San Rafael Avenue, near ...

With goal, highlight-reel assist, Sharks’ Karlsson moves to within striking distance of 100

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

SAN JOSE – Erik Karlsson has inched further up the NHL’s all-time single-season scoring list for a defenseman and will be within striking distance of 100 points for the year in two days when the San Jose Sharks play their final home game of the season.Karlsson had a goal and a highlight-reel assist Thursday in the Sharks’ 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center, giving him 98 points, a mark reached only 15 other times by a defenseman in the 105-year history of the NHL.Karlsson can become just the sixth different defenseman in NHL history to reach 100 points in a season on Saturday when the Sharks host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.Karlsson scored an even-strength goal at the 15:43 mark of the first period, poking a loose puck that was near the crease through Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev’s legs to give the Sharks a 1-0 advantage. After the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche scored four straight times to take a three-goal lead, Karlsson then assisted on ...

Santa Rosa doctor prescribed 'Holy Trinity' of drugs to teen who overdosed: DOJ

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

(KRON) -- A Santa Rosa doctor was sentenced to 30 months in prison for prescribing certain drugs to clients without a legitimate medical need, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said. Thomas Keller, 75, was found guilty of distributing drugs including oxycodone to a 17-year-old girl who later fatally overdosed. The patient in question was dealing with mental health issues when she came to Keller's pain management practice, per the DOJ. On Dec. 22, 2016, Keller prescribed her "high dosage levels" of Oxycodone, Carisoprodol (also known as Soma), and Diazepam (also known as Valium) to her. Trial evidence suggests the girl's mental condition made these drugs more dangerous. Bob Lee begged for help after stabbing that led to his death: reports "At trial, the evidence demonstrated that Keller repeatedly prescribed the opioid oxycodone and other strong, addictive drugs to his patient in dosages and combinations that far exceeded the usual course of professional practice and w...

Man seriously injured after being assaulted with metal pipe in Marina District

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A man suffered serious injuries after he was attacked with a metal pipe in San Francisco's Marina District Wednesday night, the San Francisco Police Department said. The victim is expected to survive.The aggravated assault occurred in the area of Magnolia Street and Laguna Street at about 7:20 p.m. SFPD said the victim was attacked by an unknown person and hospitalized. Bob Lee begged for help after stabbing that led to his death: reports SFPD officers received a description of the suspect and located him near Laguna Street and Lombard Street. Garret Doty, 24, was arrested without incident. Doty was booked into San Francisco County Jail for charges of assault with a deadly weapon and battery causing serious bodily injury.

Flight travel rebounds ahead of holiday weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:45 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – Passenger traffic is rebounding at two Bay Area airports. Officials at the San Jose and Oakland airports say they are still far from pre-pandemic activity levels, but the recovery is encouraging in time for spring break. Hardly anyone wearing a mask at the San Jose airport these days, and the airport’s public information officer says they expect a busy holiday weekend. In February, roughly 821,000 passengers flew out of the airport – a 34% increase compared to the same period last year. Rain set to return to Bay Area Thursday Across town at the Oakland airport, in February roughly 794,000 passengers flew out – a 19 percent increase in passenger traffic.Both airports say they are still below their 2019 pre-pandemic levels, but Chauffer Ed Trageser says he is picking up the same amount of people he did before the pandemic.“They are coming from Austin, they are coming from Hawaii… Texas, Denver,” he said.Trageser says he used to pick up passengers at SFO com...