February 13, 2022 8:03 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s former president on Sunday called a White House order to unfreeze $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the U.S. for families of 9/11 victims an atrocity against the Afghan people. Former President Hamid Karzai at a packed news conference sought the help of Americans, particularly the families of the thousands killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to press President Joe Biden to rescind last week’s order. He called it “unjust and unfair,” saying Afghans have also been victims of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was brought to Afghanistan by Afghan warlords after being expelled from Sudan in 1996. Those same warlords would later ally with the U.S.-led coalition to oust the Taliban in 2001. However, it was Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar who refused to hand over bin Laden to the U.S. after the devastating 9/11 attacks that killed thousands.
February 13, 2022 8:01 am
MOSCOW (AP) — Some airlines have canceled or diverted flights to Ukraine amid heightened fears that an invasion by Russia is imminent despite intensive weekend talks between the Kremlin and the West. In an hourlong Saturday call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden said that invading Ukraine would cause “widespread human suffering” and that the West was committed to diplomacy to end the crisis but “equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House said. It offered no suggestion that the call diminished the threat of an imminent war in Europe. The two presidents spoke a day after Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, warned that U.S. intelligence shows a Russian invasion could begin within days. Russia denies it intends to invade but has massed well over 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border and has sent troops to exercises in neighboring Belarus. U.S. officials say Russia’s buildup of firepower has reached the point where it could invade on short notice. Dutch airline KLM has canceled flights to Ukraine until further notice, the company said Saturday. Dutch sensitivity to potential danger in Ukrainian airspace is high in the wake of the 2014 shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over an area of eastern Ukraine held by Russia-backed rebels. All 298 people aboard died, including 198 Dutch citizens.
February 13, 2022 7:59 am
WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) — Hours after removing their vehicles blocking a key U.S.-Canadian border bridge, protesters opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates continued to block traffic outside in the bitter cold early Sunday, while in the capital Ottawa, police were forming a new command center with provincial and national authorities that they said would help them respond better to a larger demonstration that has paralyzed downtown. The tense standoff at the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, eased somewhat Saturday when Canadian police persuaded demonstrators to move the trucks they had used to barricade the entrance to the busy international crossing. Early Saturday evening, crews set up concrete traffic barricades along the highway. But protesters reconvened nearby — with reinforcements — and were still choking off access from the Canadian side, snarling traffic and commerce. About 180 remained late Saturday in the sub-freezing cold. In Ottawa, the ranks of protesters swelled to what police said was 4,000 demonstrators. The city has seen that on past weekends, and loud music played as people milled about downtown where anti-vaccine demonstrators have been encamped since late January.
February 13, 2022 7:54 am
MONROEVILLE (WPXI) — The woman found dead on a hillside in Monroeville has been identified as a missing Uber driver, according to the Allegheny County Coroner. Details right now are limited. The coroner’s office confirmed the identification as Christina Spicuzza, who went missing while driving for Uber Thursday night. Investigators were called out to the scene where the body was found, near Pioneer Park, around noon. Social media posts began circulating on Thursday that a female Uber driver with a Virginia license plate, driving a silver Nissan Sentra was missing. Police located a car fitting that description in Pitcairn, the car also had an Uber sticker in the back window. Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to call the County Police Tip Line 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
February 13, 2022 4:31 am
BEDFORD COUNTY, Pa. — After months of court procedures in Bedford County, former City Councilman Matthew Staniszewski pleaded guilty to driving under the influence following a crash on the Turnpike last year. According to court dockets, Staniszewski pleaded guilty to one count of DUI highest rate second offense in court Friday. This charge usually leads to jail time, but according to attorney Sean Logue, he will be credited for 31 days spent in rehab last year, while potentially serving five months of house arrest here in Washington from the plea deal. The former councilman was caught with a .267% blood-alcohol level on February 16th last year following a single-vehicle crash into the median on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bedford County. Staniszewski is set to be sentenced March 18th.
February 12, 2022 4:48 am
PHOENIX (AP) – Police have identified 36-year-old Morris Jones as the deceased suspect in a shooting in Phoenix that injured nine officers. Police say a woman was killed and five police officers were shot at a Phoenix home, including four who were wounded while trying to take a baby to safety. Four more officers were injured by shrapnel or ricocheting bullets in the early Friday ambush. Phoenix Police Sgt. Andy Williams says all of the officers are expected to survive. Police say the suspect was found dead in the home following a barricade situation. His ex-girlfriend was found shot in the home and died later Friday. Police say a baby had been inside and at some point was placed outside on the ground. The baby girl was unharmed and is in state custody.
February 12, 2022 4:48 am
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Lawyers have wrapped up their individual questioning of potential jurors in the trial of a former Kentucky police officer involved in the raid that left Breonna Taylor dead. After four days of questioning this week, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed a pool of 48 prospective jurors. Those 48 will be brought back on Feb. 22 and 12 jurors and three alternates will be selected for the trial.Former Louisville Police officer Brett Hankison was not charged in Taylor’s March 13, 2020, death. But he faces three counts of wanton endangerment for allegedly firing shots that went into a neighbor’s apartment.
February 12, 2022 4:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. regulators have put the brakes on their push to speed Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to children under 5. Friday’s move means another monthslong delay for the shots. The Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer to apply before its study was even finished on whether the youngsters needed two shots or three. The agency cited the toll the omicron variant has taken on children. But Friday, the FDA reversed course and said it needed to see how well three shots worked. Pfizer said in a statement that it expected that data by early April.
February 12, 2022 4:45 am
WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) – A Canadian judge has ordered protesters at the Ambassador Bridge over the U.S.-Canadian border to end the 5-day-old blockade that has disrupted the flow of goods between the two countries and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production. It is not immediately clear when or if law enforcement officers will be sent in to remove the demonstrators, who parked their pickups and other vehicles in a protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions and an outpouring of fury toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government.
February 12, 2022 4:44 am
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – The U.S. says it will open an embassy in the Solomon Islands, laying out in unusually blunt terms a plan to increase its influence in the South Pacific nation before China becomes “strongly embedded.” The reasoning was explained in a State Department notification to Congress that was obtained by The Associated Press. It comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is touring the Pacific, meeting diplomats from Japan, South Korea, Australia, Fiji and other nations. The embassy announcement fits with a new Biden administration strategy for the Indo-Pacific that emphasizes building partnerships with allies in the region as a way to counter China’s growing influence and ambitions.
