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SF man who illegally sold machine gun to informant gets four years in prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

(BCN) -- A San Francisco man was sentenced to 52 months in prison for illegally selling guns, including a machine gun and a stolen pistol, to a confidential informant, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Trajordon Svarda, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of felon in possession of a firearm and one count of illegal possession of a machinegun on July 12, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.Based on his plea agreement, Svarda began to sell drugs in February 2021. That month, he sold ecstasy to the CI on two occasions. In March, Svarda also started to sell firearms to the CI, beginning with a pistol, which was later found stolen. Chevron refinery in Richmond issued violation notices for flaring event Later that March, he sold the CI ecstasy, a Smith and Wesson revolver, and a homemade, AR-style, .223 caliber pistol. Prosecutors said it was a "ghost gun" as it did not bear a serial number. Court documents showed Svarda's sales continued througho...

Blackstone acquires pet care app Rover in $2.3 billion all-cash deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

Private equity giant Blackstone will acquire the pet care app Rover in an all-cash deal valued at $2.3 billion, the companies announced Wednesday.Shares of Rover climbed about 28% on news of the deal, which will pay Rover shareholders $11 per share. Blackstone said that amounts to a 61% premium over the Rover’s average share price during the past 90 trading days. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, at which time Rover will no longer be a publicly-traded company. The agreement includes a 30-day period expiring on Dec. 29 in which Rover and its advisors can solicit and negotiate other acquisition offers.Rover’s board of directors have approved the acquisition and recommended that Rover shareholders do the same.Rover shares mostly bounced around under $7 each for most of the year before jumping earlier this month on a strong third-quarter earnings report. Rover earned 5 cents per share last quarter, better than the 3 cents per share analysts were exp...

Court clears France’s justice minister of conflict of interest following an unprecedented trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A special court cleared France’s justice minister of conflict of interest Wednesday, ruling he was not guilty of having used his office to settle personal scores, in the first such trial of a French government minister while still in office.Eric Dupond-Moretti had denied wrongdoing and refused to resign before or during his two-week trial, defying what had been an unwritten rule until recent years that members of government quit when put under investigation.Wednesday’s verdict was a political victory for him and his allies. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she was happy to say that Dupond-Moretti would stay on in his role.“The justice minister will now be able to continue his work as part of the government team … I am delighted,” she said on X, formerly Twitter.A high-profile lawyer before his time in government, Dupond-Moretti had been accused of abusing his position to order probes targeting magistrates who investigated him, his friends and his former c...

Israel likens Hamas to the Islamic State group. But the comparison misses the mark in key ways

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — It has become an Israeli mantra throughout the latest war in Gaza: Hamas is ISIS.Since the bloody Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the conflict, Israeli leaders and commanders have likened the Palestinian militant group to the Islamic State group in virtually every speech and public statement. They point to Hamas’ slaughter of hundreds of civilians and compare their mission to defeat Hamas to the U.S.-led campaign to defeat IS in Iraq and Syria.“Hamas is ISIS,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared just after the attack. “And just as the forces of civilization united to defeat ISIS, the forces of civilization must support Israel in defeating Hamas.”But in many ways, these comparisons miss the mark by ignoring the home-grown origins and base of support for Hamas in Palestinian society and by assuming that this deeply embedded movement can be stamped out like a brush fire.These miscalculations may already have led to unrealistic expectations in Israel for vi...

Rosalynn Carter’s intimate funeral is held in the town where she and her husband were born

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — With her frail husband as a silent witness, Rosalynn Carter was celebrated by her family and closest friends Wednesday at her funeral in the same tiny town where she and Jimmy Carter were born, forever their home base as they climbed to the White House and traveled the world for humanitarian causes.The former first lady, who died Nov. 19 at the age of 96, had her intimate funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where she and her husband spent decades welcoming guests and where a wooden cross Jimmy Carter fashioned in his woodshop is displayed. Earlier tributes were held in nearby Americus and in Atlanta.The former president was in attendance in his wheelchair, with her one last time in his life.Maranatha Pastor Tony Lowden opened the service with a tribute to “the life and legacy of the greatest first lady.”Rosalynn Carter wasn’t “just the first lady of the White House,” he told the gathering. “She served every nation around the world.”The pasto...

IOC lines up France to host 2030 Winter Olympics and Salt Lake City for 2034 edition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Salt Lake City being preferred as a shoo-in to host the 2034 Winter Olympics was expected. The surprise was the IOC favoring the French Alps bid for the 2030 edition on Wednesday.Aiming to finalize back-to-back Winter Games hosts next year, the International Olympic Committee executive board has decided to enter exclusive talks with Olympic officials in France and the United States for Salt Lake City.Salt Lake was alone in the 2034 race to bring the games back to Utah which hosted the 2002 Winter Games.A French bid uniting the snowy Alps region and the French Riviera resort Nice was competing with Sweden and Switzerland for the IOC’s support.The IOC also has pointed the Swiss bid toward the 2038 Olympics with “privileged dialogue” status.The IOC last month aimed to make a double award picking the 2030 and 2034 hosts together in July when about 100 members meet in Paris on the eve of the Summer Games.That plan could now change to avoid a conflict for IOC members to have ...

Cómo congelar productos horneados

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

(CNN) — Los productos horneados recién hechos son una delicia. Desafortunadamente, no se mantienen frescos por mucho tiempo. Si te has puesto a hornear y te ha sobrado algo, es posible conservar esa frescura durante meses congelándolos, pero el método que utilices será la clave de cuánto dure.Cómo congelar hogazas de panEnvuelve panes enteros dos veces en una envoltura de plástico antes de sellarlos en una bolsa grande para congelar. Si deseas utilizar el pan para sándwiches y tostadas, asegúrate de cortarlo primero. De esa manera, podrás ir sacando sólo lo que necesites; el pan congelado restante se conservará hasta por tres meses. Descongela el pan a temperatura ambiente; reabsorberá la condensación que se forme dentro del envoltorio.Cómo congelar panecillosUn bagel fresco es algo hermoso, pero comprarlo al por mayor es una excelente oferta. Para preservar la frescura de los bagels (y ahorrar tiempo en las mañanas ajetreadas), córtalos por la mitad antes de congelarlos. Envu...

US authorities: Indian government official plotted to kill Sikh separatist leader in New York City

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — An Indian government official directed a $100,000 plot to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader in New York City after the man advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, U.S. authorities announced Wednesday as they unsealed charges brought against a man from India who they say was part of the murder plot.Last spring, U.S. officials became aware of the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is considered a terrorist by the Indian government. The Drug Enforcement Agency stopped the plot when the foreign government employee recruited an international narcotics trafficker to commit the murder, DEA administrator Anne Milgram said. The government official was only described as “CC-1” in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court that charged Nikhil Gupta, 52, an Indian national who had lived in India, with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams and other federal official announced the ...

El dólar estadounidense se encamina a su peor mes en un año (pero tiene un lado positivo)

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

(CNN) — El dólar estadounidense se encamina hacia una pérdida del 3,7% este mes frente a una cesta de seis monedas principales, en lo que sería su peor desempeño mensual en un año.Esas son buenas noticias para los países que dependen de las importaciones de materias primas, la mayoría de las cuales se comercializan en dólares, así como para las naciones que pagan deuda denominada en dólares. Pero las empresas y los consumidores estadounidenses podrían terminar pagando más por los bienes importados.El índice del dólar estadounidense estuvo en alza entre mediados de julio y principios de octubre, aumentando más del 7%, ya que una serie de datos económicos positivos de Estados Unidos impulsaron las expectativas de que la Reserva Federal mantendrá altas las tasas de interés.Las tasas de interés más altas tienden a aumentar el valor de una moneda al atraer más capital del exterior al país (ya que los inversores anticipan obtener mayores retornos), lo que incrementa la demanda de la...

Andre Dawson asks baseball Hall of Fame to change cap on plaque to Cubs from Expos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:30 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Andre Dawson says he sent a letter to baseball Hall of Fame chair Jane Forbes Clark asking to change the cap on his plaque from the Montreal Expos to the Chicago Cubs, a decision by the hall he disagreed with as soon as it was made over his objection 13 years ago.“I don’t expect them to jump on something like this,” Dawson told the Chicago Tribune on Monday, the paper said. “If they elect to respond, they’ll take their time. And it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t respond.”Players could make the decision through the 2001 induction, and the hall took over the decision ahead of the 2002 vote. The change followed reports in 1999 that Tampa Bay offered to compensate the newly retired Wade Boggs if his plaque bore a Devil Rays logo. Boggs was inducted in 2005 and his plaque has a Boston Red Sox logo.“We plan to speak to Andre but have not yet received the letter,” Hall spokesman Jon Shestakofsky said Wednesday.Three weeks after Dawson was elected by the Baseball Writers&...