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Football agents complain to EU over FIFA’s fee crackdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

The world’s top football agents have complained to the European Commission that new FIFA rules will unfairly harm their earning potential.They have accused the world football governing body of showing “gross disrespect for applicable competition law,” according to a confidential complaint seen by POLITICO, as FIFA moves to cap fees that agents can earn from player transfers.In the complaint, addressed to the Commission’s powerful competition department, the agents say FIFA’s rules will “restrict competition within the internal market by fixing purchasing prices.”Adopting the regulations would also “constitute an abuse of FIFA’s dominant position by directly and indirectly imposing unfair trading conditions, including purchasing prices,” they add.FIFA has brought in new regulations for agents, some of whom make huge sums of money brokering transfer deals between clubs — from Europe’s megabucks top divisions all the way down the football pyramid.FIFA said the rules have the “objective...

‘Put it on me’: Chicago White Sox GM Rick Hahn takes responsibility for the team’s worst start since 1950

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

Rick Hahn made it clear.“Put it on me,” the Chicago White Sox general manager said Thursday when asked about the team’s rough start. “That’s the job. It’s the absolute gig.”Entering the opener of a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Guaranteed Rate Field, the Sox found themselves with their worst 25-game start since 1986 at 7-18.“Put it on me,” Hahn continued. “I’ll tell you this, let’s make this real clear, it sure as heck isn’t on (manager) Pedro (Grifol) and his coaching staff. They are doing everything in their power to prepare, focus on what’s controllable, what’s fixable, addressing the problems as they arise. And are really doing everything in their power to get this thing right. It’s absolutely not on the manager and the coaches.“Ultimately it’s the players who play the game, and when they don’t achieve at the level we’ve projected, they certain...

High Court dismisses Crown appeal in ‘Surrey Six’ 2007 gang murder case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the Crown’s appeal in a 2007 gangland murder case, where two men argued police misconduct tainted their convictions. Gangsters Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston were both found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy in 2014, seven years after the executions of six people in a highrise apartment building in Surrey, B.C.Their lawyers argued before the high court last October that the judge in their initial trial erred in not allowing the men to provide evidence about allegations of “egregious” police conduct and their treatment in solitary confinement.The Supreme Court says in a unanimous decision today it agrees with the B.C. Court of Appeal that it was a mistake to dismiss the applications to have all of that evidence heard.The Supreme Court says Haevischer should have “a full chance to re-litigate all the issues.” Johnston died in prison last December after the matter was argued before the Supreme Court. This...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises at close of bumpy week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is climbing Friday, as the market winds down a week of sharp swerves with another batch of corporate profit reports that mostly topped expectations. The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in morning trading. Despites its big swings earlier this week, it’s still on track to close out April with a gain. Markets have been churning amid unanswered questions about where the economy and corporate profits are heading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 138 points, or 0.4%, at 33,967, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.Exxon Mobil was doing some of the market’s heaviest lifting after it rose 2.2%. It reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than forecast. Intel jumped 6% after reporting a milder loss than expected and stronger revenue for the latest quarter. Mondelez International, the food giant behind Oreo and Ritz, rose 5.2% after topping Wall Street’s estimates. It also raised its forecast for reve...

Canada won new Volkswagen battery plant despite ‘way, way more’ money from U.S.: PM

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

NEW YORK — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a number of U.S. jurisdictions outbid Canada in the recent race to secure Volkswagen’s new battery plant. But Canada prevailed, he says, because of its clean energy supply, educated workforce, critical minerals riches and investments in the middle class.Trudeau made the admission in remarks today at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. The plant, to be built near St. Thomas, Ont., is drawing some criticism because Ottawa offered up to $13 billion worth of production subsidies to make the deal happen. Trudeau says the economic and social benefits of the facility will vastly outweigh the cost because Volkswagen is committed to be a major employer in the hard-hit manufacturing community for decades. It was part of his sales pitch to convince investors, business leaders and venture capitalists in New York and around the world that Canada has a firm grip on the future. “I’ll be honest: there were places in the Unite...

Russian missile and drone attack in Ukraine kills 22 people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

UMAN, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 22 people, almost all of them when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in a terrifying nighttime attack, officials said. Three children were among the dead.The missile attacks included the first one against Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in nearly two months, although there were no reports of any targets hit. The city government said Ukraine’s air force intercepted 11 cruise missiles and two unmanned aerial vehicles over Kyiv. The strikes on the nine-story residential building in central Ukraine occurred in Uman, a city located around 215 kilometers (134 miles) south of Kyiv. Twenty people died in that attack, according to the Interior Ministry. They included two 10-year-old children and a toddler. Another of the victims was a 75-year-old woman who lived in a neighboring building and suffered internal bleeding from the huge blast’s shock wave, acc...

Recent U.S. military helicopter crashes in training missions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

The collision of two helicopters in Alaska was the latest in a series of military helicopter crashes this year whose causes are still being investigated.The crashes and a rollover involved Black Hawk and Apache helicopters on training missions. A total of 14 soldiers have died and three have been injured. Black Hawk and Apache helicopters are among the models analyzed in a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report of Army and Air National Guard accidents from fiscal years 2012 through 2021. Among its eight recommendations to military leaders, GAO advised they ensure that National Guard helicopter units continuously update risk management worksheets and remove barriers to pilot training.___ALASKATwo U.S. Army helicopters collided and crashed Thursday in Alaska while returning from a training flight, killing three soldiers and injuring a fourth.Two of the soldiers died at the scene of the daytime crash near Healy, Alaska, and a third died on the way to a hospital in Fairbank...

Man livestreamed standoff before being fatally shot by FBI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — FBI agents fatally shot a man who barricaded himself inside a Minneapolis home for several hours and livestreamed negotiations with officers as they tried to convince him to surrender.A federal affidavit released Thursday night identified the man killed as 33-year-old Chue Feng Yang of St. Paul, who also went by the first name Kevin, the Star Tribune reported. Yang used Facebook to livestream and record several minutes of negotiations until he went outside the house with a woman tied to him.“After barricading himself for several hours, the subject was armed as he emerged from the home,” an FBI statement read. “The subject was fatally wounded, and another individual required medical assistance.”Yang’s criminal history included convictions for terroristic threats, burglary, illegal firearm possession and auto theft. He also had three outstanding felony warrants for his arrest. Court records indicate that in one case, he and another person were accused of shoot...

Scholars defend Polish Holocaust researcher targeted by govt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Scholars and historical institutions from around the world are coming to the defense of a Polish researcher who is under fire from her country’s authorities after claiming that Poles could have done more to help Jews during the Holocaust.Barbara Engelking said in a TV interview last week that Polish Jews felt disappointed in Poles during World War II, referring to what she described as “widespread blackmailing” of Jews by Poles during the Nazi German occupation.Since then the historian and the independent TV broadcaster have been threatened with consequences by government institutions — turning the matter into a campaign issue ahead of elections scheduled for this fall.Poland’s conservative government and pro-government media have described the remarks by Engelking, who is Polish, as an attack on the nation. They accuse her of distorting the historical record and not giving due credit to the Poles who risked — and sometimes lost — their lives to help Jews.It is...

India urges Shanghai Cooperation group to fight terrorism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:08:25 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh urged the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Friday to work together to eliminate terrorism and ensure accountability for those who aid or fund such activities, his ministry said.“Any kind of terrorist act or support for it in any form is a major crime against humanity,” the Defense Ministry quoted Singh as saying at a one-day meeting of SCO defense ministers in New Delhi.The SCO was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was later expanded to include India and Pakistan.India accuses longtime rival Pakistan of arming and training insurgent groups fighting for the independence of Indian-controlled Kashmir or its integration into Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies. In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s imposition of new measures such as restrictions on women is a concern for SCO member states.The grouping identifies security, trade, investment, environmental pr...