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Michelle Branch kicks off Annapolis Songwriters Fest with Blondie, K. Michelle, LeAnn Rimes, Patty Griffin

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

Hear our full chat on my podcast “Beyond the Fame with Jason Fraley.” toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley previews Michelle Branch at the Annapolis Songwriters Fest (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); The Annapolis Songwriters Festival returns to the Maryland capital this Thursday through Sunday.The festival kicks off with Michelle Branch live at Maryland Hall in Annapolis on Thursday, followed by Blondie at Annapoli...

Putin on Trump: Criminal charges are politically motivated

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the four separate criminal cases against former U.S. President Donald Trump are politically motivated.“Everything that is happening with Trump, this is persecution for political reasons of one’s political rival,” Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, state-owned news agency Ria Novosti reported.Putin said the cases against the former American president show “the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”Trump, who faced scrutiny over his personal ties to Russia during his time in the White House, in April became the first U.S. president or former president to be indicted. Since then, he has been charged in four different criminal cases in the U.S., for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and election interference in the state of Georgia, but also over hush payments he allegedly made to a porn actress, and for hoarding cla...

North Korea’s Kim is in Russia to meet Putin, as both are locked in standoffs with the West

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin where they are expected to offer each other increased support in their escalating standoffs with the West.Kim is expected to seek Russian economic aid and military technology in exchange for munitions to be used in Russia’s war in Ukraine.After decades of complicated, hot-and-cold relations, Russia and North Korea have drawn closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The bond has been driven by Putin’s need for war supplies and Kim’s efforts to boost his partnerships with traditional allies Moscow and Beijing as he tries to break out of diplomatic isolation.North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim boarded his personal train bound for Russia on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by members of the ruling party, government and military.His final destination is uncertain. Many had assumed Kim and Putin would meet in Vladisv...

Boston Herald weekly EMass divisional football rankings

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

Here is the first in-season Boston Herald divisional EMass football rankings.EMASS DIVISION 11. Xaverian (1-0)2. St. John’s Prep (1-0)3. Lincoln-Sudbury (1-0)4. Methuen (0-1)5. Everett (0-1)6. Andover (1-0)7. Central Catholic (0-1)8. Franklin (1-0)EMASS DIVISION 21. Catholic Memorial (1-0)2. King Philip (1-0)3. Barnstable (1-0)4. North Andover (0-0)5. Marshfield (0-1)6. Peabody (1-0)7. Bishop Feehan (0-1)8. Chelmsford (0-1)EMASS DIVISION 31. Mansfield (0-1)2. Billerica (1-0)3. North Attleboro (1-0)4. Milford (1-0)5. Milton (1-0)6. Plymouth South (1-0)7. Woburn (1-0)8. Reading (0-1)EMASS DIVISION 41. Duxbury (0-1)2. Tewksbury (1-0)3. Middleboro (1-0)4. Marblehead (0-1)5. Holliston (0-1)6. Melrose (1-0)7. Wakefield (1-0)8. Scituate (0-1)EMASS DIVISION 51. Hanover (1-0)2. Shawsheen (1-0)3. Bishop Fenwick (1-0)4. Foxboro (1-0)5. Dedham (1-0)6. Danvers (0-1)7. Newburyport (1-0)8. Pembroke (0-1)EMASS DIVISION 61. St. Mary’s (1-0)2. Salem (1-0)3. Abington (1-0)4. Winthrop (1-0)...

Rescuers retrieve hundreds of bodies in eastern Libya as 10,000 reported missing in deadly floods

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Rescue teams struggled amid devastation in eastern Libya, retrieving hundreds of bodies from the rubble in a coastal city that has been inundated by devastating floods, a humanitarian agency said Tuesday. Authorities estimated that as many as 2,000 people are believed dead in the city of Derna alone.Mediterranean storm Daniel caused havoc and flash flooding in many towns in eastern Libya but the worst destruction was in Derna, where heavy rainfall and floods broke dams and washed away entire neighborhoods, authorities said.Tamer Ramadan, Libya envoy for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said 10,000 people were missing after the unprecedented flooding. Speaking to reporters at a U.N. briefing in Geneva via videoconference from Tunisia, he said the death toll was “huge” and expected to reach into the thousands in the coming days. Speaking about the fallout from Friday’s devastating earthquake in Morocco, on the other side of North Afric...

Construction worker suffers life-altering injuries in hit-and-run on Hwy. 401

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

A construction worker has serious life-altering injuries after being struck by a vehicle on a GTA highway in the early morning hours.Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say the worker was hit in a construction zone in the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 approaching Victoria Park Avenue around 3:30 a.m.Paramedics confirmed a man was rushed to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.The vehicle did not remain at the scene.Police say they are looking for a black Corvette that will likely have front-end damage.The eastbound 401 collectors lanes are closed from Highway 404 to Victoria Park.

Taiwan says China is bolstering coastline military bases facing the self-ruled island

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China is continuously bolstering its military bases along the coastline facing Taiwan, the self-ruled island’s Defense Ministry said in a report Tuesday, as Beijing steps up military activities around the territory it claims as its own. Taiwan said it will continue to monitor the Chinese activities around the island and bolster its defenses in response. Earlier on Tuesday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had spotted 22 Chinese warplanes and 20 warships near the island over the previous 24 hours — part of military harassment by Beijing, which hasn’t ruled out force to reunite the island with the mainland. “This year, the Chinese Communist Party has aggressively expanded its armaments and continued to build various types of fighter jets and drones,” Maj. Gen. Huang Wen-Chi, the assistant deputy chief with the General Staff for Intelligence of Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, said during a news conference releasing the biennial report.“The information we h...

Putin says prosecution of Trump shows US political system is ‘rotten’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted Tuesday that the criminal cases against former U.S. President Donald Trump are political revenge that show the fundamental corruption of the United States.“As for the prosecution of Trump, for us what is happening in today’s conditions, in my opinion, is good because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others democracy,” Putin said at an Eastern Economic Forum gathering in Russia’s Pacific Coast city of Vladivostok.“Everything that is happening with Trump is the persecution of a political rival for political reasons. That’s what it is. And this is being done in front of the public of the United States and the whole world,” he said. Opinion polls indicate that Trump is by far the strongest contender to become the Republican Party’s candidate in the 2024 presidential election. During his four years in the White House, Trump repeatedly touted having...

Stock market today: Global shares mixed after Big Tech rally on Wall Street

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mixed Tuesday following a Big Tech rally on Wall Street, as investors awaited an update on U.S. consumer prices set for later in the week. France’s CAC 40 slid 0.1% in early trading to 7,270.28, while Germany’s DAX shed 0.4% to 15,737.20. But Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4% to 7,528.80. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2% and that for the S&P 500 was off 0.3%. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 1.0% to finish at 32,776.37. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 7,206.90. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.8% to 2,536.58. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.4% to 18,025.89, while the Shanghai Composite fell nearly 0.2% to 3,137.06. The Federal Reserve is weighing whether to keep raising interest rates steady in its effort to get inflation back to 2%. On Wednesday, the U.S. government will offer the latest monthly update on prices consumers are paying across the economy, and the forecast is th...

Canadian accused in U.S. of stealing cash using sleight-of-hand techniques

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:14 GMT

A Canadian man has been indicted in a U.S. federal court in St. Louis after being accused of using sleight-of-hand methods to steal more than $64,000 from more than 40 Walmart stores across the U.S.Thirty-seven-year-old Mohsen Akbari was indicted August 16th on one count of wire fraud and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property.Akbari was arrested on September 5th and pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday.Authorities allege Akbari entered the U.S. on March 1 from South Korea on a visitor visa and later visited several retail stores to steal cash through sleight-of-hand techniques between late March and July of this year.Authorities allege the suspect would make a small purchase and then claim that he and his family collect U.S. currency, typically $100 bills.  Akbari is accused of then asking the cashier to show him the bills so he could examine them, before secretly slipping some of them into his sleeve or pocket.The indictment alleges Akbari would deposit t...