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Former 2nd-ranked tennis player Anett Kontaveit retiring because of a back injury

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former second-ranked tennis player Anett Kontaveit will retire after Wimbledon because of a back injury.The 27-year-old Estonian has lumbar disc degeneration and said it “does not allow for full-scale training or continued competition.”“Today I am announcing that I am ending my career as a competitive athlete,” she posted on Instagram. “It is impossible to continue at the top level in such a highly competitive field.”Kontaveit’s best result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals in 2020.Wimbledon starts on July 3.___More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Stewart-Haas Racing shuffles NASCAR team crew chief lineup

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Stewart-Haas Racing made a flurry of organizational changes to its crew chief lineup Tuesday that begin this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway and are aimed at improving the team in time to qualify its drivers for the playoffs. Kevin Harvick, who is retiring at the end of the season, is the only SHR driver currently eligible to make the 16-driver playoff field. The changes were announced one day before SHR is expected to name Xfinity Series regular Josh Berry, who recently filled in for Chase Elliott when he was injured, will replace Harvick next year in the No. 4 Ford. Among the changes made was Xfinity Series crew chief Richard Boswell was promoted to crew chief Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 team in the Cup Series. Boswell had been the crew chief for SHR’s No. 98 Xfinity Series team with driver Riley Herbst, but Boswell guided Briscoe to eight Xfinity Series wins from 2018 to 2020.Boswell has been crew chief for Herbst since 2021.John Klausmeier, who h...

Hunter Biden agrees to plea deal on federal tax, gun charges

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, will plead guilty to tax crimes and unlawful possession of a weapon in a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, according to court papers filed Tuesday.The plea deal, which must be accepted by a judge, would likely keep Hunter Biden out of jail.Hunter Biden, 53, has been under investigation for tax matters since 2018, according to The Associated Press. He reportedly paid off his tax liability in 2020.Hunter Biden was charged with two counts of willful failure to pay income tax. The third charge stems from possession of a firearm in 2018, a weapon he was in possession of while using crack cocaine. The president's son has denied drug use when applying to secure the gun.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.DEVELOPING

CPW: Boaters watch out for car in Arkansas River

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (KXRM) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife is warning boaters in the Royal Gorge area about a car that rolled into the Arkansas River and will likely be a hazard until it can be removed.CPW posted about the car on Facebook on Monday along with accompanying photos of the nearly submerged car.CPW said the car is in the river about half a mile below the Parkdale boat ramp, halfway to the Highway 50 bridge. It is just right of the middle of the river and is mostly covered in water. It will likely be entirely covered as the water level rises, CPW said. Moose dies after jumping from 2nd-story deck CPW warned that from far away the car will look like a flat rock barely below the surface, which should give boaters plenty of time and space to get around it to the left if they know what to look for.Courtesy: Colorado Parks and WildlifeCourtesy: Colorado Parks and WildlifeCPW said the car will not be removed from the river until the water level drops, so boaters should be aware i...

The family of Keenan Anderson, who died after being tased by LAPD officers, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

(CNN) — The family of a 31-year-old father who died after being tased by Los Angeles police officers is suing the city and members of the department over his death, their attorneys announced on Monday.The wrongful death lawsuit claims officers reacted inappropriately when they repeatedly tased Keenan Anderson, cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, in early January, according to civil right attorney Ben Crump.Anderson, an English teacher who was visiting Los Angeles from Washington DC, lost consciousness shortly after he was tased at the site of a traffic collision in Los Angeles’ Venice neighborhood.He was taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the county medical examiner’s office.Anderson’s manner of death remains undetermined, but the coroner found that he died of an enlarged heart and cocaine use. An autopsy conducted at the behest of the family lawyers reached the same conclusion, attorney Carl Douglas said.“Had he not been ta...

Hunter Biden charged with failing to pay federal income tax and illegally having a weapon

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter has been charged with failing to pay federal income tax and illegally possessing a weapon and has reached an agreement with the Justice Department, according to letter filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware.As part of the agreement, made public Tuesday, Hunter Biden will plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and is expected to reach an agreement with prosecutors on the felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user. It is somewhat unusual to resolve a federal criminal case at the same time the charges are filed in court, though it is not totally unheard of.The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into Biden’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden. It also averts a trial that would have generated days or weeks or distracting headlines for a White House that has strenuously sought to keep its distance from the Justice Depa...

South Korean man attempted to open plane door mid-flight. Luckily, he failed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

Seoul/ Hong Kong (CNN) — A 19-year-old Korean man tried to open a plane door mid-flight after complaining that he felt “pressure” on his chest, but luckily, the cabin crew stopped him.The passenger, who was on a red-eye flight from Cebu in the Philippines to Seoul, South Korea, was “acting strangely” about an hour into the flight, so he was moved to the front row of the plane close to the exit door where staff could monitor him, officials from Jeju Airlines said.After moving seats, the man suddenly ran towards the emergency door and tried to open, but he was “immediately subdued by the crew, who used a lasso rope and tie wraps to keep him controlled for the rest of the flight,” a Jeju Airlines official said.The door stayed closed and the plane was left undamaged, and none of the 180 passengers on board were harmed in the incident, the airline added.The passenger was handed over to police at Seoul’s Incheon Airport at 7:30 a.m. local after the plane landed on Monday, June 19.Police b...

Commission asks for €66B EU budget top-up

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

The European Commission requested an increase of €66 billion on Tuesday for the EU’s long-term budget after several crises drained the bloc’s coffers.“We have been using the budget more than ever,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We come today with a very targeted and a limited proposal for the absolute must.”The money would be spent as follows:— An estimated €19 billion to cover for a rise in interest payments on EU debt through 2027;— €17 billion for providing grants for Ukraine, alongside €33 billion in loans (the loans don’t count toward the overall top-up figure, as they’re borrowed against the EU’s budget);— €15 billion for migration and neighborhood policy;— €10 billion for a top-up of existing funds like InvestEU (€5 billion), Innovation Fund (€3 billion), the European Defense Fund (€1.5 billion) and European Innovation Council (€500 million), which combined with the redeployment of existing EU cohesion ...

UN environment chief slams EU nature law opponents

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

BRUSSELS — The EU’s flagship biodiversity law must pass, the United Nations’ top environment official warned, condemning what she called “misinformation” spread about the legislation by some political parties. A growing backlash is jeopardizing the bloc’s Nature Restoration Law, which aims to return the Continent’s degraded natural areas to a healthy state. EU environment ministers narrowly agreed on a common position on the law on Tuesday. The bill is now heading for a decisive vote in the European Parliament’s environment committee on June 27 after conservative groups failed in their push to kill the legislation in a first round of voting last week. “If it were to fail, it would be a failure for the European people, for the nations of Europe and for the next European generations,” Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), told POLITICO during a visit to Brussels on Tuesday. “It is absolutely critical that we understand that this is...

Hunter Biden to plead guilty to federal tax charges, strikes deal on gun charge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:40 GMT

(CNN) — Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and struck a deal with federal prosecutors regarding a felony gun charge, the Justice Department said Tuesday in court filings.The plea deal will have immediate reverberations in the 2024 presidential election.This story is breaking and will be updated.