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Venezuela: 21 officials, businessmen arrested in oil scheme

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s attorney general said Saturday that 21 people, including senior officials in the government of President Nicolás Maduro and business leaders, have been arrested in connection with a corruption scheme involving international oil sales.Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said the alleged scheme involved selling Venezuelan oil through the country’s cryptocurrency oversight agency in parallel to the state-run Petróleos de Venezuela SA. The oversight agency allegedly signed contracts for the loading of crude on ships “without any type of administrative control or guarantees,” violating legal regulations, Saab said, without mentioning the amounts involved. Once the oil was marketed, “the corresponding payments were not made” to the state oil company. The attorney general’s statement comes five days after Venezuela’s once-powerful oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, resigned amid allegations of corruption against some of his closest associates. El Aissami said ...

Mexico sanctioned for not protecting endangered porpoise

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico acknowledged Saturday it faces sanctions from the international wildlife body known as CITES for not doing enough to protect the vaquita marina, a small porpoise that is the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The sanctions have not yet been announced, but they could make it difficult for Mexico to export some regulated animal and plant products like crocodile or snake skins, orchids and cactuses. Commercial seafood species like shrimp would not be affected, but the ruling sets a precedent and some groups are pushing for seafood import bans.“While no one relishes economically painful sanctions, all other efforts to prompt Mexico to save the vaquita have failed,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We hope these strong measures wake up the Mexican government.”Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said in a statement that CITES had ruled that Mexico’s protection plan for the vaquita was insuffi...

Why Hawaii might release millions of mosquitos in Maui

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

HONOLULU (KHON) – Millions of mosquitoes could soon be released on the Hawaiian island of Maui to prevent several native bird species from going extinct. On Thursday, National Park Service officials announced they would move forward with a plan to reduce the transmission of avian malaria to threatened and endangered forest birds by suppressing invasive mosquito populations. As NPS explained, the idea is to use an incompatible insect technique (IIT) which consists of repeatedly releasing incompatible male mosquitoes into the wild to reduce the reproductive potential of female mosquitoes in the project area.   Why are some people mosquito magnets and others unbothered? The environmental assessment for the project was available for public review between Dec. 6, 2022, and Jan. 23, 2023, with a total of 853 pieces of correspondence received.On Friday, the state's Board of Land and Natural Resources heard emotional testimony, and unanimously voted to move forward wit...

Florida babysitter accused of putting lit marijuana cigarette in 1 year-old's mouth: deputies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida teenager was arrested on a felony child abuse charge Friday after she allegedly recorded herself putting a marijuana cigarette in a child's mouth, according to deputies.The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said the teenager, of Largo, was babysitting a 1 year-old belonging to a 16 year-old friend of hers. These are the hardest to find state quarters: Where does yours fall? Deputies said when they responded to a report of child abuse at the teen's home in unincorporated Largo, the 17 year-old admitted to smoking marijuana around the child but denied giving the child the cigarette.However, according to the sheriff's office, detectives were able to find a video that the babysitter recorded showing her putting the cigarette in the 1 year-old's mouth."The victim then inhales while the lit marijuana cigarette is in their mouth, and the embers begin to glow brighter," a release from the sheriff's office states. "[The teen] then takes the marijuana cigarette...

Politicians Use “Yes or No” Questions To Bully Witnesses And Score Political Points

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

Sledgehammer wielding burglars arrested after breaking into North St. Paul Target

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

Police arrested two people in connection with the burglary of a Target store in North St. Paul on Friday.Officers were called shortly after 9 p.m. to the Target at 2199 Highway 36 east on a report of a burglary. When they arrived the burglars had fled. Police found that burglars had broken into display cases with sledgehammers to get electronic items.After police set up a perimeter, they arrested two people on suspicion of the burglary, criminal damage to property, theft, and threats of violence. Many of the stolen items were recovered, along with a sledgehammer.North St. Paul police officers were helped by personnel from the Ramsey County sheriff’s office, Minnesota State Patrol, Washington County sheriff’s office, the Ramsey County Emergency Communications center and police officers from Maplewood, Oakdale and White Bear Lake.Related ArticlesCrime & Public Safety | Couple charged after body parts found stuffed in plastic tote, dumped on shore of Lake Mil...

Man stabbed at Midway Cub Saturday hospitalized with life-threatening injuries

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

The Midway Cub Foods was briefly closed Saturday morning after a stabbing.Police say they received a 911 call about a stabbing at 5:30 a.m. Saturday at the Cub Foods on the 1400 block of University Avenue West in St. Paul.When officers arrived they found a man who had been stabbed in the chest. St. Paul fire medics responded to the scene and the man was taken to Regions Hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to St. Paul police Sgt. Mike Ernster.A 25-year-old woman was taken into custody in connection with the stabbing.The circumstances of the crime are still under investigation. The Cub store has reopened. Related ArticlesCrime & Public Safety | Couple charged after body parts found stuffed in plastic tote, dumped on shore of Lake Mille Lacs Crime & Public Safety | Suspect charged in 2021 West St. Paul slaying that police said involved revenge for past killing Crime & Public Safety | Burnsville woman, who was racing ...

New book sheds light on 160 years of Minnesota duck camp tradition and history

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. – Writing a book wasn’t on Steve Knutson’s to-do list in the spring of 2016, when he went to the North American Vintage Decoy & Sporting Collectibles Show at Pheasant Run in St. Charles, Illinois.An avid duck hunter since his childhood days growing up on a farm in Otter Tail County, Knutson, of Apple Valley, had recently retired from his job as an engineer for an aerospace company and made the trip to hear Doug Lodermeier, a renowned decoy collector and author from Edina, Minnesota.Lodermeier has written two volumes of books on duck calls and duck decoys and was giving a seminar at the show.After the presentation, Knutson recalls, Lodermeier mentioned he was working on a new book and was looking for some information about a decoy carver on Lake Christina, a renowned duck hunting destination in west-central Minnesota.“I made note of that because I had just retired and was looking for things to do after hunting season was over,” Knutson said. “I grew up not far...

Cars stolen, others rummaged through in Jefferson County

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

IMPERIAL, Mo. - The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is investigating after thieves reportedly stole two cars and rummaged through others overnight in Imperial. Authorities first learned of such incidents around 3 a.m. Saturday, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office. One person reported that two people, one in a gray or silver Chrysler 300 and another in a white Mazda, were driving suspiciously around the area of Kensington Court. Top Stories: Missouri House approves new round of income tax cuts Later on, the Mazda was found abandoned around the area. Investigators say it was stolen while the owner was asleep. The Chrysler 300 has not been found since the tip. While investigating, Jefferson County deputies reviewed multiple videos and learned that multiple unlocked vehicles had been rummaged through in Wellington Place. Many victims informed deputies that items were not stolen from their cars. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office reminds people to keep valuable...

Men who died in helicopter crash near Perris identified

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department has identified the two people who died Friday in a helicopter crash near Perris.Two Murrieta men, 61-year-old Mark Carter and 62-year-old Dennis Foster, were aboard the Bell 407 helicopter when it crashed at 12:22 p.m. near Pulsar View Road in Nuevo, just east of Perris. 2 dead after helicopter crash in Perris area Though the investigation of the crash has not yet been completed and the cause of the crash remains unknown, the RCSD report indicates that Foster died at 12:59 p.m., 37 minutes after the crash. Carter died at 1:06 p.m., seven minutes after Foster.The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are handling the investigation.