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Former Jacksonville Jaguars employee accused of stealing more than $22 million has ‘serious gambling addiction,’ says lawyer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

(CNN) — The former employee of the Jacksonville Jaguars who has been accused of stealing more than $22 million from the NFL team to fund a lavish lifestyle suffers from a “serious gambling addiction,” according to his lawyer.According to court documents filed in US District Court this week, Amit Patel is accused of wire fraud and illegal monetary transaction, stealing millions via the team’s virtual credit card (VCC) system over a four-year period.In a statement sent to CNN on Thursday, Patel’s attorney Alex King said that his client is “deeply remorseful and apologizes for his conduct” and that “approximately 99% of the funds misappropriated from the Jaguars’ VCC were gambling losses.”Patel primarily used the money to bet on football gambling websites, according to King, who added that “the losses were most significant in the final months leading up to the NFL’s investigation.”King said that shortly after his firing from the Jaguars in early 2023, Patel checked into a rehabilitatio...

Merkel moves further away from politics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stepped back from the policy group linked to her center-right Christian Democrats. “I have simply outgrown this role,” Merkel said, according to people close to her, German news outlet Der Spiegel reported Friday. In late summer, Norbert Lammert, chairman of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), wanted to convince Merkel to run for the organization’s board. Merkel not only declined the offer, but she also left the CDU-affiliated think tank altogether. After being in office as chancellor for 16 years, Merkel retired from politics in 2021. Instead, she said she would try to focus on sleeping and reading. Merkel remains a member of the Christian Democrats.

EU must accept there won’t be a united Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot leader says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

NICOSIA — The EU is missing the point with cycles of diplomacy focused on a federal unification of Cyprus and has to accept a two-state solution on the divided island, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar says.“They [the EU] keep doing the same thing, nothing is changing,” Tatar said in an interview with POLITICO in his office in Cyprus’ divided capital. “Federal settlement plans have been discussed for 50 years; nothing has been achieved. The United Nations knows this, Europeans know this, and they come up every six months with the same thing: that you should sit at the table to discuss Cyprus settlement on a federal basis.”Cyprus has been divided into a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south since Turkish forces invaded in 1974, in response to a Greek-backed coup. Ankara does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state that is otherwise recognized internationally as the sole sovereign authority over the whole island. The Turkish Cypriot north is recognize...

Astronaut Frank Rubio lost a valuable tomato in space. But his colleagues just found it

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

(CNN) — Perhaps nowhere in the universe is a fresh, ripe tomato more valuable than on the International Space Station, where astronauts live for months at a time subsisting mainly on prepackaged, shelf-stable goods.That’s why astronaut Frank Rubio became the central figure in a lighthearted whodunnit that has taken months to solve.After Rubio harvested one of the first tomatoes ever grown in space earlier this year, according to the astronaut, he admitted he misplaced it.“I put it in a little bag, and one of my crewmates was doing a (public) event with some schoolkids, and I thought it’d be kind of cool to show the kids — ‘Hey guys this is the first tomato harvested in space,’” Rubio said during an October media event. “I was pretty confident that I Velcroed it where I was supposed to Velcro it … and then I came back and it was gone.”In the microgravity environment of space, anything not anchored to a wall is at risk of floating away — destined to spend eternity hidde...

Bill Belichick opens up about what Army-Navy Game at Gillette Stadium means to him

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

With the Patriots’ Week 14 game out of the way, head coach Bill Belichick can direct his full attention to another meaningful matchup scheduled in his backyard this weekend.The annual Army-Navy game will take place at Gillette Stadium on Saturday at 3 p.m. Belichick will be involved in the festivities as the guest picker on ESPN’s “College GameDay.”Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots teammate defends JuJu Smith-Schuster after breakout game New England Patriots | Ezekiel Elliott draws unique praise out of Bill Belichick after Patriots win New England Patriots | Patriots’ Bailey Zappe explains where his confidence comes from after Week 14 win New England Patriots | Callahan: Patriots’ upset in Pittsburgh feels bittersweet in the big picture New England Patriots | Bailey Zappe leads Patriots to 21-18 win over Steelers with impressive first half And it’s the first time in years that B...

Healey nominates Mass. Solicitor Elizabeth Dewar to serve on Supreme Judicial Court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey nominated state Solicitor Elizabeth “Bessie” Dewar to serve on the state’s highest court Friday, clearing one of two Supreme Judicial Court picks the governor was handed this year.Dewar will fill outgoing Justice Elspeth Cypher’s seat, who plans to retire on Jan. 12, 2024 after serving as an associate justice on the Supreme Judicial Court for nearly seven years.Healey said Dewar is a “consensus builder who has significant experience working with the Supreme Judicial Court and also a deep passion for the important work that the court does.”“She is a true student of the institution, and I am confident that she is the right person to fill this seat in this pivotal moment for the court,” Healey said in a statement.All seven members of the court were selected by former Gov. Charlie Baker, stretching back to Associate Justices Frank Gaziano and David Lowy, whose oaths were administered days apart in August 2016.Advocates quickly praised Healey’s nomination of Dewar...

Bailey Zappe’s impressive win still not enough for Bill Belichick to name him Patriots future starting QB

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

It would be a major shock if Bailey Zappe was not the Patriots’ starting quarterback next Sunday against the Chiefs.But Bill Belichick still won’t announce that decision.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots teammate defends JuJu Smith-Schuster after breakout game New England Patriots | Ezekiel Elliott draws unique praise out of Bill Belichick after Patriots win New England Patriots | Patriots’ Bailey Zappe explains where his confidence comes from after Week 14 win New England Patriots | Callahan: Patriots’ upset in Pittsburgh feels bittersweet in the big picture New England Patriots | Bailey Zappe leads Patriots to 21-18 win over Steelers with impressive first half “I’m not gonna get into the future plans right now,” Belichick said Friday morning. “We have a little bit of extra time this weekend. We’ll kind of recalibrate things a little bit. But certainly Bailey’s done a good job....

San Diego police sergeant, suspect shot in 4S Ranch shopping center

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A report of a stolen vehicle in the parking lot of a 4S Ranch shopping center Thursday night erupted into a shooting that killed a suspect and left a sergeant with the San Diego police department in "serious" condition.Authorities were alerted to a possible stolen vehicle around 10 p.m., according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Officers were able to locate the vehicle in the 10500 block of 4S Common Drive around 11:30 p.m.When SDPD arrived on scene, the suspect was reportedly inside the Ralph's grocery store at the shopping center. Officers attempted to contact the suspect, but SDSO says he ran out of the store. Beware of San Diego ‘jury duty’ scammers While outside of the store, authorities say the suspect fired at least one round at the SDPD officers and struck the sergeant in the head. According to SDSO, multiple responding officers then returned fire, striking the suspect and undisclosed number of times.The suspect fell to the ground after being shot...

Indonesia suspects human trafficking is behind the increasing number of Rohingya refugees

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s government blames a surge in human trafficking for the increasing number of Rohingya Muslims that have entered the country over the past few weeks, the Indonesian president said Friday. President Joko Widodo said in a televised news conference that he received “reports about the increasing number of Rohingya refugees entering Indonesian territory, especially Aceh Province.” “There are strong suspicions that there is involvement of a criminal human trafficking network in this flow of refugees,” he said, adding that the ”government will take firm action against perpetrators of human trafficking.”Police said they arrested three Aceh residents for human trafficking on Friday. They are suspected of helping 30 Rohingya refugees leave their camp in the city of Lhokseumawe. The suspects were given 1.8 million rupiah ($115) to smuggle the refugees from the camp to the city of Medan in North Sumatra province, said Henki Ismanto, the Lhokseumawe poli...

French police address fear factor ahead of the Olympic Games after a deadly attack near Eiffel Tower

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:48 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The bar was already high, but the security challenge ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games only grew with a knife attack last weekend that killed a tourist near the Eiffel Tower. Still, the assault at the hand of a suspected Islamic radical, a kind of invisible enemy, left law enforcement undaunted.The attack quickly raised concern in France and abroad about security for the Games that begin July 26 — in just over seven months. But law enforcement officials appear eager to push back the fear factor and show off a security-ready Paris. “We are trying to make the invisible risk visible,” said Bernard Bobrowska, inspector general of local police for the French capital. “We are ready.”Police evaded questions about possible terror attacks from an Associated Press team following a patrol at the Eiffel Tower on Thursday, insisting that all systems will be “go” for the Olympics. But Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said after the attack that about a third of suspected radicals...