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Erdoğan threatens to ‘part ways’ from EU after critical European Parliament report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday slammed a report from the European Parliament on the country’s EU accession talks and threatened to “part ways” from the bloc. Questioned by journalists about the report, Erdoğan said that “the EU is trying to break away from Turkey,” according to Turkish state media Anadolu Agency.“We will make our evaluations against these developments and if necessary, we can part ways with the EU,” Erdoğan said ahead of a trip to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The European Parliament report, adopted this week in Strasbourg, said talks over Ankara’s accession to the bloc should not be resumed in current circumstances, voicing the EU’s concerns about human rights and rule of law violations. Instead, European lawmakers advocated finding “a parallel and realistic framework” for relations between Brussels and Ankara. “We have recently seen a renewed inte...

Wrong-way driver seriously injures another in head-on collision in Hampton, NH

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

An Arizona man traveling the wrong day down Route 101 in Hampton, New Hampshire collided head-on with another car Friday night, seriously injuring the driver, officials said.Eric Jenkins, 22, was traveling west down Route 101 East near the I-95 interchange when he collided with 23-year-old Melisa Kizoglu of Hampton, New Hampshire at around 9:30 p.m., the New Hampshire State Police announced.Kizoglu was extracted from her vehicle by emergency personnel after becoming entrapped. She was stabilized on the scene and then flown to a Boston area hospital.Jenkins was transported to the hospital as a precaution.Investigators said all lanes of traffic had to be closed for over three hours, and Route 101 East was reopened fully around 1:40 a.m.Officials said all aspects of the crash is still under investigation.

Train and car collide in Andover

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

A train and a car collided in Andover Saturday morning, officials confirmed.Crews responded to Pearson Street near Essex Street at the railroad tracks, where a car can be seen crumpled and smashed. No further details were immediately available, including if anyone was injured.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Boston police ask for help in search for missing 76-year-old Roxbury man

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

Boston police are turning to the public for help as they search for a missing 76-year-old Roxbury man.Richard Gelzer was last seen about 5:30 p.m. Friday in the area of 25 Ruggles St.He is described as being a Black man who is about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, about 150 pounds, and was last seen wearing a yellow jersey with dark pants.He is known to frequent the Nubian Square/Tropical Foods and the Mass. Ave. area. Gelzer is living with mental health issues.Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is advised to contact 911 or B-2 Detectives at 617-343-6683.

NFL Notes: The Patriots can start to prove themselves again Sunday night

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

The promise of this Patriots season was never a playoff win.It wasn’t even a postseason berth.It wasn’t joy or winning or more automatic, biannual beatdowns of the Jets.It was clarity.Finally learning Mac Jones’ true potential. Finding out whether Bill Belichick is positioned to lead the Patriots long-term or will drop himself onto an already rumored hot seat. Discovering whether the Patriot Way is a dust-gathering relic of the past or a blueprint the franchise has successfully rolled out again.Yet here we are, still waiting.Of course, that promise was never going to be kept in Week 1. NFL season-openers are both the most anticipated and least telling games of the year. What the Patriots’ loss to the Eagles taught us is largely what we already knew.Against top-tier opponents, Jones can both lead the Patriots close to victory and count himself among the reasons they ultimately lost. Belichick can still devise as sharp a defensive game plan as you could imagine...

Activists in Europe mark the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody in Iran

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds gathered in central London on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests against the country’s conservative Islamic theocracy.Chanting “Women! Life! Freedom!,” the crowds held her portrait and rallied around the memory of a young woman who died on Sept. 16, 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory headscarf law. Similar protests took place in Italy, Germany and France.In Iran, authorities sought to prevent the anniversary from reigniting the protests that gripped the country last year. Amini’s father was detained outside his home after the family indicated that they planned to gather at her grave for a traditional service of commemoration, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw said. People in downtown Tehran reported a heavy security presence, and security forces were seen in western Iran, where t...

Texas AG Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial is on the brink of a verdict as senators end deliberations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Senate on Saturday ended deliberations over whether Attorney General Ken Paxton should be removed from office, putting the Republican’s historic impeachment trial on the brink of a verdict.The jury of 30 senators, most of whom are Republicans, spent about eight hours deliberating behind closed doors. A two-thirds majority is required to convict Paxton on any of 16 articles of impeachment that accuse Paxton of bribery, corruption and unfitness for office. Voting was expected to begin at 10:30 a.m. CT. The vote could be a slow, public process. Each article of impeachment gets a separate vote. Republicans hold a 19-12 majority in the Senate, meaning that if all Democrats vote to convict Paxton, they would need nine Republicans to join them. Deliberations started Friday, and the talks dragging out for more than a day behind closed doors fed a rare lack of assurance about how a vote might go in the Texas Capitol, where a dominant Republican majority typical...

An explosion hits an apartment in northern Syria. At least 1 person was killed with others wounded

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — An explosion ripped through an apartment on the second floor of a building in a northern Syria town controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding others, pro-government media reported.It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the blast in the town of Afrin, which has witnessed explosions and rocket attacks over the past few years that have left dozens of people killed or wounded. The previous attacks were blamed on Kurdish fighters who once controlled the town.The daily Al-Watan said that one person was killed and several people were wounded in the explosion in the residential building. Sham FM radio station said that two people were killed and several others were wounded in the blast. It added that gunmen used the apartment to prepare explosives. Afrin has been under the control of Turkey and its allied Syrian opposition fighters since 2018, following a Turkey-backed military operation that pushed Syrian Kurdish...

The Senate’s bipartisan approach to government funding is putting pressure on a divided House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — On one side of the Capitol, two senators have steered the debate over government funding mostly clear of partisan fights, creating a path for bills to pass with bipartisan momentum.Steps away, on the House side of the building, things couldn’t be more different.House Republicans, trying to win support from the far-right wing of the party, have loaded up their government funding packages with spending cuts and conservative policy priorities. Democrats have responded with ire, branding their GOP counterparts as extreme and bigoted, and are withdrawing support for the legislation.The contrary approaches are not unusual for such fights in Congress. But the differences are especially stark this time, creating a gulf between the chambers that could prove difficult to bridge. The dynamic threatens to plunge the United States into yet another damaging government shutdown, potentially as soon as the end of September when last year’s funding expires.Leaders in both cha...

Top EU official heads to an Italian island struggling with migrant influx as Italy toughens stance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:20 GMT

MILAN (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to travel Sunday to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which was overwhelmed with thousands of migrants arrivals this week, at the invitation of Italy’s premier, who is calling for a naval blockade of North Africa.Von der Leyen’s spokesman, Eric Mamer, confirmed on Saturday that she would make the trip at the invitation of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. Tensions on the small island were rising Saturday, as both residents and migrants chafed at the long wait times to transfer people from the crowded reception center to the Italian mainland. About 7,000 migrants arrived on Lampedusa from Tunisia this week, and the Red Cross said that 3,800 remained on the island on Friday. Media reports indicated that was down to about 2,000 on Saturday. Residents gathered in the center of town Saturday to protest plans to put up a tent city on Lampedusa, and demanded a meeting with a Sicilian regional law enforcement official. A rep...