NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Friday that the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea region as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week. Finnish authorities seized control of the ship, the Eagle S, on Thursday as they tried to establish whether it had damaged a power cable linking Finland and Estonia and several data cables. It was the latest in a string of incidents involving the disruption of key infrastructure in the region. In a post on the social media platform X, Rutte said he had spoken to Finland's President Alexander Stubb "about the ongoing Finnish-led investigation into possible sabotage of undersea cables." Rutte said NATO would "enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea." WATCH | Authorities haven't ruled out Russian sabotage of undersea cables: Finland suspects Russia involved in cutting undersea power cable 19 hours ago Duration 2:55 Finnish police seized a ship carrying Russian oil after an underwater power cable connecting Finland to Estonia was cut. Multiple cables have been cut in the Baltic Sea in the last two years and authorities haven’t ruled out sabotage by Russia or China. Tanker part of Russian shadow fleet, officials say Asked for details about what might be done and when, NATO headquarters would say only that the 32-country alliance "remains vigilant and is working to provide further support, including by enhancing our military presence" in the region. Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometres border with Russia, joined NATO in 2023, abandoning a decades-old policy of neutrality. Finland seizes tanker carrying Russian oil suspected of knocking out internet, power cables Analysis The shadow fleet of oil tankers enabling Russia's war and undermining global sanctions In October 2023, in response to similar incidents, NATO and its allies deployed more maritime patrol aircraft, long-distance radar planes and drones on surveillance and reconnaissance flights, while a fleet of minehunters was also dispatched to the region. The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands but has been described by Finnish customs officials and European Union officials as being part of Russia's shadow fleet of tankers shipping oil and gas in defiance of international sanctions imposed over its war on Ukraine. Finnish Border Guard's ship Turva and oil tanker Eagle S sail on the sea outside Porkkalanniemi, Finland, on Thursday. Finnish authorities seized the tanker Thursday on suspicion it caused the outage of an undersea power cable and damaged or broke four internet lines. (Finnish Border Guard/Lehtikuva/Reuters) The aging vessels, often with obscure ownership, routinely operate without Western-regulated insurance. Russia's use of the vessels has raised environmental concerns about accidents given their age and uncertain insurance coverage. The Eagle S's anchor is suspected of causing damage to the cable, Finland's Yle state broadcaster has reported, relying on police statements. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was asked about the seizure on Friday but declined to comment. CBC Investigates How did divers manage to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline? We went down to the spot to find out Pentagon warns of potential Russian action in the Arctic — including jamming GPS satellites After a high-level meeting about the incident, Stubb posted on X that "the situation is under control. We have no reason to be worried," while noting that the investigation continues. He said that Finland and Estonia had requested extra NATO help. He said new measures could include "inspections of the insurance certificates of vessels" in the region. Stubb said they were "also looking at ways, based on international maritime law, to respond more effectively to similar incidents in the future." Fingrid's EstLink 2 transformer station operating between Finland and Estonia is pictured in Anttila, Finland, in March 2014. The Estlink 2 outage began at midday local time on Wednesday. (Markku Ulander/Lehtikuva/Reuters) Damage to cable had little impact on services The Estlink-2 power cable, which takes electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, went down on Wednesday but had little impact on services. The incident follows damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines, both of which have been termed sabotage. Those data cables — one running between Finland and Germany and the other between Lithuania and Sweden — were severed in November. Germany's defence minister said "sabotage" was the likely cause, but he didn't provide evidence or say who might have been responsible. WATCH | Finland joined NATO. Here's what it means for Russia: Finland joined NATO. Here's what it means for Russia 2 years ago Duration 9:48 Finland has officially joined NATO in one of the alliance’s most consequential moments in recent history. Andrew Chang discusses what this move means for Russia, which has called NATO one of the country’s most serious external threats. The Nord Stream pipelines that once brought natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022. Authorities have said the cause was sabotage and launched criminal investigations. NATO had already boosted patrols near undersea infrastructure after the Nord Stream pipeline was hit. Last year, it also set up a co-ordination cell to deepen ties between governments, armed forces and the defence industry to better protect undersea installations.
Rwanda has successfully completed IMF commitments – Resident Representative
Mailbag: Why the Hotline is tough on Washington, Big Ten TV matters, options for the Pac-12, the SEC and the CFP and moreNone
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Gophers coach P.J. Fleck explains trick play call on game-defining drive in Penn State loss
Air Canada to bar carry-on bags for lowest-fare customersIt was a huge year for the business of sport, with Caitlin Clark and the WNBA leading the charge in a game-changing year for women’s basketball. She’s not alone but she is clearly the poster child for the new economic reality for women’s team sports. Clark is making everyone around her wealthier. Explosive growth in media rights fees and overall revenues reaching the stage where several North American pro sports teams posted more than 30 per cent increases in franchise valuation, year-over-year. The television juggernaut that is the National Football League — which we’ve dubbed the new social network — closes out 2024 with an average franchise value of US$5.7 billion according to Forbes magazine. When your weakest links are still worth $4 billion and have grown by about 70 per cent since the pandemic, there’s no one to feel sorry for. That’s especially true when recent streaming deals will only drive more NFL revenue and audience in the years to come. Amazon Prime paid $100 million for the Black Friday stream last month while Netflix offered up $150 million for the NFL Christmas Day doubleheader that averaged 24 million, peaked at 27 million for a Beyonce half-time show and rallied more than 65 million unique viewers for at least part of the two games played on Wednesday of this week. Also having bullish years in 2024: Alternate telecasts, stadium design, podcasts and collectibles. More to come on those fronts in 2025. It was already an historically bad year for the Chicago White Sox, the Major League Baseball franchise that set an all-time mark for futility despite having the advantages of operating in the third largest market in the U.S. Yet leave it to the Chicago Bears of the NFL to give them a run for the money as one of the biggest losers in the business of sport this year. The Bears (6-3 losers to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football this week) have now lost a record 10 straight games after starting the season at 4-2. Outside of deep playoff runs by the New York Yankees, New York Mets and New York Red Bulls, the Big Apple has been largely rotten in 2024. The biggest media market in North America has not one but two also-rans in the NFL (the 2-13 Giants in the NFC and the 4-11 Jets in the AFC), not to mention the New York Rangers, who are an absolute mess at the Christmas break despite being the second-richest franchise in the NHL according to both Forbes and Sportico. Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics are no more after one of the messiest and protracted break ups in North American team sport. After more than two decades of on-again, off-again talks about a new stadium in Oakland finally collapsed, the Athletics will play in Sacramento for three seasons while they work with Las Vegas stakeholders to fund and construct a new ballpark at the site of the Tropicana Hotel. Once one of the most storied blue collar sport markets in North America, Oakland is now a shell of its former self, with the Golden State Warriors of the NBA now playing at the Chase Center in San Francisco, the Oakland Raiders in Las Vegas and the old California Seals long ago morphed into the Cleveland Barons, merged with the Minnesota North Stars and ultimately relocated to Dallas in 1993. Tom Mayenknecht is the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sport business commentator and principal in Emblematica Brand Builders provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht at: x.com/TheSportMarket .Gophers coach P.J. Fleck explains trick play call on game-defining drive in Penn State lossAP Trending SummaryBrief at 4:56 p.m. EST
As he assembles his team for a second term, President-elect Donald Trump is entitled to some latitude, even for his more unconventional picks. Yet not all executive-branch positions are created equal. Senate Republicans should be willing to draw a line when it comes to national security. Of particular concern are the nation’s intelligence services, which Trump has proposed putting in the hands of Kash Patel (as Federal Bureau of Investigation director), John Ratcliffe (to head the Central Intelligence Agency) and Tulsi Gabbard (director of national intelligence). The three have varying degrees of qualification for their posts. Ratcliffe, a former congressman and national intelligence director in Trump’s first term, has some experience in the field. After working as a junior federal prosecutor, Patel filled counterterrorism roles on Trump’s National Security Council. Gabbard served on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees while in Congress and is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. Prudent reforms may indeed be warranted at the agencies they’re being asked to shake up. Overzealous FBI investigators did cut corners while looking into Russia’s backing of Trump during the 2016 election. Bloat and bureaucracy are common problems across federal agencies. Whistleblowers could use stronger protections, as could the targets of federal surveillance. Even some radical ideas — such as creating a new domestic intelligence agency and focusing the FBI solely on law enforcement — may merit a broader discussion. None of that, however, means these agencies have gone “rogue,” as Trump has argued ever since they began looking into his alleged Russian ties. Inspector-general reports have found no evidence that investigations into the president-elect or his supporters have been politically motivated. Indeed, many of the loudest complaints have been directed at public statements by retired officials, which is a separate issue. The vast majority of intelligence officials are dedicated public servants focused on a challenging task that is only getting harder as threats proliferate. If Trump’s priority was to improve U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis, he could’ve chosen any number of change-minded national-security figures to helm these agencies. Plenty of competent outsiders might also have been appointed to good effect. By contrast, Patel and Gabbard stand out mostly for their fealty to the incoming president. The former in particular appears to have been elevated rapidly and far above his qualifications during Trump’s first term by casting himself as an administration enforcer. More experienced senior officials refused to work with him. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has accused him of cavalierly endangering the lives of U.S. commandos during an operation. (The less said about his children’s books, starring a wizard named Kash the Distinguished Discoverer, the better.) The risks of politicizing intelligence shouldn’t be taken lightly. Loose talk — not uncommon in Trump’s orbit — can endanger sources and methods. Gabbard’s mouthing of Russian propaganda and her 2017 meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad may make U.S. allies think twice about sharing secrets with Washington. Patel’s proposed purge of so-called deep-state gangsters at the FBI threatens to demoralize and distract agents who should be focused on terrorist plots, Chinese hacking campaigns and official grift. Worst of all, manipulating intelligence to suit Trump’s fixations could lead to dangerously misguided policy decisions just as tensions with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are running high. While a president deserves a cabinet he trusts, the Senate has been given confirmation power for a reason. Appointing unqualified eccentrics to such crucial positions would be hugely irresponsible, not least if distorted intelligence contributes to a foreign-policy crisis under Trump. America’s intelligence agencies deserve better — and national security demands it.Columbia Financial, Inc. Announces Appointment of New Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
(The Center Square) – Prosecutors introduced secretly recorded audio and video along with a troubled star witness at the public corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Former Chicago Alderman Daniel Solis returned to the Everett McKinley U.S. Courthouse Monday. Solis is facing one federal count of bribery under a deferred prosecution agreement. The ex-alderman began cooperating with federal investigators in 2016. Separately Monday, former Chicago Alderman Daniel Solis, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Madigan codefendant Michael McClain enter the federal court building in Chicago Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. U.S. government attorney Diane MacArthur first introduced a recording of Madigan and Solis nearly two years before the alderman started cooperating with the government. The recording involved a conversation with Chinese developer, See Wong, who wanted to build a hotel on a parcel of land in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. The land was owned by the state of Illinois at the time, but Solis said a zoning change would be required from the city in order for a hotel to be built. At Madigan’s request, Solis said he facilitated the meeting on Aug. 8, 2014, at Madigan’s law firm, Madigan and Getzendanner, about the land along Wentworth Avenue between Archer Avenue and Cermak Road. Madigan’s law partner, Bud Getzendanner, discussed how successful the firm had been in working with hotels to make sure they were not taxed more than necessary. ”A large component of your expense for hotels is real estate taxes,” Getzendanner said during the recorded meeting. Getzendanner said the firm charged 12.5% of the tax savings obtained. Madigan told Wong and an interpreter about the quality of service his firm provided. “We don’t take a second seat to anybody,” Madigan said. The developer then asked for a picture with Madigan and Solis. Solis told the group that Wong would benefit from working with Madigan. “If he works with the Speaker, he will get anything he needs for that hotel,” Solis said on the recording. Solis testified that he meant the city would provide the zoning change the developer needed from the city if the developer hired Madigan’s law firm. Solis said the zoning change was approved, but the proposed hotel was never built. MacArthur asked Solis about the bribery charge he is still facing, which Solis said involved the redevelopment of a property in Chicago from a restaurant to a residential building in 2015. Solis said two problems prevented the project from moving forward: labor unions’ perceived lack of representation in the development and residents' concerns in the ward. The former alderman admitted that he solicited a campaign contribution from the developer or from one or more of the developer’s vendors while the project’s zoning change was still under consideration. Solis said he believed the developer was on board and that he would be getting donations from the developers’ vendors. The zoning change was approved by the city council, Solis said. He testified he solicited and accepted campaign contributions from other developers who had matters pending before the city council’s zoning committee. Solis then testified about about a variety of things like massages that turned sexual, trips to Las Vegas, tickets to professional sporting events, no-paperwork six-figure loans he'd paid back. He even admitted to an extramarital affair he had with an interpreter. Solis said he was separated from his wife for about five years and their house went into foreclosure. He also confessed that he lied to a collection agency by saying he was out of work. MacArthur asked Solis about his sister, Patti Solis Doyle, who worked on campaigns for former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, D-New York. Solis Doyle also managed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008. Solis said his sister was involved in a hotel project in which the developer offered her $100,000. Solis said his sister offered to split the sum with her brother. As chairman of the city’s zoning committee, Solis said he told his sister he could not accept money regarding a hotel development. Solis said his sister told him there would be another way she could compensate him. The former alderman said he did receive funds from his sister for referring her to his friend Brian Hynes’ state vendor assistance program. Monday afternoon, Solis testified that FBI agents visited his home on June 1, 2016, and played audio and video recordings. After considering an attorney, Solis said he decided to cooperate with the FBI a few days later and agreed to let investigators tap his phone. Solis also said he told an attorney friend that he was cooperating with the FBI in regard to an investigation of an organization he was involved in. More from this section Solis said he made recordings for several investigations he was involved in as part of his deferred prosecution agreement. He began communicating with Madigan after receiving a voicemail message on June 12, 2017. Solis said he discussed the Chinatown land deal, his interest in getting a state board appointment, and referring clients to Madigan’s law firm while cooperating with the government from June 2016 to December 2017. Solis admitted that he was not really interested in a state board appointment, but he raised the issue with Madigan at the direction of law enforcement. Solis said he began communicating with Madigan codefendant Michael McClain about the Chinatown parcel in the fall of 2017. He said he had to continue to perform his duties as an alderman while cooperating with the FBI because of “the farce” that he was involved in. Solis discussed a 2017 redevelopment project that required a zoning change involving a Union West development in Chicago’s West Loop. MacArthur played a recording, dated June 12, 2017, of Madigan asking Solis about the development. During the call, Solis told the speaker he would try to arrange an introduction for Madigan with the developers. In a subsequent call, Solis promised to arrange a meeting and said, “I think these guys get it, the quid pro quo and how it works.” When MacArthur asked Solis why he said that, Solis said he didn’t know and said it was “dumb.” MacArthur asked Solis if he used the words “quid pro quo” at the direction of law enforcement. “No,” Solis said. Union West developer Andrew Cretal agreed to meet with Madigan and told Solis, “confidentially,” that his company was working with Goldman Sachs as an equity partner and that he would “circle back” with Solis. MacArthur played a recording of Madigan privately telling Solis not to use the words, “quid quo pro.” The conversation immediately preceded the meeting Cretal and the Union West group had at Madigan's and Getzendanner’s law office. During the meeting, Madigan repeated to Cretal’s group what he had said to See Wong. “We don’t take a second seat to anybody,” Madigan said. Solis said he met with Madigan again privately after the meeting with the intention of discussing the Chinatown parcel. Solis said he had been having frequent meetings about the land with potential developers. During the recording, Solis said that nothing could really happen until the state transferred the land. Connie Mixon, professor of Political Science and director of the Urban Studies Program at Elmhurst University, served as an expert witness at the corruption trial of longtime Chicago Democrat Ed Burke, who served on the city council from 1969 to 2023. A jury convicted Burke in December 2023 on 18 counts of racketeering, bribery, attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity. Mixon said that Solis also testified as a cooperating witness during Burke’s trial. “It seemed as if, in the sentencing for the Burke trial, the judge did take a bit of exception to the fact that Solis, who also had potential criminal charges, was essentially getting away without any sort of repercussions,” Mixon told The Center Square. Mixon described Solis as a damaged witness. “He’s absolutely damaged, but as much as he’s damaged, you have the words on the wiretap. Having the defendants’ words played in the courtroom, they are really the witness against themselves when you have those wiretaps,” Mixon explained. Before the jury was seated Monday morning, prosecutors said they would provide the court with revised jury instructions by Dec. 3. Judge John Robert Blakey said he could deny admittance of new materials after that date if he deemed them to be untimely. Madigan and McClain are charged with 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct. The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning in Chicago.