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Big Tobacco faces big EU counterfeit problem

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

Spanish police raided three clandestine tobacco factories earlier this year, seizing nearly €40 million worth of tobacco leaf and illicit cigarettes.At one, in the northern town of Alfaro, they found 10 Ukrainian workers, five of them war refugees, who'd been put to work with no contracts and scant pay, police said. They worked all day and lived at the factory and are forbidden from leaving.This operation is one of dozens across the EU that regional policing and anti-fraud agencies say have driven seizures of illicit cigarettes to record levels.Crime groups, which have traditionally mainly sourced fake tobacco products from outside the EU, are increasingly setting up production facilities in western Europe to be closer to higher-priced markets, according to Reuters interviews with half a dozen specialists in the field, including enforcement officials, tobacco executives and industry analysts.The trend was revved up by the travel shutdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, which choked suppli...

Five-bedroom home in Danville sells for $2.9 million

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

111 Victoria Place – Google Street ViewA spacious house located in the 100 block of Victoria Place in Danville has a new owner. The 3,892-square-foot property, built in 1999, was sold on May 11, 2023, for $2,850,000, or $732 per square foot. The property features five bedrooms, four bathrooms, an attached garage, and two parking spaces. It sits on a 0.3-acre lot, which also has a pool.Additional houses that have recently been purchased close by include:In March 2023, a 2,292-square-foot home on Mistral Court in Danville sold for $1,780,000, a price per square foot of $777. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.A 4,305-square-foot home on the first block of Homestead Court in Danville sold in July 2022, for $2,925,000, a price per square foot of $679. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.On Homestead Court, Danville, in September 2022, a 4,305-square-foot home was sold for $2,904,545, a price per square foot of $675. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. 

Person found dead near I-880 and Montague Expressway

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

MILPITAS – A person was found dead at a homeless encampment near Interstate 880 and Montague Expressway on Thursday, according to the California Highway Patrol.The discovery was reported to the CHP around 6:20 p.m., said CHP Officer Ross Lee.The person was not killed in a traffic collision and foul play is not suspected, Lee said.Check back for updates.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Crime spree leaves three dead in South Bay Crime and Public Safety | Gilroy man arrested in connection with February shooting Crime and Public Safety | Alleged neighbor spat in Santa Cruz County leads to attempted murder charges Crime and Public Safety | Mountain View man sentenced to 12½ years in prison on child pornography charges Crime and Public Safety | Two San Jose men arrested, Cowell’s Beach evacuated following firearm discharge

NorCal baseball regionals: In an extra-inning classic, De La Salle survives against Franklin-Elk Grove

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

CONCORD – It was one of those rare contests that lived up to the pre-game hype. And then some.When No. 2 seed De La Salle scored a run in the ninth to beat third-seeded Franklin 6-5 in the semifinals of the CIF NorCal Division I semifinals Thursday, fans who were on the edge of their seats for most of the game stood up and gave the players a rousing ovation.Tanner Griffith’s single to right-center in the bottom of the ninth drove in pinch-runner Joe McGee for the winning score. Reliever Cal Randall was the winning pitcher, working the final 2⅔ innings after starter RJ Meyn went the first 6⅓ frames.De La Salle (26-5) takes on Valley Christian Saturday for the D-I championship. Franklin finished the season at 30-5.The game was an encore to the hype before the first pitch.Both starting pitchers, juniors Meyn from De La Salle and Nic Abraham from Franklin, came into the contest with 10-0 records. They departed before either could get a decision.Franklin had won 16 games in a row before ...

Madre de la niña que murió bajo custodia de inmigración pidió varias veces una ambulancia pero se la negaron, según las autoridades

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

(CNN) — La madre de una niña que murió bajo la custodia de las autoridades de inmigración de EE.UU. en Texas el mes pasado había hecho múltiples peticiones de una ambulancia o atención médica hospitalaria para su hija, pero una enfermera contratada por el Servicio de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza (CBP, por sus siglas en inglés) negó las solicitudes, dijo la agencia el jueves.La niña de 8 años, Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, finalmente fue trasladada el 17 de mayo a un hospital de Harlingen, pero murió allí ese mismo día, ocho días después de que ella y su familia migrante fueran detenidas por el CBP en Brownsville.Luego de que la familia fuera procesada inicialmente en una instalación de la CBP en Donna, Texas, el 10 de mayo, fueron llevados a la estación de Harlingen del CBP el 14 de mayo después de que la niña diera positivo en la prueba de la gripe A y se quejara de dolor abdominal, congestión nasal y tos, dijo anteriormente la agencia.Entre el 14 y el 17 de mayo, “el...

Donald Trump: I’m the Mona Lisa

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

Former U.S. President Donald Trump compared his supporters to people who go see the Mona Lisa “hundreds of times,” to explain how he still managed to draw yuuuge crowds. “You have people who want to see the Mona Lisa, they love the Mona Lisa, and they’ll see it hundreds and hundreds of times and it gets better every time,” Trump said in an interview with Welsh public broadcaster S4C, released by the U.K.’s Daily Mirror.“It’s sort of an interesting thing and it’s basically the same 20 subjects that you’re talking about: you’re talking about the border, you’re talking about the military, you’re talking about low taxes,” the former president added. “They just want to hear it again and again.”Trump, who in November announced his candidacy for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, is currently on the campaign trail, battling with his main Republican rival, Florida Governor Ron De Santis, to sec...

HS baseball: Breaking down the tournament

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

In his first year at the helm Matt Henriksen coached Whitman-Hanson to a Patriot League Keenan title. Now he hopes that magic translates to the state tournament.Courtesy of a strong pitching staff highlighted by Evan Yakavonis and Ryan Baker, the No. 5 Panthers are a legitimate threat in Div. 2 but face plenty of landmines if they hope to reach a state final. Defending champion Milton enters as the tournament’s top overall seed and has the talent depth in Owen McHugh, Scott Longo, and Jimmy Fallon to make another deep run. The finalist from a year ago, No. 3 King Philip, has Brendan Senjac leading a strong lineup. A second-round matchup with No. 14 Duxbury would be interesting.Second-seeded Leominster may be playing better than anyone in Massachusetts and is a contender while No. 4 Hopkinton closed the year with an impressive win over Franklin. Dwayne Follette’s Plymouth North team enters the tournament as the No. 9 seed and can never be taken lightly while perennial con...

US lawyer named chief prosecutor at office linked to Kosovo war crimes court

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — American lawyer Kimberly West has been appointed as the chief prosecutor linked to a European Union-backed court prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo, the prosecutor’s office announced Friday.West replaces Jack Smith, who stood down as head of the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in November to become a U.S. Justice Department special counsel overseeing investigations into the retention of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, as well as aspects of an investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.“It is an honor to have been selected for this important and challenging role,” West said in a statement. “I am looking forward to joining the SPO and to taking its work forward.”West currently works for a Boston law firm. From 2008-2013 she was part of the team at the United Nations’ Yugoslav war crimes tribunal that prosecuted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Kara...

In The News for June 2 : Provincial fire bans spark campfire alternatives

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of June 2 …What we are watching in Canada …As fire bans continue in many provinces, businesses selling camping gear and firewood are seeing a shift in demand. Fire bans began rolling in after hot, dry weather took over much of Canada early in the season — starting in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, now expanding to the Maritimes. While Saskatchewan and Alberta have lifted the bans in some regions, people in the Prairies have been monitoring the wildfire season closely.Companies that supply camping enthusiasts have been seeing trends change.Alberta-based Smart Firewood Products Managing Director Jade Najam says demand usually picks up around mid-April and continues until mid-October, but things are different this year. “This May, I’m not even at five per cent of what I did last year in sales,&#...

Kyiv defenses thwart Russia’s 6th air assault in 6 days against Ukraine capital

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:16 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian air defenses shot down more than 30 Russian cruise missiles and drones in Moscow’s sixth air attack in six days on Kyiv, local officials said Friday.The Ukrainian capital was simultaneously attacked from different directions by Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles from the Caspian region, senior Kyiv official Serhii Popko wrote on Telegram.A 68-year-old man and an 11-year-old child were wounded in the attack, with private houses, outbuildings and cars sustaining damage from falling debris, according to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office.A recent spate of attacks on the capital has put strain on residents and tested the strength of Ukraine’s air defenses while Kyiv officials plot what they say is an upcoming counteroffensive to push back the Kremlin’s forces 15 months after their full-scale invasion. Kyiv was the target of drone and missile attacks on 17 days last month, including daylight attacks.Moscow’s strategy c...