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Alex Diaz de la Portilla loses Miami commission race in runoff election

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

Following a mayor’s race in Miami Beach, changes are also coming to Miami City Hall.The closely-watched runoff contest was centered on the District 1’s Commission seat.Businessman Miguel Gabela on Tuesday defeated the embattled incumbent, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, by a margin of 54% to 46%.Diaz de la Portilla was recently charged with money laundering and bribery and was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Steven Meiner elected Miami Beach Mayor after winning runoff election

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

Miami Beach residents on Tuesday hit the polls and elected a new mayor. It was decision night on Miami Beach and Commissioner Steven Meiner will now be the city’s next mayor.“We never doubted it,” Meiner said. “I just kept hammering on the message, talking about what our residents care about.”Out of more 10,000 ballots that were casted, Meiner won with 54% of the vote compared to his opponent, former Commissioner Michael Gongora, who received 46%.The attorney ran on a law and order platform.“Protecting our residents, reducing crime, a safer city,” he said.Meiner also hopes to focus on infrastructure and development.“Mitigating traffic, responsible development, not over-development,” he said. “Resiliency issues that we need to address.”The election lead to this Thanksgiving week runoff after the top two candidates didn’t secure enough votes to win the seat earlier in November.Gongora said some words for his oppo...

Widow speaks out after husband killed in shooting in NW Miami-Dade

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

A woman is sharing her pain and heartbreak after her husband was killed. Police said her husband and another man were shot at random during a gunman’s one-man crime spree.That widow spoke exclusively with 7News.Alexia Benard’s world is now shattered. “This man is my everything! My everything,” she said. “Just doesn’t make any sense.”Her husband, Mike Benard, was murdered on Saturday in Northwest Miami-Dade.“I have to re-figure out my entire life for me and my kids,” she said.Days before Thanksgiving, 10-month-old Adrian and 6-year-old Alaia are now without a father.The loving family man also enjoyed riding and even spoke to 7News about it two years ago.“I try to ride as safe as possible,” he said.7News was told that his passion was to fix anything with wheels, whether they be dirt bikes, ATV’s or cars. It was his life’s work as well, and he had his own mechanic business in his back yard. He would help frie...

Qatar confirms Israel-Hamas truce for hostages deal, Palestinian prisoners also to be freed

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Qatar has confirmed an agreement for a cease-fire and swap between Israel and Hamas, saying the start time will be announced in the next 24 hours and that it will last for four days.The statement early Wednesday morning from Qatar’s Foreign Ministry described the talks that produced the agreement as a mediation by Egypt, the U.S. and Qatar for a “humanitarian pause.”“The starting time of the pause will be announced within the next 24 hours and last for four days, subject to extension,” the statement said. “The agreement includes the release of 50 civilian women and children hostages currently held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons, the number of those released will be increased in later stages of implementing the agreement.”It added that the cease-fire will “allow the entry of a larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid, including fuel designated for humanitarian needs.”...

Inside the ‘excruciating’ 5 weeks that led to the Israel-Hamas deal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grabbed the arm of the White House’s top Middle East official as they exited a contentious meeting in Israel on Nov. 14. Talks to secure the release of 240 hostages held by Hamas militants were stalling and tensions were high.Brett McGurk turned around to find the Israeli leader looking straight back at him. “We need this deal,” Netanyahu said.A week later, the Israeli leader got what he wanted.Both the Israeli government and Hamas announced Tuesday night that they agreed to a long-anticipated deal: Hamas would release 50 women and children taken from Israel on Oct. 7.Three Americans will be among them, including a three year old girl, Abigail, whose parents the militants killed during last month’s attack. Israel will release around 150 Palestinian prisoners, women and teenagers, as fighting in the six week war pauses for four to five days. The release of every additional 10 hostages beyond the initial 50 would lead ...

Lesson from Ukraine to Gaza: Truth demands patience

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

Ross Burley is co-founder and executive director of the Centre for Information Resilience, a nonprofit exposing war crimes and countering disinformation using open source.This month, our investigators at the Centre for Information Alliance verified the 15,000th entry in the “Eyes on Russia” map — a free resource that allows anyone to track what’s going on in the war in Ukraine.And each one of these 15,000 entries represents hours, sometimes even days, of painstaking work by analysts, as they’ve been verifying and geolocating snapshots of a conflict that’s been raging since February 2022. More importantly, however, each of these entries represents a unique human story. Stories of unimaginable loss, suffering and heartbreak among Ukrainian families. Stories of soldiers stoically and courageously defending their homeland in battle, of civilians struggling to come to terms with losing their homes and family members, and communities left to observe their own destruction.  Unfor...

Dutch election is wide open as voting begins

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — As Dutch polling stations open on Wednesday, any one of four rival party leaders could yet win power. Volatile polls in the final days of the campaign have left the outcome on a knife-edge, with the big surprise a sudden surge in support for the far-right party of Geert Wilders. His anti-Islam and anti-EU Freedom Party (PVV) appears to be making a dramatic comeback — one poll put him level in first place with outgoing premier Mark Rutte’s group, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). The Labour-Green alliance, led by EU veteran Frans Timmermans, and a new party of centrist outsider Pieter Omtzigt are trailing behind in third and fourth place, according to pollster Maurice de Hond. Other polls put Timmermans’ party tied in first position with Wilders, closely followed by the VVD. However, the differences are small and, most importantly, 63 percent of voters had not yet settled on their final choice one day ahead of the election, accord...

Rishi Sunak hits the tax cut button as his luck runs out

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak was once the golden child of British politics. These days, nothing seems to be going his way. A series of big moments intended to pump up the ailing prime minister since the summer have fallen flat — significantly raising the stakes for Wednesday’s Autumn Statement, a major government fiscal event that looks set to put tax cuts front and center.One by one, the Conservative Party leader has been running out of levers to pull in recent months.A party conference speech came and went, framed around correctives to overbearing climate policy and profligate high-speed rail spending. That was meant to paint Sunak as the “change” candidate — a tough sell after 13 years of Tory rule.The King’s Speech, seen as Sunak’s final big chance to renew his government’s legislative program before an expected election next year, was viewed in Westminster as relatively thin gruel.Last week’s government reshuffle — which saw the dramatic return of former Prime Mi...

Carbon capture and storage to reach net zero 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Acast Amazon Music Oil, gas and coal still made up 81.5 percent of the global energy mix in 2022 — down just 3 percent from 2015, when the Paris climate agreement was signed. Given the slow pace of the energy transition, carbon capture and storage, or CCS, has the potential to become an impo...

Belgium’s on-again, off-again hunt for the men accused of corrupting the European Parliament

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:45:28 GMT

BRUSSELS — Should the key figures accused of corrupting the European Parliament be arrested or not?That’s the question at the heart of the scandal known as Qatargate — the most serious corruption allegations to hit European Union institutions in decades. In a sprawling Belgian police and intelligence investigation, major diplomatic and government figures have been accused of funneling payments to members of the European Parliament in exchange for influencing decisions in favor of Qatar and Morocco.In January, Belgian authorities issued a national notification for the arrest of Qatari Labor Minister Ali Bin Samikh Al Marri, his aide Bettahar Boudjellal and Morocco’s ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun, according to Belgian police reports seen by POLITICO.Later that month, Michel Claise, then the lead investigative judge in the case, ordered the notifications for arrest to be rescinded.At a later date, new notifications for the arrest were issued for the two representatives o...