February, 2022 | últimas notícias

Biden Agrees to Putin Summit Provided Russia Pulls Back From Ukraine Attack – The Wall Street Journal

As the U.S. warned of an imminent Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine, President Biden agreed in principle to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, provided that Russia pulls back from a potential attack of its smaller neighbor.

President Biden’s decision came during a discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron, who made a flurry of calls seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis. In the call with his American counterpart, Mr. Macron proposed a summit between Presidents Biden and Putin and then a meeting with other governments on security and strategic stability in Europe, the French president’s office said in a statement. Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin have accepted the principle of such a summit, Mr. Macron’s office said.

Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-extends-belarus-drills-for-thousands-of-troops-as-ukraine-violence-escalates-11645364792

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White House says Biden has agreed to meet with Putin ‘in principle’ as long as Russia does not invade Ukraine – CNN

By Kevin Liptak, Sam Fossum and Arlette Saenz, CNN

Updated 10:45 PM ET, Sun February 20, 2022

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/20/europe/biden-putin-macron-ukraine/index.html

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Harris: Americans will ‘incur some costs’ from Ukraine crisis as energy costs, inflation soar – Fox Business

video

Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street – Friday, February 18

Russia tension, Clinton probe, Biden Putin

Vice President Kamala Harris warned that Americans could feel some “costs” of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, unwelcome news to many who are already bearing the costs of soaring inflation.

“When America stands for principles, and all of the things that we hold dear, it requires sometimes for us to put ourselves out there in a way that maybe we will incur some cost,” Harris said Sunday after a meeting with NATO leaders in Germany.

A RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR WOULD MEAN GLOBAL ENERGY SHOCK

Harris said some of the costs to hit American pocket books “may relate to energy cost,” with Russia being one of the world’s leading producers of oil.

The vice president’s comments come as Americans have already seen prices on common good rise thanks to a four-decade high in inflation, according to the consumer price index. Those price increases have been spread across almost all common goods, including medical care, clothing, transportation, food, and shelter.

Gas pump. Americans are experiencing the highest prices at the pump in years. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File / AP Newsroom)

But Harris stressed the need to push back against Russia’s plans for invasion, saying that there was “the real possibility of war” in Europe not seen since the end of World War II.

“We’re talking about the potential for war in Europe. I mean, let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about,” Harris said.

“It’s been over 70 years, and through those 70 years … there has been peace and security,” she added. “We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe.”

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP / AP Newsroom)

The administration has been warning for weeks that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent, with CBS reporting Sunday that U.S. intelligence officials say Russian commanders have received their orders to proceed with the invasion.

But the White House has not yet written off the possibility of a diplomatic solution to the stand-off, with Biden planning a meeting with Group of Seven leaders on Thursday to discuss the situation in Ukraine and a scheduled meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the works for this week

Source Article from https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/harris-americans-incur-some-costs-from-ukraine-crisis-energy-inflation-soars

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U.S. has intel that Russian commanders have orders to proceed with Ukraine invasion – CBS News

Washington — The U.S. has intelligence that Russian commanders have received orders to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine, with commanders on the ground making specific plans for how they would maneuver in their sectors of the battlefield, a U.S. official told CBS News.

The orders don’t mean a invasion is a certainty, as Russian President Vladimir Putin could still change the orders if he changes his mind, the official said.

After weeks of warning that an invasion of Ukraine was imminent, President Biden told reporters on Friday that he was “convinced” Putin had made the decision to invade Ukraine and said the U.S. believed Russian forces intended to attack in the “coming days.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told “Face the Nation” that the U.S. still believes Russia is “moving forward” with plans to invade, despite denials from Moscow that Russia is preparing to launch an attack.

Transcript: Secretary of State Antony Blinken on “Face the Nation”

“Everything we’re seeing tells us that the decision we believe President Putin has made to invade is moving forward,” Blinken said. “We’ve seen that with provocations created by the Russians or separatist forces over the weekend, false flag operations, now the news just this morning that the ‘exercises’ Russia was engaged in in Belarus with 30,000 Russian forces that was supposed to end this weekend will now continue because of tensions in eastern Ukraine, tensions created by Russia and the separatist forces it backs there.”

Blinken says Russia “moving forward” with inv…

06:40

Russia has massed roughly 150,000 troops, warplanes and equipment on Ukraine’s three sides, escalating tensions with the neighboring country. The defense minister of Belarus also announced Russia will be extending military drills taking place in the country near Ukraine’s northern borders, which brought a large contingent of Russian troops to Belarus.

In anticipation of an attack, the U.S. and other allies, most recently Germany and Austria, have urged their citizens to leave the country. The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine also temporarily relocated its operations from Kyiv to Lviv due to the acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert on Sunday warning that “according to media sources, there have been threats of attacks against shopping centers, railway and metro stations, and other public gathering places in major urban areas, including Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as in areas of heightened tension along the Russian border with Ukraine.”

The alert from the State Department urges U.S. citizens in Russia to take several actions, including avoiding crowds and having evacuation plans that don’t rely on federal government assistance.

While top U.S. officials have warned Russia is poised to strike Ukraine and the Pentagon has sent roughly 5,000 troops to Eastern Europe to bolster NATO forces, the Biden administration continues to keep a diplomatic option on the table. The president has stressed no American forces would go into Ukraine if Russia invades.

“My job as a diplomat is to leave absolutely no stone unturned and see if we can prevent war, and if there’s anything I can do to do that, I’m going to do it,” Blinken said Sunday. “President Biden has made very clear that he’s prepared to meet President Putin at any time in any format if that can help prevent a war. Even if the die is cast, until it’s settled, until we know that the tanks are rolling, the planes are flying, and the aggression has fully begin, we’re going to do everything we can to prevent it but we’re prepared either way.”

Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., said Ukrainian officials are using “every possibility” to force Russia to choose the diplomatic path rather than an attack.

“We are calling not only on [the] aggressor, which is Russia, but also on all of our friends and allies to get together and use every opportunity to still deter Russia from invading,” she told “Face the Nation.”

Markarova said that while Ukraine will “work day and night to make use of any possibility to still prevent Russia from invading,” events of the past few days indicate that an escalation is likely, contrary to comments from Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov that there is no plan for Russia to invade.

“What we see right now are all the strong messages are yet to get Russia not only to get out from the borders of Ukraine but they also, during the past three days, started an offensive,” she said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, too, has called on Putin to meet with him to work to resolve the crisis, but he also criticized Western leaders gathered at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, arguing they should not wait for an attack to hit Russia with sanctions.

The Biden administration has warned that if Putin orders an attack on Ukraine, there would be steep consequences for Russia, and Blinken said Sunday that slapping Russia with sanctions now would mean the loss of the “deterrent effect.”

“Once you trigger the sanctions, you lose the deterrent effect,” he said. “As long as there is still even a minute’s worth of time in which we can deter and prevent a war, we’re going to try to uses it.”

Blinken added that the U.S. doesn’t want to detail its plans publicly, as “that will forewarn Russia.”

David Martin

David Martin is CBS News’ National Security Correspondent.

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-ukraine-invasion-us-intelligence-orders/

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Harris offers support for defiant Ukrainian president – POLITICO

Speaking in the city that was the location of the infamous 1938 agreement that allowed German dictator Adolf Hitler to dismember and then gobble up Czechoslovakia without penalty, Zelenskyy warned of the dangers of letting bullies get their way. “Has our world completely forgotten the mistakes of the 20th century?” he asked. “Where does appeasement policy usually lead to?”

Ukraine’s president also called for immediate sanctions against Russia, but Harris reiterated the Biden administration’s position that sanctions had greater value if held back as a threat. She said America’s European allies shared that view.

“The Allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one,” Harris said, adding: “We still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment.”

Harris, who met directly with Ukraine’s president on Saturday, also backed President Joe Biden’s statement that he expects Russia will indeed invade Ukraine.

“As the President has said, we believe that Putin has made his decision. Period,” she said.

Zelenskyy also made it clear he had no doubt where Putin stood.

“Ukraine wants peace; Europe wants peace; the whole world says it doesn’t want war; and Russia claims it doesn’t want to intervene. Someone of us is lying,” he said Saturday.

Harris said it had been decades since Europe faced a crisis of this magnitude.

“Let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about,” she said. “It’s been over 70 years. And through those 70 years, as I mentioned yesterday, there has been peace and security. We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/20/kamala-harris-munich-security-00010383

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In a Call with Putin, Macron Pursues a Diplomatic Solution in Ukraine – The New York Times

Mr. Macron’s office also said “intense work” would be implemented to enable a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group, a group of officials from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that has tried to facilitate a diplomatic way out of the war in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.

The goal of this meeting, expected to be held Monday, is to “obtain a commitment from all the parties involved to a cease-fire” on the front line in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces.

Mr. Zelensky wrote on Twitter that he informed Mr. Macron during their call “about the current security situation and new provocative shelling.” Mr. Macron’s office said the call was part of his efforts “to maintain ways out of the crisis through dialogue and diplomacy.”

“The risk is high, our concern is strong, but we believe that the resources of diplomacy have not been exhausted,” the senior French official said.

Although the Kremlin said a “search for solutions through diplomatic means” should be intensified, it also “emphasized” that Kyiv is “stubbornly refusing to implement the Minsk agreements and agreements reached in the Normandy Format.”

Mr. Macron’s approach to the crisis so far has been to try to defuse it through intense dialogue with Mr. Putin. Sunday’s call was the fourth conversation between the two leaders regarding tensions on the Ukrainian border since mid-December, including Mr. Macron’s visit to Moscow this month. This approach initially led France not to express excessive alarm at the possibility of an invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.

But faced with the Russian buildup on the Ukrainian border, France’s stance has shifted slightly in recent days. On Saturday, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, said in a statement that “the acts and the words of Russia do not align” and warned Russia against “any further violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/world/europe/putin-macron-ukraine.html

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Orange County helicopter crash: Huntington Beach PD Officer Nicholas Vella dies of injuries, 2nd officer released from hospital – KABC-TV

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KABC) — A 14-year veteran of the Huntington Beach Police Department was killed and another officer was critically injured after a police helicopter crashed near Newport Beach in Orange County Saturday night, authorities said.

The helicopter crash-landed at about 6:30 p.m. while responding to a disturbance near Newport Beach, according to police.

“And after returning from that flight, the pilot reported that they were encountering mechanical difficulties,” said Elliott Simpson, from the National Transportation Safety Board. “So a few seconds later, he transmitted that they were going down.”

Nicholas Vella, 44, died in the crash, Chief Eric Parra announced during a news conference Saturday night.

The second officer, who is a 16-year veteran with the department, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He wasn’t immediately identified, but according to a tweet posted by HBPD Sunday morning, he has been released from the hospital.

“Thank you to our HB community & law enforcement family for the love & support you continue to show Officer Vella’s family & our Department,” read the tweet.

We wanted to inform everyone that the second officer involved in last night’s crash has since been released from the hospital.

Thank you to our HB community & law enforcement family for the love & support you continue to show Officer Vella’s family & our Department. pic.twitter.com/sTmGarGts6

— Huntington Beach PD (@HBPoliceDept) February 20, 2022

“The city of Huntington Beach, the residents of Huntington Beach, the Huntington Beach Police Department and the law enforcement community have lost an officer who was truly dedicated to his job and was doing what he loved doing,” Parra said. “This is a difficult night for all of us and I would ask for your prayers and support as we support our officers’ families.”

Vella leaves behind a wife and a teenage daughter.

It’s unclear who was piloting the aircraft at the time of the crash. One of the pilots was acting “as pilot in command, and the other acting as a tactical flight officer,” Simpson said.

Video from Balboa Island shows emergency vehicles racing to the scene.

Late Saturday night, a procession was held for Vella in Santa Ana.

Hundreds of police officers were saluting outside of Orange County Global Medical Center as his body was being taken to the coroner’s office.

WATCH: Procession held for Huntington Beach officer killed in helicopter crash

“This is truly a heartbreaking time for all of us here at Huntington Beach,” said Huntington Beach Mayor Barbara Delgleize. “Our community values our police department, and the loss of an officer hits us all really hard. This tragic accident serves as a reminder of the danger, and the risks, our police officers put themselves in on a daily basis to protect our community.”

Meanwhile, several witnesses recalled hearing the helicopter crash.

“We have a lot of helicopters flying around, but this had a higher pitch to it,” one witness said. “It didn’t sound right. I looked outside and saw it going in circles.”

One woman told Eyewitness News she saw the helicopter spinning and descending rapidly into the water.

“All of a sudden, I hear something sputtering really close, and it didn’t sound like a normal helicopter,” she said. “Somehow, he managed to get it into the bay to save everybody’s life. If he had landed on a house, there would be a lot of casualties. I feel very fortunate.”

The NTSB and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Major Accident Reconstruction Team are investigating the crash.

The NTSB is investigating the crash Sunday of a McDonnell Douglas MD 500N helicopter in Newport Beach, California.

— NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) February 20, 2022

Source Article from https://abc7.com/newport-beach-helicopter-crash-huntington-police-department-nicholas-vella/11583114/

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Bernie Madoff’s sister, husband found dead in apparent murder-suicide. – Slate

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Source Article from https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/02/bernie-madoff-sister-husband-dead-murder-suicide.html

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Russia Extends Belarus Drills for Thousands of Troops as Ukraine Violence Escalates – The Wall Street Journal

KYIV, Ukraine—Russia will extend its military drills with Belarus because of rising violence in Ukraine’s Donbas region, the government in Minsk said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted a new round of talks with Kyiv amid warnings of an imminent Russian invasion.

Mr. Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron said after speaking Sunday that they agreed to continue seeking a diplomatic solution. Russia has amassed as many as 190,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, including some 30,000 for exercises in its ally Belarus that were slated to end Sunday. Moscow demands that Kyiv abandon its aspirations to join NATO—the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—and give Russian proxies a major say in Ukraine’s future.

Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-extends-belarus-drills-for-thousands-of-troops-as-ukraine-violence-escalates-11645364792

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Russia-Ukraine live updates and latest news on border crisis – The Washington Post

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/20/russia-ukraine-updates/

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1 officer is dead, another is injured after a police helicopter crashed in southern California, officials say – CNN

By Melissa Alonso, CNN

Updated 9:52 AM ET, Sun February 20, 2022

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/20/us/california-police-helicopter-crash/index.html

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Portland Shooting: 1 Dead, 5 Wounded at Protest Against Police Killings – The New York Times

Few other details about the shooting were immediately available.

Portland has been a center for the racial justice protests that were touched off by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. In Portland, the demonstrations have sometimes spiraled into violence between protesters and counterprotesters.

Information on social media indicated the protest Saturday was in response to the death of Amir Locke, 22, who was fatally shot by the police in Minneapolis when they were carrying out a search warrant early on Feb. 2. The killing of Mr. Locke, who was Black, stirred anger in Portland.

Mr. Locke was not the target of the police raid, which was carried out with a so-called no-knock warrant that does not require notifying residents. Minneapolis has since suspended the use of such warrants.

The police in Portland have acknowledged using force more than 6,000 times during protests in 2020, prompting a reprimand from the Department of Justice, which has said they were out of compliance with a previous settlement agreement.

The use of clandestine F.B.I. surveillance teams in response to the Portland protests, and militarized federal agents who were sent to protect federal buildings, stirred concerns about violation of rights and government overreach.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/us/portland-shooting-protest.html

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Alleged sexual abuse victims ‘angry’ over death of Epstein friend – The Guardian

Victims of a French modelling agent’s alleged sexual abuse have expressed shock and dismay after he was found dead in his cell, in an apparent echo of the prison suicide of his close associate, the disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Paris police are investigating the death of Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, who had been charged with the rape of minors and was also being held on suspicion of trafficking underage girls for sex, whose body was found in La Santé prison early on Saturday.

Sources close to the investigation said Brunel had hanged himself, but this has not been officially confirmed. Epstein was found hanged in his New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial over the alleged abuse of hundreds of young girls.

Brunel’s death means the case against the agent – who was arrested in December 2020 at Charles de Gaulle airport as part of a French probe launched after US sex-trafficking charges were brought against Epstein – is now closed unless other suspects are identified.

A frequent companion of Epstein, who travelled often to France and had apartments in Paris, Brunel was accused in US court documents of rape and of procuring young girls for his friend and was considered central to the French investigation.

Victims of his alleged trafficking, who were mostly said to have been lured with promises of lucrative modelling contracts, said they were angry that Brunel, like Epstein, would never face trial. Anne-Claire Le Jeune, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, described the news as “quite terrible” for them, adding they felt Brunel had “left behind many secrets”.

Le Jeune expressed the women’s “frustration and bitterness over not being able to obtain justice – just as for the victims of Epstein”, adding that it had taken “so much courage for them to be able to speak up, to be heard by the police”.

Thysia Huisman, a Dutch former model who has said she was drugged and raped by Brunel as a teenager and was one of many women to identify themselves to French police as victims of the agent’s abuse, said she was shocked by the news of his death.

“It makes me angry, because I’ve been fighting for years,” Huisman said. “For me, the end of this was to be in court. And now that whole ending – which would help form closure – is taken away from me. To rebuild yourself, that is an essential step.”

One of Epstein’s principal accusers, Virginia Giuffre, who has said the financier once bragged to her that he had slept with more than 1,000 “of Brunel’s girls”, said she was disappointed by the news of the agent’s death.

“The suicide of Jean-Luc Brunel, who abused me and countless girls and young women, ends another chapter,” Giuffre tweeted. “I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to face him in a final trial to hold him accountable, but gratified that I was able to testify in person last year to keep him in prison.”

Giuffre recently accepted an undisclosed sum from Prince Andrew after bringing a civil case against the Queen’s second son, with whom she says she had sex when she was 17 – a minor under US law – after being introduced to him through Epstein.

Sigrid McCawley, Giuffre’s lawyer, said the news of Brunel’s death was “devastating”. “For the women who have stood up … it is not how these men died, but how they lived, and the damage they caused to so many. The fight to seek truth and justice goes on,” she said.

Brunel’s lawyers said his apparent suicide was “not guided by guilt, but a profound sense of injustice”. Mathias Chichportich, Marianne Abgrall and Christophe Ingrain said his death was “the tragedy of a 75-year-old man crushed by a media-judicial system. He had always maintained his innocence and had intensified his efforts to prove it.”

Brunel began his career as a model scout and in 1978 was involved in setting up the prestigious Karin Models agency. He then moved to the US where he co-founded the Miami-based agency MC2. He is credited with discovering a number of supermodels, including Christy Turlington and Milla Jovovich.

He had been placed under formal investigation for the alleged rape of two minors and for sexual harassment, and also been questioned on suspicion of sex trafficking of underage girls. He denied all charges.

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/20/alleged-sexual-abuse-victims-angry-over-death-of-jeffrey-epstein-friend-jean-luc-brunel

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Blinken says Russia’s ‘playbook’ for an invasion of Ukraine is moving forward but war can still be averted – CNN

By Jeremy Herb, CNN

Updated 10:24 AM ET, Sun February 20, 2022

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/20/politics/blinken-ukraine-russia-cnntv/index.html

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Uber driver pleaded for her life before passenger shot her dead – The Independent

A Pennsylvania Uber driver and mother-of-four pleaded for her life before a passenger shot her dead, authorities say.

The “senseless” killing occurred after Christina Spicuzza, 38, picked up a passenger in Allegheny County on 10 February. Her body was found two days later in a wooded area, face down wearing a Covid mask, with a bullet wound to the head in Monroeville; she’d been reported missing on 11 February after failing to return home.

Chilling dashboard camera footage shows the mother pleading with her passenger, who produced a gun, and telling the 22-year-old suspect that she had four children, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Independent.

Calvin Crew, 22, of Penn Hills, has been charged with homicide, robbery and tampering with evidence.

According to the complaint in Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh, Mr Crew had his girlfriend, Tanaya Mullen, order the Uber for him, then entered the vehicle at 9.14pm.

Just under 20 minutes later, in dashcam footage, he “produces a firearm from his right side and leans forward toward Spicuzza,” the complaint reads. “Crew places his left hand on Spicuzza’s left shoulder.

“Crew states ‘Keep driving’. Crew then places the firearm at the back of Spicuzza’s head, with the firearm being in his right hand.

“Spicuzza reaches up with her right hand and touches the gun. Spicuzza then says ‘You’ve got to be joking.’

Mr Crew then states “It’s a gun.”

“Come on, I have a family,” Ms Spicuzza says, according to the complaint – but Mr Crew responds: “I got a family too, now drive.”

He repeatedly told her to “complete the trip”, the complaint says, and, “using his left hand, grabbed Ms Spicuzza’s ponytail and controlled her head.

She pleaded: “I’m begging you, I have four kids.”

According to the footage described in the complaint, Mr Crew continued to hold the gun to the back of the driver’s neck, despite her protestations. At 9.34pm, he reached forward with his other hand and grabbed Ms Spicuzza’s phone off of the dashboard.

“Do what I say and everything will be alright,” he said, before grabbing the dash camera before the video ends, the complaint reads – adding that money transfer apps were accessed on the woman’s phone following what is presumed to be her time of death.

According to Mr Crew’s girlfriend, he had previously asked to borrow Ms Mullen’s weapon, a 9mm – and when both she and police searched her home, the gun and affiliated paperwork were missing, the complaint says.

Ms Spicuzza, who grew up in Monroeville, “was first and foremost a loving mother,” her obituary reads.

Visitation was being held this weekend and her funeral will taker place on Monday.

“She also enjoyed art, crafting and her Bible study,” the obituary continues. “Anyone who knew Christi knew her smile could light up every room she was in. No matter what was going on in her life, Christi was always smiling, always positive and always loving.

“Christi is survived by her parents, Joseph and Cindy Spicuzza; her fiancé, Brandon Marto; her children Andrea, Drew, Scotty and Tori; her brothers Joseph II, Raphael and Michael; her sister Chantelle, her nieces and nephew and many extended family.”

Her family does not yet wish to speak about the murder as criminal proceedings continue, a funeral home spokesman told The Independent on Saturday.

Source Article from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/uber-murder-passenger-pennsylvania-b2019013.html

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SUNY Potsdam student murdered near campus – New York Post

A student at an upstate college was gunned down on a street just off campus by a man who had no affiliation with the school, cops and administrators said.

SUNY Potsdam music education student Elizabeth Howell, 21, died Friday after she was found lying on the side of College Park Road with gunshot wounds, New York State Police said.

Elizabeth Howell was found lying on the side of College Park Road with gunshot wounds, police said.

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Alleged shooter Michael J. Snow, 31, was arrested Saturday and slapped with a second degree murder charge, police said. Police had initially urged locals to keep their doors locked and travel in groups, before announcing the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident.

Beth was a cellist who performed with the Crane Symphony Orchestra, and she was an aspiring educator with a bright future ahead of her. No words can express the sadness we share as a campus community following this tragic loss.

— SUNY Potsdam (@sunypotsdam1816) February 19, 2022

It wasn’t immediately clear if Snow and Howell knew each other but the school said Snow had “no affiliation with the College, either as a student, employee or graduate.”

Howell, who is from Patterson in Putnam County, was scheduled to graduate this year, the school added.

Michael J. Snow was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, as the school said he had no affiliation with the college, either as a student, employee, or graduate.

Twitter/ Brian Dwyer, Spectrum News 1

SUNY Potsdam canceled classes for Monday and has also canceled or rescheduled various activities as the campus grieves Howell’s death. The concert hall at the school’s Crane School of Music has been designated as a memorial space for the campus, school officials said in a social media post.

“Beth was a cellist who performed with the Crane Symphony Orchestra, and she was an aspiring educator with a bright future ahead of her,” the post stated. “No words can express the sadness we share as a campus community following this tragic loss.”

Potsdam is in St. Lawrence County, 30 miles from the US border with Canada.

Elizabeth Howell was a music education student at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music and was set to graduate this year.

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Elizabeth Howell, a student at SUNY Potsdam, died after she was fatally shot on a street in close proximity to the campus.

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With Post wires

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2022/02/20/suny-potsdam-student-elizabeth-howel-killed-near-school-michael-snow-arrested/

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Shelling in east Ukraine, Russia nuclear drill raise tension – Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Hundreds of artillery shells exploded along the contact line between Ukrainian soldiers and Russia-backed separatists, and thousands of people evacuated eastern Ukraine, further increasing fears Sunday that the volatile region could spark a Russian invasion.

Western leaders warned that Russia was poised to attack its neighbor, which is surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment. Russia held nuclear drills Saturday and conducted conventional exercises in neighboring Belarus, and has ongoing naval drills off the coast in the Black Sea.

The United States and many European countries have alleged for months that Russia is trying to create pretexts to invade. They have threatened massive, immediate sanctions if it does.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to choose a place where the two leaders could meet to try to resolve the crisis. Russia has denied plans to invade.

“Ukraine will continue to follow only the diplomatic path for the sake of a peaceful settlement,” Zelenskyy said Saturday at an international security conference in Munich, Germany. There was no immediate response from the Kremlin.

A top European Union official, Charles Michel, said Sunday that “the big question remains: does the Kremlin want dialogue?”

“We cannot forever offer an olive branch while Russia conducts missile tests and continues to amass troops,” Michel, the president of the European Council, said at the Munich Security Conference. He said, “One thing is certain: if there is further military aggression, we will react with massive sanctions.”

Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine on Saturday ordered a full military mobilization and sent more civilians to Russia, which has issued about 700,000 passports to residents of the rebel-held territories. Claims that Russian citizens are being endangered might be used as justification for military action.

Officials in the separatist territories claimed Ukrainian forces launched several artillery attacks over the past day and that two civilians were killed in an unsuccessful assault on a village near the Russian border.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday emphasized the significance of the moment that Europe faces.

“We’re talking about the potential for war in Europe,” Harris said at the Munich Security Conference. “It’s been over 70 years, and through those 70 years … there has been peace and security.”

Ukraine’s leader criticized the U.S. and other Western nations for holding back on new sanctions for Russia. Zelenskyy, in comments before the conference, also questioned the West’s refusal to allow Ukraine to join NATO immediately.

Putin has demanded that NATO not take Ukraine as a member. Harris stood by the U.S. decision to hold off on sanctions but said she wouldn’t second guess Zelenskyy’s “desires for his country.”

In new signs of fears that a war could start within days, Germany and Austria told their citizens to leave Ukraine. German air carrier Lufthansa canceled flights to the capital, Kyiv, and to Odesa, a Black Sea port that could be a key target in an invasion.

NATO’s liaison office in Kyiv said it was relocating staff to Brussels and to the western Ukraine city of Lviv.

U.S. President Joe Biden said late Friday that based on the latest American intelligence, he was now “convinced” that Putin has decided to invade Ukraine in coming days and assault the capital.

A U.S. military official said an estimated 40% to 50% of those ground forces have moved into attack positions closer to the border. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal U.S. assessments, said the change has been underway for about a week and does not necessarily mean Putin has settled on an invasion.

Lines of communication between Moscow and the West remain open: the American and Russian defense chiefs spoke Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Putin on Sunday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to meet next week.

Immediate worries focused on eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting the pro-Russia rebels since 2014 in a conflict that has killed some 14,000 people.

Ukraine and the separatist leaders traded accusations of escalation. Russia on Saturday said at least two shells fired from a government-held part of eastern Ukraine landed across the border, but Ukraine’s foreign minister dismissed that claim as “a fake statement.”

Top Ukrainian military officials came under a shelling attack during a tour of the front of the nearly eight-year separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. The officials fled to a bomb shelter before hustling from the area, according to an Associated Press journalist who was on the tour.

The military on Sunday closed a key checkpoint leading to the separatist region after it came under repeated shelling.

Elsewhere on the front lines, Ukrainian soldiers said they were under orders not to return fire. Zahar Leshushun, peering into the distance with a periscope, had followed the news all day from a trench where he is posted near the town of Zolote.

“Right now, we don’t respond to their fire because …” the soldier started to explain before being interrupted by the sound of an incoming shell. “Oh! They are shooting at us now. They are aiming at the command post.”

Sporadic violence has broken out for years along the line separating Ukrainian forces from the Russia-backed separatists, but the spike seen in recent days is orders of magnitude higher than anything recently recorded by international monitors: nearly 1,500 explosions recorded in 24 hours.

Denis Pushilin, the head of the pro-Russia separatist government in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, cited an “immediate threat of aggression” from Ukrainian forces in his announcement of a call to arms. Ukrainian officials vehemently denied having plans to take rebel-controlled areas by force.

“I appeal to all the men in the republic who can hold weapons to defend their families, their children, wives, mothers,” Pushilin said. ”Together we will achieve the coveted victory that we all need.”

A similar statement followed from his counterpart in the Luhansk region. On Friday, the rebels began evacuating civilians to Russia with an announcement that appeared to be part of their and Moscow’s efforts to paint Ukraine as the aggressor.

Metadata from two videos posted by the separatists announcing the evacuation of civilians to Russia show that the files were created two days ago, the AP confirmed. U.S. authorities have alleged that the Kremlin’s effort to come up with an invasion pretext could include staged, prerecorded videos.

Ukraine’s military said two of its soldiers died in firing from the separatist side on Saturday.

Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region, which borders eastern Ukraine, declared a state of emergency because of the influx of evacuees. Media reports on Saturday described chaos at some of the camps assigned to accommodate them.

Putin ordered the Russian government to offer 10,000 rubles (about $130) to each evacuee, an amount equivalent to about half of an average monthly salary in eastern Ukraine.

The separatist regions of Ukraine, like much of the country’s east, are majority Russian speaking. Putin on Tuesday repeated allegations of a “genocide” there in explaining the need to protect them.

One of the evacuees, a Donetsk resident who identified himself only as Vyacheslav, blamed Ukraine’s government for his plight.

“Let them calm down,” he said. “It’s our fault we don’t want to speak Ukrainian, is that it?”

___

Jim Heintz reported from Moscow. Mstyslav Chernov in Zolote, Ukraine, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Aamer Madhani in Munich, Robert Burns and Darlene Superville in Washington, Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv contributed to this story.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the Ukraine crisis at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-russia-united-states-europe-black-sea-a4e14d1b12c119c81d07dd3876cb057b

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Police helicopter crashes into water in California, killing cop – New York Post

A California police officer was killed and another critically injured after a law enforcement helicopter crash-landed into the water in Orange County on Saturday night.

The helicopter slammed into the water just after 6:30 p.m. in Newport Beach, about 40 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, in front of scores of people sitting on the beach, according to local reports.

Nicholas Vella, a 44-year-old, 14-year veteran of the Huntington Beach Police Department, died as a result of injuries he sustained in the crash, Police Chief Eric Parra said at a press conference Saturday night.

Vella and his partner were both rescued from the water and transported to a local trauma center after the crash.

The other officer, a 16-year-veteran, is in stable condition at the trauma center, officials said.

It wasn’t clear what caused the crash. The aircraft was still in the water by 8 p.m. local time.

Nicholas Vella, a 14-year veteran of the Huntington Police Department, was killed in the helicopter crash on Feb. 19, 2022, according to police.

Huntington Beach Police Department

A second officer is in critical condition following the helicopter crash on Feb. 19, 2022, according to police.

CBS Los Angeles / Youtube

The Huntington Beach police helicopter slammed into the water in Newport Beach on Saturday night.

CBS Los Angeles

Officials confirmed that the helicopter belonged to the neighboring Huntington Beach Police Department.

“We can confirm that our police helicopter, HB1, crash landed in the Newport Beach area. Rescue efforts are underway & more information will be released when available,” the department wrote on Twitter.

Earlier on Friday, another helicopter crashed into the ocean right off Miami Beach in Florida in front of hundreds of beachgoers. No casualties were reported in that crash.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2022/02/20/huntington-beach-police-helicopter-crashes-into-california-water-killing-officer-nicholas-vella/

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Ottawa police appear to end protesters’ hold of streets near Canada’s Parliament – NBC News

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Biden to convene National Security Council meeting on Ukraine | TheHill – The Hill

President BidenJoe Biden Ukrainian president presses for preemptive sanctions against Russia New Mexico rep to introduce bill offering asylum to Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates Ocasio-Cortez claps back after Tucker Carlson refers to her as ‘entitled white lady’ MORE will be convening a National Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Sunday, White House press secretary Jen PsakiJen Psaki Biden to convene National Security Council meeting on Ukraine Biden request for COVID-19 funds faces resistance from lawmakers Overnight Defense & National Security — Biden ‘convinced’ Russia will invade Ukraine MORE said in a statement on Saturday.

“President Biden continues to monitor the evolving situation in Ukraine, and is being updated regularly about events on the ground by his national security team. They reaffirmed that Russia could launch an attack against Ukraine at any time,” she said.

Psaki also added that the president had received an update on Vice President Harris’s meetings at the Munich Security Conference.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted earlier on Saturday that he had an “urgent conversation” with French President Emmanuel MacronEmmanuel Jean-Michel Macron Biden to convene National Security Council meeting on Ukraine What the US can learn from France’s withdrawal from Mali US officials say Russia’s announced military rollback was deliberate ruse MORE.

“Informed about the aggravation on the frontline, our losses, the shelling of politicians & international journalists. Discussed the need and possible ways of immediate de-escalation & political-diplomatic settlement,” Zelensky said.

The development comes as officials estimate that up to 190,000 Russian troops have been amassed near the Ukrainian border. Earlier this week, Russia claimed that it had pulled back some of its troops, but NATO and U.S. officials said it appeared that Russia was doing the opposite.

During the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, U.S. officials reiterated that Russia would pay steep consequences if it invaded Ukraine.

“Let me be clear, I can say with absolute certainty if Russia further invades Ukraine the United States, together with our allies and partners, will impose significant, and unprecedented economic costs,” Harris said in prepared remarks.

“There is a price to pay,” House Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy Pelosi Ukrainian president presses for preemptive sanctions against Russia Biden to convene National Security Council meeting on Ukraine 5 things to know today about the Russia-Ukraine crisis MORE (D-Calif.) said during a press briefing. “If [Russian President Vladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich Putin Ukrainian president presses for preemptive sanctions against Russia Biden to convene National Security Council meeting on Ukraine 5 things to know today about the Russia-Ukraine crisis MORE] decides to [invade], it won’t be a long time for the Russian people, sadly, to feel the impact of the [sanctions because of] insecure decisions being made by their president.”

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/595063-biden-to-convene-national-security-council-meeting-on-ukraine

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Russia and Belarus extend military drills north of Ukraine – Reuters

MOSCOW/DONETSK, Ukraine, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Russia and Belarus are extending military drills that were due to end on Sunday, the Belarus defence minister said, in a step that further intensifies pressure on Ukraine as Western leaders warn of an imminent Russian invasion.

The Belarus minister said the decision had been taken “in connection with the increase in military activity near the external borders” of Russia and Belarus and because of rising tension in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

NATO says Russia has up to 30,000 troops in Belarus and could use them as part of an invasion force to attack Ukraine, although Moscow denies any such intention.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a BBC interview broadcast on Sunday that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin might not be thinking logically so the threat of sanctions may not be enough to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Sanctions “may not be enough to deter an irrational actor and we have to accept at the moment that Vladimir Putin is possibly thinking illogically about this and doesn’t see the disaster ahead,” Johnson told the BBC. read more

Explosions were heard in the centre of Donetsk, a city in the eastern Donbass region controlled by Russia-backed separatists, a Reuters reporter said, in addition to heavy shelling elsewhere in the region earlier in the day. SMS messages sent to residents of Donetsk urged men to report for military duty.

Several days of firing in eastern Ukraine, large parts of which are controlled by Russia-backed separatists, have followed a build-up of Russia troops — estimated by the West to number 150,000 or more — to the north, east and south of the country.

Russia has denied plans to attack Ukraine, despite the troop deployments that Britain’s Johnson said suggested preparations for a large-scale conflict.

“The plan that we are seeing is for something that could be really the biggest war in Europe since 1945 just in terms of sheer scale,” Johnson told the BBC.

Johnson said the United States and Britain would seek to cut off Russian companies’ access to dollars and pounds in the case of an invasion, saying such sanctions would “hit very very hard” and would go further than previously suggested in public. read more

With Western fears of war rising, U.S. President Joe Biden was due to convene his top advisers later in the day to discuss the crisis. Biden said on Saturday he believed Russia could launch an attack “at any time,” despite assurances from the Kremlin that some troops were returning to their permanent bases after military exercises.

A Russian diplomat at the U.N. said no-one should tell Russia where or when to conduct military exercises, adding that U.S. and British intelligence assessments could not be trusted, citing mistakes made prior to the war in Iraq. read more

Foreign ministers from the G7 group of rich nations said on Saturday they had seen no evidence Russia is reducing its military activity in the area and remained “gravely concerned” about the situation.

Russia ordered the military build-up several months ago while demanding NATO prevent Ukraine from ever joining the alliance. It says Western warnings that it is planning to invade Ukraine are hysterical and dangerous.

However, it has warned of unspecified “military-technical” measures if demands including a NATO pullback from Eastern Europe are not met.

SHELLING IN THE EAST

The focus of tensions in recent days has been on a swathe of eastern Ukraine that Russian-backed rebels seized in 2014, the same year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. More than 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict in the east.

Ukraine suspended operations on Sunday at one of the seven checkpoints to territory in Donbass, due to heavy shelling, the Ukrainian military said.

Incidents of shelling across the line dividing government forces and separatists increased sharply last week, in what the Ukrainian government called a provocation. Kyiv’s Western allies are concerned Russia might use the escalation as a pretext for wider conflict.

Two Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed and four wounded on Saturday. read more

Local military forces in one of the separatist areas, Luhansk, said on Sunday that two civilians had been killed and five buildings were damaged in shelling by the Ukraine military. Russia’s Investigative Committee will investigate the case, the RIA news agency quoted it as saying.

The Ukrainian military said in a statement that its forces were sticking to a ceasefire agreement and “open fire exclusively when the actions of the Russian occupation forces pose a threat to the life and health of Ukrainian servicemen and civilians.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that reports it was shelling separatist areas were “pure lies”.

The military commissariat of the other breakaway region, Donetsk, sent text messages to residents saying: “In view of possible aggression from the Ukrainian side, it is the sacred duty and obligation of every man to take up the defence of his home and fatherland.”

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-temporarily-closes-checkpoint-donbass-due-shelling-2022-02-20/

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