USA

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (APP): With tensions continuing to mount over the Ukraine crisis, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that he still believed military conflict in Europe “will not happen” – but if it did, “it would be catastrophic”.

Addressing world leaders at the Munich Security Conference in Berlin — amid an intense spike in shelling in eastern Ukraine by opposing sides, and a concentration of Russian troops around the country’s borders –- the UN chief said that it was high time to “seriously de-escalate” the crisis.

HOUSTON, Feb 18 (NNN-Xinhua) — A grand jury in Austin, Texas, had indicted multiple police officers for using excessive force during racial justice protests in 2020, local authorities said.

Speaking at a press conference, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said that “multiple indictments will be forthcoming in the days ahead” for police officers suspected of criminal conduct during the May 2020 protests, spurred by the murder of African American George Floyd by a white police officer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate gave final approval Thursday to legislation averting a weekend government shutdown, sending President Joe Biden a measure designed to give bipartisan bargainers more time to reach an overdue deal financing federal agencies until fall.

Final passage was by a bipartisan 65-27 vote, five more than the 60 votes needed. The House easily approved the legislation last week. Each party had concluded that an election-year shutdown would be politically damaging, especially during a pandemic and a confrontation with Russia over its possible invasion of Ukraine.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices, a judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., to comply with subpoenas issued in December by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump and his two children must sit for depositions within 21 days, Engoron said following a two-hour hearing with lawyers for the Trumps and James’ office.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Widely available commercial satellite imagery of Russian troop positions bracketing Ukraine provides a bird’s-eye view of an international crisis as it unfolds. But the pictures, while dramatic, have limitations.

High-resolution photos from commercial satellite companies like Maxar in recent days showed Russian troop assembly areas, airfields, artillery positions and other activities on the Russian side of the Ukrainian border and in southern Belarus as well as on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — One agent protested that he didn’t join the Border Patrol to look after children in custody. Another asked why a policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for court hearings wasn’t being used more. And one turned his back on the senior officials who had come to listen.

Unsurprisingly for anyone who’s been tracking migration along the United States’ southern border, the recent showdown happened in Yuma, Arizona, where encounters with migrants illegally crossing into the country from Mexico jumped more than 20-fold in December from a year earlier.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas grand jury indicted 19 Austin police officers on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for their actions during 2020 protests over racial injustice that spread nationwide following the killing of George Floyd, according to people familiar with the matter.

Multiple people spoke to The Associated Press Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday confirmed 19 officers are facing charges but did not have details.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Four men walked to the parking lot before dawn, then sat down blocking the entrance and linked their arms to await the arrival of hundreds of federal and state employees for the work day.

Protesting years without pay raises, the four employees of Puerto Rico’s Authority of Roads and Transportation refused to budge. A specialized police unit finally moved in to remove them, and as they were put in handcuffs, one of the men yelled: “Fair salary! Give us what you owe us!”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser when she killed Daunte Wright will be sentenced Friday for manslaughter.

Kim Potter was convicted in December of both first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the April 11 killing of Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist. She’ll be sentenced only on the most serious charge of first-degree murder, which carries a presumptive penalty of just over seven years in prison.

17 Feb 2022; MEMO: US Congressman, Jamaal Bowman, of New York is dropping his support for a bill that would help Israel expand normalisation agreements with Arab countries.