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Panthers’ injury issues from Stanley Cup Final will carry into next season

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Reminders of this run to the Stanley Cup Final will be everywhere when next season starts for the Florida Panthers. There will be a new banner to celebrate the Eastern Conference championship. There will inevitably be a highlight video recapping the best moments of this postseason.There will also be scars. Missed games. And a lot of rehabbing.The Panthers’ goal for next season is simple and obvious — get back to the Cup final and win it all. But coach Paul Maurice is sounding a cautionary alarm, already aware that the physical toll this postseason took on some players will carry over into next season.“We’re going to have a hell of a time making the playoffs next year,” Maurice said. “That’s a fact.”The math says he’s not wrong. Florida got into the playoffs this year by the slimmest of margins, just one point. There was no room for error, and he already knows next season’s opening-night lineup won’t be the best one Florida can have on the ice.There were at least...

Miami cold case closed after 4 decades as missing person Ronald Gilchrist identified as homicide victim

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

MIAMI/CLEARWATER, FLA. (WSVN) — Detectives from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit have successfully closed the 42-year-old missing person’s case of Ronald Gilchrist, shedding light on a long-standing mystery. Gilchrist, who was reported missing at the age of 29, had vanished while traveling from Clearwater to Miami in 1980.According to investigators, Gilchrist left a residence on Bonner Avenue in Clearwater on October 28, 1980. He was driving a 1977 Ford 4-door vehicle headed to Miami International Airport on November 3, 1980, to pick up his in-laws and take them to Marco Island. However, Gilchrist never reached his destination and ceased all contact with family and friends.Detectives’ efforts recently led them to a crucial breakthrough in the case. They obtained photographs of Gilchrist from 1980 and shared them with MDPD investigators and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office. It was discovered that Miami-Dade Police had conducted...

Cooper City, BSO unveil state-of-the-art crime center for enhanced public safety

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

Cooper City and the Broward Sheriff’s Office have teamed up to unveil a Real Time Crime Center that aims to boost public safety. This high-tech facility operates 24/7 and uses cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of potential threats and support emergency responders in real time. By setting up a central hub for digital info, the RTCC gives BSO direct access to strategically placed video surveillance systems and license plate readers all over the city. The RTCC lies in its ability to give direct access to strategically placed video surveillance systems and license plate readers all over the city. These tools allow the BSO to monitor key areas and quickly spot any suspicious activities or vehicles. By linking these surveillance systems to the central hub, law enforcement can respond promptly to potential threats and stop them before they become major incidents.

America’s European burden: How the Continent still leans on the US for security

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

This article is part of the Europe’s strategic impotence Special Report.PRISTINA, Kosovo — There is no statue of France’s Jacques Chirac in Kosovo’s capital, no square named for Gerhard Schröder and no boulevard for Spain’s Javier Solana.One will find all of the above, however, for Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright and the other American leaders who spearheaded the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia to prevent Serbian forces from massacring Kosovo’s Albanian population.While many member countries contributed to the NATO operation, Kosovars have no illusions about who really saved them from genocide.Thanks to the U.S., “we have our freedom and democracy and were able to build the state of Kosovo,” the country’s then-Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj told Clinton at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the NATO intervention in 2019.Little has changed in the nearly 25 years since the NATO action. If anything, Europe is more reliant on American security today than it was then.Just a...

The US wants Europe to buy American weapons; the EU has other ideas

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

This article is part of the Europe’s strategic impotence Special Report.At NATO summit after NATO summit, European leaders get a clear public message from Washington — increase spending on defense.In private, there’s another message that’s just as clear — make sure a lot of that extra spending goes on U.S. weapons.European leaders are resisting.“We must develop a genuinely European defense technological and industrial base in all interested countries, and deploy fully sovereign equipment at European level,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava last month.The decades of cajoling from Washington are paying off. Although most EU countries aren’t yet meeting NATO’s target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, the alliance has seen eight years of steady spending increases. In 2022, spending by European countries was up by 13 percent to $345 billion — almost a third higher than a decade ago — much of it a reaction to Russ...

‘A desire for love’: Italy bids farewell to showman Berlusconi

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

Amid the Armani suits, aviator sunglasses and diamonds, Italy’s farewell to its most flamboyant politician was a surprisingly solemn affair.The sun shone over the glittering spires and buttresses of the Duomo, Milan’s most beloved landmark, for Silvio Berlusconi’s state funeral on Wednesday, as an A-list cast of Italian politics, finance and media gathered to pay their respects. Milan made a fitting venue for Berlusconi’s send-off — it was the city where the three-times prime minister, media mogul and billionaire playboy had made his money.Wreaths were stacked against the facade of the cathedral while giant screens set up outside allowed workers from Berlusconi’s media empire, and fans from the football clubs he owned over the years, to watch from the surrounding piazza. While some waved black and red AC Milan flags, one lone detractor wore an “I am not in mourning” T-shirt. Covered in red and white roses, Berlusconi’s coffin was driven the 30 km from his hom...

Europe’s military buildup: More jaw jaw than war war

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

This article is part of the Europe’s strategic impotence Special Report.War is usually a boon for the military-industrial complex. But that’s not happening for Europe’s defense industry — yet. More than a year into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, contracts have been slow to materialize, the Continent’s industrial base is still in tatters following decades of underinvestment, and fierce competition looms from outside Europe.Politicians eager to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s aggression and beef up the Continent’s forces are urging defense companies to produce more, faster and at a lower cost. But companies say they can’t move until they get binding deals from governments.“It’s somehow like a chicken and egg question,” said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur. “Which one is first?” Some companies — including Sweden’s Saab, the Nordics’ Nammo, Germany’s Rheinmetall and France’s Nexter and MBDA — have started to ramp up using their own cash. Now, they are call...

Greek parties halt election campaign after dozens of migrants drown

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

ATHENS — Greek parties halted pre-election campaigning on Wednesday after dozens of migrants drowned in a deadly shipwreck off Greece’s southern Peloponnese peninsula.At least 79 bodies were recovered by Wednesday afternoon and more were feared missing after an overloaded fishing boat en route to Italy capsized and sank. More than a hundred people have been rescued so far and hundreds of others are thought to be missing, according to initial reports. All of the political parties sent representatives to the region where the migrants were rescued. With the country’s election just 11 days away, the parties issued separate statements that their pre-election gatherings and speeches would be halted.“The priority now is to save as many lives as possible,” said New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is expected to return to the PM’s office after the election, as he maintains a significant lead in polls. “This new incident, however, dramatically demonstrates that migration remains a p...

Better together: The European effort on joint defense projects

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

This article is part of the Europe’s strategic impotence Special Report.Europe’s NATO members have a GDP that’s almost as large as that of the United States, but that doesn’t translate into comparable military heft.A big reason is that the alliance’s 29 European members often scatter their defense purchases on rival programs that dissipate their effectiveness.The European Union has been aware of the problem for years, but industrial rivalries and different military priorities have made it very difficult to coordinate efforts on jointly producing weapons. While that may not have mattered much in the comfortable post-Cold War world of low defense spending and distant threats, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the calculus.Although there have been joint defense projects before — like the Eurofighter developed in the 1990s by the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Spain — there’s now an effort to do more together. “Defence cooperation coupl...

After Russia’s invasion, Brussels is a military player but not a military power

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:25:48 GMT

This article is part of the Europe’s strategic impotence Special Report.The EU has its roots in an effort to end war in Europe, but it’s latest spat is over an effort to finance the production and delivery of a million artillery shells to Ukraine.It’s a sign of how Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine is helping to transform the bloc from a purely economic and regulatory power into one that has some military teeth.The war was a “big wake-up call,” said retired General Tom Middendorp, former chief of defense of the Netherlands who now heads the International Military Council on Climate and Security.The core of the EU’s effort to help Ukraine militarily is the off-budget European Peace Fund (EPF) — which has €1 billion to partly reimburse member countries for ammunition and missiles sent to Kyiv from their stockpiles, and another €1 billion for EU countries to jointly buy ammunition. The bloc sent 220,000 rounds of ammunition in May as well as 1,300 missiles,&nb...