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Couple speaks out after man steals porch furniture from SWMD home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

A thief tries to swipe something from a South Florida home. But packing it up would prove to be quite the struggle.The porch pirate had a hard time fitting the patio furniture in his car.On Tuesday night, the family he stole from is speaking out.Arazay Rodriguez returned to her Southwest Miami-dade home after dropping her children off at school last Thursday and noticed her porch was bare.At first, she thought her husband was playing a joke until she checked the surveillance video.“I realized it wasn’t a joke because a black car parked in front and a man gets off with his face covered,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. He pulled up in a black SUV and picked up the loveseat. For about a minute he proceeded to angle, cajole and shove the furniture into the back of the SUV, and even a pillow fell to the ground in the process. But he still wasn’t done — the thief then grabbed the Valentine’s Day gift from Rodriguez’s husband and crammed a plant in the back ...

Buyers scammed after investing with company who promised ‘dream homes’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

Several home buyers who invested large sums of money with a company that promised to build their dream home. A dream that never came true, because they said, the developer never built any house for them and now, police are investigating.Nancy flew into South Florida for the same reason many people do.Nancy Turner: “We wanted to have somewhere to come in the wintertime when it gets cold.”Nancy wanted to buy a home and found this listing for beautiful townhouses in Davie.Nancy Turner: “I like that it was a new build and it had square footage with the pool on the back.”Nancy contacted the company, Omni Development and Consulting services in Fort Lauderdale, and signed a contract in 2022 to buy two units; one for her and one for her daughter.Nancy Turner: $320,000 for the down payment In 2021, Alexander Alonso saw that Omni Development was advertising townhouses on this property in Miramar.Alexander Alonso: “Oh, they were modern looking. Three story townhom...

7News New Hampshire presidential poll show DeSantis losing steam, Haley entering 2nd place

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

With the New Hampshire GOP Primary slated for only a few weeks from now, a new 7News presidential poll offered some new insight. Gov. Ron DeSantis is losing ground there as a rival is gaining momentum in the primary race and in a head-to-head contest with President Joe Biden.Republican primary voters in the Granite State are shaking things up.In an exclusive 7News/Emerson college poll, it showed that 49% of Republican voters in New Hampshire still favor former President Donald Trump. But former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has surged to second with 18%. She’s followed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 9%. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has dropped to 7% and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is polling at 5%. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson got less than 1%.“For the last year, we’ve been looking at Ron DeSantis/Donald Trump race and now it looks like Nikki Haley is the alternative instead of Ron DeSantis at this point,” said Spencer Kimball, 7News/Emerson Co...

Baltic Sea sabotage: A defender’s dilemma

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

Elisabeth Braw is a senior associate fellow at the European Leadership Network, an adviser at Gallos Technologies and a regular columnist for POLITICO.Swedish, Finnish and Estonian authorities have identified a prime suspect in the damage done to two undersea cables and a gas pipeline on the night of October 7 this year. As it turns out, the Chinese-owned, Hong Kong-flagged container ship Newnew Polar Bear was present on all three occasions, and it also has strong links to Russia.But what should the three countries do now?This kind of aggression, which isn’t quite war but certainly isn’t peace either, is known as gray-zone aggression. And so far, no Western country has figured out exactly how to punish such aggression involving no soldiers and no military weaponry.A criminal investigation would hardly deter more sabotage, and retaliating against China and Russia for the actions of a supposedly purely commercial vessel would be perilous. If these countries don’t punish the belligeren...

How Hitler’s homeland became Israel’s European BFF 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

VIENNA — It was the kind of foxhole moment the Israelis believed would reveal who their true friends are.As voting got underway at the United Nations on October 27 on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, it was clear that Israel, which opposed the measure, faced an uphill battle. Shortly before the tally, countries Israel counted among its closest allies, including Germany and Canada, jumped ship, fearing a backlash if they rejected the resolution.So it came as a big surprise for many in Israel to find Austria, a country with which they have enjoyed what might charitably be called a stormy relationship over the years, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Jewish state. This was, after all, not just the land of Hitler and Adolf Eichmann, but its politics in recent years have often been dominated by the far-right Freedom Party, which was founded by SS veterans in the 1950s.“I applaud Austria for standing for what Austria believes and voting against that resolution,...

Sorry, Biden: Ireland’s Sinn Féin embraces Palestinians and shuns Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

DUBLIN — Sinn Féin, the nationalist party on course to top the polls in Ireland’s next election, is embracing Palestinians and condemning Israel as it builds populist appeal in a land where Jews are a tiny minority. This didn’t always look inevitable — despite Sinn Féin’s decades-old alliance with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Until recently, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald had been pushing a more nuanced line on Gaza, reflecting Sinn Féin’s ambitions of gaining power in the Republic of Ireland for the first time ever as it continues to grow from its Northern Ireland base.Keen to keep punching above their weight on the world stage, Sinn Féin leaders have been reluctant to alienate Israel’s key backers in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration and on Capitol Hill. Those links with Washington have been carefully cultivated since the 1990s, when U.S. support helped Sinn Féin escape its status as a political pariah bogged down by Irish Republican Army (IRA) bl...

Viktor Orbán brings culture war to Brussels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

BRUSSELS — Viktor Orbán is turning into the Rupert Murdoch of Brussels, bringing his own version of “fair and balanced” journalism into the bubble.Known for attacking civil society and suppressing the media in Hungary, Orbán is backing journalists and think tankers to spread his message in the EU capital. Ahead of the Hungarian Council presidency next year, and with a heavy assist from Brexit campaign alumni, they’re waging the war against wokism, highlighting malfeasance, and bringing an unabashedly conservative, often Euroskeptic take to the Brussels gab circuit.Much like Fox News sought to counter the mainstream media in the United States, Orbán’s allies aim to create an alternative echo chamber.“Very often you only hear one reading of things, one analysis, and the mainstream likes to hear itself,” said Balázs Hidvéghi, Orbán’s top lieutenant in the Fidesz party in the European Parliament.Following last year’s launch of a Brussels satellite of the Budapest think tank MCC, Or...

Judgment day for Rishi Sunak as Supreme Court rules on Rwanda deportation plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

LONDON — The stakes couldn’t be higher for Rishi Sunak on Wednesday as the Supreme Court rules on whether the British government’s controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda can go ahead.The judgment, which will be handed down at around 10:30 a.m. U.K. time, will have major ramifications for a prime minister who has promised to use the policy to get tough on migration as an election looms. It assumes even greater significance in a week when critics to the right of Sunak’s own governing Conservative Party have accused him of being a soft touch.Tuesday’s ruling comes after fiery debate, a lengthy legal battle involving the European Court of Human Rights, and now months of deliberation by the U.K.’s final court of appeal. Here’s POLITICO’s guide to the fight.What is the UK government trying to do?There’s a slogan for that: “Stop the boats.” Reducing migration is one of Rishi Sunak’s five flagship pledges on which he...

Spain’s Sánchez poised to remain in power — but at what cost?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

MADRID — Pedro Sánchez has achieved what many thought impossible.When he called a snap election after suffering heavy losses in May’s regional and local votes, nearly everyone wrote the Spanish prime minister off as a political cadaver.But on Wednesday, Sánchez will propose that Spain’s parliament let him form a new government, a bid that a majority of lawmakers is expected to support.While the Socialist leader’s electoral gamble seems about to pay off, it comes at a heavy price. To have his government confirmed by the fractured parliament, Sánchez needed to secure the support of the Catalan separatist Junts group. In exchange for the group’s backing, his Socialist Party this week filed a controversial bill to grant amnesty to those involved in the Catalan separatist movement over the past decade.“Amnesties in Spain have historically been applied after episodes of great violence or when there is a regime change, as happened when the last one was passed in 1977,” sa...

EXCLUSIVE: 7NEWS/Emerson College poll shows Nikki Haley emerge as challenger to Trump in NH Republican primary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:41 GMT

Republican primary voters in the Granite State are shaking things up. Our exclusive 7NEWS/Emerson College poll shows 49% of Republican voters in New Hampshire still favor former President Donald Trump. But former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has surged to second with 18%. She is followed by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with 9%. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped to 7% and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is polling at 5%. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson got less than 1%. “For the last year, we’ve been looking at a Ron DeSantis – Donald Trump race and now it looks like Nikki Haley is the alternative instead of Ron DeSantis at this point,” said 7NEWS/Emerson College pollster Spencer Kimball.“About a year ago, Ron DeSantis was about 17%,” Kimball said. Now he’s down to 7%. And when we look at a candidate like Nikki Haley, since August she’s gone from 4% up to 18%.”New Hampshire voters, in general, als...