Author: chicagoinquirer

ZURICH  — FIFA suspended Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales from office on Saturday while its disciplinary committee investigates his conduct at the Women’s World Cup final, which included kissing a player without her consent. FIFA said Rubiales is removed from soccer duties for 90 days “pending the disciplinary proceedings opened” against him Thursday. Rubiales refused to resign from his soccer presidency Friday at an emergency meeting where he had been expected to leave under intense pressure from the Spanish government, women players plus soccer clubs and officials.

by Agency reports The Wagner Group’s presence extends from the ancient battlegrounds of Syria to the deserts of sub-Saharan Africa, projecting the Kremlin’s global influence with mercenaries accused of using brutal force and profiting on mineral riches they seized. But that was under Yevgeny Prigozhin, who in what could have been his final video released earlier this week appeared in military fatigues and held an assault rifle from an unidentified dry and dusty plain as he boasted that Wagner is “making Russia even greater on all continents and Africa even more free.” On Wednesday, a private jet carrying Prigozhin and…

by Meg Kinnard COLUMBIA, S.C.  — The first Republican presidential debate provided an opportunity for candidates to make their cases directly to a national audience, and some of that attention is translating into fundraising boosts. Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has taken in $450,000 since Wednesday night’s debate, with an average donation of $38, campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The Associated Press on Thursday. Ramaswamy, a political newcomer who occupied center stage in the absence of current GOP front-runner Donald Trump, scored several memorable moments during the debate, criticizing some rivals as “super PAC puppets” who were using “ready-made, preprepared slogans”…

by Emma Burrows and Aamer Madgani WASHINGTON  — A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the plane crash presumed to have killed a mercenary leader who was eulogized Thursday by Vladimir Putin, even as suspicions grew that the Russian president was the architect of the assassination. One of the U.S. and Western officials who described the initial assessment said it determined that Yevgeny Prigozhin was “very likely” targeted and that the explosion falls in line with Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics.” The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they…

by Ashok Sharma and Krutika Pathi NEW DELHI  — India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole on Wednesday — a historic voyage to uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water, and a technological triumph for the world’s most populous nation. After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India now joins the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve this milestone. A lander with a rover inside touched down on the lunar surface at 6:04 p.m. local time,…

by Jay Cohen CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox fired executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn on Tuesday, cutting ties with their baseball leadership amid another disappointing season. Williams, who originally joined the White Sox front office in 1992 as a scout, was in his 11th season as executive vice president after serving as the club’s general manager for 12 years. He was one of baseball’s most prominent Black executives. Hahn joined the organization in 2000 and had been the GM since October 2012. Williams and Hahn helped Chicago to the 2005 World Series title. The…

by Kate Brumback ATLANTA  — Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lawyer and confidant, turned himself in at a jail in Atlanta on Wednesday on charges related to efforts to overturn then-President Trump’s lossin the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The former New York mayor, was indicted last week along with Trump and 17 others. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said they participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to subvert the will of the voters after the Republican president lost to Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020. Bond for Giuliani, who was released after booking like the other defendants, was set at…

by Gary Fields WASHINGTON  — The last part of the speech took less time to deliver than it takes to boil an egg, but “I Have A Dream” is one of American history’s most famous orations and most inspiring. On Aug. 28, 1963, from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. began by speaking of poverty, segregation and discrimination and how the United States had reneged on its promise of equality for Black Americans. If anyone remembers that dystopian beginning, they don’t talk about it. What is etched into people’s memory is the pastoral flourish that marked the last five minutes and…

by Sasha Litvinova TALLINN, Estonia  — Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief armed rebellion against the Russian military earlier this year, was presumed dead Wednesday after a plane crash north of Moscow that killed all 10 people on board. Prigozhin was on the plane, according to Russia’s civil aviation agency, which cited the airline. The crash immediately raised suspicions since the fate of the founder of the Wagner private military company has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted the mutiny. At the time, President Vladimir Putin denounced the rebellion as “treason” and a “stab in the back” and…

by Bill Barrow ATLANTA — Donald Trump’s decision to skip the first Republican debate may hurt television ratings and put more pressure on the eight contenders who will be on stage. But plenty of rank-and-file conservatives said they were eager to see their options without the former president dominating the conversation. “People are just so focused on the circus,” said Melissa Watford, a 53-year-old Republican from suburban Atlanta. “He’s just a distraction. Distraction, distraction, distraction.” Watford’s husband, Jack, said he would still consider supporting Trump if he wins the nomination, but he described the former president as “clickbait” and expressed relief that he is yielding…