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Billionaire with ‘more wine than could be drunk in a lifetime’ to sell 25,000 bottles worth $50M

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

(CNN) — Taiwanese billionaire Pierre Chen is auctioning off 25,000 bottles of wine from his vast collection, with some of the rarest items expected to fetch as much as $190,000 each.Predicted to sell for up to $50 million, they form the largest and most expensive wine collection ever to be offered at auction, said Sotheby’s, which is organizing the five-part sale.Chen’s wine knowledge puts him in a “league of his own,” said George Lacey, Head of Sotheby’s Wine for Asia in a statement, describing the collection as “staggering both in volume and range.” The auction house said the billionaire, who is founder and chair of electronics giant Yageo Corporation, had assembled the bottles over four decades.“There is currently more wine in his cellars than any one individual could ever hope to drink in a lifetime, but wine is for drinking,” said Lacey.While the auction house would not confirm the exact size of Chen’s collection, a spokesperson told CNN via email&...

Authorities dispatched to Britney Spears’ home over video showing singer dancing with knives

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

(CNN) — Officials were called to the southern California home of Britney Spears on Wednesday to conduct a wellness check after the singer posted a video on social media depicting her dancing with knives.Someone close to Spears called authorities “genuinely concerned about her wellbeing,” Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Captain Dean Worthy told CNN.“Some would argue this is her expressing her creative freedom, and some might argue this is dangerous and there’s a safety issue or mental health concern,” said Worthy, but authorities opted to check on the singer’s well-being due to the initial call from someone close to Spears.CNN has reached out to a representative for Spears for comment.The initial call from the Spears associate, whom authorities are not naming, was to the Los Angeles Police Department mental health assessment team, which then referred the call to the sheriff’s office, said Worthy.The sheriff’s office dispatched a sergeant who “has had multiple...

Unforgettable moment: Brooks Robinson’s Oct. 14, 1970, World Series home run shook Memorial Stadium | GUEST COMMENTARY

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

It is the rarest of moments that can produce a collective lump in the throats of an entire city, but that is what we in Baltimore experienced en masse on a bright fall day in 1970.On that Oct. 14, Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, with the open end of its horseshoe shape offering a view of trees full of autumn color, was the site of World Series Game Four. An ovation began building throughout the packed stands as Brooks Robinson approached the plate to lead off the bottom of the second inning. The Orioles led the Cincinnati Reds three games to none, principally because the player, whom local fans referred to simply as Brooks, had turned the series into a personal showcase like few players before or since, having punctuated a sterling offensive performance with some of the most remarkable defensive plays the Fall Classic had ever witnessed.The continuing applause was a sincere and grateful acknowledgement of a player who had put his athletic greatness, something that locals had co...

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, an advocate for liberal priorities, dies at age 90

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO and MICHAEL BALSAMO (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a centrist Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 1992 in the “Year of the Woman” and broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics, has died. She was 90.Feinstein died on Thursday night at her home in Washington, D.C., her office confirmed on Friday.President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, called Feinstein “a pioneering American,” a “true trailblazer” and a “cherished friend” for him and first lady Jill Biden.“Dianne made her mark on everything from national security to the environment to protecting civil liberties,” Biden said in a statement. “She’s made history in so many ways, and our country will benefit from her legacy for generations.”Feinstein, the oldest sitting U.S. senator, was a passionate a...

Russians allowed to compete as neutral athletes at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Russians will be allowed to compete as neutral athletes at next year’s Paralympics in Paris after avoiding a full ban from the event following the invasion of Ukraine.The International Paralympic Committee voted 74-65 at an assembly in Bahrain on Friday against suspending Russia’s membership entirely — which would have meant a full ban from the Paralympics — but then voted 90-65 in favor of “partially” suspending the country through 2025.The IPC said Russia’s national Paralympic committee was being partially suspended because of “breaches of its constitutional membership obligations.”Similar votes were also planned later Friday for Russia ally Belarus.Russians “will be eligible to participate in an individual and neutral capacity” at the Paralympics and other IPC-governed sports events, the IPC said. It didn’t spell out the exact criteria, but said the athletes would compete as individuals, with no team entries allowed.Any Russian...

Scadding Court’s unique community-driven programs support newcomer entrepreneurs in Alexandra Park

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

Starting fresh in a new city — let alone a new country — can be overwhelming.But in the downtown west-end Toronto neighbourhood of Alexandra Park, a local community centre is helping newcomers get settled by putting them on the path to entrepreneurial success.At Scadding Court Community Centre, independent businesses run by local women and immigrant entrepreneurs are thriving.Executive director Herman Ellis Jr. said Scadding’s success is due to its unique structure. It’s one of only 10 centres that are part of the City of Toronto’s Association of Community Centres (AOCCs).AOCCs have full autonomy to develop programming by their community, for their community.“In terms of AOCCs, as a group, we work together to ensure that our community centres behave in a way where it’s conducive to our community and welcoming to our community, and that our community continues to guide and provide the thrust for that particular organization,” Ellis Jr. explained.On the l...

Mexico’s president slams US aid for Ukraine and sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president on Friday slammed U.S. aid for Ukraine and economic sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba and other nations. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a broad criticism of U.S. foreign policy, saying U.S. economic sanctions were forcing people to emigrate from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Experts say economic mismanagement and political repression are largely to blame for the tide of migrants leaving those countries. López Obrador said the United States should spend some of the money sent to Ukraine on economic development in Latin America. “They (the U.S.) don’t do anything,” he said. “It’s more, a lot more, what they authorize for the war in Ukraine than what they give to help with poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.”He called for a U.S. program “to remove blockades and stop harassing independent and free countries, an integrated plan for cooperation so the Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Ecuadorans, Guatemalans and Hondur...

Polish democracy champion Lech Walesa turns 80 and comments on his country’s upcoming election

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Former Polish President Lech Walesa said as turned 80 on Friday that he is supporting opposition leader Donald Tusk’s effort to oust Poland’s conservative government in the country’s parliamentary election next month.Walesa, whose Solidarity movement toppled communist rule in Poland in 1989, said the situation under the nationalist government of the Law and Justice party is “worse than bad, and the only way of rescue is in removing them from power.”The government, which came to power in 2015. has clashed with the European Union over upholding the rule of law and democratic values, and its policies on social issues have exposed sharp divisions domestically. Walesa personally knows both Tusk, 66, a former Polish prime minister who leads the opposition Civic Coalition, and Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, 74, served as head of Walesa’s presidential office in 1990-91 and was fired from the job. Walesa served as Poland’s presi...

Powerball jackpot nears $1 billion after long drought of winners

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Another Powerball drawing Saturday night, another chance at a jackpot that is inching toward $1 billion.The estimated $925 million prize is the world’s ninth-largest lottery jackpot, behind earlier Powerball and Mega Millions prizes that all topped $1 billion.The prize has grown so large because there have been 30 consecutive drawings without a big winner, dating to July 19. That streak without a jackpot winner is due to the game’s long odds, 1 in 292.2 million, that are designed to make winning rare so grand prizes can grow large.The $925 million prize is for a sole winner who chooses an annuity, with annual payments over 30 years. Winners almost always take the cash option, which for Saturday’s drawing would be an estimated $432.4 million.Federal taxes will eat into those winnings, and some states also tax big lottery prizes.Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.The Associate...

Storm floods New York City area, pouring into subways and swamping streets in rush-hour mess

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:12:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A potent rush-hour rainstorm swamped the New York metropolitan area on Friday, shutting down swaths of the city’s subway system, flooding streets and highways, and cutting off access to at least one terminal at LaGuardia Airport. Up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain fell in some areas overnight, and as much as 7 inches (18 centimeters) more was expected throughout the day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.“This is a dangerous, life-threatening storm,” Hochul said in an interview with TV station NY1. “Count on this for the next 20 hours.” Photos and video posted on social media showed water pouring into subway stations and basements, and reaching the top of cars’ wheels in parts of Brooklyn and elsewhere.The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs subway and commuter rail lines, urged residents of the nation’s most populous city to stay home if they could. Virtually every subway line was at least partly suspended, rerouted or ...