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(Kitco News) – The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) shocked international markets and their own financial institutions on Thursday when it announced that China’s yuan would replace the U.S. dollar as the benchmark for all currency trades in the country. The announcement was one of several issued by the CBR during a frantic day of activity that saw the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) suspend trading in dollars and euros following a new series of U.S. sanctions in response to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Numerous law enforcement officers carrying out a task force operation were shot Monday afternoon as they came under fire in Charlotte, North Carolina, police said. Officers from several agencies in the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out the investigation in a suburban neighborhood when “a subject” began firing at them, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

LAKELAND, Fla. — Nine people were shot early this afternoon leaving two in critical condition, police said. Lakeland police responded to the area of Iowa Avenue North and Plum St. around 3:40 p.m. They arrived to find several people shot. Offical estimates indicate nine victims, with two considered to be in critical condition

PASTOR ARTUR PAWLOWSKI ARRESTED AGAIN!!!! Link to video shot by pilot from aircraft at link

NEW PORT RICHEY (FOX 13) - The Pasco County Sheriff's Office, along with the FBI, ATF, and Homeland Security are investigating a "potential terrorist" after deputies were called to the home of a concerned mother.

Load up the video and go to the 06:06:50 mark and right after Obama speaks, a photo of the situation room loads and zooms. It is obviously the photoshopped image with porn in front of Hillary. Yes, they really are that stupid.

Welcome to Navy Live blog coverage of USS Somerset’s commissioning on Saturday at 11 a.m. EST at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. Somerset is named in honor of the courageous passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville, Pa., in Somerset County during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The last of the three U.S. ships named in honor of victims and first responders of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Somerset will join USS New York (LPD 21) and USS Arlington (LPD 24) that are already a part of the Navy’s combat force. Designated LPD-25, Somerset is...

Engine Out, Plane Lands On Havendale Boulevard WINTER HAVEN | A pilot of a home-built airplane was able to land safely on Havendale Boulevard in Winter Haven on Sunday morning after experiencing engine failure. The 22-year-old pilot, Kyle Davis, and his passenger, Joe Surowiec, were not injured in the landing and declined medical treatment, officials said. The landing of the dual-seat SkyRanger airplane shortly after 10 a.m. was caught on video by Surowiec, a professional videographer, and was posted on YouTube.

VIENNA, Austria | The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Thursday that his agency's Syria investigation has been hampered because key satellite images of an alleged nuclear reactor bombed by Israel are inexplicably unavailable on the market. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei did not point any fingers in the "baffling" failure of his agency's efforts to obtain the images of the Syrian site immediately after it was bombed by Israel last year. But diplomats familiar with the IAEA's Syria investigation said agency officials were considering several scenarios, including the possibility that Syria or other nations with an interest in...

LAKELAND | Evangelist Todd Bentley, who led a Pentecostal revival in Lakeland from a modest beginning to near-historic proportions, has filed for separation from his wife, a former spokesperson said Monday, and will not return to the ongoing revival. Lynne Breidenbach, a local woman who had been a media liaison for Bentley during the months-long Florida Outpouring Revival, told The Ledger that Bentley announced to his staff Monday afternoon that he and his wife, Shonnah, had separated. The Bentleys have two daughters and a son and are Canadian citizens. Under Canadian law, separation is a preliminary step in divorce proceedings,...

lakeland shoplifting was first break Gang stole $100 million from stores, sheriff says LAKELAND | A multiagency investigation that began with a single shoplifting incident about seven months ago has revealed an 18-person crime ring that may be responsible for the theft of up to $100 million worth of medicine and health and beauty goods from convenience and grocery stores statewide, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Thursday. The investigation started with two shoplifters at a Publix supermarket on Shepherd Road in Lakeland on June 26, Judd said at a news conference in Lakeland on Thursday afternoon. Rita Maddox and...

ST. CLOUD | An Osceola County teacher was arrested today and charged with having sex with a student, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office. Detectives arrested Sarah Elizabeth Joel and charged her with three counts of lewd and lascivious battery. She is being held at the Osceola County jail without bail. The investigation began early this morning when a teacher at Harmony High School told deputies one of her students was suspected of having sex with his former teacher. The student said he was an eighth grader last year at Narcoossee Community School and Joel was his teacher. They...

POLK CITY - Smoke and fog are causing a surreal scene in Polk County that's forced the closure of a stretch of Interstate 4, and contributed to a massive pile-up. All lanes of I-4 are closed between the Polk Parkway and U.S. 27. That's roughly from Polk City to the Osceola County line. The lingering smoke combined with the morning fog has brought visibility down to near zero, and deputies say at least 50 vehicles are involved in the massive wreck, and 20 of those are semi-trucks. Several vehicles caught fire, though most of the blazes seemed to be out...

Suspect already jailed in lake wales burnings LAKE ALFRED | Leon Davis Jr. – already in jail on charges related to the burning of two women in Lake Wales -- has been charged in the double homicide at a BP station along Interstate 4. The Polk County Sheriff Office’s said this morning that Davis, 30, of Winter Haven, has been charged in the shooting deaths of Pravinkumar Chimanbha Patel, 33, and Dashrath Patel, 52, Dec. 7 while they were changing the gas station's outdoor sign after the store closed about 9 p.m. He already is in jail on charges related...

Police Say Robber Threw Gasoline onto Employees, Who Are in Critical Condition LAKE WALES | Two women were severely burned and a man who came to their aid was shot in the nose during a robbery at a Lake Wales insurance office Thursday afternoon. Police said the robber threw gasoline on the women and set a fire inside the Nationwide Insurance office, injuring Juanita Luciano, 23, who was six months pregnant, and Yvonne Bustamante, 26. They were flown to an Orlando hospital and were in critical condition Thursday night, Lake Wales Police Chief Herbert Gillis said. Leonardo Suarez, a friend...

An odd video raises new questions about the USF students who caused a national security scare. Ahmed Mohamed and Yousef Megahed are already charged with driving explosives across state lines. Now prosecutors say Megahed's brother tried to send a sinister code through a jail-house camera.

A task force followed leads from Polk deputy killer Angilo Freeland.LAKELAND - A multi-agency law enforcement task force has arrested 19 people in Hernando and Orange counties who were connected with deputy killer Angilo Freeland in a "street level" drug trafficking operation, the Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Freeland helped supply cocaine, marijuana and firearms and was the operation's "assassin," killing up to 15 people who might have been informers or owed money, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a Thursday news conference. "He was pure evil in the flesh," Judd said. Freeland killed some people in Latin America, Judd...

TARPON SPRINGS -- Amid the sounds of ancient liturgical chants, the spiritual leader of all Eastern Orthodox Christians presided over the largest Epiphany ceremony in North America on Friday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I continued his historic visit to the Greek Orthodox community in central Florida, commemorating the centennial of the Epiphany ceremony in Tarpon Springs. More than 50,000 people were present for Friday's services, according to a report from Tarpon Springs police. It was the first time an Ecumenical patriarch visited Central Florida. "It is a great honor. It is something exciting," said Roula Roussos, a member of St. Sophia...

TARPON SPRINGS - Dress warm, get there early and be prepared for a massive crowd. That's the advice offered by organizers of the 100th annual Epiphany Day celebration, which promises to draw the biggest crowd ever. His All Holiness Bartholomew, the ecumenical patriarch of all Eastern Orthodox churches, will officiate at prayer services that begin at 7:30 a.m. today inside St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The patriarch will throw the cross into Spring Bayou at what for many is the highlight of Epiphany Day activities when more than 50 teenage boys dive into the 70-degree springwater to retrieve the holy...

CLEARWATER - For its 100th anniversary, the Tarpon Springs annual Epiphany Day celebration is going international. And it's doing so in a big way. His All Holiness Bartholomew, the ecumenical patriarch of all Eastern Orthodox churches, will travel from Istanbul, Turkey. High-ranking Orthodox clergy from around the world are expected to attend, as well as ambassadors to the United States from Greece, Turkey, Russia and Cyprus, representatives of the U.S. Senate and House and, possibly, the White House, said Bill Planes, chairman of the Patriarchal Centennial Visitation Committee. And when 53 teens, most of Greek descent, dive into the waters...