
Russia blows past another off ramp in the Ukraine crisis
CNN
For those watching the Ukraine crisis, February 20 was supposed to be a date to watch.
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics ended on Sunday, and some observers worried the closing ceremony might be a convenient moment for Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch military action. After all, history does rhyme: Russia escalated a brief conflict with Georgia in 2008 during the Beijing Summer Olympics, and Russia began its slow-rolling annexation of Crimea at the tail end of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
But Sunday also offered Russia a potential opening for de-escalation. After all, massive joint Russian military exercises in Belarus were slated to end on February 20, and the Kremlin had suggested Russian troops would go home after they finished, without giving concrete dates. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei even said "not a single" Russian solider or piece of Russian military equipment will remain in Belarus once the drills ended.

Jeffrey Epstein survivors are slamming the Justice Department’s partial release of the Epstein files that began last Friday, contending that contrary to what is mandated by law, the department’s disclosures so far have been incomplete and improperly redacted — and challenging for the survivors to navigate as they search for information about their own cases.

The Providence mayor wants the Reddit tipster to get a $50,000 FBI reward. It might not be so simple
His detailed tip helped lead investigators to the gunman behind the deadly Brown University shooting – but whether the tipster known only as “John” will ever receive the $50,000 reward offered by the FBI is still an open question.











