MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota senior vice president and general manager Thad Levine is leaving the Twins after eight seasons with the club, the team said Friday.
The Twins' statement said he was leaving to “pursue new challenges and opportunities.”
The Twins made the playoffs four times in Levine's tenure and were the defending American League Central champions. Minnesota was in postseason position much of this year before going 6-18 down the stretch to fall from contention.
Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said Levine created a strong team culture focused on excellence and collaboration that will continue.
“While we will miss his leadership, we are equally excited to see the next chapter of the journey unfold,” Falvey said in a statement. “We wish him nothing but success.”
Levine, in a statement, thanked Twins' management for his tenure there and said the time was right for him to pursue another challenge.
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FILE - Minnesota Twins general manager Thad Levine answers a question during a baseball news conference, Oct.2, 2018, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany on Saturday was still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.
Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has been living in Germany for two decades. He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening, killing at least five people and wounding about 200 others.
Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had yet to come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.
Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.
He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”
He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.
Neumann, the terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar."
A person stands by flowers and candles placed outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
