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High anxiety over Ukraine war sets in at EU-LatAm summit that was supposed to be a love-in

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — High anxiety set in on the closing day of a summit between European Union and Latin American leaders that was supposed to be a love-in but turned into a diplomatic fracas over the war in Ukraine. Ambassadors worked through much of the night and into Tuesday morning to find even the blandest text to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, with talks hung up over the reservations of some Central and South American nations like Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. “It would be a shame that we are not able to to say that there is Russian aggression in Ukraine. It’s a fact. And I’m not here to rewrite history,” an exasperated Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said. The long-anticipated summit, eight years after the previous one, descended into a standoff over who would blink first over an issue that a vast majority of the 60 nations attending had already agreed on in several votes at the United Nations and other international institutions.While the 27-nation EU wanted...

Israeli protesters block highways in ‘day of disruption’ against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli protesters blocked highways and gathered outside Tel Aviv’s stock exchange and military headquarters on Tuesday in the latest countrywide demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul. The latest “day of disruption” came as longtime allies of the prime minister pushed a contentious piece of legislation through a parliamentary committee ahead of a vote expected next week. Additional protests are planned throughout the day.Demonstrators, many of them military reservists, created human chains and blocked one of the entrances to the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv. Outside the Tel Aviv stock exchange, demonstrators ignited smoke bombs, drummed and chanted, and held up signs reading “save our startup nation” and “dictatorship will kill the economy.” Others demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Histadrut, Israel’s largest labor union, demanding the organization ca...

Capelin feed Newfoundland’s puffins and whales, and some worry they’re in trouble

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Marine scientists and conservationists are calling on officials to pause Newfoundland and Labrador’s commercial capelin fishery.The tiny shimmering fish are an important staple in the diets of the whales and puffins that dazzle tourists and residents each summer off the province’s coastlines. Leaving the struggling capelin stock alone to rebuild would only serve the province’s hallmark ocean ecosystem, said marine behavioural ecologist Bill Montevecchi, who is a professor at Memorial University in St. John’s.“From an ecosystem point of view, it’s going to feed the seabirds, it’s going to feed the seals, it’s going to feed the whales,” he said in a recent interview. “To me, leaving capelin in the ocean is really an investment.”Capelin are small forage fish from the smelt family; they look like brighter sardines, roughly the length of an adult hand. They arrive in Newfoundland and Labrador’...

2 dead after crash between semi and vehicle on SH 71

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

GARFIELD, Texas (KXAN) – The Department of Public Safety is investigating a crash between a semi-truck and a vehicle that killed two people on State Highway 71 late Monday night. DPS said westbound lanes of 71 were shut down and did not give a time when the lanes would reopen. According to Austin-Travis County EMS, the crash happened around 11 p.m. in the westbound lanes of 71 near Albert Brown Drive in Garfield in Eastern Travis County.ATCEMS said paramedics, Travis County Fire Rescue and the Austin Fire Department responded to the crash. A total of 3 patients were involved, according to ATCEMS. It said 2 adults died at the scene after being taken out of their vehicle and paramedics tried to resuscitate them. A third person refused EMS transport, according to ATCEMS.

Will Colorado voters support property tax, TABOR measure? It’s a “toss up,” pollster says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

Colorado voters appear to favor a far-reaching ballot initiative aimed at property taxes, education funding, and TABOR tax refunds but, a recent poll found, they could be swayed.Voters will decide on Proposition HH this November. If it passes, it would change how property tax is calculated — potentially saving property owners hundreds of dollars a year they’d owe otherwise, though overall property taxes would likely still increase — while also upping how much money the state can keep under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, for the next decade.Its other provisions include an expansion of the homestead exemption, and set aside money for the state education fund and a rental assistance program. It would also trigger a one-year flattening of TABOR refunds for the next year, sending lower-income Coloradans about an extra $160 or more by cutting into higher-income Coloradans’ refunds, according to state forecasts.Most voters — nearly two-thirds, ...

Crimea Bridge: Why it is important and what happened to it

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

Traffic on the road-and-rail bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula was stopped early on Monday (17 July) due to an "emergency situation," the Russian-backed head of Crimea's administration, Sergei Aksyonov said.The RBC-Ukraine news agency reported that explosions were heard on the bridge, with Russian military bloggers reporting two strikes. The bridge is a crucial supply route for Russian forces in Ukraine.Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.In October, the bridge was damaged in a powerful blast, with Russian officials saying the explosion was caused by a truck that blew up while crossing the bridge, killing three people.President Vladimir Putin has branded the October blast a "terrorist attack" orchestrated by Ukrainian security services and ordered a wave of retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv afterwards.Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy months later claimed only indir...

Four-bedroom home in Palo Alto sells for $3.2 million

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

3530 Arbutus Avenue – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the 3500 block of Arbutus Avenue in Palo Alto was sold on June 27, 2023 for $3,200,000, or $1,441 per square foot. The house, built in 1957, has an interior space of 2,221 square feet. This single-story house offers a roomy layout with four bedrooms and two baths. The home’s outer structure has built-up roofing. Inside, there is a fireplace. Additionally, the house includes a two-car garage, offering generous space for vehicles and storage requirements. Nestled on a generous 8,034-square-foot lot, the property provides abundant outdoor space including a pool.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:On Lupine Avenue, Palo Alto, in April 2023, a 1,412-square-foot home was sold for $3,100,000, a price per square foot of $2,195. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In April 2023, a 2,548-square-foot home on Arbutus Avenue in Palo Alto sold for $4,150,000, a price per square foot of $1,629. The home h...

Russian missiles damage Odesa port, Ukraine says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

The port of Odesa, one of the main export points for Ukrainian grain on the Black Sea, was hit by a barrage of six Russian Kalibr cruise missiles overnight, Kyiv said Tuesday — hours after Moscow pulled out of a U.N.-backed deal designed to allow Ukraine to continue feeding the world.Ukrainian air defense shot down all the Russian rockets, but “the fragments of the downed missiles and the blast wave damaged port infrastructure and several private homes” in Odesa, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a statement. One person was injured.Twenty-one Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones were shot down by air defense forces over the Odesa region, the statement said. Russia also targeted other areas in Ukraine’s south, including Mykolaiv, where an industrial facility was hit, according to the statement.The barrage came after the strategic Kerch bridge that connects occupied Crimea with Russia was struck in the early hours of Monday morning, with Moscow saying the c...

Boys lacrosse All-Scholastics and all-stars

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

BOYS LACROSSE ALL-SCHOLASTICSJustin Alexander (Franklin)Jimmy Ayers (St. John’s Prep)Andrew Berardi (Nauset)Ryan Blagg (Chelmsford)James Carroll (BC High)Ryan Cho (Acton-Boxboro)Tyler Clayton (Acton-Boxboro)Jayden Consigli (Franklin)Connor Cronin (Marblehead)Jack Curran (Needham)Ryan Daly (Norwell)Luke Davis (Franklin)Brock Desmarais (Dracut)Scott Einarson (Billerica)Gabriel Elkin (Natick)Will Emsing (BC High)Chris Esposito (St. John’s Prep)Tyler Fay (North Andover)Wyatt Glass (Duxbury)Finn Granara (Reading)Robbie Granara (Reading)Will Harrop (Old Colony)Henry Hasselbeck (Xaverian)Joe Hennessey (Hingham)James Kenney (Needham)Patrick Maroney (BC High)Camden Matthews (Acton-Boxboro)Matt Morrow (St. John’s Prep)John Mullen (Norwell)Charlie Packard (Hingham)Jack Pyne (BC High)Tyler Sacchetti (Franklin)Parker Villarin (Duxbury)Ryan Winters (Lincoln-Sudbury) JUSTIN ALEXANDERFRANKLINThe UMass-Lowell commit won 305-of-386 possible faceoffs his senior season, as the Panthers made a run ...

Divisions over the Ukraine war cause a rift at the EU-LatAm summit that was supposed to be a love-in

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:02:29 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — High anxiety set in on the closing day of a summit between European Union and Latin American leaders that was supposed to be a love-in but turned into a diplomatic fracas over the war in Ukraine. Ambassadors worked through much of the night and into Tuesday morning to find even the blandest text to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, with talks hung up over the reservations of some Central and South American nations like Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. “It would be a shame that we are not able to to say that there is Russian aggression in Ukraine. It’s a fact. And I’m not here to rewrite history,” an exasperated Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar pushed it even further. “Sometimes it’s better to have no conclusions at all than to have language that doesn’t mean anything,” he said.The long-anticipated summit, eight years after the previous one, descended into a standoff over who would blink first over an issue ...