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How Ukraine lost its battle for a NATO membership commitment

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

VILNIUS — Ukraine wanted this year’s NATO summit to end with a clear declaration that it will become an alliance member once the war ends, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leaving Lithuania without that ultimate prize.For weeks, Ukrainian officials pushed their counterparts in the United States and Europe to draft language that offered a timeline and clear path toward membership. The communiqué allies released Tuesday fell short of that, stating instead that “we will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine when allies agree and conditions are met.”That line proved a deep disappointment for Kyiv, which raged behind the scenes as the U.S. and Germany resisted pressure to offer Ukraine concrete pledges. It was particularly upset at the vague reference to conditions, seeing it as a potential arbitrary roadblock to membership.Ukraine’s leadership reached out to Washington and Berlin to make its displeasure felt, ending in Zelenskyy firing off an irritated tweet on Tuesday...

How do you buy a home with little or no credit? Turn rent payments into credit score points

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

Lizzie Kane | Chicago Tribune (TNS)Zhiqiang Su, 50, and Yuping Liang, 50, moved from China to Chicago in 2020, seeking a life with better education opportunities for their now 21-year-old daughter and more freedom.They have been renters since they immigrated, living in a single-family, two-bedroom home in Bridgeport for $1,200 a month, never having missed or been late on a payment.But, Su said, they want a place to call their own to help them achieve their American Dream.“I want to purchase a house because it will allow me to have a more stable life,” Su said in Cantonese as Ivan Man and Sharon Wong, two members of his real estate team, translated.Being immigrants, however, adds extra layers of difficulty to the already challenging housing market.The couple works hard to make a living: Su works 10-hour days, six days a week making sushi in a restaurant, and his wife does the same while working a part-time job as a home care aide. But their real estate team expects them to run into c...

Cape Cod beaches close to swimming after several shark sightings: ‘Lots of activity today’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

The summer new normal along the Cape is here for the season.Beaches were closed to swimming on Wednesday as several great white sharks were spotted close to shore.The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app was blowing up with shark alerts along the Outer Cape.“!! SHARK ALERT !! White shark sighting Longnook beach (Truro), swimming closed:11:15 am to 12:15 pm,” tweeted the account MA Sharks, which is run by shark expert John Chisholm.“Lots of activity today so get the @sharktivity app to stay up to date. #SharkSmart,” added Chisholm, who confirms sharks sightings for the Sharktivity app.A white shark sighting at Head of the Meadow and Coast Guard Beach in Truro shut down swimming there from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.Shark sightings were also reported near Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet.“!! SHARK ALERT !! White shark north of Newcomb Hollow,” Chisholm tweeted. “If you haven’t downloaded the @sharktivity app yet, now wo...

How health care may be affected by the high court’s affirmative action ruling

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

Michelle Andrews | (TNS) KFF Health NewsDoctors are concerned that a Supreme Court ruling issued June 29 will have far-reaching effects not only on the diversity of doctors and other care providers in training but ultimately also on patient care.The decision found it is unconstitutional for colleges and universities to use race as a factor in student admissions, which will affect enrollment decisions at public and private educational institutions, including medical schools.Like other academic institutions, medical schools have long factored race into admission decisions. The schools operated under the principle — and there is considerable evidence they are correct — that a more diverse workforce of doctors does a better job of treating diverse patients.The “decision demonstrates a lack of understanding of the critical benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in educational settings and a failure to recognize the urgent need to address health inequities,” read a statement from David S...

Steve Bannon ordered to pay nearly $500K in unpaid legal bills

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Bannon must pay nearly $500,000 in outstanding legal fees to his former attorneys, a New York judge ruled.Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump and far-right strategist, was sued earlier this year for allegedly stiffing the Manhattan law firm that has defended him against a cascade of legal troubles in recent years.In her six-page order released this week, Judge Arlene Bluth found that Bannon paid just $375,000 of more than $850,000 in legal fees he owed to Davidoff, Hutcher & Citron LLP.He was ordered to pay the balance of $480,487, along with 1% interest and “reasonable legal fees.”In a statement, Bannon’s current attorney, Harlan Protass, said his client plans to appeal the “clearly wrong” decision.Jeffrey Citron, a managing partner at Davidoff, Hutcher & Citron, said it was unfortunate that Bannon forced the firm to take legal action despite receiving “excellent representation.”“The firm intends to pursue every opportunity to coll...

Reenactment of Parkland school massacre on campus will be allowed as part of lawsuit against deputy

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The 2018 Parkland high school massacre will be reenacted twice with the firing of about 140 blanks on campus as part of families’ lawsuits against the former sheriff’s deputy they accuse of failing to stop the gunman, a judge ruled Wednesday. Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips granted the motion from attorney David Brill, who says his video recorded reenactment will prove former Broward Deputy Scot Peterson knew the shooter was firing inside a three-story classroom building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, but chose not to intercede. Phillips also granted the request by Peterson’s attorney, Michael Piper, who questioned the validity of such reenactments but said his side would also now need to conduct one. Peterson, the school’s on-campus deputy, was acquitted last month of criminal charges accusing him of inaction, but the civil case against him, the Broward Sheriff’s Office and others is governed by...

Unaccompanied migrant girl from Guatemala dies in US custody from underlying disease, officials say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

An unaccompanied 15-year-old migrant girl from Guatemala died on Monday from an underlying disease while in federal custody, according to officials.This marks the fourth death of a child in U.S. government custody this year. The girl had been hospitalized at El Paso Children’s Hospital for a significant, pre-existing illness when she was referred from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Tuesday.The girl was provided medical treatment “according to the mother’s wishes and aligned with the recommendations of the hospital’s health care provider team,” the statement said.The girl’s condition deteriorated Friday, and she died Monday as a result of multi-organ failure due to an underlying disease, officials said. Officials said her mother and brother were with her when she died and in the days leading up to her death.Officials did not release the girl’s name ...

3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt interest than education, UN says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Some 3.3 billion people – almost half of humanity – now live in countries that spend more money paying interest on their debts than on education or health, according to a new U.N. report released Wednesday.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a press conference launching the report that because this “crushing debt crisis” is concentrated mostly in poor developing countries, it is “not judged to pose a systemic risk to the global financial system.”“This is a mirage,” the U.N. chief warned. “3.3 billion people is more than a systemic risk, it is a systemic failure.”Guterres said financial markets may seem not to be suffering yet — but billions of people are and the levels of public debt “are staggering and surging.”“In 2022, global public debt reached a record $92 trillion and developing countries shoulder a disproportionate amount,” he said. According to the report, the number of countries facing high debt levels has increased sharply from 22 nations in ...

Boat found off Senegal’s coast adds to mystery over migrant vessels reported missing

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A boat carrying migrants was found in distress off the coast of Senegal, and more than 90 passengers remained missing after 50 were rescued and seven were discovered dead, a fishermen’s association reported Wednesday. The boat was located in the Atlantic Ocean last Friday off the coast of the fishing city of Saint-Louis, which is on northern Senegal’s border with Mauritania, according to Abdou Ndiaga Beye, the vice secretary of the Local Artisanal Fishing Council. The dead people were all males, and police questioned the survivors rescued by Senegal’s coast guard, who said the boat originally had carried 148 people, Beye told The Associated Press.It was unclear if the vessel was one of three boats carrying a total of 300 people that Spanish aid group Walking Borders said went missing in late June after departing Senegal. However, some of the survivors were from the two towns where the three boats started their journeys. The fishing council off...

Prosecutors won’t seek death penalty against men charged in Whitey Bulger’s prison killing

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 05:48:48 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors will not pursue the death penalty against two men charged with the prison killing of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, according to court papers filed Wednesday. Prosecutors said in a court filing that in the event Fotios “Freddy” Geas, a former Mafia hitman, and Paul J. DeCologero, a Massachusetts gangster, are convicted of murder in Bulger’s killing, they will not seek a death sentence. Geas also faced a possible death sentence if found guilty of an additional charge of murder by a federal prisoner serving a life sentence. But prosecutors said they would not seek it in the event he is convicted of that charge either. Geas and DeCologero were charged last August in the 2018 slaying of Bulger, who who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ’80s and served as an FBI informant who ratted on his gang’s main rival. Bulger was killed just hours after he was transferred to a prison in West Virginia from another lockup in...