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EU releasing 5 billion euros to Poland by year’s end as new government works to restore rule of law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union will by year’s end transfer to Poland the first 5 billion euros in funding that was frozen over democratic backsliding under the previous government, the new Polish prime minister and the European Commission president said Friday.The money is part of a larger tranche that was held up due to laws passed by the previous national conservative government that eroded the independence of judges — something that the EU deemed to be a violation of the democratic separation of powers.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) was arriving symbolically in time for Christmas. The money is aimed at helping EU nations recover from the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, and reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels.“This is not just a gift. This is serious money earmarked for our energy sovereignty and we will try to spend this money very quickly and wisely,” he said at a news conference...

Fighting reported to be continuing in northern Myanmar despite China saying it arranged a cease-fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Reports from Myanmar said there was continuing fighting Friday in the northeast of the country between the military government and an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups, even after China announced that the two sides had reached agreement on a cease-fire at meetings it had brokered.Clashes have been raging in the northern part of Myanmar’s Shan state since Oct. 27, when the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, branding themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, launched a coordinated offensive.MeKong News, an online news site reporting from Shan state, said on its Facebook page that the army was carrying out airstrikes and firing heavy weapons Friday morning in the area around 105-Mile Trade Zone in Muse, a major city that is a border crossing point with China.The report said that according to town residents, the Three Brotherhood Alliance forces had occupied a strategic hill near the trade zone on Th...

Prince Harry wins phone hacking lawsuit against British tabloid publisher, awarded 140,000 pounds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry won his phone hacking lawsuit Friday against the publisher of the Daily Mirror and was awarded over 140,000 pounds ($180,000) in the first of his several lawsuits against British tabloids to go to trial.Justice Timothy Fancourt in the High Court found phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at Mirror Group Newspapers over many years and private investigators “were an integral part of the system” to gather information unlawfully. He said executives at the papers were aware of the practice and covered it up. Fancourt said he awarded the Duke of Sussex damages for 15 of the 33 newspaper articles in question at trial that were the result of unlawful information gathering and resulted in the misuse of Harry’s private information.“Today is a great day for truth, as well as accountability,” Harry said in a statement read by his lawyer outside court.Fancourt awarded the duke damages for the distress he suffered and a further sum for aggravated damages to...

Think there are fewer members of the opposite sex where you live? New census data may confirm it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

Anyone who has suspected that there are more women than men where they live, or vice versa, will find fodder for their suspicions in new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.Whether it refutes or confirms their suspicions likely depends on where they live.Women outnumber men in the largest urban counties east of the Mississippi River, along the Eastern Seaboard and in the Deep South, while the West skews male, according to data released last week from the 2022 American Community Survey 5-year estimates, the most comprehensive source of data on American life. Those numbers were also backed up by age and sex figures from the 2020 census released earlier this year.There are limitations to what can be concluded from the data. Still, Nancy Averbach, 57, doesn't find the numbers surprising. She lost her husband eight years ago, and has since found it hard to meet a compatible partner.Across the U.S. in 2022, the most recent year that figures are available, there were 96.6 adult men for every ...

2 injured in crash on entrance ramp caused by wrong-way driver

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Two people were injured in a crash caused by a wrong-way driver on an entrance ramp Friday morning. The crash happened on the I-35 southbound ramp to westbound Ben White Boulevard, according to Austin Travis County EMS. The Austin Fire Department responded to the crash around 3:50 a.m.ATCEMS said medics transported two adults; one of them was declared a trauma alert with serious, potentially life-threatening injuries, and the other had non-life-threatening injuries. Austin Police watch command said the crash involved a wrong-way driver on the entrance ramp.

Volokh, Creeley: The trouble with Congress or college presidents policing free speech on campuses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

Last Tuesday, the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology testified at a congressional hearing on “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.”At the hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., asked University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill: “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct, yes or no?” Stefanik was referring, among other things, to phrases such as “There’s only one solution: Intifada revolution,” which suggest mass violence against Jews in Israel.Magill’s reply — that the answer was “context-dependent” — has prompted rare bipartisan unity and a chorus of condemnation. Indeed, it led Magill to later backtrack, then to call for reevaluating university policy to restrict more speech, and finally to resign.Antisemitism on campus is a real problem, and in this fraught moment, many Jew...

Ask Amy: Illness interferes with holiday plans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

Dear Amy: Last year we had my husband’s daughter, her husband and their four children come and stay with us for a couple of weeks around Christmas.When they arrived, the husband was clearly sick: coughing, sneezing, etc.Consequently, I became sick (I have severe COPD) and had to miss our annual Christmas Eve celebration as a result.Here’s my question: Can I ask my daughter-in-law not to come here when anyone in the family is sick?I feel this should be common sense, but apparently it is not.I don’t want to offend anyone, but when my health is compromised, I feel the added stress.My husband and I are not young.They are currently planning their trip, and I am worried.Can you help?— WorriedDear Worried: You should not need my help to inspire you to take care of your own health, but when it comes to extended family members, it is vital to clarify your needs and boundaries, because their understanding and cooperation are essential.Related ArticlesAsk Amy | Ask Amy: Financ...

Extra-EU personal transfers reach €43.5 billion in 2022

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

In 2022, flows of money sent by EU residents to non-EU countries, referred to as personal transfers, amounted to €43.5 billion (bn), an increase of 14% compared with €38.2 bn in 2021. Inflows to the EU totalled €13.5 bn, an increase of 10% compared with €12.4 bn in 2021. Personal transfers consist of flows of money sent by migrants to households of their country of origin.Recently, a substantial growth of extra-EU outflows was observed, especially in the last five years. From 2018, outflows have surged by 41%, while inflows have demonstrated a more modest growth pattern with an increase of just 15%. As a result, there has been a widening negative balance for the EU vis-à-vis non-EU countries, reaching €30.0 bn in 2022. This information comes from data on personal transfers and compensation of employees published by Eurostat. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.Source dataset: bop_rem6LinkWeight of net personal transfers of ...

Review: Chalamet waltzes through ‘Wonka,’ but thrill is missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

By Jake Coyle | Associated PressThe original 1971 “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” may have been a delicious dream, lined with trees of gumballs and fields of lollipops. But never has there been a more cautionary tale about the danger of too much of a good thing.Magical as that Roald Dahl-scripted film was, it remains lodged in our imaginations less for its sugary goodness than the way darkness, satire and even mania ebb around its edges — flowing down that nightmarish watery tunnel and pooling somewhere in the back of Gene Wilder’s eyes. Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe may bubble with laughter all the way up the ceiling, but there’s a spinning metal blade up there.“Wonka,” the latest attempt to revisit Dahl’s masterwork, bears no such danger. It’s going more for the taste of an Everlasting Gobstopper — an ingenious confection that piles flavor on top of flavor. Tasty though that can be, you miss the daring of Dahl in the more wa...

Word Game: Dec. 15, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:12:16 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — ALPHABET (ALPHABET: AL-fuh-bet: A set of letters with which languages are written.)Average mark 34 wordsTime limit 45 minutesCan you find 42 or more words in ALPHABET? The list will be published tomorrow.YESTERDAY’S WORD — HIRSUTE heir heist hers hest hire hurt rest rise rite ruse rush rust ruth shier shire shirt shut shute sire site stir suer suet suit suite sure user usher their this thus tier tire true etuiTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.Contact Word Game creator...