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On board an asparagus cruise with Germany’s leaders after they solve coalition crisis

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

BERLIN — As German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sat in a crisis meeting Tuesday afternoon, 600 guests of the Social Democratic Party were on their way to a boat laden with asparagus during spargelzeit, or asparagus season, worried there would be little to celebrate that night if the meeting did not end well. Meanwhile, Scholz, Liberal Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Green Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck convened to find a resolution to the building energy law, which had led to deep strife in the three-party coalition for weeks.The Greens wanted to ban the installation of gas heating as early as the beginning of 2024 while the Liberals fought for less strict rules. All avenues of discussion had failed to that point, so the three coalition leaders had to settle it once and for all on Tuesday before the summer recess. And they did, to the delight of 150 SPD lawmakers and hundreds of other guests of the Seeheimer Kreis — the influential conservative wing of the SPD parliamentary group — ...

Australia blocks new Russian embassy near parliament

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

Australia has passed a law to prevent Russia from building a second embassy near the Australian parliament in Canberra for security reasons.“The government has received very clear security advice as to the risk presented by a new Russian presence so close to Parliament House,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a press conference Thursday according to AP, citing risks of “potential interference with activity that occurs in this Parliament House.”“We are acting quickly to ensure the lease site does not become a formal diplomatic presence,” Albanese added.The new bill will cancel a lease which had been granted to Russia in 2008 to build a second embassy a stone’s throw away from Capital Hill, where the Australian Parliament is located.Australia has provided around $500 million of assistance to Ukraine — including about $350 million in military aid — since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.In February, the Sydney Morning Heral...

UK lawmakers prepare to release their report on Boris Johnson and ‘partygate’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Lawmakers are expected to release a long-awaited report Thursday on whether former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament over COVID lockdown-flouting parties at his Downing Street office.Parliament’s Privileges Committee has spent 14 months investigating Johnson’s conduct over “partygate,” a series of boozy gatherings in his office that broke strict COVID-19 restrictions that his government had imposed on the country. Johnson, 58, angrily quit as a lawmaker on Friday after the committee informed him in advance that he would be sanctioned. He described the seven-member committee — which included both the ruling Conservatives and opposition party members — as a “kangaroo court,” and accused political opponents of driving him out in a “witch hunt.”On Wednesday, the eve of the report’s publication, Johnson also called for the panel’s most senior Conservative member, Bernard Jenkin, to resign over claims that he had brok...

Palestinians say Israeli forces kill man in occupied West Bank

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man Thursday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest death in a spike of violence that has rocked the region.The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20-year-old Khalil Yahya Anis was shot in the head in the city of Nablus, a frequent flashpoint for confrontations between the Israeli military and Palestinians.The Israeli military said troops operating in the city came under fire and fired back. The troops were demolishing the home of a Palestinian behind the killing of an Israeli soldier last year. Israel demolishes the homes of attackers in what it says is a deterrent against future attacks. Critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment.Israel and the Palestinians have been gripped by months of violence, focused mainly in the West Bank, where some 120 Palestinians have been killed this year.Israel has been staging near-nightly raids in the West Bank in response to a spasm of Palestinian viol...

New Zealand’s economy dips into recession as higher interest rates bite

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s economy has dipped into recession as higher interest rates take their toll, new figures released Thursday show.Gross domestic product fell by 0.1% in the March quarter, following a revised 0.7% fall in the previous quarter, Statistics New Zealand said. That fulfils the nation’s definition of a recession, which is at least two consecutive quarters of negative growth.The slowdown comes after New Zealand’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate 12 straight times to 5.5% as it tries to tame inflation. The rate is at its highest level since 2008, making it more expensive for people to borrow money for homes, cars and other purchases. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has indicated it doesn’t plan to raise the rate any further for now and that its next move will be a cut.The downturn in growth was in line with economists’ expectations, and the currency was little changed, with one New Zealand dollar trading ...

Stock market today: Asia shares mixed after Fed holds rates steady and hints of hikes ahead

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mixed Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. Data from China showed consumer and factory activity weakened in May and record-breaking unemployment among young people in cities rose as an economic rebound following the end of anti-virus controls slowed. Consumers, uneasy about possible job losses, have returned to shops and restaurants less quickly than expected.In Japan, machinery orders for April, released Thursday, showed the first growth in three months. Trade figures for May showed a deficit for 22 months in a row, as import costs rose with the rising energy and other prices. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 erased morning gains to finish little changed, down less than 0.1% at 33,485.49. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 7,175.30. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.4% to 2,608.54. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.6% to 19,723.65, while the Shanghai Composite edged up nearly 0.7% to 3,250.06. In...

NATO debates ways to boost ties with Ukraine as war against Russian invasion drags on

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers gathered Thursday to discuss future relations with Ukraine as Russia’s war on the country thwarts its hopes of joining the world’s biggest security alliance soon.The ministers were also due to take part in a separate meeting at NATO headquarters of the U.S.-led Ukraine Contact Group — the forum Ukraine’s supporters routinely join to try to drum up weapons and ammunition to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion.The NATO meeting comes just under a month before U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts gather for a summit in Lithuania in a symbolic show of support for Ukraine. They are expected to underscore their determination to act should Russian President Vladimir Putin try to expand the war westward.NATO agreed in 2008 that Ukraine would join the organization one day, but did not set a date for it to start membership talks.As the war ground on, Ukraine applied for “accelerated accession” to NATO on Sept. 30. With its Crimean Peninsula anne...

Greece finds no more survivors after sinking of migrant boat. Hundreds are still feared missing

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

KALAMATA, Greece (AP) — Rescue workers transferred the bodies of dead migrants to refrigerated trucks as a major search continued Thursday for possible survivors of a sea disaster in southern Greece. Hundreds of people are still feared missing.At least 78 bodies have been recovered after a fishing boat crammed with migrants seeking to make it from Libya to Italy capsized and sank a day earlier in deep waters off the Greek coast.Rescuers saved 104 passengers — including Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans and Palestinians — but authorities fear that hundreds of others may have been trapped below deck. If confirmed that would make the tragedy one of the worst ever recorded in the central Mediterranean.Authorities revised the confirmed death toll from 79 following an overnight count of the bodies.“The survivors are in a very difficult situation. Right now they are in shock,” Erasmia Roumana, head of a United Nations Refugee Agency delegation, told The Associated Press after meeting...

Dear Abby: My husband’s only response is screaming or a death stare

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

DEAR ABBY: I have been married for 40 years. When I married “Hugh,” I thought he was the nicest man I had ever met. We have two grown children of whom we are both very proud.Hugh was laid off 19 years ago and said he was going to take “a little time off.” Abby, he has never gone back to work.Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: He gets mad if I say his driving scares me Advice | Dear Abby: My wife is secretive about her meals out, and it makes me suspicious Advice | Dear Abby: This shoplifting incident may be the last straw for my marriage Advice | Dear Abby: How do I tell her I’ve been secretly cleaning her house? Advice | Dear Abby: Our poker wives’ group has been hijacked by a pious new member I retired four years ago and got a little part-time job in a local shop in town. I do the housework, and our neighbor does our yard. Hugh goes to the grocery store, and that...

Four-bedroom home sells for $1.6 million in Danville

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:35:53 GMT

20 Barcelona Court – Google Street ViewA spacious house located in the first block of Barcelona Court in Danville has a new owner. The 2,397-square-foot property, built in 1969, was sold on June 1, 2023. The $1,600,000 purchase price works out to $668 per square foot. The property features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and an attached garage, as well as a pool in the backyard and two parking spaces. The unit sits on a 10,000-square-foot lot.These nearby houses have also recently been sold:A 2,397-square-foot home on the 200 block of Dolcita Court in Danville sold in May 2023, for $1,765,000, a price per square foot of $736. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.In April 2023, a 1,903-square-foot home on Franciscan Drive in Danville sold for $1,675,000, a price per square foot of $880. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.On La Velle Court, Danville, in August 2022, a 1,853-square-foot home was sold for $1,800,000, a price per square foot of $971. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2...