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EU to send Turkey €1 billion for quake reconstruction

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

The European Commission will provide Turkey with €1 billion to help with “post-earthquake reconstruction” following the deadly quakes that killed tens of thousands in February, Ursula von der Leyen said Monday.“No one can fill the void left by those who lost their lives, yet together we can reconstruct and rebuild,” the Commission president said ahead of a donors’ conference in Brussels.She called for “homes, schools and hospitals” destroyed in the earthquakes to be rebuilt “with the highest standards of seismic safety.”More than 50,000 people died in Turkey and Syria after a series of powerful earthquakes hit southeastern Turkey in February. The earthquakes destroyed tens of thousands of buildings, raising questions over the construction standards in the seismic region.The aid package also includes €108 million for humanitarian assistance to Syria, von der Leyen said.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday the cost of...

UN climate report shows world is flying blind into the storm

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

TL;DR, global warming is bad and getting worse. But a sprawling assessment of tens of thousands of scientific papers on the state of the planet, released Monday, pointed to another unsettling truth: Scientists still don’t have answers to many of the questions that will define how well the world copes with the worst of climate change.In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes a world of long-foreseen impacts arriving now with shocking power. Human suffering — especially among the poor — will increase rapidly in the coming decades. The symbolic limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius will almost certainly be breached. There is still an opportunity to avert the very bleakest scenarios, with the shift toward clean energy moving faster than expected, the report also notes.But in many critical areas, IPCC scientists say the world is flying blind into the storm. By the time they publish their next report — at the end of this decade — there will be ...

Lawyers for former Wellesley College cardinal accused of sexual abuse to appear in court

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

Lawyers for the former Wellesley College cardinal accused of sexual abuse are expected to appear in court Monday.Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s attorneys filed a motion last month to withdraw the charges against the 92 year old. McCarrick’s attorneys argue he has dementia and can’t stand trial.The state said it would get a second opinion. The former cardinal pleaded not guilty in 2021. He is accused of sexually abusing a boy at Wellesley College in June 1974.

No Longer ‘Gun Shy,’ Willie Calhoun Makes His Case for the Yankees’ Roster

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

TAMPA – After a few injury-plagued and unproductive seasons, Willie Calhoun knew he needed to hit the ground running this spring.The Yankees’ non-roster invitee typically gets off to a slow start in camp, but that wasn’t an option if he wanted to make the Bombers’ Opening Day lineup. So Calhoun began his offseason swinging program a month earlier than usual this past winter.“I kind of wanted to just get back to my old self,” the corner outfielder told The Daily News. “I was banged up a lot the last three years, and it was my first offseason where I could really focus on being healthy and making sure that I put myself in a good position offensively to get back to where I want to be. Because I know I can provide a lot of value.”Calhoun has flexed some of that value over 38 plate appearances this spring, taking a .344 average, .947 OPS, two doubles, one home run, three RBI and six walks into Monday’s off day. Per Baseball Reference&...

Putin welcomes China’s Xi to Kremlin amid Ukraine war

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the Kremlin on Monday, a visit that sent a powerful message to Western leaders allied with Ukraine that their efforts to isolate Moscow have fallen short.Xi’s trip showed off Beijing’s new diplomatic swagger and gave a political lift to Putin just days after an international arrest warrant was issued for the Kremlin leader on war crimes charges related to Ukraine.The two major powers have described Xi’s three-day trip as an opportunity to deepen their “no-limits friendship.” China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its energy-hungry economy, and as a partner in standing up to what both see as U.S. domination of global affairs. The two countries, which are among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, also have held joint military drills.Putin shook hands with Xi before they sat down to make a brief statement at the start of their meeting, calling each other...

Credit Suisse shares fall, but UBS deal raises hope on banks

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Credit Suisse shares plunged Monday after Swiss authorities cut a deal with its bigger rival UBS to acquire the troubled bank at a marked-down price. But European bank stocks and the wider market gained as investors watch whether moves to shore up banks will stem further upheaval in the global banking system. Shares of Credit Suisse, whose woes stem from questions over its internal controls, fell 60% a day after UBS said it would buy the fellow Swiss bank for a lowball price of 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion). The shares are now trading at about the level that they are valued at by the deal. Swiss regulators orchestrated the purchase in a bid to stop more turmoil after the collapse of two U.S. banks. In an indication of the frantic, behind-the-scenes deal-making by Swiss authorities to resolve the issue before markets opened, the acquisition was announced late Sunday.There is still uncertainty over how the deal will play out for the combined bank. Analysts say s...

Fed’s tough challenge: Confront inflation and bank jitters

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Still grappling with persistently high inflation, the Federal Reserve faces an entirely new — and in some ways conflicting — challenge as it meets to consider interest rates this week: How to restore calm to a nervous banking system.The two simultaneous problems would normally push the Fed in different directions: To fight elevated inflation, it would raise its benchmark rate, perhaps substantially, for the ninth time in the past year. But at the same time, to soothe financial markets, the Fed might prefer to leave rates unchanged, at least for now. Most economists think the Fed will navigate the conundrum by raising rates by just a quarter-point when its latest policy meeting ends Wednesday. That would be less than the half-point hike that many economists had expected before the recent collapse of two large banks. But it would still mark another step by the Fed in its continuing drive to tame inflation. If the Fed were instead to leave rates alone, which some anal...

Officials: US to send ammunition, tanker trucks to Ukraine

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is poised to announce that it will send Ukraine $350 million in weapons and equipment, U.S. officials said Monday, as fierce battles with Russian forces continue for control of the city of Bakhmut, and troops prepare for an expected spring offensive.The latest package of aid includes a large amount of various types of ammunition, such as rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, and an undisclosed number of fuel tanker trucks and riverine boats, according to the officials. Officials said it will be announced later Monday.It comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Monday, giving a political lift to Russian President Vladimir Putin against the West just days after an international arrest warrant was issued for the Kremlin leader on war crimes charges related to Ukraine.Officials said the American aid will be taken from Pentagon stocks through the presidential drawdown authority, so it will be able to be delivered quickly to the ...

Former US Rep. John Jenrette, jailed in Abscam scandal, dies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. John Jenrette, a colorful politician who was convicted in the Abscam bribery scandal in the late 1970s and whose wife talked to Playboy about an in-session dalliance on the U.S. Capitol steps, has died. He was 86.Jenrette, who had been in declining health, died Friday, according to his obituary from Goldfinch Funeral Home in Conway, South Carolina.Jenrette served three terms as a Democrat in the U.S. House, and while his crime and escapades received the most attention, he also was known for securing federal help for his mostly rural district, including aid to tobacco and other types of farmers and a new bridge in Georgetown tall enough to allow ships to easily pass.Jenrette was elected to the U.S. House in 1974, knocking off the incumbent Republican in the wake of the Watergate scandal.Democratic leaders respected Jenrette and his ability to accomplish things. There was talk of leadership positions. But his splashy, outspoken nature would be his ...

Ontario to boost penalties for employers who withhold workers’ passports

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:17:24 GMT

Employers who withhold the passports or work permits of foreign nationals could soon face hundreds of thousands of dollars in new penalties under legislation being introduced in Ontario today.Labour Minister Monte McNaughton is tabling an omnibus bill Monday that includes the protections for migrant workers, expanding the reasons military reservists can take job leave, and requiring more washrooms on construction sites as well as some for women only.Currently, labour inspectors can levy penalties of $250 for each passport or work permit that is withheld, but with the proposed changes, that would rise to $100,000.As well, if an individual employer is ultimately convicted by the courts of such an offence, they would also be subject to a fine of up to $500,000, up to 12 months in jail or both, while corporations could be fined up to $1 million.The current fines are $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for corporations.McNaughton is also proposing to boost the fine for corporations conv...