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UN’s Guterres wants EU to ease Belarus sanctions. The EU isn’t so sure

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is flying to Brussels to deliver a simple message to EU leaders on Thursday: Stop world hunger.How? By ensuring that Russian and Belarusian fertilizers reach developing countries despite sanctions against the two countries, according to European diplomats with knowledge of the discussions.Belarusian potash fertilizers were sanctioned in 2021 after President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime forced a Ryanair flight with an opposition journalist on board to land in Minsk and launched a crackdown on its opponents that continues to this day. With the sanctions further tightened the following year, exports of potash fell by nearly 70 percent.Most EU countries want to counter the narrative, heralded by Russia, that EU sanctions are preventing food and fertilizers from reaching food-insecure countries. Russia kicked up a fuss over the recent extension of a U.N.-brokered deal that enables Ukraine to export food from its Black Sea ports, complaining that a...

Man gets 4 1/2 years for role in $8M online romance scam

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man convicted of helping steal millions of dollars from hundreds of people in online romance scams, often regaling the victims with stories of oil rig explosions and foreign jails, has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.Kofi Osei, 30, and his alleged accomplices from 2016 to 2020 targeted mostly older people seeking companionship by creating fake online dating profiles, prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday.They gradually gained their victims’ trust before directing them to transfer money to one of dozens of bank accounts Osei opened using fake passports, aliases and phony business names, federal prosecutors said in a statement. Once the money was in the bank account, it was quickly withdrawn.Some of the money was used to buy cars that were sent to Nigeria and sold, prosecutors said.The scheme received more than $8 million in proceeds, $4 million of which went directly into accounts that Osei opened and controlled, prosecutors said.Among th...

New Hampshire House passes bill honoring fallen ‘Old Man’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s fallen Old Man of the Mountain would be honored annually under a bill passed by the House on Wednesday.The massive, naturally formed granite profile attracted tourists to Franconia Notch for about 200 years before it crumbled in 2003.The bipartisan bill, which now goes to the Senate, would designate “Old Man of the Mountain Day” on May 3 — the date the formation collapsed.The House passed the bill on a voice vote, although Rep. Tim Cahill, R-Raymond, elicited groans when he compared the rock formation’s collapse to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed thousands of people.“The Old Man falling was akin to the twin towers for many in the Granite State and around the world,” he said.First noted by white settlers in 1805, the stone profile was named the official state symbol in 1945, attracting generations of tourists and appearing on the state quarter, highway signs and license plates.

New teaching kitchen opens at recently expanded MGH Revere Food Pantry

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

A new community kitchen opened its doors on the North Shore on Wednesday, mixing culinary education with healthy habits in Revere. The new teaching kitchen is being launched in partnership with Mass General Brigham in a recently expanded food pantry at the MGH Revere HealthCare Center.Mass General Brigham Community Health and Health Equity Officer Elise Tavaras said the kitchen is the first of its kind across the Mass General Brigham system.One of the kitchen’s goals is to make nutrition related illnesses a thing of the past by using the kitchen as an educational space.  Tavares said the kitchen aims to provide patients with “the opportunity to learn about healthy foods, to learn how to prepare them, to learn how to try different things that they might not have tried.”The food pantry opened back in 2019 to make sure families have access to healthy, plant-based food. Following its expansion, the pantry will be able to help 80 families in Revere every week. Of...

6-year-old boy killed in crash

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A 6-year-old boy was killed after being trapped in a vehicle following a Wednesday morning crash, authorities said.The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said a two-vehicle collision occurred shortly before 7:50 a.m. on Adams Avenue and Biona Drive in the Kensington neighborhood. SDFD reported one vehicle was on its side on top of a fire hydrant.As of 8:20 a.m., SDFD reported one patient was transported to a local children's hospital in critical condition. During a press conference around 10 a.m., the San Diego Police Department confirmed the boy had died from his injuries.Adams Avenue is expected to be closed from 42nd Street to Vista Street for several hours while authorities investigate the scene.This is a developing story. Please check back for updates

Under oath, Boris Johnson denies he lied over ‘partygate’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted “hand on heart” Wednesday that he never lied to lawmakers about rule-breaking government parties during the COVID-19 pandemic, mounting a robust defense at a hearing that could damage or even end his tumultuous political career.The House of Commons standards committee questioned Johnson over misleading statements he made to Parliament about a slew of gatherings in government buildings that breached lockdown rules. If the committee concludes that he deliberately lied, he could face suspension or even lose his seat in the Commons. Johnson came out swinging, telling the committee after taking an oath on a Bible: “Hand on heart … I did not lie to the House.”“If anybody thinks I was partying during lockdown, they are completely wrong,” Johnson said during a session that displayed his characteristic qualities: blustering self-confidence, verbosity and — to critics — a loose relationship with facts.Johnson also ...

Sunak’s Brexit deal clears Commons vote despite Tory revolt

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s deal with the European Union to rewrite the post-Brexit rules on Northern Ireland trade.The House of Commons voted 515-29 to back a key portion of the agreement, which is designed to resolve a thorny trade dispute that vexed U.K.-EU relations and triggered a political crisis in Belfast.But Sunak faced a rebellion by 22 fellow Conservatives, including his two immediate predecessors. Former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss both voted against the deal.Johnson, who led Britain out of the EU in 2020, said the deal was “not acceptable” because it kept some EU laws in operation in Northern Ireland, restricting the U.K.’s ability to diverge from the bloc’s rules and “take advantage of Brexit.”A hard-Brexit group of Conservative Party lawmakers known as the European Research Group also said it opposed the deal.The government easily won the vote with backing from the ...

BoC still concerned about potentially sticky inflation, says economy still too hot

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada says it’s still concerned inflation might be harder to bring down than expected, noting the economy is still in excess demand.On Wednesday, the central bank published a summary on the governing council’s deliberations ahead of its decision to hold its key interest rate steady on March 8.The members of the governing council, which include governor TIff Macklem and his deputies, were encouraged to see the economy and inflation both slowing, supporting their decision to hold the key interest rate steady at 4.5 per cent. However, the governing council remained concerned about the risk of inflation getting stuck above two per cent and agreed that supply was still outstripping demand in the economy.In the fourth quarter, the Canadian economy posted no growth as the accumulation of business inventories slowed.“With inventories adjusting earlier than anticipated, governing council concluded that growth in early 2023 may be a bit stronger than the bank had forecas...

‘The Young and the Restless’ celebrates 50 years of drama

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — It all started on a late morning on a highway. A camera panned to the cab of a large semi-trailer truck. The driver wore a plaid shirt and a day’s growth of beard. Next to him was a mysterious hitchhiker in expensive clothes that were ripped and a fresh head wound. He got out at Genoa City. And he stayed.That’s how “The Young and the Restless ” began on March 26, 1973, and a lot of people also stuck around Genoa City. The soap opera celebrates its 50th anniversary this month as the No. 1 daytime drama for 35 consecutive years, with fans growing up alongside the actors.“I think a huge reason why the audience has stuck with us for so long is because we are the same people. We are family members. We show up every day — sometimes more than a regular family member,” says Lauralee Bell, a star and daughter of the show’s founders.Created by the late William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, “The Young and the Restless” concerns the goings-on of several Midwestern fa...

First presidential visit since 2016 brings heavy security presence to Ottawa

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:11:14 GMT

OTTAWA — At least seven different police and military units will be patrolling Ottawa’s skies and streets this week as the city braces for the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden.They are set to arrive Thursday for the first official visit to Canada since Biden took office as president in 2021 and will stay overnight until Friday. The last time the country hosted a president was in 2016, when former president Barack Obama came to Ottawa for the North American Leaders’ Summit near the end of his second term.Biden’s sojourn will take place under a heavy police presence, with the RCMP saying security for him and the first lady will be provided through an integrated security unit. The Mounties say they are working with the Canadian military, the U.S. Secret Service, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Parliamentary Protective Service, as well as local officers in Ottawa and across the river in Gatineau, Que.Retired Ottawa police chief Charle...