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As UK housing costs soar, anxiety grips homeowners and renters: ‘I’m in meltdown’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

LONDON (AP) — For Sadie James, the cost-of-living crisis in Britain just never seems to ease. First, it was skyrocketing energy and food costs stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, the 61-year-old worries whether she can keep a roof over her head.James, who lives in south London, has struggled for years to stay on top of her finances. Just as she was starting to clear her debts, she’s back to square one: Her rent keeps rising, and on top of higher food and energy bills, her welfare payments just can’t keep up.“I’m actually in a meltdown each time I think about it,” said James, who cannot work because of underlying health problems. “I’m literally depressed, I’m angry, I’m totally overwhelmed about it because I don’t want to lose my home.”Interest rates have risen rapidly in recent months, which in turn have ratcheted up mortgages and rents across the United Kingdom. Rates have hit 5% after being below 1% for the past decade as the Bank of England ha...

Matt Wallner finally gets his first-at bat in third stint with Twins

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

SEATTLE — Twins outfielder Matt Wallner wasn’t in the starting lineup for the fourth straight game, but the rookie finally did get into a game, pinch hitting late in Monday’s 7-6 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.With two out and nobody in the eighth, Wallner pinch hit for right-hander Michael A. Taylor but struck out against right-hander Andres Munoz.The Twins recalled Wallner, 25, in time to play in last Friday’s victory at Oakland, but as the team started its fourth game of this seven-game road trip, the outfielder from Forest Lake had yet to see his name on manager Rocco Baldelli’s lineup card.“You know,” Baldelli said, “we lose a third baseman, we get a left-handed-hitting outfielder.”Optioned May 29 to the Saints after hitting .636 with a 1.692 OPS in his last four big league games, Wallner remained hot in St. Paul, hitting .308 with 11 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 31 RBIs, 20 walks and 34 runs scored in 36 games. But finding games to play instead of Kepler, a te...

Ukraine reports casualties in Russian shelling of city of Kharkiv

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

One man was killed and several people were injured on Sunday (16 July) in Russian shelling of a district of Kharkiv, the biggest city in eastern Ukraine, local officials said.Oleh Sinehubov, Kharkiv's governor, said on Telegram that one civilian man born in 1999 was killed in the attack on a southern part of Kharkiv. In an earlier post he said a fire had broken out at the site, and medics had hospitalized three men with shrapnel wounds and treated one person on the spot.Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a total of seven people were injured in the shelling of the southern Osnovyanskyi district of the city. Reuters could not independently confirm details of the attack and casualty figures.Ukraine recaptured much of the eastern Kharkiv region in September, with Russian forces occupying now only a small strip of land there.

Azerbaijan says Russia and Armenia not fulfilling Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire deal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

Azerbaijan said on Saturday (15 July) that Russia and Armenia are not fulfilling the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave ceasefire deal, hours after the European Union urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to refrain from "violence and harsh rhetoric".Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, a small mountainous enclave that is part of Azerbaijan but populated by about 120,000 ethnic Armenians.After heavy fighting and a Russian-brokered ceasefire, Azerbaijan in 2020 took over areas that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians in and around the mountain enclave."Armenia has not fulfilled many provisions of the statement, and Russia has not ensured the full implementation of the statement within its obligations," the Azeri foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been discussing a peace deal, in which Russia is also pushing to retain a leading role and in which the two countries would agree on bo...

Rolling Hills Estates residents anxious for answers after devastating landslide

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

Residents in Rolling Hills Estates are anxious to get answers after a devastating landslide destroyed 12 homes earlier this month. Another five homes have been red-tagged and it's unclear if insurance will cover any of the damage. A town hall meeting, sponsored by L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn and Sheriff Robert Luna, was held Monday night in Ranchos Palos Verdes. A city official was also on hand to discuss the latest on the landslide. Hahn said the county tax assessor is working to make sure the now homeless Rolling Hills Estates residents do not have to pay a huge tax bill come November. As for continuing to pay their mortgages, that’s unclear.  “We don’t have an answer on the mortgage question, but we are connecting them to resources directly to help them navigate that question,” Rolling Hills Assistant City Manager Alexa Davis said. Crime, including the couple caught allegedly burglarizing the vacant Peartree Lane homes, was also a topic at the town...

Israeli protesters block highways in ‘day of disruption’ against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli protesters blocked highways and gathered outside Tel Aviv’s stock exchange and military headquarters on Tuesday in the latest countrywide demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul. The latest “day of disruption” came as longtime allies of the prime minister pushed a contentious piece of legislation through a parliamentary committee ahead of a vote expected next week. Additional protests are planned throughout the day.Demonstrators, many of them military reservists, created human chains and blocked one of the entrances to the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv. Outside the Tel Aviv stock exchange, demonstrators ignited smoke bombs, drummed and chanted, and held up signs reading “save our startup nation” and “dictatorship will kill the economy.” Netanyahu heads the most ultranationalist and religiously conservative government in Israel’s 75-year history. He proposed a series of ...

Ohtani ties score with 35th homer, Angels beat Yankees 4-3 in 10 innings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani tied the score in the seventh inning with his major league-leading 35th home run and pinch-hitter Michael Stefanic had a game-ending single in the 10th to give the Los Angeles Angels a 4-3 win over the New York Yankees on Monday night.Los Angeles trailed 3-1 when Ohtani hit a two-run drive off Michael King, then made a demonstrative flip of his bat. Ohtani has homered in three straight games for the third time and surpassed his home run total last year. He has 19 homers in his last 31 games.Ohtani had three hits and increased his average to .306. He struck out in the ninth against Nick Ramirez (0-2), winced and grabbed at his back.With Chad Wallace on second as the automatic runner in the 10th, Stefanic hit a changeup from Ramirez into left field to give the Angels their fourth walk-off win. The Yankees have lost seven of nine games, including three of four since the All-Star break, and dropped into sole possession of last place in the AL East. N...

Reportan hallazgo de al menos 27 cuerpos en varias fosas clandestinas en Tamaulipas

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

(CNN Español) — El Colectivo Amor por los Desaparecidos en Tamaulipas, informó este lunes el hallazgo de al menos 27 cuerpos en diversas fosas clandestinas en Reynosa, Tamaulipas, México.Edith González, integrante de la agrupación Amor por los Desaparecidos en Tamaulipas, dijo que hasta el momento se han encontrado 27 cuerpos en aproximadamente 20 fosas. Estos hallazgos se realizaron en los últimos cuatro días, agregó Gonzáles.La agrupación Amor por los Desaparecidos en Tamaulipas no dijo cómo lograron dar con el paradero de estas fosas clandestinas en Reynosa, Tamaulipas.Tenemos que desmantelar a carteles que operan en Tamaulipas, dice el embajador de EE.UU. en MéxicoCNN ha intentado contactar a Amor por los Desaparecidos en Tamaulipas para preguntarles cómo encontraron la ubicación de las fosas sin obtener respuesta por ahora.Hasta el momento ni las autoridades estatales del estado de Tamaulipas ni la fiscalía han emitido un informe sobre el hallazgo realizado por la agrupac...

The green transition is more urgent than ever. Here is a real solution.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

Last year, 16,565 people died in Europe as a direct result of the climate crisis and this is now the fastest-warming continent in the world, the World Meteorological Foundation reported recently. Furthermore, earlier this year, our planet broke the record for its hottest day ever — three times. The facts are inescapable: to preserve our society, our prosperity and our future, we have no choice but to transform our economies and make them sustainable. The risks we run otherwise are unacceptable.Many companies and financial institutions are ready to seize the green transition’s countless economic opportunities and to protect themselves from the disruption of environmental collapse. Speeding up the transition is not only good for business, it is also reasonable and prudent: as the European Central Bank underlines, “a failure to adequately manage environmental risks is no longer compatible with sound risk management”. However, companies and financial institutions are not scientific...

Whitford: Work requirements for food stamps … work

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:25 GMT

Because I fear that America is sinking into the mire of national debt and government dependency, I testified in favor of work requirements for the food stamp program at a Senate hearing on the Farm Bill in April.Few offered similar arguments, and most gave impassioned speeches about the need to grow welfare programs. To the latter, I’d like to extend an invitation to Missouri, which instituted work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) on food stamps in 2016.The outcomes of Missouri’s work requirement efforts saw 85% of ABAWDs move from welfare to work, and statewide food insecurity dropped from 14.2% to 12%. I was encouraged to learn that the “Limit, Save, Grow” debt ceiling bill debated in Congress in the spring included a provision to raise the welfare work requirement age for ABAWDs from 50 to 56 years of age while limiting the ability of states to waive those requirements.Unfortunately, the bill failed.More Americans returning to work equals less gover...