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EU lifts ban on Ukrainian grain imports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

The European Commission will not extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports that expires on Friday night, deciding at the last minute to let it lapse despite intense lobbying from eastern EU countries.Imports of Ukrainian grain, including wheat and maize, were banned from the territory of five eastern EU countries – including Poland, Hungary and Romania — under an agreement reached with Brussels earlier this year. Only transit to other destinations was allowed. The measures were put in place to protect farmers in the five countries from an influx of cheap produce from their war-torn neighbor.“The existing measures will expire today,” the EU executive said in a statement, adding that market distortions in the five member states bordering Ukraine have disappeared.Ukraine will now have to take measures to ensure its grain exports do not distort the neighboring markets, the statement added. The Commission, meanwhile, will refrain from imposing restrictions as long as effective ...

Macron: French ambassador held hostage in Niger

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

France’s ambassador in Niger is being held hostage by the military junta, French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday. “In Niger, as I speak to you, we have an ambassador and diplomatic members who are literally taken hostage at the French embassy,” Macron said during a trip to Burgundy. “They are preventing the delivery of food. He’s eating army rations,” Macron added.Since soldiers overthrew Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum in July and seized power, France — which has 1,500 soldiers deployed in the African country — has refused to diplomatically engage with the military junta. The junta’s representative, Amadou Abdramane, responded by stopping all military cooperation deals with France. On August 25, the junta gave French ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country, according to French news.France has advocated for a peaceful solution to the conflict and was at odds with the U.S. over sending an envoy to Niger for nego...

Mayo Clinic Minute: Walking is a step toward heart health

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

Deb Balzer | Mayo Clinic News Network (TNS)Walking is an inexpensive form of exercise that many people of various abilities and ages can do. What about those 10,000 steps a day that many fitness apps recommend?Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, says there is no magic number of steps per day that people should strive for because everyone is different. What matters most, he says, is that people are moving.“Walking is perhaps the easiest, most affordable and one of the most effective types of physical activity humans can do,” says Dr. Lopez-Jimenez.How many daily steps should you take? It depends.“For a 25-to-30-year-old person, walking 6,000 steps a day is probably too little, whereas for an 85-year-old person, walking 5,000 steps is actually very good,” he says.And make walking part of your daily routine. Use the stairs, walk your dog or park away from the store entrance.“People should be walking every day, even for a few minutes at...

State of emergency declared in Massachusetts as Hurricane Lee approaches

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts Friday as the state braces for potentially damaging winds, rains, and floods stirred up by Hurricane Lee, a storm that is running up the East Coast and is expected to make landfall Saturday in Maine.The latest emergency declaration includes the activation of up to 50 National Guard members to support storm preparations and response, including by operating highwater vehicles designed to deal with storm conditions.Severe weather is not to be taken lightly, Healey said as she pointed to flooding earlier this week in Leominster and North Attleboro that wiped away roads and homes. Healey has declared a state of emergency in response to the floods there and a separate one last month in response to an emergency shelter crisis.“Flooding, wind damage, downed trees, tree limbs, all of these things create real hazards and problems for people. We’ve also seen power outages. So we are mobilizing and have mobilized,” Healey sa...

New England, eastern Canada hunker down as Hurricane Lee’s high winds, rains, waves approach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

By DAVID SHARP and PATRICK WHITTLE (Associated Press)PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — New England harbors and fishing villages were being emptied of boats — and some were becoming ghost towns — as commercial fishermen and recreational boaters scrambled Friday to make final preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Lee, a storm threatening to bring tropical-storm-force winds across a swath hundreds of miles wide.Hundreds of out-of-state utility workers poured into Maine amid fears of widespread power outages because of a combination of heavy winds and rain-saturated soil in the nation’s most heavily wooded state.A tropical storm warning was in place from Maine to Massachusetts, but forecasters removed a hurricane watch for eastern Maine, as the storm with 20-foot (6-meter) ocean swells approached. Forecasters said there would be winds topping 40 mph (64 kph) across an area spanning more than 400 miles (643 kilometers) ahead of landfall Saturday afternoon.On Friday, ther...

Duxbury mother accused of strangling her 3 children indicted for their murder

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

The Duxbury mother accused of strangling her three children with exercise bands in January has been indicted for their murder.A Plymouth grand jury indicted Lindsay Clancy, 32, with three counts of murder and strangulation. Clancy is being held without bail and is currently a patient at a hospital being treated following what was reported as a suicide attempt following the dark night at 47 Summer St. in Duxbury on Jan. 24.The three children were found by first responders in the basement of the home after their father could be heard screaming upon locating them. Cora Clancy, 5, and Dawson Clancy, 3, were transported to Beth Israel Deaconness Hospital in Plymouth where they were pronounced dead that night.The baby, Callan Clancy, 8 months, was medflighted to Boston Children’s Hospital and would hold onto life for several days before also dying from his injuries.This is a developing story.

A fall financial cleanse could get your spending back on track

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

If summer is a season of spontaneity and indulgence, then fall offers a counterpoint: It’s a chance to get back on schedule, and back on budget.“Summer, with travel and no school, tends to be a really spendy time. The fall is a nice reset,” says Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, a certified financial planner and author of “The 30-Day Money Cleanse.”Gerstley says giving yourself a “money cleanse” offers a chance to carefully go over your spending and financial habits so you can make any necessary changes to end the year strong. With inflation and economic uncertainty in the background, that’s no easy task, but putting in the extra effort now can pay off.Here’s a step-by-step guide to a fall financial cleanse that could help get your budget on track for the rest of the year:Start with a look backNate Hoskin, a CFP and financial assistant at Brightside, a provider of financial wellness to employees, says the first step to a fall financial cleanse is to look backward, starting with your New Ye...

Tyler Childers' San Diego concert sells out in first hour, according to Ticketmaster

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Some Tyler Childers fans in San Diego may relate to his song "Purgatory" a little more as of Friday morning.That's because their chance to experience the sounds of Appalachia on the West Coast have dwindled. According to Ticketmaster, the concert sold out within the first hour of ticket sales. Viejas Arena, where the singer-songwriter will perform a mix of country, bluegrass and folk music, can accommodate as many as 13,500 guests. That means there are thousands of Southern California fans who will get to enjoy Childers' "Universal Sounds" on Friday, April 5, 2024. From Asian markets to beer fests, these events are happening in San Diego County this weekend There's still some hope, however, for those who couldn't get into the ticket queue fast enough during Friday morning's 9 a.m. hour. Resell tickets may become available from now until the concert date if some ticketholders can't attend. According to Ticketmaster, Tyler Childers "wants to give fans, not professional ...

Dominican Republic closes all borders with Haiti as tensions rise on island both countries share

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

DAJABON, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic shut all land, air and sea borders with Haiti on Friday in a dispute about construction of a canal on Haitian soil that taps into a shared river, as armed Dominican soldiers patrolled entry points and military planes roared overhead.Flights were canceled and border towns usually teeming with vendors and Haitians crossing daily to work in the Dominican Republic were subdued. Crowds of people on the Haitian side gathered under the shade of trees as they observed the scene on Friday. Nearby, a white flag fluttered in the breeze under a Haitian flag in a sign of peace.It was unclear how long the rare closure of the borders will last, with Dominican President Luis Abinader saying the measure will remain in place “as long as necessary.” The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the canal project violates a 1929 treaty and “must be halted immediately before pursuing any other dialogue.”The diplomatic c...

A member of the secret panel studying Wisconsin Supreme Court justice’s impeachment backed her rival

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:50 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — One of the former Wisconsin Supreme Court justices tapped to investigate impeaching newly elected Justice Janet Protasiewicz for taking Democratic Party money accepted donations from the state Republican Party when he was on the court. The former justice, Republican David Prosser, gave $500 to the conservative candidate who lost to Protasiewicz, did not recuse from cases involving a law he helped pass as a lawmaker and was investigated after a physical altercation with a liberal justice.Prosser is one of three former justices tapped by the Republican Assembly speaker to investigate the criteria for taking the unprecedented step of impeaching a current justice. Speaker Robin Vos has floated impeachment because Protasiewicz accepted nearly $10 million from the Wisconsin Democratic Party and said during the campaign that heavily gerrymandered GOP-drawn legislative electoral maps were “unfair” and “rigged.”The impeachment threat comes after Protasiewicz’s win this s...