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Ask Amy: She’s not my mom, and her ‘compliments’ rub me the wrong way

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

Dear Amy: My friend (who is one year younger) has a habit of telling me she’s “proud” of me for doing big and small things.I bought a house and she said she was proud of me. I said I was going out of town, and she said she was proud of me.I heard her once tell another friend that she thought the friend’s house was “adorable.”I can’t exactly tell if she means to belittle people or if I’m blowing it out of proportion. Thoughts?NOT AdorableDear NOT: My sense is that your friend is unaware that her comments come off as patronizing.“I’m proud of you” may be her stand-in for “I’m happy for you.”I’m unsure of what is so off-putting about calling someone’s house “adorable,” and in that instance you seem to be hypersensitive about your friend’s word choices.Talk to her! Tell her, “I hope you can understand that when you say, ‘I’m proud of you,’ it feels like you are infantilizing me. I don’t think you mean it that way, but I’m letting you know that i...

Harriette Cole: Am I responsible for a belligerent, drunk friend?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: I recently went out with a friend of mine. She had a few too many drinks. I asked her not to drive home and offered to call her an Uber, but she was adamant that she was fine to drive.Knowing that wasn’t the case, I persuaded her to let me order her some food in the hope that she would sober up a little bit, but she was still insistent on driving home.The next day, she confessed to me that she had been, in fact, way too drunk to drive, and she felt terrible about it.It really got me thinking about my responsibility in this situation. I didn’t want to be overbearing or aggressive, but at the same time, I felt that I needed to do something to prevent a dangerous situation. She was so insistent on driving, I guess I just got tired of arguing.Do you have any advice on how I should handle a similar situation in the future?Feeling GuiltyRelated ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: My husband has become insufferable about what we should eat Advice | ...

Europe’s inflation inches up ahead of interest rate decision

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe’s painful inflation inched higher last month, extending the squeeze on households and keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to unleash another large interest rate increase.Consumer prices in the 20 countries using the euro currency jumped 7% in April from a year earlier, just down from the annual rate of 6.9% in March, the European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday. Food prices eased a little, falling to an annual 13.6% from March’s 15.5%, while energy prices rose a more modest 2.5%.Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel, slowed slightly but was still high at 5.6%, underlining the expectation that the ECB will press ahead with its campaign to beat inflation into submission with rate hikes. The question is: How quickly will the bank go? Analysts say the ECB’s meeting Thursday in Frankfurt could end in an increase of a quarter- or a half-percentage point. A quarter-point hike would be a moderation in the b...

Inflation in European countries using the euro currency inches higher to 7% in April as squeeze on households extends

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation in European countries using the euro currency inches higher to 7% in April as squeeze on households extends.Source

Agentes de la patrulla fronteriza de EE.UU. buscan a sospechoso de tiroteo masivo en Texas, dice una fuente, mientras las autoridades buscan pistas sobre su paradero

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

(CNN) — Mientras investigadores de Texas se apresuran a encontrar al hombre acusado de disparar fatalmente a 5 personas, incluida una madre y su hijo de 9 años, en una casa de Texas, los agentes de la patrulla fronteriza de EE.UU. están atentos al fugitivo en caso de que intente de huir a México, le dijo a CNN una fuente policial familiarizada con la investigación.Las autoridades publicaron este lunes nuevas imágenes del fugitivo, identificado por los investigadores como el ciudadano mexicano Francisco Oropesa, en un cartel de búsqueda. El cartel muestra varios de los tatuajes distintivos del sospechoso y advierte que está “armado y es peligroso”.Oropesa, de 38 años, está acusado de llevar a cabo la masacre el viernes pasado después de que le pidieran que dejara de disparar su rifle cerca de la casa de una familia vecina en Cleveland, una ciudad de unos 8.000 habitantes al noreste de Houston, en Texas.Las víctimas, todas de nacionalidad hondureña, fueron identificadas como Son...

Buried treasure, including nearly 200 Roman coins, found in Italy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

(CNN) — Archaeologists in Livorno, Italy, are putting together the pieces of a great mystery that began with a stunning find.While hiking in a cleared area of a Tuscan forest northeast of Livorno, a member of the Livorno Paleontological Archaeological Group spotted a few glimmering coins in the dirt in November 2021. Upon closer inspection and excavation, researchers determined that the find included 175 silver Roman denarii coins. Nearly all were in good condition, making this one of the few hoards of ancient coins found intact, according to the group.But the discovery prompted a number of questions: Whose treasure was it? Who were they hiding it from? And why didn’t they come back for it?The archaeological group, along with the archaeologist official for the provinces of Pisa and Livorno, Dr. Lorella Alderighi, has spent more than a year measuring, weighing and documenting the coins, according to a news release posted on its Facebook page. Now, the researchers think th...

Hints of peaking EU inflation signal ECB rate hike slowdown

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

The European Central Bank looked on course to slow its campaign of interest rate hikes after fresh data released Tuesday showed inflationary pressures easing a little, as the economy responded to an aggressive tightening of monetary policy over the last year. Core inflation in the eurozone, which strips out volatile food and energy components, fell for the first time in 10 months in April, edging down to 5.6 percent from 5.7 percent in March. That bolstered hopes that it has now peaked — even though headline inflation broke a five-month falling streak by ticking back up to 7.0 percent due to strong food and service prices. Both numbers were broadly in line with market expectations.The strength of core inflation — still over twice the ECB’s medium-term target of 2 percent — makes another interest rate hike at this Thursday’s governing council meeting all but inevitable, but a larger hike seems less likely.ECB board member Isabel Schnabel told POLITICO in April that she want...

Poland calls out Pfizer over vaccine glut

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

Poland has sent a public letter to Pfizer shareholders calling on the U.S. pharma giant to renegotiate its COVID-19 vaccines contract with the EU, marking an escalation in the ongoing dispute over excess doses.The letter, seen by POLITICO, is dated Tuesday and signed by Poland’s health minister, Adam Niedzielski. In it, the minister appeals to Pfizer’s “Corporate Social Responsibility” and calls on the company to come to more favorable terms in negotiations to lower the total amount of doses it is sending to the EU, and to spread them out over a longer time period. Warsaw has been leading the charge in efforts to reopen the EU’s largest contract, for 1.1 billion doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The deal was signed at the height of the pandemic and locks the EU into buying nearly half a billion doses this year, even as vaccination rates have fallen off a cliff as the pandemic subsides.As a result, millions of doses have expired unused in warehouses ...

Police investigating after 1 person injured in Roxbury shooting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

Police are investigating after one person was injured in a shooting in Roxbury.Boston police said they were called to the scene on Dudley Street around 8:15 p.m. Crews remained on scene for several hours as an investigation appeared to focus on the area of a large apartment complex.The condition of the person who was hospitalized is unknown at this time. Police have asked anyone with information on this incident to reach out.

Dust storm in Illinois leaves at least 6 dead after more than 70 vehicles crash on major highway, officials say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:28 GMT

(CNN) — At least six people were killed Monday when a dust storm caused more than 70 vehicles to crash along a major highway in central Illinois, officials said.The crashes along Interstate 55 happened shortly before 11 a.m. CT in Montgomery and Sangamon counties south of the state capital after dust from newly plowed fields took over the highway, police said. The state capital, Springfield, is in Sangamon County.Six people were killed and 37 people were hospitalized with injuries ranging from minor to life-threatening, Illinois State Police said. Those injured in the wrecks ranged in age from 2 to 80 years old, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said.One of those killed in the wrecks was Shirley Harper, 88, of Franklin, Wisconsin, police said Monday evening. Officials still were working to identify the five others who were killed and notify their families, police said.Seventy-two vehicles were involved in the crashes, which happened along a 2-mile stretch of I-55, polic...