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Ukraine: €135 million initially planned for programmes with Russia and Belarus will be transferred to strengthen cooperation with Ukraine and Moldova

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

The Commission has decided to transfer €135 million of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument, originally planned for 2021-2027 Interreg NEXT programmes with Russia and Belarus, to other Interreg programmes with Ukraine and Moldova.Cohesion and Reforms Commissioner Elisa Ferreira (pictured) said: “The decision to cancel the originally envisaged cooperation with Russia and Belarus through our Interreg programmes is the result of the brutal war of Russia against Ukraine. I am glad that the funds we had initially planned for this cooperation will now benefit the EU's programmes with Ukraine and Moldova. This will help strengthen collaboration between EU regions and local stakeholders with Ukrainian and Moldovan partners.”Concretely, this funding may support a range of activities, including Solidarity Lanes and the development of cross-border transport links, health services, education and research projects, social inclusion schemes, as well as reinforci...

SoCal coastal communities bracing as Hurricane Hilary strengthens to Category 3

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

As Hilary intensified Thursday from a tropical storm to a Category 3 hurricane with wind speeds up to 120 miles per hour off Mexico’s Pacific Coast, many Southern California coastal communities are bracing for possible flooding as heavy rains are forecast to hit the region Sunday night.  Many people were enjoying a day at the beach ahead of what is supposed to be a tumultuous weekend as the ongoing heat will transition into strong winds, big waves, intense rain and possible flash flooding.  Track Hurricane Hilary with interactive satellite and radar “It’s summertime,” Hermosa Beach resident Juliet Recososa said. “It’s supposed to be hot. We have had really hot weather the last few weeks and months, I would say, and all of a sudden, we have this?” Shiela Melendez, another Hermosa resident, said the weather changes all too quickly.  “It’s a sudden change of climate, actually,” she said. “The weather nowadays is kind of weird. It’s like the blink of an eye, it changes.” &nb...

Thieves arrested after robbing Nike store in East Los Angeles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

A group of thieves who were caught on camera ransacking a Nike store in East Los Angeles were arrested on Wednesday.On Sunday, citizen video captured the suspects stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise at a Nike store located at 4585 Whittier Blvd. around 5:30 p.m.One of the last suspects to flee the store was seen filling a large trash bag with many boxes of sneakers.The three suspects, described as a Black man and two Black women by the Los Angeles Police Department, fled the scene in a red SUV on the southbound 710 Freeway.On Wednesday, L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputies spotted the suspects’ SUV and requested assistance from the California Highway Patrol. The suspect vehicle was pulled over and six people were arrested at the scene, deputies said.Photos from the arrest show the suspects' SUV was filled with merchandise including large bags containing boxes of Nike sneakers and other potentially stolen merchandise.A group of thieves who were caught on camera robbing a Nik...

FIFA head Infantino says Women’s World Cup breaks even but plays down calls for equal prize money

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Friday that the Women’s World Cup has “broken even” after generating more than $570 million in revenue but dismissed suggestions for equal prize money with the men’s World Cup.The current World Cup prize pools sit at $110 million for women and $440 million for men. Infantino has consistently played down calls for equal payments.On Friday, he suggested demands for equal prize money were a “slogan” that “would not solve anything.”“Some voices were raised, where it cost too much, we don’t make enough revenues, we will have to subsidize,” Infantino said at the FIFA Women’s Football Convention.“And our opinion was, ‘Well, if we have to subsidize, we will subsidize’, because we have to do that. But actually, this World Cup generated over $570 million in revenues, and so we broke even.”Infantino said FIFA didn’t lose money “and we generated the second-highest income of any sport, besides of course the men’s World Cu...

It’s Coming Home: England looks to bring Women’s World Cup trophy back to birthplace of soccer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — England’s rallying cry “It’s Coming Home” may finally come true after a 57-year drought in global soccer.But if the World Cup trophy does return to the birthplace of soccer for the first time since 1966, it will be with the women’s national team, not the men. The Lionesses will play for their first Women’s World Cup title Sunday against Spain. England coach Sarina Wiegman is back in her second consecutive finale as the only coach in the history of the tournament to take two nations to the final. Wiegman was coach of the Netherlands when the Dutch lost 2-0 to the United States in 2019. “Every step has been really, really hard. But again, we find a way,” she said. “And I think the opponents, the women’s game has grown so much that it’s really hard to get through. So I know it’s very, very special and that’s how it feels, too.”Wiegman is after the second major trophy at the helm of England. The Lionesses also won the European Championship last year for the first tim...

Belarús utilizaría armas nucleares en caso de “agresión”, afirma Lukashenko

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

(CNN) — Belarús estaría dispuesto a utilizar las armas nucleares cedidas por su aliado cercano Rusia ante una “agresión” extranjera, declaró el jueves el presidente Alexander Lukashenko, mientras aumentan las tensiones en torno a las fronteras del país con las naciones de la OTAN.Minsk ha desempeñado un papel clave en la guerra de Rusia en Ucrania: Moscú utilizó a Belarús como una de sus plataformas de lanzamiento para la invasión en 2022, mientras que los simulacros militares conjuntos de Rusia y Belarús en el último año han alimentado la preocupación de que las tropas bielorrusas podrían unirse a las fuerzas rusas en el conflicto.En junio hubo reportes sobre el envío de cabezas nucleares rusas a Belarús con fines “disuasorios”, según el presidente Vladimir Putin.En una entrevista concedida a la agencia estatal de noticias Belta, Lukashenko afirmó que Belarús “nunca se involucraría en esta guerra” a menos que los ucranianos cruzaran su fron...

Adultos de más de 65 años, el nuevo rostro de la marihuana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

WASHINGTON, DC – Entre pipas de fumar coloridas, jóvenes con los brazos tatuados y pósteres gigantes con imágenes de hojas de marihuana, Willie Marby, de 73 años, recoge periódicamente su prescripción de cannabis medicinal en Takoma Wellness, el mayor dispensario de Washington D.C.Un ortopedista le recomendó usar THC -el principal componente psicoactivo de la planta de cannabis- para paliar los síntomas de la artritis en su hombro derecho y ahora forma parte del grupo demográfico en el que más está creciendo el consumo de marihuana en EEUU: las personas mayores de 65 años.“Antes era considerada una droga y muchas personas fueron arrestadas por consumir marihuana (…) ahora estamos entendiendo lo valiosa que es en los procesos de sanación”, dice Marby.Y es que el cannabis, legal actualmente en 38 de los 50 estados de EEUU y el Distrito de Columbia, puede ser usado para tratar “cada uno de los síntomas geriátricos”, explica Mikhail Kogan, médico y pr...

First ship safely exits Ukraine’s Black Sea corridor despite Russian blockade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

A cargo ship has successfully made the voyage across the Black Sea from Ukraine to Turkey, using a shipping corridor established by Kyiv in an effort to break the Russian siege of its ports.Maritime tracking platform MarineTraffic shows the German-Chinese owned Joseph Schulte, an almost 1,000-foot long container ship flying under the flag of Hong Kong, had reached Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait in the early hours of Friday morning, while eyewitnesses report spotting it arriving in the NATO country’s waters. The vessel had been stranded in Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa for a year and a half, having arrived there the day before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.The journey is the first under the terms of a Kyiv-backed “humanitarian corridor” designed to guarantee safe passage through the mine-strewn waters of the Black Sea. According to the Ukrainian Navy, the shipping lane will “primarily be used for civilian ships which have been in the Ukrain...

China confirms Xi will attend economic summit in South Africa followed by state visit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next week’s summit of the BRICS nations in Johannesburg, to be followed by a state visit to South Africa, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying also said in a statement that during his Aug. 21-24 visit to South Africa, Xi will co-chair the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue with his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa. China is a core member of the BRICS nations, which also include Brazil, Russia and India. The grouping was predicated on linking the interests of the world’s leading emerging economies but has sought to expand into other civil and governmental fields. Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided not to attend the summit because of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for him, according to South African authorities.The development could be viewed as embarrassing for Putin, who is expected to be the only leader of a country in the bloc not to a...

In wake of N.S. flooding tragedy, a mother and father press for better preparedness

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:28:21 GMT

MARTOCK, N.S. — Tera Sisco reaches into a drawer, pulls out a sheet of paper and reads a sentence prepared for her son’s funeral after he died in Nova Scotia’s historic flooding in late July. “I’m not done being Colton’s Mom,” it says.During a recent interview at her home, Sisco said this phrase is her reminder she will advocate for improvements in how Nova Scotia prepares for and responds to climate disasters, as she grieves the little boy whose feet she still imagines tiptoeing into her room. However, almost one month after the deaths of Colton Sisco and Natalie Harnish, both six, and 52-year-old Nick Holland and 14-year-old Terri-Lynn Keddy, many of the questions haunting her and Colton’s father, Chris Sisco, remain unanswered. The issues include a public alert that was delayed close to two hours, unreliable cellular service and a lack of flood-risk mapping officials could have used to prepare for the torrential thunderstorms of July 21-2...