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EU Parliament’s plush pension pot faces €300M hole

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

BRUSSELS — EU taxpayers could soon be coughing up €23 million per year to bail out a pension scheme for hundreds of former European parliamentarians that is poised to implode.Top European Parliament officials are racing to try and rescue a legacy pension fund that faces a €308 million shortfall and could run out of money as soon as 2024.“The fund will run out of capital soon,” states an internal document prepared by the Parliament’s top civil servant Alessandro Chiocchetti, and seen by POLITICO, which says the fund benefiting hundreds of former EU lawmakers faces a “dramatic financial situation.”Senior MEPs discussed the document at a closed-door meeting in Strasbourg on Monday last week, but have not yet decided what to do.“The option of doing nothing about it is clearly off the table,” a Parliament spokesperson said.The Parliament set up the supplementary pension scheme in 1990, and it ran for 30 years until being closed for new members in 2009 when a...

When Russia is defeated in Ukraine, look to Chechnya

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

When Russia is defeated in Ukraine, look to ChechnyaAs far as Chechen volunteers are concerned, Ukraine is the just the start of the fight against Russia.Jamie DettmerSerhiy Morgunov for The Washington Post via Getty ImagesKYIV — “After Ukraine, Chechnya,” says the Chechen commander fighting on Kyiv’s side.The Chechen soldiers are clear they’re in Ukraine to make up for around two centuries of Russian oppression of their mountainous and frequently mutinous homeland — from Joseph Stalin’s population deportation in the 1940s to Boris Yeltsin’s razing of their capital Grozny to the current, brutal rule of Moscow’s satrap in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.“We are tired of Russia,” adds the 45-year-old commander, who asked to be identified only by his military call sign Torto, a reference to a castle near his hometown back in Chechnya, which he left as a young rebel soon after the Second Chechen War ended in 2009....

Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

LONDON — Nigel Farage’s new right-wing party Reform UK is making overtures to Donald Trump’s presidential rival Ron DeSantis as the Florida governor flies into Britain for high-level talks.DeSantis, who is expected to announce his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential candidacy in the coming weeks, will hold meetings with senior British ministers in London on Friday as a part of a four-country “trade mission” to promote Florida on the world stage.But also chasing a meet-up will be key allies of Farage, who is honorary president of Reform UK and who first met DeSantis at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida.The pair have spoken about U.S. and European politics, despite Farage’s previous long-standing alliance with DeSantis’ arch-rival Donald Trump, who remains the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.Reform UK leader Richard Tice confirmed to POLITICO he was “working on” cultivating links with the Florida governor, who ...

The EU lacks a credible economic security strategy

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

Tom Keatinge is the founding director of the Center for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute.In the summer of 2014, newspaper headlines were unanimous: Western nations had responded to the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea and its complicity in shooting down a Malaysian passenger airliner in Ukrainian airspace by imposing sweeping economic sanctions against Russia. The reality of the European Union’s actions, however, is rather different.The EU provides a handy timeline of the restrictive measures it’s imposed on Russia over the past nine years — and it is a record of inaction and failure.Compared to the sanctions imposed over the past 12 months to “cripple the Kremlin’s ability to finance the war,” the 2014 measures were far from sweeping. And, in a lesson for today’s political leaders, interest in maintaining economic pressure on Russia and its war machine evaporated quickly, with key members of the bloc doubling down on economic engagement with...

Hyde5: Tkachuck keeps Florida Panthers season alive with a dramatic goal in overtime

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

The Matthew Tkachuk trade keeps getting better and better with each night. His overtime goal in Wednesday’s 4-3 win against Boston didn’t just keep the Florida Panthers season going in Game 5. It established him more as the face of this franchise. He’s not only a scorer but an edgy physical presence that has caught Boston’s full attention this series. On a team that doesn’t play as cute as last season but still doesn’t have enough grit, Tkachuk brings the personality you hope rubs off on others. He has three goals and three assists this series to lead the team. He also leads in being an instigator against Boston. You know how the Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill was a star who played beyond hopes? Tkachuk is the same idea for the Panthers.2. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had a big game in an odd post-season for him. He had 44 saves on Wednesday, none bigger than when a strange sequence at the end of regulation gave Boston star a chance for a breakawa...

Bruins can’t close the deal, lose to Panthers 4-3 in OT

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

The Bruins picked a heck of a time to lose their second straight game at the Garden.The B’s had not lost consecutive games on Causeway Street all season but, after dropping Game 2 here last week – then winning both Games 3 and 4 in Sunrise – the B’s had a chance to end the Florida Panthers’ season in Game 5 at the Garden on Wednesday.Instead, they gave the Panthers life in the most painful way possible, losing in OT, 4-3, on a Matthew Tkachuk goal.In overtime, Linus Ullmark and Matt Grzelcyk misplayed the puck behind their net and Sam Bennett pounced on it. As Ullmark scrambled to get back in net, Bennett threw the puck at him and it deflected out front to Tkachuk, who backhanded the winner home.The B’s outshot the Panthers, 47-26, but the goals allowed were again self-inflicted.The Bruins tied the game for the third time at 9:16 of the third when Taylor Hall dug out a puck in the slot, backed up and then beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with a high wrist s...

‘Hostile nation’ could help accused leaker Jack Teixeira run if he’s set free: Feds

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

The feds warn that Jack Teixeira, accused of leaking classified documents on the war in Ukraine, could still expose more secrets if he’s released from prison with the potential for a “hostile nation” offering him sanctuary.The explosive accusations are contained in a 50-page motion for pre-trail detention shared with the Herald Wednesday night.Teixeira, 21, an E-3/Airman First Class stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, was arrested at his family home in North Dighton earlier this month and has a detention hearing Thursday in federal court in Worcester.Prosecutors say he should not get out because the risk is too great.“In the first place, the Defendant poses a serious flight risk,” U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins said in the motion.She added Teixeira “currently faces 25 years in  prison—and potentially far more—and … he accessed and may still have access to a trove of classified information that  would be of...

Mets drop 4th straight game after Nationals shut down offense again

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

With myriad injuries to pitchers and a suspension to an ace in the starting rotation, manager Buck Showalter needed Kodai Senga to go deep into Wednesday’s matchup against the Washington Nationals.Senga was able to reach the fifth inning, minimizing damage after a rough couple of innings in Wednesday’s 4-1 loss against the Nationals at Citi Field.The right-hander was up to 85 pitches before the start of the fifth inning, mainly because of a rough second and fourth. The righty allowed the leadoff man to reach base in the first four innings.In the second inning, Senga walked catcher Keibert Ruiz and gave up a double to former Met Dominic Smith. No. 7 hitter Lane Thomas got the Nationals on the board first, hitting an infield single that scored Ruiz. Former Padres prospect CJ Abrams singled to left, scoring Smith and extending the lead to 2-0.Senga allowed another walk in the frame but got three strikeouts to get out of the inning.After a relatively quiet top of the third, ...

Alberta Premier Smith hopes funding for Flames arena won’t become election issue

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

CALGARY — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a day after linking $330 million in provincial money for a Calgary NHL arena project to her United Conservatives getting re-elected, told reporters Wednesday she hopes it doesn’t become an election issue.But Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley says Smith doesn’t get to take it back.Notley said Smith has openly and directly tied the $1.2-billion project to the ballot box and is now obligated to give voters as much information as possible so they can make an informed decision.That includes, said Notley, the secret financial details of who is on the hook for what in the deal involving the province, the City of Calgary and the owners of the Calgary Flames hockey team.“It’s a confidential agreement between all three parties that outline additional financial exposure, additional financial obligations and opportunities for all three parties, including the potential of more exposure for the public and for taxpayers,” Notley said.“People on my team w...

Mississippi jail escapee dead after armed standoff

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:49:44 GMT

CONWAY, Miss. (AP) — A man who escaped from a Mississippi jail and is suspected in a Monday night killing died after barricading himself in a home and setting it on fire during an armed standoff with deputies, authorities said Wednesday. Plumes of smoke emanated from the charred remains of the home in Conway, hours after a body was recovered. Dylan Arrington, 22, perished inside the home, setting it ablaze after shooting a deputy in the leg, Leake County Sheriff Randy Atkinson told The Associated Press. “He inflicted that kind of terror after escaping from jail, killing people and shooting law enforcement. But that guy won’t be killing anyone else,” Atkinson said.In a statement posted online in the evening, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said the remains had been positively identified as Arrington. The cause of death was under investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Authorities have been pursuing Arrington and three other inmates who broke out over the weekend fr...