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The EU’s reply to Qatargate: Nips, tucks and paperwork

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

STRASBOURG — The European Parliament’s response to Qatargate: Fight corruption with paperwork.When Belgian police made sweeping arrests and recovered €1.5 million from Parliament members in a cash-for-influence probe last December, it sparked mass clamoring for a deep clean of the institution, which has long languished with lax ethics and transparency rules, and even weaker enforcement. Seven months later, the Parliament and its president, Roberta Metsola, can certainly claim to have tightened some rules — but the results are not much to shout about. With accused MEPs Eva Kaili and Marc Tarabella back in the Parliament and even voting on ethics changes themselves, the reforms lack the political punch to take the sting out of a scandal that Euroskeptic forces have leaped on ahead of the EU election next year.“Judge us on what we’ve done rather [than] on what we didn’t,” Metsola told journalists earlier this month, arguing that Parliament has acted swiftly where it could. While t...

Michael Gove wants Britain to have more houses — but isn’t meeting the builders

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

LONDON — He may be promising to tackle the U.K.’s housing crisis, but homebuilders say Michael Gove keeps giving them the cold shoulder.According to quarterly transparency data published by his department, Britain’s housing secretary did not log a single meeting with any of the U.K.’s major house builders or their industry groups in the first quarter of this year.Industry reps expressed dismay at the data, accusing Gove of “pandering” to Conservative MPs spooked by local anger at developments. His department pushed back strongly, and pointed to a string of meetings between junior ministers and the sector.British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak — alongside Gove — made a major announcement last week in which the pair promised to meet a Conservative manifesto promise to have delivered one million new homes by the next election.The announcement was widely viewed as an attempt to jolt the government’s faltering efforts to tackle a long-running housing short...

Why Ukrainians see no sense in negotiating with Russia now

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

Andreas Umland is an analyst at the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.One can safely assert that the Ukrainian people and their leaders want a durable peace with Russia, more than the West and others around the world. So, then why is it that Kyiv is not at the forefront of exploring a compromise with Moscow?The truth is that Russia’s current war against Ukraine can’t easily end via negotiations. It falls into a long historical pattern of Russian behavior, part of a larger pathology making stable peace unfeasible — or at least most Ukrainians and other Central Europeans believe it to be so.The present-day attack is neither Moscow’s first assault on the Ukrainian nation, nor is it the Kremlin’s only ongoing expansionist operation in Russia’s former empire.Powerful lessons from Ukraine’s own past, as well as its neighbors’ history and present, have taught Ukrainians that Moscow can’t be trusted. And according to their experi...

Nigel Farage, the ‘disingenuous grifter’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. Britain’s elite Coutts Bank pinned several labels on Nigel Farage when deciding to drop him as a customer earlier this month — including those of “racist” and “xenophobe.” But it’s really the characterization of him as a “disingenuous grifter” that the former politician has done everything to prove since being de-banked.After all, a grifter isn’t only a swindler and a con artist but also the operator of a circus sideshow, and since Brexit — when he was front and center — the populist provocateur has struggled to attract a crowd and move his act back to the main stage.Farage has cast around for a compelling soapbox issue since Britain left the European Union, failing to gain much traction with his various campaigns, including, for a time, migrants crossing the English Channel and his opposition to lockdowns during the pandemic. But nothing took flame. The pandemic came and went, and Britain has somewhat moved on from worrying a...

Police investigating after man fatally shot in Dorchester

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

An investigation is underway in Dorchester after police say a man was fatally shot Sunday night.Officers responding to a reported shooting at the intersection of Blue Hill Avenue and Washington Street around 8 p.m. found a person suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound, according to police.The victim was taken to a nearby hospital, where they were later pronounced dead. Their name has not been released.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

July keeps sizzling as Phoenix hits another 110-degree day and wildfires spread in California

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix sizzled through its 31st consecutive day of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) and other parts of the country grappled Sunday with record temperatures after a week that saw significant portions of the U.S. population subject to extreme heat. The National Weather Service said Phoenix was expected to climb to 112 F (44.4 Celsius) before the day was through.July has been so steamy thus far that scientists calculate it will be the hottest month ever recorded and likely the warmest human civilization has seen. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July beyond record-smashing.The historic heat began blasting the lower Southwest U.S. in late June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert. On Sunday, a massive wildfire burning out of control in California’s Mojave National Preserve spread rapidly amid erratic winds, while firefighters r...

2 shot — 1 critically — in road rage incident on Lake Shore Drive

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

CHICAGO — A woman is in critical condition after two people were shot in a road rage incident on Lake Shore Drive Sunday evening, according to the Chicago Police Department.Police said a 37-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man were driving northbound in the 2200 block of South Lake Shore Drive around 8:08 p.m. when a 2015 Nissan sedan cut them off in traffic.The victims beeped at the driver of the Nissan sedan, who then pulled up alongside the victim's vehicle and someone inside the Nissan opened fire.The 37-year-old woman was shot in the neck and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition. The 26-year-old man was grazed in the back by a bullet and refused medical attention on scene. Two teens in the hospital, one critical, after shooting in Austin neighborhood, CPD says Police have no in custody.If you or someone you know has information that could help police make a breakthrough in the investigation of this incident, anonymous tips can be filed online with CPD...

Hundreds of Loretto Hospital workers set to strike

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

CHICAGO — It's full steam ahead for Monday morning, when at least 200 workers at Loretto Hospital on the City's Southwest Side, will walk off the job."The strike will start tomorrow morning," said Erica Bland-Durosinmi, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare, the union representing the workers who are prepared to strike. "We've been at the table … proposals have gone back and forth, but we've been unable to reach an agreement at this time."Mental health workers, radiology technicians and housekeepers make up the bulk of the group. The workers claim they're underpaid and understaffed, which is reflected by the turnover rate at Loretto Hospital — a number that stands at nearly 60%."People don't stay because they're not investing in the staff in a real way," Bland-Durosinmi said. "It’s unfortunate that we’ve gotten here, where management is unwilling to bargain in good faith." More from Bronagh: Local Chicago leaders advocate for immigration, work permit reform Bland-Durosinmi t...

The origin story of Rosie the cow, a fixture in St. Paul’s Mac-Groveland neighborhood

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

As Pam Quirk Becker’s 50th birthday was approaching nearly 20 years ago, her husband and best friend from college were plotting a surprise.With Pam away from the house, a U-Haul pulled up to Randolph Avenue and Warwick Street, and her husband and two of their children carried into the backyard a 6-foot cow made from an oil drum and milk cans.“Everyone likes to give Pam fun gifts that they wouldn’t want in their own home,” said her husband, Dave Quirk Becker.When Pam returned home, she was led to the backyard to find the cow with birthday balloons on it. Pam was udderly delighted.She recalled her friend saying, “You know, Pam, not everyone would like a cow in their backyard.”“I was thrilled. Absolutely thrilled. Not everybody wants a big cow, but I love cows. And so this was the perfect gift,” she said. “It’s recycling in a very creative way.”Rosie, who arrived in 2004, now stands in the front yard.“It’s a ...

Gold medalist Sunisa Lee surprised by statue unveiling at Phalen Park

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:05:29 GMT

St. Paul’s gold-medal-winning gymnast Sunisa Lee made history with her win at the 2020 Olympic Games. On Sunday — the day after the two-year anniversary of her victory in Tokyo — she was honored with a permanent marker in her home city.Dozens turned out to celebrate and surprise Lee during the unveiling of a bronze bust at Phalen Regional Park that honors her contributions to gymnastics, culture and Hmong American history.Gov. Tim Walz declared Sunday to be Sunisa Lee Day in Minnesota, and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter also designated it Sunisa Lee Day in the capital city.The unveiling was attended by Lee, her parents and siblings, as well as the artist and dozens of supporters, and it took place along the trail behind the Phalen Activity Center parking lot. Lee did not know that the piece was being created and had no idea what it looked like until Sunday.When the blue tarp covering the statue was lifted, Lee put her hand over her mouth in surprise and said, “It’s i...