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EU allies query Estonia’s bumper refund from weapons to Ukraine

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

BRUSSELS — Estonia’s EU allies are questioning the Baltic country’s calculations for the reimbursement of weapons it is sending to Ukraine, suggesting Tallinn’s bill way outstrips its peers as it is using EU funds to significantly upgrade its military through the pay-back scheme. Estonia insists its claims for new weapons are in line with the rules on replacing vital kit and simply reflect its massive contributions to the war, but its critics note the EU refund scheme would be under heavy strain if every country, particularly bigger ones, operated the same accounting methodology as Tallinn. While Lithuania and Latvia have also made similar contributions to Ukraine — valued about €400 million or more — their demands on the fund under the same conditions as Estonia are far less. In a historic first after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU countries have been partially reimbursed for providing military aid with money from a joint fund called the Eur...

Boston Police identify victim of Winter Street homicide

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

Boston Police have identified the victim of a homicide on Winter Street earlier this month. Police say they responded to a report of an unresponsive person around 9 p.m. on March 17 after the man was beaten into unconsciousness near an ATM at 17 Winter Street.Police said the man, identified as 46-year-old Barry Whelan was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. He was later pronounced dead from blunt force trauma and taken off life support on March 24. The Boston Police homicide unit was called in to investigate in the meantime due to the severity of the man’s injuries, which were believed to be life-threatening at the time, according to police. This incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact Boston Police Homicide Detectives at (617) 343-4470.

Worcester breaking and entering call results in suspect left hanging from window, another being located by K9

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

A reported case of breaking and entering in Worcester ended with one alleged trespasser hanging from a window after trying to escape and another being located by a police dog.The Worcester Police Department said officers were first called to 139 Eastern Ave. around 1 p.m. on Monday after receiving a report of a breaking and entering in the area.Officials said arriving officers spotted a broken window on the premises and soon learned that a female and male had apparently entered an apartment.Following a search of the area, the department said a woman was found trying to escape out of a window with the help of a man.The woman, later identified as Cindy Moquin, ended up hanging from the window and was safely helped to the ground by police before being detained.During the situation, officials said the male, later identified as Thomas Reid, 61, was told by officers not to move.According to a statement from the police department, Reid “reached into his waistband and appeared to have...

Portugal: Afghan refugee kills 2 women in knife attack

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

By BARRY HATTON and JOSEPH WILSON (Associated Press)LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A man wielding a large knife killed two women and injured several other people at an Ismaili Muslim center in Lisbon, and Portuguese authorities said they were investigating Tuesday’s stabbing attack as a possible terror act.The women were Portuguese staff members at the center, Ismaili community leader Narzim Ahmad told Portuguese TV channel SIC. Local Afghan community representatives and Portuguese authorities described the man as a refugee from Afghanistan who was receiving help from the Ismaili Community. Officers dispatched to the center late Tuesday morning encountered a man armed with a knife, according to a police statement. The officers ordered him to surrender and he was shot when he advanced toward them, the statement said.A suspect was in police custody at a Lisbon hospital. Investigators were looking into terrorism as a possible motive. Several other people were wounded, according to...

Suu Kyi’s party ordered dissolved in military-ruled Myanmar

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The political party led by Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was ordered dissolved by the military-appointed election commission on Tuesday because it failed to register for a planned general election, state television MRTV reported. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which has denounced the promised polls as a sham, was one of 40 parties that failed to meet the Tuesday deadline for registration, MRTV said.Critics say the still-unscheduled polls will be neither free nor fair in a country ruled by the military that has shut free media and arrested most of the leaders of Suu Kyi’s party. The NLD won a landslide victory in the November 2020 election, only to have the army block all elected lawmakers from taking their seats in Parliament and seize power for itself, detaining top members of Suu Kyi’s government and party.“We absolutely do not accept that an election will be held at a time when many political leaders and political activists ha...

Portugal: Refugee held as suspect in Muslim center stabbings

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A man wielding a large knife killed two women and injured several other people at an Ismaili Muslim center in Lisbon, and Portuguese police said they were investigating Tuesday’s stabbing attack as a possible terror act.The women were Portuguese staff members at the center, Ismaili community leader Narzim Ahmad told Portuguese TV channel SIC. Local Afghan community representatives and Portuguese authorities described the man as a refugee from Afghanistan who was receiving help from the Ismaili Community. Officers dispatched to the center late Tuesday morning encountered a man armed with a knife, according to a police statement. The officers ordered him to surrender and he was shot when he advanced toward them, the statement said.A suspect was in police custody at a Lisbon hospital. Investigators were looking into terrorism as a possible motive. Several other people were wounded, according to the statement, which provided no further details.Millions of A...

US consumer confidence ticks up in March

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer confidence inched up in March after two straight monthly declines, even as persistent inflation, bank collapses and anxiety over a possible recession weighed on American households.The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 104.2 in March from 103.4 in February. Optimism about current conditions fell, though consumers grew slightly more positive about the short-term future. That’s a reversal from recent surveys.The board said that despite the uptick in confidence, the index remains below 2022’s average level of 104.5.The business research group’s present situation index — which measures consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions — inched down to 151.1 from 153 last month.The board’s expectations index — a measure of consumers’ six-month outlook for income, business and labor conditions — rose in March to 73 from 70.4 in February. A reading under 80 often signals a recession in the...

Brueghel work found in dim French TV room sells for $845,000

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

PARIS (AP) — One of Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s largest known works, whose discovery behind the television room door of a house in northern France amazed the art world, fetched 780,000 euros ($845,000) at auction in Paris Tuesday.The 17th century oil painting — which experts call “exceptional” and was long considered a fake by its owners — was discovered by chance in December collecting dust. An expert conducting an estimation request spotted something poking out past a door of the dim family house.“I arrived in a small television room which was not very well lit. I started making my estimates in the living room and turning around behind the door, there were two thirds of the painting visible,” Malo de Lussac of the auctioneers Daguerre Val de Loire, told The Associated Press. “And that’s when in fact I discovered the painting. It was a bit of a surprise.”The family of the owners, who wished to remain anonymous, acquired the work in 1900, and had always calle...

Residents of historically Black town sue to stop land sale

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — One of the first historically Black towns in the U.S. is suing the local school board to stop the sale of land that is tied up with Florida’s legacy of racial segregation decades ago and the state’s fast-paced growth nowadays.An association dedicated to the preservation of the town of Eatonville’s cultural history last Friday sued the Orange County School Board in an effort to stop the sale of the 100-acre property where the Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School once stood.The proposed $14.6 million sale of the school property to a developer with plans to build 350 new new homes, along with and business spaces, threatens the cultural heritage of the town, the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community said in its lawsuit. The sale is set to close on Friday.With a population of around 2,350 people residents, of whom almost three-quarters are Black, the town located outside of Orlando is perhaps best known through the writings of Harlem...

Brazil has a new biggest favela, and not in Rio de Janeiro

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:23:55 GMT

SOL NASCENTE, Brazil (AP) — The buzzing main avenue of this poor Brazilian neighborhood is filled with people popping off buses after work or grabbing a bite. Teens attend an open-air rap battle and gymnastics class. Hymns and prayers from tiny church services spill into the night.It’s an ordinary Wednesday in Brazil’s biggest favela, or low-income neighborhood. And for the first time since poverty, lack of opportunity and economic inequality caused favelas to mushroom across many of the nation’s cities, that superlative doesn’t belong to a favela in Rio de Janeiro.Sol Nascente (Rising Sun, in English) is just 21 miles (34 kilometers) from capital Brasilia in the Federal District, whose GDP per capita is by far higher than any Brazilian state, underscoring the inequality between affluent public servants’ neighborhoods and the district’s outskirts.The number of households in Sol Nascente has swelled 31% since 2010 to more than 32,000, surpassing Rio’s hillside Rocinha fav...