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Convalescing Pope Francis holds talks with Cuba’s president at Vatican

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis, in his first full week back at the Vatican following abdominal surgery, met on Tuesday with Cuba’s president, part of the Holy See’s attention to the communist-led Caribbean island nation. The Holy See’s brief statement of the private meeting with President Miguel Diaz-Canel gave no details of what the pontiff and the Cuban leader discussed. But it mentioned “the importance of the diplomatic relations between the Holy See, evoking among other things the historic visit of St. John Paul II in 1998,” during a subsequent meeting with the Vatican’s secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.The prelate and the Cuban leader also discussed Cuba’s “situation and the contribution that the Church offers, especially in the sphere of charity,” the statement said. Cuba has been struggling through an economic crisis. Francis visited Cuba in 2015, as part of the Vatican’s drive to encourage better international relations. That quest ...

4 dead after fire in e-bike shop spreads to apartments in New York City

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A fire that started in a New York City e-bike shop early Tuesday spread to upper-floor apartments, killing four people and injuring several others, authorities said.City fire officials said the blaze was reported shortly after midnight on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a six-story building that houses HQ E-Bike Repair. A pile of burned bikes and other debris was seen on the sidewalk outside the building.Two men and two women died and two other women were hospitalized in critical condition, officials said. A firefighter suffered minor injuries, authorities said.The cause of the fire was under investigation.Electric bikes have become popular, non-gasoline-burning ways to make deliveries, commute and zip around a city that has promoted cycling in recent decades. Many run on lithium ion batteries, which have been blamed for numerous fires.In April in the Queens section of New York City, two children were killed in a fire blamed on an electric bicycle.The Associated ...

Romanian prosecutors file rape, trafficking charges against Andrew Tate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Divisive social media personality Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, have been charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women, prosecutors in Romania said Tuesday.Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said prosecutors filed the charges against the brothers, who are both British-U.S. dual citizens, along with two Romanian women.In a statement, the agency said that the four defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 “in order to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania as well as the United States and Britain. It alleged that seven female victims were misled and transported to Romania, where they were sexually exploited and subjected to physical violence by the gang.The Tate brothers and the two Romanian suspects were detained in late December in Romania’s capital Bucharest. The brothers won an appeal on March 31 to be moved from police custody to house arrest.Tate, 36, is a professional kickboxer ...

9 Egyptians appearing in Greek court over deadly migrant shipwreck

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Nine Egyptian men accused of being members of a human smuggling ring involved in one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean are appearing in court in southern Greece on Tuesday for questioning over their alleged role in the disaster.The nine, appearing in court in the southern city of Kalamata, face a string of charges including participation in a criminal organization, manslaughter and causing a shipwreck. More than 500 people are believed to be missing from last week’s sinking off the western coast of Greece of the dilapidated fishing trawler, which some estimates say had been carrying up to 750 people, as it traveled from Libya to Italy. So far 81 bodies have been recovered, and 104 people, all men, have been rescued. A search and rescue operation continues in the area, but chances of locating any further survivors are exceedingly slim.The suspects were reportedly identified as having been involved in sailing the ship by testimonies provided by...

CP NewsAlert: RCAF helicopter involved in incident near Ottawa River

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

The Royal Canadian Air Force say one of its military helicopters was involved in an incident when operating near the Ottawa River in the vicinity of Garrison Petawawa at 12:10 a.m. local time today.More coming.The Canadian Press

Tropical Storm Bret spins toward eastern Caribbean as islands brace for heavy winds, flooding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Bret chugged toward the eastern Caribbean on Tuesday as forecasters warned it could strengthen into a hurricane before approaching a region rushing to prepare itself for an unusually early storm.Bret had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving across the Atlantic Ocean at 17 mph (28 kph). It is expected to strengthen into a hurricane in coming days but then weaken ahead of its approach to the Lesser Antilles, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.The storm is expected to pummel some eastern Caribbean islands on Thursday and Friday at near hurricane strength.“Both the atmospheric and oceanic environment look conducive for strengthening during the next couple of days with low shear and abnormally warm ocean waters,” the center said.Forecasters warned of strong winds, dangerous storm surge and waves, and flooding from heavy rainfall. They urged people in the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands t...

Estonia to allow same-sex marriage starting in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s lawmakers approved legislation Tuesday allowing same-sex marriage as of next year, making Estonia the first of the three Baltic countries to do so.The 101-seat Riigikogu legislature passed in a 55-34 vote amendments to Estonia’s Family Law Act and related legislation that will enable the introduction of marriage equality in the small country of 1.3 million as of Jan. 1, 2024.Like former Eastern bloc countries, the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been slower to embrace LGBTQ+ rights than most countries in Western Europe. The Baltic countries regained independence from the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War.Parliament’s measure was tied to a confidence vote on Prime Minister Kaja Kallas’ center-right government, which has been under pressure from conservative opposition parties and civil society groups to maintain what they say are traditional family values by rejecting same-sex marriage.“Everyone should have the right ...

US and China hold top-level talks, but their rivalry remains unchecked

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China may be back to talking at a high level, but their battle for global power and influence remains unchecked and mutual suspicion still runs deep.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken set low goals for his visit to Beijing this week, and he met them. About the most the rivals can hope for these days is to stop things getting much worse.Blinken pointed to difficult days ahead, while China’s foreign ministry warned the relationship was in a downward spiral.“It was clear coming in that the relationship was at a point of instability, and both sides recognized the need to work to stabilize it,” Blinken said of the reason for his trip. “And specifically, we believe that it’s important to establish better lines of communication, open channels of communication, both to address misperceptions, miscalculations and to ensure that that competition doesn’t veer into conflict.”The two-day visit to the Chinese capital helped restore top-level ties, but Chin...

Cross bequeathed by Pope Benedict XVI is stolen from church in his home region in Germany

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A cross bequeathed by the late Pope Benedict XVI to a parish in his German home region of Bavaria has been stolen from the church where it was exhibited, police said Tuesday.A display case on the wall of the town church in Traunstein was broken open by unknown perpetrators and the cross was taken sometime between 11:45 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday, Bavaria’s state criminal police office said in a statement. The cross was described as a pectoral cross — one worn on the chest. Police said that cash also was stolen from the till of a magazine stand in the church.“For the Catholic church, the value of the religious object is not quantifiable,” the police statement said. It called for people who may have seen suspicious individuals around the church on Monday or can give any other information to come forward.Benedict died on Dec. 31, nearly a decade after becoming the first pope in six centuries to resign.The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was born in the small Bavaria...

Millennial Money: Should you financially support adult kids?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:31:12 GMT

Some parents will tell you firsthand there’s no expiration date on this raising kids gig. For some, that means they extend financial help to their kids into adulthood. When I was 21 and got into a master’s program at a college of my dreams, my mom swooped in to help me pay for my degree. Many parents have been kind enough to do this and more.When I say “many,” I’m backed up by a 2023 survey from Savings.com that found 45% of parents with a child 18 or older spend an average of over $1,400 per month supporting their kids financially, excluding adult kids with disabilities.But is this financial support always a good idea? A certified financial planner and a therapist who both have experience in this department share their thoughts.WHY PARENTS SUPPORT ADULT KIDSThere are many reasons a parent may choose to support their adult kids. Disabilities and wanting to help them achieve major life milestones are a couple. Shelmeshia Hill-Brown, the CEO of Wholistic Resolutions LLC in Chesapeake,...