WorldReutersTurkey lays out demands as Finland, Sweden seek NATO membership
BERLIN (Reuters) -Turkey's foreign minister said on Sunday that Sweden and Finland must stop supporting terrorist groups in their countries, provide clear security guarantees and lift export bans on Turkey as they seek membership in NATO. Speaking after a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Berlin, Mevlut Cavusoglu said he met his Swedish and Finnish counterparts and all were seeking to address Turkey's concerns. He added that Turkey was not threatening anybody or seeking leverage but speaking out especially about Sweden's support for the PKK Kurdish militant group, deemed a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
BusinessFortuneBel Air mega-mansion listed for $87.8 million flops at auction and the celebrity developer seller is furious
A lavish Bel Air mansion that was listed for $87.8 million reportedly received just half of the asking price when it went to auction last week. According to CNBC, the highest bid for the property was just under $45.8 million — around 52% of the mammoth asking price. The mansion, located at 777 Sarbonne Road in Bel Air, was auctioned online by Concierge Auctions earlier this month.
U.S.Tacoma News TribuneChild porn investigation reveals Arby’s worker peeing in milkshakes, Washington cops say
A child porn investigation took another disgusting turn when Vancouver police officers found a video of a man peeing in milkshake mix at an Arby's restaurant, Washington authorities reported. The man, a night manager at the restaurant, told police he urinated in the milkshake mix for sexual gratification at least twice, Vancouver police said in a news release. “We have taken immediate action with the franchise group who terminated the former employee and is fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation.”
U.S.In The Know by YahooWoman catches boyfriend ‘breaking’ into her holiday home: ‘Definitely call the police’
When the brother and his wife asked if they could live in her holiday home, she denied their request. “I inherited a holiday home from my grandma some time ago,” she wrote. My boyfriend's brother eventually mentioned how I have my holiday home and how it has more than enough space for him and his wife to raise their four kids.
BusinessBuzzFeed17 Millennials And Gen Z'ers Exposed The Most Out-Of-Touch Things Their Bosses Have Said And Done, And I Can't Help But Roll My Eyes
Recently, I was feeling curious and asked millennials and Gen Z'ers across the BuzzFeed Community to share the most out of touch thing their boomer bosses have ever said or done. When I left, one of the bosses asked me if I had a new job and I said no. She said, 'Then I hope you have someone to keep you in the lifestyle to which you've become accustomed.'
U.S.Idaho StatesmanCouple follows ‘elusive’ animal into cemetery and gets rare sight, Montana video shows
An animal dashed down a busy road in Montana and into a cemetery. Jessica Jaeger and her husband, Dylan Heiner, spotted the critter in Butte and knew this wasn't an animal they had typically seen. “We were driving down a fairly busy road in Butte when he ran out of a neighborhood and into the cemetery,” Jaeger told McClatchy News.
WorldReutersUkraine's president replaces head of Territorial Defence Forces
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has replaced the head of its Territorial Defence Forces nearly three months into the war with Russia without giving a reason. The Defence Ministry said on Monday Zelenskiy had appointed Major General Ihor Tantsyura to take over from Yuriy Halushkin as commander of the forces that are helping the Ukrainian army defend the country following Russia's invasion on Feb. 24. The ministry described Tantsyura as an experienced officer who was previously chief of staff of Ukraine's ground forces.
U.S.American City Business JournalsGov. Ron DeSantis reveals that Florida may oversee Disney's property after Reedy Creek in Orlando is dissolved
The state of Florida may be the new overseer of whatever replaces the Walt Disney World's (NYSE: DIS) Reedy Creek Improvement District after that governing body is dissolved next year, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis, who was at Seminole State College making an announcement regarding nursing education, touched on the ongoing topic of the eventual dissolution of Reedy Creek in Jun 2023, which he signed into law in April. A concern was that costs and debts — upwards of $1 billion — held by Reedy Creek would fall to taxpayers in Orange and Osceola counties, but DeSantis has been adamant that won't happen and alluded to the state taking over control of governing the Disney area.
WorldThe Daily BeastRussian Allies Get Tongue-Lashing at Putin’s Ultimate Pity Party
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a meeting of the Russian-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), on Monday on the 30th anniversary of its founding—but the meeting was anything but celebratory. Instead, the heads of state from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, which make up the collective defense organization, akin to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, went to the Kremlin Monday in Moscow to lament the world's response to Putin's war in Ukraine. Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, sitting in a massive room with sweeping high ceilings and ornate, gold-covered walls, whined about “hellish” sanctions from the West and efforts to isolate Russia and Belarus—which has been supporting Putin's military moves in Ukraine—from the rest of the world.
- WorldAssociated Press Videos
Mass shooting suspect appears in Buffalo court
A teenage gunman wearing military gear and livestreaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket in what authorities described as “racially motived violent extremism,” killing 10 people and wounding three others Saturday before he surrendered, authorities said. (May 14)
U.S.Myrtle Beach Sun NewsMissing no more: Brittanee Drexel’s remains found in SC years after disappearance
Media had swarmed to Georgetown County last week following the reported arrest of Raymond Moody, previously named a person of interest in Drexel's disappearance. Moody has been charged with murder and kidnapping. Moody, 62, was charged with obstruction of justice, a charge authorities declined to confirm was related to the Drexel case.
HealthPOPSUGARBrie Larson Just Tried Pole Dancing - and Obviously She's Already a Pro
On Monday, Larson posted a series of photos on Instagram of her trying a pole-dancing class with the wonderfully punny caption, "Made an im-POLE-sive decision to try a new workout class." In the photos, you can see Larson climbing the pole (harder than it looks) and doing a version of what appears to be the "Ballerina" pole trick. You can see she's gripping the pole with one hand and one foot while suspending the rest of her body away from the pole in a pose that's reminiscent of Dancer in yoga.
U.S.Associated PressK-9 featured in Netflix's 'Rescued by Ruby' euthanized
A Rhode Island dog whose inspiring story of going from shelter dog to lifesaving police K-9 became the subject of a recent Netflix movie has been euthanized. State Police said Sunday K-9 Ruby was put down Friday following a “sudden, acute, and untreatable illness.” Col. Darnell Weaver, superintendent of the state police, expressed gratitude for K-9 Ruby's years of service.
U.S.MarketWatchMore people are turning to this housing idea for aging parents, but obstacles still exist in much of the country
Morisette and her daughter replaced a small garage behind her house with a new building — the carriage house. The lower level of the $280,000 structure is a two-car garage. Morisette lives upstairs in a nearly 800-square-foot one-bedroom apartment; she moved into her home in April 2021 and pays her daughter rent.
BusinessBusiness InsiderElon Musk is using a 'dog ate the homework' excuse to potentially back out of buying Twitter and there is now a less than 50% chance the deal gets done, Wedbush says
Elon Musk's excuse about Twitter bots is a way to back out of the deal, Wedbush said. Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion but could be feeling pressure amid falling Tesla stock. "We view the $44 billion Twitter deal as having less than a 50% [chance] to get done," Wedbush said.
WorldReutersErdogan says Swedish, Finnish delegations should not bother coming to Turkey
ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother coming to Ankara to convince it to approve their NATO bid. Sweden's government has formally decided to apply for NATO membership, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday, a day after Finnish President Sauli Niinisto confirmed that Helsinki will also apply for membership. Turkey surprised its NATO allies last week by saying it would not view their applications positively, mainly citing their history of hosting members of groups Ankara deems terrorists.
- WorldThe Week
Russia's thwarted Ukraine river crossing was so bloody, pro-Russia war bloggers are publicly griping
Russia's thwarted attempt to cross the Siverskyi Donets River in northeastern Ukraine last week "is emerging as among the deadliest engagements of the war, with estimates based on publicly available evidence now suggesting that well over 400 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded," The New York Times reports. Russia reportedly committed about 550 troops to its highly risky May 11 effort to cross the Donets River at Bilohorivka, to encircle Ukrainian forces near Rubizhne. Ukraine destroyed the pontoon bridges and also, according to Britain's Ministry of Defense, "significant armored maneuver elements of at least one Battalion Tactical Group."
U.S.Atlanta Black Star‘A Military-Style Execution’: 18-Year-Old Accused White Supremacist Kills 10 People In Buffalo Grocery Store In Orchestrated Terror Attack
The FBI is investigating Saturday's mass killing that left 10 people dead and three injured in Buffalo, New York, as a hate crime, the agency said. FBI officials said it is “aggressively investigating” the attack as “an instance of racially motivated violent extremism. Authorities say Payton Gendron, a heavily armed white 18-year-old man, entered the Tops Friendly Markets store in a predominately Black neighborhood around 2:30 p.m.
U.S.ReutersFormer top Republican lawmaker in Colorado received leak of voting data
(Reuters) -A former Republican minority leader of the Colorado legislature is among the recipients of a trove of sensitive voting data leaked by a county official working with activists seeking to prove President Donald Trump's false stolen-election claims, according to court records reviewed by Reuters. The revelation indicates the breach of ballot data in Elbert County was wider than previously understood. The case, now being investigated by the Colorado secretary of state, is one of at least nine unauthorized attempts to access voting-system data https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-breaches around the United States, at least eight of which involved Republican officials or activists seeking evidence to delegitimize Democratic President Joe Biden's election victory.
WorldUkrayinska Pravda"Like in a horror movie": the war in Ukraine has become hell for occupying forces - communications interception by Security Service of Ukraine
So a lot of 200s [killed soldiers] will be delivered to their Altai Krai [a region in Western Siberia -ed. Quote of the occupiers: We have a lot of pain in the a*s. We have a lot of 200s [killed soldiers] and 300s [wounded soldiers]… my commander was killed.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverCoast Guard stumbles onto dog swimming across vast Pamlico Sound off North Carolina
A U.S. Coast Guard vessel patrolling North Carolina's Pamlico Sound found a dog paddling in the middle of nowhere Saturday, May 14. The rescue was nothing short of miraculous, given a lone dog is tough to spot in a body of water that is nearly 100 miles long and 25 miles wide in places. Coast Guard officials say the crew had been alerted that a boater “lost their dog Myla overboard in Pamlico Sound,” so the odd sight didn't come as a complete shock.
WorldReutersBritain says Russia has lost a third of its forces in Ukraine
LONDON (Reuters) -Russia has probably lost around a third of the ground forces it deployed to Ukraine and its offensive in the Donbas region "has lost momentum and fallen significantly behind schedule", British military intelligence said on Sunday. "Despite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month whilst sustaining consistently high levels of attrition," the British defence ministry said on Twitter. "Russia has now likely suffered losses of one third of the ground combat force it committed in February."
WorldThe New Voice of UkraineSouth Korean ex-navy seal shares story of fighting in Ukraine
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, tens of thousands of volunteers from many countries have joined the Ukrainian military on the battlefield – well-trained, experienced and equipped fighters of the world's strongest armies. Most of them joined the International Legion of Territorial Defense under the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was created in late February by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky specially for foreign citizens. Rhee, 38, a former navy seal and lieutenant of the Navy special unit of the Republic of Korea, who arrived in Ukraine in early March, is one of such fighters.
U.S.WHBQKFC employee saves the day after kidnapped woman leaves note begging for help
A KFC employee saved the day over the weekend after calling the police when a woman left a note begging for help, according to court records. Officers were told by an employee of the KFC that a woman had left a note begging for help and gave a description of the woman and the man with her, the affidavit said. Officers were able to make contact with Diego Glay and the woman who matched the description given by the KFC employee.
PoliticsAssociated PressGeorgia voters appeal decision on Rep. Greene's eligibility
A group of voters who challenged U.S. Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene's eligibility to run for reelection said Monday they have filed an appeal of the Georgia secretary of state's decision that she can appear on the ballot. The five voters from Greene's district in March filed a complaint with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Georgia Administrative Law Judge Charles Beaudrot last month held a daylong hearing that included arguments from lawyers for the voters and for Greene, as well as extensive questioning of Greene herself.
“It could give millions a chance to finally buy a house or start their business or help their kids get an education, too.”
“You signed a contract…If you don’t want to deal with the financial pressure of debt, don’t take out the loan.”
“Without action from Biden, Black student debt will hinder his agenda with respect to eliminating racial inequities.”
“Blanket relief could end up routing too much relief to those who do not need it and too little to those who do.”
“Unlike a number of other policy issues, student debt relief doesn’t need to be pushed through a narrowly controlled Congress.”