WorldReutersBelarus foreign minister Makei dies suddenly - Belta
"Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei has passed away suddenly," Belta reported without giving further detail. Makei had held his post since 2012. Makei, 64, attended a conference of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - a military alliance of several post soviet states - in Yerevan earlier this week and was due to meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday.
BusinessMarketWatchMy wife and I have $750,000 in savings and earn over $144,000 a year. Can we afford to spend $5,000 per month on housing?
In short, I don't feel that we can or should afford to pay 45% of our take home income towards housing when we have a baby on the way. Perhaps I can rent out our current house to cover our current mortgage and tax as well as some cash flow to help with new childcare cost when the baby is due this summer. However, dealing with a new baby coming and our young toddler who is not old enough for school will be a major undertaking.
U.S.The New York TimesIt's Public Land. But the Public Can't Reach It.
It is also at the root of a potentially far-reaching case in federal court in which a Wyoming landowner accuses four hunters of trespassing — and causing millions of dollars in damage — even though they never stepped foot on his land. OnX was born when Eric Siegfried, a mechanical engineer and part-time hunting guide in Montana, decided to make a Google Maps for the wilderness. He had solid navigation skills, he said, but was sick of getting lost.
WorldReutersTaiwan president quits as party head after China threat bet fails to win votes
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Saturday after her strategy to frame local elections as showing defiance to China's rising bellicosity failed to pay off and win public support. The elections for mayors, county chiefs and local councillors are ostensibly about domestic issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and crime, and those elected will not have a direct say on China policy. But Tsai had recast the election as being more than a local vote, saying the world is watching how Taiwan defends its democracy amid military tensions with China, which claims the island as its territory.
U.S.Fox NewsColombian judge suspended after appearing on Zoom call half-naked, smoking in bed
A Colombian judge known for sharing racy photos on her Instagram page has been suspended for three months after appearing on a virtual Zoom meeting while half-naked and smoking a cigarette in bed. In a 33-second clip circulating on social media, the 34-year-old judge, Vivian Polanía, can be seen lounging in bed, appearing half-awake while taking a drag from a cigarette. At one point in the hearing, a prosecutor tells Polanía that her camera is on, and she immediately turns it off as the hearing continues, local media reported.
BusinessMotley FoolSome Social Security Beneficiaries Will Enjoy an Unusual Raise in 2023 -- and It Has Nothing to Do With COLA
Whether you're already retired or just entering the labor force, there's a high likelihood that Social Security will play an important role in helping you pay the bills during your golden years. When national pollster Gallup surveyed retirees and nonretirees earlier this year, 89% of current retirees said they lean on Social Security as a needed source of income (to some varied degree), while 84% of nonretirees expect to rely on Social Security in some capacity during retirement. Given these figures, it's no shock that Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is a much-awaited announcement.
WorldAssociated PressChina sentences Chinese-Canadian star Kris Wu to 13 years
A Chinese court on Friday sentenced Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu to 13 years in prison on charges including rape. Beijing's Chaoyang District Court said Wu was given 11 years and 6 months for a 2020 rape, and 1 year and 10 months for the “crime of assembling a crowd to engage in sexual promiscuity” in a 2018 event in which he and others allegedly assaulted two women they had gotten drunk. The court said the three victims in the rape case had also been drunk and were unable to consent.
- U.S.The Independent
Judge filmed laying in bed in underwear while smoking during court hearing
A Columbian judge has reportedly been suspended after she was caught on camera smoking in her underwear during a Zoom hearing. This video circulating on social media allegedly shows judge Vivian Polania lying on a bed puffing a cigarette during a virtual debate. Ms Polania has previously been issued warnings about her personal Instagram posts, which also show her in her underwear.
U.S.INSIDERRep. Lauren Boebert says 'blame game' needs to end after critics point to her anti-LGBTQ comments following Club Q shooting
Rep. Lauren Boebert says that she is being blamed by the left for the recent wave of mass shootings. "It has to come to an end, this blame game," Boebert told OAN. GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert says she's been blamed for the recent tragedy in Colorado Springs — and other mass shootings — after her anti-LGBTQ comments resurfaced and her pro-gun stance.
WorldReutersChina sentences Canadian pop star Kris Wu to 13 years for rape
BEIJING (Reuters) -A Beijing court sentenced Canadian singer Kris Wu on Friday to 13 years in jail after finding him guilty of crimes including rape, just over a year after his arrest in China, where he was born and built a lucrative career. The court in the district of Chaoyang said investigation showed that from November to December 2020, the 32-year-old, who is also known as Wu Yifan, had raped three women. "Wu Yifan took advantage of three drunken women ... at his home," the court said on its official WeChat account.
PoliticsHuffPostEx-Prosecutor Says 7 Words Should Disqualify Mike Pence From Holding Office Again
Seven words that Mike Pence said about declining to appear before the House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot should prohibit the former vice president from ever holding public office again, a former federal prosecutor has argued. In a YouTube video released Thursday, Glenn Kirschner issued a damning critique of Pence's recent claim that “Congress has no right to my testimony” about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Kirschner, who was a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in Washington for more than two decades, said Congress has a legitimate purpose in investigating Donald Trump's attempted overthrow of the 2020 election result, which indicated that rival Joe Biden would be taking his place in the White House.
U.S.BBCAustralia: Python bites and drags five-year-old into pool
A five-year-old Australian boy has survived being bitten, constricted and dragged into a swimming pool by a python about three times his size. Beau Blake was enjoying a swim at home when the 3m long (10ft) reptile struck, his father told a local radio station. The pair - still entangled - were pulled from the pool by Beau's grandfather and the boy was prised free from the animal by his dad Ben.
BusinessYahoo News CanadaWhat is BQ1.1.? An emerging and worrisome COVID-19 variant to keep an eye on
As Canadians are urged to receive their COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, many wonder when the pandemic will end. As the colder weather sets in, COVID-19 cases are rising in hospitals around the country. Different COVID-19 variants have reigned supreme at various points during the pandemic.
U.S.Fox NewsFlorida police prevent 'mass casualty' event after stopping woman from driving car through 5K route
Police in Florida stopped a woman who was allegedly about to drive her car through the route of a 5K run on Thanksgiving morning. The St. Petersburg Police Department said 38-year-old Ashlee Lauren Morgan was driving her 2019 Range Rover Velar while going 60 miles per hour on Thursday as she was approaching 21st Avenue NE, near the route for the Coffee Pot Turkey Trot, according to FOX 13. According to an arrest report, Morgan was allegedly driving in a "reckless manner" as she approached the route where around 3,000 people were participating in the 5K.
BusinessMotley FoolThis Is How Much Money You're Actually Supposed to Keep in Your Checking Account, and It May Surprise You
Many financial experts recommend keeping enough money in your checking account to cover one to two months of expenses. This way, you have enough money to cover your regular bills, and keeping a bit extra gives you some wiggle room. The rest of your extra money should be put towards other financial goals, like investing and saving.
BusinessReutersVietnam's VinFast ships first electric vehicles to U.S. customers
HAI PHONG, Vietnam (Reuters) -Vietnam's electric vehicle maker VinFast said on Friday it had shipped its first batch of 999 cars to the United States, capping a five-year bid to develop an auto production hub in the Southeast Asian country for markets in North America and Europe. VinFast Chief Executive Le Thi Thu Thuy said some of the VF 8 electric SUVs being shipped on Friday would be sent to U.S. car subscription service Autonomy but the majority would go to retail buyers who have ordered the car. Thuy said VinFast expected to be able to ship a second batch of cars to the United States, its first export market, around January.
- U.S.WFXT
Apple CEO Tim Cook spotted in a Quincy restaurant days after deadly Hingham crash
Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted in Quincy at ALBA Restaurant just days after a driver crashed into the Apple store killing one person and injuring 19 in Hingham. ALBA Restaurant posted on their Facebook page on Friday a photo of Leo Keka, the owner of the restaurant and Apple CEO, Tim Cook. Keka tells Boston 25 that Cook was in town to visit the Apple Store in Hingham as well as South Shore Hospital where multiple victims of the deadly crash remain.
U.S.Business InsiderMilitary pay: This is how much US troops are paid according to their rank
We estimated their pay rate based on how many years they've typically served by the time they reach that rank — many service members spend more time in each rank than we've calculated, while some troops spend less time and promote more quickly. We also didn't include factors like housing allowance because they vary widely, but these are often a large portion of their compensation. We also didn't include warrant officers, whose years of service can vary widely.
U.S.Associated PressJudge to decide on Florida face-biter insanity plea
A former college student who randomly killed a Florida couple in their garage six years ago and then chewed on one victim's face finally goes on trial Monday, with a judge deciding whether he goes to prison for life or to a mental hospital. Austin Harrouff, 25, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges for his August 2016 slayings of John Stevens, a 59-year-old landscaper, and his 53-year-old wife, Michelle Mishcon Stevens, who had retired after working in finance. The former Florida State University student has waived a jury trial, meaning Circuit Judge Sherwood Bauer will decide whether Harrouff was insane when he killed the couple, and seriously injured the neighbor who came to their aid.
U.S.WSB Cox articlesFormer volleyball standout home for Thanksgiving dies along with her father in crash, team says
The Creekview High School community is mourning the loss of a former volleyball standout and her father who died in a crash. Alivia Mynes, 18, and Chris Mynes, 52, died Thanksgiving morning in the Cherokee County crash. DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The Creekview volleyball team confirmed Alivia was a former standout for the team and just finished her freshman season at Bryan College in Tennessee.
U.S.The Daily BeastWalmart Shooter’s Alleged ‘Kill List’ Found in Trash Can Outside Home: Report
Two victims remained in hospital late Thursday after the horrific mass shooting at a Virginia Walmart earlier this week as a “kill list” allegedly dumped by the killer in the trash outside his home before the rampage is revealed. The City of Chesapeake tweeted an update on Thursday afternoon, confirming two of those injured in Tuesday's shooting were still under medical supervision; one in a critical condition and the other in “fair/improving” condition. “On this Thanksgiving, we are extra thankful for our community and we are thinking of every victim of the Walmart shooting and their family members,” the update said.
WorldAssociated PressRussia steps up missile barrage of recaptured Ukrainian city
Natalia Kristenko's dead body lay covered in a blanket in the doorway of her apartment building for hours overnight. City workers were at first too overwhelmed to retrieve her as they responded to a deadly barrage of attacks that shook Ukraine's southern city of Kherson. “Russians took the two most precious people from me,” their bereft daughter, Lilia Kristenko, 38, said, clutching her cat inside her coat as she watched on in horror Friday as responders finally arrived to transport her mother to the morgue.
U.S.Miami HeraldRarely seen snake species shows up in middle of Florida road — eating another animal
The intimidatingly long Florida pine snake is rarely encountered in the wild, but a sighting happened in Ocala National Forest — with a grisly twist. A pine snake was seen Oct. 26 shoving another animal down its throat, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. “An FWC ... biologist was surveying a site in the Ocala National Forest when she came to a road intersection and spotted something in the middle of the road,” the institute wrote in a Nov. 19 Facebook post.
U.S.Sacramento BeeHiker dies in Zion National Park while her husband tries to get her help, rangers say
A hiker died during an overnight trip at Zion National Park as her husband went looking for help, according to park officials. The couple started their 16-mile permitted trek through The Narrows, one of the Utah park's most popular hikes, on Tuesday, Nov. 22, according to a Nov. 24 news release from the National Park Service. The husband and wife stopped about “about a mile and a half from the north end of Riverside Walk (a paved trail that leads from the Temple of Sinawava to the Narrows),” according to NPS.
WorldReutersVatican court hears cardinal's secretly taped phone call with pope
A court at a Vatican corruption trial on Thursday heard a secretly recorded telephone call between the main defendant, embattled Cardinal Angelo Becciu, and Pope Francis. The recording was made without the pope's knowledge by someone in a room with Becciu in July 2021, shortly before the trial began and while the pope was still recovering from major intestinal surgery, the court was told. Reporters were asked to leave the room while the tape was played but lawyers who heard it said Becciu asked the pope to confirm that the pontiff had authorised a payment to help release a nun who had been kidnapped in Africa.
“Democrats succeeded again in making the former President a central campaign issue, and Mr. Trump helped them do it.”
“If you work…to install a Supreme Court that will eliminate constitutional rights, prepare to live with the electoral consequences.”
“Trump pretty reliably put his thumb on the scale for the riskiest and most flawed candidates.”
“The Republicans should have done much better on inflation and the economy. They lacked an effective and transparent message.”
“Where does Trump end and the far-right begin?”