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UN chief concerned Russia will quit Black Sea grain deal in July

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (pictured) said on Monday (12 June) he is concerned that Russia will on 17 July quit a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.Moscow has been threatening to walk away from the deal known as the Black Sea grain initiative - brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July last year - if obstacles to its own grain and fertilizer shipments are not removed."I am concerned and we are working hard in order to make sure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea initiative and at the same time that we are able to go on in our work to facilitate Russian exports," Guterres told reporters.To convince Russia to agree to the Black Sea grain deal, a three-year memorandum of understanding was struck at the same time under which UN officials agreed to help Russia with its own food and fertilizer exports.While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanct...

Photos: You can lease Walt Disney’s California Storybook Mansion for $40,000 a month

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

Timur Bekmambetov, a Russian-Kazakh filmmaker best known for such films as “Wanted,” “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and the 2016 remake of “Ben-Hur,” is renting for $40,000 a month. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)The rotunda entrance. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)The hand-painted ceiling in the rotunda entrtance. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)The living room. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)The kitchen. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)The dining room. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)The theater. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)The former sleep porch. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)The trellis-covered dining patio. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)A view of the house from the back. (Photo by Joel Danto of The Luxury Level)Show Caption of ExpandA hilltop home that Walt Disney built during the Great Depression in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz near Griffith ...

Single-family home in Palo Alto sells for $2.8 million

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

921 College Avenue – Google Street ViewA 2,038-square-foot house built in 1926 has changed hands. The spacious historic property located in the 900 block of College Avenue in Palo Alto was sold on June 1, 2023. The $2,800,000 purchase price works out to $1,374 per square foot. The property features three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a garage. There’s also a pool in the backyard and two parking spaces. The unit sits on a 5,750-square-foot lot.These nearby houses have also recently changed hands:A 540-square-foot home on the 2100 block of Oberlin Street in Palo Alto sold in July 2022, for $1,680,000, a price per square foot of $3,111. The home has 1 bedroom 1 bathroom.On Dartmouth Street, Palo Alto, in December 2022, a 1,548-square-foot home was sold for $1,715,000, a price per square foot of $1,108. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In February 2023, a 1,601-square-foot home on Columbia Street in Palo Alto sold for $1,962,500, a price per square foot of $1,226. The home has 3 b...

Horoscopes June 14, 2023: Lucy Hale, accept and adjust

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Lucy Hale, 34; Kevin McHale, 35; Diablo Cody, 45; Boy George, 62.Happy Birthday: Pay attention to what’s going on around you. It will be easy to misinterpret the information you receive and how others feel about you or your decisions. The more aware you are, the easier it will be to bring about good changes for you and everyone your decisions will affect. Face challenges with optimism and an open mind. Accept and adjust. Your numbers are 4, 10, 16, 23, 36, 41, 45.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Challenging yourself physically will ease stress and help you sidestep an argument with someone who doesn’t see things your way. Concentrate on improving what you can contribute and adding features that attract exciting people and offers. Romance is favored. 3 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Simplify your life instead of overextending yourself emotionally or financially. Discipline will help you reach your goal in a timely fashion. Don’t hesitate to a...

Bridge: June 14, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

The loser-on-loser play may be declarer’s most valuable tool, useful in many situations: in establishing a suit, preparing an end play or executing an “avoidance” play.In today’s deal, North’s bid of 2NT would have been an artificial forcing spade raise were he not a passed hand; as it was, his bid was natural and invitational, showing a balanced 11 or 12 points.Against four spades, West leads the jack of hearts: queen, king, three. South wins the heart return with dummy’s ace and counts nine winners: six trumps and three side aces. Where can he get a 10th trick?THIRD TRICKSouth should lead a diamond to his ace at the third trick, lead a trump to dummy’s nine and return the queen of diamonds. When East follows low, South discards his last heart — a loser on a loser.West takes the king, and leads a third heart. South ruffs and reaches dummy with the king of trumps to discard a club on the jack of diamonds. He loses one club at the end b...

Word Game: June 14, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — INTEGER (INTEGER: IN-tih-jer: A member of the set of whole numbers or their negatives.)Average mark 24 wordsTime limit 40 minutesCan you find 33 or more words in INTEGER? The list will be published tomorrow.YESTERDAY’S WORD — DEMOTES deem deet demo demote does dome dose dote emote meet mete mode modest most mote teed teem toed tome seed seem smote some steed stemTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.Contact Word Game creator Kathleen Saxe at [email protected].

Ukraine on the Offensive

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

The Ukrainian military’s counteroffensive against Russia is underway. Aided by the U.S. and other Western powers, Ukraine is making a push to expel Russian troops. This week on Intercepted, Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain are joined by Rajan Menon, the director of the Grand Strategy program at Defense Priorities and author of several books, including “Conflict in Ukraine: The Unwinding of the Post-Cold War Order.” Menon was recently in Ukraine, and he describes the developments in the country, more than one year since the Russian invasion began. Menon breaks down the regional differences in Ukraine and the geopolitical challenges to ending the conflict.Transcript coming soon.The post Ukraine on the Offensive appeared first on The Intercept.

‘Where it gets complicated’: What needs to be done to curb ‘rampant homelessness’ in DC area

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

The D.C. region had bucked the national trend of rising homelessness for years, seeing a consistent decrease in the homeless population year after year starting in 2019. That ended in 2023.A recent Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments report found an 18% increase in homelessness across the Greater Washington area between 2022 and 2023. Suburban areas saw the largest increase.For Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, this latest spike wasn’t a surprise. “We’ve seen dramatic increases in housing costs all across the country, especially in this region. Year over year from 2020 to 2021, housing costs increased by 18%,” Whitehead said. “What we’ve seen is more people in unsheltered homeless situations, and it’s continuing to grow since those COVID resources weren’t on the table.”The one-two punch of rising rents and the evaporation of COVID-19...

Philippine volcano’s eruption, which has displaced thousands, can last for months

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

LEGAZPI, Philippines (AP) — A gentle eruption of the Philippines’ most active volcano that has forced nearly 18,000 people to flee to emergency shelters could last for months and create a protracted crisis, officials said Wednesday.President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. flew to northeastern Albay province to reassure villagers who were forced to evacuate from mostly poor farming communities within a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius of the Mayon volcano’s crater since volcanic activity spiked last week.Marcos distributed food packs and other aid to displaced villagers, and was expected to meet Albay town mayors later Wednesday to discuss the unfolding crisis. The eruption is the latest natural calamity to test the administration of Marcos, who took office in June 2022 in a Southeast Asian nation regarded as one of the most disaster-prone in the world. About 20 typhoons and storms a year lash the Philippines, and the poor archipelago with 23 active volcanoes wrestles with frequent earthquakes.“U...

Democrats and Republicans share core values but still distrust each other

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans on the right and the left have a lot more in common than they might think — including their strong distrust of each other.A survey published on Wednesday finds that when asked about core values including fairness, compassion and personal responsibility, about nine in 10 Democrats and Republicans agreed they were very or extremely important. Yet only about a third of either group said they believed the same was true for the opposing party.The results of the survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago and the nonprofit group Starts With Us, reveal a stark truth at the source of the polarization that has a powerful grip on American politics: While most Americans agree on the core principles underlying American democracy, they no longer recognize that the other side also holds those values.“This is a hidden opportunity for Americans to reestablish a sense of shared values,” said Tom Fishman, chief executive at Starts With Us, a nonpartisan organiza...