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Stavridis: Haiti needs new UN mission, led by the US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

For decades, Haiti has struggled to avoid tumbling into deeply challenging conditions. It has been repeatedly beset by poor leadership, dictatorships and natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, which are often followed by outbreaks of disease.Today, the nation of more than 11 million people seems to have reached a nadir. After the assassination of the president in 2021, civil order has essentially been neutered. The shaky parliament is no match for the nation’s large, heavily armed gangs. Kidnapping, rape, murder and drug dealing have soared, with crime rates doubling in a year. Port-au-Prince, the capital, is among the most dangerous cities in the Americas.Tragically, all this is occurring in a nation that is the second-oldest free republic in the hemisphere (having won its independence from France in 1804).As the security situation continues to deteriorate, many international observers are calling for a new United Nations stabilization and security mission, similar to t...

Dear Abby: Mom wants surgery after insensitive comments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

Dear Abby: I had my daughter later in life. I was almost 41. I am no beauty queen, but now, 12 years later, I have been asked by two different people if I am my daughter’s grandmother. It was so upsetting, I cried for weeks. I have always been self-conscious about my looks.My daughter is now going to be a teenager. I don’t want her future high school friends thinking I am her grandma, so I’ve been contemplating plastic surgery. My family insists I don’t need it. They’re calling me vain, foolish, selfish, etc. My husband is discouraging me because of the cost. (He’s pretty frugal.)Would it be selfish if it will make me feel better about myself? In the meantime, how do I handle any more “grandma” comments without punching someone in the nose? — Not That Old in FloridaDear Not That Old: In case you haven’t noticed, an increasing number of women are having children in their 40s (and a few even older). If you are contemplating c...

After outrage over Taylor Swift tickets, reform has been slow across the US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When thousands of fans couldn’t get tickets for megastar Taylor Swift’s summer stadium tour, some diehards paid upwards of 70 times face value to see their favorite artist in person — an outrage that prompted Congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures to better protect consumers.After 10 months, Swift’s U.S. tour is finished, but so are most of the meaningful reforms consumer advocates and industry groups had hoped to pass this year. A proposal has so far failed to advance in the U.S. Senate. Legislation in Colorado was vetoed by the Democratic governor at the urging of some consumer groups.In California, home to iconic recording studios like Capitol Records and influential clubs like the Whiskey A Go Go and Hollywood Bowl, what started as a robust array of legislation has been watered down to a single bill banning hidden fees, something New York and Connecticut have done and most major industry players have already committed t...

In final hours before landfall, Hurricane Idalia stopped intensifying and turned from Tallahassee

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — In the final hours before Hurricane Idalia struck Florida the storm had grown into a Category 4 beast lurking off the state’s west coast, and the forecast called for it to continue intensifying up until landfall. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft had recorded winds up to 130 mph (215 kph), the National Hurricane Center said in an ominous bulletin at 6 a.m. Wednesday.As the sun rose an hour later, however, there was evidence the hurricane began replacing the wall around its eye — a phenomenon that experts say kept it from further intensifying. Maximum winds had dropped to near 125 mph (205 kph), the Hurricane Center said in a 7 a.m. update.Then came another surprising twist: A last-minute turn sparing the state’s capital city of Tallahassee from far more serious damage.“Eyewall replacement cycles are common in major hurricanes, and so when you see that, it does lead to some temporary weakening,” said Kelly Godsey, one of the meteorologists tracking the sto...

Texas wanted armed officers at every school after Uvalde. Many can’t meet that standard

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A vision of armed officers at every school in Texas is crashing into the reality of not enough money or police as a new mandate took effect Friday, showing how a goal more states are embracing in response to America’s cycle of mass killings is proving unworkable in many communities.Dozens of Texas’ largest school districts, which educate many of the state’s 5 million students, are reopening classrooms without meeting the state’s new requirements of armed officers on every campus. The mandate is a pillar of a safety bill signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who rejected calls this year for gun control despite angry pleas from parents of children killed in the Uvalde school massacre. Texas has nearly 9,000 public school campuses, second only to California, making the requirement the largest of its kind in the U.S. “We all support the idea,” said Stephanie Elizalde, superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, which has more t...

US vice chair of Armed Services Committee promises ‘resolute reaction’ if Taiwan is attacked

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A U.S. congressional delegation visiting Taiwan said Friday the U.S. would act if the island was attacked and promised to resolve the $19 billion backlog in its defense purchases from the U.S. “Know that any hostile unprovoked attack on Taiwan will result in a resolute reaction from the U.S.,” said Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in a speech, ahead of meetings with President Tsai Ing-Wen.U.S. law requires Washington provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” but remains ambiguous on whether it would commit forces in response to an attack from China. Wittman of Virginia, along with Carlos Gimenez of Florida and Jen Kiggans of Virginia, arrived Thursday for a three-day visit to Taiwan. The three Republicans are meeting with Tsai and the head of Taiwan’s National Security Council Wellington Koo.Taiwan is a self-ruled island claimed by China that has faced...

Afghanistan’s female cricketers plead with sport’s world governing body: help us play again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Just over two years ago, Firooza Amiri was an 18-year-old batter for the Afghanistan women’s cricket team, ready to take on the world if given the chance.But just like that, her world and that of millions of others in her country changed forever.Forced to flee with her family when the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2021, Amiri and her family first traveled to Pakistan and then were evacuated to Australia, She still lives in Australia, along with most of her 25 teammates.Now, looking for their place in international competition, they are pleading with the International Cricket Council and the Afghanistan cricket authorities to give them a place to play, despite the Taliban’s ban on women in sport and education.“Yeah, unfortunately two weeks ago was the two-year anniversary of the Taliban and our BLACK DAY,” Amiri said in a message to The Associated Press, accentuating two words in capital letters.Amiri and her family were from t...

US jobs report for August could point to a moderating pace of hiring as economy gradually slows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Slowly and steadily, an overheated American job market is returning to room temperature.The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that U.S. employers — companies, nonprofits and government agencies combined — added 170,000 jobs last month, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. That would be down from the 187,000 jobs that were added in July and would be the lowest monthly gain since December 2020.“We are beginning to see this slow glide into a cooler labor market,’’ said Becky Frankiewicz, chief commercial officer at the employment firm ManpowerGroup. “Make no mistake: Demand is cooling off. … But it’s not a freefall.’’The latest sign that the pace of hiring is losing some momentum — without going into a nosedive — would be welcomed by the Federal Reserve, which has been trying to tame inflation with a series of 11 interest rate hikes. The Fed is hoping to achieve a rare “soft landing,” in which it would manage to slow hiring ...

Australian consumer watchdog calls for record fine against Qantas over canceled flights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s consumer watchdog on Friday called for Qantas Airways to be punished with a record fine for allegedly selling tickets on thousands of flights that had already been canceled.Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said Qantas’ penalty for allegedly breaching consumer law should be more than double the Australian record 125 million Australian dollar ($81 million) fine imposed on the Volkswagen Group in 2019 for misleading customers about the level of exhaust emissions from its diesel engines.“We consider that this should be a record penalty for this conduct,” Cass-Gottieb told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “We are going to seek a penalty that will underline that this is not just to be a cost of doing business.” “We consider these penalties to have been too low. We think the penalties should be in hundreds of million, not tens of million,” she added.The commission filed a lawsuit against Qantas in the Federal Court ...

Just like old times: Pearl Jam delivers a high-energy show at Xcel Energy Center

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

Pearl Jam almost had us going for a while there. For the first half-hour of its tour-opening concert at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center Thursday night, it looked as if the last survivors of the early ‘90s grunge scene were at last acting their age.The Seattle quintet opened their set seated and strumming like a clutch of folkies gathered on a back porch, even the legendary high-energy frontman Eddie Vedder swiveling on his stool like a grandfather at his work bench. One thunderous rocker after another was getting the mostly acoustic treatment, the opening “Indifference” giving way to the more recent “Buckle Up.” But buckling up didn’t seem to be necessary. It looked like a mellow evening was in store.Eddie Vedder performs with Pearl Jam, who played the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Aug. 31, 2023. (Courtesy of Joe Lemke)Vedder even paused to talk of his daughters recently reintroducing him to the “MTV Unplugged” show the band recorded in 1992 and muse upon how enjoyable it might be...