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Time for Ukraine to launch an anti-corruption counteroffensive

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

Josh Rudolph is the senior fellow and head of the malign finance and corruption team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund. Ambassador Norman Eisen is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute. As Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces gets underway, the country’s allies must now help plot a separate counteroffensive — one that will be needed to beat another longtime nemesis of the Ukrainian people: oligarchs and grand corruption. A small group of businessmen — many of whom became fabulously wealthy by manipulating the process of privatizing enormous companies previously owned by the Soviet state — often consolidated control over weak governments through political maneuvers like buying media conglomerates, bankrolling political parties, bribing judges, blackmailing prosecutors and underwriting vast networks of patronage, which extend from lawmakers and ministers in Kyiv to governors and bureaucrats throughout t...

No future for Europe without a new social contract

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

The European Union urgently needs to be more social. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, people in the EU are dealing with one crisis after another, crises that are putting at risk their access to housing, their purchasing power, their energy supply and that are leaving people unable to provide food for their families. An increasing number of families and individuals are facing energy poverty and social exclusion, while inequalities are increasing rapidly. We need to respond to this acute social crisis, and we must prepare a just transition to a climate-neutral economy. Achieving a more social Europe is a formidable challenge that should be central in all the Union’s actions.Governments have been slow or unwilling to respond to the social crisis, and no ambitious plan has been put forward.Governments have been slow or unwilling to respond to the social crisis, and no ambitious plan has been put forward. Saving the banks during the 2008 financial collapse and the coordinated ec...

Carbon removal technology: a sustainable solution to a global problem

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

The race is on to revolutionize the fight against the climate crisis. And for Drax, carbon removals are seen as a critical tool.Renewable energy company Drax is positioning itself as a global leader in carbon removals using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Currently the UK’s largest renewable energy provider by output, Drax was one of the first companies in the world to set the lofty goal of becoming carbon negative — removing more emissions from the atmosphere than it creates — by 2030. Over the past decade Drax has worked toward this goal, while supporting energy security in the U.K., by converting its coal generation units in Yorkshire to renewable biomass made from sustainably sourced wood pellets. Now, Drax is focused on the development of its global BECCS projects.“BECCS is unique because it delivers reliable renewable power — essential for energy security — as well as carbon removals, which the world needs to reach net zero. No other readily available techno...

On debt ceiling, Biden, McCarthy to meet Monday as negotiators ‘keep working’ to resolve standoff

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and House Republicans wrapped up another round of debt ceiling talks Sunday as Washington races to strike a budget compromise along with a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit and avert an economy-wrecking federal default. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke by phone Sunday while the president was returning home on Air Force One after the Group of Seven summit in Japan. They plan to meet Monday at the White House.“It went well, we’ll talk tomorrow,” Biden said of the phone call as he arrived back in Washington late in the evening.Upbeat, McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol that the call was “productive” and that the on-again, off-again negotiations between his staff and White House representatives are focused on spending cuts.Negotiators for the Democratic president and Republican speaker met for 2 1/2 hours at the Capitol as talks appear to be narrowing on a 2024 budget year cap that would be k...

Legislature OKs bill to boost transportation funding with gas tax hike, new package delivery fee

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

A transportation budget bill that would increase the per-gallon tax on gasoline and introduce a fee on many deliveries is set to become law after gaining final approval from the Minnesota Legislature.Under an $8.8 billion transportation package approved by the Senate and House on Sunday, Minnesota’s gas tax would be indexed to the rate of inflation, a move that could increase the price of fuel by 5 cents per gallon by 2027. The current state tax is 28.5 cents. The new 50-cent tax would apply to retail deliveries over $100.Republicans in the minority oppose the new taxes, but Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers who control the Senate and House say expected future shortfalls in transportation funding demand new sources of ongoing revenue from the state.Rep. Frank Hornstein and Sen. Scott Dibble, Minneapolis DFLers who chaired the House-Senate conference committee on transportation that approved a deal on the taxes, said the bill is a “historic, generational investment.”“I’m ...

3 minors, adult arrested after Fairfield attempted robbery

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

(KRON) -- Three minors and one adult were arrested in connection to an attempted robbery Sunday, the Fairfield Police Department (FPD) said in a news release. The incident happened in the parking lot at Solano Town Center Mall. Sonoma County Sheriff’s wife arrested on DUI suspicion after Tesla crashes into Santa Rosa home: authorities The male victim made a large purchase at the mall before being followed at the parking lot near JCPenney, according to FPD. The victim then went to his car and locked his doors.One of the suspects shot at the car window, reached inside and hit the victim with the firearm, police said. The unidentified victim suffered "mild to moderate" injuries from the alleged attack. FPD officers respond and arrived at the scene. Two of the attempted robbers and two others in a getaway car were arrested. FPD did not specify when or what time on Sunday the attempted robbery happened. KRON4 reached out to the department for more details about the incident and is awai...

Reportan caída mundial de la red social Instagram; más de 185,000 usuarios sin servicio

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

MIAMI- La red social Instagram sufre este domingo una caída a nivel mundial que ha ocasionado que decenas de miles de usuarios se queden sin servicio, según consta en el portal downdetector.De acuerdo con este portal, en el pico de la caída, poco antes de las siete de la tarde, hora del este de Estados Unidos, más de 185,000 usuarios en diferentes partes del mundo reportaron haber perdido el servicio, principalmente a través de la aplicación móvil de la red social y que forma parte de la firma matriz Meta.El problema que empezó a producirse sobre las 6 de la tarde, hora del este de EEUU, no parece haber afectado a las otras compañías de Meta, entre ellas Facebook y el servicio de mensajería WhatsApp.“Somos conscientes de que algunas personas tienen problemas para acceder a Instagram. Estamos trabajando para que las cosas vuelvan a la normalidad lo más rápido posible y nos disculpamos por cualquier inconveniente”, señaló Dave Arnold, portavoz de Meta, según recoge el medi...

Poor air quality can affect your pets just as much as their human owners

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- We have lungs, and our pets do too. So when the air affects our breathing or allergies, it can bother theirs as well.The size of your pet matters too because of how much smaller their lungs are than ours, so it's important to watch them as much as the air."It's easy for us to see the smoke and taste it and smell it, but we forget about our friends," veterinarian Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald said. Denver weather: Mostly dry Monday, more wildfire smoke When humans see smoke they usually think of their breathing, but not often, their pets too."Their cardiovascular system and respiratory system is not that much different than ours," Fitzgerald said.Birds, cats and smaller dogs are particularly vulnerable."It can be bad, particularly for small and older dogs," Fitzgerald said. "Older dogs and younger dogs that are compromised anyway."What are the signs to spot if the bad air outside is affecting "Fido"?"A cough would be a big thing, gagging, salivating," Fitzgerald said, "relu...

2 officers involved in shooting suspect, dog

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KDVR) -- Two Fountain Police Department officers were involved in the shooting of a suspect and his dog on Saturday night. The incident, just south of Colorado Springs in the zero hundred block of Taos Circle, started with a domestic violence call just before 6 p.m."During the investigation, the suspect's dog attacked an officer. While the dog was attacking the officer the suspect then began attacking both officers. While being attacked by both the suspect and his dog, both officers shot at least one round hitting the suspect and the dog," Fountain PD said. 2 men accused of firing shots at Cherry Creek State Park Fountain police said the suspect is recovering in the hospital with at least one gunshot wound but the dog died at the scene.One officer was also taken to the hospital for injuries from a dog bite, but the other officer wasn't injured.The Colorado Springs Police Department is investigating the shooting and the Fountain officers have been put on paid admi...

Rose Byrne, Seth Rogen together again for ‘Platonic’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:11:04 GMT

Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen reteam with “Platonic,” a new AppleTV+ comedy series launching Wednesday.They first worked on “Neighbors,” the 2014 campus comedy about rowdy frat boys, and then its 2-year-later sequel.  “Platonic,” which revolves around whether guys can really be “just friends” with women, is co-created and directed by their “Neighbors” helmer Nick Stoller.“I didn’t want to do the show if we didn’t have Seth,” Byrne, 43, said in a Zoom interview with Rogen.  “Having worked together for the ‘Neighbors’ movies I knew we would be having fun and enjoying each other. Just a nice dynamic onscreen.“A show like this lives — and dies! — on the chemistry of the friendship. It really does. We went in knowing we had that. Since we aren’t a married couple, this was different but really exciting and made me want to do the show.”“Part of the appeal,” Rogen,  41, said, “was bringing this theatrical style, R-rated adult comedy to a half-hour serialized televi...