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Erdoğan: Let Turkey into EU if you want Sweden to join NATO

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

Turkey would consider green-lighting Sweden’s application to join NATO in exchange for progress on its own bid to join the EU, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared Monday ahead of a key summit of alliance members.“First, pave the way for Turkey in the European Union, and then let us pave the way for Sweden, just as we paved the way for Finland,” the Turkish leader said in a speech Monday at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport, before departing for the NATO summit in Vilnius.At the same time, Erdoğan added, he will use the summit to “repeat our call to the allies who impose sanctions and restrictions on Turkey to quickly turn back from this mistake.”“We believe that ending the war with a just and lasting peace as soon as possible will further facilitate Ukraine’s NATO membership process,” he went on.In a bilateral call with U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday night, the Turkish president called for EU member countries to send a “clear an...

Putin met Prigozhin in Moscow after Wagner mutiny

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the Kremlin after the paramilitary group’s aborted mutiny last month, according to Russian media reports.“This meeting took place in the Kremlin on June 29. It lasted almost three hours,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday, according to state-owned newswire Ria Novosti.Thirty-five people were invited to attend the meeting, including “all the commanders of the military detachments” and Prigozhin, Peskov said.Prigozhin rebelled against the Russian military establishment on June 23, seizing the city of Rostov-on-Don and sending his Wagner Group mercenaries on a march to Moscow. The mutinous warlord only turned his tanks around as they came within 200 kilometers of the Russian capital and threatened to tip the country into civil war. After the mutiny was aborted following talks between Prigozhin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who negotiated a climbdown from ...

Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson investigated for filming GB News show in Parliament

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

LONDON — Parliament’s standards watchdog launched an investigation into Conservative Party Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson after he filmed a promotional video for his own television show in the Houses of Parliament.The parliamentary commissioner for standards — which polices MP conduct — is investigating whether the MP for Ashfield broke the parliamentary code of conduct by filming the video pushing his GB News show on parliament’s roof terrace.The potential breach is being investigated under paragraph 8 of MP code of conduct. It states: “Excepting modest and reasonable personal use, Members must ensure that the use of facilities and services provided to them by Parliament, including an office, is in support of their parliamentary activities, and is in accordance with all relevant rules.”Reacting to the video at the time of its publication, a House of Commons spokesperson told the Guardian that: “Unauthorized photography or filming is not permitted on the parliamentar...

Russia kills 4 in bomb attack on Zaporizhzhia aid station

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

KYIV — Russia killed at least four people and injured dozens in a strike on a Ukrainian school that was also a humanitarian aid distribution point. The bomb attack took place in Orikhiv, a frontline town in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, National Police of Ukraine said in a statement on Monday.The attack happened Sunday, as people were getting food, water, and other humanitarian aid supplies. In addition to the dead and wounded, dozens of people are trapped under the rubble, local police said in a statement.Local authorities said the attack was a war crime.“Russians have committed another war crime. They launched a guided aerial bomb at a residential neighborhood as people were getting aid. Three women and a man died immediately, and 11 were hospitalized,” Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Yuriy Malashko said in a Telegram post.Ten residential buildings were damaged by the attack, he added. Emergency services are still working at the scene.

WATCH: VT couple goes for wild ride after finding raccoon stowaways on their boat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

A Vermont couple took a cruise to remember on the Fourth of July, capturing video of two raccoon stowaways who joined them for a once-in-a-lifetime ride around Lake Champlain.Steve Lipkin said he and his wife were making their way out on the lake when out popped the two animals.“The two heads popped up and it was the raccoons that had stowed away under the seats,” he said.His wife, Shannon, said in the ensuing chaos the couple used cushions to corral the curious critters.“I’m an animal lover, so I was mortified at the thought of these raccoons in the middle of the lake,” she said.At one point, Steve said it looked like the raccoons decided to relax and enjoy the sights.“They were just leaning over the side of the boat and enjoying the wind in their fur,” he recalled.Once back at the dock, the animals scampered off, leaving the couple with a holiday memory they’ll never forget.

Maine father drowns while trying to rescue his daughters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

UNION, Maine (AP) — A Maine man has drowned in a pond while trying to rescue his daughters, the Maine Warden Service said.Henry Brooks, 46, of Hope, was at Seven Tree Pond in Union on Saturday afternoon watching his 12- and 13-year-old daughters swim when one of them fell into deeper water where the river enters the pond, the warden service said. The other daughter also fell into the deeper water trying to rescue her sister and both were swept out to even deeper areas of the pond.Brooks jumped into the water to rescue them, followed by his 27-year-old son, who grabbed a life jacket, the warden service said. The son swam to his sisters and brought them back to a nearby dock. When he looked back, he could not find his father, the warden service said.Game wardens, fire and rescue crews and the local sheriff’s office searched the area by boat and foot but were unable to find Brooks. Three Maine Warden Service divers recovered Brooks’ body at about 7:30 p.m. on Saturday appro...

Lucas: White House coke will push 2024 race off the rails

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

The 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be the dirtiest in 140 years.And the discovery of a stash of cocaine in the White House last weekend will only add to the expected political nastiness, especially as President Joe Biden’s degenerate son Hunter, a one-time crack cocaine addict, is living there.Whether it is Hunter Biden’s cocaine or not will make little difference. People will believe that it is. Stashing cocaine at the White House, of all places, will be an issue in the campaign even if it is covered up. So much for the war on drugs.Back in 1884 New York Gov. Grover Cleveland, the Democrat presidential nominee, and a bachelor, was accused of fathering an illegitimate child ten years earlier.The Democrats in turn attacked Republican candidate James G. Blaine of Maine, former Speaker of the House, accusing him of outright lying and corruption.In the American Gilded Age version of attack ads, Democrats hounded Blaine with the chant of “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, Con...

Dear John, please put down the toilet seat!

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

A couple grads from Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have finally solved the long-lived bathroom dispute between men and women on how they should leave toilet seats after they’re done using them.The group of five graduates teamed up to form Cleana, a Boston-based technology startup that’s all about creating a cleaner bathroom experience, starting at the toilet seat.After four years of planning and testing different means to meet that mission, the company’s initial products, an automatic-lifting seat for commercial uses and one that automatically closes for residential purposes, are expected to be delivered later this year.The process started in 2019 when Kevin Tang, now the chief executive officer of the company, wanted to create a product that would solve an ‘unmet need’ in the bathroom. He turned to the toilet seat because other fixtures in a modern bathroom are much more advanced, like automatic flush valves.“The funny thing is, all of those things ...

Kremlin says Putin met with Russian mercenary leader days after abortive mutiny

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin days after a short-lived rebellion by the mercenary chief and his private army, the Kremlin’s spokesman said Monday.The three-hour meeting took place at the Kremlin on June 29 and also involved commanders from the military company Prigozhin founded, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.Wagner mercenaries have fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Prigozhin has a long-simmering feud with Russia’s top military brass which on June 24 culminated in an armed mutiny in which he led his fighters into Russia. Prigozhin ended the mutiny after a deal was brokered for him to be exiled to Belarus.The confirmation of a face-to-face meeting with Putin, who branded Prigozhin as a backstabbing traitor, adds a new twist to the uncertainty surrounding the mercenary chief, whose fate and whereabouts have been unknown since the abortive mutiny. The rebellion severely weakened Putin’s authority.Pes...

Erdogan says Turkey could approve Sweden’s NATO membership if Europeans ‘open way’ to Turkey EU bid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:17 GMT

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country could approve Sweden’s membership in NATO if European nations “open the way” to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.Erdogan, whose country has been holding off its final approval to Sweden’s NATO membership, made the comments in Ankara on Monday before departing to the alliance’s summit meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania.“Turkey has been waiting at the door of the European Union for over 50 years now, and almost all of the NATO member countries are now members of the European Union. I am making this call to these countries that have kept Turkey waiting at the gates of the European Union for more than 50 years,” Erdogan said.“Come and open the way for Turkey’s membership in the European Union. When you pave the way for Turkey, we’ll pave the way for Sweden as we did for Finland,” he added.Turkey is a candidate to join the EU, but its membership bid has been stalled due to Ankara’s democratic backsliding ...