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Latvia’s parliament votes to allow same-sex civil unions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

Latvian lawmakers voted on Thursday to allow same-sex civil unions, providing same-sex couples with legal recognition for the first time. However, same-sex couples will still have fewer rights than married couples.The legislation allows same-sex couples to register their partnership, giving them hospital visitation rights as well as tax and social security benefits, but not the right to adopt children or inheritance. It is due to take effect in mid-2024.“This is a good day. Society has taken an important step in creating a modern and humane Latvia,” said Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa on X, adding that the legislation “sends the signal that all families are important.”Latvia swore in its first openly gay president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, in July. Rinkēvičs, who served as the country’s foreign minister for more than a decade, is also the first openly gay head of state in the EU.But public opinion remains divided on homosexuality in the Baltic nation. In a 2022 survey on public attitu...

Silver Slugger Awards announced for Chicago White Sox’s Luis Robert Jr., Cubs’ Cody Bellinger

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

Luis Robert Jr. set career highs in nearly every offensive category in 2023.The Chicago White Sox center fielder received recognition Thursday for the big season, being named an American League Silver Slugger Award winner for outfielders.Robert and Cody Bellinger, who had a tremendous bounce-back season with the Cubs, were among those honored in voting done by major league managers and coaches. Bellinger won in the National League utility player category after spending time in center field and first base.Robert is a first-time award winner, and the first Sox player to be recognized since the trio of José Abreu, Tim Anderson and Eloy Jiménez in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. It’s the first ever by a Sox center fielder.“This is one of the most beautiful awards I’ve received,” Robert said through an interpreter during a video conference call Thursday. “I dreamed of a Gold Glove, I won a Gold Glove (in 2020). I dreamed of a Silver Slugger and...

Editorial: Gov. Healey needs a migrant exit strategy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey’s already had her Eric Adams moment, hitting the same wall as the New York City mayor when he put the blame for the migrant influx on the Biden Administration and called for fed funding to deal with the surge straining shelters and resources.As the Bay State’s homeless shelter capacity tapped out at 7,500 Thursday one has to wonder: when will Healey have her Greg Abbott moment of reckoning?The Texas governor was much maligned for busing tens of thousands of migrants north who crossed into his state and pushed the shelter system to the point of breaking. His moves were decried as a political stunt, but as many Blue State leaders have realized, space and resources are not limitless.Healey made sure shelters were on board with housing the homeless and new arrivals. Hotel rooms were booked, college dormitories conscripted. Residents were asked to become host families. She warned that demand would soon outstrip supply, hopes to the contrary.Yet here we are, ...

Tri-City Medical Center experiencing cyber attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside fell victim to a cyber attack Thursday, a hospital spokesperson confirmed the news to FOX 5.“I would say healthcare is at the top. They are the primary target today,” said Sai Huda, CEO at CyberCatch.Huda weighed in on the damage these kinds of attacks can have on healthcare systems.“The way they want to get money is to infiltrate an organization, steal the data, which is patient record information. They are also installing ransomware, which is malicious code that shuts down files systems and really prevents healthcare from being delivered,” Huda said.Tri-City has not confirmed if the threat is ransomware, but said the attack forced it to declare “an internal disaster” and divert ambulances to other area hospitals.A statement from Palomar Health Thursday said the hospital emergency department “is receiving a heavy influx of ambulatory inpatients diverted from Tri-City and are all are being admitted and treated with the sa...

As a DJ, village priest in Portugal cues up faith and electronic dance music for global youth

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

LAÚNDOS, Portugal (AP) — Guilherme Peixoto, a village priest in northern Portugal, has been busy this month celebrating Masses at his two parishes, presiding over remembrances for the dead — and preparing the electronic music set for his next international DJ gig.What started nearly two decades ago as a novel way to fundraise for the local churches has become essential to the ministry of this 49-year-old Catholic priest in a rapidly secularizing continent where religious practice is dropping fast — especially among young people.“With electronic music I can take some message, I can be where young people are,” Peixoto said a few days after returning to Laúndos from playing at a large Halloween festival in Italy. “They can think, ‘If it’s possible for a priest to be DJ, it’s possible for me to like music, and festivals, and be Christian.'”The priest broke onto the global stage when the organizers of World Youth Day in Lisbon asked him to “wake up the pilgrims” at 7 a....

Stock market today: Asian shares fall after bond market stress hits Wall Street

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares retreated Friday after rising bond market yields once again weighed on Wall Street, ending a lull in wider swings in prices during a brief respite from market moving data releases.U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices also advanced.Investors in Asia are facing steady declines following a warning by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that interest rates, already at their highest level in more than two decades, might need to climb further. Benchmarks dropped more than 1% in Hong Kong and South Korea.The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 1.7% to 17,211.76 and the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.6% to 3,033.73.A financial services business of China’s biggest bank, ICBC, said it was it by a ransomware attack that reportedly disrupted trading in the U.S. Treasury market.New York-based Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services handles trades and other services for financial institutions. It said it had isolated affected systems and th...

Top US and Indian diplomats and defense chiefs discuss Indo-Pacific issues and Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The diplomats and defense chiefs of India and the United States met Friday focusing on security issues involving the Indo-Pacific, China and the Israel-Hamas war.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. and India have a strong partnership and they would discuss matters with implications for the future.“The future is now,” he told reporters.“We are promoting a free and open and prosperous Asia-Pacific, including by strengthening our partnership in the Quad with Japan and Australia,” Blinken said in his remarks at the start of the meeting.He also said that the United States and India are bolstering their partnership in international peace and strengthening a rule-based order.Blinken also said defense cooperation was a key pillar in ties between the countries.India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the situation in the Middle East was a big concern.While India has condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, it has tried to...

More than 260 Canadians, permanent residents, and families cleared for Gaza exit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

Some 266 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their family members had their names added to the list of foreign passport holders allowed to exit the Gaza Strip today. Officials at the Rafah border crossing into Egypt were expected to start processing the latest batch of people looking to flee the latest Israel-Hamas conflict around 7 a.m. local time.Another 32 people connected to Canada were able to leave the Gaza Strip on Thursday, after an initial 75 citizens, permanent residents and family members made the trip on Tuesday.No Canadians were able to cross via official means on Wednesday because of what a U.S. State Department spokesperson described as a “security circumstance.”Global Affairs Canada has not yet issued a statement on the latest update, but said, as of late Thursday, 550 more people were still hoping to leave the territory. The White House announced on Thursday that Israel agreed to put in place a daily four-hour “humanitarian pause” on i...

Hollywood’s labor stoppage is over, but a painful industry-wide transition isn’t

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Hollywood’s months of labor unrest are coming to an end, but the post-strike landscape that awaits actors and writers may be far from happy-ever-after.The film and television industry could rightly celebrate the conclusion Wednesday of a bruising, protracted work stoppage that began in May when the Writers Guild hit the picket lines and gathered more force when Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists members walked out in mid-July.The strikes were historic in their length and cost, causing an estimated $6 billion in economic loss and leaving hundreds of thousands out of work. As Hollywood on Thursday began rushing back to production and stars again hit red carpets, many were surely still nursing wounds from a bitter feud with the studios, even after a deal that won actors a hefty boost to minimum pay and protections over the use of artificial intelligence.SAG-AFTRA’s board was to vote on approving the contract Friday afternoon.But as a...

Commission welcomes political agreement on euro instant payments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:28 GMT

The Commission welcomes the political agreement reached on 7 November between the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission's proposal to make instant payments in euro available to all citizens and businesses holding a bank account in the EU. The new rules, which modernize the 2012 Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Regulation, aim to ensure that instant payments in euro are affordable, secure and processed without obstacles across the EU. Instant payments offer fast and convenient solutions for citizens in everyday situations, like receiving funds promptly in case of emergencies or splitting shared costs immediately in various social settings. They also improve cash flow management for public administrations and businesses, specially SMEs, enable charities and NGOs to access funds quickly, and encourage banks to develop innovative financial services and products.Payment service providers of euro credit transfers will be obliged to offer instant payments to all their custo...