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Battenfeld: Social Security cuts and raising retirement age on the table in 2024 race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

The looming Social Security shortfall is triggering a fierce political debate in the 2024 White House race and causing angst among baby boomer voters heading for retirement.With the rioting in France over a plan to raise the retirement age as a backdrop, the focus in America is on when benefits may run out, forcing steep cuts in payments. Some experts predict that could happen as soon as 2034.Nothing scares older voters more than messing with Social Security, and the presidential candidates are going to find that out again soon. About 67 million Americans per month get retirement, survivor or disability benefits through Social Security.In France, President Emmanuel Macron has proposed raising that country’s retirement age from 62 to 64, triggering protests and unrest among French citizens.A Newsweek poll showed that nearly three in ten voters think the retirement age of 67 is too high, and an AP-NORC poll found that three in four votes oppose raising the retirement age to 70 and cut...

Lawsuit against Fox for false election claims heads to trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Jurors are set to get their first look Tuesday at a voting machine company’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in a trial that will test First Amendment protections and expose the network’s role in spreading the lie of a stolen 2020 presidential election.The scheduled trial start comes after a one-day delay granted by the judge overseeing the case, a reprieve that gave the sides time to see if they could work out a settlement.Jury selection and opening statements had been scheduled for Monday in Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit. The Denver-based company aims to hold Fox accountable for airing false allegations of election fraud that continue to roil U.S. politics.Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis gave no explanation for the brief delay. But he suggested the companies try to mediate their dispute, according to a person close to Fox who was not authorized to speak publicly about the lawsuit’s status and spoke on the...

How election lies, libel law are key to Fox defamation suit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

A major defamation lawsuit against Fox News goes to trial Tuesday, carrying the potential to shed additional light on former President Donald Trump’s election lies, reveal more about how the right-leaning network operates and even redefine libel law in the U.S. Here are some things to know about the case.___THE CASEDominion Voting Systems is suing Fox for $1.6 billion, claiming the news outlet repeatedly aired allegations that the company’s voting machines were rigged to doom Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign while knowing they were untrue. Fox contends that it was reporting newsworthy charges made by supporters of the Republican then-president and is supported legally by libel standards. After a one-day delay that raised the possibility of a last-minute settlement between the litigants, seating of the jury is scheduled to start Tuesday, followed immediately by opening statements.___ELECTION DISCONNECTDenver-based Dominion has produced evidence that prominent people at Fo...

China calls US accusations of police stations ‘groundless’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China denied all accusations of an overseas police presence, saying Tuesday that the United States was making “groundless accusations” after U.S. law enforcement arrested two men in New York for establishing a secret police station.“The relevant claims have no factual basis, and there is no such thing as an overseas police station,” spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wang Wenbin said Tuesday.U.S. authorities arrested two men, identified as “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, both U.S. citizens, on Monday morning. Under the direction of an official in China, the two men allegedly set up a station where they offered some basic services, such as helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver’s licenses.The station, however, also took on roles beyond ordinary bureaucracy, including locating Chinese dissidents living in the U.S., officials said.The U.S. Justice Department also charged 34 officers in the Ministry of Public Secu...

WATCH: Flying wheel smashes into windshield on GTA highway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

Provincial police are reminding drivers to make sure their summer tires are installed correctly after a loose wheel smashed into the windshield of another car on a GTA highway last week.Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Sgt. Kerry Schmidt released dashcam video of the April 14 incident, which shows the wheel coming off of a white pick-up truck and hitting another vehicle.“The truck that lost that wheel said he had his tires changed by a buddy two weeks ago,” Schmidt says.Driver of the truck had his tires changed about two weeks before they came off on the highway. The two people in the other vehicle were not injured. If you are changing to your summer times make sure they are installed properly, and double check they are tight. pic.twitter.com/0wHYpf39f5— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) April 18, 2023The white pick-up was travelling eastbound on Highway 407 near Yonge Street in Richmond Hill when the loose wheel flew off. The footage released by police shows t...

Jailed US reporter in Russian court to appeal detention

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

MOSCOW — Jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow court on Tuesday to appeal his detention on spying charges, part of a sweeping Kremlin crackdown on dissent amid the war in Ukraine. He and the U.S. government strenuously deny the allegations.Dozens of journalists crowded together to catch a glimpse of the Wall Street Journal reporter, who is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying allegations. Gershkovich looked calm as he stood inside a glass cage. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy was in the room.Russia’s Federal Security Service detained the 31-year-old in Yekaterinburg in March and accused him of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory.Gershkovich, his employer and the U. S. government all deny he was involved in spying and have demanded his release. Last week, the U.S. government declared that he was “wrongfully detained” — a designation that means his case receives special attention from...

Biden signs executive order to improve access to child care

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed an executive order containing more than 50 directives to increase access to child care and improve the work life of caregivers, the White House said Tuesday.But the directives would be funded out of existing commitments, likely meaning their impact would carry more of a symbolic weight compared with the Democratic president’s call in 2021 to provide more than $425 billion to expand child care, improve its affordability and boost wages for caregivers, the White House said. Biden also has called for more money for the care economy in his 2024 budget plan, drawing a sharp line with Republicans, who are seeking limits on spending.Susan Rice, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, told reporters on a phone call that the order shows that Biden isn’t waiting on Congress to act.“The child care, long-term care systems in this country just don’t work well,” Rice said. “High-quality care is costly to deliver. It’s labor...

United Arab Emirates, Qatar edge toward reopening embassies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday both acknowledged they are edging closer to reopening embassies in each others’ countries after a yearslong boycott of Doha over a political dispute. Qatar’s International Media Office said in a statement that “work is underway” to reopen embassies “as soon as possible.” The UAE said in a statement that “the activation of diplomatic ties, which will include the reopening of embassies, is under process between both countries.”Neither statement gave an immediate date for the reopening. Reuters first reported the effort. The UAE, as well as Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, launched a boycott of Qatar in 2017 and blocked the country’s airline from its airspace, and also imposed other restrictions. The four nations were angered over Qatar’s ties to Islamists and Iran, as well as other allegations during President Donald Trump’s administration. The move ignited the biggest ...

Vandalized snooker table reclothed, back in play at worlds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

A snooker table vandalized by a climate activist during a match at the world championship was reclothed overnight and back in play at the Crucible Theatre on Tuesday.The green baize on Table 1 at the venue in Sheffield, England, turned orange at the start of the evening session on Monday when a protestor interrupted a match by jumping on the table and releasing a packet of powder.The match between English players Robert Milkins and Joe Perry was abandoned — it will restart on Tuesday — and the previously pristine cloth needed to be replaced.There was no visible sign of any orange powder when Jack Lisowski and Noppon Saengkham began their first-round match on the same table in Tuesday’s morning session.A man wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “Just Stop Oil” carried out the stunt in an attempt to draw attention to fossil fuel projects in Britain.The activist group Just Stop Oil posted a video of the incident — adding the caption “NEW OIL AND GAS WILL SNOOKER US” — and called f...

Irish climber dies, Indian missing on Nepal’s Annapurna

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:52 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An Irish climber has died and an Indian is missing after falling into a crevasse in two separate incidents on Mount Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest mountain, an expedition organizer said Tuesday.Irish climber Noel Richmond, 56, died Monday while returning from the 8,091-meter (26,540-foot) summit, Thaneswar Guragai of Kathmandu-based Seven Summit Treks said. The cause of death was not immediately known.His body was carried down the mountain and taken to Kathmandu, the capital, Guragai said.Indian climber Anurag Maloo has been missing since he fell into a crevasse on the same mountain on Monday, Guragai said. A search is continuing for him.The popular spring mountaineering season has just begun in the Himalayas in Nepal and hundreds of climbers have begun climbing the highest peaks. Three Sherpa guides have been missing since last week, when they fell into a crevasse on a treacherous section of Mount Everest just above base camp on the world’s ...