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Giorgia Meloni

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

Giorgia Meloni’s ascendancy to the Italian premiership last year sent a shiver down the spines of centrists across the Continent and beyond. Brussels braced for a member of a post-fascist party getting a seat (and a vote) at its top tables, bolstering the ranks of the EU’s problem children. Kyiv prepared for Italy to break from the pack and seek to soften support for Ukraine and wind back Russia sanctions. But a year after becoming the leader of the EU’s third-largest economy, Meloni has defied expectations — and built a significant (if cautious) fan club.Meloni has moved to implement constitutional reforms that would significantly boost prime ministerial powers. And she still throws plenty of red meat to her far-right base: She has banned raves, rails against immigration, ordered local authorities to stop registering same-sex couples as parents, criminalized surrogacy, and introduced a series of policies that were supposed to improve the lot of low-earning women (though there are q...

Elvira Nabiullina

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

Elvira Nabiullina is the top technocrat keeping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine humming. During the decade she’s sat at the helm of Russia’s central bank, Nabiullina’s hawkish monetary policies have repeatedly saved the ruble and kept the country’s economy afloat. In the process, Putin’s banker, once considered a moderating influence and now his silent enabler, has managed to stave off the effects of unprecedented Western sanctions designed to drain the Kremlin’s coffers, prolonging the war on Ukraine.Nabiullina’s rise was an unlikely one — she is the daughter of blue-collar ethnic Tatars from Ufa, a city in Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan, more than 1,000 kilometers from Moscow. But from humble beginnings, she became the first woman to run a central bank of a G8 country. She famously saved the Russian economy back in 2014, after Putin annexed Ukraine’s Crimea, deftly hiking interest rates and introducing reforms. With the ruble tanking and inflation soaring, Nabiu...

Netanyahu: Don’t accuse me of boosting Hamas with Qatari money

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

Paul Ronzheimer is the deputy editor-in-chief of BILD and a senior journalist reporting for Axel Springer, the parent company of POLITICO.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vehemently denied accusations he allowed Qatar to fund and strengthen the militant group Hamas in order to divide Palestinians into rival political camps, slamming the claims as “ridiculous.”Netanyahu’s opponents in Israel argue his government spent years actively boosting Hamas in Gaza by allowing Qatar to channel hundreds of millions of dollars to the coastal enclave in a risky game of “divide-and-rule,” that was meant to play the Islamist militants from Hamas off against the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. “It’s a big lie that I wanted to build [up] Hamas. Ridiculous,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company. “You don’t go to war three times with Hamas or do major military operations if you want to build up Hamas.”Former Prime M...

Man arrested in Malden in connection with deadly shooting in Manchester, NH

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

A 31-year-old man was arrested in Malden Tuesday in connection with a deadly shooting in Manchester, New Hampshire earlier this month, officials said. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg announced the arrest of Giovanne Morris in a joint statement. The arrest, in turn, came 10 days after officials said 42-year-old Carlos Rodriguez was shot near the intersection of Lowell Street and Chestnut Street on Nov. 18 Officials said Manchester police first responded to the area around 1:15 a.m. on Nov. 18 for a report of a motor vehicle accident. Authorities were then called back to the area roughly 45 minutes later for a reported shooting.Officers found Rodriguez injured at the scene and he later died, according to Formella and Aldenberg. An investigation got underway after this shooting. On Tuesday, officials said Morris, a former Manchester resident, was taken into custody in Malden on weapons charges. He was schedule...

Over 1,000 pieces of stolen mail recovered after police pursuit and arrests in Newton/Brookline area

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

A load of stolen mail was recovered by officials earlier this week after what started as a motor vehicle stop in Newton ended with a foot pursuit in Brookline.The Newton Police Department said it was early Monday morning when officers first learned police in Wellesley were pursuing a vehicle allegedly involved in mail theft in the area.According to the department, a Newton officer later saw the suspected vehicle on Route 9 at 4 a.m., leading to a motor vehicle stop around Hammond Pond Parkway.It was during the stop that police said the vehicle fled “at a high rate of speed towards Brookline,” according to the Newton PD Facebook page.“A short time later, the same NPD officer located the suspect vehicle crashed on Newton St. in Brookline,” the department said.A foot pursuit followed the discovery, and after an investigation, police said two adult males, Yasser Teixeira Mendonca of New York and Dahshein Karon Perry of Mass., were arrested on a charge of Receivin...

Mystery Fairhaven homicide victim identified after 4 decades

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that they had determined the identity of an individual whose remains had been unidentified since they were found in Fairhaven in 1985.Using a genetic profile developed from DNA recovered from the remains, investigators were able to use forensic genetic genealogy to identify the victim as Keith Olsen, of Cranston, RI. Olsen was reported missing shortly after he was last seen on April 15, 1981. He was 27 at the time of his disappearance.Four years after his disappearance, on April 8, 1985, skeletal remains of a male were found by a driver stopped in the westbound breakdown lane of I-195 in Fairhaven, just past the Mattapoisett town line.Investigators at the time located nothing that could help them identify the skeleton, which showed evidence of inflicted trauma; the cause of death was determined to be a homicide.Authorities made multiple attempts to identify the individual through scientific efforts and appeals to ...

New cruise brand Explora hunts for place in crowded luxury space

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

MIAMI — New luxury cruise brand Explora Journeys isn’t counting on experienced cruisers to try out its first ship, Explora I. The new venture created by the people behind MSC Cruises are hunting for people who have never sailed before.“We have this space for a true European luxury brand that is like a luxury hotel or luxury resort you usually travel to, but on the ocean,” said line CEO Michael Ungerer, speaking aboard the 63,900-gross-ton ship when it arrived to Miami earlier this month to begin a winter sailing season in the Caribbean.The ship features six restaurants, 12 bars and lounges as well as a chef’s kitchen. The shipwide design is a mix of modern lines, but every space seems filled with unique curiosities that manage to feel like each is on display in a modern museum, not an antique shop.The color scheme exudes earthy tones. Waltzing through the coffee lounge feels like walking through a caramel-filled chocolate confection. Restaurants have their own individuality such as ...

What’s hot and what’s not in interior design for 2024. It’s all about the personality and character.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

It’s been quite a year for interior design. As houses are swept off the market in minutes after listing and new homeowners tackle what they want their home to be like, 2023 was marked with white, clean designs along with minimalism, shiplap and fast furniture. The design world has shifted gears for 2024, ushering in an era of quartz, vintage furniture, wallpaper, cozy and divided interiors and bold colors and design. Sharon McCormick of Sharon McCormick Designs shared some tips on what’s hot and what’s not for the new year.What’s hot for 2024In the kitchen, it’s all about the quartz. Quartz and quartzite countertops have become all the rage versus granite, marble or laminate. Quartz has earned the top spot for its color selection, durability and scratch resistance.As far as design in kitchens, wood grain kitchen cabinets, particularly white oak, or cabinets in vibrant colors are taking over from the white kitchens that were in the last few years. Statement hoods also make a big diff...

Diabetes and obesity rising in young Americans, study finds

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

Fenit Nirappil | (TNS) Miami HeraldDiabetes and obesity are rising among young adults in the United States, an alarming development that puts them at higher risk for heart disease, according to a study of 13,000 people between 20 and 44 years old.The authors of the study, published in March in a major medical journal, warn the trends could have major public health implications: a rising generation dying prematurely of heart attacks, strokes and other complications. And Black and Hispanic people, particularly Mexican Americans, would bear the brunt.“We’re witnessing a smoldering public health crisis,” Rishi K. Wadhera, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and one of the study authors, wrote in an email.Deaths from heart attacks and other effects of cardiovascular illnesses have been declining in the United States because of medical advances in prevention and treatment. That progress stagnated during the past decade.The study, published in the Journal of the Ameri...

An opioid-like drink is masquerading as a wholesome alcohol alternative

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:11 GMT

Teresa Xie, Immanual John Milton | Bloomberg News (TNS)When Krista Marquick discovered kratom, it filled a hole in her life that quitting alcohol had left — kratom is often served at specialized bars, so it provided a way to socialize with friends and unwind after work without, she thought, the risk of addiction.Within a few months, Marquick found herself with a brand new addiction that left her feeling, as she put it, “out of control.” On bad days, she spent $80 on kratom. She bought $10 kratom drinks and $20 concentrated extracts, drinking them when she woke up, during her lunch hour and after work. Some nights, she wouldn’t be able to sleep because of withdrawals, leaving her house at midnight to get her fix.“Your tolerance builds up so fast on kratom,” Marquick said. “So you’re constantly spending more and more money, and you’re having to use more and more kratom.”Kratom is a drink extracted from a plant native to Southeast Asia that’s become increasingly popular in ...