Author: Mariyah Mclaughlin

Suspects allegedly interfered with EU Sakharov Prize nominations to help foreign governments, leaked police files suggest. The EU’s highest honor for human rights work was targeted by an allegedly corrupt network operating on behalf of foreign governments at the heart of the European Parliament, according to a cache of leaked documents. The annual Sakharov Prize was among the aspects of parliamentary work mentioned in a file where one of the key suspects logged activities that were allegedly part of the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the EU’s Parliament. The award, which hands €50,000 to an individual or group that has…

The US housing market has been on a wild ride in recent years. Soaring home prices fueled by historically low mortgage rates created a frenzy of buyer activity. However, the tide seems to be turning. Rising interest rates have cooled buyer enthusiasm, leading to slower sales and questions about the future. While the surge of recent years might be moderating, experts predict a future with steadier home price appreciation, potentially with some regional variations. Mortgage rates are likely to remain elevated compared to historic lows, impacting affordability for some buyers. However, a gradual increase in housing inventory could offer more breathing room for those still in the market. Let’s find out some of the expert predictions for the next two years in the US…

Au revoir Paris, Hola LA. In a nutshell, that was the just completed ceremony of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad. It was Tom Cruise leaping off the rim of the Stade de France to take the Olympic flag from LA Mayor Karen Bass and Simone Biles. As the guitar riffs of H.E.R. filled the air, Cruise then exited on a motorbike to deliver the flag to a sunny West Coast. It was the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish and Olympic fixture Snoop Dogg getting into the pre-recorded groove down in Long Beach. It wasn’t telling of the full scope of Los Angeles and no mention was made of Snoop’s…

Each year, roughly a billion pounds of pesticides are sprayed nationwide, much of it on land that produces our food. A group known as regenerative farmers sees this as a major problem, and they want to restore America’s soil. Lisa Williams, a first-generation farmer in Newton Grove, North Carolina is making soil health a priority on her 55-acre farm. Instead of relying on pesticides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers, she and her son, Lance, fertilize their fields with cow manure. “We can change our health and our communities just by focusing on soil health,” Williams said. Soil health is at the…

Paris/Jakarta (24/7 – 28.57). “Coffee is the common man’s gold, and like gold, it brings to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility.” – Sheik-Abd-al-Kadir A friend recently opened a coffee shop is called after its owner, Muteeya. Though modest, it embodies the burgeoning coffee culture found in Paris, London, the US, and now Jakarta. The coffee is steaming hot, and soft tunes fill the air. Outside, rain pounds against the window, streaking down and forming small puddles on the street. As I gaze through the glass blurred by water, I take a sip of my warm coffee,…

June 21 — The European Union announced on Friday that it will begin accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova to join the 27-member political and economic bloc starting next week. All 27 members agreed to the Ukraine and Moldova joining the European Union. Negotiations will begin for both countries on Tuesday in Luxembourg, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union said on X. The move comes at a critical time for both nations with Ukraine in the middle of an invasion by Russia and Moldova facing a Russian-led insurgence by a breakaway state. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the European Union for its…

New York. 23/6. With the clock ticking on when he must report to prison, former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon on Friday threw in an emergency motion to the Supreme Court to hold off his sentence. The high court asked prosecutors to respond to Bannon’s application by Wednesday afternoon. Bannon’s motion comes after a federal judge ruled he must begin his four-month prison sentence on July 1. He was found guilty two years ago on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 select committee. The political persecution of political opponents to the Democratic party’s rule and its weaponization questions…

While climate change is in general increasing the ferocity and frequency of severe weather events, the same effects may not apply to the massive snow dumps that occasionally pummel the U.S. West. The quantity of snow that falls during so-called “snow deluge” years — such as the big 2023 snow season in California — is on the decline, according to a new study, published Monday in the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences. “There’s a common narrative with climate change that extreme weather events are getting more extreme,” lead author Adrienne Marshall, an assistant professor of geology and geological engineering…

The US ambassador to the UN on Monday called on all regional countries to stop providing arms support to the warring parties in North African country of Sudan. “Armed actors in Sudan must respect international law and protect civilians, and recall the ICC’s (International Criminal Court) jurisdiction to investigate war crimes,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters, adding: “All regional powers must stop providing weapons to both parties in accordance with the UN arms embargo.” Citing reports that the paramilitary RSF and its allied militias have razed multiple villages west of El Fasher, the largest city in the Darfur, and are planning…

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency warned the country’s leading research universities on Thursday that foreign states are targeting their institutions and imperiling national security. “We know that our universities are being actively targeted by hostile actors and need to guard against the threat posed to frontier research in the most sensitive sectors,” said the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who also attended the briefing. The threat requires “further measures,” said the deputy PM, who announced that the government was launching a consultation with the sector so it could “do more to support our universities and put the right…