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King Charles’ sword-wielding minister Penny Mordaunt soars in UK Cabinet ranking

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

LONDON — The path to popularity in the U.K.’s Conservatives is simple — just successfully wield a massive sword at the king’s coronation.Fresh from her exploits at the coronation of King Charles III earlier May, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt is now — according to the grassroots Tory website ConservativeHome — the second most popular Cabinet minister in the U.K. government, behind only the Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.In her role as lord president of the privy council, Mordaunt gained international attention as she carried the sword of state and gave the jeweled sword of offering to Charles as he was formally crowned. The sword itself has since become a tourist hit at the Tower of London.ConHome’s latest monthly Cabinet league table ranking, surveying party members, suggests Mordaunt’s part in the royal pomp hit all the right notes with the Tory faithful. In the list for May, Mordaunt climbs from fourth most popular minister to second, with a net sat...

UK’s Shapps and Badenoch row over green border tax as relations sour

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

LONDON — Two senior U.K. ministers are at odds over a potential new green border tax on carbon intensive imports — in a fresh sign of Cabinet tensions.Energy Secretary Grant Shapps and his department want a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) as part of Britain’s drive to cut emissions to net-zero, while Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch is pushing in the other direction, according to people familiar with the discussions.Shapps and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt co-announced a consultation on a U.K. carbon border tax in March, with a decision expected later this year. The tax would slap tariffs on overseas imports from places like China and India which are made by producing significant carbon emissions.Two officials in her department said Badenoch, seen as a rising star in the Tory Party, has fought against increased tariffs at a time when the U.K’s trade levels are already faltering amid global economic headwinds and while inflation is still just below 10 percent.The d...

Lebanon’s army says Saudi citizen kidnapped in Beirut released following ‘special operation’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese troops rescued a Saudi citizen kidnapped over the weekend in Beirut, the army said Tuesday. The man reportedly had been held for ransom. A statement by the Lebanese military said Mushari al-Mutairi was released in a “special operation” along the Lebanon-Syria border, where the kidnappers held him hostage. It gave no further details. Al-Mutairi was kidnapped after midnight Saturday in Beirut.State-run Saudi TV station Al-Ekhbariya said that the kidnappers demanded a $400,000 ransom for al-Mutairi, who works for Saudi national airlines Saudia.Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in comments released by his office that the government is determined to guarantee the security of its citizens as well as foreigners.Local Lebanese media reported that al-Mutairi was released during an operation by the army’s intelligence division in the northeastern district of Hermel. Mikati congratulated the army on the operation’s success and called on Arab tourists to vi...

‘Miracle on the Prairies:’ Alberta United Conservatives win majority government

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

Alberta’s United Conservative Party emerged bloodied but still standing in Monday’s bitterly contested provincial election.Danielle Smith’s UCP dominated outside Alberta’s two largest cities while retaining enough support in Calgary to overcome an NDP sweep in Edmonton and win a second consecutive majority government. “To paraphrase our dear friend (former Alberta premier) Ralph Klein, welcome to another miracle on the Prairies,” Smith told cheering supporters on the Calgary Stampede grounds. Smith thanked the hundreds of thousands of Albertans who voted UCP, but also addressed those who did not. “Though I didn’t do enough in your judgment to win your support in this election, I will work every day to listen, to improve and to demonstrate to you that I can be trusted to improve on the issues you care so deeply about.” The UCP were winning or elected in 49 seats to 38 for Rachel Notley’s NDP in the 87-seat legislature, but a final tally was unknown early Tuesday given clo...

Journalist to premier: The political journey of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

The political story of Danielle Smith is one of triumph then defeat, followed by betrayal, banishment and redemption.The 52-year-old led her United Conservative Party on Monday to a majority win in Alberta’s provincial election.“My friends, this was the very definition of a hard-fought election,” she told a crowd of supporters in her hometown of Calgary.“Many folks wrote us off, even just as recently as last month. But you know what happened? Despite it all, today Albertans chose to move our province forward.”Smith, a former journalist, got into politics in junior high school, after she told her dad that her teacher was lauding the virtues of communism. Her father had roots in Ukraine, where millions died under Josef Stalin, and gave the teacher an earful. He then ensured politics was discussed around the dinner table.Smith attended the University of Calgary and found herself entranced by soapbox lectures of conservatives like Ezra Levant and Rob Anders...

Time machine: Rebuilding Notre Dame’s fire-ravaged roof transports workers back to Middle Ages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

SAINT-LAURENT-DE-LA-PLAINE, France (AP) — If time travel was possible, medieval carpenters would surely be amazed to see how woodworking techniques they pioneered in building Notre Dame Cathedral more than 800 years ago are being used again today to rebuild the world-famous monument’s fire-ravaged roof.Certainly the reverse is true for the modern-day carpenters using medieval-era skills. Working with hand axes to fashion hundreds of tons of oak beams for the framework of Notre Dame’s new roof has, for them, been like rewinding time. It’s given them a new appreciation of their predecessors’ handiwork that pushed the architectural envelope back in the 13th century.“It’s a little mind-bending sometimes,” says Peter Henrikson, one of the carpenters. He says there are times when he’s whacking mallet on chisel that he finds himself thinking about medieval counterparts who were cutting “basically the same joint 900 years ago.”“It’s fascinating,” he...

Journalist and politician: A look at Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

EDMONTON — The United Conservative Party has won a majority government in Alberta’s provincial election and Danielle Smith has been re-elected premier. Here are some biographical details:Age: 52. Born April 1, 1971.Pre-Politics: English and economics degrees from the University of Calgary. Columnist with the Calgary Herald and show host at Global TV.Politics: Elected leader of the Wildrose Party in 2009. Elected to the Alberta legislature as the member for Highwood, becoming leader of the official Opposition to the governing Progressive Conservatives in 2012. Led a mass Wildrose floor crossing to the PCs in 2014. Lost the PC nomination in Highwood in 2015. Won leadership of the United Conservative Party to become premier in October 2022. Won the byelection in Brooks-Medicine Hat in November 2022.Personal: Second of five children. Worked as radio talk-show host before winning the UCP leadership. Married to David Moretta with a stepson.Quote: “Just as I would like to thank...

Belarus's Lukashenko says there can be 'nuclear weapons for everyone'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that if any other country wanted to join a Russia-Belarus union there could be "nuclear weapons for everyone".Russia moved ahead last week with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, in the Kremlin's first deployment of such warheads outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, spurring concerns in the West.In an interview published on Russia's state television late on Sunday, Lukashenko, President Vladimir Putin's staunchest ally among Russia's neighbours, said that it must be "strategically understood" that Minsk and Moscow have a unique chance to unite."No one is against Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that we have with the Russian Federation," Lukashenko said."If someone is worried ... (then) it is very simple: join in the Union State of Belarus and Russia. That's all: there will be nuclear weapons for everyone."He added that it was his own view - not the view of Russia.Russia...

Sale closed in Palo Alto: $3.1 million for a three-bedroom home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

1119 Webster Street – Google Street ViewThe historic property located in the 1100 block of Webster Street in Palo Alto was sold on May 1, 2023. The $3,120,000 purchase price works out to $2,585 per square foot. The house, built in 1924, has an interior space of 1,207 square feet. The property features three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a garage, as well as a pool in the backyard and one parking space. The unit sits on a 5,625-square-foot lot.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:A 2,660-square-foot home on the 1000 block of Cowper Street in Palo Alto sold in March 2023, for $4,500,000, a price per square foot of $1,692. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.In March 2023, a 560-square-foot home on Middlefield Road in Palo Alto sold for $2,415,000, a price per square foot of $4,313. The home has 1 bedroom and 1 bathrooms.On Melville Avenue, Palo Alto, in March 2023, a 2,561-square-foot home was sold for $5,100,000, a price per square foot of $1,991. The home has 5 bed...

Golden Knights reach 2nd Stanley Cup Final after Game 6 win over Stars

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:52 GMT

By STEPHEN HAWKINS (AP Sports Writer)DALLAS — William Karlsson, William Carrier and Jonathan Marchessault are finally getting another chance in the Stanley Cup Final, after the first one that came so quick for the Vegas Golden Knights.They are going back after making sure they didn’t need another game against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final.Karlsson scored two goals and had an assist while Carrier and Marchessault also scored for the Knights in a 6-0 rout Monday night over the Stars, who had extended the West final to six games after losing the first three.“We’ve worked hard as a group. That was the goal since year one, to come back here,” Marchessault said. “Our best game is yet to come. That’s the mentality we need to have.”Reilly Smith, Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore were also part of that inaugural 2017-18 Knights season that ended in a Cup Final, when they won Game 1 against the Washington Capitals before losing four in a row.“That first year was a whirlwind ...