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Schengen area: Council agrees to lift air and maritime internal border controls with Bulgaria and Romania

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

EU member states have reached an agreement on removing air and maritime internal border controls with Bulgaria and Romania. The decision has been taken by unanimity, following a written procedure."I am very pleased that in 2024 air and maritime internal controls between Bulgaria and Romania and the other Schengen countries will become a thing of the past, after 12 years of negotiations. We are thus continuing to build an ever wider and stronger area of free movement."Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez, Spanish Minister for the InteriorFrom 31 March 2024, there will no longer be checks on persons at EU internal air and maritime borders between Bulgaria and Romania and the other countries in the Schengen area. This date corresponds with the change of the winter/summer schedule set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).Following this first step, a further decision should be taken by the Council to establish a date for the lifting of checks at internal land borders.Backgroun...

New Zealand’s Auckland is the first major city to ring in 2024 as war shadows celebrations elsewhere

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

Tourists walk around New Year's Eve sign ahead of New Year's Eve in Times Square, Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)(AP/Yuki Iwamura) Tourists walk around New Year's Eve sign ahead of New Year's Eve in Times Square, Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)(AP/Yuki Iwamura) Auckland has become the first major city to ring in 2024, with thousands cheering a fireworks display sprouting from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, and a downtown light show.This year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are overshadowed by the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, which have cast a pall over festivities and heightened tensions across parts of the world. Many cities are d...

Sigue el Año Nuevo en todo el mundo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

(CNN) —  Cuando la bola caiga en Times Square de la ciudad de Nueva York para anunciar el inicio de 2024, en realidad será tarde: en docenas de países alrededor del mundo ya se está dando la bienvenida al nuevo año.La Isla de Navidad en Kiribati, un país insular en el Océano Pacífico central, fue el primer país en destilar champán, dando la bienvenida al 2024, cuando eran solo las 5 am del 31 de diciembre en la costa este de los Estados Unidos y las 11 am UTC (Tiempo Universal Coordinado). el estándar mundial).A la nación le siguieron las Islas Chatham en Nueva Zelanda a las 5:15 am ET y luego la mayor parte de Nueva Zelanda a las 6 am, junto con Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, las Islas Fénix de Kiribati y algunas regiones de la Antártida.Mientras tanto, al otro lado de la línea internacional de cambio de fecha, Hawái, Samoa Americana y muchas de las islas periféricas de Estados Unidos estarán entre los últimos lugares en celebrar el nuevo año. Tendrán que esperar hasta el lunes por l...

Is 2024 a good year to buy a home?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

Washington, DC (CNN) — Housing economists offering forecasts were wrong about 2023.Few thought home sales would fall off a cliff the way they did this year, dropping by about 17% from their high in February to their low in October, according to the National Association of Realtors.Most thought home prices wouldn’t increase by much. Yet prices hit record highs this year, climbing 7% since the beginning of the year and are now 1% higher than at the peak in 2022, according to Case Shiller.And virtually no one saw mortgage rates of nearly 8% coming. When the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hit 7.79% at the end of October, according to Freddie Mac, it was the highest level in 23 years.It all combined to create the least affordable housing market in a generation. Sales of existing homes dipped below 4 million units, reaching levels last seen in 2010. But still, even with fewer buyers, home prices kept climbing because there weren’t enough homes on the market and competition pushed pr...

24 things to look forward to in 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

(CNN) — Hope springs eternal, and for many of us, 2024 is a new dawn. We may have limited time before the bloom of the new year fades and we’re left to confront our untended bad habits and the horrors of the world, so let’s make the most of this fleeting moment of optimism.There are plenty of things to look forward to in 2024. Here are just 24 of them.1. A leap yearEvery four years, the Gregorian calendar adjusts itself to accommodate for the slight discrepancy between our earthly patterns and the cycle of celestial events. In short, Feb. 29 babies, it’s your time to shine! For everyone else, it’s one extra day to enjoy being alive.2. The Olympics and ParalympicsYes, your intuition is correct. Leap years also happen to coincide with two important events boasting wildly different enjoyment levels*. One is the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games, held this year in Paris. Breaking, or break dancing, will debut as a sport this year, and it will be the first time that male and female Ol...

Former Albania PM put under house arrest amid corruption probe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

An Albanian court has ruled that Sali Berisha, a former prime minister and current opposition leader, should be placed under house arrest as he is investigated for corruption.Berisha, Albania’s prime minister between 2005 and 2013, is under investigation for allegedly abusing his power to help privatize public land to build 17 apartments for the benefit of his son-in-law. Berisha, now head of the main opposition Democratic Party, has denied the allegations, arguing that the case is politicized and orchestrated by current Prime Minister Edi Rama. Berisha’s lawyer said he would appeal Saturday’s verdict, which also bars him from leaving the country and communicating with anyone except family members.In a statement, Berisha’s Democratic Party denounced the ruling as “imposed without any evidence, facts or documents” and accused Rama of violating Albania’s constitution and taking “Stalinist measures” to silence his rival. Rama said h...

Bulgaria, Romania get official green light for partial entry into Schengen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

EU member countries reached agreement Saturday on removing air and maritime internal border controls with Bulgaria and Romania, but the two countries’ full entry into the bloc’s passport-free Schengen zone remains subject to further discussions.Controls at sea and air borders with Romania and Bulgaria will be lifted as of March 31, the Council of the EU, which represents EU countries, said in a statement on Saturday. “A further decision should be taken by the Council to establish a date for the lifting of checks at internal land borders,” according to the statement.The European Commission said talks on removing controls at land borders will continue in 2024. “A decision by the Council on this matter is expected to be taken within a reasonable time frame,” the EU executive said in a statement. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Saturday’s decision “a historic moment for Bulgaria and Romania.”“This is a major step forward ...

Michigan home explosion heard for miles kills 4 and injures 2, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Four people died and two others were injured Saturday in a Michigan house explosion that could be heard miles away, police said.The explosion happened before 4 p.m. in Northfield Township, about 45 miles (72.4 kilometers) west of Detroit. The structure was destroyed, leaving only the basement, Northfield Township Police Lt. David Powell told reporters Saturday.The blast, which could be heard about 9 miles (14.4 kilometers) away, sent debris into the air that landed on both sides of a nearby highway. Neighboring homes were not damaged, Powell said.Six people were in the home, with four fatalities discovered at the scene and the two surviving victims hospitalized in critical condition. Police did not immediately know if the victims were related, Powell said.Authorities have not determined the cause of the explosion.Northfield Township police did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking additional information on Sunday.

New Year, New Pattern… For Now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

How about that dry air in place? It’s certainly a welcomed change of pace, and one that will stick around for a few days. The trade off is that chillier air is back with us, but overall, it’s just a seasonable chill and nothing unusual for the time of year. Skies remain draped with more clouds than sun today as highs slowly rise up into the upper 30s. The breeze today is out of the northwest, around 10mph, gusting to 15-20mph. It’ll be even a bit lighter tonight with gusts only to about 10mph, allowing for a pleasant First Night weather-wise. Visibility for the fireworks will be good too as no fog is expected. That’s the general rule across much of Southern New England. The dry air lasts until Thursday, and even then, it’s not a big storm for us, just a few spotty rain/snow showers as the main part of the storm stays to our south. Any bigger storm potential won’t arrive until late next weekend, and that’s not a lock at this point, just some...

American democracy has overcome big stress tests since the 2020 election. More challenges are ahead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:56 GMT

Over the past three years, the world’s oldest democracy has been tested in ways not seen in decades. A sitting president tried to overturn an election and his supporters stormed the Capitol to stop the winner from taking power. Supporters of that attack launched a campaign against local election offices, chasing out veteran administrators and pushing conservative states to pass new laws making it harder to vote.At the same time, the past three years proved that American democracy was resilient.Former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results failed, blocked by the constitutional system’s checks and balances, and he now faces both federal and state charges for those efforts. Then the voters stepped in. In every presidential battleground state, they rejected all candidates who supported Trump’s stolen election lies and were running for statewide offices that had some oversight of elections.The election infrastructure in the country...