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Massive flagpoles are all the rage, and hugely divisive

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.Congratulations to Bulgaria, which has won the prize every country was hoping to win … the EU’s highest flagpole! The 1,110 square meter flag — chosen to symbolize the size of Bulgaria’s territory, which is 111,000 square kilometers — was hoisted up a record-breaking 111-meter pole in the Rhodope mountains. Simeon Karakolev, the organizer of a historic annual folk festival in the village of Rozhen, helped raise $560,000 for the pole in a campaign championed by Bulgaria’s pro-Russia President Rumen Radev.Not everyone was keen on the big flag. “I felt unwell when I saw this rod sticking out of the ground in the middle of the meadows and the surrounding forests. This is human interference in nature,” business consultant Sofia Botusharova, from nearby Chepelare, told AFP.Bulgaria takes the title from Finland — which has a puny, pesky 100-meter flagpole. But it remains a long way off the international record. In Columbia Falls in Maine...

Spanish election: The forgotten regions could decide who wins

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

TERUEL, Spain — Tomás Guitarte belongs to a land that Madrid purposely forgot.During most of the 62-year-old architect’s life, successive Spanish administrations ignored his home province of Teruel, a rugged chunk of the Aragón region located in the heart of northeastern Spain.The refusal by national authorities to invest in Teruel has starved the area, leading its population to shrink in the span of 100 years from 264,062 inhabitants in 1920 to just 134,505 today — a period in which Spain’s population more than doubled.“They just gave up on us,” Guitarte said. “Decided we weren’t worth the effort and hoped we would just disappear.”Today, Teruel is having its revenge.Since 2019, Teruel Existe (“Teruel Exists”), a hyper-local political party led by Guitarte, has become an unlikely power player in Spanish politics. Most notably, without its support, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wouldn’t have been able to form the country’s first coalition gove...

Why Belgium may be about to break up

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

Sooner rather than later, Belgium may cease to exist. The small Western European state that hosts the headquarters of the EU and NATO has long had a dysfunctional national political life. It holds the world record for the longest time taken to form a government during coalition talks — over 500 days. Now the strains between Dutch-speaking Flanders, in the north, and French-speaking Wallonia in the south of the country threaten a far bigger crisis. Elections are due to be held in June 2024. According to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, the far-right Vlaams Belang party — which wants to turn Flanders into a fully independent, breakaway state — is now the biggest political force in the country. Tom Van Grieken, who became president of his party when he was only 28 and who has been key to its recent success, has been firm about his plans for independence if he wins. “We believe Belgium is a forced marriage,” Van Grieken told POLITICO in his office near Brussels’ E...

Happy holidays! Will Brexit spoil Brits’ vacations — and Rishi Sunak’s summer?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak is desperate to sell the benefits of Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the holiday season is here.Some Tory MPs fear post-Brexit “annoyances” for Brits this summer — from reintroduced mobile roaming charges to laborious passport checks — may counteract a determined effort by No. 10 Downing Street to convince Brits that the Brexit battles of the past few years have been worth the pain.“You can construct a long list of things that are annoying,” sighed one former Tory minister, a Remain supporter, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Government should be much better at constructing a list of things that are better … but that is challenging, apparently.”“We have just signed the CPTPP [Pacific trade deal]. Am I richer? No. You have just spent £10 on roaming charges. Are you poorer? Yes.”Mobile roaming charges, which are banned within the European Union, have returned on three out of the four major U.K. networks post-Brexit. EE, Vodafone an...

A call from the front line: We want to end this war as quickly as possible

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

Yegor Firsov is a combat paramedic in Avdiivka, Ukraine. He is an activist and a former member of the Ukrainian parliament. This article was translated from Ukrainian by Valentyna Marchenko.When assessing the general situation at the front, it is difficult to be objective. One judges everything from the unit’s the perspective: If successful on the battlefield, it seems we are winning; if suffering ferocious attacks, it seems we are losing.And as I write these words from New York — not the world-renowned American city but the Ukrainian town located right between Bakhmut and Avdiivka — we now hold the tactical initiative here, thanks to surveillance drones. Before we got them, the Russians would hang out near their trenches, openly smoking and drinking. Now, they’re digging with shovels and building fortifications.Nothing brings greater pleasure than this — seeing the enemy fearful of you, with their frenzied activity to escape from our targeted bombardments.But the main problem for u...

Investigation underway after person shot in Lawrence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

An investigation got underway in Lawrence Thursday after a person was shot, the Essex County District Attorney said. The DA said the shooting happened around 6:45 p.m. on Prospect Street near the road’s intersection with Canton Street. The victim was taken to a hospital in Lawrence and later flown by helicopter to a hospital in Boston. In addition to the Prospect Street shooting, the DA said investigators found one person dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a car on Summer Street. The DA said investigators do not believe there is any threat to the public but said the investigation into these incidents was ongoing as of Thursday night.

18-year-old Miami woman arrested after allegedly trying to hire a hitman to go after her 3-year-old son

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

(CNN) — Police arrested an 18-year-old mother Tuesday after she attempted to hire a hitman to kill her 3-year-old son, according to police.Jazmin Paez was flagged to authorities after she filled out a form on a parody hit-for-hire website designed to “prevent legitimate solicitations to commit murders,” according to a Miami-Dade police affidavit.The individual who runs the website received a service request to put out a hit on the intended victim, Paez’s son, police say. The website’s operator reached out to the police, who verified the credibility of the information provided on the website.After investigating, authorities arrested Paez Tuesday night.The 18-year-old has been charged with first-degree solicitation of murder and third-degree using a communications device for unlawful use, according to court documents.Court documents show Paez appeared in court Wednesday and has obtained legal representation through the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office. CNN has reached out to P...

Yankees transfer Josh Donaldson to 60-day IL, select right-hander Matt Bowman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

The Yankees transferred third baseman Josh Donaldson to the 60-day injured list, the team announced Thursday. The move opened a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Matt Bowman. The Yankees selected Bowman’s contract and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.Moving Donaldson to the 60-day IL would effectively end his tenure in the Bronx, as the move would make the former MVP eligible to return mid-September at the earliest.“We’re getting to the point of the season to where it’s later in the year and running out of games and, really, time,” Donaldson said of playing again in 2023 after initially landing on the 10-day IL.The 37-year-old will be a free agent at the end of the season.Donaldson initially was placed on the 10-day IL with a right calf strain on July 16. He sustained the injury while running to first base a day prior during a 6-3 win against the Colorado Rockies. After getting results from an MRI, team doctors diagnosed him with ...

Orioles take sole possession of first place in AL East with 4-3 win over Rays in extra innings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

In games against American League East rivals, the little things matter more. When those games go to extra innings, the little things often make the difference.Thursday’s divisional matchup between the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays — the two best teams in the American League — naturally went into extras. Two Orioles, one veteran and one rookie, came through with sacrifices in the 10th to give Baltimore a 4-3 lead that closer Félix Bautista held in the bottom half.Second baseman Adam Frazier, an eight-year veteran, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance automatic runner Aaron Hicks to third, and rookie Colton Cowser, playing in his 11th career game, drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field. Bautista, who pitched a scoreless ninth to send the game to extras, hit the first batter of the 10th but then struck Randy Arozarena and got Brandon Lowe to ground into a game-ending double play.The win puts Baltimore (59-37) in sole possession of first place in th...

A Croatian firefighter has died in the storm that swept the Balkans, raising the toll to 6 dead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:17 GMT

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A Croatian firefighter has died during a deadly storm that swept the Balkans after a heat wave, bringing the death toll to six, officials said Thursday.Emergency services in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia scrambled to restore electricity and clear the debris left over after Wednesday’s chaos.Meteorologists said the storm was extremely powerful as it was formed after a string of very hot days. Experts say extreme weather conditions are likely fueled by climate change.Elsewhere in Europe, a continuing heat wave caused wildfires and public health warnings. Throughout the Balkan region, authorities reported hundreds of people injured, including around 20 seriously, from fallen trees, roof parts or other objects blown off by the swirling winds.The firefighter in the eastern Croatian town of Tovarnik died “tragically” during the storm, the his unit said, revealing no other details.Three more people died on Wednesday in Croatia, one in Slovenia and one in...