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Want to work in the UK? You’ll need to earn £38,700 under Tory plan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

LONDON — U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly has unveiled a steep hike in the minimum salary overseas workers will need to earn to work in the U.K.Unveiling a raft of new measures as the governing Conservative Party fights to show it is getting a grip on record legal migration numbers, Cleverly announced that the current salary threshold for a skilled visa will rise from £26,200 to £38,700 from spring 2024, except for those coming to work in the health and social care sectors.The move puts the threshold nearly £4,000 higher than the average U.K. salary of £34,963, and marks a sharp change in direction from the post-Brexit regime meant to favor skilled workers.Net migration hit a new record high of 672,000 in the year ending June 2023, according to the latest official estimates, despite a promise by the Conservatives to tame the numbers in their 2019 manifesto.It means the government is under mounting pressure from its own MPs to act.Announcing a “five point plan” in ...

In Ukraine war arms race, US stalls as Israel, Turkey and South Korea surge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

The West has pledged to do whatever it takes to support Ukraine while also returning militaries to a war-ready status, but it is defense contractors in South Korea, Turkey and Israel which are reaping many of the early deals.Arms makers in those countries, where governments sustain military investment and production pipelines to maintain their own security, made early gains in the months following the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, according to the latest analysis of weapon sales and military services revenue from the world’s top 100 contractors carried out by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).“South Korea, Israel, Turkey are countries that stand out as being able to respond to the increased expenditure,” said Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, who helped compile the data for SIPRI as part of an annual update that’s been ongoing since the end of the Cold War.Turkey’s four largest defense companies saw their 2022 revenues rise by 22 percen...

Authorities announce death of driver involved in Friday rollover crash in Haverhill

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

Massachusetts State Police say a rollover crash that happened on I-495 in Haverhill on Friday resulted in the death of the driver.An MSP spokesperson said 62-year-old David Ziembko of New Britain, Connecticut, had been traveling southbound on the interstate when his 2017 Honda CR-V left the roadway and entered a grassy median before striking a guardrail.The rollover crash happened near the Route 97 overpass and led to rescue crews extricating Ziembko after they responded and found the CR-V on its roof.“Mr. Ziembko was transported to Lawrence General Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased,” MSP spokesperson Dave Procopio stated in a news release.Procopio added that the facts and circumstances of the crash remained under investigation, including whether the driver suffered a medical event prior to going off of the highway.

Two killed in Webster crash caused by wrong-way driver

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

Two people died Saturday night after a person driving the wrong way down Route 395 south in Webster tragically collided with another car head on, according to Massachusetts State Police.At about 10:17 p.m. Saturday night, preliminary evidence shows a GMC Sierra pickup truck was driving north in the left lane of the southbound side of Route 395, State Police said in a release Sunday.A 2012 Honda CRV sport utility vehicle was headed down the same lane.Around mile marker 2.6 near Exit 3, police said, the truck hit the Honda head on in the southbound left lane.Both the driver of the Sierra, Jordan Pimentel, 31, of Auburn, Massachusetts, and the Honda, Kayla Morey, 35, of Dayville, Connecticut, sustained fatal injuries and pronounced dead at the scene.The vehicles were towed and secured for further investigation, the release states. Both lanes of Route 395 around the scene were closed for about five hours during the rescue response and crash reconstructions.Related ArticlesLocal News | ...

Democrats in House push through $3.1B spending bill over Republican objections

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

House Democrats muscled through a roughly $3 billion budget bill Monday that includes public sector employee raises and emergency shelter funding after they let Republicans block the proposal for three straight days.But the legislation could face immediate opposition in the Senate, where Republicans there have pledged to put up a blockade over concerns they have with funding to respond to an influx of migrants, and considering large spending bills during sessions where debate is not typically permitted.After House Republicans attempted to stall the budget bill for the fourth time, Democrats managed to pass it on a standing vote of 105-14, overcoming a procedural tactic where the presence of a quorum is doubted and the chamber adjourns for the day if not enough members are in attendance.House Minority Leader Brad Jones said the process that played out in the House “highlighted the shortcomings of a one-party monopoly” on Beacon Hill.“We think we made a good attempt the last few...

Heavy snowfall hits New England and leaves thousands in the dark in Maine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

By The Associated PressA storm dropped a mix of rain and snow on parts of New England, with some locations recording more than a half-foot (15 centimeters) of snowfall on Monday. More than 25,000 homes and businesses were without electricity in Maine as trees and branches laden with heavy, wet snow fell on power lines, officials said.The National Weather Service declared the first winter storm warning of the season for New Hampshire and western Maine. Northernmost Vermont was also under a winter storm warning on Monday. Far northern Maine, also under a warning, already saw heavy snow before Thanksgiving.Some mountainous areas of western Maine and New Hampshire could see over a foot of snow. Vermont was expected to get up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow.The snow made for a messy, slushy commute in many parts of the region. Vermont also had numerous school delays and closures for the day.

The Supreme Court wrestles with OxyContin maker’s bankruptcy deal, with billions of dollars at stake

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

By MARK SHERMAN (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would shield members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids.The justices seemed by turns relucant to break up an exhaustively negotiated agreement, but also leery of somehow rewarding the Sacklers.The agreement hammered out with state and local governments and victims would provide billions of dollars to combat the opioid epidemic. The Sacklers would contribute up to $6 billion and give up ownership of the company, but retain billions more. The company would emerge from bankruptcy as a different entity, with its profits used for treatment and prevention. The high court put the settlement on hold during the summer, in response to objections from the Biden administration.“It seems as though the federal government is standing in the way of that as against the huge, huge, ...

IIHF mandating neck guards for all levels of competition

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) is mandating neck guards for all levels of IIHF competition.In a statement Monday, the IIHF said when exactly the mandate will go into effect for “senior categories” — those over the U20 and U18 categories where neck laceration protector were already required — “will be determined by the supply situation.”Until the mandate takes effect, the IIHF says it “continues to strongly recommend that neck laceration protectors are worn by all players performing in an IIHF competition.”“The IIHF remains in close contact with its suppliers to ensure they are able to respond to the current high demand,” the federation added.The move will mean neck guards will be required for play at the Olympics and World Championships.This all comes after the October death of American hockey player Adam Johnson, a former NHLer whose neck was cut by a skate blade during a game in England. He was 29.In the w...

Judges reject call for near ban on Hague prison visits for 3 former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — International judges on Monday rejected a demand by prosecutors for a nearly complete ban on prison visits for three former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders on trial at The Hague for war crimes.Kosovo ex-President Hashim Thaci, former parliamentary Speaker Kadri Veseli and ex-lawmaker Rexhep Selimi face charges including murder, torture and persecution during and after the 1998-1999 war with Serbia.The three defendants have been in custody since November 2020. Prosecutors called on the judges to limit their prison visits to only their lawyers or close relatives, saying that the three were attempting to tamper with witnesses and leak confidential testimony.But a panel of judges of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers headed by Charles L. Smith III said that the request by prosecutors wasn’t “proportional” and would have “a severe eroding effect upon the rights of the three accused.”“At this stage, the panel is therefore not convinced that measures of segregation...

Hungary’s Orban demands Ukraine’s EU membership be taken off the agenda at a bloc summit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:52 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban demanded on Monday that Ukraine’s membership in the European Union and billions of euros in funding meant for the war-torn country be taken off the agenda at a summit of the bloc’s leaders next week.In a letter to European Council President Charles Michel, who will chair the Dec. 14-15 summit in Brussels, Orban insisted that a “strategic discussion” is needed first about Ukraine’s European future and warned that forcing a decision could destroy EU unity.Decisions on EU’s enlargement and a review of its long-term budget, which includes 50 billion euros ($54.1 billion) in aid for Kyiv, can only be taken unanimously by all 27 member countries.“I respectfully urge you not to invite the European Council to decide on these matters in December as the obvious lack of consensus would inevitably lead to failure,” Orban wrote in the letter, dated Dec. 4 and seen by The Associated Press.EU leaders, he wrote, “must avoid this counterpro...