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Ask Amy: How do I save myself from a cruise with these pretentious women?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

Dear Amy: Recently, I went on a five-day cruise with three high school friends.We do not live near each other. I had not seen “Bobbie” in 57 years. I am in frequent contact with “Christine,” and the third woman was out of touch for 50 years, but we became connected again seven years ago.Bobbie told us all about her career, marriages, family and extensive deluxe travel. She came across as pretentious. Christine joined in with her own pretentious stories. The third friend also shared a lot about herself.My way of participating was to ask follow-up questions to learn more about them. As it turned out, they loved my interest in them but never asked me even one question about myself!Therefore, I never talked about my husband, family and career of 25 years. I have three college degrees that are varied and intriguing.When I said goodbye to Bobbie, I realized she did not learn one thing about me.The group’s enthusiastic consensus was to get together again within the year. How do I gracefull...

Harriette Cole: This B-list celebrity is a drag on our event

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: I am a producer for a major multimedia company, and I’m currently in a tricky situation.Related ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: Is it a red flag that he wants me to ride a bus to our first date? Advice | Harriette Cole: People are saying my friend’s bad news is just a scam to get money Advice | Harriette Cole: She fought my sentimental claim to my mom’s table. Now we don’t speak. Advice | Harriette Cole: I’m starting to believe the rumor about my ex Advice | Harriette Cole: We posted a vacation TikTok, and this guy flipped out My team and I were tasked with producing a special event that features several high-profile celebrities, and one of our guests isn’t up to par with the others. The guest is a friend of one of my co-producers, so he was able to finesse his way onto the show. I don’t think my co-producer should be allowed to tarnish the quali...

Inmate facing murder charge escapes California medical center

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

(CNN) — California authorities have launched a manhunt after an inmate accused of murder escaped a medical center in Placer County early Sunday morning.Roseville police are urging people to “exercise extreme caution” if they see Eric J. Abril, who was shirtless and “believed to be wearing orange jail pants” when he went on the run from the Sutter Medical Center.The 35-year-old is facing murder, attempted murder and kidnapping charges related to an April incident at a Roseville park, the sheriff’s office and Roseville police said Sunday.“Suspect Abril was last seen on video surveillance walking in the area of Rainier Ct. in Rocklin at approx 3:39 a.m. and continuing Northbound in the area of Saddletree Ln.,” Roseville police said in a Facebook post. “We ask the immediate public to exercise extreme caution and to call 911 immediately if Abril is seen.”Abril is facing “charges of murder, kidnapping causing bodily harm, and attempted murder on a police officer, among other charges as it...

The planet is getting hotter fast. This is what happens to your body in extreme heat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

(CNN) — The Earth recently recorded its hottest day ever – a record experts warn will likely be repeatedly broken as the climate crisis drives temperatures higher and higher.And it’s happening fast: a new report found last month was the planet’s hottest June by a “substantial margin,” meaning the nine hottest Junes have all occurred in the last nine years.Extremely hot days – what could be considered the hottest days of the summer – are more frequent now than in 1970 in 195 locations across the US, according to the research group Climate Central. Of those locations, roughly 71% now face at least seven additional extremely hot days each year.The effects have been devastating.In one Texas county, at least 11 people died in just over a week during an unrelenting June heat wave. In Mexico, soaring temperatures have killed at least 112 people since March. A recent heat wave in India killed at least 44 people across the state of Bihar.Here’s what happens to your body in extreme heat, what...

5,000-year-old ‘Ivory Lady’ upends what’s known about sex and gender in prehistoric societies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

(CNN) — Buried with an elephant’s tusk, an ivory comb, a crystal dagger, an ostrich eggshell and a flint dagger inlaid with amber, the skeleton discovered in a tomb near Seville, Spain, in 2008 was clearly once someone important.Based on analysis of the pelvis bone, a specialist initially identified the 5,000-year-old skeleton as a “probable young male” who died between age 17 and 25. A team of European archaeologists dubbed the remains the “Ivory Man,” and began researching what they called a “spectacular” find.More than a decade later, the researchers used a new molecular method in 2021 to confirm the skeleton’s sex as part of a broader study on the discovery, and they got quite a shock. It turned out that the “Ivory Man” was in fact a woman.“This came as a surprise. So, this actually forced us to rethink everything about this site,” said study author Leonardo García Sanjuán, a professor of prehistory at the University of Seville.What they learned about the woman and the...

Erdoğan: Let Turkey into EU if you want Sweden to join NATO

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

Turkey would consider green-lighting Sweden’s application to join NATO in exchange for progress on its own bid to join the EU, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared Monday ahead of a key summit of alliance members.“First, pave the way for Turkey in the European Union, and then let us pave the way for Sweden, just as we paved the way for Finland,” the Turkish leader said in a speech Monday at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport, before departing for the NATO summit in Vilnius.At the same time, Erdoğan added, he will use the summit to “repeat our call to the allies who impose sanctions and restrictions on Turkey to quickly turn back from this mistake.”“We believe that ending the war with a just and lasting peace as soon as possible will further facilitate Ukraine’s NATO membership process,” he went on.In a bilateral call with U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday night, the Turkish president called for EU member countries to send a “clear an...

Putin met Prigozhin in Moscow after Wagner mutiny

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the Kremlin after the paramilitary group’s aborted mutiny last month, according to Russian media reports.“This meeting took place in the Kremlin on June 29. It lasted almost three hours,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday, according to state-owned newswire Ria Novosti.Thirty-five people were invited to attend the meeting, including “all the commanders of the military detachments” and Prigozhin, Peskov said.Prigozhin rebelled against the Russian military establishment on June 23, seizing the city of Rostov-on-Don and sending his Wagner Group mercenaries on a march to Moscow. The mutinous warlord only turned his tanks around as they came within 200 kilometers of the Russian capital and threatened to tip the country into civil war. After the mutiny was aborted following talks between Prigozhin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who negotiated a climbdown from ...

Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson investigated for filming GB News show in Parliament

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

LONDON — Parliament’s standards watchdog launched an investigation into Conservative Party Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson after he filmed a promotional video for his own television show in the Houses of Parliament.The parliamentary commissioner for standards — which polices MP conduct — is investigating whether the MP for Ashfield broke the parliamentary code of conduct by filming the video pushing his GB News show on parliament’s roof terrace.The potential breach is being investigated under paragraph 8 of MP code of conduct. It states: “Excepting modest and reasonable personal use, Members must ensure that the use of facilities and services provided to them by Parliament, including an office, is in support of their parliamentary activities, and is in accordance with all relevant rules.”Reacting to the video at the time of its publication, a House of Commons spokesperson told the Guardian that: “Unauthorized photography or filming is not permitted on the parliamentar...

Russia kills 4 in bomb attack on Zaporizhzhia aid station

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

KYIV — Russia killed at least four people and injured dozens in a strike on a Ukrainian school that was also a humanitarian aid distribution point. The bomb attack took place in Orikhiv, a frontline town in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, National Police of Ukraine said in a statement on Monday.The attack happened Sunday, as people were getting food, water, and other humanitarian aid supplies. In addition to the dead and wounded, dozens of people are trapped under the rubble, local police said in a statement.Local authorities said the attack was a war crime.“Russians have committed another war crime. They launched a guided aerial bomb at a residential neighborhood as people were getting aid. Three women and a man died immediately, and 11 were hospitalized,” Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Yuriy Malashko said in a Telegram post.Ten residential buildings were damaged by the attack, he added. Emergency services are still working at the scene.

WATCH: VT couple goes for wild ride after finding raccoon stowaways on their boat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

A Vermont couple took a cruise to remember on the Fourth of July, capturing video of two raccoon stowaways who joined them for a once-in-a-lifetime ride around Lake Champlain.Steve Lipkin said he and his wife were making their way out on the lake when out popped the two animals.“The two heads popped up and it was the raccoons that had stowed away under the seats,” he said.His wife, Shannon, said in the ensuing chaos the couple used cushions to corral the curious critters.“I’m an animal lover, so I was mortified at the thought of these raccoons in the middle of the lake,” she said.At one point, Steve said it looked like the raccoons decided to relax and enjoy the sights.“They were just leaning over the side of the boat and enjoying the wind in their fur,” he recalled.Once back at the dock, the animals scampered off, leaving the couple with a holiday memory they’ll never forget.