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Commission steps up efforts to tackle energy poverty and boost consumer protection

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

Ahead of the winter, the Commission is reinforcing its action to protect energy consumers, in particular vulnerable ones. With the adoption of a new Recommendation on energy poverty, the Commission reinforces its commitment to ensure that the clean energy transition is fair and just for all.The Recommendation sets out good practices for structural improvements that member states can take to address the root causes of energy poverty. Investments into structural measures to tackle the low energy performance of homes and appliances are also highlighted. Other measures include providing clear information on energy bills and energy-saving practices and encouraging citizens to join energy communities or shift towards renewable energy solutions. The Recommendation, which is accompanied by a detailed Staff Working Document, also provides suggestions for how the EU budget can be leveraged at national level.Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders and Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson (pictured) h...

After season-opening loss, Chris Paul and the Warriors will try to avoid being ‘too unselfish’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Thirty-two minutes.That’s how long it took the fans at Chase Center to start chanting for the same man they once rooted so deeply against.“C-P-THREE,” they screamed after Chris Paul drained a free-throw that temporarily gave the Warriors their biggest lead of the night. “C-P-THREE.”It didn’t start well for Paul, who began his first regular season game in a Warriors uniform by shooting 0-for-6 from the floor, and it didn’t end well for the team, as the Warriors faded down the stretch in a 108-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns.But as the cork came off of the 2023-24 Warriors season and the game started to breathe, the 38-year-old kept getting better.He finished the game with 14 points on 4-for-15 shooting while adding six rebounds, two steals, nine assists and just one turnover.“I thought he looked really comfortable tonight,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr.There was much anticipation over whether or not Paul would be in the Warriors starting lineup this season, but D...

‘El Talibán,’ Europe’s top jihadi recruiter, arrested in Melilla

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

Spanish police arrested a Belgian-born man believed by authorities to be Europe’s top recruiter for jihadist organizations.Police said this week they’d detained 59-year-old Mustafá “Maya” Amaya, also known as “El Talibán,” in Melilla, the Spanish enclave in North Africa that borders Morocco, Spanish media reported. Amaya faces charges including terrorist indoctrination and glorification, according to El País. Born in Brussels and of Spanish nationality, the wheelchair-bound Amaya is known to Spanish authorities for creating “one of the largest networks for recruiting and sending radicals to join organizations,” according to El Español.Amaya was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to eight years in prison in 2018 for recruiting at least 28 people from different countries to join jihadist groups, including al-Qaida and Islamic State. He was released in 2022, before being arrested again this week.Spanish authorities have cracked down on extremist groups since t...

Serbia and Kosovo leaders set for talks on the sidelines of this week’s EU summit as tensions simmer

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have been invited to meet with top European Union officials to try to breathe life into talks aimed at normalizing their relations, as the 27-nation bloc’s leaders gather in Brussels for a two-day summit starting Thursday.Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti are not expected to meet face to face, but the aim is to push forward with new “proposals and ideas” floated in exploratory talks last weekend, said Peter Stano, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.Fears are high of a resumption of the violence that has characterized their ties since Kosovo unilaterally broke away from Serbia in 2008. Belgrade has never recognized the move. The EU, through Borrell, has supervised a “dialogue” between them to get things back on track.The meetings, if they proceed, could be an important step forward, after about 30 Serb gunmen crossed into northern Kosovo on Sept. 24, killing a police officer and s...

Leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah holds talks with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group held talks on Wednesday with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures in a key meeting of three top anti-Israel militant groups amid the war raging in Gaza.A brief statement following the meeting said that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah agreed with Hamas’ Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad’s leader Ziad al-Nakhleh on the next steps that the three — along with other Iran-backed militants — should take at this “sensitive stage.”Their goal, according to the statement that was carried on Hezbollah-run and Lebanese state media, was to achieve “a real victory for the resistance in Gaza and Palestine” and halt Israel’s “treacherous and brutal aggression against our oppressed and steadfast people in Gaza and the West Bank”. No other details were provided. The discussions in Beirut came as the war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, is now in...

In the news today: Israel’s bombardment in Gaza surges, reducing buildings to rubble

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Israel ramps up airstrikes across the Gaza StripIsrael has ramped up airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, reducing residential buildings to rubble and crushing families. Airstrikes have killed dozens at a time in levelled homes, according to witnesses.The surging death toll foretells even greater loss of life ahead in Gaza, where Israeli forces are expected to launch a ground invasion seeking to destroy Hamas. Fuel shortages and the bombardment forced the shutdown of medical facilities, Gaza officials said.The war, in its 19th day Wednesday, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said Tuesday that at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed and 16,297 wounded. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, according to Israeli officials, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas rampage on Oct. 7. In addition, 22...

Bank of Canada widely expected to hold its key interest rate steady today

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada is set to announce its interest rate decision this morning.Forecasters are widely expecting the central bank to hold its key interest rate steady as the economy weakens and inflation slows.The key rate is currently sitting at five per cent, the highest it’s been since 2001.The Bank of Canada’s aggressive rate hikes since March 2022 are weighing on consumers and businesses, as the economy shrank in the second quarter and the labour market eased.Meanwhile, Canada’s annual inflation rate fell to 3.8 per cent in September as price pressures weaken across the economy.Most economists believe interest rates are already sufficiently high to restore price stability and return inflation to the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2023.The Canadian Press

Prison officials ‘intervened’ to stop Paul Bernardo from making public statement

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

OTTAWA — Newly released documents show that Correctional Service Canada stopped Paul Bernardo from having his lawyer make a statement to the media as controversy swirled around the notorious killer’s transfer to a medium-security prison.Bernardo was moved to La Macaza Institution, a medium-security prison about 190 kilometres northwest of Montreal, in late May from the maximum-security Millhaven Institution near Kingston, Ont. He is serving a life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.Bernardo was also convicted of manslaughter in the December 1990 death of 15-year-old Tammy Homolka, the younger sister of his then-wife, Karla Homolka. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a 12-year sentence for her role in the crimes against French and Mahaffy. She was released in 2005. Bernardo, who was designated a dangerous offender, has admitted to sexually a...

Canadians want Ottawa to maintain current spending levels on Ukraine, survey suggests

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

OTTAWA — A new survey suggests more Canadians want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to maintain Canada’s current level of spending on helping Ukraine fight Russia’s ongoing invasion, rather than boosting financial support.Polling firm Leger recently asked Canadians about their country’s presence on the world stage, including Canada’s efforts to assist Ukraine defend against Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.A total of 1,521 respondents participated in the web survey from Oct. 20 to Oct. 22. It cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random samples.The survey asked Canadians what they thought the Liberal government should do when it comes to providing financial aid to Ukraine. According to the results, 45 per cent of respondents said they thought Canada should maintain the same level of spending, compared to 30 per cent who said they thought the federal government ought to decrease it.Only 12 p...

‘I wanted to scream’: Growing conflict in Congo drives sexual assault against displaced women

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:44:34 GMT

BULENGO, Congo (AP) — A hooded man burst into the 42-year-old woman’s tent while her children were out searching for food, then raped her in the displacement camp where she had fled war in eastern Congo.“I wanted to scream (but) he took my mouth and he threatened me with death,” said the mother of four, who was abandoned by her husband after she became disabled in a motorcycle accident several years ago.Now, she says, she lives in fear and hesitates to let her children leave her side.Sexual violence by armed men against displaced women is increasing rapidly in eastern Congo as yearslong conflicts continue. The trend underscores the disproportionate consequences for women and girls in the region’s perpetual state of war. The Associated Press is not identifying survivors who spoke to journalists in the Bulengo displacement camp.In Bulengo and other displacement sites nearby, an average of 70 sexual assault victims each day visit clinics run by Doctors Without Borders, also...