MOSKOU (ANP/DPA/RTR) - Moskou sluit uit dat het ooit met EU-buitenlandchef Kaja Kallas zal spreken over het beëindigen van de oorlog in Oekraïne. Kremlinwoordvoerder Dmitri Peskov noemde haar en de EU-leiders op de Russische staatstelevisie "incompetent".
Kallas laat zich vaak in felle bewoordingen uit over de regering van Vladimir Poetin en het Russische optreden in Oekraïne. "Met haar zullen we nooit iets bespreken, en de Amerikanen zullen dat ook niet doen", zei Peskov over de voormalige premier van Estland. "We zullen gewoon moeten wachten tot ze vertrekt."
De Kremlinwoordvoerder zei dit na overleg tussen Oekraïne en Rusland onder Amerikaanse bemiddeling. Afgevaardigden van die landen spraken elkaar vrijdag en zaterdag in de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten.
Legal expert says that if New York City judge decides against admitting these items, it could all but gut state case
As Luigi Mangione’s highly anticipated federal trial could start by year’s end, his defense team is working hard to prevent jurors from seeing some of the most incriminating evidence against him, including an alleged murder weapon.
Mangione is charged with the murder of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson’s 2024 killing on a midtown Manhattan street spurred an expansive manhunt for the assailant, but also fanned the flames of public outcry over the US health insurance industry’s profit-driven practices.
Continue reading...In his fresh intoxication with global conquest, Trump is following an established pattern – one that promises disaster
To many observers, Donald Trump’s open bellicosity – his threats to attack Greenland and Iran, and his recent kidnapping of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro – looks like an ideological reversal. “Donald Trump betrayed his MAGA base today [by] launching a war of choice to bring regime change in Venezuela,” tweeted Democratic congressman Ro Khanna on 3 January. The day before, former Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote: “President Trump threatening war and sending in troops to Iran is everything we voted against in ‘24.” On 20 January, National Public Radio reported that “Trump supporters share confusion and anger over the president’s focus on Greenland”.
The sense of whiplash is understandable. As a candidate, Trump often denounced war. Now he is infatuated with it. But while Trump seems uniquely set on dismantling the postwar order in the service of his quest for global domination, there is precedent for his transformation.
Continue reading...A surprise family member – a sweet, youthful tortoise – is staving off my maternal hunger pangs after our human offspring recently decamped
It feels pathetic to admit this, but I’m still a bit unmoored by my sons leaving after Christmas. There’s a readjustment required every time – back to tidy silence, to my studiedly casual WhatsApps going unread, to imagining their days by checking their weather. With my caretaking impulses thwarted, I’m anxious and unsettled, forever offering unwanted care parcels and unsolicited advice. “Let them live their lives,” I bleat to myself, while doing everything but.
In my defence, I wonder how natural it is to live in a monogenerational pod. My current round of wondering was prompted by reading about the rise of the “stay-at-home hub-son”. This subcategory of boomerang kids was first identified last year, after 28-year-old Brendan Liaw described himself as a professional stay-at-home son on the US quiz show Jeopardy!, prompting a rash of think pieces (and understandable eye-rolling in many communities where intergenerational living is commonplace).
Continue reading...Used in healing practices for centuries, modern versions of these spiky mats are increasingly popular, and many people find them invaluable. Here’s what the science says
Ever since Keith, 39, from Kansas, was in a car accident in 2023, he has lived with “pretty much constant mid-back and shoulder pain”. Over-the-counter treatments didn’t touch the sides and he didn’t want to resort to opiates. “Having exhausted everything there was solid science for with no satisfaction, I delved into acupressure,” he says. He bought an acupressure mat made of lightly padded fabric, studded all over with tiny plastic spikes, to lay his back on, and was surprised to find that it actually helped.
Acupressure mats, also known as Shakti mats, are inspired by the beds of nails that Indian gurus used for meditation and healing more than 1,000 years ago. While today’s mats have the nonthreatening sheen of a luxury wellbeing product, the spikes are no joke. In fact, the internet serves up a plethora of images of flaming, dented backs after their use – although you’re unlikely to seriously injure yourself using them. While the mats have been widely available for more than a decade, there has been a recent surge in mainstream interest. You may have seen them heavily advertised on your social media feed, the most prominent brand being Shakti Mat, made in India and costing up to £99 for the premium model. But Amazon is full of acupressure mats and pillows – Lidl recently stocked a mat and pillow combo for a tenner. Yet there is still no compelling evidence that they relieve stress, pain and sleep problems, or help with any other unmet health needs.
Continue reading...It was pouring and traffic was drying up. Then a car came along and the driver asked where I was staying the night
Read more in the kindness of strangers series
It was 1970 and I was 17 years old. I had decided to “go west” and seek adventure and fortune in Western Australia’s mineral boom, so I set out hitchhiking from Melbourne to Kalgoorlie, where a lot of mining companies had their offices. I’d heard labour was in short supply and was assured if I knocked on a few doors I’d get a job. I just had to travel almost 3,000km to get there first.
With nothing but the $10 I’d borrowed from my brother in my pocket, I was picked up by a truck driver delivering potatoes to every pub along the way to Bendigo, then a priest with his collar on. The priest dropped me off at a big intersection in Adelaide, which he said was a good spot to get a ride. But not long after he left me it started to pour with rain and I’m not sure any of the passing drivers could so much as see me standing there. Or, if they could, they probably didn’t want a muddy young man hopping in their car.
Continue reading...