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Biden presses student debt relief as payments resume after the coronavirus pandemic pause

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced another wave of federal student loan forgiveness on Wednesday as borrowers brace for payments to restart after a three-year pause that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Democratic president’s latest step will help 125,000 borrowers by erasing $9 billion in debt through existing relief programs. In total, 3.6 million borrowers will have had $127 billion in debt wiped out since Biden took office. “President Biden has long believed that college should be a ticket to the middle class, not a burden that weighs on families,” the White House said in a statement.Biden is scheduled to make a formal announcement at the White House at 1 p.m. ET. Biden promised to help alleviate the burden of student debt while running for president, and he’s been under pressure to follow through even though his original plan was overturned by the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.He’s been relying on a patchwork of different ...

Russia says it has foiled a major Ukraine drone attack as concerns grow over Kyiv’s weapons supplies

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

Russian air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones during a concerted nighttime attack by Kyiv’s forces on border regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, as uncertainty grew over Ukraine’s future access to weapons and ammunition from its Western allies.The drone attack appeared to be Kyiv’s largest single cross-border drone assault reported by Moscow since it launched its invasion 20 months ago. There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties. Ukraine is pressing on with a slow-moving counteroffensive it launched three months ago to expel Russian invaders, though mounting concerns about replenishing its military stocks and cracks in the Western wall of support cast a cloud over its efforts.Adm. Rob Bauer, the head of NATO’s Military Committee, sounded the alarm about depleted stockpiles.“The bottom of the barrel is now visible,” Bauer said of weapons systems and ammunition supplies.With the war of attrition likely continuing through winter into ...

Got packages to return? Call Uber. The ride-hailing service is now offering to return parcels for $5

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

Uber is adding a new task to its list of services: mailing consumers’ return packages.The ride-hailing and delivery company said Wednesday that its drivers will collect up to five prepaid and sealed packages and drop them off at a local post office or at UPS or FedEx stores. Uber will charge a flat fee of $5 for the service or $3 for its Uber One members.The San Francisco-based company said the service will be available in nearly 5,000 U.S. cities to start. Uber said customers will be able to choose package drop off locations within its app. Only locations open for at least the next hour will be listed. Drivers will provide visual confirmation once a package has been dropped off.While the service is expected to be used primarily to return packages, Uber drivers will also mail new packages that are sealed and have prepaid labels.The new service gives Uber a vast opportunity. FedEx and UPS deliver 31 million parcels each day, while the U.S. Postal Service delivers 25 million, sa...

Pilot accused of stalking New York woman via small airplane, flying from Vermont

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A man has been accused of stalking a woman in New York via his small airplane, flying out of an airport in nearby Vermont, police said.Michael Arnold, 65, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday in Bennington, Vermont. He was arrested Tuesday as he was driving into the William H. Morse State Airport in town. Police said his single-engine Cessna 180 was at the airport and he had been flying from there.Arnold, of Manchester, New Hampshire, had been served with a temporary order of protection from a court in Saratoga, New York, in May. A specific condition of that order was that he “cease and desist from flying any and all aircraft while the order remains in effect,” Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette said in a news release.Police had been notified by the FBI in Albany that New York authorities had been investigating Arnold on suspicion of stalking the woman in Schuylerville, for several years, Doucette said. Schuylerville is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) ...

Western countries want a UN team created to monitor rights violations and abuses in Sudan

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Four Western countries floated a proposal Wednesday for the United Nations’ top human rights body to appoint a team of experts to monitor and report on abuses and rights violations in war-wracked Sudan.Britain, Germany, Norway and the United States are leading the call for the Human Rights Council to name a three-person fact-finding mission to look into possible crimes against refugees, women and children, and others in Sudan.Sudan was plunged into chaos when long-simmering tensions between the military, headed by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, escalated into open warfare in April.The U.N. estimates that 5,000 people have been killed and more than 12,000 others wounded since the conflict began.Over 5.2 million people have fled their homes, including more than 1 million who crossed into neighboring countries, and around 25 million people — half of the country’s population — need humanitarian aid, the U...

Thousands of US health care workers go on strike in multiple states over wages and staff shortages

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Picketing began Wednesday morning at Kaiser Permanente hospitals as some 75,000 health care workers go on strike in Virginia, California and three other states over wages and staffing shortages, marking the latest major labor unrest in the United States.Kaiser Permanente is one of the country’s larger insurers and health care system operators, with 39 hospitals nationwide. The non-profit company, based in Oakland, California, provides health coverage for nearly 13 million people, sending customers to clinics and hospitals it runs or contracts with to provide care.The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing about 85,000 of the health system’s employees nationally, approved a strike for three days in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, and for one day in Virginia and Washington, D.C.The strikers include licensed vocational nurses, home health aides and ultrasound sonographers, as well as technicians in radiology, X-ray, surgical, pharmacy ...

Shares in Scandinavian Airlines plunge to become almost worthless after rescue deal announced

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Shares in Scandinavian Airlines dropped more than 90% on Wednesday after the ailing carrier announced new shareholders in a restructuring scheme that will see the company delisted and existing ownership stakes erased.The rescue deal involving airline alliance Air France-KLM and private equity firms Castlelake and Lind Invest, which became investors alongside the Danish state, was presented late Tuesday.The deal means that SAS will receive $475 million in new equity and $700 million in convertible debt. Scandinavian Airlines will be taken off the stock exchange in the second quarter of 2024 and no payment will be made to current shareholders. Castlelake will become the biggest shareholder with a 32% stake, while Air France-KLM will hold 20%. The Danish government will hold 26% of the shares. Lind Invest will control 8.6% and the remaining shares will “most likely … be distributed among and held by certain creditors who may receive recovery in equity,”...

Greece wants European Union to sanction countries that refuse deported migrants, minister says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece is urging other European Union member states to adopt a proposed plan to sanction countries that refuse to accept migrants deported by the bloc.Dimitris Kairidis, the Greek minister for asylum and migration, said existing bilateral agreements for returning migrants between individual EU member states and non-member countries had proved to be ineffective.“Europe must demand that these countries take back their citizens. Otherwise, there would be sanctions and no financial aid. Europe has the authority to impose its will on this issue,” Kairidis told state television late Tuesday.He said the sanctions proposal is being discussed in the final stages of negotiations for a new EU-wide overhaul of migration rules. Failure to implement a viable deportation policy, the Greek minister argued, would “make Europe a laughingstock over its asylum process.”Greece and nearby Italy are currently dealing with a spike in migrant arrivals that has renewed pressure within t...

A bus plummeted 50 feet from an elevated road in Venice, killing 21 people in a fiery crash

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

VENICE (AP) — A bus carrying dozens of people plummeted 15 meters (50 feet) from an elevated road in Venice, causing a fiery crash that killed 21 people and injured at least 15, mostly foreign tourists returning to a nearby campsite. Those who died in the Tuesday night crash included at least four Ukrainians and a German citizen, according to Venice prefecture. At least two of the dead were children, Venice prefect Michele Di Bari said, adding that many of the people involved in the accident were “young.” Firefighters worked until dawn Wednesday to clear the wreckage. Later in the morning, traffic was slowly passing the spot where the bus burst through a guardrail and a rusted fence.The accident scene drew the attention of passersby. A couple of locals said that the overpass was more than 60 years old and that nothing similar had ever happened there, while a man wearing a biker jacket stopped his motorcycle to tie to a post a bouquet of plastic flowers.The bus was carrying foreign t...

5 civilians killed and more than 20 Indian soldiers are missing after flash floods hit Sikkim state

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:39 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A sudden heavy rainfall triggered flash floods in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim, killing five civilians and leaving 23 army soldiers missing Wednesday, the army and news reports said.The flooding occurred along the Teesta River in the Lachen Valley, an army statement said, adding that some army camps and vehicles were submerged under mud and that search efforts were underway. The army said water released from a nearby dam also caused water levels to rise.Five bodies of civilians were recovered from the Golitar and Singtam regions, the Press Trust of India news agency cited Magistrate Mahendra Chettri as saying.Defense authorities said that 80 residents have been safely evacuated. The agency reported that a bridge over the Teesta River was also washed away in the floods early on Wednesday. Several towns, including Dikchu, Singtam and Rangpo in the Teesta basin, were flooded. Schools in four districts have been shut for four days, the state education departm...