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With Russia invading Ukraine, the cruise industry is already being impacted by falling cruise stocks, fuel prices and Black Sea itinerary changes. Less than 24 hours since Russian forces attacked Ukraine and crossed the border, the big cruise companies already feel the effects. Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings saw stocks falling considerably. That’s not all, though; fuel prices have been rising in recent months, with the price of Marine Gas Oil already up from $383 in 2020 to over $800 today. Besides the financial cost, several different cruise lines traditionally sail the Black Sea, cruises that...

Russian leader Vladimir Putin called on Ukranian soldiers on Friday to defect and stage a coup against President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose government Russia has so far failed to topple despite launching a “full-scale” invasion on Thursday. Addressing a meeting of the Russian Security Council on Friday, Vladimir Putin said that Ukrainian Army should “take control” of the country as it would be “easier” for him to negotiate with the military, rather than what he termed as “junkies and neo-Nazis” under the control of President Zelensky.

Facebook is backtracking on a ban it placed on users praising the Azov Battalion, a far-right paramilitary force within the Ukrainian National Guard. The Intercept first reported the news. Praise for the group, which is the armed wing of the country's white nationalist Azov movement, was banned in 2019 under Facebook's Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy. The platform had classified the group alongside others such as the Ku Klux Klan and Islamic State. A 2016 report by the OHCHR found that Azov soldiers had raped and tortured civilians during the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The memos seen by The...

MIT spin-off Quaise says it's going to use hijacked fusion technology to drill the deepest holes in history, unlocking clean, virtually limitless, supercritical geothermal energy that can re-power fossil-fuelled power plants all over the world. The heat beneath our feet Everyone knows the Earth's core is hot, but maybe the scale of it still has the power to surprise. Temperatures in the iron center of the core are estimated to be around 5,200 °C (9,392 °F), generated by heat from radioactive elements decaying combining with heat that still remains from the very formation of the planet – an event of...

Treasure is buried in a handful of National Parks across the United States but many people miss it simply because they don’t know where to look. One woman on a mission in the mountains has found where X marks the spot. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Marilyn Childress is trudging through puddles of melted snow, following a trail that looks heavily traveled by animals but rarely trekked by humans. She moves with purpose and determination. She’s made this hike before. A snowstorm has just hit in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park and another is forecasted for the next day. The...

The walls are closing in on Hunter Biden. The US attorney in Delaware investigating his business affairs has been busy subpoenaing his bank records and calling in his ex-girlfriends to testify in front of a grand jury about his wild spending sprees. Devon Archer, his former business partner, best friend and fellow Yale alum, faces sentencing Monday, four years after being convicted over a $60 million scheme to defraud one of the poorest Indian tribes in America. Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York have recommended to US District Judge Ronnie Abrams that Archer serve 30 months in prison,...

In May 2017, an interviewer asked then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis what keeps him up at night. Today, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, increasing Chinese belligerence toward U.S. ally Taiwan, and the ongoing fallout from the loss of Afghanistan to the Taliban, some lawmakers and military experts question whether the Pentagon is projecting the kind of warfighting focus and ferocity that intimidate adversaries and deter aggression. This eroding confidence in the U.S. military largely stems from a belief that the Pentagon's senior leadership, both civilian and uniformed, is too focused on priorities other than deterring and preparing for war. One...

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has said that Moscow would have to respond if Sweden and Finland intended to join NATO.Maria Zakharova held a press conference on Friday and reflected on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the intentions of Russia going forward.A clip of her speech has begun to go viral on social media as she appears to issue a threat aimed at Sweden and Finland, saying it would have "serious military-political repercussions." The video has amassed over 300,000 views.https://twitter.com/Femi_Sorry/status/1497217148267253760"Finland and Sweden should not base their security damaging the security of other countries," Zakharova said during the press conference."Clearly [the]...

The Ukrainian military has released a statement thanking a marine for allegedly sacrificing himself in order to demolish a bridge that would allow Russian tanks to advance. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine released the statement Friday via social media, reporting that Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Skakun, a battalion engineer, had voluntarily undertaken a mission to mine out the support structure of the Genichesky Bridge near the Kyiv before Russian forces could cross it. Shakun did not have time to flee the blast zone before detonating the explosives, and informed his battalion that he would be blowing it up...

All residents living in the 93905 zip code of East Salinas have officially received at least one dose of the covid vaccine. This specific area held 18% of the total number of positive cases in Monterey County. "I feel a little more relaxed with life. Not too worried about all this," said Abraham Garcia, Salinas resident. With the indoor mask mandate being lifted, Garcia said this new hope in vaccination numbers gives him reassurance that things are starting to revert back to normal life. The program Virus Integrated Distribution of Aid VIDA has been a great help along with other...

I have been given a copy of document issued today by the Russian Ministry of Health which shows it is anticipating a major medical event in which doctors have to be drafted from across the country. It indicates Russia is anticipating a massive medical emergency and has ordered health organisations to immediately identify medical staff ready to relocate and work. The document from the Russian Ministry of Health is signed by the deputy health minister and dated today - February 25. It asks medical organisations to be ready "to be promptly involved in activities aimed at saving lives and preserving...

As Russian troops entered the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday, Russian officials indicated that Moscow was willing to send a delegation to Belarus for talks with their Ukrainian counterparts. But early indicators suggest that Moscow still seeks the full surrender of the Ukrainian government. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet for talks and indicated that he would be willing to discuss Ukraine’s “neutral status,” which would mark a dramatic shift for a country that currently seeks membership in both NATO and the European Union. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said...

A security guard posted inside a high-end jewelry store in Chicago foiled a broad daylight smash-and-grab on Tuesday, authorities said. The attempted heist happened just before 12:30 p.m. at the Marshall Pierce & Company jewelry store in the 900 block of North Michigan Avenue in the city’s Magnificent Mile neighborhood, Chicago police said. Three male suspects entered the store and walked up to a watch case when one suspect took out a hammer from his jacket, according to police. Before the suspect could smash any glass cases, police said a security guard intervened and ordered the suspects to the ground....

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Voters overwhelmingly grade President Joe Biden’s management of the Russia-Ukraine crisis poorly and equally view his handling of foreign policy — the former senator’s specialty — a failure.In the latest Rasmussen Reports survey on the crisis, 64% rated Biden’s handling of the conflict fair to poor. An equal amount said his “handling” of national security issues was fair to poor.Rasmussen noted that those rating Biden “poor” dominated the survey. In it, 49% called Biden’s handling of the crisis poor, while 51% said his foreign policy is poor.The polling outfit also asked likely voters about the importance of defending Ukraine against...

The real winners of the Super Bowl this year weren’t the Rams, who played a great game to win the title. They were cryptocurrencies, which in a few years have gone from nerd obsession to powerhouse advertiser buying airtime on the most watched television event of the year. But crypto going mainstream has left an increasing number of investors puzzled about their tax obligations. As the April 15 tax deadline approaches, they will need answers more urgently. Let’s start with the good news. Tax treatments have evolved from a one-size-fits-all approach to more nuanced guidelines for disposals, staking, hard-forks, payments...

President Barack Obama was caught on camera on Monday assuring outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he will have “more flexibility” to deal with contentious issues like missile defense after the U.S. presidential election. Obama, during talks in Seoul, urged Moscow to give him “space” until after the November ballot, and Medvedev said he would relay the message to incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin. The unusually frank exchange came as Obama and Medvedev huddled together on the eve of a global nuclear security summit in the South Korean capital, unaware their words were being picked up by microphones as reporters...

[Catholic Caucus] Does Dignitatis Humanae Mean Anything? The documents of the Second Vatican Council are sometimes characterized as ambiguous. This suggests, of course, that the documents have more than one plausible meaning. There is a worse possibility, however. At least when it comes to Dignitatis humanae, a Council document might have no meaning at all.The idea is shocking, but solely as a matter of logic, it is not impossible. Consider, for example, a document which says both "A" and "not A." The document is ambiguous only if the passages are read in isolation: the document might mean "A," and...

Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev wrote "No War Please" on a TV camera moments after advancing to the final at the Dubai Championships on Friday. The seventh-ranked Rublev had just beaten Poland's Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) in their semifinal match before writing his message on the camera -- as is common after matches. Russian troops bore down on Ukraine's capital Friday in an invasion of a democratic country that has fueled fears of wider war in Europe and triggered worldwide efforts to make Russia stop.

"Estimates are 50,000 Ukrainians will be dead or wounded," co-host Sonny Hostin first told viewers, "and that this is going to start a humanitarian crisis, a refugee crisis in Europe. We’re talking about 5 million people that are going to be displaced. It’s heartbreaking to hear what is going to happen." "Well, I’m scared of what’s going to happen in Western Europe too," Behar said. "You know, you plan a trip. You want to go there. I want to go to Italy for four years and I haven’t been able to make it because of the pandemic.Video at link