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California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein announced Tuesday that she will retire at the end of her term. “I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024, but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends,” Feinstein said in her announcement. At 89, Feinstein is the oldest senator. She has represented California in the Senate since 1992, and is the longest-serving woman senator in U.S. history. Before she was elected to the Senate, Feinstein was the mayor of San Francisco and made an unsuccessful bid for...

Vladimir Putin is set to make an 'important statement' about his invasion, according to a Moscow-appointed official in a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine. Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Administration Council of the Zaporizhzhia region, announced the Russian president would be delivering the speech on Wednesday. The address will be part of events marking the 80th anniversary of when Russians broke the siege of Leningrad by the forces of Nazi Germany, when Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, thousands of Americans and other foreign nationals have signed up to fight for Ukraine, answering a call to action by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Now, as the conflict enters its fourth week, a growing number of foreign volunteers are flowing into the capital, signing contracts and receiving weapons and combat training before getting deployed to one of the numerous front lines of the war.They have been compared to the 32,000 foreigners, mostly Americans and Europeans, many of them equally unprepared, who joined the republican forces in Spain’s 1936-39 civil war. That conflict became a losing battle...

Spain’s congress has voted in favor of digging up dictator Francisco Franco and removing his remains from the controversial Valley of the Fallen monument. The non-binding resolution passed on Thursday proposes that the vast basilica, topped by a 150-meter-high granite cross, be transformed into a place of “reflection and reconciliation” rather than a monument to fascism. The vote was passed after 198 MPs voted in favor of the motion presented by Spain’s Socialist party (PSOE), one voted against and 140 abstained. […] The motion attempts to kick start the Historical Memory Law of 2007, which has effectively been ignored since...

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ECONOMY NOT TO BLAME FOR STATES' BUDGET WOES The financial problems racking many state governments this year have less to do with the weak national economy than with the ability of governors and legislators to manage money wisely, according to a USA Today analysis of how the 50 states spend, tax and balance their budgets -- or don't. Utah, Georgia and Delaware are the best financial stewards, according to the analysis of the states' financial performance: o The key to their success: restraint -- during the economic boom of the late 1990s, these states limited both spending growth and tax...