Author: Reporter

Political turmoil persists as South Korea’s impeached President Yoon fights charges of rebellion

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has become the country’s first leader to be indicted, less than two weeks after he was the first to be detained. The impeached, jailed president, who had been holed up in his presidential compound for weeks after issuing a shocking martial law decree in December, faces rebellion charges that are punishable by the death penalty or life in prison. It is part of a tortuous saga that has plunged South Korea into political turmoil and further split an already divided society. And it is not the only legal headache Yoon faces. A separate...

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Polio’s persistent grip: Why the disease lingers despite major progress in eradication efforts

Polio was eliminated from most parts of the world as part of a decades-long effort by the World Health Organization and partners to wipe out the disease. But polio is one of the world’s most infectious diseases and is still spreading in a small number of countries. The WHO and its partners want to eradicate polio in the next few years. Until it is gone from the planet, the virus will continue to trigger outbreaks anywhere children are not fully vaccinated. The recent polio infection in an unvaccinated baby in Gaza is the first time the disease has been...

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While government disaster loans saved businesses from COVID-19 they also burdened survivors with debt

In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans were a lifeline for small businesses. But now some small businesses are having trouble paying them off. And a Small Business Credit Survey report from the 12 Federal Reserve banks shows that small businesses that haven’t paid off COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans are in worse shape than other small businesses. Dwayne Thomas, owner of events lighting company Greenlight Creative in Portland, Oregon, got a roughly $500,000 EIDL loan in 2020, when all events shut down, crippling his businesses. EIDL loans were designed to help small businesses stay afloat during...

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Trump’s abrupt policy change on Ukraine to support Putin raises fears he will abandon Taiwan next

U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt reversal of three years of American policy toward Ukraine has raised concerns China might become emboldened to push its territorial claim on Taiwan, though experts say Beijing is most likely in a wait-and-see mode right now to see how the situation in Europe plays out. Trump has falsely claimed Ukraine “should have never started the war,” said Ukraine “may be Russian someday” and questioned the legitimacy of President Volodmyr Zelenskyy’s government, while upending the longstanding American position of isolating Russia over its aggression by beginning direct talks with Moscow and voicing positions sounding remarkably...

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Flip-flopping ban on low-value packages from China exposes Trump’s intentional economic dysfunction

Convicted Felong and President Donald Trump paused imposing tariffs on small-value packages arriving from China, apparently to give federal agencies time to sort out how to process millions of such shipments that have come through the U.S. border every day without paying taxes. Just a day before, U.S. Postal Service – which would be burdened with collecting tariffs on small packages – had announced that it would no longer accept parcels from China and Hong Kong. The ban was predicted to create massive disruptions for online shopping platforms like Shein and Temu, popular with younger shoppers in the U.S....

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2000 Meters to Andriivka: Oscar winner Mstyslav Chernov takes viewers back to Ukraine’s frontlines

The day Mstyslav Chernov won the BAFTA for his documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” was the day he learned two soldiers he knew had been killed in combat. They were primary subjects of his new film “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a harrowing portrait of modern warfare that puts audiences on the frontlines of the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive. “The film changed along the way,” Chernov, a videojournalist with The Associated Press, said after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. “From a story of the success of that operation it became a story of loss, of memory, of...

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