Moment cooling tower is demolished at German power plant

Onlookers watched as the cooling tower of the decommissioned Frimmersdorf power plant in Germany collapsed.

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Average long-term mortgage rate falls below 6% in time for spring home-buying season

Benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 5.98% from 6.01% last week, the lowest level since September 2022

The average long-term US mortgage rate slipped this week below 6% for the first time since late 2022, good news for home shoppers as the spring home-buying season gets rolling.

The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 5.98% from 6.01% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said on Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.76%.

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FBI raids Los Angeles school district headquarters and superintendent’s home

Federal officials search district chief Alberto Carvalho’s home, but allegations being examined remain unclear

The FBI on Wednesday raided the Los Angeles unified school district’s headquarters and the superintendent’s home.

Federal officials served the warrants as part of an ongoing investigation, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the inquiry. The nature of the investigation and what allegations were being examined was not immediately clear.

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Farmers in England face losses under new cap on sustainable farming payments

Environment secretary says payments will be limited to £100,000 per farm so ‘more farmers can benefit’

Some farmers will lose money by opting into environment schemes under new plans to cap payments available for sustainable farming.

Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, said the new system is “fairer”, adding: “Too much of our most productive land was removed from conventional farming.” Farmers will be disincentivised from taking large amounts of their land out of food production and rewilding it for nature, under her plans.

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Ramaphosa thanks Putin for release of South Africans lured into Russia-Ukraine war

The men believed they were going to Russia for training as bodyguards but ended up on the front line.

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Ex-Mail on Sunday editor denies misleading inquiry over private investigator

Peter Wright confronted in high court over evidence on newspaper’s relationship with convicted investigator

The former editor of the Mail on Sunday has denied claims he misled the Leveson inquiry into press standards over the newspaper’s involvement with corrupt private investigators.

Appearing at the high court, Peter Wright, who edited the Sunday newspaper from 1998 to 2012, said some of the allegations aimed at the title – which include landline tapping and bugging – were “just incredible”.

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US evacuates staff from Lebanon embassy amid tensions with Iran

US state department official says it’s ‘prudent’ to reduce their footprint to essential personnel

Washington has evacuated dozens of non-essential personnel from its embassy in Lebanon as US ships and warplanes have been positioned in the region for a potential strike against Iran in the coming days.

The diplomatic drawdown followed reports that dozens of US personnel had been evacuated through Lebanon’s Beirut-Rafic Hariri international airport to protect them from a possible Iranian counterattack if tensions between the US and Iran escalate into war. Roughly 30-50 US embassy personnel have left the country, estimates suggest.

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Nancy Pelosi-palooza: Democrats praise lawmaker’s career at California convention

Officials at California Democratic convention celebrated the former House speaker’s advocacy as she prepares to retire

It was a “Nancy Pelosi-palooza” in San Francisco over the weekend, as thousands of California Democrats gathered in her beloved city by the bay, a place the former speaker of the House has represented in Congress for nearly four decades. They were there to attend the state party’s annual convention – but with Pelosi retiring at the end of the term, it was also a days-long celebration of a woman many Democrats regard as a living legend.

A video salute during the general session charted her rise from a stay-at-home mom to the US House of Representatives, where she shattered the marble ceiling and became the first – and to this day only – woman to wield the speaker’s gavel. Tote bags were emblazoned with her silhouette in every color of the rainbow – a nod to her trailblazing advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community. It also included one of her favorite aphorisms: “We don’t agonize, we organize.”

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GoFundMe for actor Eric Dane’s family raises more than $415,000 after his death

Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria actor died on Thursday less than a year after he publicly revealed ALS diagnosis

A GoFundMe campaign meant to provide financial support for the widow and daughters of Eric Dane after the actor’s recent death had raised more than $415,000 as of Monday.

The fundraising platform over the weekend had temporarily paused the “In Honor of Eric Dane” campaign while it underwent a standard review. But by Monday, GoFundMe said it had verified the effort and listed the Grey’s Anatomy star’s family as the beneficiary.

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Homeland security reverses course on TSA PreCheck suspension

DHS official reportedly says Global Entry program would remain halted amid partial government shutdown

The Department of Homeland Security partially reversed course Sunday morning on an order that had suspended the TSA PreCheck and Global Entry airport security programs as a result of staffing shortages caused by the partial government shutdown.

“TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a social media post. “As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly.”

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

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