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Pet spas, built-in feeding nooks to pamper pets emerge as real estate trends

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

D.C. real estate agents are reporting an uptick in buyers looking for features to pamper their pets in their next home purchase.Pet spas and built-in feeding nooks are high on many search lists, said Noelle-Kristine Spencer of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.“Gone are the days of the outdoor doghouse,” she said. “People’s pets are really part of their families.”Spencer said she has seen the trend spike over the last five years.Fenced in yards have long been a “must have” feature for people with dogs. But some sellers are adding dog baths and custom lounging nooks for cats to attract buyers with pets.Homes without the features aren’t deal breakers, she said, but those with them likely get a second look.“It can move the needle,” Spencer told WTOP. “Any kind of accoutrements that the house can have that shows the importance of this animal in their lives is a plus.”There may be two reasons fueling the trend. A slew of young, professional couples poised to buy homes are spending more ...

Stock market today: Global shares trade mostly lower ahead of updates on jobs, inflation

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly lower on Monday as investors awaited a slew of economic data set for release later in the week. France’s CAC 40 shed 0.4% to 7,318.01, while Germany’s DAX was flat at 16,307.11. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.6% to 7,486.18. U.S. shares were set to drift lower, with the future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.2%. The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.3%.China Evergrande’s Hong Kong traded shares gained 9.2% after a Hong Kong court postponed until Jan. 29 a hearing on its plan to restructure its massive debts. The property developer faces possible liquidation if creditors reject its restructuring plan. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.1% to 16,646.05, while the Shanghai Composite edged 0.3% lower to 3,022.91. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.6% to finish at 33,231.27. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7% to 7,124.70. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 2,514.95. On Friday, Wall Street finished the week with a fift...

‘Fallout’ teases a dark future for the planet in first look at the new series

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

(CNN) — Amazon Prime’s upcoming series “Fallout” has unveiled a first look.The show, based on the video game franchise of the same name, stars Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Kyle MacLachlan, Xelia Mendes-Jones and Aaron Moten.“Fallout” centers around a nuclear war on Earth in the year 2077 and was created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who made “Westworld.”After a bombing, the story goes into the future, where we find Purnell’s Lucy, who is living in a vault until it is safe to return outside.When she’s forced to surface on a rescue mission, she finds Earth has become an unlivable nightmare, or the “Fallout” world.The series is set to premiere on on Prime Video on April 12, 2024.

Police investigating deadly shooting in South Miami-Dade

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

Miami-Dade Police officers rushed to the scene near 161st Court and 297th Terrace at 9:45 p.m. Sunday after reports of gunfire in the area that took the life of one person.Residents in the area were shaken by the sound of approximately 10 shots. One eyewitness, who was with friends in his backyard, described the alarming moment. “We heard about like 10 shots go off,” he said. “We ran inside, saw a little bit of smoke going up in the air, and in about 10 minutes, the cops were here.”By 4:30 a.m. Monday, Crime Scene Investigation units were deployed to a residence, where authorities were observed entering and exiting.Moments after detectives arrived, 7News crews captured law enforcement holding a gun as evidence; it is unclear when the firearm was involved in this incident.The Miami-Dade Police Department has been contacted for more information. Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

French Jewish journalist placed under police protection after threats

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

Ruth Elkrief, a French Jewish columnist with TV broadcaster LCI, is being placed under police protection over threats she received after far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon criticized one of her interviews, calling her a “fanatic” and accusing her of showing “contempt for Muslims.”“Given the threats from Mr. Mélenchon and others — since it is really an outburst of hatred on the internet — I decided this morning to provide police protection” to Elkrief, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told broadcaster BFMTV on Monday.Mélenchon “put a target on the back of Mrs. Elkrief, who already faced many threats as a journalist [and] was just doing her job,” Darmanin said, criticizing “irresponsible behavior” from the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.After Elkrief’s interview of an LFI lawmaker, Manuel Bompard, turned heated over the weekend, Mélenchon called the journalist a “manipulator.”“If we don...

Spotify to cut 17% of its staff

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

London (CNN) — Spotify will lay off around 1,500 employees to reduce costs in a third round of job cuts in less than a year, CEO Daniel Ek said Monday as he announced a “significant step change” for the music-streaming business.“Economic growth has slowed dramatically and capital has become more expensive. Spotify is not an exception to these realities,” Ek wrote in a letter to staff posted to the company’s website.He said the company had debated making smaller cuts next year and in 2025. “Yet, considering the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs, I decided that a substantial action to right-size our costs was the best option to accomplish our objectives,” he added.“To be blunt, many smart, talented and hard-working people will be departing us.”Ek said one-on-one meetings with impacted staff would take place before the end of the day Tuesday. Employees will receive around five months of severance pay on average.Spotify (SPOT...

US Supreme Court to scrutinize controversial opioid crisis settlement that would give Sackler family immunity

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

Los Angeles (CNN) — On Monday, the Supreme Court will take on one of its highest-profile bankruptcy cases in recent memory: Whether or not to approve OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s controversial agreement that would give billions of dollars to victims of the opioid epidemic while protecting members of the Sackler family, who owned the company, from current and future opioid-related civil lawsuits.While the up-to-$6 billion deal was initially approved by a New York court in May, it was blocked from moving forward after the US Trustee Program, a division of the US Justice Department, requested that the highest court review the settlement. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Monday.Purdue Pharma, which was owned and operated by the families of the late brothers Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, has said there will be no $6 billion settlement without releasing family members from liability, but the US Trustee has argued that such an arrangement is unprec...

1 of the 3 Palestinian students shot in Vermont is paralyzed from the shooting, his mother says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

(CNN) — Hisham Awartani, one of the three Palestinian college students who were shot while walking in Vermont over Thanksgiving weekend, is paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet became lodged in his spine, his mother said.Awartani’s family has launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help the 20-year-old junior at Brown University, who is scheduled to be released from the hospital next week and then go on to receive rehabilitation care, said his mother, Elizabeth Price, in a statement to CNN.“We believe that Hisham will meet this challenge with the same determination I’ve witnessed this week,” she said. “The fund will help cover costs associated with his rehabilitation, air travel of his family and expenses related to the adaptive needs of his new reality.”Awartani and his two longtime friends from the Israeli-occupied West Bank – Kinnan Abdalhamid of Haverford College and Tahseen Ali Ahmad of Trinity College – were out for a walk on Saturday in Bu...

A toaster placed under a car to heat up the battery likely sparked a fire in Denmark, police say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A toaster placed under an electric vehicle by its owner to warm up its battery likely caused a fire that destroyed the car and damaged a nearby house in southern Denmark, police said Monday.Police said that they “strongly discourage” people to use that method to heat power cells. “The cause of the fire is most likely to be found in the toaster that the owner of the car had placed under the front of his car to keep the battery warm,” police said in a daily report.The fire happened on Saturday in Stenlille, about 60 kilometers (nearly 40 miles) southwest of Copenhagen. No one was injured. The car was parked in a carport — a shelter for vehicles that is attached to a house and consists of a flat roof supported on pillars. The make of the car wasn’t known, and it also wasn’t immediately clear if it was the vehicle owner’s house that was damaged or a neighbor’s home.The car’s owner faces a fine.The Associated Press

French investigation into fatal attack near Eiffel Tower looks into mental illness of suspect

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:04 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French police investigations into a fatal weekend attack near the Eiffel Tower are looking into the mental health of the suspected assailant who swore allegiance to the Islamic State group before stabbing a German-Filipino tourist to death and injuring two other people with a hammer.The French national taken into police custody, Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, has a history of mental illness and of Islamic radicalization, officials said. He faces a possible preliminary charge of terrorist-related murder for the attack Saturday night that raised fresh questions about security in the French capital before it hosts the Olympic Games next year.“This is a case that links radical Islam, undeniably, and mental illness. I must tell the French people the truth that there are numerous cases like this,” the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said Monday, adding that around one-third of suspected radicals under surveillance have psychiatric issues. Speaking to broadcaster BFMTV,...