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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 STOCKHOLM (AP) — A right-wing populist party that received the second-most votes in Sweden’s general election last month landed the chairmanships of four parliamentary committees Saturday and with it, the ability to wield more influence in mainstream Swedish politics. The positions to be held by lawmakers from the Sweden Democrats include chairing the Riksdag's justice, foreign affair, business affairs and labor market committees. “It is important for us, a milestone in the party’s history,” legislator Richard Jomshof, a Sweden Democrat who was tapped to be the next chairman of the justice committee, told Swedish public broadcaster SVT. “It is an expression of the fact that we are Sweden’s second largest party.” In addition to the four chairperson posts, the party was allowed to name the vice-chairs of parliament's civil affairs, traffic, defense and tax committees. Sweden … [Read more...] about Sweden: Right-wing party get 4 chairmanships in parliament

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 24 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties Friday to illegally annex more occupied Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of his war. Ukraine's president countered with a surprise application to join the NATO military alliance. Putin’s land-grab and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s signing of what he said is an “accelerated” NATO membership application sent the two leaders speeding faster on a collision course that is cranking up fears of a full-blown conflict between Russia and the West. Putin vowed to protect newly annexed regions of Ukraine by “all available means," a renewed nuclear-backed threat he made at a Kremlin signing ceremony where he also railed furiously against the West, accusing the United States and its allies of … [Read more...] about Putin illegally annexes Ukraine land; Kyiv seeks NATO entry

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s nuclear power provider said Saturday, reigniting long-simmering fears over the plant's security. The alleged kidnapping on Friday apparently took place shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated his war in Ukraine and pushed it into a new, dangerous phase by annexing four Ukrainian regions that Moscow fully or partially controls and heightening threats of nuclear force. In a possible attempt to secure Moscow’s hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday, the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said. Putin on Friday signed treaties to absorb the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, including the area around the nuclear plant. Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov’s car, blindfolded him and then … [Read more...] about Russia blindfolds, detains Ukraine nuclear plant chief

GOLDEN TROUT WILDERNESS, Calif. — We clambered loudly up the miserable incline, horses stumbling as their shoes slid on the ladder of rocks that took us up and away from the Kern River. “Devil’s Stairway,” Chelsea McGlyn, the wrangler on this expedition, said over her shoulder, twisting around in the saddle. Was it such a brutal trail when I made my first trip here almost 60 years ago? Memory is too fragile to say definitively. What I can never forget from that day was the cowboy on the fast paint horse who got stuck behind me and had to eat my dust — kicked up by a horse and three mules — until the trail leveled out. Advertisement He paused and introduced himself as Sterling Grant, farmer from the San Joaquin Valley town of Wasco, and invited the 16-year-old wannabe cowboy from Los Angeles to mosey up the river and visit him in the morning. “I’ll be at Funston,” he said, and pulled away at a near trot. The encounter, in 1963, was a fulcrum in my life. The … [Read more...] about As a young man, I traveled the High Sierra by mule. After 59 years, I tried it again

4 Politics & Government Daily parking rates at the four commuter lots in Mokena will go from $1.25 to $2 starting Jan. 1. TJ Kremer III , Patch Staff Posted Replies MOKENA, IL — Metra riders who commute in Mokena can expect daily parking prices to go up after the Mokena Village Board of Trustees voted 5-0 during Monday's meeting to raise the Village's rates. Trustee Jim Richmond was absent from the meeting. Effective Jan. 1, daily parking at the Front Street, Hickory Creek, Village Hall and Willowcrest Metra commuter lots will cost $2, up 75 cents from the current rate of $1.25. Village Assistant Administrator Kirk Zoellner told the board that the rate increase is necessary because of diminishing funds in the Village's Parking Lot Fund. Those funds are used for the maintenance and general upkeep of those parking lots, and decreased ridership since the start of the pandemic in 2020 has resulted in a gap between expenses … [Read more...] about Mokena Board Votes To Raise Metra Parking Rates

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 42 ZION, Illinois (AP) — A holy miracle happened in Zion 115 years ago. Or so millions of Ahmadi Muslims around the world believe. The Ahmadis view this small-sized city, 40 miles north of Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan, as a place of special religious significance for their global messianic faith. Their reverence for the community began more than a century ago -- with fighting words, a prayer duel and a prophecy. Zion was founded in 1900 as a Christian theocracy by John Alexander Dowie, an evangelical and early Pentecostal preacher who drew thousands to the city with his faith healing ministry. The Ahmadis believe their founder, Mirza Ghulam … [Read more...] about Two prophets, century-old prayer duel inspire Zion mosque