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Volunteering has health benefits, especially for seniors

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

Dear Mayo Clinic: My neighbor recently retired, and I’ve been trying to convince her to volunteer at the library with me. She’s not swayed by my stories of feeling good from helping others. Can you share some other benefits of dedicating her time and energy to a cause?A: Thank you for volunteering in your community and for trying to persuade your neighbor to join you. Volunteers make an immeasurable difference in people’s lives.The act of volunteering also benefits a person’s health as well. Research has shown that volunteering offers significant health benefits, especially for older adults. Here are the top three you can share with your neighbor:1. Improves physical and mental health.Volunteer activities keep people moving and thinking at the same time. Research has found that volunteering among adults who are 60 and older provided benefits to physical and mental health. Volunteers report better physical health than nonvolunteers.Volunteering leads to lower ...

Active Olivia loves to play Just Dance

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

Olivia is a friendly and spunky young girl who enjoys cooking, playing with her dolls, painting her nails and board games. She also enjoys being active and playing at the playground.Olivia is social, friendly and outgoing and easily engages in conversation. Olivia has built positive relationships with her peers and caregivers. She responds well to support and praise. Olivia can get silly and is often seen joking with others.Olivia will benefit from a home with at least one female parent, with or without older children in the home. A family will need to have the time and patience to appropriately care for Olivia in order to best support her needs. Olivia has a relationship with her three siblings, and a family should be willing to support these relationships post-adoption.Can I adopt?If you’re at least 18 years old, have a stable source of income, and room in your heart, you may be a perfect match to adopt a waiting child. Adoptive parents can be single, married, or partnered; experi...

Cheating ex wants her back at the holidays

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

Q. My ex cheated and broke up our family, which we worked hard to blend for more than 20 years. By the time I left, I was pretty disgusted with his antics. My ex was awful during the breakup and made our adult children choose with whom they would spend Christmas. This holiday is different. He is texting me things like, “I want you in my life so I will do what I have to do to make that happen.” I don’t know what that means, and my kids are putting pressure on me to take him seriously. What’s good ex-etiquette?A. Around the holidays I always get questions about spending time as a family even though there has been a breakup. It’s like people watch the Sci-Fi Channel all year long and then around the holidays switch to Hallmark.I’m not surprised your kids want you to consider his offer. No matter what has happened in the past, kids of any age want their parents to reconcile. Unfortunately, they don’t look at cheating the same way you do.If you fear your ex is playing games and you want ...

Dear Abby: Kids want $$ mom needs to live on

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

Dear Abby: My husband of 30 years died. We weren’t rich. I was 54 years old. We each had a will leaving all our assets to the other. We were self-employed, so there was no IRA or 401(k). I sold our only piece of property, and as a result, I have a small savings.My daughters have now cut ties with me because I won’t give them money that I need to live on and will need for my future. I have been alienated from all the grandchildren as well. I feel terrible about it, but I’m scared about my future if I give my savings away. My daughters are all married and doing well financially. Is this normal? I gave them all of their father’s personal items after he passed. How can I feel better about all of this? — Lost Them All at OnceDear Lost Them: Please accept my sympathy. Emotional blackmail is not “normal.” Neither is holding the grandkids for ransom, which is what your daughters are doing. I hope you realize they will continue to do this as long as ...

Climate negotiators urged to reach a consensus on curbing warming as COP28 talks near crunch time

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Negotiators have been urged to narrow down their options and agree on how to save Earth from disastrous levels of warming as the clock runs down on United Nations climate talks and the summit’s president remains determined to finish up talks by Tuesday.“Now is the time to shift gears and get to consensus,” COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber said in a plenary session late Saturday.There some were signs negotiators were moving forward Sunday: For the first time since the talks began 11 days ago, a draft agreement on global adaptation goals — which will determine how poor countries will brace themselves for weather extremes worsened by climate change from drought to deluge to more intense storms — was released.The draft text expresses concern over the gap between the money needed for adaptation and how much countries are getting, but it doesn’t say exactly how much money is needed for the world to adapt to climate change. One option in the draft pr...

For Putin, winning reelection could be easier than resolving the many challenges facing Russia

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

For President Vladimir Putin, winning reelection will probably be the easy part. His sweeping grip on Russia’s political scene has virtually assured him another six-year term that would extend his two dozen years in power. More daunting will be the thorny challenges that lie ahead.The stalemated war in Ukraine, unyielding Western pressure that compounds Russia’s economic problems, and intensifying infighting among the ruling elite will loom over Putin’s next term and erode his pledges of stability.THE WAR IN UKRAINEWhat Putin expected to be a quick campaign in 2022 to establish Kremlin control over its neighbor has turned into a grinding war of attrition that has incurred massive personnel losses and drained Russia’s resources.While Russia has prevented Ukraine’s army from making any significant gains during its summer counteroffensive, the Kremlin doesn’t have enough manpower and equipment to mount any major campaigns of its own.The resulting stalemate sets the stage fo...

Smugglers are bringing migrants to a remote Arizona border crossing, overwhelming US agents

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

LUKEVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — Gerston Miranda and his wife were among thousands of migrants recently arriving at this remote area on Arizona’s southern border with Mexico, squeezing into the United States through a gap in the wall and walking overnight about 14 miles (23 kilometers) with two school-aged daughters to surrender to Border Patrol agents.“There is no security in my country,” said the 28-year-old from Ecuador, who lost work when his employer closed due to extortion by criminals. “Without security you cannot work. You cannot live.” A shift in smuggling routes has brought an influx of migrants here from countries as diverse as Senegal, Bangladesh and China, prompting the Border Patrol to seek help from other federal agencies and drawing scrutiny to an issue critical in next year’s presidential elections.With hundreds of migrants crossing daily in the area, the U.S. government on Monday indefinitely shut down the nearby international crossing between Lukeville, A...

Death of last surviving Alaskan taken by Japan during WWII rekindles memories of forgotten battle

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Gregory Golodoff spent most of his years on a quiet Alaska island, living an ordinary life, managing a co-op store, fishing for crab and serving as the village council president. But Golodoff’s recent death at the age of 84 has reopened a chapter of American history and stirred up memories of a long-forgotten Japanese invasion that prompted the only World War II battle on North American soil.Golodoff was the last survivor among 41 residents imprisoned in Japan after Japanese troops captured remote Attu Island during World War II. He was 3 when the island was taken. He died Nov. 17 in Anchorage, his family said. His sister, Elizabeth “Liz” Golodoff Kudrin, the second-to-last surviving Attuan, died in February at 82. Three of their siblings died in captivity.“The eldest generation has passed away to the other side,” said Helena Schmitz, the great-granddaughter of the last Attu chief, who died in Japan along with his son.Attu is a desolate, mountainous slab of ...

What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is marking its 75th anniversary?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

Seventy-five years ago on Sunday, the U.N. General Assembly approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at a meeting in Paris — laying one of the foundation stones of the international order that emerged following the horrors of World War II.The declaration was proclaimed as “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.” In practice, it hasn’t always turned out that way over the subsequent decades. As the document turns 75, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said this week that the world is at a “somber moment in history,” wracked by conflicts and crises. But he insisted that “human rights have not failed.”WHAT IS THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION?A relatively compact document, the declaration consists of a preamble and 30 articles setting out fundamental rights and freedoms. Article 1 states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” And Article 2 says that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms the dec...

Oklahoma City voters consider 1% sales tax to build a $1 billion arena for NBA’s Thunder

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:56:42 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — When a group of Oklahoma City investors moved the NBA’s SuperSonics from Seattle in 2008 and renamed the franchise the Thunder, civic pride swelled at the arrival of the state’s first major league sports franchise.Since then, the Oklahoma City Thunder have played their home games in what is now a modest arena by NBA standards. But the team owners want a new arena, and under a deal they cut with city leaders, they want taxpayers to foot most of the $900 million price tag.Oklahoma City voters are set to decide Tuesday whether to approve a six-year, 1% sales tax to help fund construction or risk the same fate as Seattle: losing the team to another market. But some residents and experts who have studied public-private partnerships say the deal is much better for the wealthy team owners than the average resident.Under the plan before voters, the new arena would cost at least $900 million, with Thunder owners chipping in 5%, or $50 million. The team also would agree t...