Seattleholding.com

Sánchez sidesteps a Spain-US dispute at NATO, brushing off reported Pentagon email

<block>NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Friday refused to be drawn into a dispute with the United States over reports that the Pentagon is weighing whether to punish members of NATO that fail to support American operations in the Iran war.Among those in the firing line is Spain, which has refused to allow U.S. forces involved in the war to use bases on its territory or airspace. Spain says that U.S.-Israeli actions in the Iran war contravenes international law.The Pentagon is reported to be mulling whether to suspend Spain from NATO, according to an unidentified U.S. official referring to a U.S. Defense Department email, and quoted by the Reuters news agency.“Well, we do not work with emails,” Sánchez told reporters at a European Union summit in Cyprus. “We work with official documents and positions taken, in this case, by the government of the United States.” “The position of the government of Spain is clear: absolute collaboration with the allies, but always within the framework of international legality,” he said.NATO operates by consensus. The trans-Atlantic alliance’s founding treaty has no mechanism for suspending or ejecting any of the 32 member countries, although nations may leave of their own accord one year after notifying the other allies. As an organization, NATO has no direct role in the Iran war except to defend its own territory.U.S. President Donald Trump has been angered by what he sees as the failure of some NATO members to back American actions in the Iran war and to help police the Strait of Hormuz, a major trade route. He has questioned the purpose of U.S. membership in the military organization.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas appeared perplexed by the U.S. criticism, given that the United Kingdom and France are leading an effort to help secure trade in the strait once the war is over.“When we have had contacts with the American counterparts, then actually their asks for us have been exactly what we are able to offer after the cessation of hostilities,” she said. “Demining, escorting of ships, all of this that we have been discussing.”But the United States has “long-standing arrangements and agreements with European allies on overflight, on basing” that should be respected, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said, in implicit criticism of some allies like Spain, but also France.While Spain restricted U.S. military activity related to the Iran war, U.S. warplanes have flown over other NATO allies’ airspace and used U.S. bases in other NATO countries for war-related operations.Trump has even threatened to cut trade with Spain over its refusal to allow the use of its bases and airspace. More broadly, Spain has also disappointed its allies by failing to commit to spend as much as they plan to do on defense.___Lorne Cook reported from Brussels.</block>

What to know if your flight is canceled amid rising jet fuel costs

The exact rules vary by country, but those are the baseline options you can expect.In the U.S., for example, if your flight is canceled and you choose not to travel, the airline must refund you, regardless of the reason. Airlines may offer travel credits instead, but you’re entitled to a full refund for airfare and any extras you didn’t use, such as baggage fees or seat upgrades.Are passenger rights the same everywhere?No, and protections vary widely by region — from the Montreal Convention, whi

Asian stocks slip, tracking Wall Street losses, and Iran war doubts push oil higher

<block>HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly lower and oil prices extended their gains Friday as talks on ending the war between the U.S. and Iran remained stalled.U.S. futures edged lower after Wall Street pulled back from its all-time highs.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.6% to 59,504.22, led by heavy buying of technology stocks. On Thursday, it hit a record intraday high above 60,000.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 25,714.99, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.5% to 4,071.52.South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.4% to 6,452.33. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.6% to 8.745.00. Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 2.5% as chipmaker TSMC, which makes up a key part of the index, gained more than 4%.Progress on another round of peace talks between the United States and Iran was limited even after President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. was indefinitely extending a two-week ceasefire with Iran, a day before it was originally set to expire.The Strait of Hormuz, a key passageway for global energy where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas normally passed through before the war, remains largely closed and a U.S. sea blockade of Iranian ports is still in effect. After the U.S. imposed a blockade on Iranian ports last week, Iran attacked three ships in the strait on Wednesday and seized two of them.Trump said Thursday that the U.S. military was intensifying its mine-clearing efforts in the strait and he ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats laying mines in the area.Oil prices have remained elevated since the Iran war began on Feb. 28. The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June rose 3.1% on Thursday to settle at $105.07 and at one point topped $107. The price for a barrel of Brent to be delivered in July, which is the more popular contract for traders, settled at $99.35 after rising as high as $101.Early Friday, Brent crude was up 0.4% at $99.70 a barrel. U.S. benchmark crude was up 0.6% to $96.62 per barrel.The global energy shock caused by the Iran war has threatened to worsen inflation in many countries and shaken world markets. But Wall Street has still hit record highs, helped by strong corporate earnings and some optimism that the war will end soon. “With the S&P 500 still hugging record highs, markets are still at ease to give the negotiations more time,” ING Bank analysts Michiel Tukker and Padhraic Garvey wrote in a research note.On Thursday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 dropped 0.4% to 7,108.40, halting a weekslong rally that lifted it to new all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined 0.4% to 49.310.32, while the technology stocks-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9% to 24,438.50.Shares of Tesla sank 3.6%, dragging the market lower despite strong-than-expected quarterly results as investors focused on a big jump in capital expenditures as the company pivots towards artificial intelligence and robotics.Paramount Skydance lost 4.5%, following approval by Warner Bros. Discovery’s shareholders of its merger with Paramount. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery fell 1.6%.In other dealings early Friday, gold and silver prices fell. Gold prices dropped 0.7% to $4,689.60 per ounce. Silver prices lost 0.8% to $74.92 an ounce.The U.S. dollar rose to 159.83 Japanese yen from 159.71 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1677, down from $1.1683.___AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.</block>

China to send giant pandas to Atlanta again

President Donald Trump to Beijing.The China Wildlife Conservation Association said in a statement that male panda Ping Ping and female panda Fu Shuang, from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, will kick off a decade-long conservation cooperation under an agreement it signed with the zoo last year.The association did not specify their departure date but said the U.S. side was actively carrying out facility upgrades, among other preparation work, to create a more comfortable and saf

Q&A: Apollo astronaut Schmitt talks about getting back to the moon and life in the universe

We just don’t have much on Earth, so the moon is going to be a our reservoir, our source of this very important isotope of helium-3.Q: How important will this isotope be in the future?Helium-3 offers a possibility of having nuclear energy without nuclear waste. We’ve known that for decades, and so the moon now offers that opportunity to begin to substitute a nuclear form of energy that doesn’t produce nuclear waste for what we have today.Q: Is it just as much an energy race as a space race?There

Corpse abuse cases force changes on Colorado’s scandal-plagued funeral industry

DENVER (AP) — A former funeral home owner who helped her ex-husband hide nearly 200 decomposing bodies faces sentencing Friday for corpse abuse in a case that forced Colorado officials to clamp down on an industry plagued by repeated scandal and notoriously lax oversight.A plea agreement calls for Carie Hallford to receive from 25 to 35 years in prison during her appearance before District Judge Eric Bentley in Colorado Springs. Her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, received a 40-year sentence on corpse

A tiny Arctic village in Alaska is trying to revive its polar-bear tourism industry

state home to the species.Since the boat tours in Kaktovik were halted, the bears once again seem more fearful of humans, Lampe said.Encouraging respectful visits in the ArcticPolar bear tourism coincides with Kaktovik’s subsistence whaling season. When a crew lands a whale, it’s usually butchered on a nearby beach. While the community encourages visitors to watch or even help, some were recording or taking pictures without permission, which is considered disrespectful, Lampe said.Sherry R

Democrat Josh Shapiro tests political muscle in swing-state Pennsylvania’s midterms

“He thinks if he can hand Pennsylvania on a platter to the Democratic Party, then maybe they take a harder look at him.”An opportunity to demonstrate strengthThey just might.Pennsylvania is a hard state to succeed in politically, and Democrats around the country are taking note of Shapiro because of that, said Paul Begala, a Democratic campaign strategist, commentator and senior aide to Bill Clinton when he was president.The election gives Shapiro an opportunity to demonstrate strength.“Right no

ICE agents reportedly put man on wrong plane at Seattle airport

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents reportedly put a man on the wrong plane at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) last May.Rakesh Rakesh was flown to Alaska instead of New York on his way back to India, according to The Seattle Times.Alaska Airlines said ICE was told it was the wrong plane, but put him on it anyway.“The established procedures for this passenger were not followed by ICE,” Alaska Airlines spokesperson Alexa Rudin told The Seattle Times in a statement. “Our

Bipartisan bill would strip pensions from lawmakers convicted of sexual assault, violent crimes

Emily Randall, D-Wash., is co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill to deny taxpayer-funded pensions to members of Congress convicted of sexual assault and other serious crimes.The Congressional Pension Integrity Act would strip retirement benefits from lawmakers convicted of sex crimes, violent crimes, or major corruption offenses, or those who violate House rules by engaging in sexual relationships with staff.The legislation follows the April 14 resignations of former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson sparks ‘Nordstrom’ name debate

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson shared her plans on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio for expanding housing options to combat homelessness. She also answered questions about what “activist” Katie Wilson would tell Mayor Katie Wilson after her first 100 days in office. And she shared she loved the pace of the job and getting to listen to and understand different stakeholders’ opinions.Then, the interview drew lighter attention for a moment, unrelated to policy — Wi

‘This is egregious’: Seattle lawmakers move to dissolve King County homelessness agency after $13M audit findings, $45M deficit

They made that announcement during a quickly formed press conference in Seattle City Hall on Thursday.Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera and King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski said the findings raise serious concerns about financial oversight at the agency, which was created in 2019 to address homelessness across King County. Auditors said they could not rule out whether any of the missing funds were stolen.“The state of the record keeping is apparently so bad that they, while

‘Two ways of calculating’: Trump defends his mathematically impossible calculations on drug prices

Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., at a congressional hearing when she said that claiming price cuts exceeding 100% might suggest “companies should be paying you to take their drugs.” Kennedy said during the hearing that Trump “has a different way of calculating.”On Thursday, Kennedy argued that drug manufacturers had raised prices on popular medications by more than 100% and that Trump was then cutting the price down substantially — meaning he was wiping out percentages of costs worth more than 100%. “

Salt & Straw expands further, opening new store in WA this Friday

4th Street with a whole weekend of celebrations planned, Salt & Straw announced.First 100 Salt & Straw customers score surprise gift cards at Bellevue’s grand openingOn opening day, the first 100 Salt & Straw fans to line up at the doors will receive surprise gift cards, ranging in amounts that will cover everything from an ice cream flight to an entire year’s worth of Salt & Straw ice cream.The celebration continues that same day with an exclusive debut of Salt &

Trump administration vows crackdown on Chinese companies ‘exploiting’ AI models made in US

lawmakers, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, made similar allegations and said China should not be allowed to advance “autocratic AI” by “appropriating and repackaging American innovation.”Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, in February accused DeepSeek and two other China-based AI laboratories of engaging in campaigns to “illicitly extract Claude’s capabilities to improve their own models” using the distillation technique that “involves training a less capable model on the outputs of a

‘It’s time to see a different pathway’: Seattle council president wants to rethink city’s investment in King County homeless agency

After a King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) investigation found that between $8 million and $13 million in funding went unaccounted for, Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth echoed Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s concerns about the agency’s fiscal management.Hollingsworth told “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio that Seattle funds between 50 and 60% of KCRHA’s overall budget and has contributed more than $500 million since the agency

Federal officials charge US soldier with using inside info to win $400K bet on Maduro’s capture

soldier has been charged with using inside information to win $400,000 in an online betting market on Venezuelan President Maduro’s capture, federal officials announced Thursday.Gannon Ken Van Dyk was part of the work to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New York said.He has been charged with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft

Haiti’s new UN-backed gang-fighting force exceeds funding expectations

He said maritime and border support will be particularly important to help Haiti manage its ports and commercial entry points.He stressed the importance of effective coordination with the United Nations — which will provide logistical and operational support to the force — the Haitian government, and the region, including the neighboring Dominican Republic.Looming electionsSpecial envoy Ruiz Massieu told reporters the government’s current idea is to have the first round of elections at the

Republican proposes giving Democratic-leaning part of Virginia back to DC after redistricting vote

That included the City of Alexandria and the areas that now include the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.Virginia and Maryland had given over the land decades before to form the nation’s capital, but resident’s rumblings over a trailing local economy and fears that Congress would ban slavery in the district fueled the return to Virginia in 1847, according to the City of Alexandria. Virginia would go on to secede from the United States, with the Confederacy’s capital in Richmond. Th

Everett flips Flock cameras back on under new state law

The City of Everett has turned its Flock cameras, a popular type of automated license plate reader (ALPR), back on after a new state law took effect, exempting ALPR footage from the Public Records Act.A city spokesperson confirmed with The Everett Herald that the camera network was restarted in early April following the signing of Senate Bill 6002 (SB 6002). Under the new law, police can use ALPR data when investigating felonies or gross misdemeanors, stolen vehicles, or missing persons, accordi