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☆ Plan to buy a home in the next year or two? Here are 5 steps to take now to get your finances ready
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Mortgage lenders will consider lots of different metrics and circumstances when assessing your creditworthiness. Check your credit reports and credit scoresTwo other factors lenders will consider are your credit history and credit score. Kill the credit card debtA key way to improve your credit score is to reduce your credit card debt. “The minute they pull your credit score, it is going to [reflect] what is on my credit card that day,” MBA’s Seiler said. “Because there are many variables that affect an individual consumer’s credit score, we can’t say a specific number of months,” FICO’s Zeibert said.

Persons: ”, Avi Adler, Sara Zuckerman, Margaret Poe, Poe, you’ll, Eddie Seiler, Joe Zeibert, You’re, ” Adler, MBA’s Seiler, ” FICO’s Zeibert, “, ” Seiler, Zuckerman, Adler, ” Zuckerman Organizations: New, New York CNN, Long & Foster, Consumer Financial, Bureau, Mortgage, Association Locations: New York, annualcreditreport.com, TransUnion

☆ Americans’ credit scores are falling. That hasn’t happened in a decade
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Even as unemployment remains historically low and recession fears fade, consumer credit scores are starting to buckle. Although FICO scores remain near record highs — and well above pre-pandemic levels — this marks the first drop in a decade. FICO said the one-point drop in credit scores in late 2023 was driven by an increase in Americans missing payments and also by rising debt levels. However, he said this one-point drop in credit scores is not necessarily a red flag. “The overall outlook for consumer credit quality, and consumer spending growth,” Faucher said, “is still very solid.”

Persons: FICO, FICO’s, Arkali, ”, “, ” Arkali, Banks, ‘, Gus Faucher, Faucher, it’s “, ” Faucher Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN, New York Fed, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, ’ Consumers, NY Fed, PNC Locations: New York

His party more than doubled in size in parliament to tower over mainstream parties that long specialized in marginalizing him. Suddenly on Thursday, there was hope in the air again for nationalist conservative populists, especially with an European Parliament election coming up in June. Earlier, Slovakia had already turned populist with Robert Fico’s Smer party winning a general election and setting up a coalition government with an ultranationalist party. Wilders calls for a “Nexit” referendum — a Dutch version of Brexit which saw the United Kingdom leave the EU. By nature, Dutch politics rely on coalitions between several parties and no other suitable party has followed Wilders on that.

Persons: Geert Wilders, firebrand Wilders, “, Alice Weidel, Wilders, Robert Fico’s Smer, Viktor Orbán, behemoth, Le Pen, ”, Hendrik Vos, Vos, Matteo Salvini Organizations: Party for Freedom, Law, European Union, EU, France, Inter, Ghent University, League Locations: BRUSSELS, Europe, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungarian, France, United Kingdom, Italian, Italy

☆ ‘Wish’ Review: The Sorcerer’s Disgruntled Apprentice
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Amy Nicholson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Until Asha flubs a job interview with Magnifico and realizes his flaw. The solution is the same as in every Disney cartoon: our heroine runs up a hill, hair swinging, and belts a ballad about longing. Oddly — and rather fascinatingly — this is a film about a spiritual revolution. Can Asha, a humanist, convince the islanders to reject the man in the embroidered robe who preaches that he alone is a conduit for miracles? “You’d think they’d all be content.”WishRated PG for neon-green depictions of black magic.

Persons: Asha flubs, Magnifico, Natasha Rothwell, Victor Garber, —, cribbed, Alan Tudyk, Asha, I’m, Benjamin Rice, Julia Michaels, “ Organizations: Disney Locations: E.T

☆ Kyiv: Ousting of US House speaker darkens outlook for Ukraine aid as funds dry up
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Tim Lister | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

That left the Biden administration’s $24 billion request for fresh military aid, submitted to Congress in the summer, in limbo. While it’s unclear who might succeed him, several potential candidates are skeptical about continuing support for Ukraine at current levels. Let’s be clear, if the US Congress does not pass a funding bill, Ukraine will be in deep trouble. But for Ukraine’s military planners, the uncertainty is an immense challenge as they try to plot any winter offensive or where to place air defenses. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty ImagesBut a senior adviser to Zelensky criticized “Western conservative elites” for suggesting that military aid to Ukraine should be suspended.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy, Joe Biden, McCarthy “, ” McCarthy, Volodymyr Zelensky, Robert Fico’s, –, Michael McCord, McCord, ”, Max Bergmann, ” Bergmann, Bergmann, “, Bergman, Dmytro Kuleba, ” Kuleba, Oksana Markarova, ” Markarova, Bryan R, Smith, Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, Podolyak, ” Podolyak Organizations: CNN, Russia grinds, Kyiv, Biden, Ukraine, Russia, NATO, Congressional, House Democrats, Pentagon, Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, Center for Strategic, International Studies, “, ‘, European Union, Facebook, Embassy of, USA, UN, Assembly, …, Congress Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Washington, Slovakia, Poland, Warsaw, Kyiv, Embassy of Ukraine, AFP

☆ Republican blockade of Ukraine aid and Slovakia’s election play into Putin’s hands
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Fico anchored his campaign on his anti-US rhetoric, vows to stop sending weapons to Ukraine and a pledge to thwart Kyiv’s NATO ambitions. The GOP tide against Ukraine gathers strengthZelensky’s visit to Washington to shore up Ukraine aid last month looks prescient. At Republican campaign events, voters often voice antipathy to sending billions of dollars to Ukraine, and polls show rising public skepticism. Still, for now, there is a bipartisan Washington majority in favor of Ukraine aid, although the chaos in the GOP raises questions about how it will be delivered. So we’ve got to find a way that we can do this together.”But if McCarthy is toppled and replaced by a more radical speaker, Ukraine could run out of luck.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy didn’t, Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden, McCarthy, Robert Fico’s, Fico, –, Putin, Donald Trump, Fico’s, Trump, embolden Putin, “ Putin, Mike Quigley, “, ”, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, “ Joe Biden, Dmytro Kuleba, ” Kuleba, “ They’re, we’ve Organizations: CNN, Russia, Ukraine, Republican, NATO, Ukraine –, Kyiv, Brexit, “, Soviet MiG, European Union, GOP, Democratic, Illinois, Congressional Ukraine Caucus, Democrat, Rep, Trump Georgia Rep, Foreign, CBS, Trump Locations: Ukraine, Slovakia, US, Poland, Warsaw, Western, Kyiv, France, Germany, “ Slovakia, Slovakian, Russia, Soviet, United States, Turkey, Sweden, Moscow, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, Bratislava, Washington, Biden’s, Florida, ” Ukraine

According to preliminary results released by Slovakia’s Statistical Office at 6 a.m. local time, Robert Fico’s populist SMER party won 23.3% of the vote. While in opposition, Fico became a close ally of Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban, especially when it came to criticism of the European Union. Fico previously served as Slovakia’s prime minister for more than a decade, first between 2006 and 2010 and then again from 2012 to 2018. Kuciak reported on corruption among the country’s elite, including people directly connected to Fico and his party SMER. In the Czech Republic, which used to form one country with Slovakia, 71% of people blame Russia for the war.

Persons: Robert Fico’s, Fico, upend, Peter Pellegrini, Hlas, ”, Pellegrini, Slovakia “, “, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Victor Orban, Orban, Jan Kuciak, Martina Kušnírová, Kuciak, Věra Jourová, GlobSec, – Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, NATO, Slovakia’s, SMER, Progressive, Ukrainian, Ukraine, European Union, Russia, Hungary’s, European, Justice, Kyiv Locations: Slovakia, Ukraine, Progressive Slovakia, Slovak, Kyiv, Brussels, Russia, Bratislava, Baltic, Czech Republic, States

☆ Slovakia's election could turn Ukraine's stanchest supporter into a Kremlin ally
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-30 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The frontrunner, former Prime Minister Robert Fico, has made no secret of his affinity for the Kremlin during the election campaign. Fico’s left-wing populist SMER party has been leading for months, although opinion polls published earlier this week showed SMER neck-and-neck with the Progressive Slovakia (PS) party. “The approach to Russian war in Ukraine is a divisive line (in the election),” she said. It is also far from certain that the leader of the biggest party will become the prime minister. While in opposition, Fico has also become a close ally of Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban, especially when it comes to criticism of the European Union.

Persons: Robert Fico, Slovakia’s, Zuzana Čaputová, Fico’s, Michal Šimečka, Věra Jourová, ”, Peter Pellegrini, Pellegrini, Fico, Ján Kuciak, Martina Kušnírová, Russia ”, OLaNO, Kyiv’s, “, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Victor Orban, Orban Organizations: CNN, European Union, Kremlin, NATO, Progressive, EU, Kyiv, West ., “, Coalition, Republika, Russia, ”, and Solidarity Party, Independent, Ukraine Fico, Hungary’s, Justice Locations: Ukraine, NATO, American, Progressive Slovakia, Slovakia, “ Slovakia, Russia, Russian, Brussels

☆ Slovak election: A NATO country could soon have a pro-Russian leader
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Fico previously served as Slovakia’s prime minister for more than a decade, first between 2006 and 2010 and then again from 2012 to 2018. Heger continued as a caretaker prime minister but he, too, ended up quitting in May and was replaced by a technocrat, Ludovit Odor. Eduard Heger, pictured in Tallinn, Estonia, in November 2022, resigned as caretaker prime minister in May. In the Czech Republic, which used to form one country with Slovakia, 71% of people blame Russia for the war. “The government took a very quick and firm decision — and I’d say in doing so found itself on the right side of the history — to support Ukraine,” he said.

Persons: Robert Fico’s, Kyiv’s, “, ”, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Fico, Grigorij, Jan Kuciak, Martina Kušnírová, Kuciak, Igor Matovič, Matovič, Eduard Heger, Heger, Ints Kalnins, ” Mesežnikov, “ SMER, GlobSec, —, Dominika Hajdu, Mesežnikov Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, NATO, Institute of Public Affairs, Voters, Independent, Republika, for Democracy, Resilience, Austro, Ukraine, “, it’s, European Union Locations: Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine, Slovak, Moscow, SMER, Tallinn, Estonia, ” Slovakia, Bratislava, Baltic, Czech Republic, States, Hungary, Trianon, “ Slovakia

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