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VDL: EU-China summit to take place next month

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

BRUSSELS — The EU’s two leaders will fly to China next month for the first face-to-face summit to be held in four years, amid a flurry of trade and security concerns stemming from Beijing’s geopolitical ambition.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned the schedule while addressing a conference of EU ambassadors on Monday, calling for a “clear-eyed” approach to Beijing’s hardening global posture. “We have invested in intensive dialogue with Beijing — from four High-Level Dialogues to the upcoming Summit in December,” von der Leyen said. Her European Council counterpart, Charles Michel, will also attend the summit, while either President Xi Jinping or Premier Li Qiang is expected to co-chair it. Beijing has yet to announce a date or a venue for the talks.Von der Leyen hailed the EU for mounting trade defense measures, including the Commission’s probe into state subsidies behind made-in-China electric vehicles. She al...

Spain’s Sánchez waits for Puigdemont

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

MADRID — Spain’s caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is on the verge of locking in the votes he needs to stay in power: All that stands in his way is one stubborn separatist leader determined to milk the moment for all its worth.For the past week former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who heads the Junts party, has been finalizing negotiations with Sánchez’s Socialist Party.Last July’s national elections resulted in a hung parliament in which neither the left-wing nor right-wing political blocs gained enough seats to control the 350-seat chamber, and Puigdemont’s separatist lawmakers are set to determine whether Sánchez remains in power or Spain holds fresh elections.The talks appeared to be going well last week, so much so that Socialist lawmakers told the press that a deal was “imminent,” especially after they sealed a pact with Catalonia’s other separatist party, the Republican Left of Catalonia. That group agreed to back...

Cooler Today, Temps Spike Tomorrow

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

Not bad at all over the weekend as temps pushed up to near 60 for many with dry air prevailing. That allowed for some nice outdoor weather for those ball fields, tee times and even to get a lot of yard work done around the house. Getting used to the time change yet? Sun sets at 4:31pm today. Today, we’ll continue the theme of dry air, however, it’ll be about 10 degrees cooler outside with highs stuck close to 50 under a partly to mostly cloudy skies. Winds will be light, generally running around 10mph. Clouds thicken tonight and showers arrive by predawn tomorrow as a warm front approaches and moves through the area. We’ll dry out late morning tomorrow as some breaks of sun return and temps spike up into the mid to upper 60s. That temp jump comes with a gusty breeze developing too, gusting 25-35mph at times. That’ll knock down some of those lingering leaves on the trees that have yet to come down. The milder air won’t last long though as temps fade back...

A peculiar loss brings more concern — but a little optimism too: Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the Chicago Bears

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

10 thoughts after the Chicago Bears’ peculiar 24-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome, with reasons for concern — and a little optimism as well.It’s really difficult to turn the ball over five times, not get a single takeaway and wind up with not one, not two, not three, not four but five fourth-quarter possessions with an opportunity to go ahead or tie.1. Usually when you wind up minus-5 in turnovers, the game is a total blowout.Turn off the television in the third quarter, head outside and rake leaves this time of year. That’s typically been the case for the Bears, who last committed five giveaways in the 38-3 loss at Tampa Bay back in Week 7 of the 2021 season. As you might recall, they trailed 35-3 at halftime in a complete blowout at Raymond James Stadium. The Bears did manage a takeaway so they were only minus-4 that day against the Bucs. The last time they were minus-5, as they were Sunday, was a 41-21 loss to Washington...

Moldova’s pro-Western government hails elections despite mayoral losses in capital and key cities

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova’s ruling pro-European party has lost a bid for the mayorship of the country’s capital and other key cities despite victories in many areas in local elections that were overshadowed by accusations that Russia was meddling to undermine the vote, according to preliminary results. Lilian Carp of the Party of Action and Solidarity, or PAS, lost out to incumbent Chisinau mayor, Ion Ceban, who won just over 50% of the capital’s vote, according to the Central Electoral Commission. Before Ceban set up a pro-European party last year, he was widely considered to hold a pro-Russian stance, and many believe he still does. In recent years, Moldova has looked to foster closer ties with its Western partners and was granted EU candidate status in June last year.Sunday’s elections in the country of about 2.5 million people, situated between Romania and Ukraine, were under the spotlight because of ongoing accusations by Moldovan authorities that Russia was meddling to ...

Brookfield Asset Management Q3 profit up from year ago

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

TORONTO — Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. says it earned US$122 million in its latest quarter from its stake in the asset management business it owns with Brookfield Corp.The company, which owns a 25 per cent stake in the asset management business that is 75 per cent owned by Brookfield Corp., says the profit in U.S. dollars amounted to 31 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30.The asset management business, Brookfield Asset Management, was spun off from Brookfield Corp. in December last year. The full asset management business, which keeps its results in U.S. dollars, earned US$494 million in its third quarter, up from US$395 million a year earlier.Distributable earnings for the quarter amounted to US$568 million, up from U$524 million in the same quarter last year.Brookfield Asset Management president Connor Teskey says the company has raised $61 billion of capital year-to-date including $26 billion in the third quarter. This report by The Canadian Press was first...

Pakistan steps up security at military and other sensitive installations after attack on an air base

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities have stepped up security at military and other sensitive installations following the weekend attack by militants on an air base that damaged three grounded aircraft and destroyed a fuel tanker, security officials said Monday.A recently formed group, Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack in Mianwali, a city in eastern Punjab province, where police have repulsed multiple attacks by another group, the Pakistani Taliban, in recent months.Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan emerged earlier this year and has claimed multiple attacks, including the July 12 one on a security post in southwest Pakistan in which nine soldiers and a female passerby were killed.The military asserted that Saturday’s attack at the Mianwali Training Air Base was largely thwarted because of a “swift and effective response” from security forces.Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press, taken Saturday hours after the attack, show on...

Ontario to consult on banning NDAs in cases of workplace harassment, misconduct

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

Ontario is considering banning the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of workplace sexual harassment, misconduct or violence.Labour Minister David Piccini is set to announce consultations on the issue today, as he discusses his ministry’s next piece of legislation.Piccini says that non-disclosure agreements should never be used to silence victims or to sidestep accountability.Ontario has previously banned the use of NDAs in sexual misconduct cases among post-secondary employees who are looking for work at a different institution.Members of the Canadian Bar Association voted in favour of discouraging the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of abuse and harassment.The government says seven in 10 workers have reported experiencing a form of harassment or violence in their workplace, with the rates even higher for women and gender-diverse people.“We want to hear from Ontarians and (our) consultations will work with the legal community, survivors, employers to id...

Man in Hamburg airport hostage drama used a rental car and had no weapons permit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A man who drove onto the tarmac at Hamburg Airport with his 4-year-old daughter, starting an 18-hour standoff with police that ended with his arrest, was using a rental car and lacked a weapons permit, authorities said Monday.Operations at the airport returned to normal on Monday after the lengthy closure caused by the hostage situation, and the airport operator signaled that it would strengthen security.The 35-year-old Turkish citizen broke through an airport gate on Saturday evening, fired into the air and threw two incendiary devices out of the car, according to witnesses, before parking the vehicle under a plane just outside a terminal building. He had reportedly taken his daughter from her mother in Stade, some 52 kilometers (32 miles) from Hamburg, in an ongoing custody battle, and was already under investigation for allegedly kidnapping his daughter and taking her to Turkey without authorization last year.Stade police spokesperson Rainer Bohmbach said that the v...

Ethiopia says disputed western Tigray will be settled in a referendum and displaced people returned

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:34 GMT

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s federal government says the future of contested land in its northern Tigray region will be settled by a referendum, and hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people will be returned. Monday’s announcement came one year after a cease-fire ended a devastating civil war there.The disputed status of western Tigray, a patch of fertile land bordering Sudan, was a key flashpoint in the two-year conflict between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, and the federal government.Western Tigray belongs to Tigray under Ethiopia’s constitution. But it was occupied by forces from neighboring Amhara province, which claims the area as its own. Hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans were forcibly expelled, prompting accusations of ethnic cleansing.In a statement to mark the anniversary of the cease-fire, the government said the displaced people would be returned and the federal military would assume responsibility for local security.A referendu...