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Anger spreads in France over Macron’s retirement bill push

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Protesters disrupted traffic in Paris on Friday as angry critics, political opponents and labor unions around France blasted President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to force a bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 through parliament without a vote. Opposition parties were expected to start procedures later Friday for a no-confidence vote on the government led by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. The vote would likely take place early next week. Macron ordered Borne on Thursday to wield a special constitutional power to push the highly unpopular pension bill through without a vote in the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament. His calculated risk infuriated opposition lawmakers, many citizens and unions. Thousands gathered in protest Thursday at the Place de la Concorde, which faces the National Assembly building. As night fell, police officers charged the demonstrators in waves to clear the Place. Small groups then moved through nearby stre...

China’s Xi to visit Moscow in show of support for Putin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to visit Russia from Monday to Wednesday, in an apparent show of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin amid sharpening East-West tensions over the war in Ukraine. Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is expected to dominate Putin and Xi’s discussions. China has refused to condemn Moscow’s aggression and sought to project itself as neutral in the conflict even while Beijing declared last year that it had a “no-limits” friendship with Russia. The meeting between the leaders was announced by both countries on Friday.China has said the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected, while condemning Western sanctions and accusing NATO and the United States of provoking Russia into military action.On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba that Beijing was concerned about the year-old conflict spinning out of control and urged talks on a politi...

Pittsfield man sentenced for 2021 double stabbing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (NEWS10) — A Pittsfield man will spend up to 18 years in state prison after he stabbed two people in the city back in 2021. It happened on Sept. 16, 2021, at 10:30 p.m., in the area of Tyler Street and Curtis Terrace. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! There, officers found two men—later identified as Ernest Ferry and Jamie Hassan—suffering from serious stab wounds. Both were rushed to Berkshire Medical Center, where they thankfully recovered. However, medical professionals say their injuries were so severe that they continue to affect their daily lives. One of the victim's cars at the scene also had its tires slashed. The suspect then fled the scene, and many bystanders helped the victims and flagged down police. "Some victims and witnesses who testified in the case feared for their safety;" a spokesperson for the district attorney said. "However, their cooperation helped justice be served." Two arrested...

Blue-collar Adams County is getting its green on — and not for St. Patrick’s Day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

Just weeks after beating out the competition for a manufacturing plant making a cutting-edge electric vehicle battery, Adams County is in the running to host a solar panel manufacturing facility that could employ nearly 1,000 workers.The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved nearly $9.2 million in Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits on Thursday morning for Project Pothos, the code name given to a new joint venture between a U.S. and foreign company looking to launch a solar panel manufacturing plant.Those tax credits are conditioned on the company creating 951 jobs over an eight-year period. The engineering, manufacturing and administrative jobs are expected to pay an average of $71,940 a year or about 110% of the average annual wage in Adams County.Earlier this month, Amprius Technologies, which has developed a more efficient silicon anode technology for lithium-ion batteries, confirmed it would build a 775,000-square-foot plant in Brighton employing 330 workers initially....

Brussels to curb imports of Chinese green tech

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

European Union plans to restrict the import of green technology from China. This will reduce the chances that Chinese companies win public contracts and create additional barriers for buyers looking for subsidies. The report stated that public procurement bids involving products from countries with more than 65% EU market shares would be downgraded. It cited a draft of Net Zero Industry Act, which was seen by the Financial Times.However, the European Commission's Trade Directorate is concerned that the revisions proposed to the public procurement rules book could violate international law. Sources familiar with the matter told FT.The Financial Times reported Tuesday (14 March) that the European Union sought new ways to monitor European companies' investments in overseas production facilities, to limit China’s access to new technology from the West.Our Standards

Russia must answer for all war crimes in Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

Russia, which considers itself the legal successor of the USSR and the country-winner of Nazism, by committing aggression against Ukraine today is likened to Hitler's Nazi Germany. Moscow has adopted the bloodiest practices of Nazism, in particular the brutal treatment of prisoners of war, the torture and murder of civilians and the forced deportation of Ukrainians, including children, to Russia.It has been a year since the brutal bombing by the Russian army of the Drama Theatre in Mariupol, where at least 600 civilians were killed, including children, who had sought refuge there from the constant shelling of their hometown. On that day, a Russian plane dropped two heavy-duty bombs on the Drama Theatre building. The Russians were not even deterred by the fact that there was a large sign saying "Children" on the square in front of the building. Transparency International's research confirmed that the attack came from a Russian plane and called it a war crime, as there was no military...

Ask Amy: My son’s wife blocked me from her Ph.D. celebration because I was ‘unsupportive’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

Dear Amy: My daughter-in-law just completed her Ph.D. I am very proud of her. She has worked hard for many years to accomplish this goal.I asked to take her and our son out to dinner to celebrate. My son informed me that, while they appreciate the sentiment, they would rather not.I was a bit miffed to be rejected because I know that they were celebrating with her parents. My son finally confessed that our daughter-in-law has felt “unsupported” by me in her pursuit of the Ph.D.I routinely asked after her Ph.D. studies, and she often responded with something like, “I’m stressed about [this or that].”My typical response was to tell her that I was sure that she would do just great at whatever it was. I thought I was being supportive, but apparently she heard this as, “You are complaining over nothing and it is wrong for you to be stressed.”At this point, we seem to be at an awkward impasse.Am I wrong to be hurt and insulted? I think she was bein...

Harriette Cole: Is this too much to ask of my ex-addict boyfriend?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: My brother has been battling substance addiction for a while now. My boyfriend struggled with the same thing for years before I met him, and he is now completely sober, healthy and thriving. I want the same thing for my brother.The emotional and psychological toll that my brother’s addiction has taken on our family is immeasurable, and I’m always looking for resources to help him.I was wondering if my current partner could provide some insight into his journey and be a supportive, positive presence for my brother in a way that only those who have lived through similar experiences can truly do. Could this be too big of a request?My brother and my boyfriend do not have much of a relationship.Desperate for HelpDEAR DESPERATE FOR HELP: Talk to your boyfriend. Reveal what’s been going on with your brother, and ask your boyfriend if he would be willing to talk to him.Related ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: My husband’s cute habits are we...

Iraqis Tortured by the U.S. in Abu Ghraib Never Got Justice

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

Before the “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq launched and the contrived toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue, U.S. special forces, private contractors, and intelligence agents had begun sweeping up suspects in the new “war on terror.” The brutalization of so-called enemy combatants was a well-established practice by the time American boots hit the ground in Iraq 20 years ago next week, and it would be carried onto Iraqi soil.Tens of thousands of Iraqis in the early years of the war would pass through interrogation and detention sites where CIA agents, military intelligence, military police, private contractors, special operation, and ordinary soldiers inflicted abuse that no longer gets cloaked by euphemisms: It was torture.The photos released from Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 — showing humiliated, naked men leashed like dogs, electrocuted, beaten, piled in pyramids, with smiling military service members laughing and giving a thumbs-up over their bodies — gave the first public glimpse in...

Alexandria City School Board approves metal detector pilot program in schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:13 GMT

The school board in Alexandria, Virginia, voted on Thursday to roll out a pilot program to introduce weapons screening metal detectors in the city’s schools.Results from a survey released in February on the potential use of weapons screening equipment found that of the 4,374 respondents, 85% supported the use of the equipment in all or some schools and 58% supported it in all schools. And 28% of the 1,181 students who responded voted against the implementation of the equipment.More Alexandria NewsMore Virginia NewsMore Education NewsDr. Alicia Hart, the board’s chief of facilities and operations, shared the survey’s results during Thursday’s meeting and said the main reason for the community’s support was an overall need to feel safer in their schools as weapons in schools are a “significant concern and problem.”Those who responded against the use of the equipment said their main concerns were the cost of putting them in all the city’s...