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Former NATO chief: Trump could sabotage the war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former secretary-general of NATO, packs his prognosis for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign into one loaded word.“I think President Trump will be a loser,” he tells me.It is a notoriously triggering term for the former president, evoking deep humiliation. Rasmussen uses it casually.“His baggage is too heavy, too controversial,” says Rasmussen, 70, who was Denmark’s prime minister for most of this century’s first decade.Yet Rasmussen, a right-of-center politician who is now a white-shoe international consultant, remains scared of Trump. What disturbs him more immediately than the idea of Trump back in the White House is a far likelier scenario: Trump winning the Republican presidential nomination.It may seem counterintuitive to fear Trump’s nomination more than his return to power, a less probable but vastly more dangerous outcome. But Rasmussen’s mind is on the war in Ukraine — and what Trump’s candidacy might do to sabotage it.The former NATO chief serves as a...

Students call for education reform in Hungary protest march

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Thousands of students and other opponents of Hungary’s government marched in the capital Budapest on Wednesday to demand educational reforms and a change in the Central European country’s political culture. The protest, dubbed a “freedom march” by organizers, was called by teachers unions and student groups who have spent months pressuring Hungary’s government to provide salary raises and better working conditions for educators. The groups have also demanded the repeal of legislation that limits teachers’ right to strike.Marchers chanted slogans like “no teachers, no future” and “striking is a basic right” as they moved down one of Budapest’s main avenues. Student groups and teachers have engaged in strikes, walkouts and other acts of civil disobedience in recent months after the government didn’t fulfill their demands, resulting in several teacher firings. Katalin Torley, a teacher that was fired from a Budapest high scho...

Japan, South Korea move forward on trade issue before summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan and South Korea agreed on steps toward resolving a trade dispute that has been one of the strains the nations’ leaders aimed to resolve at a highly anticipated summit Thursday.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will meet later in the day in Tokyo in a bid to overcome disputes over history and quickly rebuild their nations’ security and economic ties. A North Korean missile launch and encounters between Japanese and Chinese vessels in disputed waters earlier Thursday show what’s at stake for the two countries.South Korean Trade Minister Lee Chang-yang said following talks this week, Japan agreed to lift export controls on South Korea, which will withdraw its complaint to the World Trade Organization once the curbs are removed.Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry said Japan acknowledged improvement in South Korea export controls during the talks and that as a result of Seoul’s decision to drop th...

Exhibit: ‘Invisible’ Monet, Leon, was key to impressionism

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Behind some great men, there is a bigger brother.Claude Monet’s older sibling is the focus of a landmark Paris exhibit illuminating the hitherto unknown role Leon Monet played in the French impressionist painter’s life and art. Leon — a color chemist four years his senior — is now understood to have been critical in the emergence of Monet’s commercial success as well as the famed color palette that created masterpieces like the “Water Lilies” series.“It’s never been known before, but without Leon there would not have really been a Monet — the artist the world knows today,” said Geraldine Lefebvre, exhibit curator at the Musee du Luxembourg. “His rich big brother supported him in the first period of his life when he had no money or clients and was starving,” she said. “But more than that. The vivid palette Monet was famous for came from the synthetic textile dye colors Leon created” in the town of Rouen — site of some of Claude’s best-known paintings.Th...

Retrial ordered for US men convicted of killing Italian cop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italy’s highest court has ordered a retrial for two U.S. citizens who were convicted in the slaying of an Italian carabiniere during a sting operation gone bad.The Court of Cassation late Wednesday threw out the guilty verdicts against Finnegan Lee Elder, now 23, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 22, both convicted in the stabbing death of the 35-year-old officer during a plainclothes operation while the Americans, teens at the time, were on vacation in Rome in the summer of 2019.The court will issue its reasons for the verdict in the coming weeks, and instruct an appeals court on the issues to examine in a new trial. Elder’s lawyer, Roberto Capra, expressed satisfaction at the decision, saying a new trial would open the possibility of recalculating the sentence. The two men, friends from northern California, were sentenced to life in prison, Italy’s toughest penalty, in the initial trial. An appeals court upheld the verdict but lowered the sentence to 24 years for Elder and 22...

Israelis step up protests after Netanyahu rejects compromise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli protesters pressed ahead on Thursday with demonstrations against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he rejected a compromise proposal that was meant to defuse the crisis.Despite the effort by the country’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, to seek a way out of the stalemate, the sides appeared to be further digging in. Netanyahu and his allies were set to barrel forward with their original plan despite weeks of mass protests and widespread opposition from across Israeli society and beyond as well as warnings by Herzog that Israel was headed toward an “abyss.”Protesters were kicking off a third day of disruption since the crisis began, with roads set to close to make way for demonstrators. Protesters in Jerusalem drew a red streak on the streets leading to the country’s Supreme Court and a small flotilla of boats was blocking the shipping lane off the coast...

After Cyclone Freddy, flood risk lingers for southern Africa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — After four days of destructive wind and rain, local communities and relief workers are now confronting the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy which has killed more than 250 people and displaced tens of thousands of others across Malawi and Mozambique and may still cause further damage. Cyclone Freddy dissipated over land late Wednesday, but weather monitoring centers warned that countries are still vulnerable to flooding and landslides.At least 225 people have been killed in southern Malawi, including within the financial capital of Blantyre, officials said. Around 88,000 people are still displaced and parts of the region remain inaccessible. Malawi’s president, Lazarus Chakwera, has declared a 14-day national mourning period. In Mozambique, authorities said at least 53 were killed since late Saturday, with 50,000 more still displaced. Scientists say human-caused climate change has worsened cyclone activity, making them more intense and more frequent. The rece...

Wind-Driver Rains Thursday; a look late March 70s

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

Multifaceted late winter storm to bring wind-driven rain here: sticking snow west/northwest of Chicago and severe weather to the deep southPredicted mid-afternoon snapshot ThursdayPredicted wind gusts Thursday afternoon: Widespread 30-40 mph gusts expected. Thursday severe weather outlookSevere weather, including damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornadoes expected in the far southern plainsU.S. Snow Cover mapWhile the Chicago area sits snow-free, winter remains alive and well in the Upper Midwest where a deep snowpack remains. Image of U.S. Snow cover map Snowfall (inches) on the ground:Colder pattern to dominate by and large the next 10+ days--Full day temperature departures from normal:

Is Bribery, The Political Currency Of Choice For Elected Officials?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

EU and Thailand relaunch trade negotiations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:27 GMT

The EU and Thailand announced the relaunch of negotiations for an ambitious, modern and balanced free trade agreement (FTA), with sustainability at its core. This announcement confirms the key importance of the Indo-Pacific region for the EU trade agenda, paving the way for deeper trade ties with the second largest economy in South-East Asia and further strengthening the EU's strategic engagement with this burgeoning region.The aim of the FTA will be to boost trade and investment by addressing a wide range of issues such as: market access for goods, services, investment and government procurement; swift and effective Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary procedures; the protection of intellectual property rights including Geographical Indications, and the removal of obstacles to digital trade and trade in energy and raw materials, thereby supporting the digital and green transitions. Sustainability will also be at the heart of this agreement, with robust and enforceable disciplines on Trade a...