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Europe’s climate activists face ‘repressive tide’

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

MUNICH, Germany — Before Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick answers any questions, he makes sure to switch off his phone. “Per court order, they can tap it,” he says. Over the past year, Metzeler-Kick, 49, has spent several weeks in jail and racked up tens of thousands of euros in fines. His crime? Taking part in climate protests. The Bavarian activist has delivered manure to Germany’s agriculture minister, dug up the lawn in front of Olaf Scholz’s chancellery and tried to disrupt flights at Berlin airport to draw attention to the dangers of global warming. Mainly, he glues himself to roads to “disrupt our fossil-fueled routines,” as he puts it. “We have to stop doing business as usual,” he adds. “We’re hurtling toward disaster.” As a wave of similar protests sweeps Europe — targeting key infrastructure, causing travel chaos and sparking widespread public outrage — governments are getting tough on activists. Too tough, say human rights advocates. United Nations exp...

US economic growth for last quarter is revised down to a 2.1% annual rate

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, showing continued resilience in the face of higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, the government said Wednesday in a downgrade from its initial estimate.The government had previously estimated that the economy expanded at a 2.4% annual rate last quarter.The Commerce Department’s second estimate of growth last quarter marked a slight acceleration from a 2% annual growth rate from January through March. Though the economy has been slowed by the Federal Reserve’s strenuous drive to tame inflation with interest rate hikes, it has managed to keep expanding, with employers still hiring and consumers still spending.Wednesday’s report on the nation’s gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — showed that growth last quarter was driven by upticks in consumer spending and business investment.The American economy — the world’s largest — has proved surp...

Column: 2 mysteries of the strangest week in Chicago White Sox history could have answers soon

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

The two biggest mysteries of the strangest week in Chicago White Sox history might have been answered.How did two women get shot in the left-field bleachers at Guaranteed Rate Field? And who will replace fired executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn?The two mysteries are unrelated, though they share some of the usual attributes of a Sox news story, which typically are more ridiculous than what meets the eye.We’ll start with the shooting, a serious issue that became comical thanks to a wild theory emanating from the Sox front office that the bullet that hit the two women might have come from outside the ballpark. Chicago police interim Supt. Fred Waller basically dismissed that theory Monday, saying investigators had “almost completely dispelled” the idea that a bullet from outside somehow hit the two women.That meant someone inside the park apparently smuggled in a gun past security, resulting in the shot that grazed one woman in the abdomen and went into the right t...

Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López among 6 players reportedly put on waivers by Los Angeles Angels

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

Lucas Giolito found out on X he could become an ex-Angel.ESPN reported Tuesday that Los Angeles has placed Giolito, relievers Dominic Leone, Matt Moore and Reynaldo López, and outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Randal Grichuk on waivers. Teams have until 2 p.m. EDT Thursday to claim the players.Giolito said he read the news on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.“I’d say, surprised,” Giolito said after a 12-7 loss to Philadelphia. “But at the end of the day, it’s a business. It can be a very strange business sometimes. You just roll with it.”Los Angeles, 63-70 and headed to its eighth straight losing season, would get some salary relief if the players are claimed and their contracts assumed.Giolito allowed three homers in a loss Monday.ESPN cited unidentified sources confirming the waiver placements.“Thursday is when it all goes down,” Giolito said. “Until then, I’m here. We’ll see what happens aft...

Live updates | Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in Florida as Category 3 storm

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Follow live updates about Hurricane Idalia, which has made landfall in Florida as a dangerous Category 3 storm, unleashing life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.— Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is rapidly strengthening as it bears down on Florida — A rare blue supermoon could play a role in an unfolding disaster as Hurricane Idalia takes aim at Florida’s west coast — Florida’s Big Bend is one of the last truly natural places in the state. Now it’s in the bull’s-eye of a major hurricane Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Florida’s west coast as a dangerous Category 3 storm on Wednesday, unleashing life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.Idalia came ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian....

Howie Carr: Police reform report arresting for lack of detail

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

It’s great to be a cop – at least a politically connected cop.Of course, if you’re a cop who’s not wired, you might as well be wearing a red MAGA cap, because they’re going to throw the book at you, or at least try to make your life miserable for a while.That’s my first takeaway from reading the 318-page report from the new MA Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission.It details more than 3000 disciplinary proceedings against cops, and once again, the old saying seems to apply:“In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.”First thing that’s obvious: the Mass. State Police motto should be “Omerta” – silence.I heard this spring from a guy who’s been all tangled up in a family domestic dispute with a state cop. He complained to what is called the Office of Professional Integrity and Accountability (don’t laugh; not a joke!) claiming that this trooper had been running his family’s license plates, compulsively.The guy showed me the official letter he got years ...

Palestinians clash with own security forces in a West Bank refugee camp, leaving 1 dead

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Fighting erupted in a refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank Wednesday between Palestinians and their own security forces, Palestinian authorities said, leaving a 25-year-old Palestinian dead. The unrest underscored the challenges facing Palestinian police trying to impose order in the restive territory.Elsewhere in the occupied territory, Israeli security forces shot a Palestinian man who they said tried to ram his car into soldiers at a military checkpoint, hitting and lightly wounding a soldier, authorities said. It was the latest incident in one of the West Bank’s most violent phases in years.Palestinian police entered the refugee camp in Tulkarem after residents appealed to the Palestinian Authority to remove metal street barriers set up by local militants that were blocking access to homes and schools, Palestinian security spokesperson Talal Dweikat said. The angled metal barricades are a staple in the militarized refugee camps of the northern W...

Metro says tentative deal reached with striking grocery workers in Toronto

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

TORONTO — Metro Inc. says it has reached a tentative agreement with Unifor covering striking workers at 27 Metro grocery stores across the Greater Toronto Area.Details of the tentative deal were not immediately available.The company says the agreement will be submitted to the employees for a ratification vote which is expected to take place shortly. The employees went on strike on July 29 after rejecting an earlier tentative agreement that the union described as their best in decades. During the weeks-long dispute, Metro workers began secondary picket lines at two distribution centres, preventing stores from receiving fresh products, a move for which the grocer was granted a temporary injunction. Metro and Unifor went back to the bargaining table on Tuesday, a month after the strike began and the same day the injunction was granted. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:MRU)The Canadian Press

Metro says tentative deal reached with union representing grocer’s employees

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

Metro Inc. says it is has reached a tentative deal with the union representing thousands of its grocery workers, potentially ending a month-long strike.More than 3,700 workers at 27 Metro stores in the GTA have been on strike since July 29 after rejecting their first tentative agreement.The grocer says the agreement has been “unanimously recommended by the union’s bargaining committee and will put an end to the labour dispute if ratified.”“It will be submitted to the employees for a ratification vote that will take place shortly.”The tentative deals come a day after Metro and Unifor returned to the bargaining table to resume negotiations.Unifor have previously said it was waiting for a better wage offer from Metro before it returned to the bargaining table.The striking workers have been calling for the return of their pandemic ‘hero pay’ of $2 an hour.On Tuesday, an Ontario court granted Metro a temporary injunction to restrict pickets by striking worke...

Britain’s top diplomat raises human rights concerns with China, explores ways to boost communication

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:58 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly raised concerns over China’s human rights record and explored ways for the two countries to better communicate during a visit to Beijing on Wednesday.The trip was the first by a U.K. foreign secretary to China in more than five years, underscoring a downturn in relations over a series of issues, including Beijing’s curbing of civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, abuses against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, China’s support for Russia and Britain’s close security ties with the United States. Cleverly met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng during his one-day visit. The diplomats underscored the importance of dialogue between their countries, though they also alluded to the souring of ties in recent years.Wang said cooperation between China and Britain had “global impact.”“Dialogue and cooperation are the keywords and main tone of China’s policy towards the U.K.,” he sai...