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EU’s von der Leyen to join Macron in visiting China

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel together with French President Emmanuel Macron during his trip to China early next month. Speaking at a press conference following an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, Macron said he had “suggested to von der Leyen that she accompany him to China” on April 4 so they could speak “with a unified voice.”“I don’t have a European mandate, as France has its independent diplomacy — but I’m attached to European coordination,” he added. Macron said von der Leyen, who leads the EU’s executive, would join him — just as then-Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker had, when the French president and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Paris in 2019.A Commission spokesperson confirmed that von der Leyen be with Macron on his trip — marking the EU chief’s first journey to Beijing as Commission president.Ahead of her China excursion, von der Leyen will give a speech on EU...

France bans TikTok, Candy Crush, Netflix for civil servants

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

PARIS — France will prevent civil servants from downloading all types of social media platforms, gaming and video-streaming apps on their work phones because of cybersecurity and privacy concerns, according to a statement released today. The ban, which is effective immediately, includes TikTok but is not limited to the Chinese-owned platform. France’s move follows bans by European institutions and other EU countries such as the Netherlands. Unlike Brussels and The Hague, however, the French government also targets Western apps and platforms from Europe and the United States. “These recreational applications are not designed to guarantee a sufficient level of cybersecurity to be deployed on the administration’s digital tools,” said Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. “TikTok, but also CandyCrush or Netflix are affected by this measure.”Exceptions could be granted for “institutional communications” purposes, the statement adds. Earl...

Magic signing Jay Scrubb to a two-way contract to fill out roster

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

The Orlando Magic are signing Jay Scrubb, who plays for the organization’s Lakeland G League affiliate, to a two-way contract, a league source confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel.Scrubb is Lakeland’s leading scorer, averaging 22.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 22 games in the G League this season.He was on the Magic’s preseason roster before joining Lakeland.The 55th pick in the 2020 draft, Scrubb has averaged 3.8 points and 1.4 rebounds (9.3 minutes) in 22 NBA games over the previous two seasons — all with the L.A. Clippers.Scrubb was named the 2019-20 National Junior College Athletic Association Player of the Year, becoming the first junior college player selected in the NBA Draft since 2004.He played in 59 games during two seasons at John A. Logan College (2018-20), a junior college in Carterville, Ill., averaging 21 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 39.5% on 3s.Scrubb will join Kevon Harris as the Magic’s two-way players.Th...

Man drives at pedestrians inside German airport garage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A motorist drove at pedestrians and rammed parked cars on Friday in a parking garage at Cologne-Bonn Airport in western Germany, injuring three people slightly, police said.Two police officers also were slightly hurt as they pinned down the 57-year-old man, who appeared to have mental health issues, according to a police statement.Most people apparently were able to get out of the way of the vehicle, though one of the injured was squeezed between cars.The driver was detained and taken to the hospital. He was uninjured.Police said that, before the incident, security officers had twice thrown the man out of the airport “because of his behavior.” They didn’t elaborate.He then apparently climbed into a rental company’s minibus that had been parked in the garage for cleaning and drove across the parking garage — shifting gears, going forward and backward over and over again until police stopped him.The Associated Press

House GOP passes parents’ rights bill in clash over schools

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Friday narrowly passed legislation to press a midterm campaign promise to give parents greater say in what’s taught in public schools even as critics complained the “parents’ rights” bill would fuel a far-right movement that’s resulted in book bans, restrictions aimed at transgender students and raucous school board meetings across the country.Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made the bill, labeled the Parents’ Bill of Rights Act, a top priority during the early weeks of his tenure atop the House. It was an early test of unity for the chamber’s 222 Republicans, who have a thin majority and showed how the adoption of an open amendment process in the House — a concession McCarthy made to win hardline conservatives’ support for his speakership — holds the potential to send legislation down unpredictable twists and turns.Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., successfully added amendments that would require schools to report when transgender girls joi...

Poland honors citizens who helped Jews during Holocaust

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish President Andrzej Duda took part in nationwide observances Friday to honor Poles who risked — and often lost — their lives trying to save Jews from the Holocaust during the Nazi German occupation of Poland.Duda spoke at a memorial site in Markowa, a village in southeastern Poland where on March 24, 1944 Nazi forces shot and killed a farmer, his pregnant wife and their six children along with eight Jews the family was hiding at their farm. Pope Francis has declared the members of the Ulma family as martyrs. In Poland, they are a symbol of the bravery of the Poles who took the utmost risk while helping Jews during WWII.Speaking at the Markowa Museum of Poles Saving Jews During World War II, Duda noted there were many families in the region and across Poland who hid Jews, in many cases ensuring they survived.The names of the Ulmas and of other families engraved on plaques testify that there were many people who “behaved in a decent way, whose love of their ...

Amid massive demonstrations, Macron delays Charles’ visit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Ongoing unrest across France and calls for a new round of demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension plan persuaded officials to postpone a planned state visit next week by Britain’s King Charles III.Charles had been scheduled to arrive in France on Sunday to celebrate France and Britain’s renewed friendship. But the protests and strikes against Macron’s decision to raise France’s retirement age from 62 to 64 promised to impact his visit, with workers refusing to roll out the red carpet for the king’s arrival.Violence peaked during Thursday’s ninth union-organized nationwide marches. Over 450 protesters were arrested in Paris and beyond, as demonstrations nationwide drew more than a million people. There were scattered protest actions on Friday. Train traffic was slowed, rows of trucks blocked access to Marseille’s port for several hours and debris littered the streets of Paris.Macron has made the proposed pension chan...

Canada-U.S. deal on migration will limit safe options for asylum seekers: advocates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

WASHINGTON — Immigration advocates say they are disappointed that Canada and the U.S. have agreed to restrict the flow of asylum seekers across their shared border.The deal to be announced today is described in U.S. documents as a “supplement” to the 2004 treaty known as the Safe Third Country Agreement. That treaty prevents asylum seekers from outside either country from crossing the Canada-U.S. border to make their claim — but until now, it only covered official points of entry. As of Saturday, the treaty will apply all along the nearly 9,000-kilometre border, including at popular unofficial crossings like Roxham Road in Quebec. Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, calls the new deal an “unfortunate development” for asylum seekers. Canada has also agreed to welcome an additional 15,000 migrants this year from across the Western Hemisphere as part of the new agreement. This report by The Canadian Press was ...

S&P/TSX composite down nearly 100 points, U.S. stock markets also retreat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was down nearly 100 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the energy stocks as the price of oil moved lower, while U.S. stock markets also retreated.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 95.14 points at 19,364.78.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 182.61 points at 31,922.64. The S&P 500 index was down 26.13 points at 3,922.59, while the Nasdaq composite was down 113.14 points at 11,674.26.The Canadian dollar traded for 72.54 cents US compared with 73.15 cents US on Thursday.The May crude contract was down US$1.76 at US$68.20 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was up four cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.The April gold contract was up US$1.80 at US$1,997.70 an ounce and the May copper contract was down six cents at US$4.06 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

A sex trafficking case, a plea deal and a mother’s pain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:41 GMT

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Irma Reyes changed clothes in the back seat of the pickup: skirt, tights, turtleneck, leather jacket. All black. She brushed her hair and pulled on heels as her husband drove their Chevy through predawn darkness toward a courthouse hundreds of miles from home.She wanted to look confident — poised but hellbent. The outfit was meant to let Texas prosecutors know just what kind of formidable mother they’d be crossing that morning.Weeks earlier, Reyes learned about the plea deal. State lawyers planned to let the two men charged with sex trafficking her daughter walk free.She’d barely been able to eat or brush her teeth since, her mind racing: Why are they doing this? Can I get the judge to stop it? Don’t they know my daughter matters?Reyes’ daughter was 16 in 2017, when men she knew only as “Rocky” and “Blue” kept her and another girl at a San Antonio motel where men paid to have sex with them. Now, the cases against Rakim Sharkey and Elijah Teel — the men polic...