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Do French trade unions still hold sway over the street?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

French trades unions have fought President Emmanuel Macron to a near standstill on pension reform. They have disrupted the country for more than two months. After a long standoff, trade union leaders are meeting Macron’s chief lieutenant Elisabeth Borne today to discuss the pensions affair.The union leaders enjoy popularity ratings that politicians — both government and opposition — can only dream about. The French unions appear strong, popular and united — for now. They brought out protesting crowds of over 1 million nationwide on three occasions since mid-January. And yet the ferocity of their opposition to a relatively modest reform can be explained partly by their fundamental weakness.Unions are a French paradox — one of many. In Germany or the Netherlands, or even in Britain, the unions have more members and fewer internal divisions. They are more willing to consider arguments about long-term prosperity and the stability of the welfare system. In France, the unions are s...

A wartime NATO struggles to replace its chief

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

It’s the rumor inflating the Brussels bubble: The EU’s top executive, Ursula von der Leyen, could be crossing town to run NATO. The rationale makes sense. She has a good working relationship with Washington. She is a former defense minister. And as European Commission president, she has experience working with most NATO heads of government. Plus, if chosen, she would become the alliance’s first-ever female leader. The conversation has crested in recent weeks, as people eye current NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s pending exit at the end of September.Yet according to those inside NATO and at the Commission, the murmurings are more wish-casting than hints of a pending job switch. There is no evidence von der Leyen is interested in the role, and those in Brussels don’t expect her to quit before her first presidential term ends in 2024.The chatter is similar to the rumblings around Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a long-serving leader who checks every box but in...

Japanese FM: It’s time to deepen cooperation

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

Yoshimasa Hayashi is the minister for foreign affairs of Japan.The security of Europe and that of the Indo-Pacific region can no longer be discussed separately — that was my main message when I attended the NATO ministerial meeting last year for the first time as Japanese foreign minister.Today’s complex and severe international security environment requires like-minded partners to intensify cooperation. This perception is widely shared among NATO members and partner countries, and cooperation has remarkably deepened throughout the past year.NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited Japan this January, where we shared views on the security environment in the Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed the need for like-minded countries to take united action — this includes our response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the most deplorable example of a unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force. We also discussed the future of Japan-NATO cooperation, and expressed our strong de...

UK MPs are again pushing to tighten rules around backbench groups

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

LONDON — The British parliament’s controversial backbench groups have been back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Now some MPs want to tighten the rules that govern them.A new report from the U.K. parliament’s Committee on Standards has probed the membership and financial affairs of so-called All-Party Parliamentary Groups, and is now recommending a cap on the number of backbench groups in which an MP can hold an role, and a ban on secretariats which are “either provided or funded by a foreign government.” The groups are subject to less stringent rules than the House of Commons’ better-known select committees, but are still able to use parliamentary premises for their meetingsNew proposals include mandatory annual reports for groups that receive over £1,500 a year, while MPs will be banned from acting as an officer for more than six APPGs at once. The plan for toughening the rules comes almost a year after a previous report identified improper ...

The politics of poo: How sewage-strewn beaches became Britain’s new election battleground

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

LONDON — British politics has long been seen as a shitshow. It’s taken on a more literal meaning of late.Rishi Sunak’s government is scrambling to manage rising public anger over the dumping of untreated sewage into Britain’s rivers and oceans by privately-owned water firms. The unpalatable results are often visible to the naked eye, enraging locals and holidaymakers and rendering once-proud British beaches unusable for days at a time.Under mounting pressure — three separate national newspapers now have “clean water” campaigns running — Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey pushed out a raft of measures Tuesday aimed at improving water quality, including the threat of unlimited fines for water companies that break the rules. The announcement — the government’s second such action plan in seven months — is unlikely to quell public discontent. Britain’s waterways have become the focus of toxic claims and counter-claims since a viral social media campaign two...

Same trip, different plans: EU’s von der Leyen dances around Macron in China

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

Ursula von der Leyen’s plate-spinning in China is going to be tricky.As the European Commission president heads to China this week, she’ll need extra room for all the agendas she’s carrying: The differing views of the 27 countries she represents, constant background pressure from the U.S. — and a French president traveling alongside her, but not fully in conjunction with her. The result will be a delicate diplomatic dance playing out over the next three days, as von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron seek to present a united European face despite differing plans while on the ground. Commission officials have stressed that von der Leyen is pursuing an entirely different program than the French president, who is visiting regional parts of China and bringing a large delegation of business leaders with him.Instead, they will share just one formal meeting — the three-way pow-wow with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday. Von der Leyen will also conduct her own m...

Ji Hwan Bae’s 1st career homer helps Pirates top Red Sox 4-1

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Ji Hwan Bae hit his first career homer, Bryan Reynolds went deep for the third time in two games, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 on Tuesday night.Roansy Contreras (1-0) held the Red Sox to three hits over 5 2/3 innings. He retired 13 straight after giving up a run in the first. David Bednar got the final three outs for his third save.Reynolds’ drive off Nick Pivetta (0-1) went into Boston’s bullpen and made it 3-1 in the third. He added an RBI single in the seventh.The Red Sox, who scored at least six runs in each of their first four games, managed just one on Masataka Yoshida’s first-inning groundout.Canaan Smith-Njigba reached on McGuire’s passed ball following his swinging strikeout with two outs in the second. Bae then hit Pivetta’s 95-mph fastball barely over the Green Monster.Pivetta gave up three runs, one earned, with six strikeouts in five innings.Bae, who started at second base and moved to center in the eighth, robbe...

Team makes emergency repairs after Falmouth osprey nest platform falls due to wind, rotted boards

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

An nest platform for the rare osprey bird at Waquoit Bay Reserve in Falmouth was recently rebuilt after high winds and rotted boards destroyed the platform over the weekend. The platform fell away around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Friends of Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge. A team soon worked together to reassemble the structure. “We are so grateful to everyone who played a role in the effort,” the Friends of the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge said in a statement. “The platform was quickly replaced, and the ospreys, who had been soaring overhead the whole time, seem happiest of all.”“It was an amazing response by dedicated people determined to not let a fallen nest stand in the way of a successful nesting season,” the organization continued.Video from the Friends of the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge showed the platform falling while an osprey was standing on it. The bird can be seen flying away and later returning to the area. The video later showed wor...

Seals show off painting skills through new experience available at New England Aquarium

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

Some of the seals at the New England Aquarium are showing off some of their talents through a new experience available for aquarium guests. The experience offers guests the opportunity to join trainers for what the aquarium describes on its website as “an exclusive inside-the-exhibit visit and art-making session” with Atlantic harbor seals. Guests participating in the experience will ultimately receive a painting made by a seal. 7NEWS got a look at how the experience works, meeting Chacoda, a seal also known as “Chuck.”Seal trainer and curator Patty Leonard said, by getting Chuck to focus on tasks using rewards like his favorite fish, he can do much more than some might expect. “They know anywhere from fifty to a hundred behaviors, and panting is just one of the many that we love to show off to our guests because it shows off the intelligence of the animals and its really interesting to watch the animals create their own designs as well,” Leonard said. Harbor seals are some of ...

Nets lose to Timberwolves, fail to clinch playoffs while clinging to one-game lead for 6th spot

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:49 GMT

Oh so close, but no cigar.The Nets had an opportunity to cement a playoff spot with a victory in their matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.They instead lost in a nail-biter, 107-102, and must fight for their playoff lives another day.The Nets entered Tuesday night in control of their own destiny: Two straight wins would have guaranteed a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference, helping steer the Nets away from the sudden-death Play-In Tournament.The seventh-seeded Miami Heat compounded matters by beating the Detroit Pistons, 118-105, on Tuesday. The Heat now trail the Nets by only one in the Eastern Conference standings. Both teams only have three games left on their schedules.And be sure to check the NBA’s Last Two Minutes Report on Wednesday, because Spencer Dinwiddie — who had strung together an excellent scoring night — was robbed of a foul call on the game’s final possession.The Nets trailed 105-102 with just seconds remaining in the fou...