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Brussels seeks EU budget top-up — but it’s a hard sell

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

BRUSSELS — The EU Commission will ask countries for tens of billions of euros to cover gaps in its long-term budget left by the unforeseen crises of COVID, inflation and war.But the EU executive is likely to hit stern opposition from national governments, as many are already having to make savings within their own budgets and are unwilling to pay up for anything other than Ukraine-related causes.“Clearly we are stretching the limits of what we can finance in the [Multiannual Financial Framework] as it stands,” EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said earlier this month, referring to the EU budget’s formal name.The Commission will on Tuesday unveil a mid-term review of the budget. It wants additional cash for a host of items including €50 billion in financial support for Ukraine, €15 billion for migration and neighbourhood policy, €10 billion for investments in key strategic sectors, some more money for running EU machinery and an as-yet-unspecified amount for repaying EU debt...

Why Berlin will slam the brakes on France’s car war with China

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

When it comes to fighting off China’s electric vehicle invasion, Europe’s carmaking superpowers are split straight along the Rhine.Germany’s big three automakers — Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz — see the prospect of antagonizing Beijing with an all-out trade war over clean cars as an unthinkable nightmare, while executives at their partially French state-owned rivals Renault and Stellantis have much to gain from pulling up the drawbridges and protecting domestic industry with tariffs. That’s the strategic calculation the European Commission’s trade defense team has to weigh up as it decides whether to declare war on China’s EVs.As POLITICO reported this month, the French government and its proxies in French industry and the EU College of Commissioners are pushing Brussels — which steers trade policy for the 27 member countries — to launch anti-dumping measures against insurgent Chinese e-carmakers. This means Europe would be able to impose duties against Chinese vehicles it reck...

What genocide? Volkswagen’s morally expensive bet on China

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

BERLIN — The blowback came in the form of cake.An annual meeting of Volkswagen shareholders in Berlin in May was disrupted by protesters, one of whom hurled the creamy confection at the assembled executives, forcing Chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch to flinch out of the way.Among the subjects of their ire: A car plant some 3,500 miles away in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where Beijing has carried out a campaign of mass detention, reeducation and forced labor that the United States has described as genocide of the Uyghur ethnic minority.One topless woman in the room waved a banner with the words “End Uyghur Forced Labor” before the protesters were escorted away. Outside, other activists held up signs saying “Camps, forced labor, family separations: VW major shareholders in Lower Saxony must not remain silent about crimes against Uyghurs.”Volkswagen denies it has ever utilized forced labor in Xinjiang. But it has been less willing to grapple with the broader accusation: that by maintaini...

Multiple bear sightings reported in Cohasset, elsewhere on South Shore

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

Multiple people in Cohasset recently experienced a bear scare as a black bear was spotted in town. One woman told 7NEWS she was shocked to find a bear on her porch. She said the bear was looking for food in her birdfeeder. Elsewhere, a family dog walked right up to a bear before his owner pulled him back.“I looked to the side out the window and a bear had decided to climb up on my porch,” said Jen Connell.“Just yesterday we were all sitting right outside right at that table by that bird feeder having a cookout for Father’s Day,” she said.The bear Connell saw is likely the same bear that has been making its way across the South Shore in recent days. Vincent Dunn was reading the paper outside his home in Cohasset on Monday when he said he realized his dog Lars was about to have a close encounter with the bear.“I yell to my wife and daughter…‘There’s a black bear in the yard,’” Dunn said.Dunn said he walked up to his dog, grabbed his collar and walked him away from...

Max Scherzer gives best performance as a Met in blowout victory over Astros

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

HOUSTON — A series that looked like a clash of the titans before the season started looked more like a race to the bottom by the time it began. The Mets came into Houston to face the defending World Series champion Astros this week having lost 11 of their last 14 games, but the Astros came in riding a similar streak, losing nine of their last 12.How the mighty have fallen.Still, the Astros can’t be discounted. So if this series is a litmus test of sorts, then the Mets have passed the first part. Behind a dominant performance by Max Scherzer, the Mets defeated the Astros, 11-1, on Monday at Minute Maid Park.Scherzer (6-2) held the Astros to only a single run — a solo shot by Yainer Diaz in the seventh inning — on four hits over eight innings. Before Diaz’s home run, Scherzer hadn’t allowed a runner past second base. He walked only one and struck out eight, lowering his ERA by 41 points to 4.04. It was his most efficient start of the year and the fi...

Man arrested in fatal stabbing at City Heights park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego police have launched a homicide investigation after a 65-year-old woman was attacked and fatally stabbed at a City Heights park Monday morning, authorities said.Around 8:30 a.m., the woman was approached by the suspect while she was exercising at a park in the 3600 block of Central Avenue. The suspect then stabbed her multiple times before fleeing south through the west alley of Central Avenue, according to SDPD Lt. Steve Shebloski. Police are asking the public's help in identified this man, who is the suspect in a fatal stabbing in a City Heights area Monday morning. (Courtesy of San Diego Police Department)The woman, who was identified as a resident of the neighborhood, was later pronounced dead on the scene after officers and medical personnel attempted live-saving measures.Around 5:30 p.m., the suspect, identified as 23-year-old Hamala Siliveinusi Patafalai, was arrested at his residence in the 3000 block of 39th Street, police said. Patafalai was arrested...

Tribal activists see ‘green colonialism’ in Nevada mine Biden hails as key to clean energy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

OROVADA, Nevada (AP) — Just 45 miles (72 kilometers) from the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation where Daranda Hinkey and her family corral horses and cows, a centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s clean energy plan is taking shape: construction of one of the largest lithium mines in the world.As heavy trucks dig up the earth in this remote, windswept region of Nevada to extract the silvery-white metal used in electric-vehicle batteries, the $2.2 billion project is fueling a backlash. “No Lithium. No mine!″ proclaims a large hand-painted sign in Hinkey’s front yard.The Biden administration says the project will help mitigate climate change by speeding the shift away from fossil fuels. But Hinkey and other opponents say it is not worth the costs to the local environment and people. Similar disputes are taking place around the world as governments and companies advancing renewable energy find themselves battling communities opposed to projects that threaten wildlife, groundwater an...

Texas Sen. Angela Paxton says she will ‘carry out my duties’ in husband’s impeachment trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton said Monday she will “carry out my duties” ahead of the historic impeachment trial of her husband, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, but did not outright say whether or not she will recuse herself on a vote to remove him from office. Breaking weeks of public silence since her husband was impeached in May, Angela Paxton did not address the accusations in a statement released by her office. Whether Paxton will cast a vote with her husband’s job on the line has raised ethical questions ahead of the looming trial in the Senate, which is set to begin no later than August. State law compels all senators to attend, but is silent on whether she must participate.“As a member of the Senate, I hold these obligations sacred and I will carry out my duties, not because it is easy, but because the Constitution demands it and because my constituents deserve it,” Paxton said.A spokesperson did not immediately respond Monday night when a...

4 injured after man wielding axe attacks diners at Chinese restaurants in New Zealand

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A man with an axe attacked random diners at three neighboring Chinese restaurants in New Zealand, wounding four people, police and witnesses said.Police said the man began the attack at about 9 p.m. Monday in the north Auckland suburb of Albany.Police arrested a 24-year-old suspect at the scene and charged him with wounding, with the intention of causing grievous bodily harm. The man, a Chinese national, made a brief court appearance Tuesday. Police did not immediately offer a motive for the attack but said they had no evidence it was racially motivated.Auckland City Hospital said Tuesday one patient from the attack remained there in stable condition. North Shore Hospital said it had one patient with moderate injuries and a second with minor injuries, both of whom were in stable condition, and had earlier discharged a third patient.A diner told the New Zealand Herald newspaper he was eating dinner with a friend when the man walked in and started attack...

Amber Alert issued for 7-year-old last seen in San Antonio

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:53 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Authorities have issued an Amber Alert for a 7-year-old girl last seen in San Antonio.The Texas Department of Public Safety sent an alert to cell phones Monday night saying law enforcement is looking for Amarianna Benavidez. She was last seen wearing a pink shirt and purple shorts with no shoes. She's 4-foot-3 and weighs 70 pounds, DPS said.A flyer released after the cell phone alert said she was last seen in the 5800 block of NW Loop 410 at 1:26 p.m. Monday. Law enforcement believes Benavidez is "in grave or immediate danger." No information about a suspect or possible vehicle she could be traveling in was released Monday.We will update this story once DPS releases more details. If you see her, call the San Antonio Police Department at 210-207-7660.