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Backlash builds against Macron over Depardieu support

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing mounting backlash for showing support for film star Gérard Depardieu, who is accused of sexual assault and sexism.Former French President François Hollande on Thursday criticized Macron’s recent statements to the France 5 TV channel, in which he praised Depardieu’s contribution to filmmaking.“It was expected of the President of the Republic to talk about women, and not simply to say that Gérard Depardieu was a great actor,” Hollande told French radio France Inter. “He has made this cause the big deal of his five-year term and this is how he is dealing with the issue of Gérard Depardieu.”On Wednesday, Macron said he was a “great admirer” of Depardieu, a “great actor” who makes France “proud.” He also said he didn’t want Depardieu stripped of his Légion d’Honneur (Legion of Honor), the country’s highest order of merit.But his comments sparked ire in France.Depardieu was charged with rape in 2020...

From pastina pasta to Sierra Mist, here are 8 food and drinks we lost in 2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

New York (CNN) — You might’ve indulged in some of the final bites and slurps of your favorite food and drinks without even realizing it.2023 marked the end of McDonald’s baked goods (thankfully, we have new treats at CosMc’s to anticipate), the final batch of a historic craft beer and a Girl Scouts cookie that was one year old, among other fan-favorite foods that are now in the garbage heap of history.Restaurants and food manufacturers are constantly evaluating what’s selling and what’s not, so it’s not a surprise that these items are disappearing. But it doesn’t make their losses any easier for fans.Here are some culinary creations that left us this year.Aha seltzer waterCoca-Cola’s attempt to make a La Croix competitor fizzled out less than three years after its debut. Aha, a lineup of flavored seltzer waters (some with a splash of caffeine) rolled out in 2020 amid the pandemic and never gained traction with consumers.Coke announced in October that th...

Texas’ new immigration law sows confusion and uncertainty along the border

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

(CNN) — A new law that makes entering Texas illegally a state crime is sowing confusion and uncertainty among undocumented migrants and mixed status families along the US-Mexico border, according to immigration advocates.Many of those advocates tell CNN they fear a wave of racial profiling as well as detentions and attempted deportations by state authorities when the law is expected to take effect in March.“There are a lot of unknowns about how this law will be implemented,” Houston immigration attorney Roberto Quijano said a recent town hall meeting about the law.Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure, Senate Bill 4, into law on Monday, granting local law enforcement the power to arrest migrants and judges the ability to issue orders to remove them to Mexico, in a state where Latinos represent 40% of the population. “We have a lot of concerns about racial profiling and racism,” Ramona Casas...

Top US and Chinese military officials speak for the first time in over a year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

(CNN) — The top US and Chinese generals spoke on Thursday for the first time in over a year, marking the end of a strained silence between senior US and Chinese military officials that had deeply concerned the Pentagon.Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., had a video conference call with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, Joint Staff spokesperson Capt. Jereal Dorsey said.Brown spoke with the People’s Liberation Army of China Chief of the Joint Staff Department Gen. Liu Zhenli, also marking the first time the two have talked since Brown became chairman.“Gen. Brown discussed the importance of working together to responsibly manage competition, avoid miscalculations, and maintain open and direct lines of communication,” Dorsey said. “Gen. Brown reiterated the importance of the People’s Liberation Army engaging in substantive dialogue to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings.”

Can an improving Chicago Bears defense provide an emphatic finish to the season? 12 numbers and nuggets for Week 16.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

The Chicago Bears are headed for a Christmas Eve date with the Arizona Cardinals, looking to rebound after blowing a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns. The Bears’ status as “in the hunt” in the NFC playoff chase was promptly revoked after that collapse.Now they must manufacture new motivation and energy to finish out another losing season. The Cardinals (3-11) are one of three teams worse than the Bears in the conference. That creates an opening this weekend for Matt Eberflus’ team to get back on track. To help set the stage, here are a dozen eye-catching numbers and nuggets.24-23Score of the Bears’ 2006 victory against the Cardinals on “Monday Night Football” in the now-iconic “The Bears are who we thought they were” game. The Bears trailed 23-3 late in the third quarter but somehow rallied to win without scoring an offensive touchdown. On a night during which quarterback Rex Grossman th...

Callahan: How much of this Patriots season can be blamed on injuries?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

FOXBORO — Let’s leave the dead horses be.The Patriots are a bad team playing out a lost season. So are a half-dozen other teams.Bill Belichick’s future is uncertain. Whose isn’t?But what of the past, and what could have been?After last weekend’s loss, Belichick admitted losing three starters to injury factored into the offense’s decision to turtle in the final minutes against Kansas City.“I would say we didn’t feel like we were able to do probably what we should have done in that situation,” he said.So were it not for Hunter Henry, Cole Strange and Conor McDermott going down, how would the Pats have played? Stepping back, might that question apply to the entire season?Belichick could – and maybe will in his end-of-year meeting with Robert Kraft – try to pin the Patriots’ season on poor injury luck. Their offense and defense have both been devastated by injury. It feels like a hard sell, but let’s play it out.The Patri...

Scooter service Bird Global steers into bankruptcy protection

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Electric scooter company Bird Global announced Wednesday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection in an attempt to stabilize its wobbly finances.The move marks a sobering comedown for a formerly high-flying startup that was trying to make it easier to get around big cities in an environmentally friendly way with its fleet of electric scooters. The concept attracted about $500 million in investments from prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners before becoming a publicly traded company in 2021.Now, the Miami-based company finds itself struggling to survive after losing more than $430 million since the end of 2021.Bird has lined up $25 million in financing from MidCap Financial, a division of Apollo Global Management, as it tries to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Florida.Michael Washinushi, Bird's interim CEO, predicted the company will be able to bounce back and continue its “mission to make cities ...

Crescent Point Energy completes deal to buy Hammerhead Energy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

CALGARY — Crescent Point Energy Corp. says it expects average production of 198,000 to 206,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2024 now that it has closed its deal to buy Hammerhead Energy Inc. The guidance includes development capital expenditures of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion for the year.The company says it plans to spend 45 per cent of its 2024 budget in Alberta’s Montney region where it expects average annual production of 97,000 boe/d. Thirty-five per cent of the budget will go to the Kaybob Duvernay region where production is expected to average 50,000 boe/d.Crescent Point says it plans to spend the remaining 20 per cent of its 2024 budget on its assets in Saskatchewan, which are expected to generate annual average production of 55,000 boe/d.The company announced a deal in November to buy Hammerhead Energy and its assets in the Montney region of northwest Alberta for a total of $2.55 billion, including approximately $455 million of Hammerhead’s net debt. Th...

Spain’s leader lauds mended relations with Catalonia. Separatists say it’s time to vote on secession

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Barcelona on Thursday in an effort to show that his pledge to push through an amnesty for Catalonia’s separatists was paying dividends with the leaders of the politically restive region.After meeting with Catalan regional president, Pere Aragonès, in the medieval palace housing Catalonia’s government, the two emerged with a handful of deals that Sánchez said would “affect the daily lives of Catalans.”Sánchez has been harshly criticized by Spain’s conservative opposition for his decision to grant an amnesty that, once it is passed by Parliament next year, would sweep away the legal troubles of potentially hundreds of people involved in Catalonia’s unsuccessful 2017 independence bid.That amnesty deal was critical to Sánchez winning the parliamentary support of Catalan separatists parties that he needed to form a new government last month, following inconclusive national elections in July.Sánchez underscored on Thursd...

Philadelphia news helicopter crew filmed Christmas lights in New Jersey before fatal crash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:15:04 GMT

The crew of a Philadelphia television news helicopter had filmed a Christmas lights display before crashing into the forest in southern New Jersey, an investigator said Thursday.Todd Gunther, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters near the crash site that WPVI’s Chopper 6 took off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport Tuesday night and “had flown over to report on some Christmas light activity, and then they were returning back to base when the accident occurred.”He did not specify the precise location the crew was filming, but the station previously reported the crew had been sent to a story assignment in Galloway Township, just outside Atlantic City.One of the main attractions in Galloway is Historic Smithville, a tourist attraction that in winter includes a lavish holiday light display with over 120 Christmas trees decorated with more than 50,000 lights on a lake.The federal agency, which investigates fatal accidents involving transporta...