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Schmemann: Why Oslo peace accords still have relevance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

A few days after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on Nov. 4, 1995, I remember an Israeli acquaintance telling me that however terrible the circumstances of his death, it had established Rabin as a martyr for peace. As a result, the Oslo peace process he had begun, named after the city where it was secretly hatched, had become irreversible.It certainly seemed that way at the time. I had just arrived as a correspondent in Israel, and an aura of hope still hung over the pair of agreements signed in 1993 and 1995, which granted the Palestinians a degree of self-government and, more important, started a peace process meant to reach a permanent settlement within five years. The handshake on the White House lawn in 1993 between Rabin, a gruff, chain-smoking warrior-politician who had led Israel in great military victories, and his archenemy, Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization who had dedicated much of his previous life to “uprooting the Zionist ...

Krugman: Holding national security hostage to help tax cheats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

Historians of propaganda are familiar with the concept of the Big Lie, a claim so extreme that many people end up accepting it because they can’t believe that authority figures would make up something so at odds with reality.It often seems to me that we need a term to describe a somewhat similar phenomenon in policy debates, which we might call the Big Grift. What I mean are policy proposals so corrupt, so obviously designed to benefit an undeserving few at everyone else’s expense, that many voters balk at the notion that seemingly respectable politicians actually advocate such things.A case in point is the current demand by House Republicans that funding for Israel in this moment of crisis be tied to budget cuts that would undermine the ability of the Internal Revenue Service to crack down on wealthy tax cheats. This should be a major scandal, but my suspicion is that many voters just won’t accept the idea that GOP leaders would do something so cartoonishly villainous.Some history:...

Kremlin sacked TASS chief over coverage of Wagner mutiny: Report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

The Kremlin fired the head of TASS last summer in punishment for the Russian state-run news agency’s coverage of the Wagner mercenary group’s aborted mutiny, the Moscow Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation.Sergei Mikhailov was dismissed as general director of TASS in early July, 10 days after Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin staged an attempted coup against Russian military leaders. Mikhailov was fired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, who called it a voluntary resignation, the newspaper said. Chernyshenko announced the appointment of a new general director chosen by the Kremlin: Andrei Kondrashov from state-run VGTRK and a former election spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.The Kremlin, which keeps tight control on state and private media, was unhappy with what it saw as an insufficient level of pro-Kremlin coverage by TASS, the Moscow Times reported, citing sources at TASS and in the Russian government. TASS was the fi...

Von der Leyen applauds Kyiv’s ‘excellent progress’ ahead of EU enlargement decision

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

KYIV — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine has made “excellent progress” on the conditions for future EU accession, days ahead of a key report on Kyiv’s aspirations.“I must say, you have made excellent progress, it is impressive to see,” von der Leyen said in Kyiv on Saturday, standing next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We will testify to this next when the Commission will present its report on enlargement.”Ukraine has “reached many milestones,” Von der Leyen added. “This is the result of hard work.”Von der Leyen also said Ukraine is in the process of completing even more reforms. “If this happens, and I am confident, [then] Ukraine can reach its ambitious goal of moving to the next stage of the accession process,” she said.The Commission on Wednesday is set to publish its progress report on how well Ukraine and other aspiring countries are doing in meeting the bloc’s economic, legal and other condi...

Police investigating shooting in Brockton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

Brockton police are investigating a shooting on Friday that left a man hospitalized, police said.Officers patrolling the area of the School Street Bridge found the victim around 9:30 p.m., according to Brockton police. He was taken to a nearby hospital with what were considered non-life-threatening injuries.No additional information was immediately available.Anyone with information is asked to call Brockton police at 508-941-0200.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Richard Adam ‘Dick’ Bielski, Baltimore Colts place-kicker and coach, dies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

Richard Adam “Dick” Bielski, a Baltimore Colts place-kicker who later became a team coach, died of cancer Oct. 15 at his Ruxton home. He was 91.“He grew up in East Baltimore during the 1940s, a chunky Polish kid who used to bound down the marble steps of his family’s home on Madeira Street and race the half-block to Patterson Park to play pickup football games until dark,” The Sun wrote about him in 2014. “If I was there alone, I’d take the ball, kick and chase after it,” Mr. Bielski told the paper.He was the son of Adam Bielski, a stevedore, and Stella Kuchtaik, a homemaker.Mr. Bielski starred at was then called Patterson Park High School and went on to the University of Maryland. He was a first-round draft pick in the NFL.“Irv Biasi [Patterson Park’s then coach] stopped me in the hallway one day and said, ‘How come you’re not out for football?’” Mr Bielski said in 2014. “I told him I worked a...

Offshore wind projects face economic storm. Cancellations jeopardize Biden clean energy goals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The cancellation of two large offshore wind projects in New Jersey is the latest in a series of setbacks for the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry, jeopardizing the Biden administration’s goals of powering 10 million homes from towering ocean-based turbines by 2030 and establishing a carbon-free electric grid five years later.The Danish wind energy developer Ørsted said this week it’s scrapping its Ocean Wind I and II projects off southern New Jersey due to problems with supply chains, higher interest rates and a failure to obtain the amount of tax credits the company wanted. Together, the projects were supposed to deliver over 2.2 gigawatts of power.The news comes after developers in New England canceled power contacts for three projects that would have provided another 3.2 gigawatts of wind power to Massachusetts and Connecticut. They said their projects were no longer financially feasible.In total, the cancellations equate to nearly one-fifth of President Joe ...

Japan’s prime minister tours Philippine patrol ship and boosts alliances amid maritime tensions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Japan’s prime minister boarded a Philippine patrol ship on Saturday in a symbolic show of support as Tokyo shores up regional alliances to counter China’s assertiveness in maritime disputes with its neighbors. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to the Japanese-built BRP Teresa Magbanua, which was docked at the Manila harbor, capped his two-day visit to Manila. He held talks with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday to strengthen defense ties amid their countries’ shared concern over China’s behavior. “I truly hope that this will lead to regional peace and prosperity as well as a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Keshida told top Philippine government and coast guard officials aboard the Magbanua, one of the two biggest patrol ships of Manila’s underfunded coast guard.Japan has provided a dozen patrol ships to the Philippines in recent years, including the 97-meter (318-foot) -long Magbanua. Manila’s coast guard largely uses the ships for sover...

Biden spent weeks of auto strike talks building ties to UAW leader that have yet to fully pay off

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden called the head of the United Auto Workers union to congratulate him this past week on getting a new contract with General Motors and to wish him a happy 55th birthday — a sign of how the relationship had evolved since their first get-to-know-you meeting in the Oval Office on July 19.UAW President Shawn Fain launched the strike against GM, Ford and Chrysler-owner Stellantis with a willingness to force political leaders to choose between backing unions or corporations. Biden had long straddled this line. He proclaimed in speeches that unions built the middle class, but he also heralded his credentials as a former senator from the “corporate capital of the world,” also known as Delaware.The White House was determined to build trust with Fain and look past his occasional slights of Biden. That approach, which included Biden meeting with workers on the picket line in Michigan, helped to resolve the nearly 45-day set of strikes and produc...

3 men found shot dead in Brighton Park overnight: CPD

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:50 GMT

CHICAGO -- Three men were found shot dead in the Brighton Park neighborhood overnight. Police responded to fired shots near the 3100 block of West 39th Place where they found a red dodge SUV occupied by two men who were unresponsive. One victim who seemed to be between the ages of 20 to 30 was found with a gunshot wound to the head and pronounced dead on the scene. Another victim was found with multiple gunshot wound to the body and was pronounced dead on the scene. 10-year-old hospitalized after South Side shooting A third victim, a 19-year-old, was found near the vehicle with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. He was also pronounced dead on the scene. Investigators went through the vehicle and alley looking for evidence, relatives of the victims came to the scene and told officers two of the young men were best friends who had known each other since childhood. Identities of the victims have not been released yet and circumstances that led up to the shooting are still uncl...