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Three areas of reform to achieve growth in the EU

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

What Kevin Youkilis wants you to know about being Jewish and anti-Semitism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

Kevin Youkilis never sought the spotlight.The three-time All-Star won two World Series during his 10-year MLB career, but he’s always tried to be a team player.“I’m not an attention guy,” he told the Herald. “I think most people know that I don’t seek it. Like, I do the (Red Sox) broadcast because I love baseball, but I don’t really crave the attention or all that stuff.”But over the past two, he’s stepped into the spotlight he never sought to support Israel and condemn anti-Semitism. On Oct. 7, terrorist organization Hamas invaded Israel. They entered towns, Kibbutzim (egalitarian communes, often agriculture-focused), and a desert music festival near Gaza, the territory they’ve governed ever since 2006, assaulting and slaughtering over 1,300 civilians, mostly Israelis, but also citizens from over a dozen countries. Hamas also took over 200 hostages.For the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War – the 50th anniversary marked just the day before – Israel declared an official state ...

Malaysia gives nod for Australian miner Lynas to import, process rare earths until March 2026

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government said Tuesday it will allow Lynas Rare Earth to continue to import and process rare earths until March 2026, after the Australian miner proposed a new technology to extract radioactive elements from the waste it produces.The Lynas refinery in Malaysia, its first outside China producing minerals that are crucial to high-tech manufacturing, has been operating in central Pahang state since 2012. But the company has been embroiled in a dispute over radiation from waste accumulating at the plant.The government had ordered Lynas to move its leaching and cracking processes — which produce the radioactive waste from Australian ore — out of the country by the year’s end. It also was not allowed to import raw materials with radioactive elements into the country.Science Minister Chang Lih Kang said the two conditions for renewing Lynas’ license had been met after the company proposed a way to extract thorium, the radioactive ...

Women in Iceland including the prime minister go on strike for equal pay and an end to violence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland’s prime minister and women across the volcanic island nation went on strike Tuesday to push for an end to unequal pay and gender-based violence.Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said she would stay home as part of the “women’s day off,” and expected other women in her Cabinet would do the same.“We have not yet reached our goals of full gender equality and we are still tackling the gender-based wage gap, which is unacceptable in 2023,” she told news website mbl.is. “We are still tackling gender-based violence, which has been a priority for my government to tackle.”Organizers called on women and nonbinary people to refuse both paid and unpaid work, including household chores, during the one-day strike.Schools and the health system, which have female-dominated workforces, said they would be heavily affected by the walkout. National broadcaster RUV said it was reducing television and radio broadcasts for the day.Tuesday’s walkout is being billed ...

In the news today: Israel increases strikes on Gaza ahead of expected ground invasion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Israel increases strikes on Gaza, as two more hostages are freedIsrael has escalated its bombardment of targets in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground invasion against Hamas militants. The stepped-up attacks, and the rapidly rising death toll in Gaza, came as Hamas released two elderly Israeli women who were among the hundreds of hostages it captured during its devastating attacks on towns in southern Israel earlier this month.The fighting started when Hamas militants rampaged through Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people and taking hundreds hostage. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says since then, more than 5,000 Palestinians, including some 2,000 minors and around 1,100 women, have been killed. —Here’s what else we’re watching …Grocers called back to Parliament over pricesA House of Commons committee is asking the heads of...

Inquiry into New Zealand’s worst mass shooting will examine response times of police and medics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — An inquiry that began Tuesday into New Zealand’s worst mass-shooting will examine — among other issues — the response times of police and medics and whether any of the 51 people who were killed could have been saved.The coroner-led inquiry comes more than four years after a white supremacist opened fire at two Christchurch mosques during Friday prayers.The inquiry represents the first time authorities will outline the details of how they responded to the March 2019 shooting. Dozens of survivors and family members attended court on Tuesday, and many wept as they watched a video tribute to those who died.After the attack, New Zealand lawmakers moved quickly to change gun laws, banning assault weapons and buying back more than 50,000 guns. The Australian gunman, Brenton Tarrant, in 2020 pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Cor...

Grocers called back to Parliament to testify about plans to stabilize prices

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

OTTAWA — A House of Commons committee is asking the heads of Canada’s major grocery chains to explain their plans to stabilize food prices.  The committee passed an NDP motion on Thursday to invite the grocery executives, and summon them if necessary, to testify about the measures their companies are taking to address food inflation.This comes after Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced the companies have presented plans to the government to tackle rising prices, which he says include discounts, price freezes and price-matching campaigns. However, most grocers have not confirmed details of these plans and Champagne recently said he wished they would be more forthcoming with the public on their commitments. The parliamentary committee is asking the grocers to submit their plans by Nov. 2.It is also inviting Champagne and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to appear before committee to answer questions.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. ...

Unifor set to bargain for more than 2,800 workers at Loblaw-owned stores

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

TORONTO — Unifor is set to bargain on behalf of more than 2,800 grocery store workers at Loblaw-owned stores in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, testing whether the union can bring the gains it made for Toronto Metro workers to other grocery chains. More than 3,700 Metro workers in Greater Toronto went on strike this summer after rejecting their first tentative deal. They accepted an agreement more than a month later that the union called historic. Unifor has made it clear it intends to try and replicate those wins for other grocery workers it represents.A pair of agreements representing around 2,850 workers at multiple Ontario No Frills stores and multiple Newfoundland and Labrador Dominion stores expire this month. York University associate professor of labour geography Steven Tufts says it can be difficult to establish a bargaining pattern in the grocery sector, which is fragmented and includes many different chains from discount to high-end. Despite the challenges, he thin...

Macklem warned premiers about dangers of putting BoC’s independence at risk

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

OTTAWA — Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem warned premiers who publicly asked the central bank to not raise interest rates last month that their requests could undermine the institution’s independence. The premiers of Ontario, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador wrote to Macklem ahead of the Bank of Canada’s Sept. 6 rate decision, outlining concerns about the effects of higher rates on their residents and asking the central bank not to raise its key rate further.In a Sept. 13 letter, Macklem warned that instructions or requests from elected officials could give the impression that the Bank of Canada’s independence is at risk.The response was dated one week after the central bank governing council opted to hold its rate steady. Though Macklem acknowledged that higher interest rates are making life challenging for Canadians, he also noted that inflation, which higher interest rates are intended to combat, hurts the most vulnerable people in society. The...

Cyprus police say they have dismantled the third people smuggling ring in as many months

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:34:59 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Police in Cyprus said Tuesday they had arrested 10 Syrian men in an operation that has dismantled the third people smuggling ring bringing migrants to the east Mediterranean island nation in as many months.The operation centered in the southwestern district of Paphos, where a combined force of 130 officers carried out 17 search warrants, arresting 10 suspects while five more are being sought, police spokesman Christos Andreou told The Associated Press. Some 160,000 euros ($170,897) were found in the possession of one of the suspects.Police said the ring operated since June 2019. The suspects face charges including conspiracy, participation in a criminal organization and people smuggling.The latest arrests brings to 22 the number of people suspected of being part of smuggling rings.According to police, 7,914 migrants illegally reached Cyprus from the beginning of the year until mid-October, while 8,694 where either deported, voluntarily left or relocated to oth...