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World’s fractured financial leaders grasp for unity

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

One big theme has hung over this week’s meetings in Washington of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank: The global economy is coming apart at the seams and needs to be sewn back up.Financial officials have conveyed dire warnings about growing dislocations in trade and cooperation. Russia’s war in Ukraine has caused a huge disruption in global commerce. U.S.-China tensions are on the rise, as are U.S.-EU squabbles over clean energy industries.“I believe it is no exaggeration to say that almost three decades after the creation of the [World Trade Organization] the rules-based trading system is at a crossroads,” WTO Deputy Director-General Anabel Gonzalez said.It underscores why the mood around the global gathering has been described as “chaotic,” “disjointed,” and “kind of depressing.” The IMF said the outlook for the global economy is “anemic,” even as economic officials like U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tried to project greater optimism.Fren...

Lucas: Biden looks weak to the world

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

You know you’re in trouble when both former Joe Biden sycophants Stephen Colbert and Emmanuel Macron dump on you in the same week.Colbert, the frequently unfunny late-night show comedian and French President Emmanuel Macron, a Charles De Gaulle wannabe, both turned on Biden, a president they both once admired at the same time.Colbert mocked Biden, 80, for his gaffe-laden comments to NBC’s “Today” show host Al Roker during the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll.After Roker asked if he planned to run for re-election, Biden stumbled around and then said, “I’ll either be rolling an egg or end up being the guy who’s pushing them out” — whatever that means.Colbert then joked about Biden being “mentally fit” to run again.It may have been funny, but Roker got more out of Biden than the reporters who cover the White House. Biden does not hold press conferences.The Macron break with Biden over Taiwan and America’s role in Europe was much more serious.Following a Beijing meeting with C...

Battenfeld: Hard questions for Biden on the accused Massachusetts Guardsman leaker

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

Another humiliation on the international stage for America and the Biden administration.Related ArticlesOpinion Columnists | Top Secret leak: Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged [+See 8-page FBI affidavit] And the real tough questions surrounding this leak of top secret documents are not for the 21-year-old accused gamer – but Joe Biden and the Pentagon.Like, how did a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman stationed at Otis Air base get top secret clearance since he was 20 years old?How did the classified documents – which included plans for the war in Ukraine – end up with the accused leaker, Jack Teixeira of Dighton?Has our intelligence been breached by a foreign enemy?Did Teixeira act alone or did he have help?Why weren’t the leaks detected earlier?How much damage has he done to American intelligence and our allies?How can prosecutors go after Donald Trump for having classified documents when you have this going on and top secret documents found next...

ASK IRA: Could Heat’s Strus go from Friday star to Sunday sub?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

Q: Ira, you told us a lineup switch was coming Friday. It didn’t. But how are they going to play this lineup against the Bucks? – Elliott.A: If you’re asking me if Max Strus is going to defend Giannis Antetokounmpo, I can’t see that. And, of course, I can’t see him defending Brook Lopez, either. The Heat survived smallball against the Bulls, because Chicago did not start a true power forward. But this is real, and I doubt Max’s shooting on one end would compensate for what the Bucks’ length could/would do on the other. So, again it would seem as if Caleb Martin would make starting sense. Or perhaps open with Kevin Love on Lopez and Bam Adebayo on Giannis. The problem with Bam or Jimmy Butler on Giannis from the outset is foul trouble that the Heat cannot afford with either.Q: Ira, I don’t mind the play-in, but shouldn’t there be a cutoff of at least being a .500 team? – Marshall.A: Initially, there was a requirement regardi...

After Massachusetts Guardsman Jack Teixeira allegedly leaked Pentagon documents, military expert calls it ‘a failure by leadership’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

After a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman IT specialist allegedly leaked highly classified Pentagon documents and was arrested at his North Dighton home this week, military experts are questioning how this could happen, with one calling it “a failure by leadership.”Jack Teixeira, who has been stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, is accused of publicly posting top secret government documents on the war in Ukraine and other highly sensitive matters. He was arraigned on federal charges in Boston’s U.S. District Court on Friday.As a “cyber defense operations journeyman,” Teixeira has held a top secret security clearance since 2021. For this, he had to a sign a lifetime binding non-disclosure agreement, acknowledging that disseminating protected information could result in criminal charges.“He took advantage of his position, copying that highly classified information and then subsequently photographing it and posting it...

Boston Marathon requires 9,000 volunteers to run, turns away hundreds each year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

On Monday, runners from all over the world will descend on Hopkinton to begin the 26.2-mile trek toward Boylston Street where they will cross the finish line of the 127th Boston Marathon.Along that route, scattered among the hundreds of thousands who gather to cheer and support the athletes attempting the race, will be thousands of race volunteers, coming from at least 44 states and 19 countries, who donate their days and hours to ensure the renowned endurance test goes off without a hitch.Putting together a race that stretches more than two dozen miles through multiple municipalities requires some serious work, according to the Boston Athletic Association. In total about 9,000 people will be needed both on and before race day, including 1,900 medical personnel and an undisclosed but substantial number of law enforcement and security staff, according to a BAA spokesman.Most volunteers work eight-hour shifts, the spokesman said, and over two-thirds are returning to volunteer for at l...

10 Years later: A Red Sox oral history of the Boston Marathon bombing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

On April 15, 2013, the city of Boston changed forever.That was the Marathon Monday when two brothers detonated pressure cooker bombs full of shrapnel by the finish line on Boylston Street, killing three and injuring hundreds.For the Red Sox, who play a special mid-morning game each Marathon Monday, the events of the week galvanized the team, and became forever embedded in the DNA of the franchise.Ten years later, the Boston Herald spoke with five members of the organization about their recollections of that week, from Marathon Monday through the first game back the following Saturday. Here’s Sam Kennedy (team president, CEO), Dr. Charles Steinberg (former executive vice president, current Triple-A WooSox president), Brian O’Halloran (then-assistant general manager, current GM), Tom Caron (NESN sportscaster), and Will Middlebrooks (2013 third baseman, NESN analyst), in their own words:Marathon Monday(Marathon Monday fell on Jackie Robinson Day that year, so the Red Sox were wearing t...

Sudan’s army and rival force clash, wider conflict feared

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Fierce clashes between Sudan’s military and the country’s powerful paramilitary force erupted Saturday in the capital and elsewhere in the African nation, raising fears of a wider conflict in the chaos-stricken nation.In Khartoum, the sound of heavy firing could be heard in a number of areas, including the city center and the neighborhood of Bahri.In a series of statements, the Rapid Support Forces militia accused the army of attacking its forces at one of its bases in south Khartoum. They claimed they seized the city’s airport and “completely controlled” Khartoum’s Republican Palace, the seat of the country’s presidency. The group also said it seized an airport and air base in the northern city of Marawi, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of Khartoum. The Associated Press was unable to verify those claims.The Sudanese army said fighting broke out after RSF troops tried to attack its forces in the southern part of the capital. Later, the military...

Bus with musicians crashes in western India, killing 13

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A passenger bus carrying dozens of members of a music troupe slid off a highway and fell into a gorge in western India on Saturday, killing 13 people and injuring 29 others, police said.The bus was on its way to Mumbai, India’s financial capital, in Maharashtra state, from Pune city, where the musicians held a performance, said Atul Zende, a police officer. The exact cause of the crash was not immediately known.Zende said most of the passengers who died were part of the music troupe from Mumbai. He said rescue workers pulled out the badly injured from the wreckage of the bus and sent them to a hospital.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed sorrow over the accident and announced monetary relief to the victims’ families. Deadly road accidents are common in India due to reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles. More than 110,000 people are killed every year in road accidents across India, according to police.The Associated Press

Macron’s unpopular pension plan enacted into French law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:45:23 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise France’s retirement age from 62 to 64 was enacted into law Saturday, the day after the country’s constitutional body approved the change.Macron’s signature and publication in the Official Journal of the French Republic allowed the law to enter into force. On Friday, the Constitutional Council rejected some parts of the government’s pension legislation but approved the higher minimum retirement age, which was central to Macron’s plan and the focus of opponents’ protests. The nine-member council’s decision capped months of tumultuous debates in parliament and fervor in the streets. Spontaneous demonstrations took place in Paris and across the country after the ruling.France’s main labor unions, which organized 12 nationwide protests since January in hopes of defeating the plan, have vowed to continue fighting until it is withdrawn. They called for another mass protest on May 1, which is Int...