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Macron on the brink: How French pensions revolt could wreck his presidency

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron will face a moment of reckoning Thursday as lawmakers gear up for a final vote on the government’s deeply unpopular pension reform.The controversial bill, a centerpiece of Macron’s second term, has sparked weeks of nationwide protests led by trade unions and faced intense criticism from both the far left and the far right in the National Assembly.The French president wants to increase the legal age of retirement to 64 from 62 and extend contributions for a full pension in an effort to balance the accounts of France’s state pensions system — among the most generous in the world. According to projections from France’s Council of Pensions Planning, the finances of the pensions system are balanced in the short term but will go into deficit in the long term. Despite government concessions on various aspects of the bill in recent weeks, opposition to the reform remains very high, with polls saying two-thirds of French citizens oppose it....

Toxic Germanity and the battle for ‘das Auto’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

BERLIN — Europe’s worst-kept secret is that the Germans ultimately decide everything.“I’ll never forget how all the other member states held back in anticipation, waiting to see what the Germans would do,” a senior U.K. official, recalling his time in Brussels, recently told a private dinner of MPs and other German officials in Berlin.The recollection was meant as a compliment, one the official hoped would ingratiate him with the Germans around the table.Sad thing is it worked.The second worst-kept secret in Brussels is that for all the “peace project” kumbaya, the Germans actually enjoy dominating the place. That said, even stalwart veterans of the EU bubble were hard-pressed in recent days to cite a more blatant example of toxic Germanity than Berlin’s last-minute intervention to save the internal combustion engine.To recap: Last week, EU countries were expected to rubber-stamp a package of measures aimed at ridding Europe’s roads of fuel-burning autos. Under the plan, the EU woul...

Rishi Sunak picks his way through budget minefield

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

LONDON — “Better than the last guy” might not be quite the tagline every world leader hopes for. It could yet be Rishi Sunak’s winning formula.The British prime minister, swept into office late last year by wave after wave of Tory psychodrama, has cleared several major hurdles in the space of the past month. His success has even sparked a shocking rumor in Westminster that — whisper it — he might actually be quite good at his job. That was the murmur among hopeful Conservative MPs ahead of this week’s U.K. budget, anyway — many of them buoyed by the PM’s recent moves on two long-running sources of angst in Westminster.First came an apparent resolution to the intractable problem of post-Brexit trade arrangements in Northern Ireland. Sunak’s so-called Windsor Framework deal with Brussels landed to near-universal acclaim.A week later, Sunak unveiled hard-hitting legislation to clamp down on illegal migration to the U.K., coupled with an expensive deal with France to in...

Europe’s new climate plan: Don’t burn coal, burn your EU ideals!

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

Here’s a new bumper sticker idea for European Union officials: Don’t burn fossil fuels, set fire to your principles instead. The European Commission is preparing to ditch a raft of long-held free-market ideals in order to compete in a global clean energy arms race with China and the U.S. Targets, quotas and state subsidies are back, in a big way. That’s left some Brussels grandees reeling.“This direction is quite dangerous,” said Günther Oettinger, Germany’s former European commissioner. “It’s not a single market, it’s a planned economy more and more: a centralized, planned economy. Planwirtschaft as we say in German.”On Thursday, the European Commission will propose a Net-Zero Industry Act, setting a target for 40 percent of the EU’s clean tech to be built inside the bloc by 2030. Leaked drafts have galled liberals, who accused Brussels of 1960s-style central planning. Alongside that, the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will announce a new law aimed at cutting Europe’s d...

Brown scores 35, Celtics hold on to beat Wolves 104-102

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 35 points and Jayson Tatum added 22 as the Boston Celtics held on to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-102 on Wednesday night.Malcolm Brogdon added 12 points off the bench for Boston, which overcame a tough shooting night to win for the third time in four games.The Celtics shot 40.5% from the field and were 12 of 40 (30%) from 3-point territory. They remained a game ahead of Philadelphia for second in the Eastern Conference and closed within 2 1/2 games of Milwaukee for first.Anthony Edwards had 28 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota, which has lost three of four. The Timberwolves started the day seventh in the West, one game ahead of Oklahoma City, Dallas and the Los Angeles Lakers.Kyle Anderson scored 15 for Minnesota and Naz Reid added 15 off the bench.Trailing 101-99, Edwards missed a 3 with 32.2 seconds left that would have given the Timberwolves their first lead since the first quarter. Grant Williams collected an offensive rebound for...

Baby girl heads home after 15 months in hospital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

A baby girl recently headed home from Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Brighton, marking a moment 15 months in the making for the baby and her family. 15-month-old Helen was born prematurely with a serious lung issue. She has been rehabbing and recently became healthy enough to join her twin sister and family at their Cape Cod home. Helen was born in December, 2021 — three months before her mother’s due date. While Helen’s twin sister, Alama, was able to head home four months after her birth, Helen stayed at Franciscan Children’s until Wednesday. Helen’s mother, Harriet Alexander, said it has been an overwhelming experience for her and her wife, Isabella.  “It’s been a long journey for us as a family,” Alexander said. “But, I think we’re feeling everything from joy and excitement. “It’s amazing to see the girls together in the same house playing,”  Alexander continued. Alexander said the experience is also scary “because we’re bringing ...

Crumbled debris found on platform at Forest Hills station

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

Crews were on scene at the MBTA’s Forest Hills station in Jamaica Plain on Wednesday after crumbled debris was found on the station’s Commuter Rail platform.The T said Wednesday night that the debris were padding materials used around ceiling joints. The T said the debris weighed less than one pound. The broken debris looked to have fallen from the station’s ceiling area above the platform during Wednesday’s morning commute. The T said both the MBTA and Keolis, which operates and maintains the Commuter Rail system, sent crews to the platform to investigate what happened. This incident happened just a matter of weeks after a ceiling tile fell at the Harvard MBTA station in Cambridge. Video showed the tile barely missing a woman walking nearby. The incident resulted in additional tiles being inspected and removed. After this incident at Forest Hills, riders reacted.“The whole system should have some sort of overhaul — a systems check,” Jason Kavanag...

This time Heat in cruise control (no, really) in 138-119 rout of Grizzlies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

An Easy Button? Who knew?In a season of sweating just about every finish, the Miami Heat got something completely different Wednesday night at Miami-Dade Arena.This time there was a 28-point lead at the end of the third quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies and no need to pad their already gaudy numbers of clutch and five-point games.Just a 138-119 victory over an opponent lacking suspended guard Ja Morant.So this time, Jimmy Butler had to play in attack mode for only three quarters, able to sit out the fourth after scoring 23.This time, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro provided ample support, Adebayo with 26 points and eight rebounds, Herro with 24 points and six assists, both watching the finish from the comfort of the bench.And this time Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love were able to establish footing as coach Erik Spoelstra works toward something closer to a playoff rotation.“I literally had to look at the scoreboard probably 10 times during that fourth quarter, like, ‘Is my math...

Magic need to tighten up their 3-point defense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

The Orlando Magic’s season-long deficit when it comes to 3-point shooting has been evident.Tuesday’s 132-114 road loss to the San Antonio Spurs was just another reminder.The loss also further exposed a micro-issue within the Magic’s battle with 3-point math — Orlando allowing a lot of “open” or “wide-open” 3-pointers.The Spurs knocked down a franchise-best 22 of 41 3s against the Magic.According to the tracking data on the league’s official website, the Spurs went 9-of-19 (47.4%) on “open” 3s (closest defender 4-6 feet away) and 12-of-18 (66.7%) on “wide-open” 3s (closest defender 6-plus feet away).The Spurs’ 3-point accuracy was partially a case of 3-point shooting luck.San Antonio had shot 35% on “open” 3s (12th-best mark in the league) and a league-worst 34.3% on “wide-open” 3s. No team has a season-long accuracy of 39% on open 3s or 43% on wide-open 3s, respectively.Spurs ...

Winderman’s view: Heat rotation coming into view, with Oladipo shuffled out in rout of Grizzlies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:58 GMT

Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 138-119 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies:– Yes, one game is the ultimate NBA small sample size.– But now that the roster is almost fully healthy, we might be starting to get a read of where Erik Spoelstra might be headed with the rotation.– Kevin Love appears to be trending toward the Luke Babbitt role, starting each half, then called back into action only if needed.– Omer Yurtseven is on the shortest of leashes.– Not a lot of patience there from Erik Spoelstra.– With it looking like Cody Zeller will re-emerge as backup center once the nose is re-set.– And in an element that can’t be overlooked, Victor Oladipo was not part of Wednesday night’s rotation.– Yes, he had been draining 3-pointers lately.– But also plenty of helter-skelter moments, as well.– Spoelstra clearly prefers stability.– That hardly has been Oladipo’s middle nam...