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Scholz voices concern on Israel overhaul as Netanyahu visits

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced concern about the Israeli government’s planned overhaul of the country’s judicial system as he hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, offering praise for efforts by Israel’s president to seek a “broad basic consensus.”Netanyahu met with German leaders in Berlin the day after Israeli President Isaac Herzog unveiled a compromise proposal for overhauling the legal system, an approach that Netanyahu rejected.Lower-level German officials already had voiced concern about the Israeli government’s plan, which would allow parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions and give Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. Germany is a close ally of Israel in Europe and has tended to refrain from strong public criticism of its government.“As close friends of Israel with shared democratic values, we are following this debate very closely, and I cannot hide the fac...

Stephen Sondheim’s last musical finds a New York City stage

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The late Stephen Sondheim’s last stage musical — an adaptation of two films by Spanish surrealist director Luis Buñuel — will be given an off-Broadway stage this year, offering theatergoers a chance to see a new work by musical theater’s most venerated composer. “Here We Are” — once known as “Square One” — will begin performances this September at The Shed’s Griffin Theater with a book by David Ives, best known for the play “Venus in Fur.” Joe Mantello, who helmed “Wicked” and Sondheim’s “Assassins,” will direct.The show — based on the films “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel” — was initially workshopped in 2016 with plans for a production at The Public Theater, which did not happen.The two source films have a connective tissue: In “The Exterminating Angel,” a group of guests arrive for a dinner party and cannot leave, while “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” is about guests who constantly arrive for dinner but...

‘Tragic loss’: Two Edmonton police officers killed while responding to call

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

Edmonton police say two patrol officers have been killed while responding to a call.The force did not immediately release details about what happened.Police Chief Dale McFee and other dignitaries were scheduled to make statements later Thursday.The force said further details would be released once they could be confirmed. About a dozen police cars were parked around a northwest Edmonton apartment complex, a large series of brick three-storey walkups. A forensics truck was parked outside one of the buildings.The scene was taped off and a road leading into the complex was blocked. Police also set up two command posts in the area. In response to the deaths, the Edmonton Police Commission cancelled a public meeting that had been planned for Thursday.Police services in Calgary, Vancouver, the Greater Toronto Area and Halifax were among those expressing condolences on Twitter. “This is a tragic loss and one that is shared among law enforcement including our team. We are here to offe...

Stocks flip to gains on Wall Street, Treasury yields swing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks flipped to gains Thursday amid hopes for help for a bank at the center of Wall Street’s hunt for what’s next to crack in the struggling industry.The S&P 500 was 0.8% higher in midday trading after erasing an earlier loss of nearly that much following reports that First Republic Bank could receive financial assistance or sell itself to another bank.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 103 points, or 0.3%, at 31,978, as of 11:20 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher. This week has been a whirlwind for markets globally on worries about banks that may be bending under the weight of the fastest set of hikes to interest rates in decades. The crisis of confidence has been flaring since Friday’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which was the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.Since then, Wall Street has tried to root out banks with similar traits, such as lots of depositors with more than the $250,000 limit that’s insured ...

Empire reports $125.7M net earnings as it rebounds from Sobeys cyberattack

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

Empire Company Ltd. said its net earnings hit $125.7 million in its latest quarter as its Sobeys supermarket chain rebounded from a November cyberattack.The results reported Thursday for the grocery store operator’s third quarter compared with $203.4 million in net earnings during the same period the year before.Its earnings for the period ended Feb. 4 amounted to 49 cents per share, down from 77 cents per share in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year, when Empire said it incurred “unusually large” lease termination income and higher property sales from Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust.Its adjusted net earnings totalled $164.8 million, down from $203.4 million a year earlier.Sales, which were driven by the expansion of FreshCo in Western Canada, higher food inflation and increased fuel sales, reached $7.49 billion compared with $7.38 billion in the prior quarter.Empire’s earnings report came as the Stellarton, N.S.-based company recovers from a cybe...

Thai police to get mental health checks after fatal standoff

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand will be subject to random checks of their physical and mental health, officials said Thursday, after a 27-hour standoff in which a senior officer holed up and fired a gun into the air until he was subdued by fellow officers.Police Lt. Col. Kitikarn Sangbun died in a hospital Wednesday night of multiple gunshot wounds sustained during the standoff at his home on the fringes of the capital Bangkok, said police Col. Rangsan Sornsing, superintendent of the police station in the Sai Mai neighborhood where the standoff took place. Kitikarn had been suffering from mental health issues and stress in his work and personal life, police said, without elaborating.Thai media reported that the police Inspector General’s Office has ordered random health checks be carried out on officers nationwide to help avoid similar situations. Members of the public are also encouraged to report cases where they are concerned about officers’ mental health.Kitikarn h...

Willow oil project approval intensifies Alaska Natives’ rift

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Biden administration’s approval this week of the biggest oil drilling project in Alaska in decades promises to widen a rift among Alaska Natives, with some saying that oil money can’t counter the damages caused by climate change and others defending the project as economically vital.Two lawsuits filed almost immediately by environmentalists and one Alaska Native group are likely to exacerbate tensions that have built up over years of debate about ConocoPhillips Alaska’s Willow project.Many communities on Alaska’s North Slope celebrated the project’s approval, citing new jobs and the influx of money that will help support schools, other public services and infrastructure investments in their isolated villages. Just a few decades ago, many villages had no running water, said Doreen Leavitt, director of natural resources for the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope. Housing shortages continues to be a problem, with multiple generations of...

EU moves on clean technology: Subsidies up, free market down

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union presented plans Thursday to fundamentally revamp its policies on promoting green technologies and dealing with critical raw materials, imposing limits on imports from countries like China while unleashing subsidies and other financial incentives to ramp up home production.The plans by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, are essential in moving toward a climate neutral economy, while also increasing the bloc’s strategic independence in a shifting world of geopolitical alliances.To achieve its clean technology and strategic goals, the EU is making a major economic turn away from the decades of preaching the hands-off free-market economic gospel where any public policy input was considered meddling reminiscent of a bygone age. Now, the plans again call for accommodating state aid, a guiding hand, and financial incentives as key ingredients to move from a fossil fuel to a green economy.“The one mistake I think we’ve made — and ...

'I've dreamed of that moment': Johnsburg native makes one of college softball's best catches in 2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

MADISON, WI - One of the best catches in college softball so far in 2023 came from an outfielder who is native of McHenry County, and she's only been playing that position for a few months."I've never played outfield, actually. I think I played half of a year when I played for the (Illinois) Chill," said Johnsburg native Kate Linkletter, who is in her redshirt freshman year at Wisconsin. "As soon as I came here this year, I've mostly been taking reps in the outfield. So outfield is new to me."But the former Johnsburg High School All-State player looked liked like a poised veteran when she was in right field in the seventh and final inning of the Badgers' game with No. 13 Alabama at the Bevo Classic in Austin, Texas on Sunday. With Wisconsin hanging onto a one-run lead with two outs, Crimson Tide pinch hitter Faith Hensley lifted a fly ball toward Linkletter in right field. She sprinted towards the corner and was able to catch up to the ball just before the wall and made the catch. L...

Dean's A-List Interviews: Willem Dafoe on 'Inside,' familiar with confined spaces as a child

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:56 GMT

CHICAGO — Dean sits down with Willem Dafoe on his new film "Inside," where an art thief's heist doesn't go as planned and he gets locked in a New York penthouse. Dafoe recalls his interest in confined spaces because of his fascination with astronauts. As a kid, he remembers locking himself in a closet for as long as he could to know what an astronaut feels — he shares shooting the film wasn't as different. "Inside" airs in theaters Friday.