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Why China wants Macron to drive a wedge between Europe and America

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

Chinese leader Xi Jinping had one overriding message for his visiting French counterpart Emmanuel Macron this week: Don’t let Europe get sucked into playing America’s game.Beijing is eager to avoid the EU falling further under U.S. influence, at a time when the White House is pursuing a more assertive policy to counter China’s geopolitical and military strength. Russia’s yearlong war against Ukraine has strengthened the alliance between Europe and the U.S., shaken up global trade, reinvigorated NATO and forced governments to look at what else could suddenly go wrong in world affairs. That’s not welcome in Beijing, which still views Washington as its strategic nemesis. This week, China’s counter-offensive stepped up a gear, turning on the charm. Xi welcomed Macron into the grandest of settings at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, along with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. This was in sharp contrast to China’s current e...

Watch out! Top 5 political luxury timepiece scandals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

When a politician’s wristwatch becomes the center of public attention, chances are it is either hideous or hideously expensive. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner came in for scrutiny after being spotted hiding his Rolex during a talk show last week, sparking criticism that he was trying to disguise his true wealth. But Lindner certainly wasn’t the first politician or top official to face blowback over a luxury watch. And he probably won’t be the last. We took a look at five of the most memorable instances:Magic MacronFrench President Emmanuel Macron performed a conjurer’s trick last month during a TV interview about his controversial pension reform, making his watch disappear!Initially, Macron appeared on the show wearing a watch. Then after some time had passed, his hand disappeared under the table and, voilà, the watch was gone. Critics said Macron had covertly removed the wristwatch, as it was an expensive timepiece worth up to €80,000. But F...

Waltham police seek public’s help after break-in at smoke shop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

Waltham police asked for the public’s help Friday in efforts to identify a man shown in videos connected to a break-in at a smoke shop on Moody Street. Police said the break in happened just after midnight on Friday morning at the Blue Moon Smoke Shop. A suspect, police said, entered the store after smashing a large glass window. The person then took over $300 worth of merchandise, according to police. Police shared video of the incident, showing a person initially kicking the window and breaking it. Police asked anyone with information to call them at 781-314-3600 or using their anonymous tip line.

Hauser scores career-high 26, Celtics beat Raptors 121-102

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Sam Hauser scored a career-high 26 points and the Boston Celtics cruised past the Toronto Raptors 121-102 on Friday night.Jayson Tatum finished with 21 points and sat out the entire second half as the Celtics posted a 4-0 sweep in the season series. It is Boston’s first sweep over Toronto since 2009-10.The Celtics, who secured the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs in Wednesday’s win over Toronto, played without All-Star Jaylen Brown after he accidentally cut a finger on his shooting hand on Thursday. He also will miss Sunday’s regular-season finale against Atlanta but expects to be ready to go in time for the start of the postseason.Pascal Siakim led Toronto with 19 points, and Precious Achiuwa added 16 points and seven rebounds.The Raptors entered Friday with a chance to improve their seeding for the play-in tournament. But the loss locks them into ninth. They will host 10th-seeded Chicago on Wednesday.Toronto missed nine of its first 11 shots as Boston bu...

Nets solidify No. 6 seed with huge victory over Magic, will take on 76ers in first round

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

Friday night was merely a formality.With the Eastern Conference’s sixth and final guaranteed playoff seed hanging in the balance, and a date with a short-handed and low-ranked Orlando Magic team on the docket, the Nets dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s.Then they signed, sealed and delivered the Magic a 104-81 defeat, a Brooklyn victory that punched the team’s ticket to Philadelphia for a first-round playoff date with Joel Embiid, James Harden and the 76ers next week.Coincidentally, the Nets will play the 76ers in a playoff preview in Sunday’s season finale at Barclays Center.The news was delivered at the 4:41 mark in the fourth quarter by the Barclays Center public announcer: The seventh-seeded Miami Heat, who rested all five of their starters plus an additional role player, lost their game to the Washington Wizards on Friday.The only way the Nets could have risked falling into the Play-In was with a loss and a Heat win.Yet Brooklyn’s standin...

Magic reinsert couple of starters back into lineup but lose at Nets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

Despite reinserting a couple of starters back into the lineup, the Orlando Magic dropped Friday’s road game 101-84 to the Brooklyn Nets.Guard Markelle Fultz (7 points and 5 assists in 18 minutes) and forward Franz Wagner (12 points and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes) were available and back with the starting group after sitting out Thursday’s home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.Guard Gary Harris was also available off the bench but didn’t play.The Magic sat their starters in the loss to the Cavaliers, the first night of a back-to-back, opting for players who haven’t been in the rotation.But a few of those players — including Fultz, Harris and Wagner — who didn’t play on Thursday were back in the lineup against the Nets.Guard Cole Anthony (14 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists), who was available but didn’t play against the Cavaliers, made his fourth start of the season against the Nets alongside Fultz, Wagner, Jalen Suggs (7 points and 5 rebo...

Heat rest regulars in 114-108 loss to Wizards, will host Hawks in Tuesday play-in game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

There wasn’t much to be learned from this game for the Miami Heat, with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love given the night off.Except for what comes next.With Friday night’s 114-108 loss to the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena, the Heat were locked into a seventh-place finish in the Eastern Conference, regardless of the result of Sunday’s home finale against the Orlando Magic.That means a Tuesday 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. home play-in game against the Atlanta Hawks at the Kaseya Center, the new name for their arena.Win that, and it’s on to the playoffs. Lose, and there is a second-chance all-or-nothing home game next Friday night, against the winner of a Toronto Raptors-Chicago Bulls play-in game.“This is our reality and you have to embrace that,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of his team’s first-ever appearance in the play-in tournament for conference seeds No. 7-10. “This is a totally new experience for al...

Avian flu kills 3 California condors in northern Arizona

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

Marble Canyon, Ariz. (AP) — Three California condors have died from avian flu in northern Arizona and authorities are trying to determine what killed five others in the flock, the National Park Service announced Friday.A sick female condor suspected of having lead poisoning was found dead on March 20 and testing showed it had Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), the park service said.Two other birds later found dead also tested positive, while test results aren’t yet completed for five others, the park service said.The birds are part of a population that moves throughout northern Arizona and southern Utah, including Grand Canyon National Park, the park service said.The Peregrine Fund, which manages the Arizona-Utah flock, also captured five other birds that seemed ill and sent them to a wildlife rescue in Phoenix. One bird died and the other four have been quarantined, officials said.Exposure to the virus is expected to rise during the condors’ northward spring migr...

In Nicaragua, Holy Week celebrations limited by government

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Roman Catholics in Nicaragua had to hold traditional “Stations of the Cross” and other Holy Week processions on church grounds or inside churches Friday amid a ban on public demonstrations.Relations between autocratic President Daniel Ortega and the church have frayed to near non-existence since Nicaragua’s government proposed severing relations and sentenced a bishop to 26 years in prison.Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes told The Associated Press that celebrations were held throughout the country “near the churches.”“In absolutely every parish there were celebrations,” Brenes said, though he added they went off “not with all the intensity” of years past.Germán Miranda, one of hundreds of faithful who showed up for the procession at the Managua Cathedral, was one of those who found it less inspiring this year.He said Holy Week celebrations were better in the past when they wound through the streets of the capital. “It was better before, because it was freer.”M...

City to pay $500K to settle bikini barista dress code suit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:32 GMT

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A legal battle over a dress code for bikini baristas at coffee stands is ending after a city north of Seattle agreed to pay $500,000 to the owner and employees who sued over it six years ago. The Everett City Council voted unanimously this week to authorize Mayor Cassie Franklin to sign the settlement agreement with Jovanna Edge and employees, The Daily Herald reported. Plaintiffs had been seeking more than $3 million in damages and attorney fees. Under the agreement, the city will keep most of its rules for probationary licensing of coffee stands and other quick-service business but will no longer dictate that baristas wear at least tank tops and shorts. Instead the city will align dress code rules with an existing lewd conduct standard that makes it a crime to publicly expose too much of one’s private parts. Another provision mandates that business owners post materials for employees with information on how to seek help if they are being trafficked or otherwi...