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Germany’s Baerbock calls China’s Xi Jinping a dictator

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock labeled Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator on Friday as she stressed the German government’s support for Ukraine. “We will support Ukraine as long as it takes,” Baerbock told Fox News on Friday, when asked how the government in Berlin saw the end of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. “If Putin were to win this war, what sign would that be for other dictators in the world, like Xi, like the Chinese president? Therefore, Ukraine has to win this war,” Baerbock said in the interview during her trip to the U.S.Baerbock’s comments come on the heels of recent trade tensions between Beijing and Brussels, after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week said the EU executive would launch an investigation into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies.Despite Germany’s ambivalent approach toward China, Baerbock’s own Green Party tends to lean toward a more asser...

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia impose own Ukraine grain bans as EU measure expires

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia said they would impose their own bans on Ukrainian grain following the European Commission’s decision to let its restrictive measure end. Brussels announced on Friday that it would not extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports that applied to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. That measure expired Friday. Imports of Ukrainian grain, including wheat and maize, were blocked from the territory of these five countries under an agreement reached with Brussels earlier this year. Only transit to other destinations was allowed. The measure was put in place to protect farmers in the five countries from an influx of cheap produce from their war-torn neighbor. “The bureaucrats in Brussels are turning a blind eye to the problems of European farmers once again,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Saturday on social media. “It’s time to take matters into our own hands! Ukrainian agricultural products destined for A...

The Orioles acquired Jack Flaherty for games like Friday’s. He failed to deliver. | ANALYSIS

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

When the Orioles traded for Jack Flaherty at the deadline, he became the only pitcher on the team with a playoff start on his resume.His success in those big moments with the St. Louis Cardinals is one of the reasons Baltimore gave up three prospects Baseball America ranked in the organization’s top 20 for just a few months of Flaherty’s services.“He’s experienced, and the accomplishments he’s made over there, [that] probably makes him our second-most experienced starter,” Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said after the trade deadline, noting 35-year-old Kyle Gibson as the lone Baltimore pitcher with more career innings than Flaherty.Flaherty’s start Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles’ biggest game of the season to date, was his best chance — and perhaps his last — to show he is the pitcher the club needed when it traded for him.He didn’t.“Rough stretches happen. ...

OBF: Illustrator takes Bruins fans on ‘Historic 100’ nostalgic tour

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

One of Boston’s greatest hits was “Don’t Look Back.”There’s ironic genius and simplicity in Tom Scholz’s signature anthem.His band was named in honor of a Hub entrenched in history.Past revolutions. Past glories. Past heroes.There’s been a great deal of looking back these days in and around Boston.Why not?It can hurt to look at the present.Tom Brady delivered his victory speech at Gillette Stadium last Sunday at halftime. After thePatriots trailed 16-0 in the first quarter.It was as if Luke Skywalker came “home,” claimed his NFL birthright, and declared final victoryover the Evil Empire/former coach.Yoda approved. The Patriots played just well enough to lose.Brady, at 46, is now the most wanted man in Gotham City since Bane thanks to the four-snap-and-out departure of Aaron Rodgers.Gang Green is littered with millions who would happily trade their first born (pet or person) inexchange for Brady joining the Jets.Red Sox and Yankees fans – the few who showed up at Fenway Park this wee...

Beer flows and crowds descend on Munich for the official start of Oktoberfest

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

MUNICH (AP) — The beer is flowing and millions of people descending on the Bavarian capital to celebrate the official opening of Oktoberfest. With the traditional cry of “O’zapft is” — “It’s tapped” — Mayor Dieter Reiter inserted the tap in the first keg at noon on Saturday, officially opening the 18-day festivities.Revelers decked out in traditional lederhosen and dirndl dresses trooped to Munich’s festival grounds Saturday morning, filling the dozens of traditional tents in anticipation of getting their first 1-liter (2-pint) mug of beer.Minutes before the first keg was tapped, to cheers from the crowd, Bavarian Gov. Markus Soeder asked festivalgoers if they were ready for Oktoberfest to begin.“I can only say one thing: This is the most beautiful, biggest, most important festival in the world,” he said.The Oktoberfest has typically drawn about 6 million visitors every year. The event was skipped in 2020 and 2021 as authorities grappled with COVID-19, but returned in 2022.A 1-liter...

Thousands of South Korean teachers are rallying for new laws to protect them from abusive parents

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Thousands of South Korean school teachers and staff rallied in Seoul on Saturday for more legal protection from bullying by parents, a rising problem in a country known for its brutally competitive school environments.The weekend demonstrations in the capital city, were triggered by the death of a teacher who was found dead at her elementary school in July after reportedly expressing emotional distress caused by complaints from allegedly abusive parents.The protesting teachers, who have rallied for weeks, say current laws make it difficult to exercise control over their classrooms and leave them at the mercy of overbearing parents, who could easily accuse them of emotionally abusing children.South Korean lawmakers are currently debating bills that would meet some of the teachers’ demands to for immunity from child abuse claims. But some experts have raised concerns over the potential changes, saying the proposals could further weaken protection for ch...

Farmers, vampires, cab drivers: Five hidden gems from this year’s TIFF

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

TORONTO — Without Hollywood stars popping up around town to draw attention to their latest projects almost every movie at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was a candidate for hidden gem status.But in a turbulent period of dual actor and writer strikes, some TIFF titles managed to stand on their own quality and get festivalgoers talking.Here’s a look at five TIFF hidden gems to add to your must-see list: “The Promised Land”Nobody does brooding vengeance quite like Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, whose fiery gaze could ignite villages. In this 18th-century Denmark drama, he’s less about destruction and more about cultivation — or at least that’s how things start. As former military man Ludvig von Kahlen, he’s pledged to realize King Frederik V’s dream of making the wild heath of Jutland a prosperous land. Yet not everyone is on board, in particular, raging landowner Frederik de Schinkel who only sees a loss of his power. As tension...

David Brooks: Mitt Romney has given us a gift

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

Sometimes you do things that make you feel ashamed. It was the first day of the Republican convention in 2012, and I had nothing to write about, so I wrote a humor column mocking the Romney family for being perfect in every way. It was a hit with readers, but the afternoon it was published I crossed paths with two of Mitt Romney’s sons, and they looked at me with hurt in their eyes, which pierced me. I’d ridiculed people for the sin of being admirable.A few years later, before he was a senator, Romney asked me to come out to Utah to give a talk to a group he was convening. It’s a pain to write a speech and get on a plane, but I did it in penance for my sins. Of course, all the Romneys were lovely to me, as is their nature. And I learned a lesson: The partisans may applaud if you ridicule those you admire, of any political stripe, but stay faithful to them.We all struggle to be the best version of ourselves we can be, and Romney’s struggle is now taking him into retirement and out of...

Ask Amy: Engaged man is a fool for love

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

Dear Amy: I’m writing in reference to my recent engagement.I was alone for a long time and met a woman at work and fell deeply in love with her. Two nights a week, she comes to my place for dinner, and we are intimate. Then she leaves at 10 p.m.Two months ago, I asked her to marry me and she said yes!But our situation is very unusual.She lives with the guy she has been with for 15 years. She has two children with him. They are not married and she told me there are no feelings or intimacy between them — and I believe that.But she still sleeps in the same bed with him. I haven’t met her kids and my place is too small to have them.So when she comes to my place and we are intimate and then she goes home, I have a hard time dealing with that.I try not to think about it, but sometimes it gets the best of me.Any advice? Am I being a fool?— Foolish FianceDear Fiance: There are different categories of fools. You are in the “fool-for-love” category. Being a fool for love is ...

Why pay a seller concession when we are ready for retirement?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:41 GMT

Question: In your column, you suggest that home sellers pay for presale seller inspections. You go on to promote home sellers to buy down the prospective homebuyer’s mortgage interest rates. You call it a seller concession. When we were homebuyers, we paid for our inspection. We also paid our closing costs without any seller assistance. The same goes for all adult children. We are about to put our Bay Area family home of 40 years on the market. Why would we add those costs to ourselves when we need the proceeds for our retirement?  Answer: The utility of presale seller inspections exponentially increases consumer confidence in the homebuyers’ minds. This is my experience. Presale seller inspections dramatically reduce the chances of post-sale litigation. Full stop. As homebuyers, you and your adult children bought homes at one standard of practice. Agents included. You all should set exacting standards of practice as home sellers. It pays. Home sellers offering to buy down the prosp...