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Macron skips UN General Assembly amid busy diplomatic schedule

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is hopping from one diplomatic meeting to another, but there’s one place he isn’t going — and that’s the U.N. General Assembly in New York.Macron is not alone. Other heavyweights aren’t showing up to the global diplo fest either. In addition to the absences of China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladmir Putin, Britain’s Rishi Sunak and India’s Narendra Modi are also skipping the gathering in New York next week.All have varying and different reasons for not attending the meeting that draws heads of state and government from across the world. The likely result is that U.S. President Joe Biden, and his speech, are likely to get even more attention than in previous years.While Putin and Xi frequently skip the gathering, Sunak and Macron’s absences have raised eyebrows. Both the U.K. and France hold permanent seats at the U.N. Security Council, meaning that only one leader of the five countries that have permanent seats will be attending t...

Apple to update iPhone 12 to assuage radiation concerns

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

PARIS — Apple will update the iPhone 12 to become compliant with European rules on electromagnetic radiation, according to a report by Agence France-Presse and confirmed by POLITICO. The U.S. tech giant pledged to provide a software update in the coming days, a French official from the digital ministry told POLITICO. Earlier this week, the French National Frequency Agency required Apple to withdraw the device from the local market as tests showed the iPhone 12’s specific absorption rate (SAR) slightly exceeded the legal limit. SAR refers to the “measure of the rate of radiofrequency energy absorbed by the body from the equipment.”Regulators in other European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium then reportedly said they were also assessing the potential health risks. When Apple does update the software, the French National Frequency Agency will verify whether the device is compliant with electromagnetic radiation rules, the French official added. If it’s the ...

Hungary’s Orbán calls for less climate panic, more babies

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

BUDAPEST — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has accused other European leaders of fearmongering over the threat of climate change at the expense of ignoring the problem of falling birth rates. “Europe is acting out of fear and fear makes us defeatist,” said the right-wing leader on Thursday. “We say there’s no future, and as such, this is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Hungary is one of a number of Central and Eastern European countries that are trying to reverse falling birth rates. All countries across the European Union have fewer than the 2.1 children per woman needed to keep the population stable without migration. This aging population raises thorny questions for governments around how to fund the welfare state as the number of older people increases and the proportion of people of working ages falls. In his address at the two-day Budapest Demographic Summit, a pro-family conference organized by the Hungarian government, Orbán said that “Western elites” w...

Rubiales arrives at Spanish court to be questioned for kissing a player at Women’s World Cup

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Luis Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish soccer federation, arrived at court in Madrid on Friday to give testimony to a judge investigating his kissing a player on the lips last month at the Women’s World Cup.Judge Francisco de Jorge earlier this week ordered Rubiales to answer questions at Spain’s National Court.Rubiales kissed Spain forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the awards ceremony after Spain beat England to win the title on Aug. 20 in Sydney, Australia. He said she had consented to the kiss, but Hermoso has denied that repeatedly.Rubiales did not speak before entering the courthouse with his lawyer.Spanish state prosecutors formally accused Rubiales last week of sexual assault and an act of coercion. According to Hermoso, Rubiales pressured her to speak out in his defense immediately after the scandal erupted.Rubiales announced on Sunday that he was resigning from his post. He he had already been provisionally suspended by soccer governing body...

Candidates in Ontario Liberal leadership debate take aim at Bonnie Crombie

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

Candidates in the Ontario Liberal Party’s race to become the next leader kicked off the first official debate Thursday in Thunder Bay, Ont., by taking aim at perceived front-runner Bonnie Crombie.MP Nate Erskine-Smith, MP and former provincial cabinet minister Yasir Naqvi, and Ted Hsu, a former Liberal MP and current provincial caucus member, all offered criticisms, both veiled and not so veiled, of the Mississauga mayor.The three variously brought up donations she has taken from developers, her track record on housing as mayor, and some early campaign missteps such as statements that she would be open to Greenbelt land swaps in certain circumstances.“Trust is really important and we have to be very mindful in this instance,” Naqvi said.“You cannot elect a leader who one day says they’re going to open the Greenbelt, and the next day changes their mind, or one who takes money from the same people who are donating to Doug Ford, and says that somehow they&...

What’s at stake as 13,000 workers go on strike at major US auto makers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — About 13,000 auto workers have walked off the job at three targeted factories after their union leaders couldn’t reach a deal with Detroit’s automakers.The United Auto Workers union is seeking big raises and better benefits from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. They want to get back concessions that the workers made years ago, when the companies were in financial trouble.A small percentage of the union’s 146,000 members walked off the job at a GM assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri; a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit; and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.Shawn Fain, the combative president of the UAW, says the targeted strikes will give the union leverage in contract talks and keep the auto companies guessing about its next move.It could also make the union’s $825 million strike fund last much longer.Both sides began exchanging wage and benefit proposals last week. Though some incremental p...

China is sending Vice President Han Zheng to represent the country at UN General Assembly session

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China is sending Vice President Han Zheng to the U.N. General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday, suggesting that the country’s most senior diplomat, Wang Yi, will not attend. This year’s gathering of world leaders at United Nations headquarters in New York starts Monday with a sustainability summit. The weeklong general debate gets underway on Tuesday.Chinese President Xi Jinping has not attended the U.N. session in person for several years. He participated via video conference during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic.Wang Yi attended last year and generally represented China at the U.N. Wang is the head of the foreign affairs committee of China’s Communist Party. He was not mentioned in the ministry’s announcement. Zheng is a past member of the Politburo Standing Committee, an elite group of leaders within the party. He retired from that position but assumed the position...

Blinded by a Russian shell, this Ukrainian soldier couldn’t see his wedding. But cried at new love

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Blinded by a Russian mortar shell, Ukrainian veteran Ivan Soroka couldn’t see his bride when she walked into his family home in a shoulderless white dress, a bouquet of white flowers in her right hand. But when Vladislava Ryabets, 25, stepped toward him, Soroka wept with joy at the new chapter of life starting months after enemy artillery stole his sight. “The first thing I said after I was wounded was, who will want me now?” said Soroka, 27, sitting inside his family home in a village in the outskirts of Kyiv.“I succeeded in rebuilding myself,” he said. “I am seeing with my feelings, with my emotions.”Dozens sat around a garden table in Bortnychi village under a tent decorated with balloons and garlands for a day of festivity steeped in Ukrainian rural tradition. Folk songs and laughter filled the air as neighbors and friends poured into the humble pastoral home, gulped drinks and toasted the young newlyweds. A round loaf decorated with viburnum ber...

Niskayuna cruises past Averill Park in championship rematch

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

NISKAYUNA, NY (NEWS10) -- The last time Niskayuna and Averill Park squared off on the gridiron, the Silver Warriors walked away with their first section title in program history, taking down Averill Park 35-6 in the class a title game. Thursday night in Niskayuna, the two teams ran it back. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! The Silver Warriors got out to a hot start and never looked back. Junior Isaiah Linyear started the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run, set up by a long throw and catch from junior Ethan Gilson to sophomore Cameron Grasso. The Silver Warriors followed that up with a 25-yard touchdown strike from Gilson to Grasso to make it 14-0. Niskayuna then secured an onside kick, turning into another Linyear touchdown to go up 20-0. Gilson hit Grasso for another touchdown in the second quarter to make it 27-0. Niskayuna cruised from their on a way to a 41-7 win. Gilson went 14-15 for 268 yards and 3 touchdowns. Grasso t...

Colonie conquers Guilderland in an epic shootout

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:56:18 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- One of the biggest early-season high school football storylines has been the emergence of Colonie as an offensive juggernaut. For the second straight week, the Garnet Raiders dropped 50+ points on their opponent. They outlasted Guilderland 50-43 at home Thursday night for their first win over the Dutchmen in nine years. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Colonie has already surpassed its' win total from a year ago, and has racked up 136 points through three games - just five less than the Garnet Raiders scored all of last season.But it'd take a comeback effort to knock off Guilderland Thursday. After Colonie roared out to a 20-6 advantage by the 11:16 mark of the second quarter, the Dutchmen closed the half with back-to-back touchdown runs - a nine-yard scamper from sophomore running back Tommy Dwyer and a 35-yard tote to pay dirt from senior wideout Vinny Consenza - evening the score at 20 as the two side...