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Europe must resist pressure to become ‘America’s followers,’ says Macron

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

Cet article est aussi disponible en français.ABOARD COTAM UNITÉ (FRANCE’S AIR FORCE ONE) — Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over Taiwan, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on his plane back from a three-day state visit to China.Speaking with POLITICO and two French journalists after spending around six hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, Macron emphasized his pet theory of “strategic autonomy” for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a “third superpower.”He said “the great risk” Europe faces is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy,” while flying from Beijing to Guangzhou, in southern China, aboard COTAM Unité, France’s Air Force One.Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party have enthusiastically endorsed Macron’s concept of strategic autonomy and Chinese o...

Six community colleges to offer tuition-free education for all Boston residents

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

 All Boston residents are now eligible for tuition-free schooling at six community colleges — regardless of their age, income or immigration status — under a new plan announced by the city government.City officials announced the expansion of its “Tuition-Free Community College Plan” in a Wednesday news release.The program provides funding for up to three years of tuition and fees at six partner institutions, according to the news release. The funding also covers up to $250 per semester in related costs, like textbooks and transportation, and debt up to $2,500 for “students with an outstanding balance at a partner college that is preventing a student from re-enrolling at that college.”Bostonians will be eligible for free tuition at Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology, Bunker Hill Community College, Massasoit Community College, MassBay Community College, Roxbury Community College and Urban College of Boston, according ...

Howie Carr: Meet John Pigsley, AKA the Pigman, the perfect poster boy for the MBTA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

Behold, John P. Pigsley, the 300-pound poster boy for the modern MBTA.Seldom has a name fitted a defendant more perfectly than “John P. Pigsley.”Gaze upon Pigsley’s perp-walk photographs, taken as he waddled out of the federal courthouse Wednesday in his triple-XL tee shirt.If you were a Hollywood director filming a movie about the MBTA, and you asked Central Casting to send over a bloated, corrupt hack who symbolized the endemic corruption of the T, John P. Pigsley would show up on the set.And, if you believe the federal indictment against him, millions of dollars worth of stuff would soon start disappearing from your movie set.How MBTA is John P. Pigsley?They say that if you have a lemon, you should make lemonade. And so my modest proposal for the MBTA is to use this latest embarrassment as a recruiting tool for their wretchedly catastrophic hackerama.In a few months, I could imagine driving the Expressway or the Pike and seeing Pigsley’s dissipated mug staring down at me from ele...

ASK IRA: Can the Heat’s success continue against the Hawks’ Trae Young?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

Q: When does the Heat’s luck run out against Trae Young? – Nathan.A: If it’s luck, the way the Heat largely have been able to contain Trae Young, then, yes, there could be a moment of reckoning with a progression to the mean when the Hawks arrive for Tuesday’s play-in game. But if it is a detailed system that requires all five defenders to be in lockstep, then there should be hope of the one more shutdown required for the Heat to advance out of Tuesday’s play-in game against the Hawks and into the playoffs. Yes, Trae can go off at any moment, but part of the Hawks’ roster overhaul has been to get enough support that Trae doesn’t have to do it all. So it remains nearly as crucial that the Heat contain Dejounte Murray and the Hawks’ other contributors. Otherwise, trying to match the Hawks point for point, whether Trae is on or not, is a dangerous game to play, particularly in the play-in round.Q: Should Erik Spoelstra play the guys at le...

NFL notes: Is it possible for Bill Belichick and Mac Jones to mend fences?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

Not long ago, Robert Kraft told me part of his job was to be a peacekeeper of sorts, and “keep it together” when it came to himself, his head coach and starting quarterback.At the time, the Patriots owner was speaking about Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, and how his relationship with them was like a marriage. He was a pseudo counselor, making sure they could all co-exist and find a sense of harmony and kumbaya between them.Kraft managed to keep that union intact for 20 years mostly because it behooved him to do so given all the success they enjoyed together. But eventually, there was a divorce. Brady left the group, believing Belichick no longer wanted him based on the type of contracts he kept getting offered year after year.We’re heading into Year 3 with Mac Jones and, already, it’s gotten messy. There are rumblings of unrest all around and signs there could be another divorce as none of the Big Three (Kraft, Belichick, Jones) seem to be on the same page.Talk about a Bermuda Triang...

Boston Marathon bombing survivor Meghan Zipin finds light after tragedy; first book to be released on 10-year anniversary

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

As she struggled to fall asleep, Meghan Zipin started writing notes on her phone of what she remembered from the Boston Marathon bombings and the aftermath of such devastation.Those notes became prompts she used to write poetry from — a coping mechanism that Zipin turned to along her road to healing.Zipin crossed the finish line on April 15, 2013, just moments before “the spectacular marathon day” turned Boylston Street into what she described as a “war zone.” Physically, she said, she feels lucky because the bombs didn’t injure her, but the emotional pain and “survivor’s guilt” took a toll.When Zipin reached 15 poems, she said, it clicked that the collection could turn into a book.So it did.Zipin’s first published book First Light is set to be released on April 15, the 10-year anniversary of the bombings. Readers will be walked through the time of the bombings to when Zipin spoke to bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at trial, with the collection of 37 poems highlighting her experiences with...

South Africa police say prison escapee arrested in Tanzania

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African convicted murderer who faked his death to escape from prison has been arrested in Tanzania following a two-week manhunt, police have announced.South African officials are going to Tanzania Sunday to begin to extradite Thabo Bester, 35, dubbed the “Facebook Rapist” as he used the social media platform to lure at least two women he was convicted of raping. He was also found guilty of killing one. Bester was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 and it was reported in May last year that he died in a fire in his prison cell.However, reports surfaced of him being seen in Johannesburg and an investigation including DNA samples showed that the body found burned beyond recognition in the cell was not his.Two weeks ago police said they were chasing Bester and last week they raided a luxurious home he was believed to have been renting in a posh Johannesburg suburb.Bester was apprehended with his girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana, a well-known celebrity doctor...

Reports: Tesla plans Shanghai factory for power storage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Electric car maker Tesla Inc. plans to build a factory in Shanghai to produce power-storage devices for sale worldwide, state media reported Sunday.Plans call for annual production of 10,000 Megapack units, according to the Xinhua News Agency and state television. They said the company made the announcement at a signing ceremony in Shanghai, where Tesla operates an auto factory.The factory is due to break ground in the third quarter of this year and start productions in the second quarter of 2024, the reports said.Tesla didn’t immediately respond to requests for information.The Associated Press

Police kill suspect, 3 victims die in Florida home shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

Four people including a child are dead after a suspect shot three victims inside a home and then was killed by police after opening fire on officers responding to a domestic violence report early Sunday, police in Florida said.Officers heard gunshots inside the home before the suspect exited and shot at the officers around 2:25 a.m., the Orlando Police Department said in a statement.Inside the home, police found three gunshot victims, including a child who was transported by officers to a hospital. The three victims died of their injuries, Orlando police said.The suspect also died after being transported to a hospital, police said.The two officers involved in the shooting were not injured and have been placed on administrative leave, police said.The identifies of the suspect, the victims and the officers were not immediately released.The Associated Press

Sunday Bulletin Board: How do you say ‘where the deer and the antelope play’ in Italian?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:55:41 GMT

One shining momentSIS writes: “Subject: Diva.“I can hear my longtime friends scoff: ‘Say that again! You sang in the world-famous opera house La Scala, in Milan? Impossible! You can’t sing, period. Sister Edeltrude trained the Grade 6 choir. She let you stand on stage with your pals as long as you just moved your lips. Let’s face it, SIS, you can’t carry a tune.”“In the parlance of our former schoolyard, I would reply with hauteur: ‘Did, too.’“Years ago, I was in Milan, Italy, on a baking-hot August day. The inhabitants of the city had closed up shop and headed to the beach.“I hired a private tour guide to take us (my aunt, a neighbor, and me) around the city. We met Mr. N. on a street corner — an elderly man in his late 70s. He was wearing a tweed jacket and mopping his face with a large, white handkerchief. After brief forays into numerous churches, I became alarmed at Mr. N.’s appearance. I thought he might keel ov...