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Meloni, Rutte and von der Leyen head to Tunisia to unlock migrant deal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

The EU’s migration trio is headed back to Tunisia.EU chief executive Ursula von der Leyen will join Italian leader Giorgia Meloni and her Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, in Tunisia on Sunday in a bid to unblock a stalled deal with the country to limit migrant departures. The EU has been trying to finalize an agreement with Tunisia since June, when von der Leyen, Meloni and Rutte traveled to the country to meet Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed. The deal would see the EU provide cash to Tunisia in exchange for stronger border controls.“We hope to wrap up the discussions we kicked off in June,” the European Commission’s deputy spokesperson Dana Spinant said at a daily media briefing on Friday.  Von der Leyen announced in June that the EU is ready to provide Tunisia with over €1 billion in different areas, including trade, investment and energy cooperation. But negotiations have since slowed, with diplomats failing to strike a dea...

Commission rebuffs calls to retract US antitrust hire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

The European Commission said there are no grounds to reverse the choice of a U.S. professor for a sensitive competition post after four European Parliament groups called for the job pick to be retracted.Renew Europe, the European People’s Party, Socialists and Democrats and Greens sent a letter to Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Friday, expressing “dismay” over the appointment of Fiona Scott Morton as chief competition economist this week. It is the first time a non-EU person has held such a senior Commission post.Commission spokesperson Dana Spinant told reporters on Friday that there is no good reason for the Commission to change course. “Following the recruitment process, the College endorsed the proposal to appoint this person to this position, the decision was made and we see no ground to reconsider,” she said.Lawmakers earlier told Vestager to “reverse the decision taken by the College” on July 11. “Though we recog...

Health care company books entire Camden Yards upper deck for Sunday’s Orioles game, setting record for largest group

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

A health care company has purchased nearly 12,000 tickets in Camden Yards’ upper deck for the Orioles’ game Sunday, the largest group reservation in the ballpark’s history, according to a team spokesperson.The massive ticket purchase is part of a “Family Fun Day” at the stadium for employees of Autumn Lake health care, which operates more than 30 nursing homes and rehabilitation care centers in Maryland.The company’s festivities Sunday will also include all-you-can-eat dining in the upper deck for the company’s employees and their families, according to Rivka Heisler, Autumn Lake’s director of employee engagement. An Autumn Lake staffer will sing “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch, and Suleiman Banire, the director of nursing at a Silver Spring facility, will throw the game’s ceremonial first pitch.Heisler said she started planning months ago for the corporate event at Camden Yards. Sunday’s h...

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz warm up on No. 1 Court for their Wimbledon semifinal matches

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — With rain coming down outside, Novak Djokovic warmed up for the Wimbledon semifinals on Friday by getting some practice time under the roof on No. 1 Court.The seven-time champion will face Jannik Sinner on Centre Court later in the day. Djokovic is looking to win a 24th major title while Sinner, an eighth-seeded Italian, is trying to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time.Sinner also spent some time on No. 1 Court practicing under the roof.The last player to warm up in the second-biggest stadium at the All England Club was top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard will face Daniil Medvedev in the other men’s semifinal match on Centre Court in the late match.Medvedev, who is seeded third and won the U.S. Open in 2021, practiced Friday morning on Centre Court.___AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsThe Associated Press

3 people were seriously wounded in a stabbing at a church-run aid center in the Dutch city of Leiden

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Three people were seriously wounded Friday in a stabbing at a church-run center that houses several aid organizations in the Dutch university city of Leiden. Police said they were hunting for the male suspect who fled the scene.A motive for the 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) attack at the center, a former bakery, wasn’t immediately given.The chairman of the center, Bert Verweij, told regional broadcaster Omroep West that the wounded people were a staff member, a volunteer and a worker at one of the organizations that uses the center.Police appealed for assistance in tracking down the suspect, but warned members of the public not to approach him. They described the man as having “dark skin, short hair and beard” and said he also had a head wound.The center houses organizations that offer help to people including migrants and asylum-seekers.Further details weren’t immediately available. Calls to the center went unanswered.The Associated Press

China criticizes German call for reducing dependency on Chinese products as ‘protectionism’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China on Friday criticized a German government call for reducing dependency on Chinese products and decreasing other potentially unstable factors in bilateral relations, calling it a form of protectionism. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that a long-awaited German government strategy for relations with China that pointed to a “systemic rivalry” went “against the trend of the times, and will only aggravate divisions in the world.” Wang said the two countries were “partners rather than rivals,” a typical ruling Chinese Communist Party formulation for dismissing criticism. “We believe that to engage in competition and protectionism in the name of de-risking and reducing dependency, and to overstretch the concept of security and politicize normal cooperation will only be counterproductive and create artificial risks,” Wang told reporters at a daily briefing. Germany has Europe’s biggest economy and its strategy seeks to balance robust trade ties with China,...

Embassies urge Hungary’s government to retract discriminatory LGBTQ+ laws ahead of Pride march

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The embassies of 38 countries and more than 10 other cultural institutions urged Hungary’s government on Friday to retract laws seen as limiting the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.This comes ahead of the Budapest Pride march on Saturday. The joint statement, signed by embassies from countries including the United States, Germany and Ukraine, expressed “full support for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) community in Hungary and their rights to equality and non-discrimination.”They said they were concerned with legislation and political rhetoric in Hungary and elsewhere “that is in tension with principles of non-discrimination, international human rights law and human dignity,” and called on governments to cease the stigmatization of LGBTQ+ people and “to eliminate laws and policies that discriminate against them.”Hungary’s right-wing government has enacted a series of policies in recent ye...

Ons Jabeur and Marketa Vondrousova are 0-3 in Grand Slam finals. One will win Wimbledon

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Ons Jabeur left Wimbledon a year ago without the trophy but more confident than ever that she would win a Grand Slam title one day.Marketa Vondrousova was at the All England Club in 2022, too. Not to play, mind you, but only to be a tourist in London and to cheer for her best friend — and doubles partner — while wearing a cast on her surgically repaired left wrist, unsure of what her tennis future might look like.They play similarly varied games, with drop shots and changes of pace. They also are a combined 0-3 in major finals. That will change Saturday, when No. 6 seed Jabeur and the unseeded Vondrousova play each other at Centre Court for the women’s singles championship.“I would say I always believed. But sometimes you would question and doubt it if it’s going to happen, if it’s ever going to happen. Being in the last stages, I think it does help you believe more,” said Jabeur, a 28-year-old from Tunisia.She is the only Arab woman and only North Af...

Man shot, critically wounded during armed robbery at Bucktown liquor store

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

CHICAGO — A man was shot and critically wounded during an armed robbery at a liquor store in Bucktown.The robbery happened around 10:30 p.m. Thursday at Bucktown Food and Liquor in the 1900 block of Milwaukee Avenue.Police said about three offenders entered the liquor store and held up a total of six people at gunpoint. The offenders demanded property from a 26-year-old man and then shot him in the abdomen.The man was transported to Stroger Hospital in critical condition. The five other victims had their property stolen, but were not injured. CPD: Body of man found in Chicago River near The Salt Shed The offenders then fled the scene.No one is in custody. Area Five detectives are investigating.

Friday Forecast: High 80s, humid, storm risk

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:37 GMT

Friday: AM Storms, midday sun and humid, late day/eve storms, WSW 5-15 G25. 89. Chance of severe thunderstorms Friday night is looking mostly cloudy, thunderstorms, S 5-10 G15. High: 68Chicago Area Radar | WGN TVSaturday: Mostly cloudy, AM showers, late day/evening storm chance, W 5-10 G15. High: 84