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Flood risk in Germany reignites coalition fight over debt rules

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

BERLIN — A widespread risk of floods in Germany has prompted renewed infighting within the country’s tripartite ruling coalition over calls to relax strict debt rules to provide aid to those affected.Rising water levels across large swaths of Germany in recent weeks have led to calls among members of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Greens for increased federal aid. Rolf Mützenich, the SPD’s parliamentary group chair, has called for new spending on flood aid to be counted outside Germany’s regular budget in order to circumvent the country’s constitutional debt brake, which restricts the federal deficit to 0.35 percent of GDP except in emergencies.“It is not a question of doing the calculations, but of the political will for the federal government to contribute to managing the damage,” Mützenich was quoted as saying on X, formerly Twitter.Leaders of the fiscally conservative Free Democrats (FDP) — a party in the ruling coalition with the SPD and Greens — ...

Under pressure, MIT’s Kornbluth vows to use ‘every lever’ to address conflict on campus

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

New York (CNN) — MIT President Sally Kornbluth, the only university president who testified before Congress last month and is still in power, said the school is looking for ways to address tensions from the Israel-Hamas war, even as pressure mounts on her to step down.“I’m working to use every lever available to address conflict on our campus, enhance the tenor of our discourse and help us find improved ways to live and work together here at MIT,” Kornbluth said in a memo on Wednesday.The memo comes after Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire who successfully fought to end Claudine Gay’s presidency at Harvard, has set his sights on Kornbluth.Minutes after Gay’s resignation made headlines, Ackman posted on social media: “Et tu Sally?”Kornbluth acknowledged the pressure on universities right now.“The Israel-Hamas war continues to cause deep pain for many around the world, including at MIT, and is an ongoing source of tension in our community,”...

Stocks up 25% in 2023 vs. 5% gains for homes. Why the gap?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

Stock performance clobbered home prices in 2023, the year after the reverse was true.My trusty spreadsheet looked at a half-century of stock-trading patterns (the Wilshire 5000-stock index) and home-price swings (the Federal Housing Finance Agency US index) to determine how these two assets vary in price fluctuations.Consider that the Wilshire was up 25% in 2023. Only 12 years have fared better since 1974.Why the pop? Stock investors spent much of 2023 worried about a recession. It was only late in the year that trader sentiment turned toward an economic “soft landing” – motivation to bid up share prices anticipating a less-than-horrific 2024.By the way, a similar “no deep recession” mentality helped US home prices a bit in 2023, too.REAL ESTATE NEWSLETTER: Get our free ‘Home Stretch’ by email. SUBSCRIBE HERE!The FHFA home index was rising at a 5% annual rate as of September, the latest reading available. That would rank as the 29th-best year.Yet that seeming...

Chicago Bears’ Jaylon Johnson and Montez Sweat are named Pro Bowlers for the 1st time

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson and defensive end Montez Sweat were named Pro Bowlers for the first time Wednesday.Johnson’s selection to the 2024 Pro Bowl Games, which will be held in Orlando, Fla., in early February, comes amid a career season for the fourth-year Bears player. Johnson has four interceptions, including a pick-six, 10 passes defended, a forced fumble and 36 tackles in 14 games.He has allowed a career-low 50.9 passer rating by opposing quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Reference.“It is special that God has blessed me with the opportunity and favor to be selected for the Pro Bowl,” Johnson said in a statement released by the Bears. “I’m thankful for all of those who have played a role in my success because when I win, we all win.”Johnson has been open about aiming to be an All-Pro in this contract season, after which the Bears must try to either work out an extension, use the franchise or transition tag, or let Johnson...

Police searching for suspect after Ajax gas station robbed at gunpoint

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

Police in Durham Region are searching for a suspect after a gas station in Ajax was robbed at gunpoint.Officers were called to a Shell gas station on Salem Road South just north of Highway 401 around 3:45 a.m. on Dec. 13.It is alleged that a male walked in to the store and asked to buy cigarettes from the employee behind the register. When the worker opened the register the suspect allegedly pulled out a gun and demanded cash from the till.The suspect fled the store before officers arrived.The victim was not injured.Police are searching for a male suspect with a medium build, approximately six feet tall and say he was dressed in a black jacket with black pants.Anyone with additional information about the incident is being asked to contact police.

Students march in Prague to honor the victims of the worst mass killing in Czech history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Hundreds of students and other Czechs marched in silence in the Czech capital on Thursday to honor the victims of the country’s worst mass killing two weeks ago that left 14 dead.The march started at an impromptu memorial in front of Prague’s Charles University headquarters where thousands came to light candles after the Dec 21 shooting.“Our academic community has been hurt but not broken,” Charles University Rector Milena Králíčková said. “Our steps on the streets of Prague towards the Faculty of Arts will symbolize our way to recovery.”Králíčková together with Faculty of Arts Dean Eva Lehečková led the march carrying an oil lamp lit from the candles through Prague’s Old Town to the nearby Palach Square where the shooting occurred inside the main faculty building.Twenty-five other people were wounded before the gunman killed himself.The students formed a human chain around the building in a symbolic hug before lighting a fire at the square while bells in nearby churc...

Germany’s government waters down a cost-cutting plan that infuriated the country’s farmers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Thursday watered down cost-saving plans that have infuriated farmers, announcing that it is giving up a proposal to scrap a car tax exemption for farming vehicles and will stagger cuts to tax breaks for diesel used in agriculture.The cuts were part of a package agreed last month by leaders of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition to fill a 17 billion-euro ($18.6 billion) hole in the 2024 budget. Farmers staged a protest with tractors in Berlin and threatened more demonstrations this month, and even Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir spoke out against the cuts being implemented in full. He said farmers have no alternative to diesel.The budget revamp was necessary after Germany’s highest court annulled an earlier decision to repurpose 60 billion euros (almost $66 billion) originally meant to cushion the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic for measures to help combat climate change and modernize the country. The maneuver fell foul of G...

Feeling caucus confusion? Your guide to how Iowa works

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The race for the White House officially begins in less than two weeks, and despite some prolonged jockeying over the election calendar, the long primary season will once again begin in Iowa with a caucus process that has served as the lead-off voting event since the 1970s.While Iowa has played an outsize role in presidential politics for generations, the details of how the caucuses actually work can surprise and mystify even hard-core political junkies. The Republican process this year is largely unchanged, but there are significant changes to the traditional voting schedule on the Democratic side. Much of what you think you know about the Iowa caucuses may no longer be applicable in 2024.Since the contested Iowa caucuses of 2016 and 2020 may seem like a long time ago, here’s an update of what they are, how they work and why they matter.What is a caucus?A political caucus is a gathering of people with a shared interest or goal. The Iowa caucuses are a series of loc...

Iran suspects suicide bombers carried out attack on commemoration for slain general that killed 84

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Investigators believe suicide bombers likely carried out an attack on a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 U.S. drone strike, state media reported Thursday, as Iran grappled with its worst militant attack in decades and as the wider Mideast remains on edge. The report by the state-run IRNA news agency quoted an unnamed “informed source.” Wednesday’s attack in Kerman killed at least 84 people and wounded another 284. It targeted a ceremony honoring Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, held as an icon by supporters of the country’s theocracy and viewed by the U.S. military as a deadly foe who aided militants who killed American troops in Iraq. No group has yet to claim responsibility for the attack. The IRNA report quoted the official as saying that surveillance footage from the route to the commemoration at Kerman’s Matryrs Cemetery clearly showed a male suicide bomber detonating explosives. The offici...

Italian Premier Meloni says curbing migrant arrivals from Africa is about investment, not charity

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told her European Union partners Thursday that curbing migration flows from African countries has less to do with offers of charity than strong partnerships coupled with strategic investments in those nations. Meloni told reporters at a year-end news conference that last month’s deal on the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact partially improved the situation for Italy and other asylum countries, but does not represent a solution to increasing migrant arrivals.“What needs to be done in Africa is not charity,” she said. “What needs to be done in Africa is to build cooperation and serious strategic relationships as equals, not predators.”Meloni also stressed the need “to defend the right not to have to emigrate … and this is done with investments and a strategy.”Reforms EU leaders agreed on last month are based on a new set of regulations governing how member states respond to people arriving in Europe. The deal has been ha...