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Borrell to join EU-US summit as Brussels seeks to present united foreign policy front

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

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will attend Friday’s EU-U.S. summit in Washington as the EU seeks to put forward a united front after a week of mixed messages on Israel policy.Borrell had not originally been scheduled to attend Friday’s summit at the White House, but now will join European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel in their meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, two officials told POLITICO. The officials were granted anonymity as they are not authorized to discuss the meeting publicly. Friday’s meeting will deal with a host of transatlantic issues, including efforts to resolve a long-running dispute over steel and aluminum. As POLITICO previously reported, Brussels and Washington plan to team up to create a joint tariff zone that will impose duties on steel and aluminum imports from non-market economies such as China, according to a draft document circulated ahead of the meeting. Under the proposed interim...

Rishi Sunak calls Hamas attacks a ‘pogrom’ as he confirms 6 Brits killed

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

LONDON — Rishi Sunak confirmed that six British citizens have been killed following Hamas’ “pogrom” in Israel, with a further 10 still missing.Updating the House of Commons on Monday, Sunak said Hamas’ deadly attacks — which killed more than 1,300 Israelis and prompted fierce retaliation by Israel — had “shocked the world.”But he invoked U.S. President Joe Biden as he said the U.K. would “as a friend” urge Israel to limit civilian casualties in its response.“We should call it by its name: it was a pogrom,” Sunak said of Hamas’ attacks, using the term for violent attacks targeting Jews.As the families of some of those missing from Israel looked on from the public gallery of the House of Commons, Sunak called for the “immediate release of all hostages” taken by Hamas and stressed: “We stand with Israel.”“The murdered and the missing come from over 30 countries, including the United Kin...

Settlement over Trump family separations at the border seeks to limit future separations for 8 years

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

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A settlement filed Monday in a long-running lawsuit over the Trump administration’s separation of parents and their children at the border bars the government from similar separations for eight years while also providing benefits like the ability for their parents to come to America and work, according to the Biden administration.The settlement between the Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been representing families separated from their children, still has to be approved by the judge. But if finalized, it would make it much more difficult for any administration including former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, to revive one of his most controversial tactics to halt immigration at the southern border if he wins next year’s election.“It is our intent to do whatever we can to make sure that the cruelty of the past is not repeated in the future. We set forth procedures thr...

Trump ‘does not have the right to say and do exactly what he pleases,’ Judge Chutkan says, issuing gag order

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

(CNN) — A federal judge on Monday issued a gag order on former President Donald Trump, limiting what he can say about special counsel Jack Smith’s federal prosecution into his alleged attempt to subvert in the 2020 presidential election.The order restricts Trump’s ability to publicly target court personnel, potential witnesses, or the special counsel and his staff. The order did not impose restrictions on disparaging comments about Washington, DC, – where the jury will take place – or certain comments about the Justice Department at large, both of which the government requested.“This is not about whether I like the language Mr. Trump uses,” Judge Tanya Chutkan said. “This is about language that presents a danger to the administration of justice.”Following the two federal indictments against the former president, Trump has lashed out against prosecutors, potential witnesses and the judge overseeing the election subversion case in Washington. Prosecutors with special counsel Jack...

Massachusetts shelters will be full by end of the month, Governor says

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

The burgeoning flow of migrants into Massachusetts has strained the state’s shelter system, which is now forecast to hit the breaking point by the end of the month, according to the governor.On Monday, Gov. Maura Healey  announced that the tens of thousands currently living in state-provided housing may be among the last the state can afford to shelter. Without intervention by the Biden Administration, Healey said, the system will not be able to help any further.“For months now, we have been expanding shelter capacity at an unsustainable rate to meet rising demand. Despite the heroic work of public officials, shelter providers and the National Guard, we have reached a point where we can no longer safely or responsibly expand,” Healey said.According to the governor, as of October 16 there are 7,000 families — 23,000 individuals, she said, half of whom are children — using the state shelter system. Massachusetts is alone among the 50 states in guaranteeing women with children and fami...

Semitruck driver killed when Colorado train derails, spilling coal cars and closing major highway

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

By JESSE BEDAYN and COLLEEN SLEVIN (Associated Press)DENVER (AP) — A semi-trailer truck driver was killed when a train derailed and a bridge collapsed, spewing coal and mangled train cars across a major highway near Pueblo, Colorado that was closed indefinitely, authorities said Monday. The 60-year-old driver was initially said to be trapped in Sunday’s accident along Interstate 25, but authorities said Monday that he had died. No other vehicles were involved, Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Gayle Perez said.The Colorado State Patrol and the sheriff’s office posted photos and videos showing a partially collapsed bridge over the interstate with the semi-truck caught beneath. The images also show a pileup of train cars, train wheels scattered across the scene and loads of coal covering a portion of the highway.The highway — the main north-south highway in Colorado — remained closed Monday morning. The Colorado Department of Transpor...

Nearly a thousand people rally in downtown to show support for Palestinians

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

SAN DIEGO -- As the ongoing war rages in Israel, nearly a thousand people gathered in downtown San Diego on Sunday to show their support for the Palestinian people.Young children with the Palestinian Youth Movement chanted "free Palestine" on the steps of the San Diego County Administration Building throughout the afternoon. They were joined by hundreds of demonstrators waving flags and holding up signs to show solidarity with the Palestinians impacted by the conflict.The protest echoes other demonstrations in cities across the globe that have drawn out thousands to call for the end of "Israeli occupation" since last Saturday, when Hamas launched a surprise attack that killed more than 1,300 Israeli citizens. Police investigate ‘hate incident’ at Islamic Center of San Diego over flyers Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the country was at war with the militants, prompting thousands of retaliatory air strikes and a "complete siege" of Gaza.As of 9 p.m. Sunday, ...

6-year-old boy is buried, mother treated after attack that police call an anti-Muslim hate crime

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

CHICAGO (AP) — A 6-year-old boy was being buried Monday and his mother was hospitalized with stab wounds after their 71-year-old landlord attacked them because of their Muslim faith and high emotions over the Israel-Hamas war globally and nationwide, police said.Jewish and Muslim groups have reported an increase of hateful rhetoric in the wake of the war, and Chicago-area landlord Joseph Czuba had made disparaging remarks about Muslims to the Palestinian American family, according to the local Council on American-Islamic Relations.On Saturday, the 32-year-old mother called 911 to report that her landlord had attacked her with a knife. She ran into a bathroom and kept fighting him off, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said.“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff’s statement said. The man suspected in the ...

Venezuela and opposition to resume talks in Barbados, mediator Norway says

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

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Venezuela’s government and opposition will resume their dialogue, mediated by Norway, with talks scheduled for Tuesday in Barbados, Norway’s embassy in Mexico said Monday in a brief statement posted to the platform X.Mexico hosted multiple rounds of talks in 2021 and 2022. When they last met in November 2022, the sides agreed to create a U.N.-managed fund to finance health, food and education programs for the poor.The U.S. government, in response, agreed to allow oil giant Chevron to pump Venezuelan oil.Colombia and other countries have tried in recent months to restart negotiations, but the government of President Nicolás Maduro has demanded that the U.S. drop economic sanctions and unfreeze Venezuelan funds held overseas as a condition of resuming talks. Norway’s statement Monday said that the two sides had decided to resume the dialogue “with the objective of reaching a political agreement.” Venezuela’s government did not immediately comment.The dialogue ...

LinkedIn cuts more than 600 workers, about 3% of workforce

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

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP) — LinkedIn said Monday it is laying off hundreds of employees amounting to about 3% of the social media company’s workforce.The Microsoft-owned career network is cutting about 668 roles across its engineering, product, talent and finance teams. “Talent changes are a difficult, but necessary and regular part of managing our business,” the company said in a statement. The job cuts follow another more than 700 layoffs LinkedIn announced in May, as well as thousands more this year from parent company Microsoft, which has owned the professional-networking service since buying it for $26 billion in 2016.LinkedIn keeps growing and said its annual revenue surpassed $15 billion for the first time in the fiscal year that ended in June. The service, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, makes money from advertisements on the platform as well as from users who pay to subscribe for premium features.LinkedIn reports having about 19,500 employees.Redmond, Washington-...