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Marine Le Pen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

Whisper it: Marine Le Pen could well be the next French president. All the far-right leader has to do is fly under the radar for the next few years, keep her hands clean while President Emmanuel Macron pushes through his unpopular reforms, and continue to rebrand herself and her party all the way into the Elysée.Previously kept at bay by the “front républicain” — an informal pact that saw French voters on the center left and right come together to keep those on the fringes out of office — Le Pen’s National Rally party is raking in ever-more ballots with every election. In recent polling, 42 percent of respondents said they had already voted for a National Rally list or candidate, up from 30 percent in 2017. And in ominous news for the European Union, the latest French polling data for the European Parliament election puts her party in first place, well ahead of Macron’s Renaissance. While National Rally is no longer seeking Frexit, the big fear in Brussels is that Le Pen will underm...

Ursula von der Leyen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

Name a mightier president of the European Commission than Ursula von der Leyen. We’ll wait. The 65-year-old, the first German to hold the post since Walter Hallstein left office in 1967, amassed unprecedented power (or “competences,” to use the naff EU parlance) as she steered the bloc through a series of epoch-defining crises. With a reshuffle of the EU’s top jobs due next year, von der Leyen appears to find herself with the enviable choice of either serving another five-year term in the Berlaymont — or perhaps giving in to U.S. President Joe Biden’s overtures and becoming the next NATO chief.The former German defense minister has put her stamp on every recent challenge, from securing COVID vaccines to corralling EU countries to impose sanctions on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For a while it looked like she had comprehensively answered Henry Kissinger’s infamous — and apocryphal — question: “Who do I call when I want to call Europe?”More recently, however, v...

Gérald Darmanin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

Gérald Darmanin is young, ambitious, talented, backed by the world’s richest man — and likely France’s next prime minister. The 41-year-old hard-liner is seen in political circles as a rising star in President Emmanuel Macron’s flagging Renaissance party, able to reach across the aisle to ram through unpopular reforms, and entrusted by the president with negotiating some of the stickiest pieces of legislation, including a deadlocked migration bill. But his ambitions for France’s top job are likely to be curbed by a rape scandal and a history of sexual harrassment allegations.Darmanin, who rose through the ranks of the right-wing Les Républicains during the Nicolas Sarkozy era and remains close with the former president, was Macron’s man on the front lines throughout last summer as the government dealt with riots following the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. The interior minister cemented his reputation as “France’s Top Cop” by (once again) strongly backing the police — and ea...

Columbus Blue Jackets win 5-2, handing Boston Bruins their third straight loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Yegor Chinakhov had a goal and an assist, lifting the Columbus Blue Jackets over Boston 5-2 on Monday night, handing the Bruins to their third straight loss.Dmitri Voronkov, Ivan Provorov, Kirill Marchenko and Justin Danforth also scored for Columbus, and Boone Jenner added a pair of assists. Spencer Martin stopped 31 shots for Columbus, which has won three of its last four games and beat Boston for the first time in seven games, dating back to Jan. 14, 2020.The scores by Chinakhov, Voronkov, Provorov and Marchenko marked the first time in NHL history four Russians scored in a single game for the same team.“Everybody chipped in,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “Everybody had a good game. We played really well as a team, and our goalie was really good one we needed him to be. I’m happy about it, but not overly surprised. Regardless of the score, just the way we played. We have very good people, and they want to be here, and they want to do well.”Matthew...

Apple iPhone users warned about security concerns around iOS 17 update

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

Apple iPhone users are being warned about a new security concern when upgrading to the most recent iOS 17 update. Through the update, the NameDrop feature is automatically set to “on” as the default, allowing an iPhone user to share contact information by just bringing their phone close to another iPhone. According to Apple, NameDrop was designed to share contact information only with authorized recipients. The company says users can choose the specific contact information they want to share.  The “Drop” also still has to be approved by a user for this feature to be successful. Critics, though, say this kind of configuration could be a problem. “If you had NameDrop on and I had NameDrop on, I could put my iPhone on top of yours and then after a few minutes, they start vibrating and then it starts sharing information and contact information,” said Boston College cybersecurity expert Kevin Powers. “So now, you could take that one step further and you cou...

Workers at Windham, NH transfer station find wedding ring accidentally thrown in trash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

For the third time in two years, workers at the transfer station in Windham, New Hampshire have found a wedding ring accidentally thrown in the trash. The latest find came after a woman called the transfer station on the day before Thanksgiving saying she may have thrown out her ring. “She gave me some particulars: at what time her husband threw the trash out, what was in the trash bag, what kind of car he was driving,” said Windham General Services Director Dennis Senibaldi. Speaking with 7NEWS, Senibaldi said the transfer station has surveillance cameras. Those cameras, he said, were the key to finding the lost ring. “We were able to track when he was here, exactly what time he threw the trash out and where the trash in the trailer was located,” he said. Senibaldi said the trash in question “was literally the first scoop into the trailer.”“That’s 12 feet down from the top of the trailer that we had to dig through to find her one bag,” he said....

Southwest Airlines passenger opened emergency exit, climbed onto plane’s wing while aircraft was at gate at New Orleans airport, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

(CNN) — A man on a Southwest Airlines flight opened an emergency exit door and climbed onto the plane’s wing Sunday while the aircraft was at a gate at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport, authorities said.The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said it responded to a disturbance at the airport after a 38-year-old man opened the emergency exit door to access the wing and jump out. The plane was stationary and had not departed the gate at the time of the incident, and the man was stopped by personnel on the ground and held until deputies arrived.Passenger Zed Webster told CNN he heard what sounded like an argument between two passengers across the aisle from him and was concerned they might start a fight. He said he took out his phone and began to record the incident.As soon as he pressed the record button, Webster said the passenger unlatched the lock to the emergency exit door and jumped out the window. “I was terrified,” he said.Webster’s video shows sev...

Ravens OLB David Ojabo had surgery to repair partially torn ACL, will miss rest of season | NOTES

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

Ravens outside linebacker David Ojabo had surgery last week to repair a partially torn ACL and will likely be ready for training camp next year, coach John Harbaugh said.Ojabo, the team’s 2022 second-round draft pick, had hoped to avoid surgery and play again this season, but Harbaugh said “every medical expert told him to get it fixed.”Ojabo has played just five games in two seasons after he spent most of last year recovering from a torn Achilles tendon suffered during his pro day at Michigan. He was considered a first-round talent with enormous upside as an edge rusher before that injury.“David’s going to be a great player in this league,” said Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who also coached Ojabo at Michigan. “He’s dealing with adversity right now, and he needs our support. He has it.”Stanley ‘needs to get stronger’Harbaugh said the Ravens came out of their Sunday night victory over the Los Angeles Ch...

5 things we learned from the Chicago Bears, including the thought process of OC Luke Getsy during Sunday’s loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

The Chicago Bears amended their schedule on Thanksgiving, holding a walk-through and a handful of meetings at Halas Hall as they work toward Monday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. The team returned to practice Friday, pushing to move past Sunday’s collapse in Detroit while still looking for its first NFC North victory since late in the 2021 season.Here are five things we learned Friday at Halas Hall.1. Luke Getsy defended the offensive philosophy and play calling from the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss.There was a lot to unpack after the Bears settled for two fourth-quarter field goals against the Lions and later were outscored 17-0 over the final 4:15 in a 31-26 loss. The Bears began the quarter with a failed quarterback sneak on third-and-1, then chose to kick a 40-yard field goal for a 23-14 lead rather than going for it on fourth-and-1.On their next possession, despite chewing up 8 minutes, 45 seconds of clock on a 14-play scoring drive, the Bears ...

‘Mr. Big Stuff’ singer Jean Knight dies at 80

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:49:33 GMT

By SARA CLINE (Associated Press)BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Jean Knight, a New Orleans-born soul singer known for her 1971 hit “Mr. Big Stuff,” has died at 80.Family, friends, fans and veterans of the music world mourned the loss of the Grammy-nominated singer who was considered a musical powerhouse and an integral part of New Orleans’ cultural legacy.Knight died Wednesday of natural causes in Tampa, Florida, where she was living, said family representative Mona Giamanco. She confirmed the death to The Associated Press on Monday afternoon. “Jean Knight’s legacy is not just a musical one; it is a testament to the enduring love between an artist, her hometown and the fans who adored her,” the singer’s family said in a statement. Knight got her start by singing in her cousin’s New Orleans bar shortly after graduating from high school. In the early ’70s she recorded “Mr. Big Stuff” — a sassy and soulful chart-topp...