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Meloni government backs bridge in earthquake zone

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government has agreed to resuscitate an ancient project to build a suspension bridge connecting Sicily to mainland Italy — which happens to be in the middle of an earthquake zone.Rome aims to “resume as quickly as possible the planning process for the bridge over the Strait of Messina,” a governmental decree issued late Thursday night said. Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini, the project’s staunchest advocate, hailed it as “historic day” for Italy.The bridge “has the ambition of becoming the most modern and sustainable in the world,” the far-right League leader tweeted Thursday evening, labeling the project “a model for an Italy which believes in itself.”Plans to build a bridge across the 3.7-kilometer-wide Strait of Messina to connect the island of Sicily to the rest of Italy have been discussed for millennia, going all the way back to the Romans, according to some historians. They were revived...

Boston celebrates Evacuation Day with free parking

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

Boston is celebrating Evacuation Day on Friday with free parking across the city. Evacuation Day commemorates the day during the Revolutionary War when British troops evacuated from Boston. To recognize this historical significance, city leaders have made all parking meters free with no time limits.

FBI offers $20,000 reward in case of missing American woman who was kidnapped from her home in Mexico

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

(CNN) — More than a month after a 63-year-old US citizen was kidnapped from her home in Mexico, the FBI has announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.Maria del Carmen Lopez was kidnapped February 9 in Pueblo Nuevo, a municipality in the southwestern Mexican state of Colima, the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said in a release Thursday.Lopez is also a Mexican citizen, according to a statement from the Colima Attorney General’s office, which said it is working with the FBI on the investigation.Though the FBI did not share details on the case, it described Lopez as having blonde hair, brown eyes and tattooed eyeliner.The FBI’s announcement comes nearly two weeks after the violent kidnapping of four Americans in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, two of whom were killed, and three weeks after the disappearance of three women who crossed into Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market.The investig...

Patriots signing Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki in free agency, per report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

The Patriots are signing former Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki to a free-agent deal, according to reports.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Source: Patriots re-sign LS Joe Cardona to 4-year deal New England Patriots | Patriots host Trey Flowers and an ex-Lions LB on free-agent visits New England Patriots | Patriots reportedly hosting 3 free-agent veterans on visits Thursday New England Patriots | Source: Patriots re-signing LB Mack Wilson to 1-year deal New England Patriots | Source: Patriots signing veteran RB James Robinson to 2-year deal Gesicki played on the franchise tag last season in Miami, where his numbers fell to 32 catches for 362 yards and five touchdowns under new coach Mike McDaniel. In each of the previous two years, Gesicki topped 700 receiving yards. The 27-year-old is a receiving tight end who can run routes out of the slot and out wide, but has rarely been used as an in-line bloc...

Danish prince moves to US for defense industry attache post

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Prince Joachim of Denmark is moving to the United States to take up the post of defense industry attache at the Danish embassy in Washington starting in September, the Danish defense ministry said on Friday.“I am proud that I still get the opportunity to represent Denmark internationally in the area of security and defence” the 53-year-old prince said in a statement. “Transatlantic cooperation is a high-priority area, and I am honored that they have found me qualified for the task.” Prince Joachim is the younger son of Queen Margrethe II, and is the sixth in the line of succession to the Danish throne. He has an extensive military background with the Danish Armed Forces and elsewhere starting from 1987. The prince has held a similar position at the Danish embassy in Paris since 2020 but announced in November that he would leave the position this summer.Last year, a split arose between him and the Danish royal house when Queen Margrethe decided ...

Greece raises minimum wage to pre-bailout levels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece announced on Friday an increase in the minimum wage that will restore pay to levels existing before sweeping cuts were imposed more than a decade ago during an international bailout. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the gross minimum monthly salary will go up on April 1 to 780 euros ($830) from 713 euros. “I have no illusions. We know that in our country, wages are still low, and they are being squeezed even more by inflation,” said Mitsotakis, whose center-right government faces a general election in the spring. Under pressure from lenders, Greece imposed severe pay cuts in 2012 during bailout programs funded by a European Union rescue fund and the International Monetary Fund. As the country was on the brink of bankruptcy, the government took control of wage policy ‒ previously set through labor negotiations ‒ and slashed the minimum monthly pay from 751 euros to 586 euros. Greek salaries are paid out over 14 installments annually, to provide ext...

China’s Xi to meet Putin as Beijing seeks bolder global role

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to visit Russia from Monday to Wednesday, an apparent show of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin amid sharpening East-West tensions over the war in Ukraine and the latest sign of Beijing’s emboldened diplomatic ambitions.Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is expected to dominate Putin and Xi’s discussions. China has refused to condemn Moscow’s aggression and sought to project itself as neutral in the conflict even while Beijing declared last year that it had a “no-limits” friendship with Russia. Both China and Russia announced Xi’s trip to Moscow on Friday. The visit offers a diplomatic shot in the arm for Putin as Western leaders have sought to isolate him over the war, which is now in its 13th month. China’s refusal to condemn Russia while denouncing Western sanctions and accusing NATO and the United States of provoking Putin’s military action has irked Washington as it competes with Beijin...

Cambodia celebrates return of ‘priceless’ stolen artifacts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Centuries-old cultural artifacts that had been illegally smuggled out from Cambodia were welcomed home Friday at a celebration led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who offered thanks for their return and appealed for further efforts to retrieve such stolen treasures.Many, if not all, of the items displayed at the government’s offices Friday had been looted from Cambodia during periods of war and instability, including in the 1970s when the country was under the brutal rule of the communist Khmer Rouge. Through unscrupulous art dealers, they made their way into the hands of private collectors and museums around the world.A statement from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts described the returned artifacts as embodying the “priceless cultural heritage and the souls of generations of Khmer ancestors.”The statement credited the items’ return to “tremendous cooperation and support” from public and private institutions, national and international experts, and close...

US envoy ‘optimistic’ about upcoming Serbia-Kosovo summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A United States envoy of Friday urged Serbia and Kosovo to implement a European Union-facilitated agreement on normalizing their relations, calling it the best option to preserve peace and security in the region. Envoy Gabriel Escobar was in Pristina ahead of Saturday’s summit meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Ohrid, North Macedonia.“We think that this European proposal, facilitated through the EU dialog, offers a tremendous opportunity to create a peaceful, sustainable and productive relationship between two countries, two important countries of the region,” Escobar said after talks with Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani.Last month in Brussels, Vucic and Kurti gave their tacit approval to the EU plan to end months of political crisis and help improve ties. The summit will tackle the most contentious issue on which the two sides fundamentally disagree – the recognition of Kosovo’s stat...

Elite officers in Israel’s military plan Sunday walkout

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:56 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hundreds of elite officers in Israel’s military reserves say they will not show up for duty starting on Sunday in protest over the government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system. The firm date is the first time set for an unprecedented political protest within the security services. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial legal overhaul has sparked weeks of mass protests across Israel amidst a deteriorating security situation in the occupied West Bank and rising tensions with Palestinians. In two separate letters published Thursday, about 750 elite officers from the Air Force, special forces, and Mossad threatened to stop volunteering for duty. The typically taboo talk underlines how deeply the overhaul plan has divided Israel and is now tearing at what Israeli Jews see as their most respected institution, the military.After completing three years of mandatory service, many Israelis continue in the reserves until their 40s, when service bec...