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German director of Florence’s Accademia Gallery who fought for David’s image worries for job

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

MILAN (AP) — The German director of Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia has succeeded in drawing visitors’ attention to masterpieces beyond Michelangelo’s towering David, while winning landmark court cases to protect the marble masterpiece’s familiar image against misuse.But even as Cecilie Hollberg highlights her achievements at Italy’s second-most-visited museum since arriving in 2015, rumors circulate that Italy’s far-right-led government intends to send her packing before her contract expires next year as it seeks to put more Italians in top cultural jobs.It would be deja vu all over again. In 2019, another right-wing government fired Hollberg on short notice, and put the Accademia under the control of another Florence landmark, the Uffizi museum. She was reinstated the following year and the Accademia’s autonomy restored after that government fell.Hollberg said she can’t explain why the Accademia’s role as an independent museum is again under siege. She said sh...

Spain’s early election could put the far right in power for the first time since Franco

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s general election on Sunday could make the country the latest European Union member swing to the populist right, a shift that would represent a major upheaval after five years under a left-wing government. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its small far-left coalition partner, Unidas Podemos (“United We Can”), took a beating in local and regional elections. The center-right Popular Party emerged from the May 28 elections with the most votes. Polls for the general election have consistently put the PP in first place — but likely needing support from the far-right Vox party to form a government.Such a coalition would return a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country transitioned to democracy following the 1975 death of Gen. Francisco Franco, the dictator who ruled Spain for nearly 40 years. The Popular Party and Vox have agreed to govern together i...

Bill that would allow French police to locate suspects by tapping their devices is up for a vote

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers plan to vote Tuesday on a sweeping justice reform bill that includes a provision for allowing law enforcement agents to remotely tap into the cameras, microphones and location services of phones and other internet-connected devices used by some criminal suspects.The proposed law plainly stipulates that the procedure can be executed “without the knowledge or consent of its owner or possessor” but is limited to suspects involved in terrorism, organized crime and other illegal activities punishable by five or more years in prison.The language authorizing eavesdropping is contained in a broader reform bill aimed at “modernizing” penal procedures, reflecting what polls indicate is a public demand for more law and order.“The goal of this law is clear: a faster, clearer, modern justice,” French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said when he presented the legislation in the spring. Left-wing parties generally oppose the surveillance provision, but President ...

As UK housing costs soar, anxiety grips homeowners and renters: ‘I’m in meltdown’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

LONDON (AP) — For Sadie James, the cost-of-living crisis in Britain just never seems to ease. First, it was skyrocketing energy and food costs stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, the 61-year-old worries whether she can keep a roof over her head.James, who lives in south London, has struggled for years to stay on top of her finances. Just as she was starting to clear her debts, she’s back to square one: Her rent keeps rising, and on top of higher food and energy bills, her welfare payments just can’t keep up.“I’m actually in a meltdown each time I think about it,” said James, who cannot work because of underlying health problems. “I’m literally depressed, I’m angry, I’m totally overwhelmed about it because I don’t want to lose my home.”Interest rates have risen rapidly in recent months, which in turn have ratcheted up mortgages and rents across the United Kingdom. Rates have hit 5% after being below 1% for the past decade as the Bank of England ha...

Matt Wallner finally gets his first-at bat in third stint with Twins

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

SEATTLE — Twins outfielder Matt Wallner wasn’t in the starting lineup for the fourth straight game, but the rookie finally did get into a game, pinch hitting late in Monday’s 7-6 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.With two out and nobody in the eighth, Wallner pinch hit for right-hander Michael A. Taylor but struck out against right-hander Andres Munoz.The Twins recalled Wallner, 25, in time to play in last Friday’s victory at Oakland, but as the team started its fourth game of this seven-game road trip, the outfielder from Forest Lake had yet to see his name on manager Rocco Baldelli’s lineup card.“You know,” Baldelli said, “we lose a third baseman, we get a left-handed-hitting outfielder.”Optioned May 29 to the Saints after hitting .636 with a 1.692 OPS in his last four big league games, Wallner remained hot in St. Paul, hitting .308 with 11 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 31 RBIs, 20 walks and 34 runs scored in 36 games. But finding games to play instead of Kepler, a te...

Ukraine reports casualties in Russian shelling of city of Kharkiv

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

One man was killed and several people were injured on Sunday (16 July) in Russian shelling of a district of Kharkiv, the biggest city in eastern Ukraine, local officials said.Oleh Sinehubov, Kharkiv's governor, said on Telegram that one civilian man born in 1999 was killed in the attack on a southern part of Kharkiv. In an earlier post he said a fire had broken out at the site, and medics had hospitalized three men with shrapnel wounds and treated one person on the spot.Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a total of seven people were injured in the shelling of the southern Osnovyanskyi district of the city. Reuters could not independently confirm details of the attack and casualty figures.Ukraine recaptured much of the eastern Kharkiv region in September, with Russian forces occupying now only a small strip of land there.

Azerbaijan says Russia and Armenia not fulfilling Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

Azerbaijan said on Saturday (15 July) that Russia and Armenia are not fulfilling the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave ceasefire deal, hours after the European Union urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to refrain from "violence and harsh rhetoric".Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, a small mountainous enclave that is part of Azerbaijan but populated by about 120,000 ethnic Armenians.After heavy fighting and a Russian-brokered ceasefire, Azerbaijan in 2020 took over areas that had been controlled by ethnic Armenians in and around the mountain enclave."Armenia has not fulfilled many provisions of the statement, and Russia has not ensured the full implementation of the statement within its obligations," the Azeri foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been discussing a peace deal, in which Russia is also pushing to retain a leading role and in which the two countries would agree on bo...

Rolling Hills Estates residents anxious for answers after devastating landslide

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

Residents in Rolling Hills Estates are anxious to get answers after a devastating landslide destroyed 12 homes earlier this month. Another five homes have been red-tagged and it's unclear if insurance will cover any of the damage. A town hall meeting, sponsored by L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn and Sheriff Robert Luna, was held Monday night in Ranchos Palos Verdes. A city official was also on hand to discuss the latest on the landslide. Hahn said the county tax assessor is working to make sure the now homeless Rolling Hills Estates residents do not have to pay a huge tax bill come November. As for continuing to pay their mortgages, that’s unclear.  “We don’t have an answer on the mortgage question, but we are connecting them to resources directly to help them navigate that question,” Rolling Hills Assistant City Manager Alexa Davis said. Crime, including the couple caught allegedly burglarizing the vacant Peartree Lane homes, was also a topic at the town...

Israeli protesters block highways in ‘day of disruption’ against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli protesters blocked highways and gathered outside Tel Aviv’s stock exchange and military headquarters on Tuesday in the latest countrywide demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul. The latest “day of disruption” came as longtime allies of the prime minister pushed a contentious piece of legislation through a parliamentary committee ahead of a vote expected next week. Additional protests are planned throughout the day.Demonstrators, many of them military reservists, created human chains and blocked one of the entrances to the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv. Outside the Tel Aviv stock exchange, demonstrators ignited smoke bombs, drummed and chanted, and held up signs reading “save our startup nation” and “dictatorship will kill the economy.” Netanyahu heads the most ultranationalist and religiously conservative government in Israel’s 75-year history. He proposed a series of ...

Ohtani ties score with 35th homer, Angels beat Yankees 4-3 in 10 innings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani tied the score in the seventh inning with his major league-leading 35th home run and pinch-hitter Michael Stefanic had a game-ending single in the 10th to give the Los Angeles Angels a 4-3 win over the New York Yankees on Monday night.Los Angeles trailed 3-1 when Ohtani hit a two-run drive off Michael King, then made a demonstrative flip of his bat. Ohtani has homered in three straight games for the third time and surpassed his home run total last year. He has 19 homers in his last 31 games.Ohtani had three hits and increased his average to .306. He struck out in the ninth against Nick Ramirez (0-2), winced and grabbed at his back.With Chad Wallace on second as the automatic runner in the 10th, Stefanic hit a changeup from Ramirez into left field to give the Angels their fourth walk-off win. The Yankees have lost seven of nine games, including three of four since the All-Star break, and dropped into sole possession of last place in the AL East. N...