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Embattled Macron struggles to reconnect with France

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

DUNKIRK, France — Emmanuel Macron couldn’t have hoped for a more engaging crowd. A group of women — workers with hard helmets and protective gear — were asking for a photo. “You’re being mobbed by the women of Aluminium Dunkerque!” they laughed. Standing amid the crowd of factory workers in the port city of Dunkirk, the French president was in his element: shaking hands, fielding questions and taking selfies. “Any more questions?” he asked.But he did not address the elephant in the room. And none of the blue-collar workers shouted about Macron’s unpopular, controversial pensions reform. It wasn’t that nobody dared ruin the unveiling of an electric battery giga-factory project; Rather these workers had been hand-picked by their employer.In the past weeks, Macron has been hitting the road across France visiting towns big and small, in what he has called a bid to “engage” with the people after the bruising debates over his controversial pensions reform.France has been rocked by w...

Europe’s critical struggle with its economic paradigm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

Simone Tagliapietra is a senior fellow at Bruegel, Brussels. Jeromin Zettelmeyer is the director of Bruegel. Ahead of European elections, economic policy debates tend to follow a familiar pattern. Among eurocrats, Brussels think tanks and European Union-friendly national elites, there’s a fair amount of consensus on the policies needed to get to the desired destination, which is typically a variant of an “ever-closer union.” This means a deeper single market, banking union, capital markets union and effective common action on issues of concern through regulation and, more controversially, joint fiscal instruments. The main issue is how to balance ambition and pragmatism, which requires reconciling diverging national interests while not losing direction. This upcoming election cycle, however, is different. The main theme isn’t an ever-closer union — although this may yet resurface. Rather, it is how to respond to existential threats, including the possible escalat...

Several injured in Stoughton crash, one victim with gunshot wound 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

Several people were injured, including one person found with a gunshot wound after a crash in Stoughton Wednesday night, police said.Stoughton police said the crash happened at the intersection of Plain Street and West Street,Police said the person with the gunshot wound was taken to a hospital. Several other people were also taken to hospitals with unknown injuries, according to police.The intersection was closed to all traffic as of around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday. On scene, three cars appeared to have been involved in the crash. Police said the incident remained under investigation, adding that the intersection will remain closed until further notice.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Surveillance video appears to show person firing gun in Dorchester intersection

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

Recently obtained surveillance video shows what appears to be a person firing a gun in a busy intersection in Dorchester at the same time of a report of shots fired in the area Tuesday afternoon.The video was captured by a security camera at a local business at the intersection of Gallivan Boulevard and Dorchester Avenue.The business owner said he has shared the video with police. In the video, a person dressed in gray can be seen walking across the street. The person appears to take several shots at nearby cars before running off. A home across the street was grazed by a bullet. No injuries were reported in the shots fired incident.Boston Police told 7NEWS they were still actively looking for the shooter as of Wednesday. . Community leaders have raised concerns about rising crime, saying it’s likely to keep increasing during the summer months. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Police Commissioner Michael Cox are scheduled to host a press conference discussing community s...

Francisco Alvarez hits 6th homer of the season, Kodai Senga throws career-high 106 pitches in 4-2 loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

CHICAGO — Francisco Alvarez did all he could to will his club to a victory Wednesday night at Wrigley Field going 2-for-3 with a two-run homer off former Mets right-hander Marcus Stroman. But the Mets’ bats were as cold as the nearly 20 MPH winds blowing in from Lake Michigan and the offense produced little else in a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs.The Mets, who came into the Windy City riding a five-game winning streak, dropped the series with their second straight loss.Alvarez’s home run came in the top of the third. The biting winds that blew in from right field made life difficult for right-handed hitters, but Alvarez drove the ball right through the thick, icy air sending it back 390 feet for his sixth home run of the season. Alvarez put the Mets up but the lead wouldn’t last long.The Cubs (22-26) took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the frame.Kodai Senga (4-3) masterfully got out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings to rebound from that rough, three-run thi...

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams opens new San Diego shop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams is celebrating the grand opening of its North Park spot with free scoops on June 5.The Ohio-based company is offering its reward members free ice cream at all Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams locations nationwide from 7 p.m. to close.The North Park shop (2871 University Avenue) will be open on June 5 until 11 p.m., while its Carlsbad location (7740 El Camino Real), which arrived to North County in April 2022, closes at 10 p.m. Here’s the scoop: Salt & Straw opening new store in San Diego The first 25-50 people will receive free swag bags, the company said.Sign up to become a Jeni's Splendid Rewards member to take advantage of the deal.."Plus, partygoers will get sneak peeks of upcoming drops. It’s our way of saying thank you for being a Rewards member," the company said on its website. Santa Barbara-based ice cream chain expanding to San Diego area Jeni Britton, the founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, says the flavors used with their ice ...

South Korea, US troops to hold massive live-fire drills near border with North Korea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries were set to begin massive live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls such a hostile invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.Thursday’s drills, the first of the allies’ five rounds of firing exercises until mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea has typically reacted to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests.Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in mid-April. North Korea has argued its torrid pace of tests was meant to respond to the expanded military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, but observers say the North aims to advance its weapons development then wrest greater concessions from its rivals in eventual diplom...

Movie Review: ‘About My Father’ is a messy, limp rom-com with Robert De Niro as bait

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

If you were to resurrect the tired storyline of a young couple having to meet their partners’ parents and were looking around for someone to play the gruff, disapproving future father-in-law, one name should definitely not pop out. Robert De Niro.Yes, he’s hysterical as the intense, no-nonsense, overprotective dad who’d make any suitor turned wide-eyed. Yes, he’s good at playing the role with the straightest of faces. We know that because he’s done it to great effect in “Meet the Parents.” Many times. And yet “About My Father” brings out this revered Oscar-winner for a sloppy reprise of that role in a consistently unfunny rom-com that you get the distinct feeling might not be in theaters at all if he didn’t lend his deadpan glower. Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco has co-written and stars in this big sloppy Italian American kiss about family that not only leans into stereotypes — working-class Italians on one side, WASPs on the other — but plows the field ...

Changes proposed for religious order that houses pedophile priests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

WGN Films presents “Sanctuary of Sin,” a series looking at a little-known religious order and the role it played in the Catholic church sex abuse crisis. This is Part 3 of 3.David Clohessy says he was abused multiple times by his parish priest.It began when he was age 11 or 12 and a volunteer at the church.“And to repay me he would take me on out-of-town trips,” he said. “It was always on those trips that he molested me. Always when it was just the two of us. I was just terrorized. I had no idea what was going on or what to do.”Clohessy later sued the priest but the lawsuit was rejected because the statute of limitations had expired.It was a crushing blow but nothing like the news Clohessy would soon receive.“Shortly after that I found out [the priest] had molested three of my brothers,” Clohessy said. “It absolutely just shattered our family.”One of Clohessy’s brothers who was abused grew up to become a priest. In a terrible twist, the brother was later accused of sexually abusing ...

KCSO: Suspect dead after 48 hour crime spree, shootout with police in Batavia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:42 GMT

BATAVIA, Ill. — A man is dead after going on a two-day-long crime spree that ended in a shootout with police at a busy intersection in Batavia Near Geneva late Wednesday afternoon, according to Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain.Police said the suspect had been on a 48-hour suburban crime spree when he carjacked a vehicle in Aurora. Kane County Sheriff's deputies spotted the stolen vehicle in the area of Randall Road and Silver Glen in South Elgin and pursued him, which led to a Kane County sheriff's deputy using their vehicle to stop the suspect, who was in a Honda Accord, near the intersection of Fabyan Parkway and Randall Road shortly before 4 p.m.Once the vehicle was stopped, deputies deployed a K-9 to subdue the man getting out of the Accord, who displayed a weapon toward deputies. An exchange of gunfire ensued where the K-9 and the suspect were hit.The suspect was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, while the K-9 — named Hudson — later succumbed to his injuries and also died....