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Poland, Ukraine ready to hold talks over grain dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

Poland and Ukraine said they are ready to start negotiations “in the coming days” to resolve their dispute over imports of Ukrainian grain.  Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi said on Thursday he and his Polish counterpart had agreed to “find a solution that takes into account the interests of both countries” after a phone conversation.“The parties confirmed the close and constructive relations that they have repeatedly demonstrated and agreed, taking this into account, to develop a variant of cooperation on export issues in the near future,” Ukraine’s agriculture ministry said in a statement.The dialogue is difficult but it has begun, said Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus after the phone call: “We are always ready to talk, but invariably the interest of the Polish farmer is the most important for us.”The talks are the first move to break a cycle of escalation that has, in less than a week, seen Poland, Hungary and Slovakia ban imp...

Boost for Rishi Sunak as Bank of England hits ‘pause’ on interest rate hikes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

LONDON — Don’t speak too soon, but Rishi Sunak might just have a good story to tell on the British economy.As the Bank of England moved Thursday to halt interest rate rises after fourteen successive lifts in the cost of borrowing, it capped a better-than-expected week of news on key measures that matter to the British prime minister’s re-election chances.The BoE’s nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-4 in favor of pausing its tightening cycle, keeping its key lending rate unchanged at 5.25 percent. Despite that, it repeated that further rate hikes may still be necessary if inflation turns out stronger than currently expected.But the move suggests the independent central Bank — which has a mandate to get inflation down to 2 percent — sees an end in sight to Britain’s protracted cost-of-living crunch, likely to be the defining issue of an election expected next year.Reacting to the news Thursday, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt — Sunak’s top finance minister — said: “We are star...

King Charles calls for climate action 24 hours after Sunak’s net zero U-turn

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

LONDON — Britain’s prime minister may be paring back his green pledges — but King Charles III had a different message on the global stage Thursday.In a historic speech to the French Senate, the monarch said France and the U.K. must work together in order to “answer more efficiently” the challenges posed by climate change, as he talked up the “existential” importance of the issue.His speech came less than 24 hours after U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the paring back of several policies aimed at driving down Britain’s carbon emissions to zero by 2050 — a move that was greeted with fury from opposition politicians, green activists and some business groups.Charles, noted for his outspoken views on climate change, had already called for “fighting the scourge that is climate change” in an address at the Palace of Versailles Wednesday night. He went further on Thursday, as he addressed the Senate, the upper house of parliament, in both French and En...

Former Kremlin lobbyist picked as UK Conservative candidate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

LONDON — A Conservative election hopeful ran a public affairs firm which counted the Russian government and state-owned energy firm Gazprom among its clients in the 2000s.Nigel Gardner was selected for the new Harpenden and Berkhamstead parliamentary seat earlier this month.A former European Commission spokesperson, Gardner founded agency GPlus in the early 2000s before selling a majority stake to Omnicom in 2006. He retained his role working on the firm’s business strategy until his departure in late 2009.Under the Omnicom banner, GPlus and sister agency Ketchum landed a deal with the Russian government in 2006, and Gazprom in 2007. The Kremlin contract was initially focused on media work around Russia’s presidency of the G8 — seen at the time as a chance for closer cooperation with the West.A 2006 report from the Financial Times said the decision to contract the Western firms had been signed off by Russian President Vladimir Putin.Attitudes ‘were very different’Speakin...

Column: ‘Royalization’ of the Chicago White Sox is full steam ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

Whenever Chris Getz hears Lorde sing “We could be Royals,” he must feel compelled to sing along at the top of his lungs.On his first day as Chicago White Sox general manager, Getz revealed manager Pedro Grifol, his former coach with the Kansas City Royals, would be retained. Among his first front office hires, Getz is reported to be bringing in San Francisco director of pitching Brian Bannister, a former Royals teammate, and Gene Watson, the former Royals assistant general manager/scouting. Longtime Royals GM Dayton Moore has been linked to the Sox as well, according to USA Today.So the standard has been set for the Sox, and the question must now be asked:Could they be Royals, or at least a version of the organization that managed to win a championship without a team full of superstars back in the 2010s?The Royalization of the Sox is underway.Anyone with ties to the Royals might be Zillowing the southwest suburbs of Chicago right now, looking for available homes for 2024...

Callahan: Bill Belichick has hamstrung Bill O’Brien, but O’Brien has to deliver anyway at the Jets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

FOXBORO — Bill Parcells famously wanted to shop for his own groceries.Parcells cooked dinner for four seasons as the Patriots’ head coach, his last a Super Bowl supper in 1996. Then, unhappy with his lack of personnel control, AKA the grocery list, he left for the Jets.As the Pats prepare to face the Jets this weekend, it’s worth separating the groceries Bill Belichick assembled this offseason from the meal he appears to be burning now at 0-2.The roster talent, from the team.Per usual, Belichick nailed his shopping down the defensive aisle. He retained key ingredients that stirred a top-3 defense last season, including cornerback Jonathan Jones and safety Jabrill Peppers. He tossed in first-round rookie corner Christian Gonzalez, an emerging stud, as well as grass-fed thumpers in Keion White and Marte Mapu.And in true Belichick fashion, he managed to pick all the rotten produce in the offensive market.Former star receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is not viewed internally as a...

Pakistan will hold parliamentary elections at the end of January, delaying a vote due in November

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s election oversight body announced on Thursday that it will hold the next parliamentary elections in the last week of January, delaying the vote which was to be held in November under the constitution.However, the announcement by the Election Commission of Pakistan has ended uncertainty about the fate of the vote. Earlier, some political parties had feared that the election could be delayed for an indefinite period. Pakistan has been in deepening political turmoil since April 2022, when then-Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office through a parliamentary vote of no confidence. Khan was arrested in early August on corruption charges and imprisoned after a court convicted and sentenced him to three years in prison. Pakistan’s electoral map is being redrawn to reflect the latest census. In a brief statement, the election commission said a final list of constituencies would be published on Nov. 30. The Election Commission will announce the exac...

A leader of Cambodia’s main opposition party jailed for 18 months for bouncing checks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A prominent leader of Cambodia’s political opposition was convicted and sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison for issuing worthless checks four years ago, in a case that his party has called politically motivated.The Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued its verdict against Thach Setha, a vice president of the Candlelight Party, after finding that he had issued several bounced checks in 2019, said his lawyer, Sam Sokong.The lawyer said the court also ordered Thach Setha to pay $33,400 to the company which filed the lawsuit accusing him of issuing bad checks. He called the verdict unacceptable and said he would meet Thach Setha soon to discuss filing an appeal.The case is the first major legal ruling issued against government opponents since Hun Manet became the country’s new prime minister in August. He had been army commander, and succeeded his father Hun Sen, who stepped down after 38 years in power.Thach Setha was arrested in January this year even tho...

Iranian court gives a Tajik man 2 death sentences for an attack at a major Shiite shrine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian court has given two death sentences to a Tajik man convicted of carrying out a gun attack that killed two people at a major Shiite shrine in the southern city of Shiraz, the judiciary website reported Thursday.The website Mizan Online said the Iranian Revolutionary Court in Fars province gave Rahmatollah Norouzof two death sentences because of the seriousness of the crime at the Shah Cheragh mosque. Norouzof, described as a member of the Islamic State group, was convicted of sedition and waging war against God for killing two people and wounding seven in the August attack.Shah Cheragh is one of Iran’s top five Shiite shrines. It draws pilgrims to Shiraz, about 675 kilometers (420 miles) south of Iran’s capital, Tehran.An earlier shooting at the shrine in October 2022 killed 13 people and injured 30 others. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack.The Associated Press

Firefighter seriously injured in house fire in northwest Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:36 GMT

A firefighter is in hospital with serious injuries after responding to a two-alarm fire in the city’s northwest end.Fire crews were called to a home on Vaughan Road west of Oakwood Avenue, near Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue, around 10:45 p.m. on Wednesday.Paramedics say five people inside the home were also taken to hospital as a precaution. One of the injured suffered smoke inhalation.The cause of the fire is not yet known.A fire broke out at a home on Vaughan Road near Oakwood Avenue in Toronto on Sept. 21, 2023. CITYNEWS/Bert Dandy