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US-China pledge to stabilize deteriorating ties, resume high-level talks after Blinken visit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

By MATTHEW LEE (AP Diplomatic Writer)BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China have pledged to stabilize their badly deteriorated ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.It remains to be seen whether the two countries can resolve their most important disagreements, many of which have international financial, security and stability implications. Apart from a willingness to talk, there was little sign that either were few indications is prepared to bend from hardened positions on issues ranging from trade, to Taiwan, to human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, to Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea, to Russia’s war in Ukraine.At the meeting with Blinken, Xi pronounced himself pleased with the outcome of Blinken’s earlier meetings with two top Chinese diplomats, and said the two countries had agreed to resume a program of understandings that he and Pre...

Laura Washington: The city appears to be making a last-ditch effort to keep the Bears in Chicago. Don’t do it.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

Teddy bears may be cuddly, but keeping the Bears in Chicago would be toxic for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s ambitious agenda.Last year, the Bears organization announced it was looking at departing its longtime home at Soldier Field. The team unveiled lofty plans to build a state-of-the-art stadium and sprawling entertainment complex in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, aimed at expanding its capacity and adding lucrative moneymakers like restaurants, retail space and sports betting.Now Johnson appears to be making a last-ditch effort to keep the NFL team in Chicago. Don’t do it.The team has plunked down $197.2 million to purchase the 326-acre Arlington International Racecourse site. Demolition of the site is underway. The town has approved zoning changes and other initiatives to smooth the way.Recently, news broke that talks to solidify the move have become bogged down, as the team’s efforts to win state aid and reduce its potential tax burden are flailing. Other su...

Advocates seek changes to Massachusetts vocational schools admissions policies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

Vocational technical schools in Massachusetts have long been allowed to maintain more selective admissions policies than just about any other public schools in the state — which, advocates say, perpetuates stark discrimination and sends few graduates actually on a paths to trade professions.“I was excited about getting to participate in a hands on an interactive education,” Chelsea High student Jose Castellan remembered at a hearing on bill related to vocational schools admissions last Monday.Castellan applied to Northeast Metropolitan Vocational Technical School in Chelsea but, like many students in his area, was denied.“I have learned that not just my local vocational school, but almost all public vocational schools in the state rank kids for admission based on factors have been proven to be discriminatory,” Castellan said. “Why is it that our futures are decided on middle school grades, discipline records, attendance and recommendations from pe...

Biden plans 4 fundraisers in San Francisco area as he revs up 2024 campaign

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ramps up his reelection effort this week with four fundraisers in the San Francisco area, as his campaign builds up its coffers and lays strategic foundations for 2024.In the back half of June, Biden’s campaign will have over 20 fundraisers involving the president, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, according to a person involved in Biden’s travel plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss the schedule.More than half of the fundraisers are with the president, who will also be traveling to New York, Maryland and Illinois. Biden hit the themes of his campaign at a Friday fundraising event in Connecticut, saying his goal is to do more to tell voters about his legislative accomplishments with infrastructure, computer chip production and programs for responding to climate change, among other policies.“There’s a lot we’ve done,” Biden said Friday. “We just got to let many people know we...

At least 4 Palestinians are killed as Israeli troops clash with Palestinian militants in West Bank

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli helicopter gunships struck targets Monday in the occupied West Bank as a gunbattle raged in the city of Jenin between Israeli troops and militants, killing four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, officials said.The violence marked a rare use of Israeli airpower in the territory. During the clashes, Palestinian militants detonated a roadside bomb next to an Israeli military vehicle. At least 45 Palestinians were wounded, five seriously. The Israeli military said seven members of the paramilitary border police and the army suffered light and moderate wounds. The escalation was the latest in more than a year of near-daily violence that has wracked the West Bank.The Israeli military said troops came under a “massive exchange of fire” during an arrest raid in Jenin and shot back at Palestinian gunmen.“As the security forces exited the city, a military vehicle was hit by an explosive device, damaging the vehicle,” the army said, adding that helicopters “op...

High art becomes body art as visitors to Amsterdam’s Rembrandt House Museum get inked

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Henk Schiffmaker’s needle whirrs as he tattoos the familiar lines of an elephant on Lilian Rachmaran’s back.“Highbrow to lowbrow” is how the famous Dutch tattoo artist describes his latest project — inking sketches by Rembrandt van Rijn onto the skin of visitors to the building the Golden Age master once called home.Or call it high art to body art.The Rembrandt House Museum has transformed one of its rooms into a tattoo parlor for a residency it calls “A Poor Man’s Rembrandt,” featuring Schiffmaker and other top Amsterdam tattoo artists for a week starting Monday.For between about 50 euros and 250 euros ($54 – $270), visitors can get their own permanent reminder of Rembrandt.“It’s a juxtaposition — a jump from high to low, from highbrow to lowbrow,” Schiffmacher told The Associated Press. “And it’s great that these two worlds can visit one another. Actually it’s really one world because it’s about art.”Museum Director ...

UK lawmakers likely to back a scathing report that slammed Boris Johnson over ‘partygate’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s House of Commons is likely Monday to endorse a report that found Boris Johnson lied to lawmakers about lockdown-flouting parties in his office, a humiliating censure that would strip the former prime minister of his lifetime access to Parliament.Lawmakers will debate a report by the Privileges Committee that found Johnson in contempt of Parliament, and are expected to approve its findings. It’s unclear whether there will be a formal vote or whether the report will be approved by acclamation.Johnson responded with fury to the report, branding its conclusions “deranged” and accusing its members of “a protracted political assassination.”But only a handful of his staunchest political allies have said they will vote against the committee’s conclusions, and many Conservatives are likely to skip the debate altogether. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, wary of riling Johnson’s remaining supporters, has not said whether he will attend.Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Sta...

Author Salman Rushdie awarded prestigious German prize for his literary work and resolve

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

Writer Salman Rushdie has been awarded a prestigious German prize for his literary work and for his resolve and positive attitude in the face of constant danger, the prize organizers said Monday.The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade said the British-American author would receive the award in Frankfurt on Oct. 22.Rushdie’s writing “combines narrative vision with constant literary innovation, humor and wisdom,” the jury said. “He describes the force with which violent regimes destroy whole societies, but also the indestructibility of the individual’s spirit of resistance.”Last August, Rushdie was stabbed repeatedly while on stage at a literary festival in New York state.“Despite massive physical and psychological consequences that he is still wrestling with, he continues to write — in an imaginative and deeply human way,” the German jury wrote. “We are honoring Salman Rushdie for his resolve, his positive attitude to life and for the fact that he enriches the world with...

Europe defense ministers are holding talks in Paris on how to better defend the continent’s airspace

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Defense ministers and other representatives of about 20 European countries will hold a conference in Paris on Monday on how to better defend Europe’s airspace, a long-divisive issue that takes on new urgency because of Russia’s war in Ukraine.The talks will include anti-drone combat and ballistic missile defense, French organizers said, noting that Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shown the importance and effectiveness of such equipment. Nuclear weapons deterrence will also be on the agenda.The list of countries taking part in the conference, including the exact number, hasn’t been made public by the French Defense Ministry.With the help of Western weapons and growing experience, Ukraine’s air defense systems have made great strides since the war started last year, saving infrastructure and lives and preventing Russia from achieving air superiority.“There is therefore a need for Europeans to think collectively and strategically about the thr...

Maryland governor says book bans are ‘castrating’ kids

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:19:57 GMT

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said in an interview that the country's recent string of book bans is “castrating” children. Schools and library systems across the country have been hit by pressure from parents and conservative lawmakers to ban books that contain certain themes, including LGBTQ and African American history and literature.In an interview on MSNBC, host Jen Psaki asked Moore for his thoughts on the recent book bans some have implemented. “I continue hearing people making the argument that we're doing it because we want to we want to prevent our students from having discomfort or guilt,” Moore told Psaki. “Because we don't want our students to be able to really wrestle with these really difficult things in times when they are maturing as individuals and difficult historical points. But the thing I realized and I wanted to speak out about is that's actually not true. It's a guise.” “It's not about making kids feel uncomfortable. It's about telling other kids ...