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Visa-for-bribes scandal rocks Poland — reaction and analysis

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Acast In this episode of EU Confidential, we discuss an alleged bribery scheme to hand out Polish visas, which is rocking the country just weeks before general elections.Host Suzanne Lynch talks to POLITICO’s Jan Cienski about the illegal scheme, which was operating from within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, that allowed visas to be ...

Trump campaigns to save whales but not cocaine-snorting airline pilots

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.Spare a thought for Mike Beaton. Who? He’s a British Airways pilot who has been sacked after reportedly snorting cocaine off a topless woman before trying to fly a packed passenger plane from Johannesburg to London. Let those of us who haven’t had a day like that at work cast the first stone.Beaton seemingly had some downtime in South Africa and decided to turn it into, er, uptime, revealing the sordid details about his drug-taking and sexploits to a friend by text. An unnamed airline official told The Sun: “This behavior was the opposite of what is expected of British Airways pilots.” Hang on, so they are supposed to blow cocaine out of their nose onto a topless woman? Odd.Alas, Donald Trump has yet to weigh into this international incident.Of course, no one can top Trump when it comes to batshit crazy public utterings. The former golfer-in-chief and cheeseburger aficionado was at it again this week, claimin...

Dismissive centrists are making it way too easy for populists to win

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast last week that he has talked with former United States President Barack Obama several times. “He’s an acute observer of British politics,” Starmer said.“I think it is always useful to test my ideas on people who’ve won elections,” he added.Indeed, during his time in office, Obama was popular in the United Kingdom. And even years after leaving the White House, the former president enjoyed high favorability ratings in Britain, where a 2019 YouGov poll ranked him Britain’s seventh most popular foreign politician.But for all his popularity and political smarts, Obama couldn’t help then-Prime Minister David Cameron to stave off Brexit — despite an unreserved and possibly ill-advised public intervention in the weeks leading up to the referendum. He underestimated the populist rage that propelled Britain out of the EU — much like many mainstr...

Culture wars, Italian style

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

ROME — Italy prides itself on its spectacular cultural heritage, with a peerless pedigree of some of the Western world’s greatest artists, stretching from Leonardo da Vinci, Dante and Vivaldi to Federico Fellini. Now many of the country’s foremost cultural institutions — including those charged with safeguarding that national legacy — find themselves in a political battle, raising fears that their independence is at risk. Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stands accused of trying to stamp her authority on the arts and media, in a purge her critics say is designed to silence dissent.In recent months, her government has cleared out the old leadership of some of Italy’s most prestigious museums and cultural organizations and installed sympathetic executives at the top. Even EU officials in Brussels are starting to worry. Last week two politicians from parties in Meloni’s coalition demanded a senior museum director be r...

Some residents concerned as city officials discuss Charlestown development plan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

A development dilemma is unfolding in Charlestown where a plan is in the works to bring more housing and retail space to the neighborhood. As officials discuss the plan, some fear the proposal will lead to crowding, with lack of parking and additional traffic trouble listed as two common concerns. “Just looking at those views, I’m shocked you all would think that is totally OK to add to Charlestown,” one resident said after Boston’s planning and development agency passed the final plan Thursday to remake much of historic Charlestown. The full plan, known as PLAN: Charlestown, aims to help create additional housing while Boston grapples with a historic housing crisis for middle and low-income earners. On Thursday, much of the focus at the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s (BPDA) Board of Directors meeting was on two projects — a mixed use apartment building on Mystic Avenue and another project off Roland Street. In all, the buildings would involv...

2 Sharon police officers fined after one officer tried to sneak the other officer into expensive suite at Pats game

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

Two Sharon police officers were recently fined thousands of dollars by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission after one officer tried to sneak the other into a high-priced suite at Gillette Stadium, officials announced.The State Ethics Commission announced Thursday that Officers John Avelar and Robert Awad paid $8,000 and $4,000 respectively for violating the state’s conflict of interest laws.According to the ethics commission, Awad, who had been an officer for less than a year and was in his probationary period, was working a security detail at Gillette Stadium in December of last year as the Patriots took on the Buffalo Bills for a Thursday Night Football game. The commission said Awad agreed to get his off-duty coworker, Avelar, and a friend into the Punam Club, an exclusive suite costing thousands of dollars and only open to season ticket holders.The commission said Awad escorted Avelar and his friend to the club, telling security Avelar was an off-duty officer. Sev...

Despite Chris Sale’s gem, Orioles shut out Red Sox to win AL East

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

In his final start of the year, Chris Sale looked like his old self.In fact, he’s looked more like the Chris Sale of yore quite a bit recently, going at least five innings and allowing no more than one earned run in four of his last five starts; he finished September with a 2.88 ERA for the month.“It was nice,” Sale told reporters. “Still wasn’t enough.”The southpaw’s efforts were for naught. Just after 9 p.m, the Orioles won 2-0 and Camden Yards became the home of the new champions of the American League East.Hours after Alex Cora announced Sale was his intended Opening Day starter for the 2024 season, the 34-year-old left-hander pitched five innings against the Orioles, a team he used to dominate, but has struggled against this year.Save for a solo home run to Anthony Santander, the Orioles got nothing off Sale. He held them to three hits, walked one and struck out two.“My hope is for him to be the Opening Day starter,” Cora reiterated to ...

Hawaii Army base under lockdown after man with handgun gets into scuffle, flees; no shots fired

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — An Army base in Hawaii went into lockdown Thursday after a man with a handgun got into a scuffle while trying to talk to soldiers and then, officials said.No shots were fired, said Michael Donnelly, a spokesperson for U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii.People at Schofield Barracks were told to shelter in place, but the gates were open,according to Donnelly said. Neighboring Wheeler Army Airfield was also under lockdown. The Army was treating it as an “active shooter situation,” Donnelly said. “We are trying to locate the individual,” he added. The man last seen near the commissary on a bike. He was “trying to allegedly talk with soldiers,” Donnelly said. “I don’t know if he was bartering or selling stuff, but someone confronted him, and they got into a scuffle. There was a handgun witnessed, visible.”Schofield Barracks is =on Oahu, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Honolulu. It hosts the 25th Infantry Division and the 8th Theater Sustainment Command. Wheeler Army Airfie...

Large flames, heavy smoke light up the night sky at Amsterdam Brewhouse

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

No injuries were reported following a fire at an establishment along the waterfront. Toronto Fire were called to the Amsterdam Brewhouse on Queens Quay West just before 9 p.m. Thursday evening. Firefighters were met with lots of flame and heavy smoke coming from a dumpster with the fire having spread to a nearby surrounding fence. Crews managed to get the blaze under control before it spread to the roof or interior of the neighbouring restaurant.

Thirteen legendary rock acts inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:56 GMT

TORONTO — Thirteen Canadian rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s rolled back the clock on Thursday as they were inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame with a night chock full of good memories and even greater radio hits.Glass Tiger, Loverboy and Trooper were among the bands toasted at Toronto’s Massey Hall as part of a “mega-induction” ceremony dubbed “Rock of Fame,” which celebrated a time when the country’s rock pulse was pounding.Between a packed lineup of live performances and acceptance speeches, the night was loaded with laughs about time passed, hair lost and the follies of aging.“We’re all here on the same ride tonight,” Loverboy’s Mike Reno proclaimed early in the ceremony.His sentiment was shared by many of his fellow inductees on the pre-show red carpet, where they described the familiar faces they passed backstage. “We’re certainly among friends here,” noted guitarist Al Harlow, who was honoured as part of Vanco...