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Macron’s unpopular pension plan enacted into French law

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise France’s retirement age from 62 to 64 was enacted into law Saturday, the day after the country’s constitutional body approved the change.Macron’s signature and publication in the Official Journal of the French Republic allowed the law to enter into force. On Friday, the Constitutional Council rejected some parts of the government’s pension legislation but approved the higher minimum retirement age, which was central to Macron’s plan and the focus of opponents’ protests. The nine-member council’s decision capped months of tumultuous debates in parliament and fervor in the streets. Spontaneous demonstrations took place in Paris and across the country after the ruling.France’s main labor unions, which organized 12 nationwide protests since January in hopes of defeating the plan, have vowed to continue fighting until it is withdrawn. They called for another mass protest on May 1, which is Int...

Trudeau’s cross-country town halls are back with a new format — and new skeptics

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

OTTAWA — Every town hall begins the same way: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in a blue or white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, takes the microphone, waxes poetic about the state of the world and acknowledges the challenging years Canadians have recently faced. The people in the crowd who will have the chance to ask unvetted questions of the prime minister are no stranger to those struggles. There’s the Muslim mother who fears for the safety of her children. Immigrants who worry about their future in Canada. The blue-collar worker who can’t afford to eat. People who can’t find work or access mental-health supports. Young adults who lose sleep over climate change. Indigenous people who say they feel left behind.At the 14 hour-long town halls Trudeau has attended in the past 11 weeks, the prime minister has put himself in a position to hear their concerns during the question-and-answer sessions that follow his speeches. But though some attendees who participated...

Sainted & Tainted: The Jimmy John drivers called his name and held his hand

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

SaintedWe’d like to thank the Jimmy John drivers who stopped to help us in Shoreview on Sunday, Feb. 19.My husband was unconscious on the sidewalk. They kept calling his name and holding his hand while I called 911. My husband has some serious injuries, but he is healing.Thank you for stopping and staying until the police and medics arrived. They were very kind and helpful as well.We appreciate all the helping hands that afternoon.  What a blessing you all were to us.J. and G. Smothers, Shoreview SaintedGuardian Angels are alive and well here in Cottage Grove. All winter long we peered out the frosty windows to see our driveway had been cleared completely to the curbs, some 70 feet away from the garage. And this was at the crack of dawn, we observed a gent leaving, bundled up against our latest Alberta Clipper … he was guiding his 17-year-old snow machine down the street to yet another neighbor’s needy driveway. Every time it snows, we hear this old machine chugging...

Ask Amy: Struggling relative wants to RSVP well

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

Dear Amy: I’ve struggled with the thoughtful way to RSVP to certain events in the past and now that I’m once again facing this issue, I wonder if you could please offer me your considered opinion.I’m part of a large extended family (siblings, cousins, etc.), who are all truly successful and incredibly wealthy. I am proud of all their successes; however, I am in a far different situation.I am a retired adult who is solely responsible for the full-time care of my disabled adult child and live on a quite limited budget. That said, when I’ve been invited to some large celebratory events that require long flights, expensive travel plans, and managing difficult time zone shifts with my child, I’ve simply RSVP’d that we were sorry that we couldn’t attend (we DO attend events held at locations within our state).We’ve now been invited to another extravagant celebration overseas, planned over the course of a few days.Although it sounds amazing, ...

Word Game: April 15, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — ATTRIBUTE (ATTRIBUTE: AT-rih-bute: A quality or characteristic closely associated with someone or something.)Average mark 39 wordsTime limit 60 minutesCan you find 55 or more words in ATTRIBUTE? The list will be published Monday.YESTERDAY’S WORD — SCATHED sachet sate scad scat scathe seat sect shad shade shed stead cadet case cash cast caste cesta chase chaste chat cheat chest aced ache acted tach teach tech haste hate head heat each east etch dash date death detachTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually...

Bridge: April 15, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.“To vacillate or not, that is the question; at least I think it might be.” — graffitiMany learning players are resolute about drawing trumps first; they have been taught that bad things can happen if the missing trumps are left as a threat. Worse things can happen if declarer draws trumps too soon.Today’s North-South reached a spade game that depended on finding East with the king of clubs. When West led the king of diamonds, declarer took dummy’s ace and … drew trumps with his A-K-Q and dummy’s jack.DOWN ONESouth next let the ten of clubs ride. The finesse won, but when he led a second club to his queen, West discarded. Dummy had no more entries, and East got his king for down one.In case of a 4-1 club break, South should lead a club to his queen at Trick Two. After he draws all the trumps, he passes the ten of clubs and leads a third club to his jack to lan...

10 Years After My Cancer Diagnosis, the Right Is Still Trying to Kill Me

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

The dermatopathologist’s cancer diagnosis for Jon Schwarz in April 2013.Photo: Jon Schwarz/The InterceptThis is an update of a piece I wrote in 2013. Unfortunately, the exact same issues still exist now.Many people hate April 15 because of taxes. But I love it for not having cancer, because (KNOCK ON WOOD) I haven’t had cancer since tax season 10 years ago today.Early in 2013, I looked at the back of my right calf and thought, “Huh. That looks weird. Has that always looked like that?”At the time, I didn’t spend a lot of time looking at the back of my calves. I’m sure you don’t spend a lot looking at yours. Kind of like the dark side of the moon, they’re on the dark side of your body. And they’re not interesting enough to make a special effort. What do the backs of our calves do all day long? Who knows, they could be plotting to overthrow the government and we’d never notice.But for some reason, I did look at the back of my right calf. ...

What to know entering the NBA playoffs, which start Saturday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

Here’s a rarity: All five teams from one division are going to the NBA playoffs.And they pulled that off in a year where a division champion almost didn’t get there.All five teams from the Pacific Division — Sacramento, Phoenix, the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers — have made the playoffs, which start Saturday.But Miami, the champion of the Southeast Division, almost missed out. The Heat got there Friday night by closing on a 15-1 run to beat Chicago 102-91 in the final Eastern Conference play-in game.Had the Heat lost, it would have been the first time in NBA history that a division winner wasn’t going to the playoffs.On the other end of the spectrum, the whole-division-goes feat had happened only two other times since the NBA went to the six-division, five-teams-in-each format starting with the 2004-05 season.The Central Division did it in 2006, and the Southwest Division pulled it off in 2015. It almost happened in the Northwest Division in 2018 when...

DeMar DeRozan’s daughter received online threats after the play-in win in Toronto, the Chicago Bulls star says: ‘It’s sad’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

After garnering unexpected fame during Wednesday’s play-in game against the Toronto Raptors, the daughter of Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan needed to be escorted out of Scotiabank Arena by team security because of online threats.DeRozan confirmed the TNT story after Friday’s loss to the Miami Heat, emphasizing his frustration with the negativity aimed toward Diar, his 9-year-old daughter.“What’s crazy is it’s just the world that we live in,” DeRozan said. “No matter how good something could go, how good something could be, you still got miserable people out here who just don’t have a life. It’s sad.”Diar quickly caught attention during Wednesday’s game when she utilized her position under the basket to distract Raptors players during their free-throw attempts by screaming.Attention around her antics was escalated when the Raptors finished 18-for-36 from the free-throw line, which ultimately cost them the game. The s...

Matlow, Bailão, Chow leading pack of Toronto mayoral candidates: poll

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:24 GMT

A new poll suggests that former city councillors Josh Matlow, Ana Bailão and longtime Canadian politician Olivia Chow are leading the pack regarding hopeful Toronto mayoral candidates.Mainstreet Research Poll surveyed just 746 residents in Toronto. Former police chief Mark Saunders is firmly in the mix, currently in fourth place.The automated phone survey named 15 registered or potential candidates for mayor and was carried out from Wednesday to Thursday. The results show Matlow has the support of 18.1 per cent of decided and leaning voters, followed by Bailão, a close ally to former mayor John Tory, at 16.8 per cent, respectively.RELATED: Mayoral candidates lay out visions for Ontario Place landChow, the former federal NDP Leader expected to officially announce her candidacy in the coming days, is directly behind Bailão, receiving 16.2 per cent of the vote.Saunders, meanwhile, received 12.6 per cent support in the latest poll. The former police chief has the trust of those surveyed...