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Spain’s governing coalition files amnesty bill for Catalan separatists

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

BARCELONA — The left-wing and separatist political parties backing Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday jointly filed a controversial bill to grant an amnesty to all persons prosecuted for their involvement in the Catalan separatist movement over the past decade.The bill presented by Sánchez’s Socialist Party and most of the political groups expected to back his bid to form a new, minority government on Thursday argues amnesty is justified to guarantee “coexistence.”The granting of blanket amnesty was a key factor in resolving months of political paralysis in Spain, which has been without an effective government since last summer’s national elections resulted in a hung parliament. The presentation of the bill was the main demand of the Catalan separatist Junts party, whose backing will now permit Sánchez to form a new government.The legislative proposal does not modify laws for which individuals were prosecuted, which means similar judicial pro...

Ukraine charges Rudy Giuliani’s top local ally with Moscow-linked treason

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

KYIV — A Ukrainian MP who in 2019 helped former U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani in his search for dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden has been charged with treason.Oleksandr Dubinsky, together with ex-Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach and ex-prosecutor Kostyantyn Kulyk, had joined an organization formed by chiefs of Russia’s Military Intelligence (GRU), Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said in a statement on Monday.Although SBU did not name the MP in the statement, the photos and video materials attached to it identify Dubinsky, whose alias, “Buratino,” was taken from a 1930s Soviet “Pinocchio” knockoff.Dubinsky met Giuliani during his visit to Kyiv in December 2019 while the former New York City mayor and failed U.S. presidential candidate was filming a documentary aimed at discrediting an impeachment probe into Trump.“The main task of this organization was to take advantage of the tense political situation in Ukraine and discredit our state in the internati...

Croatia names new defense chief after ex-boss fired over fatal car crash

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

The Croatian government has named a new defense minister after his predecessor was sacked for being involved in a deadly car accident, the country’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced Monday. “We have completed the consultations regarding the new candidate for the minister of defense. The proposal … is Ivan Anušić, the former prefect of Osijek-Baranja County,” Plenković’s statement said. Former Defense Minister Mario Banožić was fired Saturday after authorities said he caused a road traffic accident in which one person died and another was seriously injured. According to the authorities, Banožić crashed into a van that was coming from the opposite direction, killing the vehicle’s driver. Banožić was reportedly taken to the hospital with what were described as serious injuries. A letter will be sent to the president of the Croatian parliament and Anušić’s nomination will be put to a parliament plenary vote Thursday “Gi...

The comeback kids: 13 best political resurrections ever

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

Thought you’d seen the last of David Cameron? Think again! The former British prime minister’s jaw-dropping return to front-line politics on Monday morning was up there with the most Lazarus-like comebacks ever seen. Cameron, however, certainly isn’t the first political big beast to salvage their career when all looked lost.  From Lenin to Napoleon to Silvio Berlusconi, we’ve rated the best political resurrections of all time. *****Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ‘Lenin’Exiled to Siberia for sedition, with a decade spent in Western Europe observing Russian politics from a distance, only to return, win a civil war, have an entire royal family shot, and found one of the two superpowers that defined the 20th century: Lenin may be the biggest comeback king (czar?) of all. Cunning, ruthless, and with an impeccable sense of timing, Lenin dramatically changed the course of history. The events he set in motion reverberate to this day — just...

Rare Titanic menu shedding light on life aboard sells for over $100,000

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

London (CNN) — A rare first-class menu from the Titanic sold for £83,000 ($102,000) on Saturday as part of an auction of memorabilia associated with the doomed ocean liner.Heavily water-stained, with some of the lettering partly erased, the menu likely ended up in the North Atlantic for a time when the Titanic sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912, British auction house Henry Aldridge and Son Ltd. said in the lot description.The ultimately salvaged menu details the first dinner on board after the Titanic set sail from Queenstown, Belfast and reveals the opulence that the ship’s first-class passengers would have experienced.Dinner options on that night of April 11 included oysters, sirloin of beef with horseradish cream and pureed parsnips, with desserts including apricot Bordaloue — a type of tart — and Victoria pudding.There seem to be no other surviving examples of the first-class menu for that specific night, the auction house found after consulting m...

Governor Healey taps new boss for MassDOT, MBTA

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

It’s official: Gov. Maura Healey has appointed Monica Tibbits-Nutt as secretary of transportation, removing the acting title from a position she’s held for two months.Healey made the announcement Monday, saying that Tibbits-Nutt is a “proven leader who has done important work at MassDOT over the past year” as her administration has worked to make the state’s public transportation system “more reliable, safe and accessible.”Related ArticlesPolitics | MBTA slow zone repair plan will require sporadic closures through 2024 Politics | Eng lays out plan to eliminate MBTA slow zones by end of 2024 Politics | MBTA being run by ‘adults’ at long last, advisory board head says Politics | Battenfeld: Maura Healey dodges blame for repeated MBTA failures Politics | MBTA boss cites new ‘spirit of partnership” with Chinese train maker The governor initially appointed Tibbits-Nutt as undersecretar...

FBI, Capitol police testify in the trial of the man accused of attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ (Associated Press)SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Prosecutors brought forward a string of law enforcement officials Monday to provide context around video that’s at the crux of their case against David DePape, the man accused of attacking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at the couple’s San Francisco home last year.DePape has pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official with intent to retaliate against the official for performance of their duties. Federal prosecutors quickly moved through their witness list on the trial’s second day, bringing forward an FBI agent who collected the electronics DePape was carrying, a U.S. Capitol police officer who watches the surveillance cameras at the Pelosis’ home and another who has protected Nancy Pelosi since 2006, and a Bay Area Rapid Transit police sergeant. Paul Pelosi was also expected to testify.Pros...

Mexico’s ruling party appears to have dodged possible desertions in the run-up to 2024 elections

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s ruling party appeared Monday to have dodged the possibility of large-scale desertions of disappointed hopeful candidates in the run-up to the country’s 2024 elections. Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard announced he would not leave President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party. Ebrard had wanted the party’s nomination for president in the June elections but lost to former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum amid what he claimed was improper polling and campaigning. But Ebrard said Monday he had reached “a political understanding” with Sheinbaum and would continue working as “the second force” within Morena. “We can form part of a coalition of forces,” he said.The party was at risk of falling apart because it was built around López Obrador’s outsized personality. He cannot run for reelection and will leave office in 10 months, and there is little else to hold its disparate membership together.Ebrard said he met with Sheinbaum on a...

At least four people stabbed at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston; suspect in custody

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

RUSTON, La. (AP) — Four people were stabbed Monday morning on the campus of Louisiana Tech University in the north Louisiana city of Ruston.Ruston Police Chief Randall Hermes told the Ruston Daily Leader the suspected attacker was in custody. Three of the victims were hospitalized. Details on their conditions were not immediately released. A fourth person refused treatment, officials said.The attack happened Monday morning at Tech’s Lambright Sports and Wellness Center, a recreation center for students. The attack was random, Hermes said.“It sounds like he ran up behind them and surprised them,” Hermes said.Charges were pending against the person in custody.The Associated Press

Music Review: Bob Dylan’s ‘The Complete Budokan 1978’ box set is a welcomed release, flute and all

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:57:47 GMT

Bob Dylan with flute and saxophone isn’t for everyone.But that’s what you get with “The Complete Budokan 1978,” a deluxe box set presenting two live shows at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan Hall, from a tour that has been derided in some corners as “Dylan going Vegas.”The extravagantly packaged four-disc set expands upon the 1979 “Bob Dylan at Budokan” live record that caught Dylan in Japan on just the second week of his 1978 world tour that would run for 10 months. The tour started after the widely acclaimed Rolling Thunder guerilla tours across the United States in 1975 and 1976, and just before Dylan’s conversion to Christianity in 1979. In fact, Dylan has pointed to a fan throwing a small silver cross on stage in November 1978 as helping to spur his conversion. But that’s a story for another time, and one that was explored deeply in the “Trouble No More” box set released in 2017.“The Complete Budokan 1978” includes full concerts from Feb. 28 and March 1, 197...