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Slovakia halts Ukraine aid after pro-Russia Fico’s election win

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

Slovakia’s caretaker government said it has halted sending further military aid to Ukraine as political parties that oppose such support are in talks to form a coalition following last weekend’s election.“The outgoing bureaucratic government in Slovakia will not send any more military material to Ukraine,” a government spokesman said. The country’s defense ministry was considering sending a new package of aid.Former Prime Minister Robert Fico’s leftist-populist Smer party won the parliamentary election last Saturday after promising to stop sending weapons to Ukraine, to block Kyiv’s potential NATO membership and to oppose sanctions on Russia.Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová on Monday asked Fico to try to form a coalition government. He has until October 16 to do so.“The decision about this issue should reflect the outcome of the recent parliamentary elections and should follow the outcome of the government-formation talks, which are taking place these days,&...

Russia must pay — and there is no reason why it shouldn’t

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

Gintarė Skaistė is the minister of finance of the Republic of Lithuania.Ukraine has been remarkably successful in defending itself from the aggressor Russia, and support from the European Union and Western allies has significantly bolstered its resilience. Yet, we need to collectively do more, including taking unconventional steps — like using frozen and immobilized Russian assets.Over the past year, the EU has made significant progress in identifying a potentially viable legal approach to utilize the over €200 billion of immobilized Russian central bank assets located in member countries, in order to aid Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts. Among the various options explored, consensus seems to be emerging that introducing a “windfall contribution” option would be the most promising way forward — and would be compatible with both EU and international law.This solution entails requiring custodians holding these immobilized assets to transfer their windfall profits — e...

France blocks American takeover of nuclear suppliers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

PARIS — France has vetoed the acquisition of nuclear parts suppliers Segault and Velan SAS by American group Flowserve, the French economy ministry said Friday.The deal came under the spotlight earlier this year, when both the opposition and the government turned the takeover into a political test for France’s industrial sovereignty ambitions. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has been walking the tightrope between maintaining France as an attractive investment destination and maintaining sovereignty when it comes to strategic technology. When American industrial machinery giant Flowserve announced earlier this year its intention to take over Canada’s industrial valves group Velan, French authorities signaled they would look into the deal to potentially carve out Velan’s French subsidiaries (Segault and Velan SAS) based on strategic reasons. Following the French veto, Flowserve announced it would abandon its plans to take over Velan worldwide.  Segault — a s...

Patriots mailbag: Bill Belichick voiced concerning take on offense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

The Patriots showed a willingness to make a move to improve the current state of their roster this week by reacquiring cornerback J.C. Jackson via trade.Will they do more to try to make a playoff push? That’s one of the top questions in this week’s mailbag.@k_mcfarlandWhat has to happen for the offense to work? Can’t even say “back on track” since it hasn’t started yetSomething that Bill Belichick said on WEEI this week stuck with me.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Callahan: The Patriots won’t admit it, but Sunday is a must-win game New England Patriots | Assessing Patriots’ 2023 veteran additions after four weeks New England Patriots | Patriots-Saints injury report: Rhamondre Stevenson (thigh) limited again Thursday New England Patriots | J.C. Jackson appears in Massachusetts court one day after returning to the Patriots: He must complete reckless driving course by next week New England Patriot...

Ravens vs. Steelers staff picks: Who will win Sunday’s Week 5 game in Pittsburgh?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

Here’s how The Baltimore Sun sports staff views the outcome of Sunday’s Week 5 game between the Ravens (3-1) and the Steelers (2-2) at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.Brian Wacker, reporterRavens 20, Steelers 17: The Ravens seem to play their best on the road against division foes. Still, the Steelers are in a different category here, having won six of their past 10 against Baltimore. They’ve also battered Lamar Jackson, sacking him 16 times in five career meetings. He has a passer rating of 67.4 with 634 passing yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions against them. But with a revamped Ravens offense, the Steelers’ offense struggling and quarterback Kenny Pickett battling a bone bruise in his left knee, the Ravens win a close one.Mike Preston, columnistRavens 21, Steelers 17: Even if quarterback Kenny Pickett plays despite a knee injury, he won’t have full mobility in the pocket. That will make the Steelers one-dimensional and they can’t...

The Ravens way: Jadeveon Clowney, Kyle Van Noy continuing legacy of veteran pass rushers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

Two-hundred and sixty-six days. That was the amount of time between games for Kyle Van Noy.Yet, the 32-year-old outside linebacker had little trouble making an impact in his first start with the Ravens last week. Just five days after his first practice with Baltimore and in his first action since last season with the Los Angeles Chargers, he had four quarterback pressures, one quarterback hit, three hurries and got his hands on two passes while playing 23 snaps.“I don’t think a lot of people could do that, to be able to come in and make some plays right off the streets,” Van Noy said. “It’s not easy to do.”His addition, along with that of fellow outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney in August, is a familiar trend for the Ravens.Justin Houston. Jason Pierre-Paul. Calais Campbell. Pernell McPhee. Elvis Dumervil. Chris Canty. They are just some of the veteran pass rushers who found a home in Baltimore in recent years. Now it’s Clowney ...

Callahan: The Patriots won’t admit it, but Sunday is a must-win game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

Two weeks ago, Matthew Slater gathered the Patriots after practice for a motivational speech.The Pats were 0-2. A date with the Jets awaited. History showed the Patriots could hit cruise control and roll to a win that weekend.Except Slater saw a fork in the road.He told the Patriots they had a choice: hit cruise control again and risk letting the season spiral at 0-3 or steer into your first win.The Pats took control and won, waiting out Zach Wilson and a failed Hail Mary at the buzzer. It is only by the grace of that Hail Mary the Patriots aren’t winless now. That win bought them critical time: to breathe, sort out offensive issues and stave off the sense of impending football doom threatening to swallow a region.Now, that time is up.After last weekend’s disaster in Dallas, the Pats (1-3) again find themselves confronted by the choice Slater outlined: beat the Saints or lose your grip on your season.Sunday is a must-win game. Full stop.In NFL history, only 2.9% of teams...

NGO rescue ship saves 258 migrants off Libya in two operations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

ABOARD THE GEO BARENTS (AP) — A nonprofit rescue ship operating off the coast of Libya saved 258 migrants in two separate operations in the early hours of Friday morning.The first of the two rescues involved a a 7-meter (23-foot) -long wooden boat filled with 162 migrants, including 17 women and 29 minors, many of them in a cramped area below the deck.The boat had an engine but no system of navigation on it, according to Flavia Conte, rescue coordinator for the Doctors Without Borders rescue ship Geo Barents.The group had spent hours at sea with the boat low in the water. The migrants on board were Syrians and Egyptians.“Many of them were below deck, in the belly of the boat, a place that is even more unsafe as far as ventilation is concerned and the Geo Barents has found people who have died in this part of boats,” Conte told The Associated Press.The second rescue involved 96 people on a similar wooden boat, including nine children, mainly Syrians.The Italian Maritime Authority has...

An aid group says artillery fire killed 11 and injured 90 in a Sudanese city

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Heavy artillery fire in a conflict-stricken Sudanese city killed at least 11 people and injured 90 others, aid group Doctors Without Borders said. In a post Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, the aid group — known by its French initials MSF — said the attack took place in the Karari neighborhood of Omdurman city Thursday but did not say which of the country’s warring parties were responsible. Children were among the dead, it said.Sudan has been rocked by violence since mid-April, when tensions between the country’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamden Dagalo, burst into open fighting.The fighting has since spread to several parts of the country, reducing the capital, Khartoum, and neighboring Omdurman to an urban battlefield. The conflict also fueled ethnic violence in Sudan’s western Darfur region.MSF said those injured in Thursday’s attack were treated at Al Nao hospital...

Indonesia denies its fires are causing blankets of haze in neighboring Malaysia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:17 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia denied Friday that forest and peat fires on Sumatra and Borneo islands were causing the haze in Malaysia, after the neighboring government sent a letter complaining about the air quality and asking to work together to deal with the fires.Forest and peat fires are an annual problem in Indonesia that strains relations with neighboring countries. In recent years, smoke from the fires has blanketed parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand. Some parts of Malaysia said they experienced smoke from the Indonesian fires since last week, but the Indonesian government denied its fires are the cause.“Until now there is no transboundary haze. No cross-border smoke. I don’t know what basis Malaysia uses to make these statements,” Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Indonesian Environment and Forestry minister, told The Associated Press.Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, and Kuching, one of its cities on Borneo island, were recently ranked as among the world...