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Germany acts to shrink its massive parliament

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

BERLIN — Germany’s parliament is bulging at the seams — and the coalition government wants to put it on a diet. A new draft law seen by POLITICO would fix the number of lawmakers in the Bundestag at 630 (down from 736), as Pioneer first reported.“If we don’t change anything, the Bundestag will continue to grow,” Till Steffen, a Green Party lawmaker, told journalists Tuesday in Berlin. “We want to safeguard the parliament’s ability to act.”The German parliament has been growing for years due to the country’s complex voting system. Every German voter has two votes in the parliamentary elections. With the first vote, a candidate from the voter’s regional district is elected. In total there are 299 districts. Whoever receives a majority vote in a district enters the Bundestag. Another 299 lawmakers enter the Bundestag via a secondary vote for party lists in Germany’s 16 states. The second vote determines the relative strengths ...

China warns AUKUS: You’ve gone down a ‘dangerous road’ with nuclear subs deal

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

The United Kingdom, the United States and Australia have “gone further down a wrong and dangerous road” with their nuclear submarines agreement, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said Tuesday.The agreement “completely ignored the concerns of the international community,” Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing, according to CNN.The deal will “stimulate an arms race, undermine the international nuclear non-proliferation system and damage regional peace and stability,” he added.On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his intention to sell five nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, after meeting with the British and Australian prime ministers at a naval base in San Diego, California.The move is part of the broader “AUKUS” alliance, which aims at strengthening the U.S., British and Australian presence in the Indo-Pacific — mostly to counter the rise of China in the region.Asked Monday if China would consider the submarines deal as ...

Snow totals in Mass. (so far!) March 14

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

A daylong nor’easter is moving through the region Tuesday morning, bringing up to 18 inches to parts of Massachusetts.The highest snowfall totals from this round of winter weather are expected in western Massachusetts and parts of northern Worcester County, which could see between 12 and 18 inches of snow. As of 5 a.m., towns including Ashburnham and Princeton are already above 8 inches of snow.RELATED: 7WEATHER Blog: Nor’easter UpdateMany other areas north of the Mass Pike and west of I-495 could see six to 12 inches, while much of the state inside I-495 and south of the Mass Pike may see three to six inches. Totals will likely be between one and three inches closer to Cape Cod while the Cape itself is expected to see little to no accumulating snow. View our latest weather blog for further updates. To view the list of school closures and delays, click here.—Notable NWS Reported Snow Totals*MassachusettsHampden CountyWestfield 3.3 inWest Springfield 2 inLudlow ...

New MBTA, Carmen agreement would allow T to hire some retirees part-time

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

The MBTA’s Carmen’s union has voted in favor of a pension agreement that throws out the unpopular arbitration agreement from last year and allows the worker-strapped T to hire up to 125 retirees as part-time employees.The Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589 said its membership voted unanimously in favor of the agreement, which retroactively would apply back to 2018 and would run through 2028.In terms of the actual pay, there’s something for both sides — the max pension cap for a member would rise from 75% to 80%, but it would take an extra two and a half years of work to get there. In order to cap out, current employees would would work 32.5 years, rather than the current 30 it takes to reach 75%.On the flip side, all working carmen would kick an extra 1.25% of their pay for the next five years into the retirement fund starting this July. Employees currently contribute to the MBTA’s retirement fund at a 9.33% rate, and the T kicks in three times that.These propos...

Orioles minor leaguer Luis Ortiz was a ‘fighter’ throughout cancer battle: ‘Everybody’s feeling it’

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

Koby Perez recognizes that Luis Ortiz had a long way to go, but as a big left-hander with a low 90s fastball and impressive breaking ball, Ortiz had the profile of a pitcher with a bright future.“That’s the type of guy that usually finds his way in the big leagues at some point,” said Perez, the Orioles’ senior director of international scouting.Whether Ortiz could have reached that potential will never be known. He died Saturday, about a year after being diagnosed with leukemia. He was 20 years old.“I can’t believe the way he took it on,” Perez said. “Anytime he was around me, he acted really mature about it. He took it as well as anybody would ever take something like that.“He was a fighter. He said he was going to fight, and he did all the way to his last breath.”Ortiz was 16 when he signed with the Orioles out of his native Dominican Republic in July 2019, receiving a bonus of $400,000 that was among the largest of Balt...

Battenfeld: Bank failures fueling insecurity and angst among American voters

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two other large banks is fueling economic insecurity and angst among an already rattled American public and is prompting a major damage control effort by President Biden.Throw in Republicans’ threats to raise the retirement age and cut Social Security and Medicare and you have a recipe for a very nervous electorate to go to the polls next year.Biden and Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren are already scurrying to assure nervous Americans the bank system is “safe” and avoid blame for the bank collapses, saying they were due to lax regulatory policies under Donald Trump.Blame Trump is usually the Democrats’ answer for every problem.But Biden himself is now taking heat for the banking collapses.“The bottom line is this: Americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe. Your deposits are safe,” Biden said.That promise is unlikely to assuage the public, which is already dealing with rampant inflation, rising mortgage interest rates and n...

ASK IRA: Do close games show Heat are close to redemption or ruin?

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

Q: All Heat games this year have been gut-wrenching. I do believe that opponents lick their chops when they are going to play the Heat. Because they know Miami will not blow them out and therefore they will have a chance to win. They know the Heat does not have that fourth-quarter shutdown defense anymore. They know that the Miami Heat will make mistakes and turn the ball over. They know they will get many second-chance points and get more points in the paint than the Heat, as well as make more 3-pointers. But they also know they just might lose, as is what happened to the Utah Jazz tonight. – Roland, Borrego Springs, Calif.A: Honestly, it’s as if all Heat games should be taken in from a dentist’s chair, because it very much feels like pulling teeth, win or lose. Think about it, the Heat have played 70 games and 50 (50!) have been defined by the NBA as clutch games (games within five or fewer points at any point in the last five minutes). Allow that to marinate. Th...

Whether the Chicago Bears leave or not, taxpayers are on the hook for growing Soldier Field debt payments

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

As the Chicago Bears make plans to build a new stadium, taxpayers still are on the hook for the old one. A big bill is coming soon —and the primary method of paying for it may not be enough.Whether or not the team leaves for its newly acquired site in Arlington Heights, the public is obligated to pay for the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field that was meant to keep the team there.Due to refinancing and years of primarily paying interest instead of principal, the debt owed for Soldier Field has ballooned from the original $399 million to $631 million, according to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, or ISFA, which manages the debt payments. The increase in the debt alarms experts who work in stadium financing.“No sane person would have agreed to this deal,” said J.C. Bradbury, a professor of economics at Kennesaw State University in Marietta, Georgia, who has studied sports stadium financing.Recently, due to the COVID pandemic crushing travel and tourism, the 2%...

Garbage tarnishes Paris luster as pension strike continues

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The City of Light is losing its luster with tons of garbage piling up on Paris sidewalks as sanitation workers strike for a ninth day Tuesday. The creeping squalor is the most visible sign of widespread anger over a bill to raise the French retirement age by two years.The malodorous perfume of rotting food has begun escaping from some rubbish bags and overflowing bins. Neither the Left Bank palace housing the Senate nor, across town, a street steps from the Elysee Palace, where waste from the presidential residence is apparently being stocked, was spared by the strike.More than 5,600 tons of garbage had piled up by Monday, drawing complaints from some district mayors. Some piles disappeared early Tuesday with help from a private company, the TV station BFMTV reported.Other French cities are also having garbage problems, but the mess in Paris, the showcase of France, has quickly become emblematic of strikers’ discontent.“It’s a bit too much because it was even hard to na...

Russian missile hits another Ukraine apartment block, 1 dead

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:44:35 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile struck an apartment building in the center of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing at least one person and wounding three others in one of Ukraine’s major city strongholds in its eastern Donetsk region as it fights against Moscow’s invasion, officials said.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that six apartment buildings were damaged in the blast and rescue efforts were continuing. He posted a video showing gaping holes in the facade of the low-rise building that bore the brunt of the strike.The Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office and regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko also reported on the attack, posting photos of the building with mounds of rubble in front of it. The war, which erupted after Russia’s launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has brought heavy civilian casualties. Tuesday’s victims were among at least six civilians killed and 30 wounded in 24 hours, Ukraine authorities said.“Russian troops are striking residential buil...