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French democracy is in crisis. What else is new?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

Revolution is in the air.  After three months of turmoil over President Emmanuel Macron’s flagship pensions reform, France is tempted once again to rip up its constitution and start afresh.Will 2023 go down — after 1789, 1830, 1848, 1870, 1940 and 1958 — as the year which forced radical change in the method of government of perhaps the least-governable large country in the Western world?Reputable French historians and political commentators are talking of a “democratic crisis” or a “crise de régime.” The pensions dispute has, they say, transcended arguments over whether the French should retire at 62 or 64. The French president’s deployment of a full armory of special constitutional powers to impose a reform rejected by 70 percent of French adults has created — or accelerated — a deeper, political malaise.In the age of the internet and contempt for les élites, the top-down, elected monarchy devised by Charles de Gaulle 65 years ago is no longer workable, the commenta...

Owner of Boston pizza chain to face federal judge on forced labor charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

The owner of a local pizza chain is set to face a judge Tuesday on federal charges of forced labor.Officials said Stavros Papantoniadis, 47, forced employees to work while verbally and physically abusing them and repeatedly threatening them with deportation. Papantoniadis owns Stash’s Pizza in Dorchester and Roslindale. He was arrested last month and initially charged with one count of forced labor.On March 29, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Papantoniadis had since been indicted on four counts of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor.Papantoniadis has remained in federal custody since his arrest.

Vermont man pleads not guilty to 14 charges following three-day manhunt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

A Vermont man accused of getting into a shootout with police leading to a multi-day manhunt is now in custody and facing charges. Henry Lovell, 24, pleaded not guilty Monday to 14 charges, including attempted murder.Lovell allegedly shot a Morristown police officer at an apartment last week as police responded to a reported kidnapping. The incident led to a three-day search for the suspect. “There was a kidnapping. He held a gun to his mother and to his landlord. He engaged law enforcement in in battle with his shotgun,” said Deputy State’s Attorney Aliena Gerhard. “A public tip was the reason Lovell was located,” said Morristown Police Chief Jason Luneau. “We are not alone in our endeavors and understand we cannot complete our mission without the community’s assistance.”The next step for Lovell is a psychiatric evaluation. He is currently being held without bail. The officer who was shot has been released from the hospital.

Dave Hyde: ‘The Big One’ era continues as Jimmy Butler makes history in Heat’s win

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

Here’s the thing about history: It’s hard to see coming. Monday night’s drama began, undramatically enough, with Jimmy Butler making a pedestrian 20-foot shot with just over five minutes left in a troubled game.“Frustrating,’ Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called Game 4 against Milwaukee to that point. “Things weren’t going our way.”No one considered Butler’s shot was the start of anything, much less the start of something unbelievable that would put the Heat up 3-1 this series.How could they? That shot merely brought the Miami merely brought within what seemed like a constant eight-point cushion for Milwaukee. It really just set up the next shot, which was a Butler drive and five-foot runner.Which was followed by his two free throws and we were getting somewhere.Then came a breakaway dunk to put the Heat in the lead, and the hinges started coming off the night in a way they do in any momentous game.“That was the moment fo...

What to know about the 2023 NFL draft: When will the Chicago Bears pick? Who are the local prospects to watch?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

After sitting out the first round a year ago, the Chicago Bears are once again central players in this week’s NFL draft.The Bears secured the No. 1 pick via their league-worst 3-14 record in 2022, then traded the top spot last month to the Carolina Panthers for a package of picks — including this year’s No. 9 selection — and wide receiver DJ Moore.Will general manager Ryan Poles continue to wheel and deal on draft night? Or will he stay put at No. 9 and look to beef up the team’s offensive or defensive line?Here’s a look at the important details of the draft, including how to watch on TV, when the Bears will be picking and who the top local prospects are.Catch up on our draft coverage:Who will the Bears select at No. 9? Brad Biggs’ NFL mock draft 2.0.Are Jalen Carter or Peter Skoronski options for the Bears at No. 9 in the NFL draft? 4 questions facing GM Ryan Poles.15 months into his ‘disciplined’ rebuild, Bears GM Ryan Poles fa...

Over 27 NFL drafts, the Ravens have made more than 200 picks. Search, sort and browse them all.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

Since their founding in 1996, the Ravens have drafted 229 players, nearly enough to cover each sideline if draftees stood a yard apart. The group includes 32 wide receivers (the Ravens’ most drafted position) and 12 players from the University of Alabama (most common school). It includes eight Ravens Ring of Honor members and three members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as well as 21 players who never made it into a regular-season NFL game. Search, sort and browse the full list below. ()

How Patrick Wisdom’s attacking mindset has the Chicago Cubs 3rd baseman off to a sizzling start at the plate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

By the final day of Patrick Wisdom’s scorching stretch of five home runs in four games last week, the Chicago Cubs third baseman was running out of ways to explain his electric streak.“Man, if I could replicate that feeling and bottle it up and hold on to it …” Wisdom said with a wide grin.And even when it was about him, Wisdom made sure to turn the focus to those around him. When asked what impressed him the most about how he had been producing, he instead credited his teammates and coaches for producing an environment that makes it easy to have fun on the field.It’s a simplified explanation for his performance through 20 games. The 31-year-old Wisdom takes a .256/.310/.679 slash line, nine home runs and a 163 OPS+ into Tuesday night’s series opener against the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field.Since earning an everyday opportunity in May 2021, Wisdom has been capable of carrying the offense for stretches. He’s one reason the Cubs have star...

The Belichick Way: Behind the scenes of Bill and Brian Belichick’s talks at a coaching clinic

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Brian Belichick peeks his head out from behind a black curtain along the back wall of a wide, windowless room.His presentation was supposed to begin one minute ago beneath the stands at Shi Stadium, home of Rutgers football and, on this Friday night, a clinic for New Jersey high school coaches. Belichick eyes the small stage in front of him, the dropped projector screen, the podium within an arm’s reach and his audience of a few hundred.The room’s listed capacity is 250, but the power of celebrity will soon cause that number to double. Belichick ducks back behind the curtain. What’s another minute to kill?Less than two weeks out from the NFL Draft, the Patriots’ draft preparation is almost complete. Belichick arrived on campus hours earlier with company, not to scout prospects but speak at the invitation of Rutgers coach Greg Schiano.Finally, a tall, clean-shaven, bald man wearing the unofficial uniform of football coaches everywhere  – khakis and a team polo – cl...

Court reject family’s bid to change Russian-sounding surname

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A court in Germany has rejected a married couple’s request to legally change their Russian-sounding surname due to negative repercussions they said they had experienced since the start of the war in Ukraine.The couple had sought to force officials in the southwest German state of Rhineland Palatinate to authorize the change, claiming that they and their daughter had suffered in their daily lives because of their last name.The regional administrative court in Koblenz did not provide the couple’s surname in line with German privacy rules.The court said Tuesday that judges dismissed the Germany-born couple’s request on the grounds that the reasons they gave for the change were insufficient.“The fact that a family name is of foreign origin or doesn’t sound German is in itself generally not an important reason for a name change,” the court said in a statement. It said the negative treatment the couple claimed to have experienced since the start of Russia’s...

Family: Chinese journalist faces espionage charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:48 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — A veteran Chinese journalist who worked at a ruling Communist Party-affiliated newspaper and was a Harvard University fellow faces espionage charges after being detained while meeting with a Japanese diplomat in a restaurant, his family said Monday.Dong Yuyu, deputy head of the editorial department at Guangming Daily, regularly met with foreign journalists and diplomats to help understand global trends. But Chinese authorities regarded his contacts with foreign diplomats as evidence of spying, according to a family statement. Dong is the latest in a series of liberal Chinese voices to be accused by the government of being linked to what it terms foreign interference.As a non-Communist Party member, he was one of the most pro-reform voices at Guangming Daily and wrote articles in favor of an independent legal system, his family said. He was awarded a Nieman fellowship at Harvard University in 2006-07 and became a visiting fellow at Keio University in Japan in 2010. Fou...