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NFL warns teams that fighting won’t be tolerated and penalties will strictly enforced

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

The NFL has warned teams that any fights could result in significant punishment, including disqualification.In a memo sent to clubs on Wednesday and obtained by The Associated Press, the league said “fighting is never acceptable” and it plans to “strongly enforce” its game-day policies.Penalties include disqualification, significant fines and/or suspension without pay.The league is cracking down on fighting after pregame fights marred two games last week — the 49ers-Browns and Cowboys-Chargers.No players were disciplined for their actions pregame last week.The memo also emphasized three key points: Teams must warm up within their own 45-yard line, players or club personnel can be disqualified for actions that happen pregame and video will be used to determine if pregame actions warrant discipline after the fact.“Sportsmanship and respect are at the core of NFL football, and fighting is irreconcilable with these values,” the league said in the memo.___AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/n...

Meloni breakup sparks calls to stop the moralizing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

Opposition parties in Italy are using the breakup of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s relationship to lambaste the right-wing government for its preoccupation with the traditional family and conservative values.Giuseppe Conte, leader of the opposition anti-establishment 5Star Movement, called on the conservatives to “avoid laying out cultural models” after Meloni split up with her long-term partner and father of her child, Andrea Giambruno, after he was recorded making lewd comments to colleagues. “Our paths have diverged for some time, and the time has come to acknowledge it,” Meloni said on Friday in announcing her decision. Meloni was not married to Giambruno but has often espoused traditional family values and said that a child should have a mother and a father. Her government has put forward measures hostile to non-traditional and LGBT families. The Ministry of the Interior in March asked municipalities to stop recognizing and registering children of same-sex c...

Unsanctioned coterie of pro-Israel quasi-lobbyists descends on D.C.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

This past week, an unlikely pair of men sat down for breakfast at the Capitol Hill Club, a Republican gathering site just a stone’s throw from Congress, to plot ways to help Israel.On one side of the table was Rep. Paul Gosar, a firebrand Republican who has faced criticism for ties to white nationalists. On the other was Bobby Rechnitz, a Los Angeles real estate developer dubbed a “confidant” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Over coffee, the two discussed Israel’s former Prime Minister Golda Meir and the situation in Gaza. Rechnitz said he’d come to Washington to share real-time intelligence from Israel and to ensure lawmakers understood the challenges facing leadership there.“I hope to slightly enlighten the congressman about some of the things that I’m hearing,” he said. Rechnitz said he’s connected lawmakers with members of the Knesset, Israel’s governing body. He also uses a large iPad to show them photos of bullet-riddled bodies of babies and people burnt ...

Michigan State apologizes for displaying picture of Adolf Hitler on the videoboard before a football game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

(CNN) — Michigan State University apologized for displaying a picture of Adolf Hitler on the videoboard during a trivia quiz before the school’s football game against in-state rivals the University of Michigan on Saturday.“MSU is aware that inappropriate content by a third-party source was displayed on the videoboard prior to the start of tonight’s football game,” Michigan State athletic director Matt Larson said in a statement. “We are deeply sorry for the content that was displayed, as this is not representative of our institutional values.”Photos began circulating on social media before kickoff of Hitler on the videoboard at Spartan Stadium with a trivia question asking where he was born.The university will stop using the third-party source the image came from and implement stronger screening procedures for all videoboard content going forward, Larson added.The apology is part of a grim series of events for Michigan State’s football program, which lost Saturday nig...

At least 28 people drown after boat capsizes on river in northwest Congo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — At least 28 people drowned after a boat capsized in the Congo River in Equateur province, local authorities said Sunday. The boat was traveling from Ngondo, an area approximately 74 miles (120 kilometers) from the province’s capital, Mbandaka. and crashed Saturday night in Bolomba village, Didon Ifete, the administrator for the territory, said on state radio. Some 200 passengers were rescued and an unknown number of others were missing, he said. This is the second boat wreck on the Congo River in Equateur province within a week. On October 14, another boat capsized, killing at least 47 people and leaving more than 70 missing.In January, at least 145 passengers went missing after a motorized boat overloaded with goods and animals sank on the river in northwestern Congo.Boating mishaps are common on the Congo River and on the nation’s lakes because of the prevalent use of makeshift boats that are often overloaded. The majority of the population in the coun...

American basketball player attacked in Poland, left with injured eye socket

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — An American basketball player at a professional Polish women’s club was beaten and left with a head injury midweek with the attacker later detained, according to officials and reports in Polish media on Sunday.Mikayla Cowling, who plays for VBW Arka Gdynia, was attacked late Wednesday in a music club in Gdansk, a city in northern Poland, according to the RMF FM broadcaster, which also quoted the club saying the “brutal beating” left her with a fractured eye socket, among other injuries.Gdansk is a neighboring city to Gdynia on the Baltic coast.“I am outraged that such a shameful situation has occurred. Violence and aggression are unacceptable and must be opposed,” Gdynia Mayor Wojciech Szczurek said Sunday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Fortunately, the police quickly caught the attacker. We wish the player good health!”The attack happened after a EuroCup women’s match where the Gdynia team defeated rivals from Switzerland, BCF Elfic Fribo...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is traveling to China to talk climate change

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will try to reinforce his state’s role as a global leader on climate change as he begins a weeklong visit to China on Monday, a trip that presents both political risk and opportunity for crucial international collaboration. Newsom’s tour begins with a discussion in Hong Kong before he continues on to Beijing, Shanghai and the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu. He’ll visit the first Chinese city to deploy an all-electric bus fleet, tour an offshore wind facility and see a wetlands preserve. He’ll sign agreements with leaders of Chinese provinces to set mutual commitments on a host of climate goals. California has already signed dozens of such agreements with subnational governments. Newsom’s agenda also includes conversations on “strengthening cultural ties and combating xenophobia,” and he will visit a school with his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. His trip to China follows a brief visit to Israel. Governors of Calif...

Business groups concerned as St. Lawrence Seaway workers begin strike action

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

MONTREAL — Business groups are raising concerns about a strike on the St. Lawrence Seaway and the impact a lengthy labour dispute could have on their members.The St. Lawrence Seaway shut down after hundreds of workers walked off the job shortly after midnight on Sunday.The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says strike-related delays can result in lost sales and revenue at a time when small businesses are already dealing with other challenges like inflation and labour shortages.The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, for its part, is urging the Canadian government to intervene and prevent further disruption to the country’s supply chains.The strike is expected to affect cargo shipments immediately along the artery that runs between Montreal and Lake Erie.Unifor, the union representing the roughly 360 striking workers, said it was unable to reach an agreement with the employer by the strike deadline despite negotiations.This report by The Canadian Press was first published O...

1 woman dead in multi-vehicle crash in Brampton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

One woman is dead following a multi-vehicle crash Sunday morning in Brampton.Peel police say they were called to the area of Queen Street East and Central Park Drive around 9:30 a.m. for a three-vehicle crash.One woman was taken to a nearby hospital in life-threatening condition, where she was later pronounced dead. Paramedics transported a second person to a local hospital with minor injuries.

European rallies urge end to antisemitism as pro-Palestinian demonstrations call for relief for Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:18 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of people joined vigils in Berlin and London on Sunday to oppose antisemitism and support Israel, while in Paris and other cities, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators demanded a cease-fire and relief for people in besieged Gaza.Some of those who gathered in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate carried Israeli flags or posters with photos of some of the more than 200 people seized by Hamas as hostages during the militants’ deadly Oct. 7 incursion into Israel.“It is unbearable that Jews are living in fear again today — in our country of all places,” President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the crowd, estimated at 20,000 by organizers and 10,000 by police. “Every single attack on Jews, on Jewish institutions is a disgrace for Germany. Every single attack fills me with shame and anger.”Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz inaugurated a new synagogue in the eastern city of Dessau and said he was “outraged” by the upsurge in antisemitism since the confli...