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‘Ridiculous’ to rope Georgia into Western sanctions against Russia, PM says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

Cracking down on trade between Georgia and Russia would have little impact on the Russian economy, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said Wednesday, pushing back against a proposal for the EU to sanction third countries that continue to do business with Moscow.“What the EU trades with Russia in four days, we trade with Russia in one year,” Garibashvili said in an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum.“When it comes to economic sanctions […] Georgia’s trade turnover with Russia is less than $1 billion” a year, the Georgian PM said. “This is ridiculous, isn’t it? That $1 billion could not affect Russian economy.”Russia is Georgia’s second largest trading partner. In 2022, trade turnover between the two countries reached $2.5 billion, according to preliminary data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia.The former Soviet republic is among a handful of countries from the Caucasus and Central Asia whose trade with Rus...

EU top court finds holes in Swiss cheese’s trademark request

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

The Swiss Emmental cheese, famous for its numerous holes, cannot be trademarked in the European Union, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled Wednesday.“The term ‘emmentaler’ cannot be protected as a European Union trade mark for cheeses,” the CJEU said in its ruling. The mark, the court argued, is “descriptive of a type of cheese for the relevant German public and is not perceived as an indication of the geographical origin of that cheese.”As such, “it does not enjoy protection as a collective mark,” the court ruled. Originally produced in the German-speaking Emme valley, in the Bern region, Emmental is one of the most well-known Swiss cheeses. In 2021, 10,772 tons of it were exported globally. The cheese has been produced under a protected designation of origin (AOP) in Switzerland since 2006, but lobby groups say it is widely copied abroad. The AOP is only valid within Switzerland, but has no jurisdiction in the EU. The CJEU’s ruling ...

WHO countries condemn Russia’s war on Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

GENEVA — World Health Organization member countries Wednesday voted in favor of a resolution condemning Russia’s continued war against Ukraine and its attacks on health care services, in a move that Russia claimed wrongly politicizes the organization. The symbolic vote at the ongoing World Health Assembly in favor of a resolution was backed by 80 countries, with 52 abstaining, nine voting against and 36 absent. Countries also rejected a counterresolution from Russia and Syria, with just 13 voting in favor. The rejection of Russia’s resolution was meant to “send a clear signal that provoking a health emergency of outstanding proportions and destruction of medical structures on a massive scale is not tolerated by this assembly and comes with a cost for the aggressor state,” Ukraine’s representative said during the meeting this week.  The WHO is typically neutral on political issues, preferring not to single out countries while condemning attacks on health ca...

Get to know Zacch Pickens: Q&A with the new Chicago Bears defensive tackle’s college coach

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

The Chicago Bears weren’t necessarily looking to double-dip at defensive tackle on Day 2 of the NFL draft. That’s just how it worked, and now they have a chance to rebuild the front with youth from the inside out.The Bears chose South Carolina defensive tackle Zacch Pickens with the first selection of Round 3 (No. 64), nine picks after selecting Florida’s Gervon Dexter. While it could appear redundant, veterans Justin Jones and Andrew Billings are on one-year contracts and without future options at the position, the Bears almost assuredly would have been signing or drafting tackles next offseason.Now there is hope Pickens and Dexter can develop alongside one another, not unlike what the Bears experienced with Tommie Harris and Tank Johnson in the 2004 draft.Pickens had a career-high 42 tackles for the Gamecocks last season with 2½ sacks, and his disruptive first step offers hope he can boost the interior pass rush.Jimmy Lindsey, South Carolina’s defensiv...

Column: Starting Christopher Morel in the minors this season calls other Chicago Cubs personnel decisions into question

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

Jed Hoyer is a man of few regrets, so it was no surprise the Chicago Cubs president didn’t second-guess his decision to send Christopher Morel to Triple-A Iowa to start the season.Recalled on May 9, Morel has hit .367 with nine home runs and 15 RBIs in his first 12 games after Tuesday’s 7-2 victory in the opener of a three-game series against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field.Morel’s seventh-inning homer extended his streak to five straight games with a home run — the first Cub since Sammy Sosa in 1998 to do that — and he’s the fourth player in major-league history with at least nine home runs in his first 12 games of a season. Only Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt, who hit 11 in his first 12 games in 1976, had more.That has made many Cubs fans wonder why in the world Morel didn’t make the opening-day roster in the first place.It’s a good question and one that hasn’t been addressed until now.But Hoye...

Advocates, teacher unions call for free school breakfast, lunch for Ontario students

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

Advocacy groups, teachers’ unions and food banks are calling on the Ontario government to provide a free breakfast and lunch program in schools across the province.In a letter to Education Minister Stephen Lecce and Children Minister Michael Parsa today, the collection of organizations say many children in Ontario are facing food insecurity that forces them to rely on food banks for their nutritional needs.The groups, including the Toronto Youth Cabinet, Food Banks Canada and the province’s four major teachers’ unions, say current student nutrition programs in Ontario are seeing increased demand but are not meeting the needs of students.The organizations say Ontario should provide a universal free school breakfast and lunch program to all students and guarantee that schools have sufficient infrastructure, resources and funding to deliver the meals.Feed Ontario, a collective of 1,200 direct and affiliate food banks and other organizations that work to address food i...

Russia’s Wagner boss says more than 20,000 of his troops died in Bakhmut battle

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 fighters in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, with about 20% of the 50,000 Russian convicts he recruited to fight in the 15-month war dying in the eastern Ukrainian city.The figure was in stark contrast with claims from Moscow that it lost just over 6,000 troops in the war, and is higher than the official estimate of the Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89. Ukraine hasn’t said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut alone have cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, among them convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.Russia’s invasion goal of “demilitarizing” Ukraine has backfired because Kyiv’s military has become stronger with the supply of weapons and training by its Western allies, Wagner ch...

Super Typhoon Mawar passing over Guam as Category 4 storm with strong winds, rain

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Typhoon Mawar barreled into Guam as a powerful Category 4 storm Wednesday, pummeling the U.S. Pacific territory with high winds, heavy rains and a dangerous storm surge that swamped low-lying areas as residents hunkered down in homes and shelters.The typhoon’s center passed over the northern tip of Guam on Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service said. It is the strongest storm to hit the U.S. Pacific territory of over 150,000 people in decades.The weather service earlier warned of a “triple threat” of winds, torrential rains and life-threatening storm surge, and officials were bracing for “considerable damage” including non-reinforced concrete walls being blown down, fuel storage tanks rupturing and overturned cars.The weather service said the storm was a Category 4 “super typhoon,” meaning maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or greater.The storm’s center hit Guam around 9 p.m. Wednesday, which is Wednesday morning in the continental United Sta...

Japan to provide 100 military vehicles to Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan held a ceremony on Wednesday marking its planned donation of about 100 military vehicles to Ukraine, as Tokyo seeks to provide equipment that can be of broader military use than its earlier shipments of helmets and hazmat suits. In a ceremony at the Defense Ministry at which two half-ton trucks were on display, Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino handed a document to Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky listing the three types of vehicles included in the donation.“We hope the invasion ends as soon as possible and peaceful daily lives return,” Ino said. “We will provide as much support as we can.”The donation, which also includes 30,000 food rations, comes as Japan’s government is seeking to ease its military equipment transfer policy under a new national security policy that allows its military a greater offensive role, in a major break from its post-World War II self-defense-only principle.While other countries have provided Ukraine with tanks, miss...

Polish ruling party wants commission to investigate Russian influence; critics fear witch hunt

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:11 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s ruling party is pushing for the creation of a commission which it says would investigate Russian influence. Critics view it as an attempt to create a powerful and unconstitutional tool that would help the party continue to wield power even if it loses elections this fall.A vote on the bill could come as early as Wednesday.Some fear the ruling party could use the planned commission to eliminate opposition leader Donald Tusk from political life. Tusk is the main opposition leader and the greatest threat to the ruling party, Law and Justice, as it seeks a third consecutive term in the vote expected in October.Opposition senators dubbed it “Lex Tusk,” using the Latin term for “law,” and rejected it earlier this month in the upper house, where they hold a majority. It now returns to the more powerful lower house of parliament, the Sejm, where the ruling party can usually muster a slim majority.The bill foresees the creation of a commission...