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Network now, clients later: Lobbyists are in Ukraine eyeing post-war contracts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

BRUSSELS — Kyiv is becoming a new hotbed for the influence industry. But that doesn’t mean lobbying is business as usual in the besieged Ukrainian capital. “When you go to government offices, they’ve got sandbags,” said Fabrice Pothier, CEO of the consultancy Rasmussen Global. “You don’t really lunch, as such.”Nearly 500 days into the Russian invasion, Western businesses are less spooked by the violence and increasingly intrigued by the money-making prospects in Ukraine, especially now that it’s officially a candidate to join the EU. And a growing supply of lobbyists is ready to meet demand from a range of deep-pocketed sectors, from defense and infrastructure to energy and pharma. The formulation is clear: Forge government connections and solidify your reputation with pro bono work now, then use that to show the prowess of your network when potential paying clients come along later. In some ways, Kyiv is a lobbyist’s dreamland. Politicians are...

‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ is here. Here’s how to reconsider Taylor Swift’s transformative album

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In 2010, newly anointed as a Grammy winner, Taylor Swift released “Speak Now,” her third studio album and her first without a single songwriting collaboration.Her 2006 self-titled debut and 2008’s “Fearless” had inspired both acclaim and criticism for her bold bridges and keen lyricism — these are masterful country-pop songs, critics argued, but surely a teen idol wasn’t responsible for them. Swift proved her detractors wrong on “Speak Now,” an album that arrived just before her pivot from country’s youngest hope to pop’s freshest voice.The album served as a close document of her nascent fame and future career ambitions, and now, 13 years on, it’s back. “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” released Friday, is the third release of the six albums Swift plans to re-record. The Taylor’s Version albums, instigated by music manager Scooter Braun’s sale of her early catalog, represent Swift’s effort to control her own songs and how they’re ...

Stock market today: Asian shares fall as strong US data dash hopes for an end to rate hikes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares slipped Friday after another decline on Wall Street, where hopes for an end to interest rate hikes were again dashed by strong jobs data. U.S. futures fell and oil prices were higher.Investors were watching for updates from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing, where she was meeting with senior Chinese officials to try to soothe antagonisms over a host of issues and promote global financial stability. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.6% to 32,593.87 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 1% to 18,341.87. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.4% to 3,194.19, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 1.6% to 7,049.30. India’s Sensex edged 0.1% higher and Bangkok’s SET index also was down 0.1%. A jobs report Friday will likely have a much bigger impact on Wall Street than anything else this week. While a sturdy U.S. labor market keeps the economy out of a long-feared recession, it could also push the Federal Reserve to ke...

EU takes a major step in approving plans to boost its anemic ammunition production to help Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union took a major step early Friday in approving plans to boost its anemic production of ammunition and missiles within the 27-nation bloc, to both defend itself and quickly help Ukraine in trying to push back the invasion by Russia. The EU presidency announced early Friday that the member states and the EU Parliament reached a deal “to urgently mobilize” half a billion euros from its budget for an Act in Support of Ammunition Production. The deal follows up the decision by EU leaders in March to boost urgently needed ammunition deliveries to Ukraine, which were then sought to start a counteroffensive against Russian forces. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has steadfastly asked for more military aid, from ammunition to planes and missiles. ASAP was part of the plan to send Ukraine 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition within the next 12 months. The EU had already approved plan for a fast-track purchasing procedures when it approved funds Friday...

Armed rebellion by Wagner chief Prigozhin underscores erosion of Russian legal system

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russia’s rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin walked free from prosecution for his June 24 armed mutiny, and it’s still unclear if anyone will face any charges in the aborted uprising against military leaders or for the deaths of the soldiers killed in it.Instead, a campaign is underway to portray the founder of the Wagner Group military contractor as driven by greed, with only hints of an investigation into whether he mishandled any of the billions of dollars in state funds.Until last week, the Kremlin has never admitted to funding the company, with private mercenary groups technically illegal in Russia. But President Vladimir Putin revealed the state paid Wagner almost $1 billion in just one year, while Prigozhin’s other company earned about the same from government contracts. Putin wondered aloud whether any of it was stolen.The developments around Prigozhin, who remains unpunished despite Putin’s labeling of his revolt as treason...

Zelenskyy visits Bulgaria, Czech Republic and draws support for Kyiv’s NATO membership bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the capitals of Bulgaria and the Czech Republic on Thursday, discussing military aid and receiving assurances of support for Ukraine’s entry into NATO after i ts war with Russia is over.Czech President Petr Pavel said it is in the interest of his country and Ukraine that soon as the war ends negotiations about NATO membership begin. “I’m convinced that Ukraine will be part of NATO,” Zelenskyy said in Prague, adding that an “ideal” result of next week’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania would be an invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance.Earlier Thursday, during a brief visit at the invitation of Bulgaria’s new pro-Western government sworn in a month ago, Zelenskyy also discussed European integration and bilateral energy cooperation. Talking to reporters after the meetings, he defended Ukraine’s right to fight Russian aggression and to seek help to do so.“Occupiers came to our land, killed, torture...

France’s small towns are reeling from the spread of rioting. ‘Now it’s affecting the countryside’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

PARIS (AP) — After a pleasant evening of wine-tasting — joyfully billed “Grapes and Friends!” — with a hundred or so people and oysters, charcuteries and cheeses, the mayor of the picturesque French town of Quissac was on his way home.Then his phone rang: Urban unrest that was engulfing France after the deadly police shooting of a teenager on Paris’ outskirts, hundreds of kilometers (miles) and a world away to the north, had careened into Quissac’s tranquility, too.In a quick hit-and-run, a small group of people — seemingly no more than four, the mayor says — bombarded the local gendarmes’ barracks on Quai de la Gare road with powerful fireworks, denting its metal shutters and setting fire to a cypress tree. In the grander scheme of things, it wasn’t much compared to orgies of destruction, arson, looting and rioting unleashed on multitudes of other communities across France in six nights of mayhem. Still, for the town of 3,300 people in the Gard region of sou...

Amid criticism over his war on gangs, El Salvador’s President Bukele turns to sports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele stood before tens of thousands of roaring sports fans with a message: I am not a dictator.“They say we live in a dictatorship,” Bukele said, but “ask bus passengers, people eating in restaurants, waiters. Ask whomever you want. Here in El Salvador, you can go anywhere and it’s totally safe. … Ask them what they think of El Salvador, what they think of our government, what they think of our supposed dictatorship.”In the opening ceremonies of the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, the remark was met with a burst of applause and, in some swathes of the remodeled stadium, chants of “Reelection!”The games have offered Bukele – the bitcoin-pushing 41-year-old leader who has sparked a sort of populist fervor in his Central American nation and beyond – an opportunity to showcase a safer El Salvador in the largest international event here since his government entered an all-out war against gangs. But the compet...

West clashes with Russia and Iran at UN over Tehran’s uranium enrichment and drones for Russia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and its Western allies clashed with Russia and Iran at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday over Tehran’s advancing uranium enrichment and its reported supply of combat drones to Moscow being used to attack Ukraine.The sharp exchanges came at the council’s semi-annual meeting on implementation of its resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major countries known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the U.S. under then-President Donald Trump left in 2018.At the start of the meeting, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Britain, which hold the council presidency, of seeking to hold “an openly politicized show” by inviting Ukraine to take part in the meeting when it is not part of the JCPOA. He demanded a procedural vote on its participation.U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood countered, accusing both Iran and Russia of participating in the transfer of drones used in Ukraine without prior Secu...

Digital tech restore relics in museum in East China's Hangzhou

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:16 GMT

Thanks to the ingenious use of digital technologies, a museum featuring the remains of Deshou Palace, a royal palace dating back to China's Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, has brought more people closer to the royal life and palaces in the Southern Song Dynasty, while inheriting and protecting historical and cultural relics, People's Daily Online.The reconstructed Chonghua Hall, the main building of the Deshou Palace, and the digital facilities at the remains of the hall introduce visitors to the rise and fall of the Deshou Palace and the exquisite craftsmanship and design of buildings in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).Chonghua Hall has been reconstructed according to historical materials, said Zhou Ji, an executive of the museum. The remnants of the hall, considered to be the essence of the museum, have been carefully preserved and are kept in good condition below the ground level of the reconstructed hall.Visitors can now see ...