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Boris said Macron was ‘Putin’s lickspittle’ and a ‘c**t,’ ex-aide claims

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

LONDON — A furious Boris Johnson once privately described Emmanuel Macron as “Putin’s lickspittle” and promised to “punch his lights out,” a key aide to the former U.K. prime minister claimed.Detailing his experience of Johnson’s chaotic premiership in a new podcast, former Downing Street director of communications Guto Harri said Johnson launched into a tirade about Macron in the months following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — and after the French president criticized the U.K.’s response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis.“At our morning meeting, I think with a small gang of us, he just launched into a violent attack on Emmanuel Macron,” Harri said. “Basically, saying ‘He’s a four-letter word that begins with C, he’s a weirdo, he’s Putin’s lickspittle.’”According to Harri, Johnson apparently then referenced a desire to damage Macron — and deployed an anti-French slur while he was at it.Johnson, Harri sa...

How Ukraine could become the next South Korea

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

U.S. officials are planning for the growing possibility that the Russia-Ukraine war will turn into a frozen conflict that lasts many years — perhaps decades — and joins the ranks of similar lengthy face-offs in the Korean peninsula, South Asia and beyond.The options discussed within the Biden administration for a long-term “freeze” include where to set potential lines that Ukraine and Russia would agree not to cross, but which would not have to be official borders. The discussions — while provisional — have taken place across various U.S. agencies and in the White House.It’s a scenario that may prove the most realistic long-term outcome given that neither Kyiv nor Moscow appear inclined to ever admit defeat. It’s also becoming increasingly likely amid the growing sense within the administration that an upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive won’t deal a mortal blow to Russia.A frozen conflict — in which fighting pauses but neither side is declared the victor nor do they agree that the ...

Arson investigation underway as crews battle series of massive brush fires in Lynn Woods

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

A series of fires that had burned roughly 400 acres of the Lynn Woods Reservation as of Wednesday were intentionally set, state and local officials announced. In a statement shared by the state Department of Fire Services, officials said at least eight fires had started since Friday of last week. After days in the woods battling flames, officials said they’re seeking the public’s help, asking anyone with information on the fires to reach out. “It’s just infuriating that someone would do that and put people’s lives at risk, property at risk” Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson told 7NEWS.Dry conditions, low humidity and recent warm weather have made conditions ripe for fires, according to experts. Conditions, in turn, have prompted multiple red flag warnings from the National Weather Service indicating high fire danger across most of Massachusetts.In Lynn, officials said they believe fires were set on Friday of last week, on Saturday and on Wednesday, hours before their stateme...

Firefighters battle early morning house fire in Milton

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

Fire crews in Milton extinguished a house fire overnight that left a single-family home scorched.Crews responding to a reported structure fire on Highland Street found a home in flames.The cause of the fire remains under investigaiton.No additional information was immediately available.

Crews battle brush fire in Plymouth as dry, windy conditions persist

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

Fire crews worked through the night to extinguish a brush fire that broke out in Plymouth.The firefight off Route 3 near the Kingston town line took place as brush fires burn across the state amid a posted Red Flag Warning due to extreme dry and windy conditions.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

The Orioles are hitting lefties better than last year. The big difference? Cedric Mullins and Adley Rutschman.

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

The Orioles’ best two players in 2022 were their worst hitters against left-handed pitchers.Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins, two players who had hit lefties well in the past, struggled mightily when facing them last year. While their performance in other areas made them Baltimore’s two most valuable players, they headlined a lineup that didn’t hit well against southpaws.Rutschman and Mullins have both reverted to their pre-2022 selves when facing left-handed pitchers this season, and most of the Orioles’ lineup has followed suit as Baltimore ranks as one of the best teams in the major leagues versus lefties.The Orioles, who face Los Angeles Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson on Thursday, are 12-5 against lefty starters — averaging 5.53 runs in those games — compared with 16-10 and 4.65 runs versus right-handers. And a year after posting a .297 on-base percentage and a .663 OPS off lefties, Baltimore is slashing .270/.353/.453 against them. Their...

Tee Thursday: Par 3 courses not short on fun

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

For more than two decades, Moira McCarthy has invited ski enthusiasts to join her in lessons, destination adventures and product trials via the Herald’s weekly Ski Wednesday section. Beginning today, Herald readers can join her as she explores golf life via the new Tee Thursday. Check in for course reviews, pro tips and more as she works to improve her game. You’ll find McCarthy at courses all over, and on the practice range with her teaching pro Dean at Crosswinds Golf Club in Plymouth.I used to think only wanna-be golfers would savor a Par 3 course. Then I entered the world of real golfers and found – first at a fabulous Par 3 in Scottsdale, Arizona, called Mountain Shadows (mountainshadows.com) – that my fellow golfers – all quality players willing to let a learner like me come along – were excited for that part of our adventure.On the Par 3, they told me, they could focus on the shorter game (really, where the rubber meets the road, when it comes down to it), get more holes into...

Pakistani police besiege Imran Khan’s home as deadline for him to hand over suspects expires

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police kept up their siege around the home of Imran Khan as a 24-hour deadline given to the former premier to hand over suspects allegedly sheltered inside expired on Thursday. The siege and the authorities’ demand for the suspects, wanted in violent protests over Khan’s recent detention, have angered the former prime minister’s many followers and raised concerns about more clashes between them and security forces. Last week, Khan’s supporters attacked public property and military installations after he was dragged out of a courtroom and arrested in a graft case. At least 10 people were killed in clashes with police across the country in the days that followed. The violence subsided only when Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Khan’s release.The popular opposition leader was freed from custody over the weekend and returned to his home in an upscale district of Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city and the capital of the ...

World leaders land in Hiroshima for G-7 meeting, with Ukraine war high on agenda

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — World leaders landed Thursday for a Group of Seven meeting in Hiroshima, the site of the world’s first atomic bomb attack, with Russia’s war in Ukraine expected to be high on the agenda.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida kicked off his summit diplomacy by meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden after his arrival at a nearby military base. He was due to hold talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a bit later in the day, before the three-day summit opens on Friday. The Japan-U.S. alliance is the “very foundation of peace and security in the Indo- Pacific region,” Kishida told Biden in opening remarks. “We very much welcome that the cooperation has evolved in leaps and bounds,” he said.“When our countries stand together we stand stronger and I believe the whole world is safer when we do,” Biden said. The U.S. president exited Air Force One in heavy rain and briefly greeted troops on arrival at the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. As G-7 att...

Biden’s reelection campaign sees ‘viable pathways’ to 2024 election win

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ‘s reelection campaign is vowing to hold the states that won him the White House in 2020 but also compete in places it lost like North Carolina and increasingly Republican-dominated Florida, providing what it says are “a number of viable pathways to the 270 electoral votes” needed to clinch four more years. Offering her first extensive comments on strategy since she was named manager of Biden’s campaign last month, Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in a memo to “interested parties” that the 2024 race presents “significant opportunities to grow Democratic support.” It was released while Biden was traveling in Japan, but he is skipping previously planned, subsequent stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea to focus on debt limit talks in Washington.Rodriguez said the reelection campaign is planning early investments to try to retain battleground states Biden won in 2020 including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and New Hampshire, a...