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Italy to hit banks with 40 percent windfall tax

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

Georgia Meloni is going after the banks.In a move that surprised investors and political observers alike, Italy’s far-right government led by Prime Minister Meloni announced plans late Monday to slap a 40 percent one-off windfall tax on bank profits.Italian lenders have been raking in huge benefits from higher interest rates on their loans at a time when ordinary people are struggling with the cost of living. The eurozone’s cost of living crisis, which has been marked by the highest inflation in 40 years and a faltering recovery from the pandemic, has provided fertile ground for politicians hoping to win support by targeting the finance industry and central bank policymakers. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, aimed fire at the European Central Bank, which is in charge of setting interest rates, rather than the banks themselves when he announced the plan at a press conference late Monday.“The ECB’s rate hike has raised the cost of money for families and businesses,...

Taiwanese chips giant moves ahead with German plant investment

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

Taiwan-based chips manufacturer TSMC on Tuesday formally announced an investment of about €3.5 billion into a microchip production plant in Germany, its first in Europe. The commitment is a huge boost for the EU’s push to become less dependent in the field of microchips, which are used in everything from cars to smartphones. The EU’s goal is to bring its market share in the global semiconductor value chain to 20 percent (from 9 percent now). The goal was set because of pandemic-era shortages, but geopolitical tensions have since become the bloc’s main driver. TSMC is world-leading in the more advanced types of semiconductors and has been expanding its production capacity outside Taiwan, a major chips hub, in the last few years, with plants in the works in Japan and the U.S. state of Arizona. In Europe, it will, however, cater to the needs of the German car industry, which prefers less advanced types of semiconductors. TSMC’s plan was long-rumored, especially...

Police investigating after pedestrian struck by vehicle in Dorchester

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

Boston police are investigating after a person was struck by a vehicle in Dorchester overnight.Officers responding to a reported pedestrian crash on Dorchester Avenue around 4 a.m. found the pedestrian suffering from what were considered non-life-threatening injuries. They were taken to a nearby hospital.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Tim Anderson leaves the Chicago White Sox’s win over the New York Yankees with a bruised left forearm

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson hasn’t had the greatest week.Knocked down in his fight Saturday with Cleveland Guardians star José Ramírez. Mocked on Twitter in a viral video of the fight. Suspended for six games and fined $20,000 by MLB on Monday for starting the brawl.And then plunked on the left arm by New York Yankees starter Gerrit Cole on Monday night, forcing him to leave a 5-1 Sox win with a bruised left forearm.Hit by Cole in the third inning, Anderson appeared to be in considerable pain as he headed to first base. But he continued playing, taking a called third strike in the fifth in his next at-bat.Manager Charlie Montoyo — subbing for Pedro Grifol, who was suspended for one game for his role in the brawl — sent Zach Remillard to pinch-hit for Anderson in the eighth.Field coordinator Mike Tosar, subbing for Montoyo in the postgame briefing because Montoyo preferred not to speak, said Anderson’s arm tightened up in the seventh. Th...

The second son of Thailand’s king returns to the country unexpectedly after decades of estrangement

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The estranged son of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn visited a daycare center for underprivileged children in Bangkok on Tuesday following a surprise return to the country after 27 years of living abroad.Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse’s return was first revealed in a video posted online Sunday showing him in the arrival area of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport being greeted by well-wishers. His return came at a sensitive time for the Thai royal family, with the eldest daughter of the king being in a coma since December.The 42-year-old, who works at a law firm in New York, is the second son of King Vajiralongkorn with his second wife Sujarinee Vivacharawongse, a former actress. The then-crown prince divorced Sujarinee who was accused of adultery in public in 1996. Sujarinee and her children later moved abroad. The youngest daughter was taken back by the royal family and was given the title Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, but the four sons remain estran...

Texas woman known as the ‘Sassy Trucker’ leaves Dubai after monthslong legal dispute, advocate says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Houston woman known online as the “Sassy Trucker” who had been stranded in Dubai for months over an altercation at a car rental agency left the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, an advocate for the woman said.Tierra Young Allen, 29, took off on a flight out of the UAE and will transit through the United Kingdom on her way back to the U.S., said Radha Stirling, who runs a for-hire advocacy group long critical of the UAE called Detained in Dubai.Allen paid a $1,360 deposit to Dubai police to clear the travel ban she faced, Stirling said.It wasn’t clear if Allen still has any legal complaints against her in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. Officials in Dubai did not immediately return a request for comment, nor did the U.S. State Department.The circumstances of the April altercation at the unidentified car rental agency also remain unclear. Allen earlier had been in a rental car involved in a crash.Stirling ha...

Police arrest suspect in a stabbing that took place near the British Museum in London

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A man was arrested after stabbing another man outside the British Museum in London on Tuesday, police said. The museum, famous for housing the Rosetta Stone, was evacuated but police say there was no more risk to the public after the isolated incident. Metropolitan Police said the stabbing occurred at a street corner near the museum’s entrance. The victim was taken to the hospital with a stab wound and the suspect was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.The British Museum, founded in 1753, is the world’s oldest public national museum and houses works of history, art and culture. The Associated Press

Germany receives 178 compensation applications from gay servicepeople over discrimination

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German defense ministry said Tuesday that it has received 178 applications for compensation from gay servicepeople who experienced discrimination in the military in the past.The ministry said in a statement that it had expected more applications, but that nonetheless “the goals of the law were achieved.”A law rehabilitating gay soldiers who suffered discrimination came into force two years ago, and so far, about 400,000 euros ($438,000) has been paid in symbolic compensation, the ministry said.The law was passed in 2021 after a study commissioned by the defense ministry and presented in 2020 documented “systematic discrimination” in the Bundeswehr — the military of West Germany and since 1990 of reunited Germany — from 1955 until the beginning of the 21st century.While the German military stopped its policy of discrimination against gay soldiers in 2000, it took more than two decades to pass the law offering them compensation.The law also offers compensation for ga...

Florida school board reverses decision nixing access to children’s book about a male penguin couple

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Months after access to a popular children’s book about a male penguin couple hatching a chick was restricted at school libraries because of Florida’s “ Don’t Say Gay law,” a central Florida school district says it has reversed that decision.The School Board of Lake County and Florida education officials last week asked a federal judge to toss out a First Amendment lawsuit brought by students and the authors of “And Tango Makes Three” in June. Their complaint challenged the restrictions and Florida’s new law prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels.The lawsuit is moot since age restrictions on “And Tango Makes Three” have been lifted following a Florida Department of Education memo that said the new law only applied to classroom instruction and not school libraries, according to motions filed Friday by Florida education officials and school board members of the district located ou...

A proposed constitutional change before Ohio voters could determine abortion rights in the state

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:23 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio concludes a hastily called and highly charged special election Tuesday, a contest that could determine the fate of abortion rights in the state and fuel political playbooks nationally heading into 2024.On the ballot is Issue 1, a proposal to raise the threshold for passing future changes to the state’s constitution from a simple majority to 60%. But more passionately in the sights of the proposal’s backers — including Republican officeholders — is a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that calls for enshrining access to reproductive care in the state’s foundational document.The measure was clearly resonating with voters, who turned out in huge numbers during the early voting period, which ended Sunday. The number of advance ballots cast — a combination of mail and early in-person ballots — hit nearly 700,000, more than double the early vote during the state’s two previous midterm primary elections in 2022 and 20...