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Pop Star Shakira Strikes A Deal With Prosecutors On Opening Day Of Trial

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — After having maintained her innocence for nearly five years, pop star Shakira struck a last-minute deal on the opening day of her tax fraud trial in Barcelona to avoid the risk of going to prison. Shakira told the presiding magistrate, Jose Manuel del Amo, on Monday that she accepted the agreement reached with prosecutors. She answered “yes” to confirm her acknowledgment of six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government 14.5 million euros (about $15.8 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014. The trial, which was expected to include more than 100 ...

There’s No Fooling the Voters

Few politicians say things that immortalize their words. Abraham Lincoln was a notable exception. The 16th president’s comment about fooling voters resonates today: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” That wise statement is becoming increasingly evident as we head into the 2024 presidential election. In addition to the latest polling by The New York Times and Siena College, which shows President Biden leaking significantly from his base of Black, Hispanic, and ...

New Arab Street Is Here at Home

The old conventional wisdom was that the U.S. couldn’t be too pro-Israel for fear of inflaming “the Arab street.” The new conventional wisdom will have to be that we can’t be too pro-Israel for fear of inflaming “the Western street.” The Arab street, a hoary cliche of commentary on the Middle East for decades, was a reference to public opinion in the Arab countries, with the strong implication that if we offended it, the result would be massive anti-Western demonstrations and violence. Well, here we are, with this dynamic playing out throughout the United States and ...

Memo to Hamas: Settler Societies Tend Not To Be Evil

In the nauseating demonstrations celebrating Hamas’ slaughter of Israelis, one hears repeated, again and again, the refrain that Israelis are “settlers” and “colonists” — and therefore, in the catechism inculcated in universities in recent decades, oppressors not deserving of mercy or sympathy when tortured and murdered by those who deemed themselves the oppressed. A long generation ago, the categories of oppressor and oppressed were economically determined. Vulgar Marxists labeled the capitalists as oppressors and labeled workers — the virtuous proletariat — as the ...

YSU Could Decide On Johnson Hire Today

By DAVID SKOLNICK For The Intelligencer YOUNGSTOWN — If both sides come to an agreement, the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees will vote today on a contract to hire U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson as the university’s next president — a move that has drawn objections and criticism from employees, alumni and students. “We are still negotiating and if both parties agree on terms then we will have a contract that will need to be voted on by the board (today),” Becky Rose, YSU spokeswoman, said Monday. Neither YSU nor Johnson will confirm a deal is done. But the board ...

Hollywood Is Feast Or Famine As ‘Hunger Games’ Tops Box Office

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” topped the North American box office in its first weekend in theaters with $44 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. It was a busy weekend at the multiplex, leading into the often lucrative Thanksgiving corridor. And while there was plenty to choose from at the buffet, not everything could be a hit. Audiences had “The Marvels,” which plummeted in its second weekend, as well as the nationwide debuts of the family-friendly “Trolls World Tour,” Taika Waititi’s ...