BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Symphony Orchestra says it agreed with its musicians to a 48-hour extension of their collective bargaining agreement, allowing more time for negotiations to head off what could be the first strike in the ensemble’s 145-year history.
The Boston Musicians’ Association said Saturday it had authorized a strike ahead of the expiration of the union’s three-year contract at 11:59 p.m. Sunday. The BSO said Sunday the contract had been extended to 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.
BSO CEO Chad Smith said Sunday that the extension had been agreed to pending a ratification vote by the Boston Musicians’ Association and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Players’ Committee, a sign there could be progress toward an agreement for a contract. The unions did not respond to a request for comment.
The orchestra and management have had strained relations since BSO decided in March to force out music director Andris Nelsons next summer after 13 seasons.
The orchestra’s season is scheduled to open Sept. 17.
FILE - Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Andris Nelsons rehearses with the orchestra at Symphony Hall, Nov. 20, 2014, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey on Sunday walked back his comments from two days ago that Israel "still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of U.N. resolutions, remarks that went against U.S. President Donald Trump 's position on the disputed territory.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981. The United Nations and most of the international community consider the territory occupied Syrian land and does not recognize Israel’s annexation of it.
In 2019, Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory, reversing decades of U.S. policy.
Ambassador Tom Barrack on Friday said that Israel “still” occupies the territory in an interview with Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal.
Barrack now says that was a description of the territory’s historical status, “not an endorsement of the United Nations’ position” on the Golan.
"United States policy on the Golan was set by President Trump in 2019 and is unchanged,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press on Sunday.
He said he intended to explain why he does not anticipate annexation in Lebanon, where Israeli forces are occupying parts of the south after the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, and to argue that negotiated agreements, rather than territorial maps, are more durable and that he had cited the Golan as an example that “territory taken by force remains contested for generations.”
In the Friday interview, Barrack had also criticized Israel’s strikes on an airbase in northern Syria earlier last week. Israeli officials said the strikes intended to prevent Turkey from establishing a presence at the base.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz defended the strikes, saying on X on Sunday that critics who initially called it “unnecessary and politically motivated” changed their position after the government said they were based on “clear intelligence” and at the recommendation of the Israeli army. He added that Israel would not allow Turkey “to establish itself in Syria and threaten Israeli security.”
The strikes last Tuesday have highlighted growing tensions between Israel and Turkey over Ankara’s increased influence in Syria following the fall of Bashar Assad. Turkey and Syria have denied that Turkish forces were due to be deployed at the Abu Duhur base.
Barrack’s comments on the Golan also sparked a backlash in Washington.
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott wrote on X that the ambassador appears to have “forgotten” Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the territory.
Barrack went further on the defensive on Sunday, responding to criticism of his assessment of ongoing negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over Israeli withdrawal and the disarmament of the militant group.
He had said “there are two people missing from that (negotiating) table – Hezbollah and Iran.” That remark prompted speculation Barrack meant Tehran and Hezbollah should join the U.S.-backed negotiations.
On Sunday, Barrack stressed that the U.S. does not negotiate with Hezbollah, but said he was pointing out that “the weapons in question are supplied and financed by Iran," which complicates negotiations over their fate.
“I was describing the difficulty of the problem, not proposing a new table,” Barrack told the AP. “Hezbollah is a designated foreign terrorist organization. We do not negotiate with it, and nothing I said suggests otherwise.”
He also defended his remarks questioning who would replace Tehran’s financial support for Shiite communities in southern Lebanon, saying that raising those questions was “not conferring standing on anyone.”
FILE - U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks in a panel during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Antalya, southern Turkey, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Riza Ozel, File)
