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Post-summit news conferences highlight the divide between China and the EU

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — From trade to human rights, the leaders of China and the European Union differed on a wide range of issues at a summit this week in the Chinese capital.China, which sees Europe as an important export market, raised concerns about trade protectionism and “de-risking,” the EU initiative to reduce its reliance on any one country — such as China — for vital raw materials and products.The EU, which sees imports from China as a potential threat to companies and jobs, pressured China on its large trade surplus with Europe and its de facto support for Russia in the war in Ukraine.Separate post-summit news conferences on Thursday evening highlighted the divergent positions. Wang Lutong, the director general for European affairs, spoke to journalists at China’s Foreign Ministry. Then EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel held a joint news conference at the European Union office in Beijing.TRADE IMBALANCEVON DER LEYEN: “If you...

Asteroid will pass in front of bright star Betelgeuse to produce a rare eclipse visible to millions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — One of the biggest and brightest stars in the night sky will momentarily vanish as an asteroid passes in front of it to produce a one-of-a-kind eclipse.The rare and fleeting spectacle, late Monday into early Tuesday, should be visible to millions of people along a narrow path stretching from central Asia’s Tajikistan and Armenia, across Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain, to Miami and the Florida Keys and finally, to parts of Mexico.The star is Betelgeuse, a red supergiant in the constellation Orion. The asteroid is Leona, a slowly rotating, oblong space rock in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Astronomers hope to learn more about Betelgeuse and Leona through the eclipse, which is expected to last no more than 15 seconds. By observing an eclipse of a much dimmer star by Leona in September, a Spanish-led team recently estimated the asteroid to be about 34 miles wide and 50 miles long (55 kilometers wide and 80 kilometers long).There are linger...

Austin City Council approves phase one of HOME initiative after full day of public comment

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After nearly 12 hours of public comment, Austin City Council members approved phase one of the HOME initiative late Thursday night. The initiative is intended to create more housing options for Austinites. The initiative was brought forward by Austin City Council Member Leslie Pool of District 7, who thanked her colleagues on their passing of the plan shortly before midnight. "It was an extraordinary effort and I thank you all, thank you all. My thanks to all the City staff who have contributed to the HOME effort," she said. But hundreds of Austinites showed up at City Hall Thursday to speak against the initiative, and expressed concerns that developers would demolish existing single-family homes and replace them with expensive townhomes. "My decision, again, is rooted in the genuine concerns raised by constituents," Council Member Mackenzie Kelly said. She and Council Member Alison Alter voted no. Council members thanked the huge number of speakers who showed up Th...

EU leads global initiative at COP28 to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency measures by 2030

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

At the World Climate Action Summit in Dubai, President Ursula von der Leyen launched the Global Pledge on Renewables and Energy Efficiency together with the COP28 Presidency and 118 countries. This initiative, first proposed by the Commission president at the Major Economies Forum in April, sets global targets to triple the installed capacity of renewable energy to at least 11 terawatts (TW) and to double the rate of global energy efficiency improvements from roughly 2% to an annual figure of 4%, by 2030. Delivering these targets will support the transition to a decarbonised energy system, and help to phase out unabated fossil fuels.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “With this Global Pledge, we have built a broad and strong coalition of countries committed to the clean energy transition - big and small, north and south, heavy emitters, developing nations, and small island states. We are united by our common belief that to respect the 1.5°C goal in the Par...

Dear Abby: If she dies without revealing the truth, should I tell what I know?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

DEAR ABBY: Forty years ago, a neighborhood boy fathered a child with a neighborhood girl. “Billy” was 17 at the time, and “Becky” was 14 or 15. Both were friends of mine.Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: The grandkids were upset by the fight, and now my husband is barred from their home Advice | Dear Abby: We learned the truth about our daughter when her fiance ditched her Advice | Dear Abby: His ex-wife is coaching her children to be mean to this little girl Advice | Dear Abby: My boyfriend doesn’t want this woman to know about me Advice | Dear Abby: My son’s wife and mother-in-law are ganging up on him They were not a steady couple. She liked him, but I feel he used her. I heard that she married an older gentleman who accepted the baby, “Matt,” as his own.Ten years ago, I found Matt on Facebook. I told him I knew his mother, and he shared her contact in...

Nadia Calviño named EIB chief

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

BRUSSELS – Spain’s Finance Minister Nadia Calviño will become the next head of the European Investment Bank after EU countries agreed on Friday morning to her appointment.After a contest lasting several months, Calviño saw off the challenge of Margrethe Vestager, who took leave from her job as the EU digital and competition chief. She is scheduled to start at the Luxembourg-based bank on January 1, the expiry date of current chief Werner Hoyer. “I am grateful and honored to get the support of my my fellow finance ministers to be at the helm of the European Investment Bank,” Calviño told reporters in Brussels. “[The EIB] will have an even more important role going forward to fund the green transition to provide financial support to the rebuilding of Ukraine and also support the role of Europe in the world.”The political blessing from the EU’s 27 finance ministers came at a meeting in Brussels after they had already spent much of the night discussing and failing to get a de...

Former NFL player Sergio Brown pleads not guilty to killing his mother in Maywood

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

Former NFL player Sergio Brown pleaded not guilty to killing his mother during an arraignment Wednesday.Brown was charged with first-degree murder in the September death of his mother, Myrtle Simmons-Brown, who prosecutors said he lived with in Maywood.The 35-year-old who played for seven seasons as a safety for the New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills was also charged with concealment of a homicidal death, court records show.He pleaded not guilty to the concealment charge and two murder charges, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said.The disappearance of Brown after police discovered his mother’s body wrapped in a sheet near a creek close to their home drew national attention. Brown resurfaced days after the gruesome finding in expletive-filled social media posts calling reports tying him to his mother’s death “fake news.”Three weeks after police found Simmons-Brown’s body, Mexican authori...

Howie Carr: Harvard poison ivy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

It’s time for Elvis Presley’s estate to re-release the King’s underrated 1964 song from the movie Roustabout.This tune is called “Poison Ivy League.” Its moment has arrived, after the Congressional hearing Tuesday with the two college presidents from the Poison Ivy League as well as the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Claudine Gay of Harvard, Liz Magill of Penn and Sally Kornbluth of the one non-Ivy (but probably even more prestigious) MIT.Demands for genocide are… nuanced, you see. Hate speech involves context, to use their new favorite word. For example, fataphobia, whatever that is, is violence. But “Globalize the intifada,” not so much.Everything is turned upside down in the Poison Ivy League. On the Harvard Hit Parade, Silent Night now trails far behind Kristallnacht. Forget “With Crimson in Triumph Flashing.” The new Harvard fight song is Deutschland Uber Alles.At the House committee hearings, all three of the college presidents were obtuse. They couldn’...

How to adapt to climate change may be secondary at COP28, but it’s key to saving lives, experts say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As United Nations climate talks enter their second week, negotiators who are largely focused on how to curb climate change have another thing on their plates: how to adapt to the warming that’s already here.Discussions for what’s known as the Global Goal on Adaptation — a commitment made in the 2015 Paris Agreement to ramp up the world’s capacity to cope with climate-fueled extreme weather — are being overshadowed by negotiations on how the world is going to slash the use of fossil fuels, causing frustration among some climate campaigners in the most vulnerable countries.Officials and activists from climate-vulnerable nations are pushing for more money to help them deal with scorching temperatures, punishing droughts and deluges and strengthening storms made worse by global warming. Major fossil fuel-emitting countries need to pay vulnerable, developing countries being battered by these events, experts and officials say, to help t...

Live updates | Palestinians live in dire conditions in Gaza despite Israel’s safe zone

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:47 GMT

Israel has designated a safe zone in southern Gaza, but its widening air and ground offensive has left Palestinians packed together in dire humanitarian conditions. United Nations monitors said Thursday that a hospital in the southern town of Khan Younis received its first delivery of supplies since Nov. 29. Aid groups are severely limited by fighting and restrictions placed by the military. The United Nations estimates 1.9 million people have been displaced and new military evacuation orders are squeezing people into ever-smaller areas. Most lack food, water and medicine.Around 1,200 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll in the territory has surpassed 17,100, with more than 46,000 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but said 70% of the dead were women and children. Currently: — Palestinians try to survi...