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EU climate chiefs back radical new 90 percent emissions target

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

Something quietly enormous occurred this week: The EU took a major step toward pledging to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040, within a whisker of net zero before a child born today will finish school.The context was not promising. A fractious double hearing in the European Parliament where a former Shell oil company employee and a Slovakian with limited climate credentials were pitching for the two top jobs in global warming at the European Commission. But Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra and Slovak Maroš Šefčovič both pledged to “defend” a cut of “at least” 90 percent. They were then confirmed in their posts with the parliamentary committee’s approval. That sets a high bar for a legislative debate on the 2040 goal that is likely to preoccupy the EU next year. “The EU has and must continue to lead by example,” the pair said in a coordinated set of replies to the lawmakers. MEPs from the Greens in particular held up their approval until they had pers...

New treatment for Alzheimer’s disease shows promising signs in study by local researchers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

A new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease is showing promising signs as researchers at Mass General Brigham recently found a monoclonal antibody treatment protected mice from proteins that cause the disease. Researchers published their study this week. Speaking with 7NEWS, one researcher discussed the origins of the work as well as the steps ahead. Doctors first studied individuals who were at high risk of getting Alzheimers but who did not get the disease. Doctors were then surprised at what they found in one subject.“By studying this one individual, we identified a gene that protected her and, inspired in that knowledge, we developed a new therapy that we hope can help other people that were not as lucky as her and don’t have that protected gene variant,” said researcher Dr. Joseph Arboleda-Velasquez.Researchers are optimistic they’re headed toward a cure and they hope everyone can use this antibody in the future. “My hope is that, if this new therapy is ...

Savannah Bananas announce upcoming stop at Fenway Park 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

The popular Savannah Bananas baseball team is coming to Fenway Park, the team announced Thursday. The Bananas will be in Boston on June 8 as part of their 2024 Banana Ball World Tour. The Boston game will be one of four currently scheduled in June, with other stops in Savannah, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Indianapolis.“Kickin’ off the summer in the biggest way possible…we’re headed to Fenway Park, baby!” the team said in a post on Facebook. The Bananas are an exhibition team playing a version of baseball known as Banana Ball. The team has gone viral on social media for in-game dances and other antics, prompting some comparisons to the Harlem Globetrotters. The Bananas visited Brockton on their tour this past summer when they stopped by Campanelli Stadium in early August. Thousands of fans attended the game, which featured surprise appearances from guests including Red Sox star Johnny Damon.Tickets for 2024 Bananas summer games will go on sale roughly two months be...

Omar Apollo on his emotional new EP, ‘Live For Me,’ and ignoring the confines of genre

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — In just four songs on his latest EP, “Live For Me,” Omar Apollo processes death, grief, acceptance and the lack of it — big, traumatic emotions — through intimate, lush sounds. The EP, out Friday, follows Apollo’s 2022 debut album “Ivory” and a 2023 Grammy nomination for best new artist. It’s also his first project since touring with SZA, and since his song “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me At All)” went viral on social media, bringing swaths of new listeners to his music.The singer-songwriter recently debuted the EP’s lead single at a show in London and went underground to preview the title track with TikTok’s latest sensation, “Tube Girl” Sabrina Bahsoon. Later this month, he’ll share New York’s Madison Square Garden stage with Daniel Caesar and Montell Fish at Caesar’s “Superpowers World Tour.”So, things are busy. But Apollo, 26, says all of it has felt productive, and inspiring. “I just feel like I’m doing and living. I feel alive now and … I th...

A look at the contenders for House speaker and the demands they’re facing from fellow Republicans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Republicans, it’s a question with no clear answer: Who becomes House speaker after Kevin McCarthy?Despite former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio on Friday, it’s not at all certain that any of the GOP candidates will be able to round up enough votes — 218, if all lawmakers are present and voting — to ascend to one of the most powerful positions in government, second in line to the presidency. Jordan and a fellow longtime party stalwart and hard-liner, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, have begun making their case though phone calls and texts to colleagues.With the House trying to pick a new leader as soon as next week, others are waiting in the wings, including Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, who as chair of the Republican Study Committee leads the largest faction of Republicans in the chamber.McCarthy’s chaotic election as speaker in January took 15 punishing rounds and left him in a weak...

Stock market today: Wall Street slips on worries that a too-hot job market will keep inflation high

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Worries about a too-hot job market are sending Wall Street lower Friday, keeping stocks on track to close out a fifth straight losing week.The S&P 500 was down 0.3% in morning trading and heading for its longest weekly losing streak in 16 months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 117 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.Once again, it was rising yields in the bond market pushing stocks lower. Yields leaped after a report said U.S. employers added nearly twice as many jobs last month as economists expected.Trading could be shaky through the day, though, as Friday’s jobs report also included some more encouraging nuggets for the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve. Stocks pared their losses as the morning progressed.Strength in the job market is normally a good sign for financial markets because it means the economy is doing well and corporate profits can too. But in this new normal of high inflation,...

Doctor who treated Morgan State shooting victim is gunshot survivor himself

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — When Johns Hopkins trauma surgeon Dr. Joseph Sakran was notified about a shooting with multiple victims on the campus of Morgan State University earlier this week, he relied on a unique combination of training and personal experience.Sakran decided to work in medicine after becoming a victim of gun violence as a teenager. He was at a high school football game in 1994 when a fight broke out and someone shot into the crowd, striking Sakran in the throat.Since then, he’s built a career as both an emergency surgeon and a gun violence prevention advocate, joining a growing subset of physicians calling on political leaders to stem the crushing tide of gun deaths in America.“So much of this is personal,” he told The Associated Press earlier this week, describing the pain he experiences during interactions with victims’ families. “I feel like honestly a piece of me dies every time I have to do this.”Initial reports from the Morgan State shooting indicated there were multipl...

Muslims in Kenya protest at Supreme Court over its endorsement of LGBTQ right to associate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Hundreds of Muslims in Kenya’s capital rallied Friday outside the Supreme Court to protest its decision last month to reaffirm the LGBTQ community’s right of association, saying that the verdict condoned immorality and demanding that some justices step down.The protest in Nairobi took place after Friday prayers, with demonstrators holding signs that attributed the verdict to “Neo Colonialists” and urged three of the five judges who supported the panel’s majority decision to “Repent and Resign.” Some conservative Christians also attended. The court last month reaffirmed an earlier ruling that the Non-Governmental Organization Board in Kenya had discriminated against LGBTQ people when it refused to register their association. The two dissenting judges opposed the ruling on the grounds that Kenya’s laws outlaw same-sex relationships.Lawmaker Mohamed Ali told The Associated Press that Kenya is a religious country and that the court should respect that.“Islam and Ch...

French judges file charges against ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy in a case linked to Libya

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French investigative judges filed preliminary charges on Friday against former President Nicolas Sarkozy for his alleged involvement in an attempt to mislead magistrates in order to clear him in a case regarding the suspected illegal financing from Libya of his 2007 presidential campaign.The preliminary charges accuse Sarkozy of “benefitting from corruptly influencing a witness” and “participating in a criminal association” in order “to mislead the magistrates in charge of the judicial investigation into suspicions of Libyan financing of his election campaign,” according to a statement from the financial prosecutors’ office.Sarkozy has denied any involvement. His lawyers said in a statement Friday that the ex-president is “determined to assert his rights, establish the truth and defend his honor.”Under French law, preliminary charges mean there is reason to suspect a crime has been committed, but it allows magistrates more time to investigate before deciding...

Prosecutor won’t seek charges against troopers in killing of ‘Cop City’ activist near Atlanta

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:22 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The use of deadly force by Georgia state troopers who shot and killed an activist at the site of a planned police and firefighter training center near Atlanta was “objectively reasonable” and no charges will be sought against them, a prosecutor said Friday.Opponents, who derisively refer to the planned center as “Cop City,” had occupied an 85-acre (34-hectare) tract of forest that is being developed for the massive facility. It is there that Manuel Paez Teran was killed.Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Christian announced his decision not to pursue charges in a news release. He was appointed to review the Georgia Bureau of Investigation file on the Jan. 18 shooting of Paez Terán after DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston recused herself from the case.State troopers were part of an “enforcement operation” at the site when they encountered Paez Terán, who was known as Tortuguita. When the activist refused to come out of a tent, the troop...