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Von der Leyen blasts Beijing in Manila speech

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen used a speech in Manila on Monday to take aim at China, slamming Beijing for its increasingly militant stance in the Indo-Pacific and its failure to live up to international responsibilities on Ukraine.Delivering a keynote speech at the Philippines Business Forum, von der Leyen said that China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, “has yet to assume fully its responsibility under the U.N. Charter to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”She warned that China’s show of military force in the south and east China seas, and in the Taiwan Strait, may have “global repercussions,” noting that the EU has been enhancing its engagement in the Indo-Pacific.Von der Leyen also made a big pitch for EU investment in the region.“We cannot choose our neighbors, but we can choose who we do business with, and on what terms,” she said.Noting that the Philippines exports 90 percent of its nickel to China, she said “this ca...

Woman rescued from Boston blaze that sent firefighter, 2 residents to hospital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

Boston firefighters rescued a woman from the second floor of a burning multi-family home in Dorchester early Monday morning.Crews responding to a reported structure fire on Whitman Street around 1:30 a.m. found flames coming from the second floor of the six-family building.One firefighter and two residents were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.The American Red Cross is assisting the 17 people who were displaced as a result of the fire.The cause remains under investigation.https://twitter.com/BostonFire/status/1685907213133447168https://twitter.com/BostonFire/status/1685913276251623425https://twitter.com/BostonFire/status/1685914315423875072

Lucas: What did Biden know about Hunter, and when did he know it?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

What did the president know, and when did he know it?That is the famous question posed by Tennessee GOP Sen. Howard Baker that led to the downfall of fellow Republican President Richard Nixon 50 years ago over Nixon’s coverup of the Watergate break in.Less than a month after Baker posed his dramatic question to John Dean, Nixon’s fired White House counsel, at a committee hearing probing the break in of the Democrat Party headquarters, then all hell broke out. Dean revealed all and Nixon was toast.Facing impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate on conspiracy and corruption charges, Nixon resigned. But the question lingers.It now is a question that House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, would like to ask Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s reckless son — the country’s oldest juvenile delinquent — before an impeachment inquiry hearing.McCarthy raised the impeachment issue amid mounting House committee testimony that appears to tie Joe Bid...

Massachusetts legislation to boost ‘starter home’ stock would subsidize construction

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

A proposal by Foxborough’s state senator that aims to help middle income families faced with the “nightmare” of trying to buy a home in the Bay State by subsidizing the production of so-called starter homes is one step closer to becoming law.As heard by the Joint Committee on Housing last week, an “Act establishing the missing-middle starter home development and home ownership program” would create a new state managed program and “Starter Home Development Fund” to provide subsidies to housing developers building homes for families with incomes between 80% and 120% of the area median.“For many working-class Massachusetts residents, the idea of buying a home on middle-income wages and achieving the American dream has turned into a nightmare,” state Sen. Paul Feeney said in a statement. “Even finding a home in today’s market that isn’t oversized and overpriced, especially for first time buyers has become nearly impossible.”According to Feeney, it could take more than ...

After hottest July ever, Ed Markey urges passage of HEAT Illness and Death Act

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

As the world moves on from what may have been the hottest month in recorded history, the state’s junior senator is calling on his colleagues to help the communities most affected by the brutal summer heat.U.S. Sen. Ed Markey says he has reintroduced his Preventing Health Emergencies And Temperature-related (HEAT) Illness and Deaths Act following “earth’s hottest day on record and the predicted hottest day in the past 125,000 years.”“It’s no coincidence that we’ve seen back-to-back record-breaking heat this summer—it’s the climate crisis announcing it’s at our doorstep. We need to take bold and aggressive action to combat the climate crisis, but we also need to act fast to protect Americans from the health risks of extreme heat that we are experiencing right now,” Markey said in a statement.According to the Malden native, on average 700 Americans die as a result of extreme heat and more than 67,000 wind up in an emergency room due to a heat-related injury each year. Markey says his b...

Death toll in Pakistan suicide bombing rises to 54 as families hold funerals, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — The death toll from a massive suicide bombing that targeted an election rally for a pro-Taliban cleric rose to 54 Monday, as Pakistan held funerals and the government vowed to hunt down those behind the attack.No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bombing, which also wounded nearly 200 people. Police said their initial investigation suggested that the Islamic State group’s regional affiliate could be responsible. The victims were attending a rally organized by the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, headed by hard-line cleric and politician Fazlur Rehman. He did not attend the rally, held under a large tent close to a market in Bajur, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. Rehman, who has long supported Afghanistan’s Taliban government, escaped at least two known bomb attacks in 2011 and 2014, when bombings damaged his car at rallies. Victims of the bombing were buried in Bajur on Monday.As condolences conti...

Clashes continue between factions in Palestinian camp in Lebanon as death toll climbs to 6

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

SIDON, Lebanon (AP) — Clashes continued for a third day in a Palestinian camp in Lebanon on Monday between members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group and Islamist factions there. A Lebanese army spokesperson said the death toll from the fighting in Ein el-Hilweh camp had reached six, although some reports have given higher figures. Two soldiers stationed outside the camp were lightly wounded, Col. Fadi Abou Eid said. Despite attempts by Lebanese parties and some of the Palestinian factions to broker a cease-fire, “the shooting and shelling have not stopped in the camp until this moment,” said Adnan Rifai, a member of the popular committee that serves as a governing body in the camp.The Lebanese army mans a checkpoint outside and typically does not enter the camp, which is under the control of the Palestinian factions.The clashes erupted on Sunday after Islamic militants shot and killed a Palestinian military general from the Fatah group, Abu Ashraf al Armoushi, and ...

UK to grant hundreds of new oil and gas licenses, ignoring calls from environmentalists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain said on Monday it will grant hundreds of new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea in a bid for energy independence, ignoring calls from the environmental campaigners and the United Nations to stop the development of new fossil fuel projects.The plans announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak include a pledge to invest 20 billion pounds ($26 billion) in carbon capture and storage projects as Sunak maintained the government’s commitment to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2050.Sunak, who is traveling to Scotland to formally unveil the package, said Britain will still need fossil fuels even after the country reaches its net zero target. He said it is better to produce oil and natural gas at home rather than rely on foreign leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine sent global energy prices soaring around the globe.“We have all witnessed how Putin has manipulated and weaponized energy — disrupting supply and stalling growth in countri...

Cyprus court hands British man a 2-year prison term for killing his ailing wife to spare her pain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A Cyprus court on Monday sentenced a British man who killed his ailing wife in their retirement home to two years in prison, rejecting a defense request to hand down a suspended sentence after convicting him earlier of manslaughter.State prosecutor Andreas Hadjikyrou said the three-judge bench imposed the prison term as a “deterrent,” although the judges had earlier ruled that David Hunter’s decision to suffocate his wife Janice in December 2021 was made on the spur of the moment because he could no longer stand seeing her weeping in pain.Hadjikyrou told The Associated Press the court took into account that Hunter, 76, acted “out of love” to save his wife, who was suffering from a blood ailment when he closed her mouth and nose with his hands as she sat in a recliner in their Paphos home.It also took into consideration Hunter’s advanced age and that he had no previous criminal record.Justice Abroad, a group that defends Britons facing legal troubles in foreign...

West African nations threaten to use force if Niger’s president isn’t reinstated within a week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:21:55 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — West African nations have given Niger’s coup leaders one week to reinstate the country’s democratically elected president and have threatened to use force if the demands aren’t met. The announcement came at the end of an emergency meeting of West African countries Sunday in Nigeria, where the regional bloc, known as ECOWAS, convened to respond to last week’s military takeover. President Mohamed Bazoum remains under house arrest and has yet to resign.“In the event the authority’s demands are not met within one week, (the bloc will) take all measures necessary to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. Such measures may include the use of force,” said the statement. The bloc also imposted strict sanctions, including suspending all commercial and financial transactions between ECOWAS member states and Niger and freezing of assets in regional central banks.Economic sanctions could have a deep impact on Nigeriens, who live in th...