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New oil and gas law risks UK’s green cred, says former climate chief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

LONDON — A new law to introduce annual licensing rounds for North Sea oil and gas exploration is a “distraction” that risks undermining the U.K.’s green “credibility” on the world stage, the country’s former top climate diplomat has warned.MPs will vote on the government’s Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill for the first time on Monday.But Alok Sharma, a Conservative MP and former minister who served as president of the COP26 U.N. climate summit in 2021, told POLITICO that ministers should “reflect on the consistency of their message and credibility internationally when just a few weeks ago at COP28 the U.K signed-up to ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems.’”Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has drawn criticism from green campaigners — including some of his own MPs — in recent months, saying he wants to “max out” North Sea fossil fuel reserves while watering down key climate targets on electric vehicles and home heating. However the U.K. continues to pursue a ta...

Macron hails Jacques Delors as Europe’s tireless ‘pathfinder’ (and jazz-loving football fan)

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

PARIS — In a state ceremony held over Jacques Delors’ coffin on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to “an honest European man” and touched upon more personal aspects of the EU statesman’s life, including his Christian faith and his love of football and “loud jazz.” Placing himself firmly in the mold of the ex-president of the European Commission, Macron saluted a politician who “reconciled France with Europe” and “Europe with its future” in a homage that mixed France’s martial pomp with the mellow jazz of Coleman Hawkins’ “Body and Soul.” As Commission president, “he was everywhere, clocking up 180 trips per year, and he listened, talked, negotiated, strong-armed and invented compromises,” working tirelessly for “a more sovereign, more united and stronger Europe,” said Macron.Some of the EU’s most prominent leaders gathered in the stately courtyard of the golden-domed Invalides in ...

North Korea’s gonna pay ‘high price’ for aiding Putin with weapons, UK warns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said North Korea will pay a “high price” for supporting Russia, a day after the U.S. accused Moscow of using Pyongyang-supplied missiles in its war on Ukraine.“The world has turned its back on Russia, forcing Putin into the humiliation of going cap in hand to North Korea to keep his illegal invasion going,” Shapps said Friday. “In doing so Russia has broken multiple UNSC resolutions and put the security of another world region at risk. This must stop now.”The White House on Thursday said it had intelligence indicating North Korea “recently provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles,” and that Russian forces had launched “at least one of these North Korean missiles into Ukraine” on December 30.The U.K.’s Foreign Office slammed Moscow, saying the use of North Korean weapons was “symptomatic of its isolation on the world stage and a sign of its desperation,” and in ...

A Pedro Sánchez dummy was beaten up at New Year. Spain’s Socialists are livid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

Spain’s ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) has filed a complaint after an effigy of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was battered during a New Year’s Eve demonstration in Madrid.The Socialists asked the prosecutor’s office to identify the perpetrators, saying the doll’s “lynching” could constitute “incitement to hatred” against Sánchez, Spanish media reported Friday.Sánchez has faced months of outrage after he secured a new term in the top job by offering an amnesty deal to Catalan separatists in exchange for their political support for his government. The right-wing opposition, many in the judiciary and prominent lawyers have spoken out against the pact.On New Year’s Eve, a crowd of about 300 demonstrators gathered in front of the Socialists’ headquarters, strung up a piñata supposed to resemble Sánchez and beat it until it broke.The Socialists immediately condemned the incident, saying the party would pursue “legal avenues.” And in the complaint filed...

'Starsky and Hutch' star David Soul dies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

(WJW) – Actor David Soul, best known for his role in the TV series “Starsky & Hutch,” has died at the age of 80.The Daily Mail reported that his wife, Helen Snell, confirmed the news in a statement. Shia LeBeouf confirmed into Catholic Church “'David Soul - beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother - died yesterday after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family. He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend. His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched,” the statement read.David Soul is photographed at an event in Los Angeles on Dec. 6, 1983. Soul, who hit fame as half of the crime-fighting duo “Starsky and Hutch” in the popular 1970s television series, has died. He was 80. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File)Soul got his big break when he was cast as Detective Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson alongside Paul Michael Glaser’s Detective Dave Starsky.“Starsk...

Harry Dunn, officer who defended the US Capitol on Jan. 6, is running for Congress in Maryland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A former police officer who defended the U.S. Capitol against rioters on Jan. 6 announced Friday he is running for Congress in Maryland.Harry Dunn wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he will be running in a crowded Democratic primary to replace Rep. John Sarbanes, a Democrat who is not seeking reelection. Dunn made the announcement a day before the third anniversary of the attack at the Capitol that disrupted the certification of the 2020 election, saying in his campaign announcement that former President Donald Trump was “hell-bent on finishing what he started” three years ago.“On January 6th, I defended our democracy from insurrectionists as a Capitol Police Officer. After, President Biden honored me with the Presidential Citizens Medal,” Dunn wrote in the announcement of his candidacy. “Today, I’m running for Congress to stop Trump’s MAGA extremists & ensure it never happens again.”Dunn is running in Maryland’s 3rd Congres...

Stick to a budget?! In This Economy?!

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

Frances has been a freelancer for the past 10 years. In that time she’s never been able to stick to a budget. This year, she wants to change that, but an unpredictable payment schedule mixed with the rising cost of goods is making that goal more difficult. Jordan talks to small business accountant, Joe Collins, about how to build and maintain a budget when nothing in your financial world is predictable.

Top 1-and-done NBA prospects have made a big impact in the AP Top 25 college basketball poll

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

Chris Carrawell started for a top-ranked Duke team that blew out just about every opponent behind a roster stocked with NBA talent, including a freshman reserve capable of flashing high-flying potential in limited minutes.Back then, the norm would’ve been for Corey Maggette to return for a starring role on a title contender. Instead he became the Blue Devils’ first one-and-done NBA player in 1999.“I was a little surprised,” Carrawell recalled.It was quite a change two decades later as Carrawell returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach just in time for the spectacle of Zion Williamson’s lone season of Duke superstardom. By then, for Carrawell and the rest of college basketball, recruiting top-tier pro prospects included the near-certainty that they’d have a brief window to impact how highly a team is ranked and its title chances come March before jumping to the NBA.“When I come back 20 years later, now it was like that was the norm,” Carrawell said, “and that’s how we recruit...

Florida can import prescription drugs from Canada, US regulators say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday cleared the way for Florida’s first-in-the-nation plan to import lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada, a long-sought approach to accessing cheaper medications that follows decades of frustration with U.S. drug prices.Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the plan into law in 2019, but it required federal review and approval by the FDA, which controls prescription drug imports.Democratic President Joe Biden has backed such programs as a way to lower prices, signing an executive order in 2021 that directed the FDA to work with states on imports.The policy change represented a seismic shift after decades of lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry, which said imports would expose U.S. patients to risks of counterfeit or adulterated drugs. The FDA also previously warned of the difficulties of assuring the safety of drugs originating from outside the U.S.But the politics have shifted in recent years, with both parties...

Let it snow: Ski industry to increasingly rely on artificial powder as climate warms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:01 GMT

CALGARY — At Cypress Mountain ski resort, director of operations Jeremy Wentzel has been eagerly waiting for a chance to fire up the snow guns.The Vancouver ski destination has manufactured more than 81 acres of artificial snow for skiers and boarders to enjoy since opening for the season Dec. 7, but much of that was lost to rainfall and warm temperatures later in the month.With cooler weather in the forecast, however, Wentzel said a prime opportunity to pump out fresh powder could be just around the corner.“We’re just waiting for temperatures to fall slightly, because we’re getting very, very close to a pretty significant snow-making window,” Wentzel said.“It has been a challenge this Christmas period. But temperatures do generally get there eventually, and then you get to put on display what having a robust snow-making system can do for you.”Artificial snow-making — which involves using machines, or “guns,” to spray a mixture of wate...