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EU and Mercosur give up on clinching trade pact next week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

Argentina has thrown a wrench into the works of EU efforts to reach a Mercosur free-trade agreement next week.Brazil told the EU that sealing the trade deal next week won’t be possible as the approval of Argentina’s incoming government will be required on outstanding issues such as a policy to curb deforestation, according to two officials close to the negotiations who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. The EU had hoped to finalize a trade agreement with the Mercosur countries — Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina — in time for a December 7 summit of South American leaders in Brazil.But Argentina has notified Brazil, the current president of Mercosur, that it will not be able to make new commitments in the negotiations and that it intends to leave decisions to Javier Milei, an anarcho-capitalist outsider who won Argentina’s presidential election in November. The setback was first reported by CNN Brasil. As a result of Argentina’s decision, a po...

Climate action or distraction? Sweeping COP pledges won’t touch fossil fuel use

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A torrent of pollution-slashing pledges from governments and major oil companies sparked cries of “greenwashing” on Saturday, even before world leaders had boarded their flights home from this year’s global climate conference.  After leaders wrapped two days of speeches filled with high-flying rhetoric and impassioned pleas for action, the Emirati presidency of the COP28 climate talks unleashed a series of initiatives aimed at cleaning up the world’s energy sector, the largest source of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The announcement, made at an hours-long event Saturday afternoon featuring U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, contained two main planks — a pledge by oil and gas companies to reduce emissions, and a commitment by 118 countries to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity and double energy savings efforts. It was, on its face, an impressive and ambitious ...

Marblehead postal worker stole more than $18k from customers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

That’s a lot of postage.A Marblehead postal worker made off with more than $18,000 through a couple schemes that boiled down to pocketing money people paid for stamps and money orders.On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris sentenced Zeon Johnson, 28, of Saugus, to just time served — a day in jail — and two years of supervised release. It’s a sentence that finds a middle ground between the prosecution’s ask of 30 days in prison with three years of supervised release and the defense’s ask of time served with one year of supervised release, according to their respective sentencing memos.He’ll also have to fork over the $18,206 he stole from the U.S. Postal Service.While that sum is only a 74th of the $1,351,250 a single Inverted Jenny — often listed as the most valuable U.S. stamp in history — sold for at auction in 2016, it’s enough to have sent out 27,667 regular letters or 35,805 postcards to family and friends at current postage rates.“For much of his employment,” fede...

These San Diego County beach towns named among best in California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

CanvaThe best beach towns in CaliforniaSummer vacation is over across the U.S., with kids back in school. So now is the perfect time to start planning next year's beach vacation.Travelers were busy during summer 2023. On Memorial Day weekend, largely considered the unofficial start of summer, the Transportation Security Administration screened 9.8 million people, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Trips abroad spiked in popularity as people made up for time lost during pandemic-era travel restrictions.However, as inflation made travel more expensive, budget-conscious travelers cut costs by driving to their destinations and staying stateside. During the July 4th holiday, AAA projected 43.2 million people would travel by car, a new record.Beach destinations were popular this year, according to a survey from vacation-rental platform Vacasa, and outdoor recreation remains a top priority. Not only are beaches a great place to unwind and create family bonding moments, but they also boost peo...

Man killed after vehicle stalls on I-5 identified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. — A man who was killed after being struck by a vehicle on Interstate 5 in Chula Vista last week has been identified by authorities. According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office, 39-year-old Hinga Benson was the sole occupant of a vehicle that apparently stalled from mechanical issues in the southbound travel lanes, north of Palomar Street. Benson, a San Diego resident, exited his vehicle when an oncoming vehicle collided with him, California Highway Patrol explained. An additional southbound vehicle also struck his vehicle.When first responders arrived to the location, Benson's death was pronounced at the scene due to fatal injuries. The medical examiner list his cause of death as multiple blunt force injury.All involved parties stopped, remained on scene, and cooperated with the investigation, CHP said. Alcohol/or drugs are not suspected to be a factor in the crash.

Second ballot needed to determine new Ontario Liberal Party leader

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

There was no clear winner after first ballot results were announced Saturday afternoon at the Ontario Liberal Party leadership convention.Bonnie Crombie fell just shy of a first-ballot victory, securing 43 per cent of the votes while Nate Erskine-Smith and Yasir Naqvi garnered 25.7 and 21.3 per cent, respectively. Ted Hsu, who earned just 10 per cent of the votes cast, drops off the ballot and his voters’ second choices will now be counted and distributed to the remaining candidates.Under the ranked ballot system being used, party members ranked candidates from one through four, and points get awarded on a weighted system depending on how many people vote in each of the 124 ridings.Each constituency association gets 100 points, to be awarded based on the percentage of the vote each candidate receives from members in that riding. As well, there are 10 student clubs that will award 50 points, and eight women’s clubs with five points each, for a total of 12,940 points.The m...

Italy reportedly refused Munich museum’s request to return ancient Roman statue bought by Hitler

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Italy’s culture minister is reportedly refusing a request by the German State Antiquities Collection in Munich to return an ancient Roman statue that embodied Hitler’s Aryan aesthetic, calling it a national treasure.The Discobolus Palombara is a 2nd Century Roman copy of a long-lost Greek bronze original. Hitler had bought the Roman copy from its private Italian owner in 1938 under pressure from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and against the wishes of the education minister and cultural officials. The statue, unearthed at a Roman villa in 1781, was returned to Italy in 1948 as part of works illegally obtained by the Nazis.The dispute arose when the director of the National Roman Museum requested the statue’s 17th Century marble base be returned from the Antikensammlungen state antiquities collection. The German museum instead asked for the return of the Discobolus Palombara, saying it had been illegally transported to Italy in 1948, the Corriere della Sera news...

Ex-president barred from leaving Ukraine amid alleged plan to meet with Hungary’s Viktor Orban

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Former President Petro Poroshenko was denied permission to leave Ukraine for a planned meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Ukraine’s security service said Saturday.Poroshenko announced Friday that he had been turned away at the border despite previously receiving permission from Parliament to leave the country. Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years of age are not allowed to leave the country without special approval.The 58-year-old, who lost his re-election bid in 2019 to current Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that he had planned to meet with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, and the Polish parliament during his trip. But security officials said that Poroshenko had also agreed to meet Orban, who has previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and refused to support Kyiv’s bid for EU accession. In a statement on social media, they said such talks would make Poroshenko a “tool in the hands of the Russian spe...

Breaches by Iran-affiliated hackers spanned multiple U.S. states, federal agencies say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A small western Pennsylvania water authority was just one of multiple organizations breached in the United States by Iran-affiliated hackers who targeted a specific industrial control device because it is Israeli-made, U.S. and Israeli authorities say. “The victims span multiple U.S. states,” the FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, as well as Israel’s National Cyber Directorate said in an advisory emailed to The Associated Press late Friday.They did not say how many organizations were hacked or otherwise describe them. Matthew Mottes, the chairman of the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa, which discovered it had been hacked on Nov. 25, said Thursday that federal officials had told him the same group also breached four other utilities and an aquarium.Cybersecurity experts say that while there is no evidence of Iranian involvement in the Oct. 7 attack into Israel by Hamas that trigge...

Quebec teachers leaning on each other as negotiations to end strike grind on

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:00 GMT

The president of a striking Quebec teachers union says she hopes intense negotiation sessions with the government will continue all weekend as the two parties try to reach an agreement.The 66,000 members of the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement have been on an unlimited strike since Nov. 23, shutting around 800 schools across Quebec.Union president Mélanie Hubert provided a Friday evening update saying the labour group found aspects of the government’s latest offer “interesting,” but not enough to call off the strike.She says the union will submit a counter offer as soon as possible, but calls a potential return to class on Monday optimistic.Meanwhile, some teachers have had to lean on each other for financial support because the union does not supply strike pay.A Facebook page where striking teachers and their supports can swap financial aid, tips and other donations has amassed almost 5,000 members and hundreds of posts since it launched last week.