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Rishi Sunak weaponizes net zero as election looms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak has rolled the dice on weaponizing net zero for electoral advantage. No one knows if it will pay off — and some say it’s already costing him dearly.In a Downing Street speech on Wednesday — coincidentally on the very afternoon the UN hosted talks in New York on increasing climate ambition — the British prime minister took a red pen to some of his country’s flagship targets.His goal? To make net zero a wedge issue at an election expected next year. Sunak’s Conservative Party is well behind the Labour opposition in the polls. Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has put the green agenda at the heart of his offer. Sunak, while vowing that he’s equally committed to the headline 2050 net zero target, seems to have spied a potential advantage in presenting his government as the pragmatic defenders of ordinary voters struggling through a grinding cost of living crisis.Getting to net zero, he said, would require an “extraordinary series of steps that will fundamen...

Chicago Cubs can’t pull off a comeback in 13-7 loss to Pittsburgh Pirates as Justin Steele makes his shortest non-injury start of the year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

Left-hander Justin Steele has been a stabilizing force in a Chicago Cubs rotation that looks different from their Opening Day version.Through all the injuries, inconsistencies and role changes, Steele’s consistency helped the Cubs recover from being 10 games under .500 in early June to fighting for a wild-card spot. But for a second consecutive start, Steele allowed six runs and struggled to keep the Cubs in the game. His three-plus innings in Wednesday’s 13-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates represented his second-shortest outing of the season, exceeded only by his injury-related departure May 31.Steele struck out six batters through three innings when the Pirates started finding holes. Pittsburgh tallied six consecutive singles to begin the fourth inning, quickly ending his night and likely his case to win the National League Cy Young Award.“Six straight hits, the alarm goes off a little bit, like, what’s going on,” manager David Ross said.Steele was ch...

High school roundup/scores: Bishop Stang defeats Bishop Feehan in golf

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

GOLFMatt Costello (34 points) and Nathaniel Mello (35 points) shot one-over par 37 each for Bishop Stang (4-0) in a 217-162 Catholic Central League win over Bishop Feehan.Brian Campbell and Ben Madden scored an even par 36 apiece for Wellesley in a 118-84 Bay State Conference win over Milton.JD Flynn shot an even par 34, and Drew Golden shot a one over par 35 as Hingham defeated Plymouth North 223-252 in a Patriot League matchup.Timmy Adams shot a 36, while Jack Carstensen finished with a 37 as St. John Paul II (6-0) bested Upper Cape 236-253 in a nonleague contest.FIELD HOCKEYKate Harrison finished with a hat trick to go with a pair of assists, helping to power Chelmsford during a 7-0 shutout of Lowell in the Merrimack Valley Conference.Chloe Essam netted a hat trick, while Emily Carney chipped in with two goals and three assists as Franklin (4-0) rolled to a 13-0 Hockomock League win over Sharon.Angie Bogucki scored twice to lead Pentucket to a 2-0 victory over Triton in Cape Ann ...

Shots fired outside US Embassy in Lebanon, but no injuries have been reported

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — An unknown gunman opened fire outside the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon late Wednesday night.Embassy spokesperson Jake Nelson said in a statement that “small arms fire was reported in the vicinity of the entrance” of the heavily fortified compound in the Beirut suburb of Awkar.“There were no injuries, and our facility is safe,” he said. “We are in close contact with host country law enforcement authorities.”Earlier this year marked the 40th anniversary of a deadly bombing attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on April 18. U.S. officials blame the attack, which killed 63 people, on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.Following that attack, the embassy was moved from central Beirut to the Christian suburb of Awkar, north of the capital. Another bomb attack struck the new location on Sept. 20, 1984.In recent years there have been no reported attacks on the embassy.The Associated Press

Texas AG Ken Paxton attacks rivals, doesn’t rule out US Senate run in first remarks since acquittal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attacked his Republican rivals and displayed an openness to challenging U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in 2026 while speaking out Wednesday for the first time since his acquittal on corruption charges at his impeachment trial. He did not discuss accusations that he misused his office to protect a political donor, which were the backbone of Paxton becoming just the third sitting official in Texas’ nearly 200-year history to be impeached. Paxton did not testify during the two-week impeachment trial and is still under FBI investigation. Instead, Paxton used pre-recorded interviews with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and a Texas conservative activist to lay into Republicans who drove his impeachment and to assert that his career is far from over.“It became political completely and I didn’t know how it was going to turn out on the political side,” Paxton told Carlson. Paxton was acquitted by the Texas Senate on Saturday on 16...

Top US Air Force official in Mideast worries about possible Russia-Iran ‘cooperation and collusion’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supplying of bomb-carrying drones to Russia could see Moscow help Tehran’s program become more lethal, raising risks across the wider Middle East, the top U.S. Air Force commander in the Middle East said Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. Air Force Central, described the danger potentially posed by Russia’s “cooperation and collusion” with Iran as extending from the airspace over Syria, while Tehran threatens commercial ships in the waters of the Persian Gulf. American pilots have already faced what they describe as more aggressive maneuvers from Russian pilots in Syria, while a new deployment of U.S. air power has been sent to protect commercial shipping in the Gulf’s key Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all the world’s oil passes. “I am concerned about the growing relationship between Russia and Iran and the drones being supplied to Russia,” Grynkewich told journalists during a n...

Rough surf batters Bermuda as Hurricane Nigel charges through open waters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Forecasters in Bermuda warned Wednesday of dangerous swells and rip currents as Hurricane Nigel spun through open waters in the northern Atlantic.The Category 1 hurricane was located about 550 miles (885 kilometers) south southeast of Cape Race Newfoundland. It had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph) and was moving north at 25 mph (41 kph).Bermuda has felt the brunt of three storms in the past month, although none have been a direct hit.“This has been a very long and relentless hurricane season,” said National Security Minister Michael Weeks.The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Nigel has likely reached peak intensity and is expected to start weakening later Wednesday as it moves into cooler waters and encounters strong wind shear.____Follow AP’s climate coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environmentThe Associated Press

Japan’s troubled Toshiba to delist after takeover by Japanese consortium succeeds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A 2 trillion yen ($14 billion) tender offer for troubled electronics and energy giant Toshiba by a Japanese consortium has been completed, clearing the way for it to be delisted, the company said Thursday. In the tender offer, announced last month and ended Wednesday, the number of shares purchased exceeded the minimum needed, at 78.65%, it said. The switch to Toshiba’s new parent company and largest shareholder, called TBJH Inc. will take place on Sept. 27. The move still needs shareholders’ approval, and a meeting has been set for November, according to Toshiba. Toshiba will then delist from the Tokyo Stock Exchange within about a month. That will end its more than seven-decade history as a listed company. The purchase price was at 4,620 yen ($31). “Toshiba Group will now take a major step toward a new future with a new shareholder,” said its chief executive, Taro Shimada. Even after privatization, the company will “do the right thing” to try boost its val...

Police say a man and woman are dead after an apparent murder-suicide inside a Georgia Walmart

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

HIRAM, Georgia (AP) — A man and woman were shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday inside a Walmart in a Georgia town, police said.The shooting took place at about 7:30 p.m. in the Walmart Super Center in Hiram, a small town about 20 miles (35 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, police said.Nobody else was hurt. Other shoppers weren’t in the immediate area of the shooting and didn’t see it, Police Chief Michael Turner said.“We have no eyewitnesses to the event itself,” Turner said. However, some people heard the gunfire.“As soon as a heard the second shot, I ran straight for the exit,” Devani Lopez told WAGA-TV. “I ran straight for the car. I could see everyone running for their lives. Everyone was just so panicked and scared.”The man and woman died on the way to the hospital Turner said. They knew each other and the shooting appeared to be a murder-suicide, the chief said.Their names weren’t immediately released.“We’re heartbroken by what happe...

Seattle officer should be put on leave for callous remarks about Indian woman’s death, watchdog says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:33:24 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle’s Community Police Commission on Wednesday recommended that the city’s police chief suspend without pay an officer under investigation for making callous remarks about the death of a woman from India who was struck by a police SUV in a crosswalk.The 21-member commission and its three appointed co-chairs also requested that Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz “immediately engage in a workgroup” with the commission, the Office of Police Accountability and the Office of Inspector General to “address repeated concerns with the culture of policing and police practices” in his department, The Seattle Times reported.The letter calls on Diaz to suspend Officer Daniel Auderer, the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild. Auderer has been under investigation since earlier this month when police officials listened to audio from Auderer’s body camera during an investigation into the death of Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old graduate student who was struck and kill...