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Top EU official heads to an Italian island struggling with migrant influx as Italy toughens stance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

MILAN (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to travel Sunday to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which was overwhelmed with thousands of migrants arrivals this week, at the invitation of Italy’s premier, who is calling for a naval blockade of North Africa.Von der Leyen’s spokesman, Eric Mamer, confirmed on Saturday that she would make the trip at the invitation of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. Tensions on the small island were rising Saturday, as both residents and migrants chafed at the long wait times to transfer people from the crowded reception center to the Italian mainland. About 7,000 migrants arrived on Lampedusa from Tunisia this week, and the Red Cross said that 3,800 remained on the island on Friday. Media reports indicated that was down to about 2,000 on Saturday. Residents gathered in the center of town Saturday to protest plans to put up a tent city on Lampedusa, and demanded a meeting with a Sicilian regional law enforcement official. A rep...

London police arrest a man who allegedly climbed over a wall near Buckingham Palace stables

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

LONDON (AP) — London police arrested a 25-year-old man early Saturday morning after he allegedly climbed over a wall and entered the royal stables at Buckingham Palace.The man was detained at 1:25 a.m Saturday for trespassing on a protected site, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement. He was taken to a London police station, where he remained by late morning.Officers found the man outside the royal stables following a search of the area. He didn’t enter enter the palace or its gardens at any time, police said.Buckingham Palace, which is some 300 years old, is undergoing renovations, and King Charles III does not live there. The monarch was in Scotland on Saturday.The Associated Press

UAW strike exposes tensions between Biden’s goals of tackling climate change and supporting unions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of President Joe Biden ‘s top goals — fighting climate change and expanding the middle class by supporting unions — are colliding in the key battleground state of Michigan as the United Auto Workers go on strike against the country’s biggest car companies.The strike involves 13,000 workers so far, less than one-tenth of the union’s total membership, but it’s a sharp test of Biden’s ability to hold together an expansive and discordant political coalition while running for reelection. Biden is trying to turbocharge the market for electric vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent China from solidifying its grip on a growing industry. His signature legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, includes billions of dollars in incentives to get more clean cars on the roads. Some in the UAW fear the transition will cost jobs because electric vehicles require fewer people to assemble. Although there will be new opportun...

Thousands of Czechs rally in Prague to demand the government’s resignation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Thousands of Czechs rallied in the capital on Saturday to demand the government’s resignation over high energy and other prices as well as the war in Ukraine. The protest united far-right with far-left forces and was the third such rally at Prague’s Wenceslas Square this year that was organized by a new political party known as PRO.The demonstrators repeatedly chanted a message for the five-party ruling coalition to “resign.”The head of the populist group, Jindrich Rajchl, blamed the government “for following orders from Brussels,” criticized the country’s support for Ukraine and its close ties with the United States.His group, whose name in English stands for Law, Respect, Expertise, has no seats in parliament.Some demonstrators demanded the country quit NATO.The protesters were planning to march to the Interior Ministry building in Prague.The Associated Press

Loss of bison herds still affecting Plains First Nations, research suggests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

The collapse of the teeming bison herds that once blackened the prairie was an economic catastrophe that still affects those who once depended on them, new research suggests. “Economic opportunity is determined in part by history,” said Donn Feir, an economic historian at the University of Victoria and one of three authors of a recently published paper on the lingering economic impact of that near-extinction. “When you look at the landscape of economic development and Indigenous economic growth in Canada and the U.S., you have to keep in mind that history is still very much with us.”Feir and her colleagues used data collected by long-ago government agents and anthropologists to compare how the loss of the bison affected First Nations that depended on them with those that didn’t. They conclude that loss, together with reduced access to institutions such as banks, marked those nations physically and economically.   “Those historical injustices are b...

Auto workers are striking at 'Big Three' assembly plants: What to know

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

(NewsNation) — About 13,000 workers at three U.S. vehicle assembly plants went on strike Friday after the United Auto Workers union and Detroit's Big Three automakers failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.UAW President Shawn Fain said in an online address Thursday night that the union will use a new strategy in which strikes will occur at a few plants at a time. The union and automakers were unable to reach a deal on a new contract before a midnight Thursday deadline."This strategy will keep the companies guessing. It will give our national negotiators maximum leverage and flexibility in bargaining," Fain said. "If we need to go all out, we will. Everything is still on the table."UAW members are on the picket lines in what is the first simultaneous strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in the union's 88-year history.The first factories to be targeted are a General Motors assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri; a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan; and a Stellantis...

New study says 1 in 4 people cancel out healthy eating with snacks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

(The Hill) – A notable portion of healthy eaters have their good diets canceled out by frequent or low quality snacks, according to a new study in the European Journal of Nutrition released Friday.The study looked at a group of frequent snackers in the U.K., mostly women, who kept otherwise healthy diets. It found that about a quarter of participants’ snacking was hurting their health due to eating too much or eating low quality snacks, but that snacking alone doesn’t always hurt. More Americans say moderate drinking is unhealthy: Gallup “Contrary to public perception, we find that the act of snacking, in terms of both frequency and quantity of energy from snacks, was not associated with unfavourable cardiometabolic blood or anthropometric markers,” the researchers wrote. “Instead, we observed that snack quality matters and is associated with favourable lipemic and insulinemic responses, as well as decreased hunger.”Researchers defined “high quality” snacks as fruits and vegetable...

Hawaii officials say death toll from Lahaina fire has dropped from 115 to 97: Here's why

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

HONOLULU (KHON) – The Maui police announced on Friday that the death toll from the Lahaina fire has been revised to 97 — a drop from the 115 initially confirmed.At a press conference on Friday, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said the decreased death toll came after forensic tests recognized duplicates in a catalog of remains. Officials said this type of thing can occur when multiple agencies are taking part in recovery efforts."All these numbers are fluid but we're giving the very best numbers at the time we have," said Dr. Jeremy Stuelpnagel, a medical examiner working with Maui County.Of the 97 lives that were claimed, 74 of those individuals have been identified, MPD confirmed. Lawmakers take closer look at existing rules for management of dry brush Determining the death toll from the Aug. 8 wildfire in Lahaina has been especially complicated because of the damage caused by the fire and the chaos as people tried to escape, officials said. In some cases, animal remains were in...

Working Strategies: College career fairs hint at what’s next

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

Amy LindgrenAnd we’re back. Back to school that is, and, for college students, back to the season of career fairs — in person, no less.Career fairs (which used to be known as job fairs until that last awful recession when there were no jobs to tout) have long been part of the campus event cycle. You could rely on them starting just after the holiday break, increasing in frequency and intensity right up to spring graduation.I could be wrong, but offering career fairs in the fall feels like a relatively new concept. Right or wrong, I heartily endorse anything that helps students — especially seniors — to start early on organizing their post-graduation lives.For the uninitiated, a couple of quick definitions are in order. Job fairs are events designed to bring employers and potential employees together, building connections that could lead to new hires.As a rule, there might be 10-50 exhibitors (employers) arranged in rows in a large meeting hall, but some gatherings ...

Soucheray: What’s a cop supposed to do, stand around and say ‘there, there’?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:32 GMT

We are long past astonishment for there even being a need for school resource officers, or SROs, yet another in the long march of bureaucratic acronyms. Kids aren’t nearly as well behaved as they might have once been, for reasons that take volumes to explain and a problem which cannot possibly be solved by government intervention.A crew-cut ex-Marine gym teacher is wishful thinking. They aren’t allowed to touch the little learners, either. We brought in SROs to keep the peace, but in the last legislative session, the ideologues who run the state so restricted the rules of engagement that approximately 30 percent of law enforcement agencies, more with each passing day, are withholding police officers from schools.A prone restraint, for example, is forbidden. That’s when a kid is on the floor face down. New language in the law says, “An employee or agent of a district, including a school resource officer, security personnel, or police officer contracted with a district, shall not infl...