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Earthquake in Morocco kills over 800 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

A powerful earthquake struck central Morocco Friday night, killing at least 820 people.More than 670 people also have been injured in the tremor, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said on Saturday.The quake seriously damaged buildings, according to local media, including in the major city of Marrakech, where people spent the night outside for safety reasons. A mosque minaret toppled in Jemaa al-Fna Square, the heart of Marrakech’s old city, Reuters reported. Heads of governments from all over the world were quick to express solidarity and offer help to Morocco. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is in India for a G20 summit, said her “heart” was with the Moroccan people. Marrakech, whose old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is due to host the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in early October.

Still warm and humid, more storms this weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

Welcome to the weekend! It stays humid, with temperatures not quite as high as earlier this week. It’ll be unsettled at times, but luckily not a washout of a weekend.A front is draped across New England and will not have a lot of forward movement this weekend. It’ll actually retrograde before it moves out of our region Tuesday. While it’s here it continues to promote the chance for storms.Radar gives us an idea of what it could look like later today. Storms will be hit or miss. If you get under one though, it could be a heavy downpour. We woke up to areas of fog. Fog is in the process of lifting. We’ll see more clouds than sun through the day. Looking at our morning low temperatures, you can see where that stationary front is stuck with more mild temperatures to the right of it. Highs today will be in the low/mid 80s. That’s still above average. On Cape Cod and the Islands highs will be in the upper 70s/near 80. Humidity is still with us!We’re als...

Patriots vs. Eagles preview: How Mac Jones, Bill Belichick can pull off an upset Sunday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

It’s time.Time for football. Time to learn Mac Jones. Time for the Patriots to prove they are who they believe themselves to be.All of that starts Sunday in one of the most anticipated season openers in recent franchise history. The Patriots are home underdogs against the reigning NFC champion Eagles, who came within moments of capturing the Lombardi Trophy. If the Pats are to pull an upset, it will start with Jones and new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien but should end with their defense grounding a high-flying Philadelphia attack.When the Patriots runRhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott must be at their most elusive Sunday, considering their offensive line will be wildly overmatched no matter what lineup combinations are thrown out there. Starting guards Cole Strange and Mike Onwenu have hardly practiced in pads this offseason, while Calvin Anderson, fourth-round rookie Sidy Sow and newly-acquired veterans Vederian Lowe and Tyrone Wheatley Jr. could all see snaps...

Republican opposition to abortion threatens global HIV/AIDS program that has saved 25 million lives

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The graves at the edge of the orphanage tell a story of despair. The rough planks in the cracked earth are painted with the names of children, most of them dead in the 1990s. That was before the HIV drugs arrived.Today, the orphanage in Kenya’s capital is a happier, more hopeful place for children with HIV. But a political fight taking place in the United States is threatening the program that helps to keep them and millions of others around the world alive.The reason for the threat? Abortion.The AIDS epidemic has killed more than 40 million people since the first recorded cases in 1981, tripling child mortality and carving decades off life expectancy in the hardest-hit areas of Africa, where the cost of treatment put it out of reach. Horrified, then-President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress two decades ago created what is described as the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease.The program, known as the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan ...

G20 adds the African Union as a member, issues call rejecting use of force in reference to Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Group of 20 top world economies welcomed the African Union as a member as their annual summit got underway Saturday, but their wording on the contentious issue of Russia’s war in Ukraine was limited to a call to avoid seizing territory by force or the use of nuclear weapons. There had been serious doubt that an agreement could be adopted because of disagreements among members, most centrally on differences about the war. The G20 final statement, released a day before the summit formally closes, was less sharply worded over the war than one issued during last year’s meeting in Bali. It said members reiterated their national positions resolutions adopted at the United Nations, and called on “all states must act in a manner consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the U.N. Charter in its entirety.”“In line with the U.N. Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrit...

UK police catch terrorism suspect who escaped from a London prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A former soldier who escaped from a London prison while awaiting trial on terrorism charges was captured Saturday, police said.Daniel Abed Khalife was on the run four days before a massive search managed to nab him in Chiswick in west London.Khalife escaped on the bottom of a food delivery truck from Wandsworth Prison on Wednesday. The breakout ignited a storm of criticism as political opponents blamed the ruling Conservative party for incompetence.Khalife, 21, is accused of planting fake bombs at a military base and of violating Britain’s Official Secrets Act by gathering information “that could be useful to an enemy.” He was discharged from the British army after his arrest earlier this year and had denied the allegations. His trial is set for November.London counter-terror police had offered a 20,000 pound ($25,000) reward for information leading to his arrest.Brian Melley, The Associated Press

Heavy swells pound northeast Caribbean as Hurricane Lee charges through open waters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Large swells battered the northeast Caribbean on Saturday as Hurricane Lee churned nearby through open waters as a Category 3 storm.The storm, which is not forecast to make landfall, was located 385 miles (620 kilometers) east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands. It had winds of up to 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).Earlier this week, Lee grew from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 storm in just one day amid warm waters and limited wind shear.“This was one of the fastest rates of strengthening in the Atlantic Basin on record,” AccuWeather said in a statement.Lee was forecast to pass well north of the northeast Caribbean in a big relief to people from the British Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico, which are still recovering from hurricanes Irma and Maria that hit in September 2017.Tropical storm conditions were not expected for any Caribbean island, but breaking waves of up to 15 feet (5 meters) were forecast for Puer...

Climate protesters have blocked a Dutch highway to demand an end to big subsidies for fossil fuels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Several thousand climate activists blocked a Dutch highway on Saturday in anger at billions of euros in government subsidies for industries that use oil, coal and gas revealed in a report earlier this week.The protesters — from Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and other organizations — broke through a police barrier and sat on a main road in The Hague heading to the temporary venue for the lower house of parliament.They threatened to stay until the subsidies are lifted, and to come back every day if the police remove them.The activists brandished signs with sayings like “Fossil Fuel Subsidies are Not Cool,” and warned that the extreme temperatures seen around the world this summer are a sign of the future if fossil fuels aren’t abandoned.The action is part of a series of protests led by Extinction Rebellion targeting the Dutch parliament.A report published Monday said the Dutch government spends around 37.5 billion euros ($40.5 billion) per year i...

Frustration, despair at Montreal airport amid road traffic woes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

MONTREAL — The entrance to Montreal’s airport rumbled with honks, groans and a few profanities on a recent afternoon as a herd of cars inched forward on the road leading to the terminals.The gridlock proved too much for some anxious travellers to bear. More than a dozen ditched their rides, some dashed hundreds of metres alongside traffic, luggage in tow, in frantic attempts to catch their flights — or to simply skip the wait. Their heads bobbed between vehicles on the boulevard that branches off from the highway. There is no sidewalk. Among them was Nick Galbraith, whose father deposited him on the side of the road, hundreds of metres from the airport. “It’s an embarrassment,” Galbraith said of the traffic on Thursday. “Obviously ridiculous.”A post-pandemic surge in car traffic at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport this summer has led to frustration, confusion and desperation. The city’s public transit authority has scram...

When will the fall colors peak near me?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:23 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Sure, many of us are still soaking in the summer sun — and heat — but fall is right around the corner. Depending on where you live, the leaves may have already started fading to their fall shades of reds, oranges, yellows and browns. How fast the leaves change, and when colors peak, largely depends on where you live. Regardless of where you live, though, the leaves around you are on a schedule. Why do leaves change color?What ignites the trees to erupt into reds, oranges and yellows is largely the length of day, Brad Hutnik, a forest ecologist/silviculturist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources told Nexstar. We’ve been slowly losing daylight since the summer solstice in mid-June, and it will only become more noticeable as we move through September. Our trees are tuned into that lack of light and will begin to wind down for the year. “Oftentimes, by the time we’re seeing the leaves on the trees, that tree is functionally shut down for the...