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EU foreign ministers arrive in Kyiv to talk weapons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

The EU’s foreign affairs ministers and chief diplomat Josep Borrell meet Monday for a special session with their Ukrainian counterpart — but instead of Dmytro Kuleba coming to Brussels or dialing in, this time they’ve gone to Ukraine.“We are convening a historic meeting of EU foreign ministers here in Ukraine, candidate country and future member of the EU. We are here to express our solidarity and support to the Ukrainian people,” Borrell said Monday.“The fact that this Foreign Affairs Council is coming to Ukraine is a message in itself,” showing that Ukraine is moving closer to EU accession, Kuleba told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook in a phone call. “The message is that Ukraine is becoming a member of the European Union, the process is taking place right as we speak and hold these meetings,” Kuleba added, underlining that he expects “to open accession talks by the end of the year.” There’s hope the EU-Ukraine talks on Monday yield tang...

Boston fire crews battling multi-alarm blaze that spread to adjacent home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

Boston fire crews are working to contain a blaze that broke out in a three-family home on Woodson Street this morning, officials said.Crews responding to a reported structure fire at 52 Woodston St. around 5:25 a.m. found heavy flames coming from the rear of the building.The fire has spread to the adjacent building at 56 Woodson Street, prompting a second and third alarm be ordered, fire officials said.The fire has burned through the rear porches and across the roof, according to a post on the department’s X account.The cause of the fire remains under investigation.No additional information was immediately available.https://twitter.com/BostonFire/status/1708780590126821460https://twitter.com/BostonFire/status/1708780135678103819

Concerns raised over O’Bryant School move

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

The Boston School Committee will be voting on whether to relocate the highly rated O’Bryant School to the vacant West Roxbury Education Complex, one way or the other, despite opposition from parents and the community at large.District officials continued to hear concerns from parents during an open house Saturday at the proposed site they have set for the college preparatory exam school. Concerns ranged from issues with transportation to the transparency and accountability behind the planning process.When exactly the School Committee will be voting on the proposal remains an open question, but Delavern Stanislaus, the district’s chief of capital planning, told the Herald she believes it could happen sometime by the end of this year or in early 2024.“I think we have to go back as a team and evaluate — based on conversations we’ve had, based on the feedback from the community — the work we have to put in to actually continue the community engagement pieces before we put a final propos...

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman win Nobel in medicine for enabling development of mRNA vaccines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.Katalin Karikó is a professor at Sagan’s University in Hungary and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Drew Weissman performed his prizewinning research together with Karikó at the University of Pennsylvania.Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel Assembly, announced the award Monday in Stockholm.The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was won last year by Swedish scientist Svante Paabo for discoveries in human evolution that unlocked secrets of Neanderthal DNA which provided key insights into our immune system, including our vulnerability to severe COVID-19.The award was the second in the family. Paabo’s father, Sune Bergstrom, won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1982.Nobel announcements continue with the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Priz...

A big fire at a police headquarters in northeastern Egypt injures at least 38 people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A huge fire broke out early Monday at a police facility in northeastern Egypt, injuring at least 38 people before firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze several hours later, authorities said.The cause of the fire, which ripped through the multistory police headquarters in the Suez Canal province of Ismailia, was not immediately clear.Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfiq, whose ministry oversees police forces, rushed to the site in the city of Ismailia, about 125 kilometers (77 miles) northeast of Cairo. He said a committee was set up to investigate the fire.Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry, said in a statement that 12 of the injured were treated at the site, while 26 others were taken to hospitals. All but two suffered from breathing difficulties; seven of the injured were treated and discharged, he said.It was not immediately clear how many police were in the building at the time. Local media reported that the police building was severel...

Fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island cause smoky haze, prompting calls for people to work from home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

PALEMBANG, Indonesia (AP) — More than 300 forest and peatland fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island caused hazy skies across the region on Monday, prompting government officials to ask people to work from home.The military, police and local government were working together to extinguish the fires, which were burning in 316 places across South Sumatra province, but their work was complicated by the extreme dry weather, said Iriansyah, the head of the South Sumatra Disaster Management Agency.The smoky haze drifted from the fires toward Palembang, the capital of South Palembang province, causing unhealthy air conditions for the area’s 1.7 million people.“There is a high potential for people to suffer from respiratory tract infections, coughing, shortness of breath and eye irritation,” said Iriansyah, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.The government in South Sumatra last week called on schools to delay their opening time, as the haze tends to decrease during the day...

5 missing people are located after a Spanish nightclub fire, leaving the death toll at 13

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Five people who were missing and feared dead in a nightclub fire in the city of Murcia have been located, a Spanish official said Monday. The death toll in the country’s worst nightclub fire in 33 years stands at 13, with 24 people injured. Francisco Jiménez, the national government representative in the southeastern region of Murcia, told Spanish National Television that no further bodies had been found and that there was no longer anyone missing. Firefighters and police continued to search the damaged premises for clues as to how the fire started Sunday in the city of Murcia. They also worked to secure the interior of the building to avoid a possible collapse.The blaze started around 6 a.m. in a nightclub and spread to two others nearby, Spanish state news agency EFE said. All the bodies were found in the first nightclub.The city council declared three days of mourning with flags flown at half-staff on public buildings. It was the deadliest nightclub fire in Sp...

Johnny’s becomes Smile-Up. Japanese music company hit with sex abuse scandal takes on a new name

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese entertainment company that has acknowledged its founder sexually assaulted hundreds of boys over the span of half a century, took a new name on Monday: Smile-Up. It also vowed to focus on compensation for victims of the abuse. Tokyo-based Johnny & Associates, founded in 1975, will eventually fold, but its performers can join an independent company that is being set up, said Noriyuki Higashiyama, the company’s new leader and a former star at Johnny’s, as the company is known.Higashiyama, tapped last month to head the old Johnny’s, will now be president of both Smile-Up and the new company. The new company’s name will be put to public vote by Johnny’s fans. “All things with the Johnny’s name will have to go,” Higashiyama told reporters at a Tokyo hotel. “A wounded heart isn’t easy to heal. Compensation on its own will never be enough.”In recent months, dozens of men who were performers and backup dancers as teens and children at Johnny’s have ...

Laphonza Butler tapped by California's governor to fill Feinstein's Senate seat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday selected Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.In choosing Butler, Newsom fulfilled his pledge to appoint a Black woman if Feinstein’s seat became open. However, he had been facing pressure from some Black politicians and advocacy groups to select Rep. Barbara Lee, a prominent Black congresswoman who is already running for the seat. Who is Laphonza Butler, the woman appointed by Gavin Newsom to the U.S. Senate? Butler will be the only Black woman serving in the U.S. Senate, and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent California in the chamber.Newsom said in a statement that the priorities Feinstein fought for in Congress — reproductive freedom, equal protection and safety from gun violence — were under assault in the nation. "Laphonza will carry the baton left by Sen. Feinstein (and) co...

Moldova joins the EU Civil Protection Mechanism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:45:25 GMT

On 29 September, the EU and Moldova signed the Agreement for Moldova to become a Participating State in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Once the Agreement is ratified by Moldova, it will provisionally apply until the full entry into force on 1 January 2024.This major step of Moldova joining the foundation of the EU's disaster risk management system was marked with a visit by the Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič, to Chișinău, where he met Internal Affairs Minister Adrian Efros. They both signed the Agreement to grant Moldova membership status in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.Lenarčič said: “Today, I am proud to welcome Moldova to the family of European rescuers: the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. While Russia's brutal attack against Ukraine resulted in thousands of Ukrainians fleeing from the war, Moldova proved itself to be a reliable partner. I want to thank the Moldovan civil protection authorities for their hard work. By Moldova joining the EU Civil Protection...