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European Union lawmakers back a major plan to protect nature and fight climate change

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s parliament on Wednesday approved a major plan to protect nature and fight climate change in a cliffhanger vote.In a test of the EU’s global climate credentials, the legislature supported the general outlines of a European Commission plan in a razor-thin 324-312 vote with 12 abstentions.The bill is a key part of the EU’s vaunted European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world’s most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues. The plans proposed by the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, set binding restoration targets for specific habitats and species, with the aim by 2030 to cover at least 20% of the region’s land and sea areas.After weeks of intense haggling and despite the staunch opposition of the legislature’s biggest group, the European People’s Party, the plan survived in the highly anticipated vote at the European Parliament in Strasbo...

Live Updates | Russia warns of ‘potentially very dangerous’ G7 security guarantees for Ukraine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Follow along for updates on the summit of the NATO military alliance in Lithuania’s capital:What to know: — NATO backs Ukraine’s fight vs. Russia but doesn’t invite Kyiv to join— Sweden’s rocky road from neutrality toward NATO membership— What is NATO doing to help Ukraine in the war with Russia?——The Kremlin considers plans by G7 nations to offer Ukraine security guarantees “extremely ill-judged and potentially very dangerous,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.Britain issued a statement a day earlier on plans by the G7 — made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — to agree Wednesday to a “significant international framework for Ukraine’s long-term security arrangements.”A joint statement expected to be signed by G7 members on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lithuania would mark the first time “that this many countries have agreed a comprehensive long-term security arrangement of this ...

Tribunal superior de Japón falla contra la restricción de la asignación de un baño para una empleada transgénero del gobierno

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

Tokio (CNN) — La Corte Suprema de Japón dictó una decisión histórica este martes, en contra de una agencia gubernamental que había prohibido a un empleado transgénero usar el baño de mujeres, según la cadena pública de medios NHK.La decisión fue el primer fallo del tribunal superior relacionado con los derechos de las minorías sexuales en el lugar de trabajo, informó NHK.La demandante es una empleada de unos 50 años que trabaja en el Ministerio de Economía, Comercio e Industria de Japón (METI). Se le asignó un género masculino al nacer, pero comenzó a vivir como mujer alrededor de 2008, excepto en el lugar de trabajo, según NHK.En 2009, le dijo a su supervisor que quería identificarse como mujer en el trabajo y solicitó permiso para usar el baño de mujeres, informó NHK. La solicitud del empleado fue concedida, pero solo para un baño a dos pisos de distancia.Un tribunal de Japón declara inconstitucional la prohibición del matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexoEl empleado lueg...

Muere el escritor checo Milan Kundera, autor de “La insoportable levedad del ser”, a los 94 años

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

(CNN) — El novelista checo Milan Kundera murió, según informó la Biblioteca de Moravia, una organización de investigación financiada por el Estado en Brno, ciudad natal del escritor. Kundera tenía 94 años.“Milan Kundera, autor checo-francés que figura entre los autores más traducidos del mundo, falleció el 11 de julio de 2023 en su apartamento de París”, informó la biblioteca en un comunicado.Kundera, autor de “La insoportable levedad del ser”, era conocido por sus relatos ingeniosos y tragicómicos, a menudo entrelazados con profundos debates filosóficos y retratos satíricos de la vida bajo la opresión comunista.Kundera, que nació en abril de 1929 en Brno, Checoslovaquia, formó parte de una influyente generación de escritores, cineastas e intelectuales checos que alcanzaron la mayoría de edad durante los turbulentos años posteriores a la Segunda Guerra Mundial.Cormac McCarthy, considerado uno de los más grandes escritores de Estados Unidos, muere a los ...

Stanislav Rzhitsky: comandante ruso que fue asesinado mientras trotaba puede haber sido rastreado a través de la aplicación Strava

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

(CNN) — Stanislav Rzhitsky, comandante de un submarino ruso que fue asesinado a tiros mientras trotaba este lunes, pudo haber sido atacado por un asaltante que lo rastreaba en una popular aplicación para correr, según los medios rusos.Stanislav Rzhitsky fue asesinado a principios de esta semana en la ciudad de Krasnodar, en el sur de Rusia, por una “persona desconocida”, informó la agencia estatal de noticias TASS, y agregó que “se está investigando el motivo del crimen”.El Comité de Investigación de Rusia dijo en Telegram que un hombre fue detenido en relación con el asesinato de Rzhitsky, y agregó que el sospechoso tenía una pistola con silenciador en su posesión “mediante la cual, presumiblemente, se cometió el asesinato”.Los medios rusos informaron anteriormente que el asesino de Rzhitsky pudo haber usado Strava, una aplicación ampliamente disponible utilizada por corredores y ciclistas, para seguir sus movimientos.Las rutas de jogging y ciclismo de Rzhitsky aparecen en un...

Kremlin denies Prigozhin’s Wagner troops captured nuclear base

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

Moscow cannot confirm reports that fighters loyal to oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin were close to taking control of a major stockpile of atomic weapons when they marched on the capital last month, the Kremlin has said.Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, insisted that he “does not have information” on the allegations and speculated that they could have been falsified, according to state news agency TASS.The denial comes after the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told Reuters that Prigozhin’s Wagner Group had reached a Russian military base, known as Voronezh-45, that houses Soviet-era nuclear warheads.“If you are prepared to fight until the last man standing, this is one of the facilities that significantly raises the stakes,” Budanov claimed.According to reports, clips posted online showed a detachment of mutineers had veered eastwards towards the base as ...

Trump came close to using troops to ‘forcibly expel’ migrants, ‘Anonymous’ author writes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

Then-President Donald Trump was “a few sentences away” from deploying the military against migrants in February 2019, forcing top officials to rush to the White House to talk the president out of the move, according to a new book.In the run-up to the State of the Union address that year, White House aides informed Miles Taylor, who was then chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, that Trump wanted to use American troops to “forcibly expel” migrants from a caravan heading toward the southern border.Taylor writes in the book, “Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump,” that the president was treating migrants “as if they were a foreign army invading the United States.” POLITICO obtained a copy of the book ahead of its publication next week.In an interview, Taylor said his understanding was that Trump wanted to make the announcement during the State of the Union speech.“That’s what White House staff warned us, which is why we rushed to the White House,” ...

Parliament backs new EU nature law in blow to conservatives

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

Lawmakers in the European Parliament’s plenary today voted in favor of contentious new rules aimed at restoring the bloc’s degraded ecosystems, dealing a major blow to conservative MEPs who had pushed to kill the legislation.The conservative European People’s Party was unable to garner a majority to vote against the bill, with a coalition of MEPs from the Socialists & Democrats, The Left, the Greens and Renew Europe rallying in support of the proposal. The vote was extremely tight, with 336 voting in favor, 300 against and 13 abstentions.MEPs earlier also rejected the EPP’s call to reject the Nature Restoration Regulation outright and send the European Commission back to the drawing board, with 324 votes against, 312 in favor and 12 abstentions.The outcome marks a major defeat for the EPP, which campaigned hard against the legislation with the backing of the European Conservatives and Reformists, the far-right Identity and Democracy, and some members of the lib...

Luxembourg PM used Depeche Mode’s jet to fly into NATO summit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

Luxembourg’s NATO summit delegation jetted into Vilnius on the plane recently used by Depeche Mode on their world tour — and covered in the band’s logos. When Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn and Defense Minister François Bausch arrived Tuesday in Vilnius, reporters were surprised to see a “big red skull on the plane used by peaceful little Luxembourg,” wrote AP journalist Philip Crowther on Twitter. Turns out, Luxembourg’s top politicians were deplaning from a jet used by the English electronic rockers, with the large red skull accompanied by the letters DM (for the band) and MM (referring to Depeche Mode’s new album). How did this happen? Luxembourg’s army tried to book a flight through the European Air Transport Command, but it just can’t get enough private jets for major international events, so Luxembourg had to charter another available plane in which they could enjoy the silence before the summit, re...

The Orioles sent a large contingent to the All-Star Game. When might it come to them?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:47 GMT

Eliminated in the second matchup of Monday night’s Home Run Derby, Adley Rutschman stuck around to watch the other competitors. Like everyone else in T-Mobile Park, he couldn’t look away during Julio Rodríguez’s opening round.The Seattle Mariners’ young outfielder — the only player to top Rutschman in last season’s voting for American League Rookie of the Year — swatted 41 home runs as a sold-out crowd in his home ballpark almost constantly chanted “Ju-li-o! Ju-li-o!”“Dude, that was electric,” Rutschman said the next day. “To me, that was so cool. Seeing everyone just get so hype, 41 home runs, that was a highlight.”With Rutschman enjoying the experience enough to say he would be open to competing in the derby again someday, it’s fair to wonder when home fans watching the event might get to chant “Ad-ley! Ad-ley!”The Orioles haven’t hosted an All-Star Game since 1993, Camden Ya...