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Ukraine kickstarts European enlargement, just as US backs away

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

It took a war to put the EU’s enlargement process back on the political agenda.For about a decade, enlargement was not an issue dominating the thoughts and agendas of European leaders. Instead, the bloc was focused on its own political problems and — in the slipstream of Brexit — avoiding other members leaving the bloc.On Wednesday, the European Commission is set to propose that EU countries open talks with Ukraine and several other aspiring members on joining the bloc, embedding the future of Kyiv within the EU. But while the EU is pulling Ukraine closer, the U.S. is loosening its ties. Washington is shifting its foreign policy focus to the Middle East. And even before the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. was divided on supplying more aid to Ukraine ahead of an election in 2024.With the door to NATO closed at least as long as the war drags on, the EU inevitably will have to carry more of the burden of the future of Ukraine, a war-devastated country of more than 40 million peopl...

Confirmed case of tuberculosis reported on campus of UMass Boston

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

Health officials are investigating a case of tuberculosis in the UMass Boston community, officials said Tuesday.  The Boston Public Health Commission in a statement said it is aware of an active case and said it is working with both UMass Boston and the state Department of Public Health to conduct contact tracing and inform contacts about possible exposure. “Given that tuberculosis requires prolonged close contact to spread from one individual to another, we do not believe this active case poses a health risk to the general public,” officials said. “Tuberculosis is a very treatable and curable disease, and we encourage members of the UMass Boston community to contact a health care provider or the student health services if they are concerned about possible exposure,” the public health commission continued in its statement. UMass Boston’s Director of University Health Services Robert Pomales addressed the situation in a separate letter to the campus community, wri...

Democratic Governor Andy Beshear wins re-election in Kentucky

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

(CNN) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear will win reelection to a second term in Kentucky, CNN projects, defeating Republican Daniel Cameron in a deep-red state that Donald Trump carried by about 25 points in 2020.Beshear, one of the nation’s most popular governors and the only Democrat in statewide elected office in Kentucky, made abortion a major issue in his campaign. His reelection bid served as a critical test of how the fight over abortion rights since the overturning of Roe v. Wade will shape the political landscape ahead of the 2024 presidential election.While abortion is illegal in most cases in the Bluegrass State, Kentucky voters rejected a proposal last year to amend the state’s constitution to say that it does not “secure or protect a right” to abortion or the funding of abortion. Beshear attacked Cameron, the state attorney general, over his support for the state’s current law, which bans the procedure in all case...

Late goal lifts Bishop Feehan to dramatic 2-1 win over King Philip

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

ATTLEBORO — The big rematch of field hockey’s Div. 1 second round saw Bishop Feehan and King Philip play to a similarly hectic ending as they did last tournament, but Tuesday night brought a different result.Bella Colitti’s goal on a corner with 1:37 left to play put the eighth-seeded Shamrocks (13-5-2) ahead for a 2-1 win over the No. 9 Warriors, getting revenge for last year’s overtime loss to them in the same round.The highly-skilled game could’ve gone either way, especially since King Philip (15-5) responded quickly to seemingly force overtime for a second straight year. But its goal off a corner with three seconds left was waved off due to a foot violation ruling, which was the second goal of the game the Warriors scored that wouldn’t count due to a close call.Bishop Feehan did enough defensively otherwise to gut out the win, moving on to the Div. 1 quarterfinals for the first time. It gets No. 1 Walpole next.“I thought it was a fabulous game, both teams were fired up (and) rea...

Pepen, Weber declare victory for Boston City Council in win for Wu

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

Two progressive Wu-backed candidates in the closely-watched District 5 and 6 races were elected Tuesday night, with Enrique Pepén and Benjamin Weber declaring victory.Pepén, the mayor’s former head of the Boston Office of Neighborhood Services, defeated the more conservative Jose Ruiz, a retired 29-year officer with the Boston Police Department while Weber, a workers’ rights attorney, edged the more moderate William King, an information technology specialist.“I’m so grateful for the outpouring of support I have received from day one,” Pepén told a crowd of supporters in Roslindale Tuesday night. “I am ready to serve District 5.”In Jamaica Plain, Weber stated that he couldn’t “believe we did this,” while characterizing his victory and the support he received in District 6 as the “most special thing I’ve ever been a part of.”“We were able to send a message, and we’ll hopefully have a City Council...

House votes to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her Israel-Hamas rhetoric in a stunning rebuke

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

By FARNOUSH AMIRI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted late Tuesday to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — the only Palestinian American in Congress — an extraordinary rebuke of her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.The 234-188 tally came after enough Democrats joined with Republicans to censure Tlaib, a punishment one step below expulsion from the House. The three-term congresswoman has long been a target of criticism for her views on the decades-long conflict in the Middle East.The debate on the censure resolution on Tuesday afternoon was emotional and intense. Republican Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia pushed the censure measure in response to what he called Tlaib’s promotion of antisemitic rhetoric. He said she has “levied unbelievable falsehoods about our greatest ally, Israel, and the attack on October 7.”With other Democrats standing by her side, Tlaib defended her stance, saying she “will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words...

Blinken, senior diplomats seek G7 unity on Israel-Hamas war and other global crises

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Group of 7 leading industrial democracies worked to forge a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war at intensive meetings in Tokyo on Wednesday, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior diplomats looking to contain a worsening humanitarian crisis and stop a spillover of fighting into the wider Middle East.The second and final day of the G7 Foreign Minister talks intersects with a flurry of global crises. While the devastating monthlong conflict in Gaza and the humanitarian suffering that has followed Israel’s response to the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack lead the agenda, the envoys are also dealing with Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and China’s growing aggression in territorial disputes with its neighbors. Blinken, who arrived in Tokyo after a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, said it’s crucial to find a unified stance on the war in Israel, similar to what diplomats have done over Ukraine and other major issues...

October obliterated temperature records, virtually guaranteeing 2023 will be hottest year on record

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

This October was the hottest on record globally, 1.7 degrees Celsius (3.1 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month — and the fifth straight month with such a mark in what will now almost certainly be the warmest year ever recorded.October was a whopping 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the previous record for the month in 2019, surprising even Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European climate agency that routinely publishes monthly bulletins observing global surface air and sea temperatures, among other data.“The amount that we’re smashing records by is shocking,” Burgess said.After the cumulative warming of these past several months, it’s virtually guaranteed that 2023 will be the hottest year on record, according to Copernicus.Scientists monitor climate variables to gain an understanding of how our planet is evolving as a result of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions. A warm...

North Korea threatens to respond to anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets with a ‘shower of shells’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday criticized rival South Korea for removing a law that banned private activists from sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets to the North, insisting that such activities amount to psychological warfare and threatening to respond with a “shower of shells.”The statement published by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency was the first time state media commented on the decision by South Korea’s Constitutional Court in September to invalidate a 2020 law that criminalized leafletting. The decision was based on concerns that it excessively restricted free speech.The ruling came in response to a complaint filed by North Korean defector-activists in the South. They included Park Sang-hak, who has been a frequent target of North Korean government anger for his yearslong campaign of flying leaflets across the border with giant balloons.North Korea is extremely sensitive about any outside attempt to undermine leadership of authorit...

Democrats win on abortion rights and other highlights from Tuesday’s elections

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:21:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — There was plenty in the early results of Tuesday’s off-year election to make Democrats happy, but it shouldn’t be enough to make them feel secure heading into next year’s presidential election.Abortion rights supporters won an Ohio ballot measure and the Democratic governor of beet-red Kentucky held onto his office by campaigning on reproductive rights and painting his opponent as extremist on abortion.The off-year elections have major implications for both of those states and provide a snapshot of American politics heading into 2024. But two big names — Joe Biden and Donald Trump — weren’t on the ballot.Here are some key results from Tuesday’s voting.ABORTION REMAINS POTENT FOR DEMOCRATSDemocrats notched two early wins Tuesday night in Kentucky and Ohio, both states that voted for Trump in 2020. In both states, abortion was the main issue.In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was reelected in a state that Trump had won by 26 percentage ...