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Tearful Tarabella considers Parliament comeback

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

LIÈGE, Belgium — His entrance was silent, verging on theatrical.With a dark suit and the face of an opera singer who had lost his voice, Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella entered the curtain-framed stage at his press conference to only sound of the clicking of cameras.The once-prominent socialist, who remains charged with corruption in a probe that has come to be known as Qatargate, emerged at his lawyer’s office in Liège to speak publicly for the first time since his arrest three months ago. This came just one day after authorities released him from wearing an electronic bracelet and allowing him to leave house arrest under certain conditions. While he had decided already not to stand again for European Parliament elections in 2024, he does plan to return for the last year of his mandate to the very same institution he was charged with corrupting by the end of May, announced his lawyer Maxime Töller and parliamentary assistant Emmanuel Foulon. On this rainy Wednesday, emotions surfac...

UK Labour MPs call for action over party aide harassment case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

LONDON — Senior women in the Labour Party have demanded extra protection for staff after an adviser who sexually harassed a young intern was allowed to keep his job. POLITICO reported Wednesday that a party aide will remain in post despite a groping complaint against him being upheld twice — by parliamentary investigators and, separately, by Labour after a probe which ran for three years.The case again shines a spotlight on the way misconduct allegations are handled in Westminster, following a series of episodes in which complainants expressed dissatisfaction with the process.The outcome of the parliamentary investigation involving the aide was made known to his employer, who is a member of Keir Starmer’s front bench team, according to two people close to the process. Labour declined to say whether the aide’s boss was informed that its own internal investigation had also upheld the complaint, and the employer’s office declined to comment.MP Stella Creasy, a prominent...

Woman hit by utility box at Harvard station describes moment she was struck, plans to sue MBTA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

The woman hit by a utility box at the Harvard Red Line station plans to sue the MBTA.28-year-old Joycelyn Johnson, a Harvard University PhD. student, suffered serious injuries, including a detached clavicle, when she was struck by an approximately 200 pound piece of equipment that fell on the station’s Red Line inbound platform on May 1.The victim, who was on her way home to Quincy at the time, said her injuries will require long-term medical treatment and impact her studies. “I walked over to the pillar – I stood there and suddenly, something came crashing down and there was a resounding thud that I felt in my body. I staggered a bit and I didn’t fall, but I could feeling a numbing sensation coursing throughout my arm, my shoulder and back,” Johnson said on Wednesday..Speaking with news reporters in front of Harvard Station with her arm in a sling, she said she has not felt comfortable going into a T station since the incidentThe equipment itself had been su...

Record $100M gift to Brigham and Women’s Hospital to be used for immunology, inflammation research

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital plans to use a $100 million gift to establish a new institute to study immunology and inflammation, hospital officials announced Wednesday.The gift from biotechnology entrepreneur Gene Lay, though his Laygend Foundation, is the largest in the history of the hospital, which traces its roots to 1832.Lay, the founder and CEO of San Diego-based BioLegend Inc., said he has always been fascinated by the immune system’s ability to heal the body.“With this gift, I am bringing together the best scientific minds I know to translate research discoveries into therapies for immune-mediated diseases rooted in chronic inflammation,” he said.The Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation’s primary areas of research will include basic understanding of immune-mediated diseases, aging and cancer, with the goal of developing new immunotherapies, the hospital said.Dr. Vijay Kuchroo, an immunologist and principal investigator at...

Authorities recover body of missing Massachusetts man from Bow Lake in Strafford, NH

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

The body of a man from Plymouth, Mass., was recovered in New Hampshire a day after authorities said he was reported missing.Officials with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department Law Enforcement Division said a dive team located the body of Allan Schuh around 10 a.m. on Tuesday while searching Bow Lake in Strafford.According to authorities, Schuh had been reported missing the day before by his wife after he did not return home from fishing.A search operation was launched soon afterwards on Monday and went on until late at night, before being called off until the following morning.“The cause of the accident is under investigation, unfortunately Schuh was not wearing a life jacket,” the agency said in a statement. “New Hampshire Fish and Game and Marine Patrol would like to remind all boaters that water temperatures are still cold and state law requires each boater to have a wearable life jacket with them whenever recreating on New Hampshire’s waterbodies.”A...

Connecticut seeks to rein in high TCH marijuana products

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — After discovering cannabis products are being sold in convenience and CBD stores across Connecticut with higher levels of THC than regulated dispensaries, legislators moved Tuesday to impose new restrictions on the amount of marijuana’s main intoxicating component in these products.The bipartisan legislation, which cleared the state House on a nearly unanimous vote, marks the first major update of the state’s fledgling recreational marijuana program that kicked off in January.“All we’re trying to do is make sure that any products that are sold with a significant amount of THC in Connecticut are sold in our regulated marketplace through the dispensaries, where there’s labeling requirements, there’s per package requirements, there’s per container requirements,” said Rep. Mike D’Agostino, D-Hamden, who held out a handful of large, colorful THC gummies that were being sold legally at an unregulated store due to a “loophole” in federal law concerning CBD...

Prince Harry’s lawyer says British tabloid spied on ‘industrial scale’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

By BRIAN MELLEY (Associated Press)LONDON (AP) — The British publisher of the Daily Mirror apologized for one instance of snooping on Prince Harry, but denied his other claims as his first phone hacking trial began Wednesday with his lawyer accusing the newspaper of unlawfully gathering information on “an industrial scale.”While the admission that the publisher employed a private investigator for a 2004 article headlined “Sex on the beach with Harry” may have marked a tiny victory for the Duke of Sussex, the story in question wasn’t one of the nearly 150 that Harry alleges were the result of skulduggery.The seven-week trial that opened in London is Harry’s biggest test yet in his legal battle against the British media. He and three others, including two soap opera actors, are suing Mirror Group Newspapers for alleged misuse of private information between 1991 and 2011.Harry wasn’t in court as his attorney, David Sherborne, began his opening statement, saying unlawful acts were “wides...

Yankees Notebook: Deivi Garcia makes MLB return as a reliever

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

Deivi Garcia was a starter the last time he pitched in the majors in 2021. His next big league outing will come as a reliever.The Yankees recalled the former consensus top-100 prospect on Wednesday morning, adding a fresh arm to their bullpen after demoting Greg Weissert following a rough Tuesday night. Garcia, part of a 40-man roster that didn’t offer many other options, had a 4.50 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and a career-worst 7.2 BB/9 over 10 games and 20 innings at Triple-A, where he’s transitioned into a multi-inning reliever following a few difficult seasons as a minor league starter.“We’ve seen, over the last couple of years, his stuff fluctuate to where it was really down, to back up,” Aaron Boone said of the 23-year-old righty. “For the most part, really since the start of spring, his stuff has been good. Hopefully, this role kind of lends itself to that.”Garcia threw the ball well in relief during spring training, recording a 1.93 ERA and 10 stri...

USCG launches search and rescue efforts for downed aircraft near San Clemente Island

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- A search and rescue operation has been launched by U.S. Coast Guard Air Station San Diego after reports of a downed aircraft near San Clemente Island, officials said.In a tweet at 8:51 a.m. Wednesday, USCG Southern California said an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew is searching for three people who were onboard an aircraft that they say went down about one mile southwest of San Clemente Island.This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.

Egyptian TV station announces Gaza cease-fire, but Israeli-Palestinian fighting persists

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:13 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian militants fired hundreds of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Wednesday, while Israel pressed ahead with a series of airstrikes that have killed 21 Palestinians, including three senior militants and at least 10 civilians.As the fighting continued, a state-run Egyptian TV station announced that Egypt had brokered a cease-fire. But shortly after the announcement, more rockets were fired toward Israel, raising questions about if or when a truce would take effect.The rocket fire set off air-raid sirens throughout southern Israel and as far away as Tel Aviv, on the Mediterranean Sea, 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. Residents had been bracing for an attack since Israel launched its first airstrikes early Tuesday.It was the heaviest fighting between the sides in months, pushing the region closer toward a full-blown war. But in signs that both sides were trying to show restraint, Israel avoided attacks on the ruling Hamas militant group, targ...