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Is Kemi Badenoch still the future? UK Tories aren’t so sure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

LONDON — It’s been quite a year for Kemi Badenoch, propelled from little-known minister to Tory leadership hopeful, to Cabinet big-hitter and beyond.The U.K. business and trade secretary used last July’s Conservative Party leadership contest to launch herself from relative obscurity to political stardom, and 12 months later finds herself firmly seated within the top tier of Rishi Sunak’s ministers.For many, Badenoch is now the next great hope for British conservatism, her right-wing sensibilities, dry sense of humor and natural charisma making her one of the most compelling members of Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet, for Tory membership and media alike. At 43, she is the bookmakers’ favorite to be the next Tory leader if and when Sunak steps down — a scenario that could well play out next year if he leads his party, as many expect, to general election defeat.In the meantime, Badenoch has secured several big wins at the expanded Department for Business and Trade d...

How Macron ousted an American — and damaged an EU bigwig in the process

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

The appointment of EU bureaucrats is usually a tame affair. Then the EU tried to make an American one of its most powerful economists. In a matter of mere days, the selection of U.S. antitrust expert Fiona Scott Morton as the EU’s top competition economist has snowballed into a major geopolitical faux-pas that saw France launch a rearguard action against the EU and challenged the stature of one of Brussels’ highest-profile figures, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.   On Wednesday, France won. After a week of campaigning, including a blistering public rebuke from President Emmanuel Macron, Scott Morton preemptively resigned. The climbdown marks a victory for Paris — and a steely reminder of the formidable power France wields within the EU. It also represents a potentially damaging setback for Vestager. Her ill-fated move to install Scott Morton comes as she is trying to win political support to become head of the European Investment Bank,...

Boston police release photos of car possibly connected to deadly hit-and-run in Hyde Park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

Boston police released photos and video Wednesday night of a car possibly connected to a hit-and-run crash that killed a four-year-old boy in Hyde Park on Tuesday. The car, police said, is described as a dark gray subcompact hatchback. It was last seen driving on Wood Avenue in the direction of Cummings Highway.Police have asked anyone with information to contact them as investigators continue efforts to track down a driver who they say left the scene of the deadly crash. Family members identified the child who was killed as Ivan Pierre. On Wednesday afternoon, Pierre’s uncle wiped away tears while speaking about his nephew. “We’ve pretty much seen it all, accidents happening here and drive-by shootings and now one of our own was taken from us,” Heroldy Limage said. Limage said the crash happened as the family gathered to see the boy’s mother’s new car around 9:30 p.m. Limage said the boy’s mother had just got home and family members were gather...

Orioles rally past Dodgers, 8-5, to avoid sweep and pull into tie for AL East lead: ‘This team just has so much fight’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

When Dean Kremer jogged out to the Camden Yards mound Wednesday, he did so a day past the five-year anniversary of when the team he was about to face traded him to the Orioles. The 27-year-old right-hander is the only player left of the five Baltimore acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers when they traded star infielder Manny Machado five years ago Tuesday. For the Dodgers, the trade was one of many they have made as the cost of continually pushing for World Series titles.It took half a decade, but the Orioles are now at the level to challenge for them, too, with their trade of Machado beginning a painful rebuild that’s finally paying off.With Wednesday’s 8-5 victory to close their series with Los Angeles, the Orioles have gone 70 straight multi-game series without being swept, the eighth-longest streak in major league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. With the Texas Rangers’ 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, completing a three-game sweep, Baltimore wil...

Maryland treasurer puts pressure on Orioles lease negotiations: ‘There’s something that we’re not being told’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

As the Orioles march toward the end of their current lease at state-owned Camden Yards — but with promises to soon agree to a long-term one — Maryland’s treasurer is concerned there’s a holdup in negotiations and said the public is being kept in the dark.Treasurer Dereck Davis said Wednesday the drawn-out negotiation, in which he is not directly involved, between the Maryland Stadium Authority and the team makes him believe “there’s something that we’re not being told.”“It’s time to start putting timelines out there so we can get this damn thing done,” Davis said. “They owe it to the state, the taxpayers, and this foot-dragging has got to stop.”The Orioles (58-37) are in the midst of a breakout season and have the best winning percentage in the American League, but remain without an agreement formally tethering them to Oriole Park at Camden Yards beyond Dec. 31. The club has operated under the same lease s...

Powerball: Here are the winning numbers for the $1 billion jackpot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Grab your tickets — the winning numbers for the $1 billion Powerball jackpot have been drawn. Should your ticket match the winning numbers below, which were drawn Wednesday, you'll be the winner of the third-largest Powerball jackpot in history. The winning numbers drawn Wednesday, July 19 were: 7, 10, 11, 13, and 24, and red Powerball 24. The Power Play multiplier was 2X. These are the best, worst states to win the lottery in Ahead of the drawing, Powerball officials estimated the jackpot at $1 billion with a cash value of $516.8 million. The jackpot grew slightly to $1.08 billion, officials said during the drawing. At that mark, the jackpot remains the third-largest in Powerball history, but climbs to the sixth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.$2.04 billion (Powerball): Nov. 7, 2022; California$1.586 billion (Powerball): Jan. 13, 2016; California, Florida, Tennessee$1.537 billion (Mega Millions): Oct. 23, 2018; South Carolina$1.348 billion (Mega Millions): Jan. ...

New York City agrees to pay $13 million to 2020 racial injustice protesters in historic class action

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City has agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought on behalf of roughly 1,300 people who were arrested or beaten by police during racial injustice demonstrations that swept through the city during the summer of 2020.If approved by a judge, the settlement, which was filed in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, would be among the most expensive pay-outs ever awarded in a lawsuit over mass arrests, experts said.The lawsuit focused on 18 of the many protests that erupted in New York City in the week following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. With certain exceptions, people arrested or subjected to force by NYPD officers at those events will each be eligible for $9,950 in compensation, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs.The agreement, one of several stemming from the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, allows the city to avoid a trial that could be both expensive and politically fraught. It com...

Protesters storm Swedish Embassy in Baghdad amid continuing anger over Quran burning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Protesters angered by the burning of a copy of the Quran stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad early Thursday, breaking into the compound and lighting a small fire. Online videos showed demonstrators at the diplomatic post waving flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr. The videos showed dozens of men climbing over the fence at the complex, with the sound of them trying to break down a front door. Another showed what appeared to be a small fire being set. Other footage showed men, some shirtless in the summer heat, inside what appeared to be a room at the embassy, an alarm audible in the background.Others later performed predawn prayers outside of the embassy. As dawn broke, police and other security officials gathered at the still-smoldering embassy. Firefighters tried to douse the flames from the ladder of a fire truck. Some demonstrators still stood at the site, holding placards showing al-Sadr’s face,...

Dingo pack leader killed after attacking a jogger on a popular Australian tourist island

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Wildlife authorities have killed the leader of a pack of dingoes that mauled a jogger on a popular Australian tourist island in a ferocious attack that a rescuer said could have been fatal.Sarah Peet, 23, was attacked by three or four Australian native dogs on Monday as she jogged along a beach at Queensland state’s K’gari, the world’s largest sand island formerly known as Fraser Island.The Brisbane resident was flown by helicopter to a mainland hospital in a stable condition. The health department refused to provide an update on her condition Thursday, citing patient confidentiality.Wildlife rangers captured and humanely euthanized the leader of the pack on Wednesday, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service said.“Euthanizing a high-risk dingo is always a last resort and the tough decision by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service was supported by the island’s traditional owners, the Butchulla people,” a service statement said.The dingo was the second...

South Side residents organize to protest property management memo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:04:18 GMT

CHICAGO — Dozens of residents who live in Beverly and surrounding neighborhoods gathered to call out the property management company that purchased their apartment buildings Wednesday, claiming they are pushing them out of their homes.Back in May, residents of six apartment buildings in Beverly began receiving notices that their properties had been sold to Levav Properties — and shortly thereafter — they said they began to receive non-renewal notices.The 120-plus residents of the property are predominantly Black, as well as being senior citizens and people with disabilities who said they have lived in their apartments for years."We will not let them break the solidarity of O'Shea Neighbors United," said Arieh Venick, a community organizer with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization. "It's time to negotiate."Residents are demanding a conversation at the table with Levav Properties management, in which they said they want help with relocation assistance and additional time beyond the 6...