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Stick with net zero, Tory voters tell Sunak

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

LONDON — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been under pressure ever since he watered down government rhetoric on net zero targets — from campaigners, industry leaders, and his own warring MPs. Now he faces a challenge on another front: his own voters. Even as the Tories prevaricate on key climate policies, new polling shows that voters planning to support the Conservative Party at the next election overwhelmingly back the government’s target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.Around two thirds of all voters support the 2050 deadline, with support among Conservative voters slightly higher at 73 percent, according to a poll from the research company Focaldata, alongside the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) think tank. The data comes as the government continues to shift its tone on green policies, more than a fortnight after the Conservatives narrowly clung onto their Uxbridge seat in a by-election by campaigning against the expansion of an anti-air pollution sc...

Brazil’s Lula pushes end to deforestation, stumbles on fossil fuels

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

Under pressure from the EU to rein in deforestation or face trade restrictions, Amazon countries must figure out how to bring prosperity to the region without destroying the forest. And that’s proving difficult.At a two-day summit starting Tuesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is looking to corral countries to speed up efforts to stop deforestation and decide on a common strategy to save the rainforest. But it’s likely to be an uphill climb, with countries disagreeing on whether they should commit to a zero deforestation goal and on whether oil and gas drilling should be banned in the region. The summit comes as the EU is rolling out new rules to ban commodities’ imports driving deforestation abroad and is asking countries to police their supply chains against environmental and human rights violations. That’s increasing pressure on the Amazon region — and particularly on Brazil, one of the largest exporters of agri-food products to the EU and home to 60...

Pablo Reyes’ walk-off grand slam propels Red Sox to victory

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

Looking to snap a 4-game losing streak, Red Sox clubhouse manager Tommy McLaughlin decided an extreme makeover was in order.So, it was the Yellow Sox who greeted and defeated the Kansas City Royals 6-2 at Fenway Park on Monday evening.“In case of emergency, wear yellow,” Alex Cora joked pregame.Since debuting their City Connect uniforms in April 2021, the Yellow Sox are 21-4 in their banana-and-blue outfits, which pay homage to the Boston Marathon and Patriots Day. The squad entered Monday with a 9-game winning streak in the unorthodox ensemble, dating back to July 28 of last year.Make that 22-4, thanks to Pablo Reyes.It was a solid night for Brayan Bello, too, though he had to get himself in and out of several jams.“Kind of grinding through it early,” his manager said.For the first time since the All-Star break, he recorded an out in the seventh inning. He walked off the mound with two outs in the seventh, having allowed six hits, two walks, and striking out...

Scooter rider seriously hurt in trolley crash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A 29-year-old man riding a scooter collided into a trolley train in the Logan Heights neighborhood Monday, law enforcement said.The crash occurred around 3:06 p.m. at 3100 Commercial Street, Officer Robert Heims with the San Diego Police Department said in a news release. Authorities say the man was riding a 2016 Vespa scooter eastbound on Commercial Street when for unknown reasons he lost control of the Vespa and hit the back of a trolley traveling westbound on Commercial Street. Suspect killed after allegedly shooting police dog identified The man was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police confirmed. Alcohol was not a factor in the collision.Anyone with information related to the above incident is encouraged to call the listedCommand handling the investigation or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

Volunteers head off plastic waste crisis by removing tons of rubbish from Hungarian river

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

TISZAROFF, Hungary (AP) — Thousands of muddy plastic bottles, chunks of Styrofoam and other waterlogged pieces of rubbish are piled onto a flatbed trailer on the banks of the Tisza River in Hungary — a metric ton of waste that was removed by hand from the waterway and its floodplain in a single day.It’s the haul of volunteers participating in a 10-day competition that draws over 150 people, life-jacketed rivergoers of all ages that pile into dozens of canoes to scour Hungary’s second-largest river for trash that has flowed downstream.Since its start in 2013, participants in the annual Plastic Cup competition — which offers a prize for those who collect the most trash each year — have gathered more than 330 tons (around 727,000 pounds) of waste from the Tisza and other Hungarian waters.Zsolt Tamas, the Plastic Cup’s competition director, says the effort aims not only to improve and preserve Hungary’s natural environment, but to interrupt a growing global ecological crisis by preventi...

Local favourite Raonic outlasts Tiafoe in opener at National Bank Open in Toronto

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

Canada’s Milos Raonic made a triumphant return to his hometown tournament on Monday night, outlasting American Frances Tiafoe in an epic first-round encounter at the National Bank Open.Raonic, from nearby Thornhill, Ont., lost a 20-minute tiebreaker on an unusual finish before rebounding for a 6-7 (12), 7-6 (4), 6-3 win to eliminate the No. 9 seed.This is Raonic’s third tournament appearance since returning to the ATP Tour in June after an injury absence of nearly two years.He last played at Sobeys Stadium in 2018 and the partisan crowd showed him the love at every turn.Tiafoe broke the Canadian in the opening game but Raonic found his form later in the set. He touched 229 km/h with his first serve at times and kept pace with the fleet-footed American.Raonic later broke back to set up a tiebreaker that had several momentum swings. The Canadian had three chances to take the set, but it was Tiafoe who finally converted on his fifth set point.On the deciding point, a Raonic...

Australian police charge 19 men with child sex abuse after FBI tips about dark web sharing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Police have charged 19 men in Australia with child sex abuse offenses and rescued 13 children from further harm following tips from the American FBI of an international online criminal network, officials said Tuesday.Two of the 19 men already were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of almost 15 years in the Australian Capital Territory and five years in New South Wales state, Australian Federal Police Commander Helen Schneider said.“We will allege that these men were members of a technologically sophisticated online child abuse network that was operating across the country,” Schneider told reporters.The 19 had been charged with a total 138 offenses related to peer-to-peer sharing of video and images on the dark web. Most were information technology professionals with a high degree of technical competence, she said.The men, aged 32 to 81, allegedly used software to anonymously share files, chat on message boards and access websites within the network.S...

Flatonia's Boston Targac helps power Team USA to 12U World Cup title

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Most 12-year-old kids play baseball in the summer for their local Little League or competitive travel teams. Flatonia's Boston Targac isn't like most kids his age.Targac spent his summer playing ball on the USA Baseball 12-and-under National Team. The incoming seventh-grader at Flatonia Junior High helped the Stars and Stripes capture a world championship by winning the World Baseball Softball Confederation 12U World Cup tournament held July 28-Aug. 6 in Taiwan.Flatonia's Boston Targac helped the Team USA 12U National Team win a gold medal at the WBSC World Cup in Taiwan. (Photo courtesy of USA Baseball)Flatonia's Boston Targac helped the Team USA 12U National Team win a gold medal at the WBSC World Cup in Taiwan. (Photo courtesy of USA Baseball)Flatonia's Boston Targac helped the Team USA 12U National Team win a gold medal at the WBSC World Cup in Taiwan. (Photo courtesy of USA Baseball)Flatonia's Boston Targac helped the Team USA 12U National Team win a gold medal ...

Concert review: Nickelback’s new songs fail to inspire, but people still love the big, loud, dumb old hits

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

It seems the famously nostalgic 2005 smash “Photograph” has taken on a new meaning for Nickelback, who headlined St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on Monday night.Or, to put it another way, it’s been rough going as of late for the Canadian rockers, who spent the time from 2001 to 2014 selling out arenas and scoring worldwide hits with songs like “How You Remind Me,” “Someday” and “Rockstar” (all three of which joined a stripped-down “Photograph” in Monday’s set list).Things started going south in 2015. The previous year, the group added electronic dance elements to their own brand of hard rock on their eighth album “No Fixed Address.” Fans and radio largely rejected the new songs and midway through the tour, lead singer Chad Kroger was diagnosed with an operable cyst on his voice box, leading to the cancellation of an entire leg of the tour (including a planned stop at Target Center) so Kroger could undergo surgery. His wife, Avril Lavigne, also announced the couple...

Consumer debt climbs as American credit card balances surpass $1 trillion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:22 GMT

Consumer debt grew $17.9 billion from May to June as a credit crunch brought on by Federal Reserve rate hikes drove a sharp gain in the amount of outstanding credit for payments like mortgages and car loans.The numbers, which are not adjusted for inflation, come in well ahead of expectations at $13 billion and nearly double the increase from the previous month at $9.4 billion.Debt levels on lump-sum purchases like houses and student loans increased $18.4 billion, offset by a 0.6 percent decrease in the amount of “revolving” credit, which includes things like credit cards and lines of credit.‘It’s just gonna get paid when it gets paid’: Balance-carrying cardholders crunched by Fed rate hikesThe dip in revolving credit is catching the eye of economists.“This is surprising and inconsistent with other data we have on consumer spending in the month," economist Dean Baker with the Center for Economic and Policy Research told The Hill.  "These data are erratic and often subject to substant...