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EU to get tougher on Kosovo as tensions flare

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

STRASBOURG — Brussels is ratcheting up pressure on Kosovo to de-escalate the situation in the north of the country with a proposal to block the Kosovar prime minister from participating in high-level events and suspend EU financial support for the Balkan country.The fresh pressure on Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti follows a similarly tough line from the United States, as relations between Washington and Pristina hit a new low over frustration over the latest flare-up in the region. Over recent weeks, tensions erupted in the north of Kosovo — which is more than 90 percent ethnic Serbian — following the installation of Albanian mayors in the wake of April mayoral elections that the local Serb majority sat out. In widely condemned actions at the end of May, Serbs attacked NATO and Kosovar forces, as well as journalists.Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have persisted since the brutal Balkan war in the late 1990s, after Kosovo’s bid to break away from Serbia. Kosovo decla...

MPs can brand Boris Johnson a liar. Can they go further?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

LONDON — It’s D-day for Boris Johnson Thursday as the former prime British minister awaits the verdict of a cross-party committee widely expected to accuse him of misleading parliament.But can they do much more than fling harsh words his way?Let POLITICO walk you through the possible next steps in a saga that just keeps getting more arcane.Wait, why are we talking about this guy again?Because the House of Commons privileges committee has been looking into Johnson’s conduct in the wake of the Partygate scandal, which saw the then-Tory leader fined by police for his part in coronavirus rule-breaching gatherings at the heart of government.The scandal helped topple Johnson’s administration — but it’s what he said to parliament about his knowledge of the affair that’s now in question.The committee – which will publish its long-awaited report early Thursday — is casting its verdict on whether Johnson misled parliament with a series of statements to the Common...

Forget ChatGPT: Facial recognition emerges as AI rulebook’s make-or-break issue

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

The battle brewing over artificial intelligence in Brussels is about facial recognition. On Tuesday, the European Parliament’s plenary passed its version of the Artificial Intelligence Act after two years of wrangling. The text — backed by a coalition of Socialists and Democrats, center-right Christian Democrats of the EPP, liberals from Renew, and Greens — passed by a large margin, with 499 lawmakers giving it their final approval, 28 voting against and 93 abstaining. Yet until the very end, one issue threatened to scupper the deal: The Parliament’s text, as presented, would ban facial recognition.The Parliament wants to crack down on the use of facial recognition in public places, an area considered one of artificial intelligence’s riskiest uses.AIs powering facial-recognition cameras (and tools designed to identify individuals relying on other biometric indicators) are dogged by biases, sometimes struggling to tell non-white people apart, for instance. Politici...

Morgue manager at Harvard Medical School, several others charged for selling stolen body parts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

Several people, including the morgue manager at Harvard Medical School, have been accused of selling stolen body parts, law officials say.According to an indictment filed in the United States District Court Middle District of Pennsylvania, at least four people are facing federal charges after authorities say they took part in the sale of stolen body parts to buyers across several states, including Massachusetts.According to court documents, a man who worked as the morgue manager at Harvard Medical School “stole dissected portions of donated cadavers, including, for example, heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains…” and took them to his house in Goffstown, New Hampshire.Investigators say he sold stolen body parts to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, one of whom “agreed to purchase two dissected faces for $600.”This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Quincy superintendent: Student brought unloaded firearm to Central Middle School

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

A 7th grade student in Quincy is facing disciplinary actions after school officials say the child brought an unloaded firearm onto school grounds.In a letter to the school community, the superintendent of Quincy Public Schools said the student brought a firearm to Central Middle School on Tuesday.Superintendent Kevin W. Mulvey said the 7th grader allegedly showed the firearm to several classmates after the school day had ended.“It was reported to Central Middle School Principal Rick DeCristofaro that a Grade 7 student had brought an unloaded handgun to school and showed it to several students outside after school was dismissed,” Mulvey said in the letter. “According to the Quincy Police Department, the gun belonged to the parent and the student was able to access the unsecured firearm and bring it to school.”According to Mulvey, the student’s parents were notified and Quincy police later went to the student’s home to seize the gun. Mulvey said the...

‘Part of my life stopped that day’: Alleged rape victim of New Jersey Lawyer comes forward

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

A woman who has accused a New Jersey man of raping her 16 years ago in Boston says she felt that her freedom had been taken away from her that night, and she wants to face him in court.“It’s been horrible. A big part of my life stopped that day,” Lori Pinkham told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview broadcast Wednesday. “I couldn’t work. I didn’t want to spend time with anybody. Every day, I’ve lived in fear.”Matthew Nilo, 35, a lawyer from Weehawken, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty in a Boston courtroom last week to several charges, including three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape and one count of indecent assault and battery. The charges stem from four attacks that happened in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood from August 2007 through December 2008 — a time that authorities say Nilo lived in the city.A prosecutor said authorities helped tie h...

At least 79 dead after migrant vessel sinks off Greece; hundreds may be missing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and NICHOLAS PAPHITIS (Associated Press)KALAMATA, Greece (AP) — A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank Wednesday off the coast of Greece, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year.Coast guard, navy and merchant vessels and aircraft fanned out for a vast search-and-rescue operation set to continue overnight. It was unclear how many passengers were missing, but some initial reports suggested hundreds of people may have been aboard when the boat went down dozens of miles from shore.Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told state ERT TV that it was impossible to accurately estimate the number of passengers. He said it appeared that the 25- to 30-meter (80- to 100-foot) vessel capsized after people abruptly moved to one side.“The outer deck was full of people, and we presume that the interior (of the vessel) would also have been full,” he said...

How Chicago White Sox starter Lucas Giolito is helping the environment, one pitch at a time

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

The Chicago White Sox saw environmental concerns firsthand last week in New York.The city was under a haze because of smoke carried down from wildfires burning in Canada.“Insane, it was like orange outside,” starter Lucas Giolito told the Tribune on Friday.The team’s scheduled game on Wednesday against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium was postponed because of what Major League Baseball called “clearly hazardous air quality.”“It’s that warning, that reminder that ‘Hey, don’t take this for granted,’” Giolito said. “‘We keep going the way we’re going, we continue to piss Earth off, we’re going to feel the consequences.’ We felt those in New York. I pitched the first night (Tuesday). We could all tell it was tough and the next day we couldn’t even get a game in.“Earth’s trying to remind us, ‘Hey, why don’t we take care a little bit better.’”Giolito is do...

Denver mass shooting after Nuggets’ NBA Finals win likely stemmed from drug deal: police

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

A drug deal was likely at the center of a mass shooting in downtown Denver near where the Nuggets won their first NBA championship hours earlier, according to police.Two people were taken into custody in connection with Tuesday morning’s shooting, including one who was wounded. Nine other people were also wounded, and all are expected to survive, the Denver Police Department said at a news conference.The incident occurred about 12:30 a.m. local time in an area where crowds had gathered to celebrate the Nuggets’ series-clinching win over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.Police say they recovered from the scene a “significant quantity” of what were believed to be fentanyl pills, cash and five handguns.Five or six of the people wounded in the shooting were not believed to be involved with the drug deal, according to authorities. Ten people were hospitalized, including five who remained at the Denver Health Medical Center as of Tuesday afternoon. Four p...

FIFA official Fatma Samoura leaving after 7 years as pioneering woman in soccer

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:51:39 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura is leaving after seven years as the highest profile woman working in world soccer, the governing body said Wednesday.Samoura will stay in the job she has held since 2016 through this year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and leave at the end of the year, FIFA said.The 60-year-old former United Nations official from Senegal was an unexpected hire seven years ago soon after the election of Gianni Infantino as FIFA president.She became the first woman, first Black person, first Muslim and first non-European to be FIFA’s top administrator.“It was the best decision of my life to join FIFA,” Samoura said in a statement. “I am very proud to have led such a diverse team.”However, Infantino’s hands-on style as an executive president has meant Samoura has often struggled to establish a clearly defined public role in the $2 million-a-year job.Samoura’s time in FIFA included helping oversee men’s World Cups played in...