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British state ‘surprisingly bad’ at responding to COVID-19, inquiry hears

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

LONDON — The British government failed to take the coronavirus pandemic as seriously as a terror attack, a top government scientist told the country’s official COVID-19 inquiry Tuesday — even as he declined to take swipes at Boris Johnson.The government’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty — who became a household name in the U.K. during the crisis — avoided singling out individuals for the U.K. government’s mixed record as he faced the inquiry. Instead, he trained his fire on the machinery of the British state.Whitty was the main source of health advice to Johnson, then the prime minister, during the pandemic. He argued that Whitehall failed to become “electrified” in the way it should have done at the start of the pandemic — and that health threats were not taken as seriously as other national security threats would have been.Whitty said he warned Johnson in early February 2020 that the pandemic could lead to more than 100,000 deaths — a grim pre...

Italy-Albania migrant deal distinct from UK-Rwanda scheme, Italy’s FM says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday that the pact his country reached with the government of Albania to set up migrant centers in that country is not comparable with a controversial agreement between the United Kingdom and Rwanda.“The migrants will have exactly the same treatment as foreseen under Italian and European regulations,” Tajani said according to Italian news agency ANSA. “There is no outsourcing of the processing of asylum applications to a third country.”The foreign minister also said that only migrants rescued at sea by the Italian authorities would be taken to the centers in Albania ― not those picked up by NGO ships, or migrants who landed on Italian soil. “It will not be possible to tow the barges of the smugglers, nor will it be possible to direct boats run by nongovernmental organizations, to Albania,” Tajani said.Earlier Tuesday, the Guardian cited Italian authorities in reporting that a two-year-old girl had died and a...

Hostage deal announcement between Israel and Hamas could come as soon as Tuesday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

(CNN) — Israel, Hamas and the US are on the cusp of reaching a deal that could be announced as soon as Tuesday for Hamas to release 50 women and children hostages that the militant group took during the October 7 terror attack on Israel, in exchange for a four-to-five day pause in fighting and three Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons for every hostage released, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.The deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, two Israeli sources said. US officials close to the negotiations stressed that while the deal is not done, they are increasingly optimistic and believe the many weeks of difficult work is about to pay off with a hostage release.“It’s very close,” a senior US official told CNN.Israel’s war cabinet will meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET), followed by the security cabinet at 12 p.m. and the government an hour later, “in light of the developments on the issue of freeing the hostages,” Prime Min...

Hingham Police searching for 14-year-old runaway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

Hingham Police posted to social media Tuesday seeking the public’s assistance in locating a teen runaway.Brody Karis, 14, left his family’s Hingham home in the Black Rock neighborhood Monday night around 11 p.m., according to police. He brought a blue sleeping bag with him, but did not bring a phone.Karis is 5’5″, weighs 120 pounds, and has brown hair with blonde highlights. When he departed his house authorities said he was wearing a yellow sweatshirt, black pants, and black shoes.https://twitter.com/HinghamPolice/status/1727004503550181603Police are actively searching for the teen, using both drones and K9 units.Anyone with information about Karis’ whereabouts is asked to contact the Hingham Police Department at 781-749-1212, option 2.

Bill Belichick helping to fill void in Patriots assistant coach’s absence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

FOXBORO — Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gave a brief update on offensive line coach Adrian Klemm on Tuesday morning, saying the team is still working without him.Klemm has been absent since Week 10 due to a health matter.Offensive line coach Bill O’Brien said the team has been in communication with Klemm and disclosed that Belichick is helping to fill the void on the offensive coaching staff.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Bill Belichick explains why Patriots QB Will Grier took first-team reps in practice New England Patriots | Bill Belichick suggests Patriots won’t name starting quarterback until Sunday New England Patriots | Callahan: Let Malik Cunningham compete for the Patriots’ starting QB job New England Patriots | Practice to determine Patriots’ Week 12 starting quarterback competition? New England Patriots | Patriots OC Bill O’Brien believes Mac Jones...

Inside the Ravens’ quarterback room: How Lamar Jackson has emerged as a more evolved and vocal leader

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

At the Ravens’ sprawling headquarters and practice facility in Owings Mills — 200,000 total square feet, with its indoor field and weight room accounting for about half of it — Lamar Jackson takes a seat at a long table inside one of the first-floor meeting rooms inside “The Castle,” as the massive complex is affectionally known. At the head of the table is first-year quarterbacks coach Tee Martin. Jackson sits to his immediate left, backup Tyler Huntley next to Jackson and No. 3 quarterback Josh Johnson to Martin’s right, while assistant quarterbacks coach Kerry Dixon mans the computer further down the table.While the stadium is where the magic happens for Jackson and the 8-3 Ravens, this is where much of the work takes place for the quarterback.“Lamar’s like any other student,” says Martin, who spent the previous two seasons as Baltimore’s wide receivers coach and 25 years ago was the quarterback for national champion Ten...

How a Stanford professor is organizing the hunt for alien life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

On a cold December night in 1977 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a mysterious hovering object was reported to be flying overhead. Then a luminous hot molten rock fell to earth.What was it? Where did it come from? No one knows.But Stanford University immunologist Garry Nolan suggests one possible theory: It was a discarded part of a UAP, or “unidentified aerial phenomena,” the formal government name for objects previously called UFOs.Undaunted by the risk of professional stigma, the biotech entrepreneur is urging the creation of a “Stardust Repository,” where this and other pieces of mysterious materials of unknown origin would be stored for analysis.At a first-of-its-kind symposium on Friday and Saturday, hosted by Stanford, Nolan unveiled plans to bring scientific rigor to a realm that has long been home to kooks and wackos.“We’re here to professionalize and normalize this,” Nolan told a standing-room-only crowd of physicists, data scientists, tech entrepreneurs and others, representing s...

40% of Americans are afraid to walk alone at night — most in decades, poll says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

By Brendan Rascius, The Charlotte ObserverConcerns about certain crimes are at their highest levels in decades, causing Americans to isolate themselves from their communities, according to new polling.The spike in fear comes as violent crime has decreased nationwide, while property crime has ticked up, according to the FBI.A recent Gallup poll found that 28% of Americans worry frequently or occasionally that they will be murdered, according to a Nov. 16 news release. That’s a near-record high.The Gallup poll surveyed 1,009 adults between Oct. 2 and Oct. 23, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.Meanwhile, half of U.S. adults said they worry their car will be stolen or broken into, 37% worry they’ll be mugged and 32% are concerned about getting attacked while driving — near-record highs.Additionally, the vast majority of Americans, 72%, worry they will fall victim to identity theft, according to the poll.This heightened apprehension has had a detrimental effe...

Over 100K back ballot question on tipped worker wages, advocates say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

Campaigners for a “One Fair Wage” ballot initiative seeking to allow tipped workers a standard minimum wage announced the petition has far exceeded the 75,000 signature threshold required to secure a spot on the November 2024 ballot on Monday.“We’re here today to celebrate that we have officially gathered over 100,000 signatures,” said One Fair Wage Organizing Director Estefania Galvis at a press event Monday evening. “And we are very, very confident it will be on the ballot next year.”The One Fair Wage ballot question, if it goes to the ballot and is passed by voters, would incrementally phase out the state’s minimum $6.75 “service rate” wage by 2029, allowing tipped workers in restaurant and hospitality industries to earn at least the standard minimum wage in addition to tips.The ballot initiative was proposed in the fall and must pass additional measures in order to be put on the 2024 ballot.Proponents at the press confe...

Michael Soroka eager for a new opportunity with the Chicago White Sox after 3 years of injuries: ‘They see my potential’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:21:50 GMT

Michael Soroka had heard rumblings of a potential trade.“I had a good idea about the possibility of me being moved,” he said during a video conference call Monday.The right-hander received a call from Alex Anthopoulos on Thursday evening, and the Atlanta Braves president of baseball operations informed Soroka he was headed to the Chicago White Sox.“Alex laid out what their plans were and giving me an opportunity to get somewhere to pitch,” Soroka said. “I appreciate that, the candid conversation I had with him.“And then the (call) after that with (Sox general manager) Chris Getz, they stressed how excited they were about me and that made me feel awesome. That was a nice little boost of confidence to get somewhere that I think believes in me.”Soroka was dealt to the Sox — along with left-hander Jared Shuster, infielders Nicky Lopez and Braden Shewmake and minor-league right-hander Riley Gowens — in exchange for reliever Aaron Bumm...