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WHO: Sudan fighters’ occupation of health lab poses ‘huge biological risk’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is a “huge biological risk” after fighters in Sudan seized the country’s national public laboratory holding samples of diseases including polio and measles.“There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab,” said Nima Saeed Abid, the WHO’s representative in Sudan on Tuesday, talking to reporters in Geneva via video link.Fighters “kicked out all the technicians from the lab … which is completely under the control of one of the fighting parties as a military base,” Abid said, adding that this created an “extremely, extremely dangerous” situation.A power struggle between Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemeti,” has plunged Sudan into fierce fighting. The WHO representative did not specify which side’s fighters have seized the laboratory.U.S. Secretary of State Anton...

UK wants to cut ‘unnecessary waits’ for post-Brexit Brits abroad

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

LONDON — The U.K. is “always” trying to “find ways to minimize unnecessary waiting times for British nationals,” Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson said Tuesday, following a report the prime minister is seeking a deal with the EU to cut post-Brexit passport checks.Bloomberg reported that Sunak, who has sought to repair ties with the European Union after years of post-Brexit acrimony under his predecessor, is eyeing an agreement with the bloc that would allow British citizens to sail through the EU’s electronic gates for passport checks.Since Brexit, most British travelers making their way through the bloc’s airports have been expected to queue for a manned desk, where passports are checked and then stamped.Bloomberg said British diplomats had raised the matter informally. Pressed on that report Tuesday, a spokesperson for Sunak said they were not aware of any “live discussions to that end,” but that the U.K. would “always want to f...

Harry Belafonte, radical activist and entertainer with a ‘rebel heart,’ dies at 96

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

(CNN) — Harry Belafonte, the dashing singer, actor and activist who became an indispensable supporter of the civil rights movement, has died, his publicist Ken Sunshine told CNN.He was 96.Belafonte died Tuesday morning of congestive heart failure, Sunshine said.

Police investigating stabbing in Fall River

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

Police are investigating a stabbing at a home in Fall River Monday night. Officers responded to an address on Home Street around 10:30 p.m. for a report of a fight in progress. Upon arrival, there was no active disturbance outside, but police assistance was requested by the occupant of a second floor apartment. One inside, they found a lone stabbing victim in a bedroom. The victim was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital with non life-threatening injuries, according to police. He has since been released from the hospital. During the investigation, police say they encountered a woman outside the residence. Due to her level of intoxication, a medical rescue was requested to take her to a local hospital. While being assisted by first responders, the woman allegedly assaulted a paramedic and bit a female officer. The woman, later identified as Irianis Suarez-Rivera, was taken to a local hospital for a medical evaluation. She was later placed under arrested and charged with disturbing th...

Wall Street Journal: Bud Light owner places two execs on leave after transgender influencer backlash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

(CNN) — Anheuser-Busch has placed two executives who managed Bud Light’s sponsorship of two Instagram posts from a transgender woman on leave, according to the Wall Street Journal and other media reports.Ad Age was the first to report that Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, was placed on leave. Todd Allen, most recently Budweiser’s vice president of global marketing, is set to replace her. Daniel Blake, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president who oversees market for mainstream brands, was also put on leave, according to the Wall Street Journal.Anheuser-Busch did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.The executive shakeup comes after Bud Light saw both support from trans activists and backlash from conservative media for its collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who has 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 10.8 million on TikTok. The beer maker sponsored two Instagram posts by M...

Four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers headed from Green Bay Packers to New York Jets in trade for draft picks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

(CNN) — The Green Bay Packers and New York Jets have agreed to trade longtime Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the Big Apple, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told reporters Monday.Gutekunst said the trade has not yet been finalized as the two sides work out the details, but he expects the trade to be completed soon.The long-awaited trade will reportedly see the four-time NFL Most Valuable Player sent to the Jets along with the Packers’ 15th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, according to reports from ESPN and NFL Network.The Packers will receive the Jets’ 13th overall pick in this month’s draft, as well as one of the Jets’ second-round picks and their 2024 first-round draft pick if Rodgers plays at least 65% of the Jets’ offensive plays this season, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.Rodgers, 39, has spent his entire 18-season NFL career with the Packers, where he led the team to a 31-25 victory in Super Bowl...

Sweden expels 5 Russian Embassy staff on suspicion of spying

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden on Tuesday informed Russia that five employees with the Russian Embassy in Stockholm have been asked to leave the country, saying they are suspected of spying.Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said their activities are “incompatible” with their diplomatic status.In a statement, Billström said Russia’s Ambassador to Sweden, Viktor Tatarintsev, had been informed of the decision earlier Tuesday. A year ago, Sweden expelled three Russian Embassy staff as several countries kicked out Russian diplomats.Sweden’s SAPO domestic security agency has said that “every third Russian diplomat in Sweden is an intelligence officer.” It is not known how many diplomats from Russia are officially assigned to Sweden.Billström’s announcement came after public broadcasters in the Nordic countries reported in a joint investigation that Russia is suspected of spying in the waters of the Baltic Sea and North Sea using civi...

Buses to replace Red Line’s Braintree branch for 16 nights in May

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

A batch of weekend and nighttime closures will hit segments of the Red Line in May to give MBTA crews more time to perform maintenance and repairs aimed at lifting speed restrictions, the T announced Monday.MBTA officials rolled out a schedule of shutdowns and diversions for next month impacting all four major subway lines and several commuter rail lines. Much of the work planned for the Red Line is related to slow zones, which today cover about 26% of the entire line that stretches from Cambridge to Braintree and Mattapan.Subway service on the Red Line will go offline between JFK/UMass and Braintree stations around 8:45 p.m. each night for 16 nights next month: May 8-12, May 15-19, May 22-25 and May 30-31. Shuttle buses will replace trains during those spans.The MBTA said the series of evening closures will “allow MBTA crews to perform critical rail and tie replacement work on the Braintree Branch that will alleviate speed restrictions.”Shuttle buses will replace Red Li...

GM boosts outlook as sales in US fuel strong first quarter

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

By TOM KRISHER (AP Auto Writer)DETROIT (AP) — Strong sales in the U.S. helped General Motors increase its first-quarter net profit 19% over a year ago, leading the company to raise its full-year profit guidance based on expectations demand for its vehicles will remain robust.The Detroit automaker made $2.37 billion from January through March, up from $1.99 billion in the previous year. Excluding a $900 million charge to pay severance packages to about 5,000 white-collar workers who took buyouts during the quarter, GM made $2.21 per share, soundly beating analyst estimates of $1.72, according to FactSet.Revenue for the quarter came in just shy of $40 billion, up 11% from a year ago and beating projections for $38.55 billion. The company, after the strong start to the year, raised its pretax profit guidance for 2023 to a range of $11 billion to $13 billion. Previously it was $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion.CEO Mary Barra also announced that GM will stop building the electric Chev...

Stock markets today: Wall Street lower; First Republic drops

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are slipping in early trading on Wall Street after a torrent of companies gave mixed earnings reports for the first three months of the year. The S&P 500 was 0.4% lower in the early going Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.4%. First Republic Bank tumbled 27%, the sharpest loss in the S&P 500, after it said customers withdrew more than $100 billion during the first quarter. That doesn’t include the $30 billion big banks plugged in after the second- and third-largest U.S. bank failures in history.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street futures followed global markets lower Tuesday amid a bevy of U.S. earnings reports and an update on economic growth.Futures for the Dow slipped 0.2% and the S&P fell 0.4%.Dozens of the nation’s biggest companies, including Microsoft and Amazon, are due to report earnings this week. McDonald’s rose before the bel l ...