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First attempt to kill EU nature law fails in Parliament vote

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

The conservative European People’s Party on Wednesday failed to get a majority of lawmakers in the European Parliament to reject new EU rules aimed at restoring the bloc’s degraded ecosystems.An amendment submitted by the EPP calling to reject the draft Nature Restoration Regulation outright and send the European Commission back to the drawing board failed to pass in a plenary vote. It was voted down with 324 votes against, 312 in favor and 12 abstentions.The Commission’s proposed legislation, a highly contentious part of the Green Deal, aims to restore at least 20 percent of degraded ecosystems by 2030. European lawmakers will now proceed to voting on amendments to the Commission’s proposal. A final vote on the entire proposal will determine whether the Parliament supports the legislation or not. If a majority of MEPs votes to back the proposal, the Parliament can start inter-institutional negotiations with EU countries to find a compromise under the Spanish presi...

Bringing The Heat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

How about that day yesterday? Mid to upper 80s, humidity in check and a lot of sunshine winning out. Wish we could have more of those days this summer! Today, while we step up the temps another notch, we’ll also notch in another beach/pool day across the region. Temps are set to soar into the upper 80s to lower 90s as more hazy sunshine wins out. While there is the risk of a late-day storm northwest, near and outside 495, much of the day is rain-free. Will Boston hit 90 today for the first time this year? Whew… it’ll be close. The west wind isn’t overly strong, so it’s possible a sea breeze caps temps in the upper 80s at Logan Airport, where the official city temps in taken. With that said, Downtown Boston, Back Bay, Fenway, and other areas of the city that’s not on the water’s edge will likely push into the lower 90s. Low 90s will be common across much of eastern Mass. Even Cape Cod runs mid to upper 80s this afternoon. Tomorrow, temps wil...

Sumner Tunnel closure impacting travelers making their way to and from Logan Airport

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

As the Sumner Tunnel closure continues into its second week, traffic impacts continue to be felt across the city, especially at Logan Airport, where travelers arriving in Boston are finding themselves waiting in traffic and those looking to catch flights are having a harder time getting to the airport.Government officials are calling this week the real test for their mitigation attempts as traffic in and out of the city returns to normal levels after a vacation week. Over the last few days, traffic in and around the airport has been one of the pain points for drivers.Officials also say work is progressing well inside the tunnel, which is scheduled to remain closed through the end of August.Stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates related to the Sumner Tunnel closure.

Driver convicted in racially motivated road rage attack in Belmont to be sentenced

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

A Hudson man convicted in a deadly road rage incident in 2021 that was motivated by race is set to be sentenced Wednesday.Dean Kapsalis had been in a verbal altercation with 35-year-old Henry Tapia in January of 2021 before he hurled a racial slur at him, got into his Dodge Dakota pickup truck, and ran Tapia over, dragging him a short distance before fleeing the scene. Tapia, a father of three, later died at Mass. General Hospital in Boston.Kapsali’s second-degree murder charge carries a mandatory life sentence.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

South Boston beach remains closed after $31.2M renovation; residents boil

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

Southie residents are steaming over the $31.2 million renovation of the Curley Center.As temperatures soar, residents can’t cool off behind the new digs at the L Street Beach, as its called.It looks like the beach will stay closed for at least the next week, if not longer, as the city’s Conservation Commission still needs to approve a beach operation and management plan that the state has already signed off on.The commission is scheduled to meet July 19, and City Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy says officials have not responded to a request for an emergency hearing to expedite the opening.If the commission held a meeting earlier than next Wednesday, the beach could reopen shortly after, Murphy told the Herald on Tuesday. But a city spokesperson refuted that claim, saying the threatened piping plover bird species continues to stand in the way of access.Murphy requested the emergency meeting in a letter last week to Conservation Commission Executive Director Elena Itämeri. The co...

Howie Carr: Lucky 28 towns get migrants … guess who doesn’t?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

The Healey administration has released a list of the 28 cities and towns where it is spending millions on hotels and motels for thousands of handout-demanding illegals arriving from the Third World.Oddly, however, almost all the ultra-affluent suburban communities most loudly committed to celebrating diversity have thus far been unable to provide suitable free housing for the new non-working classes.The illegals are not being sent to, among other millionaire destinations, Cambridge, Brookline, Newton, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Chatham, Swampscott, Newburyport, Wellesley, Dover, Sherborn, Amherst….Do you begin to get the picture?These melanin-impaired preserves of the Beautiful People all have Hate Has No Home Here signs festooned on every lawn.  Yet oddly they somehow remain unaffected by the Democrats’ ongoing “fundamental transformation” of America into a Third World flophouse.To sum it up, the self-proclaimed sanctuary cities and towns are no-shows when it comes to providing ...

OBF: Just when you thought the Sox were out of it, they pull you back in

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

LAS VEGAS – It was 110 here Tuesday But it’s a dry heat. In much the same way a blizzardoften buries everything with light and fluffy snow covering a sheet of ice. Or in the way the furyof those nuclear weapons once detonated north of the city only sent mild doses of radiationtoward The Strip.Las Vegas continues to evolve. New and colorful ways to take your money are everywhere.Lights and mayhem mask the losses while aggravating your hangover. The decibel never dropsbelow “What Did You Just Say?” They need to mask the sound of all that digital cash beingvacuumed up by casinos, hotels, sports books, and other forms of entertainment.The lights are darkest at the dawn. Morning is the ugliest time of the day here. Those who workbehind the scenes are either coming home from or heading into another day of work at thetables, in the kitchen, at the desk, behind the counter, or cleaning up the mess left from thenight before.Sunshine remains the ultimate disinfectant. It cannot, sadly, do muc...

Ripples of Fukushima: Hong Kong to ban more Japanese products if radioactive water is released

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong would immediately ban the import of aquatic products from Fukushima and other Japanese prefectures if Tokyo discharges treated radioactive wastewater into the sea, a top official in the city said Wednesday. Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said although the wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant would be treated before discharging into the Pacific Ocean, any errors in the process would significantly affect ecology and food safety. The concern stems from Japan’s U.N.-endorsed, but controversial, plan to gradually release the treated water. “Our assessment shows prefectures near Fukushima have higher risks, so we are now taking a responsible way for our residents,” he told reporters at a briefing. The 10 affected territories are Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, he added. A massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s cool...

Raging conflict in Sudan displaces over 3.1 million people, UN says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A raging conflict in Sudan has driven more than 3.1 million people from their homes, including over 700,000 who fled to neighboring countries, the United Nations said Wednesday, amid growing concerns that the country is sliding into a “full-scale civil war.”Sudan has plunged into chaos since mid-April when monthslong tensions between the military and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the northeastern African nation.The conflict derailed Sudanese hopes of restoring the country’s fragile transition to democracy, which had begun after a popular uprising forced the military’s removal of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. A coup, led by the military and RSF, disrupted the democratic transition in October 2021.More than 2.4 million people have fled their homes to safer areas inside the country, according to the International Organization for Migration. Around 738,000 others...

EU fines US firm Illumina $475 million for jumping gun on buying cancer-screening company Grail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:14 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday slapped a $475 million fine on U.S. biotech giant Illumina for buying out cancer-screening company Grail without the approval of the 27-nation bloc’s antitrust watchdog, the latest setback for the deal.Illumina announced an $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail in 2020, but the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said the company broke the bloc’s merger rules by completing the deal without its consent. The EU had announced last year that it was blocking the merger, saying it would hurt competitors.“If companies merge before our clearance, they breach our rules. Illumina and Grail knowingly and deliberately did so by implementing their tie-up as we were still investigating,” said EU antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. “This is a very serious infringement.”Regulators worldwide have taken aim at the deal. The Federal Trade Commission ordered Illumina to reverse the buyout after finding it would “stifle compet...