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German opposition party launches legal challenge to reform meant to shrink parliament

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A German opposition party on Wednesday launched a legal challenge against an electoral reform designed to reduce the size of the country’s increasingly bloated parliament.The Barvarian center-right Christian Social Union is one of two opposition parties that have been vehemently critical of the legislation, which lawmakers approved in March, and see their future place in parliament at risk. They accuse Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition of cobbling together constitutionally dubious rules to favor itself.The party’s general secretary, Martin Huber, said it has filed a complaint to Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court against the “undemocratic, anti-federalist, manipulative and unconstitutional” legislation.Parties across the political spectrum agree that parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, has too many members, but they have disagreed for years on what to do about it. The chamber currently has a record 736 members and the ...

Activists say Benito the giraffe isn’t living his best life in small Mexican zoo, want him moved

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Benito the giraffe arrived in Mexico’s arid northern border city of Ciudad Juarez just last month, and already the climate appears to be a problem — and he’s only had to deal with the scorching heat of summer.The snow and freezing temperatures of winter are still to come, and animal activists are up in arms and pushing a campaign under the hashtag “Save Benito” seeking to have the animal moved somewhere more hospitable.On a recent day, the 3-year-old male giraffe could be seen crouching with only its head under a small, circular canopy for shade. The structure did little to protect him from a pelting rain and a hail storm later. There is also a small shed for winter, but activists say it is cruel for the city-run Central Park to keep the giraffe in a small fenced enclosure, by himself, with only about a half acre to wander and few trees to nibble, in a climate he’s not used to.“We have been fighting for a month, a group of animal activists, to demand that he...

Casket of Italian ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi is brought to cathedral for his funeral

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi was honored Wednesday with a state funeral in Milan’s Duomo cathedral and a day of national mourning, as his legacy — positive or negative — was being hotly debated among Italians.Thousands of people outside the Duomo and within erupted in applause as a sign of respect as Berlusconi’s flower-draped casket was hoisted out of the hearse and into the cathedral. His children and companion teared up as the casket was placed in front of the altar.Most Italians identify Berlusconi, a media mogul, soccer entrepreneur and three-time former premier, as the most influential figure in Italy over recent decades. But they remain sharply divided on whether his influence was for the better or worse, extending to whether the three-time former premier merits all the fuss and ceremony.Berlusconi died at the age of 86 on Monday in a Milan hospital where he was being treated for chronic leukemia. His family held a private wake Tuesday at one of Berlusconi’s ...

Google should break up digital ad business over competition concerns, European regulators say

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union regulators hit Google with fresh antitrust charges Wednesday, saying the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its lucrative digital ad business is by selling off parts of the tech giant’s main moneymaker.The unprecedented decision to push for such a breakup marks a significant escalation by Brussels in its crackdown on Silicon Valley digital giants.The European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, said its preliminary view after an investigation is that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services” would satisfy the concerns. The 27-nation EU has led the global movement to crack down on Big Tech companies — including groundbreaking rules on artificial intelligence — but it has previously relied on issuing blockbuster fines, including three antitrust penalties for Google worth billions of euros (dollars). It’s the first time the bloc has told a tech giant that it should split...

Missing man last seen at Salt Shed concert; Police seek public's help

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago police are asking for the public's help in locating a man missing from the city's North Side.26-year-old Noah Enos was last seen Monday at a concert at the Salt Shed. His friends say his phone died around 9:45 p.m. and has not been seen or heard from since. He is described as a white male, 5 feet 11 inches tall and 140 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair. His friends say he was last wearing a flatbill green hat with an eye on the front, a charcoal Polo windbreaker jacket, jeans and tan Vans. Up Next: Family searches for answers after Chicago woman goes missing in Japan Anyone with any information is asked to contact police at 312-746-6554.

Google should break up digital ad business, European regulators say

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union regulators hit Google with fresh antitrust charges Wednesday, saying the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its lucrative digital ad business is by selling off parts of the tech giant's main moneymaker.The unprecedented decision to push for such a breakup marks a significant escalation by Brussels in its crackdown on Silicon Valley digital giants.The European Commission, the bloc's executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, said its preliminary view after an investigation is that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services” would satisfy the concerns.The 27-nation EU has led the global movement to crack down on Big Tech companies — including groundbreaking rules on artificial intelligence — but it has previously relied on issuing blockbuster fines, including three antitrust penalties for Google worth billions of euros (dollars). Five takeaways from Trump’s arraignment It's the first time the bloc has told a te...

Travelers on TikTok swear by viral 'packing hack' for avoiding carry-on fees

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Instead of playing it close to the vest, a number of TikTok users are sharing their latest secret for avoiding airline baggage fees.The “packing hack,” as demonstrated by multiple travelers, involves taking all of the items you might keep in a carry-on bag — e.g., toiletries, electronics, a change of clothes — and instead stuffing them into the pockets of a fishing vest, which can then be worn on the plane. Marlon Wayans blasts United Airlines after issue with bag gets him barred from flight Chelsea Dickenson, the travel vlogger behind Cheap Holiday Expert, was one of the earliest to tout the hack on TikTok back in January.“I'm sure others have had the same thought path in the past — no idea is truly original and all that — but after going viral … I've seen lots of people in fishing vests both online and in person and it always makes me smile to see it,” Dickenson told Nexstar.In her viral TikTok clip, Dickenson demonstrated how she packed her fishing vest’s pockets wi...

Road rage brawl in Los Angeles caught on camera

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- Cellphone video captured the moment fists started flying in an apparent road rage incident along a busy thoroughfare in the Granada Hills section of Los Angeles on Tuesday.  Alessandra Forte and her daughters were in their car when they came to an intersection at around 3:30 p.m. Video footage shows a white Dodge pickup truck along with a motorcycle lying in the road and blocking the middle lanes, but it was the fight between the drivers that halted traffic.  Cellphone video captured a road rage brawl on June 13, 2023, near the intersection of Chatsworth Street and Genesta Avenue in Granada Hills. (Gabriella Attanasio)Cellphone video captured a road rage brawl on June 13, 2023, near the intersection of Chatsworth Street and Genesta Avenue in Granada Hills. (Gabriella Attanasio)Cellphone video captured a road rage brawl on June 13, 2023, near the intersection of Chatsworth Street and Genesta Avenue in Granada Hills. (Gabriella Attanasio)“I was like, ‘Oh my ...

What is the 15-minute city?

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

(The Hill) -- The 15-minute city is either an urban-planning epiphany or a totalitarian nightmare, depending on whom you ask. The concept, credited to a Sorbonne University professor, promotes self-contained communities where residents live, work, shop and play within a radius of 15-minute travel by foot or bicycle. A new iteration of old demographic ideas drew attention in 2020 as a pillar in the campaign platform of Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris.  Not until this year, though, did the 15-minute city reap its 15 minutes of global fame. In early 2023, the concept became swept up in a swirl of conspiracy theories. Social media posts warned of citizens being imprisoned in their neighborhoods and separated from their cars, a distinctly un-American prospect. The societal conversation about 15-minute cities “emerged as part of the COVID experience,” said Lisa Benton-Short, a professor of geography at George Washington University.  During the pandemic lockd...

'Golden' fossils reveal new secrets; provide clues to Jurassic extinction event

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:48:27 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Fossils that have been making "fools" out of scientists for decades are getting a new look. Researchers with the University of Texas' Jackson School of Geosciences published a paper in Earth Science Reviews showing that fossils commonly thought to be coated in pyrite, also known as 'Fool's Gold," had been deceiving scientists for decades."There's a lot of work being done in paleontology that relies on assuming that we're seeing everything. And we're very rarely seeing everything," said Rowan Martindale, Ph.D., an associate professor with the Jackson School. She oversaw the team that did the research.The study, led by Drew Muscente, a former Jackson School postdoctoral researcher, examined fossils found in Germany."These iconic fossils, so many of them have this beautiful, sort of golden sheen," Martindale said.Fool's Gold and FossilsThe fossils are of creatures from the early Jurassic period, about 165 million years ago."It's the time where organisms were dying, goin...