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UK Labour reshuffle underway as Keir Starmer shakes up top team

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

LONDON — U.K. Labour leader Keir Starmer has launched a reshuffle of his top team as parliament returns from recess.The move by the opposition boss, whose party is ahead of the governing Conservatives in the polls with an expected 2024 general election looming, comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reshuffled his Cabinet last week.First to step down in the reshuffle is shadow secretary of state for environment, food, and rural affairs Jim McMahon.In Starmer’s letter accepting McMahon’s resignation, Starmer said he understands the former frontbencher has faced a “number of personal challenges” in addition to his work on the environment brief.The leader of the opposition has not yet announced who will replace McMahon. The Labour reshuffle is being closely watched to see whether Starmer moves Angela Rayner, his directly elected deputy who currently shadows the Cabinet Office and work briefs. “It’s all about Angela,” a party official told POLITICO London Playbook. “They have to find a ...

Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug launches in UK

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

Novo Nordisk’s hotly anticipated weight loss drug has arrived in the U.K. with limited stocks soon to be offered to those most in need.The Wegovy injection, which contains the drug semaglutide, will be available to people with obesity and at least one other disease who attend specialist National Health Service weight management services. Some supplies will also be available to buy privately, the Danish firm said in a statement.The drug is only available alongside a plan of diet and exercise in a “controlled and limited launch,” the company said.Novo Nordisk’s weekly injection has been in high demand since trial data showed people who took the drug lost some 15 percent of their body weight compared with those given a placebo. Social media influencers jumped on the drug, and subsequent studies showing additional heart health benefits have added to its wonder drug reputation.To date, Novo Nordisk has launched Wegovy in the U.S., Denmark, Norway and Germany. However, in the U.S. supplie...

Police investigation underway outside night club in Mattapan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

Boston police launched an investigation late Sunday night after an incident outside a night club in Mattapan.Officers could be seen laying evidence markers in a taped off section of River Street near the entrance to Macumba.No additional information was immediately available. This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

MTA continues upping legislative role, with coming anti-MCAS ballot question campaign

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

On the cusp of potentially beginning an initiative petition process to end the MCAS graduation requirement, the MTA is not the organization it once was — the increasingly larger, stronger union is transitioning into an ever-more active legislative agent.“Our evolution more recently, in the last decade, the MTA has become a central actor in helping advance policies for public schools and colleges as well,” said MTA President Max Page. “Doing that by fighting for educators’ voice at work, their working conditions, as well as fighting for the broader common good to support our students and their families.”In the last few years, Page pointed out, the union has been active in the successful fights for the Fair Share Amendment, Massachusetts millionaire’s tax passed by ballot measure in 2022; the Student Opportunity Act, an influx of education funding passed through the Legislature in 2019; and a state bill expanding paid family medical leave and ...

Orioles reset: With playoffs looming, Baltimore believes it’s learned from last year’s near miss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

The Orioles might be young, but they’re not new to this.Sure, this group has never been this good. But many of the players in Baltimore’s clubhouse went through a pressurized stretch run last year.The 2022 Orioles entered September two games back of a wild-card spot, but the magic the club found in the summer waned as it missed the postseason by three games. Anthony Santander, one of the veterans who braved the rebuild, believes knowing what it feels like to compete for a playoff spot — and to fall short of one — will help down the stretch as the Orioles look to win their first American League East title since 2014.“I think last year’s experience really helped us,” Santander said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “We’ve been through a stretch here where we’ve been in first place for a while. I think the important thing is to just take it day by day, continuing to work hard each and every day with that preparation. ...

UN nuclear watchdog report seen by AP says Iran slows its enrichment of near-weapons-grade uranium

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

VIENNA (AP) — Iran has slowed its enrichment of uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels, a report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog seen by The Associated Press said Monday. The confidential report comes as Iran and the United States are negotiating a prisoner swap and the release of billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen in South Korea. Slowing its enrichment of uranium could serve as another sign that Tehran seeks to lower tensions between it and America after years of tensions since the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has 121.6 kilograms (268 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%, a far-slower growth than in previous counts. An IAEA report in May put the stockpile of 60% uranium at just over 114 kilograms (250 pounds). It had 87.5 kilograms (192 pounds) in February.Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran has mainta...

Japan’s top court orders Okinawa to allow a divisive government plan to build US military runways

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Okinawa’s rejection of a central government plan to build U.S. Marine Corps runways on the island and ordered the prefecture to approve it despite protests by locals who oppose the American troops’ presence.Monday’s ruling upheld a high court ruling in March that the central government’s plan and its instruction for Okinawa’s approval are valid. It will move forward the suspended construction at a time Okinawa’s strategic role is seen increasingly important for the Japan-U.S. military alliance in the face of growing tensions with China. Japan’s central government began the reclamation work at the Henoko area on the eastern coast of Okinawa’s main island in 2018 to pave the way for the relocation of the Marine Corps Futenma air station from a crowded neighborhood on the island. The government later found out about 70% of the reclamation site is on soft ground, and submitted a revisi...

Moroccans protest after Algeria acknowledges deadly shooting at a group on water scooters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria’s Defense Ministry has acknowledged that its forces fired on a group of people on water scooters who strayed into Algerian waters from Morocco, and that a body was later found. The shooting has provoked national anger in Morocco.The North African neighbors have no diplomatic relations and their maritime border has been closed since the 1990s because of long-running disputes over the territory of Western Sahara, among other issues. But deadly confrontations in the sea are unusual.Moroccan media say Algerian forces killed two vacationers in the incident last week. France says a French citizen was among those killed and another French citizen was detained.A protest was planned Monday in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, to denounce the killings.The Algerian Defense Ministry said in a statement late Sunday that coast guard units last Tuesday intercepted three water scooters that had clandestinely entered Algerian waters.“Given the increased activity of drug tr...

The first Africa Climate Summit opens as hard-hit continent of 1.3B demands more say and financing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The first African Climate Summit is opening with heads of state and others asserting a stronger voice on a global issue that affects the continent of 1.3 billion people the most, even though they contribute to it the least.Kenyan President William Ruto’s government and the African Union launched the ministerial session on Monday while more than a dozen heads of state began to arrive, determined to wield more global influence and bring in far more financing and support. The first speakers included young people, who demanded a bigger voice in the process.“For a very long time we have looked at this as a problem. There are immense opportunities as well,” Ruto said of the climate crisis, speaking of multibillion-dollar economic possibilities, new financial structures, Africa’s huge mineral wealth and the ideal of shared prosperity. “We are not here to catalog grievances.”And yet there is some frustration on the continent about being asked to develop in cleane...

The trial opens of a Russian-born Swedish citizen charged with collecting information for Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:51 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The trial opened Monday of a Russian-born Swedish citizen charged with collecting information for the Russian military intelligence service GRU for almost a decade.Sergey Skvortsov, 60, is accused of “gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and against a foreign power,” according to prosecutor Henrik Olin who has identified the foreign power as the United States.Skvortsov was arrested in November together with his wife in a predawn operation in Nacka, outside Stockholm. Swedish media reported that elite police rappelled from two Black Hawk helicopters to arrest the couple.Skvortsov has been in custody since his arrest and denies any wrongdoing, according to his defense lawyer, Ulrika Borg. His wife was released without charge following an investigation by Sweden’s security agency.The trial is being held at the Stockholm District Court. It is the second trial in recent years of people accused of spying on Sweden for Russia and its military intellig...