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Paris to host ‘humanitarian conference’ on Israel-Hamas war, Macron says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday announced a “humanitarian conference” would be held in Paris on November 9, and reiterated calls for a truce in Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip to protect civilians.The French president said the conference would be held “on the margins” of the Paris Peace Forum, which will take place next week in the French capital.“We are calling for a truce because the fight against terrorism does not justify sacrificing civilians,” Macron told reporters during a visit to the storm-ravaged Brittany region, according to French media reports.Macron’s announcement echoes a proposal from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for a peace conference to resolve the Israel-Hamas war at a recent European summit.It comes as the French foreign ministry earlier on Friday asked Israel for explanations after an Israeli strike hit a building of the French Institute in the Gaza Strip.“We have asked the Israeli aut...

FDA proposes ban on potentially harmful ingredient found in some sodas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

(CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration has proposed revoking its regulation authorizing the nationwide use of brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, as an additive in food.The FDA’s decision comes after California banned the ingredient in October by passing the California Food Safety Act, the first state law in the United States to ban brominated vegetable oil. The additive is already banned in Europe and Japan.“The agency concluded that the intended use of BVO in food is no longer considered safe after the results of studies conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health … found the potential for adverse health effects in humans,” said James Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, in a statement.Brominated vegetable oil — vegetable oil modified by bromine, a pungent, deep red oily chemical — is used as an emulsifier in citrus-flavored beverages to keep the flavoring from separating and floating to the top. Bromine is also commonl...

Lettuce introduce you to this controversial style of burrito beloved in Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

Nick Kindelsperger | Chicago TribuneSince opening in 2017, Mi Tocaya Antojeria has become one of Chicago’s most acclaimed Mexican restaurants, picking up a Bib Gourmand from Michelin and earning chef Diana Dávila a couple of James Beard Award nominations for Best Chef: Great Lakes.If anything, I think the restaurant is still underrated. Here you’ll find food like nowhere else in the country, as Dávila draws inspiration from traditional Mexican dishes while incorporating Midwestern ingredients and a sprinkling of fine-dining finesse. So it might surprise you to learn that one dish that has been a fixture since the beginning is a straightforward-sounding steak burrito.The burrito in question even has lettuce in it, which is apparently a very contentious addition. Any time I post a photo of a burrito containing lettuce on social media, I receive messages from concerned commenters across this fair country, including an astonishing number from California. Didn’t I realize that lettuce wi...

Why Hawaii became a hotbed of legal activism to protect the climate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

Jennifer Hijazi | Bloomberg News (TNS)When it comes to mitigating climate change, “yesterday’s good enough has become today’s unacceptable.” That was what judges on Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this year, in the first US decision to declare a stable climate as an affirmative right.The same court on Tuesday tossed an oil company appeal to quash a Honolulu lawsuit accusing industry giants of launching years-long deception campaigns about fossil fuel consumption. The decision fast-tracks the case towards what is likely to be the first US climate misinformation trial against the energy industry.And at the state’s special environmental court — one of only two designated environmental courts nationwide — a youth coalition is pursuing a first-of-its-kind constitutional lawsuit against the state’s transportation department for approving high-emission projects.The cases show how Hawaii has become uniquely fertile ground for environmental legal action, fueled by a long tradition of de...

GOP states embrace Uber, Lyft to take low-income patients to medical appointments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

Anna Claire Vollers | Stateline.org (TNS)This month, Mississippi becomes the latest state to partner with ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to ferry residents to their medical appointments.It’s a bid to improve overall health in a state where advocates and medical groups have called health care a crisis that’s getting worse.Ryan Kelly, executive director of the Mississippi Rural Health Association, said groups such as his have been working to promote more regular annual checkups, but added that transportation barriers have contributed to high rates of missed appointments. The no-show rate for some providers can be as high as 75%, he said.“We’re not airlines and can’t double-book appointments,” he said. “If your practice’s calendar is booked solid but 75% of people don’t show up? Many providers have gone away from doing a lot of wellness checkups because patients don’t show.”In recent years, Uber and Lyft have lobbied states to use Medicaid funding for transporting patient...

Bruins notebook: Charlie Coyle dominant in the faceoff circle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

When you’re hot, you’re hot. And, boy, was Charlie Coyle hot in the faceoff circle in the Bruins’ 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday at the Garden.The B’s centerman went 18-for-22 on draws and swept his faceoffs against Leafs’ star pivot Auston Matthews (8-for-8). It got so lopsided Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe elected to sit his best player, Matthews, to start overtime in the hopes of winning a faceoff. As it turned out, Coyle beat David Kampf on the draw and the B’s held possession for most of the OT before finally winning it in the shootout.Coyle relishes being relied upon in shutdown situations, whether it’s a tough assignment or on the league-leading penalty kill, which has now improved to 38-of-39.“I take a lot of pride in it,” said Coyle. “We want to be a guy who’s relied on in those tough situations, so if that’s what the team needs and that’s what they want from me then, yeah, I’m going to ma...

‘Worse than people can imagine’: Medicaid ‘unwinding’ breeds chaos in states

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

Phil Galewitz, Katheryn Houghton, Brett Kelman, Samantha Liss | (TNS) KFF Health NewsMore than two dozen people lined up outside a state public assistance office in Montana before it opened to ensure they didn’t get cut off from Medicaid.Callers in Missouri and Florida reported waiting on hold for more than two hours on hotlines to renew their Medicaid coverage.The parents of a disabled man in Tennessee who had been on Medicaid for three decades fought with the state this summer to keep him enrolled as he lay dying from pneumonia in a hospital.Seven months into what was predicted to be the biggest upheaval in the 58-year history of the government health insurance program for people with low incomes and disabilities, states have reviewed the eligibility of more than 28 million people and terminated coverage for over 10 million of them. Millions more are expected to lose Medicaid in the coming months.The unprecedented enrollment drop comes after federal protections ended this spring t...

Japan’s Princess Kako arrives in Peru to mark 150 years of diplomatic relations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Japanese Princess Kako on Friday arrived in Peru on an official visit to commemorate 150 years of diplomatic relations between both countries.Kako, 28, will spend six days in the South American country, where she will lead a ceremony to celebrate the start of bilateral relations in 1873, when both countries signed a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation.She is expected to visit several landmark sites, including Cuzco, the Andean city that was the capital of the Inca Empire between the 15th and 16th centuries. From there the Princess will head to Qoricancha, or “The Golden Temple” in Quechua language, considered the most important — and most sacred — temple by the Incas.While in Lima, Princess Kako will visit a school for students suffering from hearing loss. According to the Japanese embassy in Peru, Kako has attended speech competitions among deaf students in Japan, where she has given speeches in sign language.Japan is Peru’s fourth trade partner, a...

Head of China’s state-backed Catholic church to visit Hong Kong amid strained Sino-Vatican relations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — The leader of China’s Communist Party-sponsored version of the Catholic church will visit Hong Kong this month at the invitation of the city’s pope-appointed Roman Catholic cardinal, fostering dialogue as China-Vatican relations remain strained.Joseph Li, the state-appointed archbishop of Beijing, will take a five-day trip to Hong Kong starting Nov. 14 at the invitation of the city’s newly appointed cardinal Stephen Chow, according to a statement from the Hong Kong diocese. Chow made the invitation during his landmark trip to Beijing in April — the first visit to the Chinese capital by the city’s bishop in nearly three decades — in a symbolic gesture that experts said could strengthen the fragile relationship between China and the Vatican.During Li’s visit, he will meet with Chow and “different diocesan offices to promote exchanges and interactions between the two dioceses,” the statement said, without elaborating. Beijing and the Vatican severed d...

German club Mainz terminates Anwar El Ghazi’s contract over social media posts on Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:42 GMT

MAINZ, Germany (AP) — German soccer club Mainz terminated the contract of Dutch forward Anwar El Ghazi on Friday following his social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.The announcement by Mainz came two days after El Ghazi disputed the club’s version of events when it lifted an earlier suspension. German news agency dpa reported Friday that prosecutors in the city of Koblenz were also investigating. Mainz originally suspended El Ghazi on Oct. 17, saying he had posted and then deleted a message about the war that the club deemed “unacceptable.” On Monday, the club said his suspension was lifted and that he would receive a reprimand. Mainz said that followed talks with the management and that El Ghazi “regrets publishing the post and also was remorseful about its negative impact.” The club added that the player “also stated that he does not question Israel’s right to exist.”However, in a further social media post on Wednesday, El Ghazi indicated that the club had issued its...