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Preserving our blue planet: UN World Oceans Day spotlights urgent need for action

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Thursday marks World Oceans Day, a United Nations program focused on raising awareness of one of our planet’s most important resources. Whether we live in the ocean or not, we are all bound to the salty water of the sea.“Our survival depends on a healthy ocean,” said Cassandra Brooks with the University of Colorado. On this year’s World Ocean Day, the UN is calling attention to human impact on the ocean, how to protect the aqueous ecosystem’s health, and how to defend its organisms. “Oceans are critically threatened by not just climate change but also habitat degradation and overfishing,” said Brooks.According to the UN, the oceans generate roughly 50% of the world’s oxygen. Fish are a main source of protein for more than 1 billion people.By 2030, about 40 million people will work in fields that revolve around the ocean, like shipbuilding, fishing and transportation. Experts say our oceans are under attack and state that by 2050, the a...

An iconic Taco Bell menu item is going vegan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

New York (CNN) — One of Taco Bell’s most recognizable menu items is going vegan.The chain is testing a vegan Crunchwrap, marking the first time that Taco Bell has sold a fully vegan entree.Similar to a traditional Crunchwrap, the vegan version uses a “proprietary, boldly seasoned” plant-based protein created by the company, and is then topped with two vegan sauces: a blanco sauce (similar to sour cream) and a vegan nacho sauce. Then it’s all wrapped in a crunchy tostada shell.However, it’s not going nationwide just yet: A total of three Taco Bell locations — one each in New York City, Hollywood and Orlando — will sell the vegan Crunchwrap beginning June 8 until supplies last. Those cities were selected because they have “notable vegan populations,” the company said. The vegan version is priced the same as a traditional wrap, which ranges from $4.99 to $6.79 depending on the city.Although the menu item can be classified as vegan since it doesn’t contain any animal ingredients, it mig...

EU to Zuckerberg: Explain yourself over Instagram pedophile network

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wants Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to explain and take “immediate” action over a recently exposed large pedophile network on Instagram. Instagram has been letting a vast network of accounts promoting and purchasing child sexual abuse material flourish on its platform, according to investigations by the Wall Street Journal and researchers released on June 7. The social media platform lets users search for explicit hashtags, and has offenders exploit its recommendation algorithms to promote illicit content.“Meta’s voluntary code on child protection seems not to work,” Breton wrote Thursday on Twitter. “Mark Zuckerberg must now explain & take immediate action.”Breton said he will discuss the issue with Zuckerberg at the Meta headquarters on June 23 during a trip to the U.S. The politician will travel later this month to see how social media companies including Twitter are preparing to comply wi...

How Seville won the World’s Fair

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

How Seville won the World’s FairGlitzy international expositions can be money losers — but the Andalusian city proved they don’t have to be.By Aitor Hernández-MoralesPhoto courtesy of STP CartujaThis article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities, a collaborative journalism project exploring the future of cities. Sign up here.Cities enter into a devil’s bargain when they agree to host an international exposition.They bask in the global spotlight while the event lasts — but once the fair shutters and visitors leave, locals are left dealing with a fat bill and empty grounds.When it hosted Expo ‘92, Seville attempted to avoid that fate by designing its World’s Fair grounds to be reused as an innovation campus immediately after the event ended.Just months later, those plans collapsed when Spain’s deep economic recession drove off the businesses that were meant to move in.Improbably, today Seville’s former fairgrounds are a succ...

Eurozone enters recession, latest data shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

The eurozone contracted for two consecutive quarters, data out Thursday shows, meaning it has entered a technical recession, signaling a loss of growth momentum in the single currency area buffeted by energy shocks, war, inflation, and monetary tightening.Eurozone GDP fell by 0.1 percent over the first three months of 2023 compared with the previous quarter, according to the figures from Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency. GDP was also revised downward for the last quarter of 2022, to -0.1 percent from 0 percent previously forecast.Thursday’s data is a downward revision on previous flash estimates released in April that showed growth of 0.1 percent in the eurozone for first quarter of the year. These were corrected downward following German data showing the country contracted for a second consecutive quarter, slipping into a recession.Employment continued to increase in the eurozone, by 0.6 percent in the first quarter this year, up from 0.3 percent in the previous qua...

When will the smoke go away in Massachusetts? Wildfire smoke may return ‘off and on throughout the summer’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Could haze and smoke be the story of the summer?After smoke from the Canadian wildfires caused the air quality to plummet across Massachusetts in recent days and some people put back on their N95 masks, meteorologists are warning that smoke from up north could impact the region at times over the next several weeks.“We might be experiencing this off and on throughout the summer, depending on how the weather pattern shapes up,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist John Gresiak told the Herald on Wednesday — which was a better day for air quality in the Bay State, while New York City and other spots on the East Coast dealt with hazardous conditions.The haze and smoke could continue to affect the region because the Canadian wildfires are out of control, and it doesn’t appear they’ll be put out soon.The wildfires are in remote areas of northern Quebec where very few people live, Gresiak said.“It may be awhile before the fires get extinguished,” he ad...

The ‘Madden 24’ teaser wasn’t kind to Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen. He took notice.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

The release of the new “Madden” cover athlete every summer is a joyous day on the football calendar, for players and fans alike.For Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen, it was one to forget.On Wednesday, EA Sports announced that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen will grace the cover of “Madden NFL 24″ when it’s released Aug. 18, joining Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson as stars to receive the honor in recent years. At the end of a roughly one-minute video teasing the new gameplay and highlighting some of the league’s biggest stars, Allen bulldozes his way for a touchdown against the Ravens, punctuated by an emphatic stiff-arm of Queen.Needless to say, it didn’t sit well with the Ravens’ fourth-year linebacker.“How i get signed up to be the one ran over on the release video,” Queen tweeted with a laughing emoji.Queen, a 2020 first-round draft pick who is set to become a free agent next offseason after the Ravens d...

Mike Preston: Ravens veteran DT Michael Pierce has found his role — and yoga | COMMENTARY

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

The best of Michael Pierce might be on its way.The Ravens’ seventh-year nose tackle has started only 11 games over the past two years in both Minnesota and Baltimore because of injuries, and he feels the same as new teammate and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who missed all of last season recovering from a knee injury.Pierce missed Sunday afternoons and all the euphoria that goes with game day. He believes that he and Beckham have something to prove, only Pierce, who started his career in Baltimore as an undrafted free agent out of Samford in 2016, might have more incentive.This season, Pierce has to replace a giant both on and off the field in defensive end Calais Campbell, who signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons on March 29.“I don’t think you replace Hall of Famers in general,” Pierce said. “Do you replace Terrell Suggs or Ray Lewis? I don’t think you do. I think you just feel the role that is put out for you in your position, ...

911 Targa 4, one heck of a machine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

As manufacturers love to extend the life of a current model in the fleet, sometimes, that is a good thing. For Porsche, it’s stellar! In Grasso’s Garage this week, it’s all about 911! No this isn’t an emergency, but it should be, because the Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS, is an amazing machine.Wrapped in familiar GT Silver Metallic, the Targa 4 GTS is a 473 horsepower, 420 lb ft torque, 3.0 liter twin-turbocharged boxer style 6-cylinder, that at top speed of 190 mph, this machine goes 3.3 second 0-60 with the Sport Chrono package. Specifications include a 51.2 inch height and 72.9 inch width, with a wheelbase of 96.5 inches and an overall length of 178 inches, the 911 is a compact way to have unbelievable power while being very low to the ground.On the 911, our sport ergonomic interior and cockpit style seating make the Premium package shine. A GT Sport steering wheel, enlarged driver’s instrument cluster make the Porsche 911 one awesome driving vehicle. The Targa ...

Blinken announces $150M in aid for Syrians, Iraqis at Saudi meeting on fighting Islamic State group

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the U.S. would provide nearly $150 million in aid for areas in Syria and Iraq that were liberated from the Islamic State extremist group.He spoke at a ministerial conference hosted by Saudi Arabia on combatting the group, which no longer controls any territory — but whose affiliates still carry out attacks across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS includes more than 80 countries and continues to coordinate action against the extremist group, which at its height controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq. Blinken said the U.S. pledge is part of new funding amounting to more than $600 million.“Poor security and humanitarian conditions. Lack of economic opportunity. These are the fuel for the kind of desperation on which ISIS feeds and recruits,” he said in brief remarks at the opening of the conference, using a common acronym for the extremist group. “So we have to ...