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Does Rishi Sunak care about net zero?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

Presented by SSE By CHARLIE COOPER and ABBY WALLACE PRESENTED BY View in your browser or listen to audioSNEAK PEEK— Following a week in which his strategy came under attack from all sides, Rishi Sunak faces senior MPs’ questions on net zero.— The ‘lethargic’ rollout of smart meters is bad for emissions — and bad for people’s pockets.— The U.K.’s emissions trading scheme is changing. We have the rundown on this week’s announcements.Good Tuesday morning and welcome to POLITICO Pro Morning Energy and Climate UK. Abby’s off for the rest of the week, enjoying a break in Amsterdam — a city confronting an uncertain climate future which is also a pioneer of circular economy practices. We’ve heard it’s got a few good bars, too, but Abby says she is going for the energy geekery. DRIVING THE DAYRISHI’S NET ZERO GRILLING: So, is Rishi Sunak — in the words of ex-minister Zac Goldsmith— “simply uni...

Oceanside celebrates birthday, alongside America's, at July 3 event

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- The city of Oceanside was booming with excitement on the eve of the Fourth of July.The city held an event with a fireworks display, concerts and food vendors at SoCal Sports Complex. While it celebrated America's birthday, it was also a celebration for Oceanside's 135th birthday. More than 11,000 people were estimated to have attended the event Monday night."It really promotes the community of Oceanside to come together and celebrate for itself the event, and its birthday," said Mark Germundson with the City of Oceanside Parks and Recreation.He said there were about 30 vendors selling food and offering a good bite to eat ahead of the highly anticipated fireworks display. Hike atop this extinct volcano in San Diego County One of the vendors was Fernando Torres, and his best friend George, owners of a new Oceanside-based business, FNG BBQ.“It’s been a passion of ours just to cook quality food and we started just cooking for family and friends and now pushing it ...

Russian military says it fended off Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

The Russian military said it fended off a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow on Tuesday that prompted authorities to briefly close one of the city’s airports.The attack, which follows previous similar raids on the Russian capital during the previous months, comes after a mutiny launched by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, which saw his Wagner troops approach Moscow in the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than two decades of his rule.Ukrainian authorities, which generally avoid comments on attacks inside Russia’s proper territory, didn’t claim responsibility for the raid.The Russian Defense Ministry said four of the five drones were downed by air defenses on the outskirts of Moscow and the fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down.Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that there were no casualties or damage. The drone attack prompted authorities to temporarily restrict flights at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and divert flights...

France’s Macron weakened by crisis over teen killed by police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Even in normal times Emmanuel Macron needed allies’ help governing France. To get some things done he worked with the traditional right. The center-left helped the French president accomplish others. The challenge was bigger than any a French leader had faced in more than two decades: He had to convince politicians across the country’s national assembly to support even a minor domestic project. Now, governing his already-polarized country has gotten close to impossible for Macron because a suburban police officer stopped a yellow Class A Mercedes and fired one fatal shot into the 17-year-old driver’s chest, setting off six days of tumult across the country. Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and its close allies had merely 251 seats out of 577 after Macron won his second five-year term last year with 58% of the votes in a runoff with far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Macron dreamed big despite the close victory. His first big goal was raising the ...

Hong Kong leader says 8 pro-democracy activists who now live in the West ‘will be pursued for life’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader said Tuesday said eight pro-democracy activists who now live in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia will be pursued for life for alleged national security offenses, dismissing criticism that the move was a dangerous precedent. Chief Executive John Lee expressed his support for the police’s efforts to seek the arrests of the eight. At his weekly media briefing, Lee said anyone, including their friends and relatives, who offered information leading to their arrests would be eligible for the bounties offered by the police.“The only way to end their destiny of being an abscondee who will be pursued for life is to surrender,” he said. The arrest warrants were issued for former pro-democracy lawmakers Nathan Law, Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok, lawyer Kevin Yam, unionist Mung Siu-tat and activists Finn Lau, Anna Kwok and Elmer Yuen. They were accused of breaching the Beijing-imposed National Security Law by committing offenses such as ...

Australian central bank leaves its benchmark cash rate at 4.1% but warns there may be further hikes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate at 4.1% at a policy meeting Tuesday after inflation fell to 5.6% in May from 6.5% a month earlier.The Reserve Bank has lifted the cash rate 12 times since May last year to reduce inflation to a target range of 2% to 3%.Higher interest rates raise the cost of borrowing for both businesses and consumers, slowing economic activity and helping to relieve price pressures that have flared after the slowdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bank governor Philip Lowe said there might need to be further rises.“Some further tightening of monetary policy may be required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable time-frame, but that will depend upon how the economy and inflation evolve,” Lowe said in a statement.“The decision to hold interest rates steady this month provides the board with more time to assess the state of the economy and the economic outlook and associated risks,” Lowe added.In a rep...

Violence against women: Sex without consent is rape, say MEPs 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

The draft report asks for a uniform, consent-based definition of rape in the EU, tougher rules on cyber violence, and improved support for victims, FEMM, LIBE.Last Wednesday (28 June), the committees on Civil Liberties and Women’s Rights approved changes to a proposed directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence.A consent-based definition of rapeBuilding on the Commission’s proposal for a criminal definition of rape based on the absence of consent, MEPs seek to add fear and intimidation to the list of factors that preclude free decision making. Consent must be assessed considering the specific circumstances, MEPs say. They propose complementary criminal rules on sexual assault (i.e. any non-consensual sexual act that cannot be defined as rape) and call for EU legislation on intersex genital mutilation, forced sterilisation, forced marriage, and sexual harassment in work.Harsher sentencing rules for perpetratorsMEPs want the list of aggravating circumstances to...

Kazakhstan and Luxembourg strengthen bilateral co-operation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Luxembourg’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Jean Asselborn, noting that his official visit opens up good prospects for the development of bilateral cooperation.Tokayev warmly recalled a dialogue with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly about the long-term prospects for deepening the partnership between the countries.“Kazakhstan treats your country and people with great respect. We are optimistic about the future of our co-operation,” the President said.Speaking about the positive dynamics of interaction, Asselborn mentioned the agreement on increasing the number of flights to 21 per week. The Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry signed a second memorandum of understanding in this regard.The parties also reviewed the prospects for cooperation in transport and logistics, digitalization, green energy, an...

SF Giants injury news: Thairo Estrada out 4-6 weeks with fractured hand, Mike Yastrzemski activated

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants received some tough news regarding second baseman Thairo Estrada on Monday, when it was revealed that Estrada suffered a fractured left hand.Estrada is expected to be out four to six weeks.“Could be a little sooner than that but we’re still in the information gathering state,” manager Gabe Kapler said after the Giants’ 6-5 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Monday.He was hit in the hand by Adam Ottavino in the eighth inning of the Giants’ 8-4 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday night and stayed in the game, but the Giants placed him on the 10-day injured list on Monday.“It’s in pain; the pitch hit me hard,” Estrada said. “It hit the protector. I feel like if it hadn’t hit the protector the injury would’ve been worse… First time I have a fracture in my career. They’ve been saying four to six weeks. Hopefully everything goes well. I’m a very positive person so I believe in them.”The 27-year-old...

Ukraine sends Georgian ambassador home amid warnings ex-President Saakashvili could die in jail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:51 GMT

Mikheil Saakashvili must not be allowed to die behind bars, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned, as new photographs reveal the toll the former Georgian leader’s long-running hunger strike is having on his health.In a statement issued late Tuesday, Zelenskyy said Saakashvili, who is serving a six-year prison sentence in Georgia, is now at risk of being “killed by Russia at the hands of Georgian authorities.” Saakashvili was the president of Georgia from 2004 to 2007 and from 2008 to 2013. He was stripped of his Georgian passport in 2015 after becoming a Ukrainian citizen — and the governor of Odesa.Kyiv has summoned the Georgian ambassador and asked him to leave Ukraine within 48 hours for talks with his own government. Zelenskyy’s intervention came after pictures emerged from a court hearing in Tbilisi that showed Saakashvili looking emaciated and gravely ill.Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the move was “extremely harsh...