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Report: Climate change, disease imperil North American bats

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — More than half of North America’s bat species are likely to diminish significantly as climate change, disease and habitat loss take their toll, scientists warned Monday.A report by experts from the U.S., Canada and Mexico said 81 of the continent’s 154 known bat types “are at risk of severe population decline” in the next 15 years.The “state of the bats” report was published by the North American Bat Conservation Alliance, a consortium of government agencies and private organizations.“They need our help to survive,” said Winifred Frick, chief scientist at Bat Conservation International, one of the participating groups. “We face a biodiversity crisis globally and bats play a very important role in healthy ecosystems needed to protect our planet.”Bats give U.S. agriculture a $3.7 billion annual boost by gobbling crop-destroying insects, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Some are plant pollinators. Bats also serve as prey for other animals...

Minnesota settles lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul for undisclosed terms just ahead of closing arguments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota settles lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul for undisclosed terms just ahead of closing arguments.Source

Mixed signals from DC’s housing market this spring

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

The spring housing market has officially arrived, and it starts with mixed signals. Prices are down in the D.C. metro area, but homes are still selling quickly.While prices in March were up in some markets in the D.C. region, listing service Bright MLS reports that overall median selling prices metro-wide fell for the second time in four months. Bright MLS said that reflects a softening market.Spring is typically when homeowners intending to sell list their homes, but new listings in the D.C. region were down 35% from a year ago.Pending sales, or contracts signed to buy a home in March were down 28.2% from March 2022, but homes are selling quickly.The median days on the market was nine days in March, down from 20 days in February and 30 days in January, and just three days longer to sell on average than last March.“Real estate agents shared that multiple offers are still common throughout many parts of the Mid-Atlantic,” Bright MLS said in a report.By one metric, the D.C.-area marke...

Refined carbs and red meat driving global rise in type 2 diabetes, study says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

(CNN) — Gobbling up too many refined wheat and rice products, along with eating too few whole grains, is fueling the growth of new cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide, according to a new study that models data through 2018.“Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes globally,” says senior author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University and professor of medicine at Tufts School of Medicine in Boston, in a statement.Another key factor: People are eating far too much red and processed meats, such as bacon, sausage, salami and the like, the study said. Those three factors — eating too few whole grains and too many processed grains and meats — were the primary drivers of over 14 million new cases of type 2 diabetes in 2018, according to the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.In fact, the study estimated 7 out of 10 cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide in 20...

Cocaine worth nearly $440 million found floating in the sea off Italy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

(CNN) — A huge consignment of cocaine has been found floating off the eastern coast of the island of Sicily, Italian police said.According to a statement released on Monday by Italy’s Financial Police, Guardia di Finanza, authorities seized nearly 2 tons of the drugs, spotted floating in the Mediterranean during a routine surveillance flight on Sunday.The drugs were carefully sealed in 70 waterproof floating packages, which were connected and included a signaling light device, police said. They added that the haul has a street value of €400 million (nearly $440 million).“The identification and subsequent seizure of this quantity of drugs, one of the largest ever carried out in the national territory, likely prevented the drug from being recovered by criminals for subsequent illegal sale in the national territory, which would have yielded very high earnings,” the statement read.Guardia di Finanza said they believe the floating packages were left by a passing c...

Rishi Sunak’s big math(s) quiz

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak loves numbers.In a speech Monday, the U.K. prime minister vowed to boost numeracy among Brits, unveiled a new team to help him get there, and promised to take on an “anti-maths mindset” that, he argued, sees being bad with numbers as “socially acceptable.”Fortunately, the genius POLITICO team feels the same way. So we’ve tasked our dedicated math desk* with devising this rigorous test, the outcome of which is legally-binding and will determine your life chances. Possibly.(*Okay, one reporter who once used a calculator.)Rishi attends one lockdown birthday bash for Boris. But he forgets to wear a seatbelt in the car ride home. How many fixed penalty notices does he receive?OneTwoMatt gives Isabel access to more than 100,000 of his highly-personal WhatsApps. Assuming the journalistic treachery rate is 1, what percentage of WhatsApps will find their way into the hands of Daily Telegraph reporters?20 percent: just the really newsy ones0 percent: Matt trusted her, and...

French lawmakers challenge Olympics surveillance before top court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

PARIS — French left-leaning lawmakers from the Greens and France Unbowed have officially challenged the AI-powered surveillance system for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics before the country’s top constitutional court, they announced Monday. “This bill violates several principles of constitutional value since it disregards the right to privacy, the principle of necessity and individualization of penalties … or the principle of safeguarding human dignity,” they wrote, mentioning algorithmic video surveillance, among other issues. The French parliament earlier this month adopted a controversial bill that allows the experimentation of large-scale, real-time camera systems supported by algorithms to spot suspicious behavior — including unsupervised luggage and crowd movements like stampedes — for the Olympics next year. The system would be in place until March 2025. Presented by the government, the legislation has met criticism and opposition from digital...

Marcel Hug, Susannah Scaroni win respective wheelchair divisions in 127th Boston Marathon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

Marcel Hug of Switzerland and American Susannah Scaroni won the Men’s and Women’s wheelchair titles in the 127th Boston marathon on Monday. Hug, 37, claimed his men’s wheelchair division victory in a course record of 1 hour, 17 minutes, 6 seconds while Scaroni, 31, finished first for the women’s wheelchair division with a time of 1 hour, 41 minutes, 45 seconds. Tens of thousands of runners from all over the world are participating in the 127th Boston Marathon, which began early Monday morning. About 30,000 runners from all 50 states and 122 countries are participating in this year’s race, including 4,700 from Massachusetts. Because of the large number of runners, there are varying start times to try to space participants out. The first athletes left the start line at 6 a.m., which is when the day began with a military march. The first Wheelchair Division competitors and then runners started to take off at 9 a.m. This is the fastest and most decorated fi...

Worcester man charged for allegedly using machete to assault driver during case of road rage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

A 40-year-old man from Worcester is facing multiple assault charges, including a charge of armed assault to murder, after he allegedly attacked a driver with a machete during a road rage incident, according to police.The Worcester Police Department said Ezekial Santiago was arrested after officers were first called to Millbury and Providence streets around 2:10 p.m. on Sunday.According to a news release, witnesses told officers how they saw a white Toyota follow a blue Honda, leading to the Honda driver stopping and approaching the Toyota to ask why he was being tailed.Authorities gathered that the driver of the Toyota then allegedly used a machete to strike the man in both the head and back.“Officers observed evidence of this assault and called for an ambulance,” the news release stated, with no further details on the condition of the victim given.Police later located the Toyota at a red light on McKeon Road and, following a “brief investigation,” police loc...

Defending champ Chebet wins Boston, spoils Kipchoge debut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:48 GMT

By JIMMY GOLEN (AP Sports Writer)BOSTON (AP) — Defending champion Evans Chebet won the Boston Marathon again on Monday, surging to the front at Heartbreak Hill to spoil the much-anticipated debut of world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and win in an unofficial 2 hours, 5 minutes, 54 seconds. It was the third-fastest time in race history.Chebet, 2021 winner Benson Kipruto and Gabriel Geay dropped Kipchoge from the lead pack around Mile 20 and then ran together for the last three miles. Geay won a footrace for second, 10 seconds behind and 2 seconds ahead of Kipruto.Kipchoge, a 12-time major marathon winner, was sixth.___More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports