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World on pace to blow past Paris climate targets, UN says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

Earth is on track for 3 degrees Celsius of warming, and humanity needs to make deep emission cuts this decade to have a chance of fulfilling the goals of the Paris climate agreement, the United Nations said in a report released Monday.The findings come amid record setting global temperatures and as the amount of planet warming pollution in the atmosphere reaches new heights. It also underscores the enormity of the task facing climate negotiators as they prepare for talks in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, later this month.The U.N. found global emissions need to fall 42 percent by 2030 to put the world on track to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 or by 28 percent to hold temperature increases to the 2 C targeted by the Paris Agreement. Doing so would require a sudden reversal in global emission trends, which have risen steadily in recent decades. The longer it takes the world to meaningfully cut emissions, the more carbon dioxide removal technology will be...

Target is testing a new self-checkout policy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

New York (CNN) — Target is testing a new self-checkout policy as retailers are finding the cashier-less technology can put off customers.At a handful of stores, Target has restricted self-checkout to customers buying 10 items or fewer. Customers buying more than that are required to use full-service lanes with cashiers.A Target spokesperson said the test was designed to shorten wait times and “better understand” shoppers’ preferences.“Our guests tell us they enjoy interacting with our team,” Target Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan said on a call with analysts Tuesday about the changes. The company has “refocused” its checkout areas and since seen a 6% increase in customers using full-service cashier lanes across its stores.Target and other retailers had expanded self-checkout machines in recent years. Self-checkout was designed to help companies save on labor costs and speed up checkout for shoppers.But the promise of self-checkout hasn’t always played out.Self-checko...

Shippers anticipate being able to meet holiday demand

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

Carriers like the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and United Parcel Service have capacity to meet projected demand this holiday season, which is cheery news for shippers and shoppers alike.Like last year, there’s expected to be little drama compared to struggles during the pandemic when people hunkered down at home and turned to online shopping while major carriers including the Postal Service simultaneously struggled with absences and a flood of parcel shipments.Louis DeJoy, postmaster general, said the Postal Service goal is to make peak holiday season delivery “superior and routine.”All told, the parcel industry has a capacity of delivering more than 110 million parcels compared to a projected holiday peak of 82 million per day, slightly less than last year, said Satish Jindel, from ShipMatrix.But shoppers shouldn’t wait to the last minute. “It’s not a ticket to procrastination,” he said.This is the all-important season for shoppers, and it accounts for more than half of a...

Milan Lucic hearing on assault charge scheduled Tuesday, court says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

The arraignment of Bruins left wing Milan Lucic, 35, will take place Tuesday, according to court and law enforcement sources.Lucic has been charged with assault and battery on a household member after an alleged incident in his Boston home early Saturday.His arraignment on the charge was scheduled to take place Monday or Tuesday, the Suffolk DA’s office told the Herald Sunday.Monday morning, the clerk’s office at Boston Municipal Court, confirmed the arraignment would take place Tuesday.Boston media had gathered at the court before the scheduling matters were settled.The Bruins on Saturday announced Lucic was taking an “indefinite leave of absence” from the team.“The Boston Bruins are aware of an incident involving Milan Lucic Friday evening,” the team said in a statement. “Milan is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. The organization takes these matters very seriously, and will work with the Lucic family to provide any support and assistance...

Supreme Court rejects appeal of former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin ‘s appeal of his conviction for second-degree murder in the killing of George Floyd.The justices did not comment in leaving in place state court rulings affirming Chauvin’s conviction and 22 1/2-year sentence. Chauvin’s lawyers argued that their client was denied a fair trial in 2021 because of pretrial publicity and concerns for violence in the event of an acquittal. Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism that is still playing out.Chauvin is separately appealing his conviction on federal civil ...

Primaris REIT buying Halifax shopping complex for $370 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

TORONTO — Primaris Real Estate Investment Trust says it has signed a deal to buy a shopping centre complex in Halifax for $370 million.The deal includes the Halifax Shopping Centre and the Annex, which sits adjacent to the mall.The Halifax Shopping Centre is an enclosed shopping centre and its tenants include Sport Chek, Zara, Apple and Aritzia.The Annex is an open air centre with tenants including Walmart, Sobeys and Dollarama.Under the agreement, Primaris will pay $200 million in cash, $45 million in series A units in the trust and $125 million in exchangeable preferred units.The deal is expected to close on Nov. 30.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:PMZ.UN)The Canadian Press

Carlton Pearson, founder of Oklahoma megachurch who supported gay rights, dies at age 70

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The founder of a former megachurch in Oklahoma who fell from favor and was branded a heretic after he embraced the idea that there is no hell and supported gay rights has died, his agent said Monday.Bishop Carlton Pearson died Sunday night in hospice care in Tulsa due to cancer, said his agent, Will Bogle. Pearson was 70.Early in his ministry he was considered a rising star on the Pentecostal preaching circuit and frequently appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, bringing him to an international audience.From a ministry he started in 1977, Pearson in 1981 founded Higher Dimensions Family Church in Tulsa — later known as New Dimensions Church, whose membership numbered about 6,000 by the turn of the century.Membership plummeted to a few hundred by 2008 after Pearson began teaching what he called “the gospel of inclusion,” a form of universalism, which does not recognize hell.Bogle said Pearson told him that he did not believe he had made a mistake with his...

UN report says world is racing to well past warming limit as carbon emissions rise instead of plunge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

The globe is speeding to 2.5 to 2.9 degrees Celsius (4.5 to 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming since pre-industrial times, set to blow well past the agreed-upon international climate threshold, a United Nations report calculated.To have an even money shot at keeping warming to the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit adopted by the 2015 Paris climate agreement, countries have to slash their emissions by 42% by the end of the decade, said the U.N. Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap report issued Monday. Carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas rose 1.2% last year, the report said.This year Earth got a taste of what’s to come, said the report, which sets the table for international climate talks later this month.Through the end of September, the daily global average temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above mid-19th century levels on 86 days this year, the report said. But that increased to 127 days because nearly all of the first two weeks of...

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ‘bamboozled’ by science, COVID-19 inquiry told

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister, struggled to come to grips with much of the science during the coronavirus pandemic, his chief scientific advisor said Monday.In keenly awaited testimony to the country’s public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic, Patrick Vallance said he and others faced repeated problems getting Johnson to understand the science. “I think I’m right in saying that the prime minister gave up science at 15,” he said. “I think he’d be the first to admit it wasn’t his forte and that he struggled with the concepts and we did need to repeat them — often.”In extracts from his diary that were relayed to the inquiry, Vallance said Johnson was “bamboozled” by the graphs and data and that watching him “get his head round stats is awful.”During the pandemic, Vallance was a highly visible presence in the U.K. He and the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, would flank Johnson in numerous daily COVID-19 press briefings from the prime min...

Fatality confirmed in crash involving truck, freight train on South Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:59 GMT

CHICAGO — A crash involving a semi-truck and a freight train has been confirmed a fatality, according to the Chicago Fire Department.The crash happened just before 7 a.m. Monday at Norfolk and Southern rail yard at 350 West Garfield Boulevard on the city's South Side. According to officials, the freight train struck a semi that was stopped on the tracks.Skycam9 captured the recovery effort by emergency crews on scene. Fire officials have confirmed the crash is a fatality. No further details have been provided.This is a developing story. Check back for details.