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Eight Amazon rainforest countries open summit in Belem, Brazil

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — For the first time in 14 years, presidents of the South American nations home to the Amazon rainforest are converging to chart a common course for protection of the bioregion and address organized crime. The summit Tuesday and Wednesday in the Brazilian city of Belem is a meeting of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, a toothless, 45-year-old alliance that has met only three times before. The Amazon stretches across an area twice the size of India, and two-thirds of it lies in Brazil. Seven other countries and one territory share the remaining third — Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador and French Guiana. Presidents from all but Ecuador, Suriname and Venezuela are attending.Massive destruction of the Amazon forest is a climate disaster and all the countries at the summit have ratified the Paris climate accord which requires signatories to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But that’s about as far as their s...

Italy proposes bank tax to help consumers and businesses cope with interest rate hikes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italian bank stocks plunged Tuesday after the Cabinet approved a proposal to apply a temporary tax on some bank profits this year to help consumers and businesses cope with higher borrowing costs.Transport Minister Matteo Salvini announced the tax at a Monday evening press conference, saying it was a measure of “social equity” to make up for a series of interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank. Those increases are aimed at fighting inflation and make it more expensive for people to get loans to buy homes and cars or for companies to get new equipment or build facilities.UniCredit shares fell over 7%, Intesa Sanpaolo was down more than 8%, Banco BPM dropped more than 8.5%, and BPER and Banca MPS both plummeted over 10% in early afternoon trading on the Milan Stock Exchange.The Association of Italian Banks has not yet commented publicly on the proposal, whose approval apparently took banks by surprise.The five major Italian banks reported a combined net profit of...

Tilray to buy eight beer brands from Anheuser-Busch, tripling its beverages on tap

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

Tilray Brands Inc. is expanding its case of craft brews, announcing a deal to buy eight beer and beverage brands from Anheuser-Busch Companies LLC.In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Tilray puts the purchase price at US$85 million to be paid in cash.The cannabis company says the agreement will triple both its basket of brands and its beer sales volume, which it projects will increase to 12 million cases per year from four million.Tilray says that growth would vault it to the status of fifth-largest craft beer operation in the United States.The deal between the Leamington, Ont.-based Tilray and Missouri-based beer giant Anheuser-Busch is expected to close later this year.The eight brands are Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Company, 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Square Mile Cider Company, and HiBall Energy.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX...

Nonprofits are lobbying a lot less than two decades ago, according to new research

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

A generation ago nonprofit organizations regularly lobbied for legislation and served as advocates on issues. But according to a recent survey, charities are now far more reluctant to seek to influence lawmakers and other policymakers.The survey, conducted for Independent Sector, a membership organization of nonprofits and grantmakers, found that less than one-third of nonprofits have actively advocated for policy issues or lobbied on specific legislation over the past five years, down from nearly three-quarters of nonprofits in 2000.And even though nonprofits work on a range of issues that are affected by policy choices, such as funding for the arts and science and policies on hot-button issues like abortion and gun control, less than one-third of nonprofits said they were well-versed in how to legally conduct advocacy campaigns and how much lobbying they were permitted to do. Twenty years ago more than half knew the rules, the survey found.The survey, based on questionnaires compl...

Fan dies in Greece after clashes between rival supporters, UEFA postpones Champions League qualifier

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

A 29-year-old fan was killed in overnight clashes between rival supporters in the Greek capital, prompting European governing soccer body UEFA to postpone a Champions League qualifying game between AEK Athens and Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.Eight fans were also injured in the extensive clashes outside AEK’s stadium, while Greek police said they had made 88 arrests, mostly of Croatian supporters. Amateur video of the incident showed chaotic scenes, with fans hurling flares and petrol bombs and clashing with wooden bats.Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic called his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis to express his condemnation of the violence, with the Croatian government describing the clashes as “horrific.”Fans gathered at the site of the fan’s death Tuesday, leaving flowers, church candles and black-and-yellow AEK soccer scarves at the makeshift roadside shrine.Near the makeshift shrine, police cordoned off an area to gather evidence, pulling a wooden bat and other ...

All lanes reopen on Dan Ryan near 83rd Street after police investigation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

CHICAGO — All lanes have reopened on the outbound Dan Ryan Expressway after a police investigation Tuesday morning.According to Illinois State Police, a driver called and reported that their vehicle had been struck by gunfire around 4:30 a.m. No injuries were reported. All lanes were blocked for over an hour on the outbound Dan Ryan near 83rd Street as ISP canvassed the area. All lanes reopened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.Major delays are reported on the inbound Dan Ryan, IB I-57 and IB Bishop Ford due to the earlier investigation. Allow extra time for your morning commute.Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines

Tuesday Forecast: Temps in mid 80s with isolated storms, showers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

CHICAGO — Starting with some patchy fog across southern counties Tuesday with a few locations down to less than a mile of visibility. Fog will burn off by mid morning and we'll all start the day with clear sunny skies. Clouds will start to build back in by midday and some isolated scattered showers move in this afternoon. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Possibility of a few pop-up thunderstorms with this system but not expected to be strong or severe. Highs today will reach the low to mid 80s with breezy westerly winds. Wednesday we'll see a better chance of more widespread showers and storms in the afternoon with highs in the low 80s. Thursday will be mostly sunny with more humidity building back into the forecast and highs in the mid 80s. Another round of showers and storms possible on Friday with dry and sunny conditions expected over the weekend.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Dean's A-List Interview: Todd Stashwick on 'Star Trek: Picard'

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

CHICAGO — It's a bit weekend for fans of science fiction, comics, gaming, and anime this weekend in Rosemont. Fan Expo Chicago is back from Thursday through Sunday at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. It brings the best of pop culture together with an estimated attendance of around 75,000.Ahead of that event, Dean Richards spoke to one of the actors slated to attend the event: Actor and Chicago native Todd Stashwick.He comes to the convention after the conclusion of season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard" on Paramount+, where he portrayed Captain Liam Shaw.You can see what he had to say to Dean about that project in this edition of "Dean's A-List Interview" on the WGN Morning News on August 8.See the discussion with Todd in the video above.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

Gender reveal at Ed Sheeran concert not quite 'perfect' after couple gives singer wrong info

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) – Imagine getting one of music's biggest stars to reveal the gender of your baby. Now what if you accidentally told that superstar the wrong gender? That's what happened this weekend at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, when Ed Sheeran let the crowd know that two of his local fans were expecting a baby girl."It's a girl," said Sheeran, writing on Instagram that it was the first-ever gender reveal he helped with. "As the father of two daughters, it's very awesome," he went on to say.But turns out there's more to the story. 58-year-old veteran serving again, this time as a police officer Erica Garcia Gomez and Eloy Gomez danced to Sheeran's "Perfect" at their wedding. They got floor seats at Arrowhead and made a sign, hoping the music megastar might see it."We eventually were making our way up slowly. People would scoot over or allow us to come through after they saw the poster," Garcia Gomez said.Sheeran started to sing and rotated past them on stage."We hel...

Llano ISD rolls out customized artificial intelligence tool for teachers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

LLANO, Texas (KXAN) -- Llano Independent School District will roll out a customized artificial intelligence tool that is designed to help teachers save time on administration overhead and focus more on education. The tool, known as Agnes, can answer questions ranging from when teachers get paid to policies and procedures at different campuses. The tool was designed by Jim and Maurie Beasley, a husband and wife team that make up the technology department at the school district. Jim Beasley says he "speaks tech" and his wife "speaks teacher." The two have decades of experience in the tech industry and Maurie spent more than a decade in the classroom as a teacher, counselor, and assistant principal. What is the need?The Beasleys noticed it can be overwhelming for teachers, especially for new hires who are onboarding. Jim Beasley originally thought of creating Agnes as a way to help onboard teachers who will have a million questions when learning the new job. "How do I get these new tea...