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BCPS Board approves controversial curriculum changes, including sex-ed

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

It was a late night for members of the Broward County Public School Board, while they discussed controversial coursework and tensions ran high during the conversation. One speaker was taken away by police during the meeting in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. “Those statistics go up, new cases of HIV, AIDS, go up, if we are not educating our children about what it means to engage in sexual intercourse in science-based ways,” said one woman who spoke to board members. “Start to teach our children that ‘Mostly girls have vulvas and mostly boys have penises’. Well, that’s not true,” said another woman. Parents and other participants in the meeting clashed over a revised sexual education curriculum for Broward County students. Hundreds of pages covered a myriad of topics, from healthy habits and basic anatomy for elementary schoolers, and reproduction and sex for middle and high school students. “This topic has been very controversial,̶...

Hydropower: The only sustainable European energy transition

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

The world is at a crucial turning point in the fight against climate change, where every decision and contribution count toward achieving the ambitious and necessary goal of climate neutrality by 2050 and limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C. In light of this well-established fact, hydropower appears to be an indispensable and forward-looking solution with development potential to shape Europe’s clean-energy future.According to a recent study by the International Energy Agency (IEA), more efforts are needed, on a global scale, to recognize hydropower plants as a reliable backbone of clean energy systems and support them accordingly[i].In the European Union, hydropower accounts for 32 percent of the renewable electricity generation and supplies 12 percent of the EU’s total electricity[ii] — a significant but still underexploited source in view not only of the challenges posed by climate change, but also regarding energy security and the increasing need for sys...

Let’s not waste chance for lasting change in packaging trade

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

It’s clear that if we want to protect our planet, we have no choice but to continue investing in infrastructure to help us curb packaging pollution.And that’s exactly the intention behind the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)  — it’s a mandate to slow down the steady increase of packaging waste before it’s too late.However, the regulation also presents dangerous changes with the potential to harm shared environmental goals, such as achieving net-zero carbon emissions, and thwart progress already being made towards long-term, innovative solutions. It’s clear that if we want to protect our planet, we have no choice but to continue investing in infrastructure to help us curb packaging pollution.PPWR is the most consequential reform left to settle before this current EU term comes to a close. It stands to impact almost everything around us, from items and products we use every day, like foodstuffs and digital devices, to the clothing we wear, and the convenience that ...

EU packaging plan must respect the role of recycling, reuse and refill  

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

The coming weeks will be key for the beverage and packaging industries, and for European consumers. The members of the Environment Committee in the European Parliament are set to vote on their amendments to the draft EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and the member countries will try to agree on a common position. This legislation will have a tremendous impact on the way we produce and use beverage packaging. That’s why it is so crucial to get it right.Several of the proposed measures under discussion are simply not realistic, specifically regarding reuse and refill.While the intentions behind the PPWR are good and the EU’s goal of reducing packaging and packaging waste is to be praised, several of the proposed measures under discussion are simply not realistic, specifically regarding reuse and refill. They risk undermining all the successful efforts that beverage manufacturers have been making to provide circular packaging solutions. We don’t believe that this is w...

Europe’s health resilience relies on its ability to innovate

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

In the face of continued global geopolitical uncertainty, Europe is paying increasing attention to its sovereignty, security and resilience.The availability of critical medicines and vaccines is central to Europe’s health preparedness. As governments across Europe rebuild and learn from the pandemic, the policies that can build health resilience and strengthen health systems are in sharp focus; the concept of open strategic autonomy is top of the EU policy agenda.The EU Pharmaceutical Legislation provides the European Commission with the perfect vehicle to address health resilience, improve patient outcomes and develop strategies to support and grow the regions’ life science sector and research and development (R&D) footprint.It is important that any focus on self-sufficiency and addressing global supply dynamics does not lose sight of the objective of fostering a healthier, prosperous and globally competitive Europe.Building resilience through researchThe innovative industry ne...

What Poland’s surprise election winner means for the world

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

You’ve got to hunt for news about the most consequential election in Europe this year. Israel has pushed even the war in Ukraine far down the headline scroll.But Sunday’s surprising vote in Poland deserves attention — for what it says about domestic small-d democratic politics and for what it means geopolitically for the U.S. and Europe.Let’s start with the first and the man of the moment: Donald T. — T is for Tusk — who both shares some qualities with his namesake and represents a rejection of Trumpist politics.Tusk led his center-right Civic Platform and two likely coalition partners to an unexpected victory over the ruling Law and Justice Party. Over eight years, PiS, as the governing party is known, blended social Catholic conservatism, nationalism bleeding into jingoism and state patronage. Its detractors saw in it an existential threat to Poland’s thirtysomething democracy and raised doubts about the election’s fairness.We’ve become so downbeat that the outcome came as a shock...

Celtics work out the kinks in pre-season

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

Could this be the year the Celtics go all the way?Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) pushes up against New York Knicks guard DaQuan Jeffries (8) as the Celtics take on the Knicks at the Garden on October 17, BOSTON, MA. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) smooshes the nose of New York Knicks guard Miles McBride (2) as the Celtics take on the Knicks at the Garden on October 17, BOSTON, MA. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11) drives the lane against New York Knicks guard DaQuan Jeffries (8) as the Celtics take on the Knicks at the Garden on October 17, BOSTON, MA. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) drives to the basket against the defense of New York's Jericho Sims on Tuesday night. (Staff Photo/Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) and New York Knicks center Jericho Sims (45) battle for the rebound as the Ce...

Chicago police say they’re looking into viral brawl between Bears fans at Soldier Field

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

Chicago police on Tuesday confirmed that investigators were looking into a viral video of a Sunday game day brawl at Soldier Field.The attack took place around 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the stadium, according to police, as the Bears played a game they would lose to the Minnesota Vikings.In one 17-second clip posted to the social site formerly known as Twitter, an unidentified man wearing a Justin Fields jersey and a Bears pom cap punches a shorter man from behind, knocking him to the ground. The man then appears to pull another man backward by his sweater, allowing a second man to climb atop and pummel the second victim.Videos and still images of the brawl were posted to the social media sites of several outlets after the game, including Barstool Sports and TMZ.In a media release, police said the victims, ages 27 and 50, began quarreling with three other men when they were assaulted. Both victims took themselves to area hospitals.No arrests had been made as an investigation by Belmont Are...

Fijian prime minister ‘more comfortable dealing with traditional friends’ like Australia than China

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Fiji’s prime minister said Wednesday on a visit to Australia’s capital that his government was “more comfortable dealing with traditional friends” such as Australia as China pursues closer security ties in the Asia-Pacific region.Sitiveni Rabuka and Australia’s Anthony Albanese met during the Fijian’s first state visit to Australia since he most recently came to power in December last year. The 75-year-old former army colonel and coup leader had previously been Fiji’s prime minister from 1992 until 1999.Rabuka sided with Australia in what he described as the “rivalry” and “one-upmanship“ between the United States and China.“We’re more comfortable dealing with traditional friends, that we have similar systems of government, that our democracies are the same brand of democracy, coming out of the Westminster system,” Rabuka told reporters.“Our justice system, our policing system — we’re more comfortable with friends that we have had ov...

Jackson State University community remembers student shot and killed on-campus

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:46:15 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. — A balloon release was held Tuesday at Jackson State University in Mississippi to remember a 21-year-old man shot and killed on campus who was from Country Club Hills.Jaylen Burns was just months away from graduating with a degree in Industrial Technology at Jackson State University. ‘A light to everybody’: Student from Chicagoland killed in shooting at Jackson State University But Jackson, Mississippi police said Burns died after being shot multiple times at an apartment complex on campus Sunday.Burns graduated from Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills before heading to JSU.His father said witnesses told him his son was just trying to break up a fight."I was just in disbelief, I was crying, my wife was crying," Jason Burns, Jaylen's father, said. "I just didn't understand it."University classmates, staff and family members held a balloon release Tuesday to honor Jaylen.