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Revolving Door: DEA’s No.2 quits amid reports of previous consulting work for Big Pharma

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s second-in-command has quietly stepped down amid reporting by The Associated Press that he once consulted for a pharmaceutical distributor sanctioned for a deluge of suspicious painkiller shipments and did similar work for the drugmaker that became the face of the opioid epidemic: Purdue Pharma. Louis Milione’s four years of consulting for Big Pharma preceded his 2021 return to the DEA to serve as Administrator Anne Milgram’s top deputy, renewing concerns in the agency and beyond about the revolving door between government and industry and its potential impact on the DEA’s mission to police drug companies blamed for tens of thousands of American overdose deaths. “Working for Purdue Pharma should not help you get a higher job in government,” said Jeff Hauser, the executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a watchdog for corporate influence in the federal government. “Too much collegiality is a problem. It’s hard to vi...

Canadian wildfires hit Indigenous communities hard, threatening their land and culture

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

EAST PRAIRIE METIS SETTLEMENT, Alberta (AP) — Carrol Johnston counted her blessings as she stood on the barren site where her home was destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire that forced her to flee her northern Alberta community two months ago. Her family escaped unharmed, though her beloved cat, Missy, didn’t make it out before a “fireball” dropped on the house in early May. But peony bushes passed down from her late mother survived and the blackened May Day tree planted in memory of her longtime partner is sending up new shoots — hopeful signs as she prepares to start over in the East Prairie Métis Settlement, about 240 miles (385 kilometers) northwest of Edmonton.“I just can’t leave,” said Johnston, 72, who shared a home with her son and daughter-in-law. “Why would I want to leave such beautiful memories?”The worst wildfire season in Canadian history is displacing Indigenous communities from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, blanketing them in thick smoke, destroying homes and ...

European Union rushes firefighters to Greece as grueling Mediterranean heat wave takes toll

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Fire planes and ground crews from several European countries are heading to Greece where wildfires have intensified as relentless heat wave conditions are keeping much of southern Europe above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Three firefighting teams from Poland, Romania and Slovakia are due in Greece on Thursday, while Israel has pledged two firefighting aircraft, adding to the four planes from Italy and France already operating outside Athens. New evacuations were ordered on Wednesday as wildfires raged near the Greek capital. A second heat wave hit the Mediterranean country from the west following days of record-high temperatures that baked southern Europe.In a round-the-clock battle to preserve forests, industrial facilities, and vacation homes, evacuations continued for a third day along a highway connecting Athens to the southern city of Corinth. Temperatures in southern Greece are expected to reach 44 C (111 F) by the end of the week, in the ...

Israeli doctors hold ‘warning strike,’ caution that judicial overhaul threatens healthcare system

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Doctors in Israel held a two-hour strike Wednesday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary.The doctors say the plan will endanger public health by granting Netanyahu and his allies greater control over the country’s healthcare system. Wearing scrubs and holding signs saying, “We are the wall shielding democracy,” doctors gathered outside Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv. Medical leaders warned they will take more severe measures if Netanyahu’s government — the most right-wing in Israel’s 75-year history — moves forward with a bill to limit the judiciary’s oversight powers which could become law as soon as next week. In a letter to Netanyahu on Tuesday, Dr. Zion Hagay, chairman of Israel’s Medical Association, said the bill would lessen the judiciary’s ability to strike down inappropriate appointments to the healthcare system. “As someone who once served as health minister, you are ...

Sri Lanka’s Parliament approves new anti-corruption law as part of an IMF economic bailout plan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Wednesday approved an anti-corruption legislation as the island nation attempts to overcome an unprecedented economic crisis.The legislation is part of the prerequisites of an International Monterey Fund bailout package approved in March, under which nearly $3 billion in government budgetary support will be disbursed in stages to the bankrupt nation. The bailout is due for its first review in September.The bill was passed without opposition in the 225-member parliament.The IMF — which described Sri Lanka’s debt as unsustainable — has stressed that anti-corruption and governance reforms are imperative in order to enable the Sri Lankans to benefit from the current economic reforms.The development lender had said previously it was conducting — for the first time in an Asian country — an “in-depth governance diagnostic exercise” to assess corruption and vulnerabilities and “provide prioritized and sequenced recommendations.”The I...

UK Prime Minister Sunak apologizes for ban on LGBTQ+ people in the military

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized Wednesday for the treatment of gay veterans, saying a previous ban on LGBTQ+ people serving in the U.K. military was “an appalling failure of the British state.”The apology came after an independent review published Wednesday estimated that hundreds of veterans were dismissed or suffered under an official ban on homosexuality in the British armed forces that was enforced until 2000.“As today’s report makes clear, in that period many endured the most horrific sexual abuse and violence, homophobic bullying and harassment, all while bravely serving this country,” Sunak told Parliament. “Today, on behalf of the British state, I apologize.”The report, which was carried out by a retired senior judge, compiled evidence from more than 1,000 veterans. It documented the effects of what it called “an incomprehensible policy of homophobic bigotry in our armed forces.” Some of the victims have taken their own lives, while ot...

China’s leader says the country will work with US on climate as long as political conditions are met

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China is willing to work with Washington on reducing global warming as long as its political demands are met, the country’s vice president told U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on Wednesday. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Vice President Han Zheng as telling Kerry that addressing climate change was “an important aspect of China-U.S. cooperation,” but was predicated on mutual respect. He said it must proceed “on the basis of U.S. attendance to core issues that concern both parties, fully engaging and exchanging ideas.” During this week’s visit, Kerry has told China’s top diplomat Wang Yi that President Joe Biden’s administration is “very committed” to stabilizing relations between the world’s two biggest economies as they seek to restart high-level contacts.Ties between the countries have hit a historic low amid disputes over tariffs, access to technology, human rights, China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and threats against se...

Jamie Lee Curtis is working on a new children’s book, ‘Just One More Sleep,’ for January publication

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis also has a busy career as a children’s author. Her next work, “Just One More Sleep,” is set to come out in January.“The passage of time, how children relate to waiting, and patience are the themes at play in my newest book for children,” Curtis said in a statement released Thursday by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers. The actor had previously released her children’s stories through HarperCollins.“The seed for this book was planted when I saw my 4-year-old neighbor, Betty, on Christmas Eve 2020 and I said ‘Santa is on his way!’ She scolded me and said, ‘No Jamie, one more sleep, then Santa.’ That moment of her literal truth gave birth to this lovely book, which I hope will resonate with all families with young children,” Curtis said.She will again team with illustrator Laura Cornell, who worked with Curtis on “Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born,” “Today I Feel Silly” and several other picture sto...

Ex-Venezuelan spy chief Carvajal is extradited from Spain to US on drug trafficking charges

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Venezuela’s former spy chief, retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, is being extradited from Spain to New York on Wednesday to face drug trafficking charges, an official with knowledge of the case and his lawyer said.A person at Spain’s National Court with knowledge of the extradition confirmed to The Associated Press that Carvajal had left the country. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.According to his U.S. lawyer, Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, Carvajal is expected to land in New York later on Wednesday.For more than a decade, Carvajal advised the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez before breaking with his successor Nicolás Maduro. He had been fighting extradition to the U.S. since he was arrested in Spain in April 2019.Prosecutors in New York allege that Carvajal used his high office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms (12,300 pounds) of cocaine from Venezuela to Mex...

City council members to propose plan to eliminate sub-minimum wage for tipped workers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:44 GMT

CHICAGO — City leaders will propose a plan that would eliminate what's known as a sub-minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers.The ordinance is one of the several key issues to be addressed during Wednesday's City Council meeting.Currently, tipped workers are paid several dollars less than other minimum wage wworkers.Supporters are calling this "One Fair Wage." Basically, it would give restaurants two-years to get all tipped workers up to the city's minimym wage — which is currently at $15.80 per hour, plus any tips they earn.However, negotiations on when restaurants would be required to hit the new minimum are ongoing. Restaurants have been struggling to retain workers since the pandemic. Supporters say this would help the staffing shortage. Northwestern University president announces new measures amidst hazing scandal The president of the Illinois Restaurant Association told the Chicago Sun-Times his members are divided on the idea. He does fear piling on more ordinances will ...