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POLITICO Pro Morning Health Care: WHA Ukraine resolution — Shaping healthy markets — Psychedelic MEPs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

Presented by PPTABy HELEN COLLISwith ASHLEIGH FURLONG, SARAH-TAÏSSIR BENCHARIF and JOANNA ROBERTSPRESENTED BY View in your browser or listen to audioSNEAK PEEK— A majority of World Health Organization member countries are likely to send a political signal to Russia today that war is not acceptable.— Markets need to be proactively and collaboratively shaped to prioritize human and planetary health, says new WHO report.— MEPs join forces to form an action group on the medical use of psychedelics.Welcome to Wednesday’s Morning Health Care! Trying to eat less meat? Take a leaf out of this plant’s book. A rare species of vine found in West Africa is a part-time carnivore. Scientists have discovered it produces sticky nodules on its leaves to trap bugs — but only when nutrients in the soil are lacking. Get in touch: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]. Tweet us @hcollis, @carlomartu, @a...

Hassen: Why the Hollywood writers strike matters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

Every television series or film begins and ends with writers. They pen the iconic lines that actors deliver, like “Just one more thing,” “There’s no crying in baseball!,” and “Rosebud.”Good stories, like good lines, can last for generations. But for the writers who create them, just making it to the next paycheck has become a struggle.Writers are facing an existential crisis. According to the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the median weekly pay for writers declined 23 percent over the last decade after adjusting for inflation.With the rise of streaming, the big studios are having no trouble maximizing their profits. But streaming productions tend to pay less than traditional film and TV, and with less stable employment due to shorter seasons. Streaming has also taken a huge chunk of revenue writers could once count on from broadcast TV reruns.That’s the context behind this spring’s WGA strike. With 11,500 writers walking out, it’s  Hollywood’s first strike in 15 years. If the studi...

How Celtics stuck together after a humiliating Game 3 loss to keep their season alive

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

MIAMI — The Celtics had a choice of two paths to follow after Sunday’s embarrassing Game 3 loss put them in a hole that no team in NBA history has ever overcome in 150 tries. They could have given in to what seemed inevitable, or fought for their lives.They chose the latter. And after looking so lost and so disconnected in a Game 3 loss, the Celtics came together on Tuesday night.In order to do so, they had to make sure they were on the same page. After their convincing 116-99 victory in Game 4 on Tuesday night, Jaylen Brown revealed the Celtics “galvanized” together the night before. But the Celtics star didn’t say exactly what transpired.“Just all together,” Brown said. “Don’t got to share no details, just we all together at some point during the day yesterday, we was all together as a team, and we wanted to come out and do what we did tonight.”But 24 hours after a humiliating defeat threatened to suddenly end the Celtics’ championship dreams and send them into a summer full...

Surveillance video shows armed man run from downtown San Diego shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Police are on the hunt for a gunman who opened fire on two victims at San Diego Central Library in downtown Tuesday, killing one of them. FOX 5 got access to surveillance video showing a man with a gun running from the scene moments after the shooting.Surveillance footage from Hob Coffee shows customers running from their seats. Moments later, an individual wearing a ski mask with a gun in hand is seen running away.“There was some sort of interaction right in the foyer of the library, right at the entrance, during which our suspect produced a firearm, began firing at the people over there,” said San Diego Police Homicide Unit Lieutenant Jud Campbell. “Obviously striking two of them.”The shooting took place in broad daylight just after noon right outside the library near Petco Park. Neighbors captured cell phone footage showing officers rendering first aid to save the victims’ lives. Sadly, one man died at the scene. Carlsbad High assistant principal shares opposi...

South Korea to conduct satellite launch as North Korea pushes to fire its 1st military spy satellite

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea was set to launch its first commercial-grade satellite Wednesday as rival North Korea pushed plans forward to place its first military spy satellite into orbit.The South Korean satellite will be launched by a domestically made rocket under the country’s space development program. Seoul officials say its launch has no military purpose, but many experts say it will eventually help South Korea acquire technologies and knowhow required to operate military surveillance satellites and build more powerful missiles.The Nuri space launch vehicle was scheduled to lift off early Wednesday evening from a launch facility on a southern South Korean island, if no unexpected weather or other problems occur at the last minute, according to the Science Ministry.Aboard the rocket are the main satellite, called “Next Generation Small Satellite 2,” and seven other smaller, cube-shaped satellites. The main one is tasked with verifying imaging radar technology and obs...

Seeking asylum and work, migrants bused out of NYC find hostility

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

NEWBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Before he left Mauritania, the West African nation of his birth, Mohamed thought of New York as a place of “open arms,” a refuge for immigrants fleeing dire circumstances.Now that he’s here, seeking political asylum from a government he feared would kill him, he doesn’t feel welcome. The 19-year-old has become a pawn in an escalating stand-off between New York City and suburban and upstate communities, which are using lawsuits, emergency orders and political pressure to keep people like him out.Mohamed is one of about 400 international migrants the city has been putting up in a small number of hotels in other parts of the state this month to relieve pressure on its overtaxed homeless shelter system. Some of the relocated asylum seekers say they now regret leaving the city, pointing to a lack of job opportunities and resources to pursue their asylum cases, as well as a hostile reception.“It’s better in New York City,” Mohamed said. “There, no one cursed at...

Israel’s Netanyahu and allies pass new budget with sweeping grants for settlements, ultra-Orthodox

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Wednesday passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda.While the budget could buy Netanyahu some quiet inside his coalition of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties, Israel’s most hard-line ever, it also was expected to deepen the divisions in Israel. Critics have accused Netanyahu of increasing spending on his ultra-Orthodox allies for religious programs that have little benefit for the economy and broader society.The vote dragged on overnight, with the budgets for 2023 and 2024 finally passing with a 64-56 vote in parliament after daybreak. It followed weeks of tense negotiations between Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition. “We have received the tools, we’re rolling up our sleeves and going to work,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the vote.” The new ...

Pills flowed for years as DEA dragged feet on disciplining opioid distributor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping highly addictive painkillers for nearly four years after a judge recommended it be stripped of its license for its “cavalier disregard” of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis.The DEA did not respond to repeated questions from The Associated Press about its handling of the case against Morris & Dickson Co. or the involvement of a high-profile consultant the company had hired to stave off punishment and who is now DEA Administrator Anne Milgram’s top deputy.But the delay has raised concerns about how the revolving door between government and industry may be impacting the DEA’s mission to police drug companies blamed for tens of thousands of American overdose deaths.“If the DEA had issued its order in a timely manner, one could then credibly believe that its second-in-command was not involved despite an obvious con...

New Zealand’s central bank raises key interest rate to 5.5% but signals next move will be a cut

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate again Wednesday to 5.5% but signaled its next move would be a cut, sparking a sell-off in the currency.Wednesday’s quarter-point rate rise was the 12th straight hike imposed by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand since October 2021. But for the first time since the tightening cycle began, the bank projected the next move would be a cut, which would likely come later next year. The projection was more dovish than markets had expected and caused the New Zealand dollar to drop by more than 1% to trade at a little below U.S. 62 cents. Like many central banks around the world, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has been raising rates to try and tame inflation, which in New Zealand has fallen from a recent peak of 7.3% last June to 6.7%.That remains well above the bank’s target inflation rate of around 2%.New Zealand’s unemployment rate remains low at 3.4%, putting upward pressure...

Big Temp Drop Wednesday—But Warmth Makes a Comeback for the Memorial Day Weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:06:24 GMT

HERE'S A PLOT OF ESTIMATED PEAK WIND GUSTS Wed through Wed night indicating local 30 mph peak gustsMuch cooler day expected Wednesday afternoon—nowhere more so than along Lake MichiganPredicted mid-afternoon Wednesday temperaturesHow much cooler than same period Tuesday afternoon??Longer Range: Developing Blocking Pattern Across The Eastern U.S. Traps High Pressure Responsible For The Cool-down Setting The Stage For The Warm-up Through The Memorial Day Weekend And Temps Which Near 90° Inland Next WeekThe chill (by May standards) due to sweep into the Chicago area behind the Wed morning frontal passage will hold several days. That's the period Chicago is to sit beneath the WINDY southern flank of a Canadian high pressure system. But this high stalls under the developing upper air blocking pattern and slow warming will begin beginning Friday afternoon and will continue into next week. The air mass is to remain dry here which means nights will be cool. But dry air heats nicely during t...