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Why is the British government fighting its own COVID inquiry?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

THE HIGH COURT, London — Britain’s inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic has barely begun, but it’s already locked in a legal fight with the government. Friday marked the first day in what one lawyer present described as an “ultra-technical” battle between the Cabinet Office, a key government department, and the inquiry which ministers themselves ordered. In a sweltering Royal Courts of Justice, members of the public — including families of those who lost loved ones in the pandemic — heard the two sides trade blows over what exactly the inquiry gets to see.Set up by Boris Johnson in May 2021 to start the following spring, the government and its inquiry started butting heads in April of this year when Baroness Hallett — the inquiry’s chair and a former High Court judge — announced the Cabinet Office must hand over all un-redacted WhatsApp messages sent and received by Johnson between 1 January 2020 and 24 February 2022. That’s seen as the crucial s...

What to expect as Fourth of July holiday weekend travel gets underway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

Roads were already busy Friday morning as many people began holiday travels ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, this year.Americans are expected to set a record for travel this weekend, and some 1.2 million Massachusetts residents will hit the roads.Friday is expected to be the worst travel day, with the stretch from Boston down I-93 and Route 3 to Hyannis being the most congested route.Traffic is expected to hit its peak around 11 a.m., when AAA estimates traffic will be 63% higher than usual. The delays, estimates suggest, will translate to a trip time around 2 hours and 24 minutes.For those looking to beat the rush, AAA now suggests travelers hit the road after 6 p.m.In the Boston area, the HOV lane on I-93 between Boston and Quincy will be open starting at 1 p.m. The Sumner Tunnel, meanwhile, will be open this weekend before its planned nearly two-month closure begins on Wednesday of next week.At Logan Airport, there were few delays on Thursday even as many made th...

Supreme Court strikes down Biden administration’s student loan debt relief program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loans for millions of Americans.The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, effectively killed the $400 billion plan, announced by President Joe Biden last year, and left borrowers on the hook for repayments that are expected to resume by late summer.The court held that the administration needs Congress’ endorsement before undertaking so costly a program. The majority rejected arguments that a bipartisan 2003 law dealing with student loans provided the authority Biden claimed.

Alan Arkin, Oscar-winning ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ actor, dies at 89

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in comedy and drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for “Little Miss Sunshine,” has died. He was 89.His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father’s death through the actor’s publicist on Friday. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” they said in a statement.A member of Chicago’s famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” and peaked late in life with his win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit “Little Miss Sunshine.” More than 40 years separated his first Oscar nomination, for “The Russians are Coming,” from his nomination for playing a conniving Hollywood producer in the Oscar-winning “Argo.”In recent years he starred ...

Supreme Court rules for business owner who denied services to LGBTQ customers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a defeat for gay rights, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled Friday that a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples.The court ruled 6-3 for designer Lorie Smith despite a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith had argued that the law violates her free speech rights.Smith’s opponents warned that a win for her would allow a range of businesses to discriminate, refusing to serve Black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants. But Smith and her supporters had said that a ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their beliefs.“The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish,...

London prosecutor calls Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey ‘a sexual bully’ who preys on men

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

By BRIAN MELLEY (Associated Press)LONDON (AP) — Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey got a thrill preying on other men and escalated his behavior from touchy-feely advances to hostile fondling and worse, a prosecutor told jurors Friday during Spacey’s sexual assault trial in London.Spacey is “a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable — a sexual bully,” prosecutor Christine Agnew said in her opening statement. “His preferred method of assault is, it appears, to grab aggressively other men in the crotch.”Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges involving four men and allegations that date from 2001 to 2013, when he worked at London’s Old Vic Theatre. The charges include sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.The stakes for the American actor are high. A convicti...

The Supreme Court rules for a designer who doesn’t want to make wedding websites for gay couples

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

By JESSICA GRESKO (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — In a defeat for gay rights, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled Friday that a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples. The court ruled 6-3 for designer Lorie Smith despite a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith had argued that the law violates her free speech rights.Smith’s opponents warned that a win for her would allow a range of businesses to discriminate, refusing to serve Black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants. But Smith and her supporters had said that a ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their beliefs. Smith’s lawyer, Kristen Waggoner, said the Supreme Court was right to reaffirm that the government cannot...

Yankees’ Harrison Bader looking forward to St. Louis return

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

It didn’t take long for Jordan Montgomery to get a crack at his former team.The Yankees, in a surprising buzzer-beater deal at the deadline, sent the southpaw to St. Louis last Aug. 2 in exchange for Harrison Bader. Montgomery then made his Cardinals debut at home against the Yankees on Aug. 6. He held his former coworkers scoreless over five innings.While Montgomery shoved that day, Bader didn’t impact that game for his new squad, nor did he face his old one. The Yankees acquired the center fielder mid-recovery from plantar fasciitis, and he didn’t debut for his new team until September.Instead, Friday’s series-opener will be the first Cardinals game Bader appears in as an opponent, assuming he starts for the Yankees. It will also mark his return to St. Louis, where he spent the first 5.5 years of his career.“It’s gonna be really exciting,” Bader told the Daily News. “Obviously, I have a lot of history there. So just looking forward t...

French President Emmanuel Macron urges parents to keep teens at home to quell rioting, says many arrested are young

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron urged parents Friday to keep teenagers at home and proposed restrictions on social media to quell rioting spreading across France over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver that has resulted so far in the arrests of 875 people.After a second crisis meeting with senior ministers, Macron maintained that social media platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok played a “considerable role” in fueling copycat acts of violence during this week’s unrest.Macron said his government would work with technology companies to establish procedures for “the removal of the most sensitive content.” He did not specify the content he had in mind but said, “I expect a spirit of responsibility from these platforms.”French authorities also plan to request, when “useful,” the identities “of those who use these social networks to call for disorder or exacerbate the violence,” the president said.M...

DeSantis and Trump among the 2024 GOP hopefuls appearing at the annual Moms for Liberty gathering

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:11:35 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that 2024 will be the year that parents “finally fight back” as he kicked off the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a group that has fiercely opposed instruction related to race and gender identity in the nation’s classrooms.The two-year-old group, which was founded in Florida in 2021 to fight local COVID school mask mandates and quarantine requirements, has quickly become a force in conservative politics as an advocate for “parental rights” in education. But it has also been accused of preaching hate, with the Southern Poverty Law Center recently labeling it an “extremist” group for allegedly harassing community members, advancing anti-LGBTQ+ misinformation and fighting to scrub diverse and inclusive material from lesson plans. The conference has nonetheless drawn leading Republican presidential candidates, including DeSantis and former President Donald Trump, the race’s frontrunner, who is set to speak later Frida...