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Pakistan officials consider a new way to boost polio vaccination: prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Authorities in one Pakistan province are turning to a controversial new tactic in the decades-long initiative to wipe out polio: prison. Last month, the government in Sindh introduced a bill that would imprison parents for up to one month if they fail to get their children immunized against polio or eight other common diseases.Experts at the World Health Organization and elsewhere worry the unusual strategy could further undermine trust in the polio vaccines, particularly in a country where many believe false conspiracies about them and where dozens of vaccinators have been shot and killed. Adding to the problems faced by experts trying to persuade people of the vaccines’ safety: The oral vaccines themselves now cause most polio cases worldwide.WHO’s polio director in the Eastern Mediterranean warned the new law could backfire. “Coercion is counterproductive,” said Dr. Hamid Jafari. He said health workers have typically succeeded in raising immunization rate...

Reaparece una cueva submarina y las ruinas de un pueblo por bajo nivel del agua en un lago en Texas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

(CNN) — Los niveles de agua son tan bajos en Canyon Lake en Texas que están reapareciendo una cueva submarina y restos de comunidades que se encontraban en el lugar hace más de un siglo.El lago, ubicado en el condado de Comal, al noreste de San Antonio, es un lago artificial que abarca 3.318 hectáreas acres con 128 km de costa. Fue construido en 1958 para ayudar a mitigar las inundaciones y preservar el agua y se llenó de agua en 1968, según el Cuerpo de Ingenieros del Ejército de EE.UU.La zona ha experimentado pocas lluvias durante el verano. La sequía combinada con las altas temperaturas produjo niveles de agua bajos sin precedentes. El miércoles, el nivel cayó a 271 metros, según el Cuerpo de Ingenieros del Ejército de EE. UU., que según la agencia es aproximadamente cinco metros por debajo de lo normal y el nivel más bajo registrado en la historia reciente.JM Pérez capturó imágenes el martes que muestran la cueva, que suele estar bajo el agua. Dijo que el raro avistamiento...

Live updates | Europe leads 5 of the opening 7 singles matches at the Ryder Cup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — Europe is leading five of the seven singles matches that are underway at the Ryder Cup on Sunday.Viktor Hovland is 3 up over Collin Morikawa through six holes, while Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton are all 1 up in their matches.Only Patrick Cantlay (1 up over Justin Rose through 5) and Brooks Koepka (1 up over Ludvig Aberg through 1) have leads for the Americans.Europe leads 10½ to 5½ and needs to win only four points from the 12 singles matches to regain the cup.___Patrick Cantlay is still being targeted by fans at the Ryder Cup following a report that he wants to be paid to play in golf’s biggest team event.“Money, money, money” and “Cheat” were some of the shouts heard from the massive grandstand surrounding the 1st tee at Marco Simone before Cantlay’s singles match against Justin Rose on Sunday.Cantlay responded by making a 25-foot putt for a birdie on the par-4 2nd to go 1 up over Rose.The report alleged that C...

Feta Fried Eggs / Belkys

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

Who doesn’t love a quick and tasty breakfast? That’s what’s on the menu today… as we grab a bite with belkys….Ingredients: 1 egg1/3 cup Feta CheeseRed pepper flakes to tastePepper to tasteMethod of Preparation: Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Crumble in Feta- about 1/3 cup around the perimeter of the pan. Crack an egg in the middle. No salt is needed because Feta is salty. Season to taste with pepper and red pepper flakes.Cover the pan and cook, lowering the heat if necessary, until the white is set and yolk is still a little runny and the cheese is crispy. Cook longer if you like your egg well done.You can serve as is or on a crispy tortilla or piece of toast.Enjoy!

Trump goes on trial Monday before a judge who just ruled he’s a fraud

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

NEW YORK — Donald Trump is set to go to trial Monday in New York’s civil lawsuit accusing him of extensive business fraud — and while his formal courtroom adversary is the state attorney general’s office, he’ll also be facing off against the judge.In some ways, the trial is the culmination of months of antagonism between the former president and Justice Arthur Engoron, a Democrat who was elected to his current post as a Manhattan trial judge in 2015. The outcome of the nonjury trial will be entirely up to Engoron, who will make his decision on the heels of a series of fierce disputes with Trump.And in a surprise, Trump may attend the trial in person — a plan revealed by lawyers late last week. If Trump follows through and appears in court, he’ll be sitting just a few feet away from a man he has publicly derided as “deranged.”Last week, Engoron delivered a ruling that may obliterate Trump’s family business. Engoron found Trump liable for widespread fraud and revoked the licenses for ...

Germany backs China’s aid bank despite Canada’s concerns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

Germany said it will continue supporting a Chinese state-backed development bank despite G7 partner Canada’s decision to freeze ties due to Beijing’s influence.After meeting China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Frankfurt on Sunday, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner pledged to support the Beijing-based Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the world’s second-largest multilateral development bank, after the World Bank.The backing comes at a crucial time as Lindner’s Canadian counterpart, Chrystia Freeland, announced in June that all ties with the bank were to be frozen pending a government review over claims made by a former Canadian top executive at the bank, who reported widespread “communist dominance” within the institution since its foundation in 2016 — allegations that AIIB denies.Lindner indicated Berlin would “continue strengthening coordination” with Beijing on the AIIB, according to a German-Chinese joint state...

Student loan payments restart in October. Here’s what borrowers should know

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

Washington (CNN) — For the first time in more than three years, federal student loan borrowers will be required to pay their monthly student loan bills starting in October.The pandemic-related pause, which went into effect in March 2020, provided relief to nearly 44 million borrowers by freezing their accounts.After several extensions by both the Trump and Biden administrations, the pause has finally expired after Congress prohibited the president from extending it another time.Restarting payments all at once for so many borrowers will be an unprecedented task. Here’s what borrowers need to know:When do payments restart?For most borrowers, the first payment will be due sometime in October – but not everyone has the exact same due date.Borrowers can expect to receive their bill, listing their payment amount and due date, at least 21 days beforehand.Those who graduated in the spring do not have to make payments until the grace period expires, usually...

Local 6-year-old battling leukemia to take part in Jimmy Fund Walk year after diagnosis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

6-year-old Ben Currier is a fighter. He was diagnosed with leukemia last September.“We just thought he had a cold, and we took him to the pediatrician’s and ultimately ended up at Children’s for additional lab work,” his mom Lisa Currier said. “He was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It sort of just came out of nowhere.”During some of the most intense treatment last fall, his family remembers one shining moment. When hundreds of people walked with a purpose for the Jimmy Fund, the Currier family went to the sky bridge between the Dana-Farber building and the Jimmy Fund Clinic, waving to the crowd below.“I think seeing the amount of support that’s behind pediatric cancers and how big of a community it really is gave us some really positive encouragement in a very vulnerable moment for our family,” said dad Blake Currier. “I think that we really had a goal at that point that we wanted to contribute because of the community that wa...

Drying out and warming up

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

Good morning! It’s a cool start with filtered skies. Today begins our drying and warming trend. Temperatures head near 80° this week! Rain stays away until next weekend.Luckily, today is a dry day, as ridging aloft builds into New England. Unfortunately, that weather setup is also allowing Canadian wildfire smoke to filter our skies. The smoke is aloft so it won’t impact our air quality, but still make for milky skies. High temperatures rebound to the upper 60s/low 70s inland. Temperatures will stay in the 60s on the coast with a northeasterly breeze this afternoon.The dry stretch continues through the work week. Look at those temperatures! See you at the beach on Tuesday, anyone?Today we turn the calendar page into October. Here’s what this month’s weather typically has in store for us. Today’s average high is 67°, sunrise is at 6:41 am and sunset at 6:26 pm. By the end of the month, our average high temperature falls into the upper 50s. Our mornings s...

Azerbaijan issues warrant for former separatist leader as UN mission arrives in Nagorno-Karabakh

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:19 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general issued an arrest warrant for ex-Nagorno-Karabakh leader Arayik Harutyunyan Sunday as the first United Nations mission to visit the region in three decades arrived in the former breakaway state.Harutyunyan led the breakaway region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but was largely populated by ethnic Armenians, between May 2020 and last month, when the separatist government said it would dissolve itself by the end of the year after a three-decade bid for independence.Azerbaijani police arrested one of Harutyunyan’s former prime ministers, Ruben Vardanyan, on Wednesday as he tried to cross into Armenia along with tens of thousands of others who have fled following Baku’s 24-hour blitz last week to reclaim control of Nagorno-Karabakh.Harutyunyan and the enclave’s former military commander, Jalal Harutyunyan, are accused of firing missiles on Azerbaijan’s third-largest city, Ganja, during a 44-da...