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Italian conductor Muti to visit Syrian refugee camp

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Italian conductor Riccardo Muti plans to visit Syrian musicians living in the vast Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan on the sidelines of his annual Roads of Friendship concert series that aims to use music to build bridges and help those affected by war.Muti will conduct Italian and Jordanian musicians in concerts set in ancient Roman amphitheaters in Jerash, Jordan, on July 9 and the Pompeii archaeological site on July 11, for the 27th Roads of Friendship concert series.The concerts will pay homage to the “generosity of the Jordanian people” for taking in millions of Syrian refugees fleeing civil war in the neighboring country, the Ravenna festival announced Thursday. While in Jordan, Muti plans to visit the Zaatari camp, a symbol of the long-running Syrian refugee situation and home to about 80,000 refugees nearly 11 years after it was set up near the Syrian border.He and a delegation from the Ravenna Festival will meet with musicians among the Syrian diaspora, bringing ...

Embraer: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil (AP) — SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil (AP) — Embraer SA (ERJ) on Thursday reported a loss of $70.8 million in its first quarter.On a per-share basis, the Sao Jose Dos Campos, Brazil-based company said it had a loss of 39 cents. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to 48 cents per share.The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 3 cents per share.The plane and jet manufacturer posted revenue of $716.7 million in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ERJ at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ERJSource

Look up to the sky for 3 space events this weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

(CNN) — With bright meteors blazing across the sky from the Aquariids meteor shower and a chance to see a lunar eclipse, Friday will be the time to look up to the sky for a day of spectacular celestial events.Anyone venturing out to spot a meteor with this year’s Aquariids show could see up to 20 meteors per hour, but you’ll have to be up early — the best times to try to see a meteor will be just before dawn on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The event’s estimated peak time is at 11 a.m. ET Saturday.Alongside the shower comes the May flower moon, the first full moon of the “month of flower,” and its almost perfect alignment with the sun and Earth. That alignment will create what is known as a penumbral lunar eclipse, which is when the moon enters Earth’s outer shadow. This event will be between 11:13 a.m. and 3:31 p.m. ET Friday but won’t be visible in the Americas because the moon isn’t up then. But it will cause a dimming of the lu...

UK-Australia trade deal will come into force this month

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

LONDON – The U.K.’s bilateral trade deals with Australia and New Zealand will come into force this month, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set to meet the leaders of both nations tomorrow in London.Both deals will be implemented from May 31, with all tariffs on U.K. goods exports set to be dropped by Australia and New Zealand.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted Thursday that the U.K.-Australia agreement was a “good thing for both countries,” despite previous concerns by Sunak about the impact of the deal on British farmers.British farming unions have rallied against the deals as they will eventually give Australian and New Zealand producers of products like sheep and beef unfettered access to the British market.Previous U.K. government estimates suggested Britain’s food and farming sectors will suffer due to the Australia and New Zealand trade deals, while Sunak said in the Tory leadership contest last year that the agreements were “one-sided” against the U.K....

Italy’s foreign minister cancels Paris trip amid new diplomatic spat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

PARIS — Italy’s Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday canceled at the last minute an official visit to Paris following comments made by France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Rome’s migration policy. “Offenses to the government and Italy by the minister Darmanin are unacceptable. This is not the spirit in which common European challenges should be addressed,” Tajani wrote in a tweet, saying that he would not attend a dinner meeting with his French homologue Catherine Colonna in Paris planned for Thursday evening.Earlier on Thursday, Darmanin told RMC radio that the “far-right” Italian government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was “incapable of resolving migration problems.”On Thursday afternoon, before Tajani canceled his trip, France’s foreign affairs ministry tried to avert a new diplomatic crisis with a statement, stressing that Paris wants to work with Rome “in a spirit of solidarityR...

China’s club for talking to Central Europe is dead, Czechs say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

China’s exclusive club for engaging with Eastern and Central European countries is defunct, the Czech foreign minister told POLITICO on Tuesday.Jan Lipavský’s comments position the Czechs firmly in the camp of the U.S., dealing a potentially devastating blow to the 11-year-old so-called 14+1 initiative, which Beijing once hoped would revive relations with former Soviet states. Speaking after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Lipavský said: “I thanked the U.S. on their strategic leadership on China. I assured Secretary Blinken that we are ready to work with them within the European framework. The 14+1 has neither substance nor future.”Asked if Prague will formally withdraw, Lipavský added through a spokesman: “We are not an active member. We won’t speculate on any possible steps that we might choose to take.”According to a readout from the U.S. State Department, Blinken and Lipavský “discussed shared concerns about the Pe...

EPP pitches itself as farmers’ party ahead of 2024 European election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

The center-right European People’s Party is pitching itself as the defender of farmers and rural interests ahead of next year’s European election, doubling down on its disapproval of EU green policies.The conservative group, the largest in the European Parliament, has been campaigning against two key Green Deal proposals: new rules on pesticides and nature restoration that they say threaten the EU’s long-term food security.The Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation aims to slash chemical pesticides use and risk by half by 2030, while the Nature Restoration Regulation calls for the EU to restore at least 20 percent of the bloc’s degraded areas by the end of the decade and all sites in need of restoration by 2050. The Commission’s objective is for both proposals to become law before the 2024 European election.The EPP argues that these goals are too steep and will put an unfair burden on farmers at a time when they’ve been asked to boost food production ...

Last of 4 escaped Mississippi detention center inmates captured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

(CNN) — The last of four men who escaped from a Mississippi jail last month was taken into custody Thursday morning, according to an update from the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office.Escapee Corey Harrison was taken into custody by the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office and the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force at a residence in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, the update said.According to the sheriff’s office, a female acquaintance was also arrested and is facing charges stemming from the investigation surrounding the inmates’ escape.Corey Harrison was taken into custody at a residence in Crystal Springs, Mississippi. Credit: Hinds County Sheriff’s OfficeOne of four Mississippi jail escapees, Dylan Arrington, was found dead April 26 in a burned home in Carthage, Mississippi, the Hinds County sheriff said.Escapee Jerry Raynes was captured in Spring Valley, Texas, a day later.And authorities said Casey Grayson was found dead in New ...

Boston doctors performed brain surgery on a baby before she was born and now she’s thriving

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

(CNN) — A team of doctors in Boston successfully performed a novel fetal surgery to treat a rare brain condition known as vein of Galen malformation.Although in utero surgery — performed before a baby is born — has been used for other conditions, this ultrasound-guided procedure was among the first for this condition. Details of the procedure, which took place in March, were published in the journal Stroke on Thursday.The condition occurs when the blood vessel that carries blood from the brain to the heart, also known as the vein of Galen, doesn’t develop correctly. The malformation, known as VOGM, results in an overwhelming amount of blood stressing the vein and heart and can lead to a cascade of health problems.“Tremendous brain injuries and immediate heart failure after birth are the two big challenges,” Dr. Darren Orbach, a radiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and expert in treating VOGM, told CNN.Typically, infants are tr...

Frankfurt to Dubai in 90 minutes? Europe enters the hypersonic plane race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:16 GMT

(CNN) — It’s now been two decades since the era of supersonic commercial flight ended with Concorde’s final touchdown in an airfield in southwest England.In recent years, numerous pretenders to the throne — supersonic, hypersonic, hydrogen-powered, with anti-boom technology — have been whizzing round, conceptually at least, but many of these projects promising seamless super-fast travel have instead stalled, sputtered out or hit delays.Now a European hypersonic startup is having a go, promising enticing journey times such as Frankfurt to Sydney in 4 hours 15, or Memphis to Dubai in 3 hours 30.The Destinus concept is hydrogen-powered flight at five times the speed of sound, cutting flight duration to less than a quarter of current commercial air travel.Headquartered in Switzerland with a team of around 120 staff spread out in Spain, France and Germany, Destinus was established in 2021 but has been hitting milestones fast. Its first two prototypes have ma...