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France and EU to spend 215 million euros shoring up struggling wine producers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

Paris (CNN) — The French government and the European Union will spend 200 million euros ($215 million) to help the country’s wine producers, who are struggling to cope with falling prices and waning demand.The French Ministry of Agriculture had initially allocated 160 million euros ($173 million) for the crisis program allowing certain growers to sell excess stock to distillers, who then turn it into other alcoholic products like hand sanitizer.High demand for the voluntary buyback program, which was announced in June, prompted authorities to stretch its budget to $200 million, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement Friday.France was, as of 2020, the world’s second-biggest wine producer and its biggest wine exporter. But the industry has taken a hit since the Covid-19 pandemic due to inflation and changing consumption patterns. Increasingly poor harvests due to climate change also threaten the future of French vineyards.A good harvest last year combined with the waning demand ...

5 times Rishi Sunak caved on Britain’s Energy Bill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

LONDON — It’s the Energy Bill, Rishi, but not as we knew it.On Tuesday, 14 months after it was first introduced to the British parliament, the government’s mammoth Energy Bill finally returns to the House of Commons for what is likely to be the last major set of votes before it becomes law.The bill contains reams of technical provisions that will underpin the management and regulation of the U.K.’s energy sector in the age of net zero.But it’s also become a lightning rod for internal Tory divisions over green issues — piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from both sides of the debate.In several key fights, Sunak and his ministers have yielded (or given the impression of yielding) by making substantial amendments to the bill, in a bid to head off damaging backbench rebellions.Here are five key issues the government has given ground on.Onshore windNew onshore wind turbines have effectively been banned in England since 2015, because of planning rules ...

Car crashes into Denny’s restaurant near Houston, injuring 23 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

ROSENBERG, Texas (AP) — A driver plowed through a wall of a busy East Texas restaurant, injuring 23 people.Police in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg, Texas said a man crashed his SUV into a Denny’s restaurant just off the highway late Monday morning. The vehicle slammed into the restaurant’s south wall leaving patrons with injuries ranging from minor cuts to “severe injuries” that don’t appear to be life-threatening, police said in a statement. Victims ranged in age from 12 to 60 years old.The driver of the SUV was not injured, police said. The cause of the crash was not immediately released.Video of the aftermath shows a red vehicle fully inside the restaurant, with the wall and windows around it demolished.

German tourist accused of damaging 16th-century statue in Florence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

(CNN) — A 22-year-old German man has been detained in Florence accused of damaging a statue in the 16th-century Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria, city authorities said in a statement.The city estimates the damage to the statue is around €5,000 ($5,400).The fountain features a statue of the Roman sea god Neptune atop a shell-shaped carriage pulled by horses.The tourist, who has not been named, scaled a protective barrier around the monument in the early hours of Monday and posed on the statue while two friends, who remained on the other side of the barrier, took photos of him, the city statement said, citing police officers who witnessed the event on surveillance footage.“According to the investigators’ reconstruction, after 1 o’clock this morning the tourist, in Piazza della Signoria with two other friends, climbed over the fence of the Neptune Fountain and climbed onto the edge of the pool,” the statement said.“With a jump he then ...

Inside the NFL Premieres September 5th!

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

Saudi Arabia, Russia plan to extend 1.3 million barrel a day oil cut through the end of the year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

By JON GAMBRELL (Associated Press)DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed Tuesday to extend their voluntary oil production cuts through the end of this year, trimming 1.3 million barrels of crude out of the global market and boosting energy prices. The dual announcements from Riyadh and Moscow pushed benchmark Brent crude above $90 a barrel in trading Tuesday afternoon, a price unseen in the market since November. The countries’ moves likely will increase the cost for motorists at gasoline pumps and put new pressure on Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the United States. President Joe Biden last year warned the kingdom there would be unspecified “consequences” for partnering with Russia on cuts as Moscow wages war on Ukraine. Saudi Arabia’s announcement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, said the country still would monitor the market and could take further action if necessary. “This additional voluntary c...

Authorities expand search area for killer who escaped Pennsylvania prison after latest sighting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Authorities have moved and expanded the search area for a convicted murderer who escaped from a suburban Philadelphia prison last week, after he was spotted on a trail camera at one of the nation’s premier botanical gardens.Danelo Cavalcante, 34, has been spotted five time since he escaped Thursday from the Chester State Prison. The most recent siting came Monday night at Longwood Gardens, where surveillance video captured him walking through the area with a duffel bag, backpack and hooded sweatshirt.That sighting led officials to move the search area farther south after they determined that Cavalcante had likely slipped through the original perimeter, but they said his movements show he’s feeling the pressure of the massive search and that his options are dwindling.The expanded search spurred two nearby school districts to cancel classes Tuesday as a precaution, and authorities urged residents to keep their homes and vehicles locked. They also asked ...

Texas AG Ken Paxton faces charges of corruption and bribery as his impeachment trial gets underway

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas — The gravest threat to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ‘s troubled career got underway Tuesday as the embattled Republican sat for an impeachment trial on charges of corruption and bribery that have shadowed one of state’s most powerful figures for years.The fate of Paxton, 60, is in the hands of GOP senators with whom he served before winning a statewide race to take charge of the attorney general’s office in 2015. The chamber includes his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, who can attend the trial but is barred from voting on whether her husband should be convicted or acquitted.Shortly before the historic proceedings began, Ken and Angela Paxton spoke for a few minutes on the Senate floor and shared a briefed kiss.Other senators were sworn-in one by one as Paxton supporters, many wearing red shirts, watched from the upper floor gallery that was about half full. Other onlookers cheered when impeachment managers who will present the case against Paxton entered the cham...

Why this presidential campaign may feel familiar to many Americans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The end of Labor Day weekend would typically mark the start of a furious sprint to the Iowa caucuses as candidates battle for their party’s presidential nomination. But as the 2024 campaign comes into greater focus, the usual frenzy is yielding to a sense of inevitability. Among Republicans, Donald Trump is dominating the primary field, outpacing rivals with resumes as governors, diplomats and entrepreneurs that would normally prove compelling. The former president’s strength comes despite — or perhaps because of — multiple criminal indictments that threaten to overshadow any serious debate about the future of the country. And for now, the tens of millions of dollars that Republican rivals are pouring into the race are doing little to diminish Trump’s stature, fueling concerns among his GOP critics who fear the primary is essentially over before it begins. As one troubled front-runner tightens his grip on the Republican nomination, President Joe Bid...

Biden nominates former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to serve as ambassador to Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has nominated former Treasury secretary Jacob Lew to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel, the White House announced Tuesday.Lew, who served as White House chief of staff and director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration, would succeed Ambassador Tom Nides.,who left the post in July. Lew also served as OMB director during the Clinton administration.If Lew is confirmed by the Senate, he will come to one of the highest-profile U.S. ambassadorships, with the Biden administration pushing for Israel and Saudi Arabia—two of the biggest Middle East powers but longtime rivals— to normalize their relationship.The effort to strengthen that historically fraught relationship comes after the Trump administration helped facilitate the “Abraham Accords,” normalizing relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.A normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, the most powerful and wealthy Arab state,...