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Brussels’ big makeover: Green buildings, wider sidewalks and fewer parking spots

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

This article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities, a collaborative journalism project exploring the future of cities. Sign up here.BRUSSELS — For years Brussels has lagged behind other European cities when it comes to quality of life.While Paris, Vienna and Barcelona transformed their urban landscapes with new parks, sustainable housing projects and green superblock neighborhoods, Brussels maintained a somewhat unpolished image with its car-choked streets and concrete-heavy public spaces.But the city now hopes to shed that image with a radical new urban scheme known as “Good Living.” The city-building plan would make wider sidewalks, greener public spaces and sustainable buildings the norm across the Belgian capital, while prohibiting demolitions and progressively slashing on-street parking.In an interview with POLITICO, Brussels Secretary of State for Urbanism Ans Persoons, who oversees the scheme, said it would ensure “quality of life, qual...

Harvard President Claudine Gay requests new corrections as House panel launches plagiarism probe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

(CNN) — Harvard President Claudine Gay is back in the hot seat as the embattled leader requested additional corrections of her past work, and a House committee widened an existing probe of Harvard to include an investigation into allegations of plagiarism.In a statement to CNN on Thursday morning, a Harvard spokesperson said the university reviewed more of Gay’s academic work, and the president plans to update her 1997 PhD dissertation to correct additional instances of “inadequate citation.” But Harvard did not use the word “plagiarism” in its review of Gay’s work, and the university said Gay’s past mistakes did not constitute a punishable offense under its research misconduct rules.The new corrections, first reported by The Harvard Crimson, are on top of the ones Gay issued last week to two scholarly articles she wrote in the 2000s. But a review by CNN, which published Wednesday, found Gay’s previous requested corrections did not address even clearer ...

Cameron Diaz: ‘We should normalize separate bedrooms’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

(CNN) — He snores until the walls rattle. She gives off a massive amount of body heat. One of you is a cover hog, kicks at night or takes consistent 3 a.m. bathroom breaks. Maybe you sleepwalk or suffer from insomnia. Such nighttime disturbances are all too common, experts say.Even film star Cameron Diaz has an opinion on the matter, calling for separate marital bedrooms in a December 2023 podcast of “Lipstick on the Rim,” hosted by Molly Sims and Emese Gormley.“We should normalize separate bedrooms,” Diaz said, while discussing her marriage of eight years to Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden, whom she called “wonderful.”“To me, I would literally, I have my house, you have yours. We have the family house in the middle. I will go and sleep in my room. You go sleep in your room. I’m fine,” she said. “And we have the bedroom in the middle that we can convene in for our relations.”Sleep divorceMore and more couples are considering the merits of a “sleep divorce,” or the use o...

United States announces plan to land international astronaut on the moon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

(CNN) — Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that an international astronaut will be landing on the surface of the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.While the United States had previously committed to flying international astronauts around the moon on future Artemis missions, today’s announcement takes that commitment a step further by allowing one of them to actually walk on the surface of the moon — thereby joining an elite club that thus far has only 12 members.“Today in recognition of the essential role that our allies and partners play in the Artemis program, I’m proud to announce that, alongside American astronauts, we intend to land an international astronaut on the surface of the moon by the end of the decade,” Harris said Wednesday during a meeting of the White House’s National Space Council in Washington, DC. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security advisor Jake Sullivan also attended the meeting.Each planned Artemis moon-landing missio...

A Dutch court has sentenced a man convicted in a notorious Canadian cyberbullying case to 6 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Dutch man, who was convicted in British Columbia of charges including extortion and harassment related to a Canadian teenager who took her own life after he blackmailed her online, had his sentence cut Thursday by an Amsterdam court from 13 years to six.Aydin Coban wasn’t present in Amsterdam District Court for a brief hearing to announce the sentence. His lawyer, Robert Malewicz, said he would appeal the decision to the Dutch Supreme Court.Coban was extradited from the Netherlands to Canada in 2020 to stand trial on charges linked to Amanda Todd, who took her own life in 2012 at the age of 15 after posting a video that described being tormented by an online harasser. Coban was born in 1978, according to court documents, making him 44 or 45.He was sent to Canada on condition that his sentence would be served in a Dutch prison. That also meant that prison time imposed by the British Columbia Supreme Court last year had to be converted into a sentence in the N...

Good news: You can fix your broken stuff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. On the show we often deliver bad news, but that doesn’t mean that’s all the world is.In today’s Big Story, lots of companies make a tidy profit from the notion that you’ll throw out their products and buy new ones every so often. This applies to everything from clothes to appliances to electronics. But now, a growing community of millions of DIYers is rediscovering the lost art of repair, teaching others how to do it and fighting for the access and tools needed to make our stuff last, at long last.Allie Volpe is a senior reporter for Vox, where she wrote about this growing DIY repair movement. “The mindset here is: let’s keep this stuff out of the landfills, it’s better for the Earth, it’s better for your wallet, and you get to learn something in the process,” says Volpe...

Berlin film festival to honor Martin Scorsese for lifetime achievement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Martin Scorsese will be honored for his lifetime achievement at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, organizers said Thursday.The 81-year-old director, whose extensive work ranges from decades-old classics such as “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” to this year’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” will be given an honorary Golden Bear — the festival’s top award — on Feb. 20.“For anyone who considers cinema as the art of shaping a story in such a way that is both completely personal and universal, Martin Scorsese is an unmatched role model,” festival directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian said in a statement. They described Scorsese as “a good friend of the festival.”The festival noted that he “is also very committed to historical film heritage,” pointing to his support of extensive restoration work with the Film Foundation.Scorsese won the best director Oscar in 2007 for “The Departed.”The “Berlinale,” the first of the year’s ma...

Serbia opposition urges EU to help open international probe into disputed vote after fraud claims

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s main opposition group on Thursday urged the European Union to help open an international investigation into reported irregularities during last weekend’s election that have caused political tensions in the troubled Balkan nation seeking EU membership.The Serbia Against Violence group said in a letter to EU institutions, officials and member states that they won’t recognize the outcome of last Sunday’s parliamentary and local election. They called on the EU to do the same and initiate the inquiry.Early results showed victory for the Serbian Progressive Party of President Aleksandar Vucic in both ballots. But its main opponents, the Serbia Against Violence alliance, said they were robbed of a win in Belgrade. Vucic and other ruling party officials denied the claims of vote rigging and said they would do everything to “defend voters’ will of the people.”Vucic said Thursday that authorities in Serbia are compiling “an import...

Turkish central bank raises interest rate to 42.5% to combat high inflation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s central bank hiked its key interest rate by 2.5 percentage points on Thursday as part of its efforts to combat high inflation that has left many households struggling to afford rent and essential items.The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee raised its benchmark rate to 42.5%, delivering its seventh interest rate hike in a row to tame inflation, which rose to 61.98% last month.But the bank signaled that the rate hikes — which took borrowing costs from 8.5% to the current 42.5% — could soon end.“The committee anticipates to complete the tightening cycle as soon as possible,” it said. “The monetary tightness will be maintained as long as needed to ensure sustained price stability.”The series of rate hikes came after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — a longtime proponent of an unorthodox policy of cutting rates to fight inflation — reversed course and appointed a new economic team following his reelection in May.The team includes former Merrill Lynch ba...

Toddler found wandering alone on South Side: police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:14:57 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago police are asking for help to identify a child found alone on the city's South Side.Police said the toddler, who appears to be 2 or 3-years-old, was seen walking alone in the 100 block of West 107th Street in the Roseland neighborhood around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.The child is described to be about 31 pounds with dark brown straight hair, light complexion, hazel eyes and was found without shoes or pants. The toddler only speaks Spanish.According to police, he was transported to Roseland Hospital for a medical evaluation where doctors found him to be healthy with no signs of physical abuse. Vigil held for 5-year-old migrant boy who died at Chicago shelter Anyone who recognizes the child or has any information that would assist in locating his parents, please call 911 or contact the Area Two Special Victims Unit at (312) 747-8274.