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Human trafficking: The EU’s fight against exploitation 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

Learn how the EU is strengthening anti-trafficking rules to respond to changes in the way people are being exploited, Society.What is human trafficking? Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit Human trafficking factsEvery year more than 7,000 victims of human trafficking are registered in the EU, although the actual figure is likely to be much higher as many victims remain undetected.The majority of victims are women and girls, but the number of men is on the rise particularly as forced labour. Types of human traffickingReasons for human trafficking include:Sexual exploitation - victims are predominantly women and children.Forced labour - victims primarily from developing countries, forced to work in labour-intensive jobs, or kept in domestic servitude.Forced criminal activities - victims must carry out a range of illegal activities. Vi...

DePetris: Biden and Xi aim to meet as U.S., China try to get on same page

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

With all eyes on Gaza, a recent series of meetings in Washington between senior U.S. and Chinese officials was slightly overlooked by the news cycle. Those sessions, however, have the potential to bring President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping into the same room as soon as mid-November, when the U.S. is due to host an economic conference in San Francisco.The last time Biden and Xi met for in-person talks was during the November 2022 G20 leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia. Those discussions were a seminal event, not because of anything the two agreed to but rather because the meeting happened at all.The previous month, the U.S. slapped strict export controls on advanced technology to China, which Chinese officials up and down the Communist Party bureaucracy strongly condemned as a transparent attempt to stifle the Chinese economy and undermine Beijing’s rise as a great power. Several months before that, in August 2022, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the House...

Word Game: Nov. 3, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — ARMORED (ARMORED: ARM-erd: Wearing a defensive body covering for combat.)Average mark 31 wordsTime limit 40 minutesCan you find 40 or more words in ARMORED? The list will be published tomorrow.YESTERDAY’S WORD — FORTHRIGHT fight firth fort forth fright frog froth rift right rigor riot roti thigh thrift tight tort trig trio trot troth high gift girth grift gritTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.Contact Word Game creator Kathleen Saxe at [email protected].

Get a sneak peek of Intercontinental Miami’s 28th annual Make-A-Wish Ball

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

The 28th annual Intercontinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball is a combination of art, fashion, music, and wishes. Every year tries to top the next and it’s going down this Saturday. Deco sat down with the brains of this creative night to hear all about it. Here’s an exclusive sneak peak with gala chair Shareef M. Malnik, with actress and filmmaker, Gabrielle Anwar.Wish to see Sting in person? Wish granted. He’s leaving his mark as the headliner for Intercontinental Miami’s Make-A-Wish Ball. Shareef: I’ve been asking Sting to perform for the last five years. Someone asked me this year, why do you keep asking him? I asked because one day he’s going to say yes and he did say yes this year. We have two missions here. One is that we want to raise as much money as possible, but the most important mission is that people have such a great time they want to come back next year.And this year’s theme is?Shareef: Oculus is the theme. So, think “James B...

Whipping Winds Set to Wane Soon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

It sure has been a windy past 24-36 hours across South Florida following a front that crossed through midweek and high pressure building in across the eastern US.The area will remain positioned in a windy setup again this Friday with not much of a change to the pattern, providing sustained winds of 10-30 mph out of the northeast and gusts up to 35 mph.A Wind Advisory does remain in effect for coastal Miami-Dade and Broward Counties until 8PM Friday for those stronger gusts.These winds will also continue to rough up the seas, with a High Surf Advisory in effect for the Broward beaches through Friday evening for breaking waves up to 6-8 feet.As far as the forecast is concerned Friday, the morning will feature brighter skies with a mix of sun and clouds, then more clouds start to move onshore from the east during the afternoon and evening hours. By sunset, areas of light rain could develop but the day overall should be dry.High temperatures will be a degree or two warmer than on Friday...

Youth tobacco use rates declined slightly in US, but ‘work is far from over,’ health officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

(CNN) — Overall tobacco use among youths dropped slightly, by about 1%, since last year, largely driven by declines in e-cigarette use among high schoolers, according to data released Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey.The new report finds that about 10% of students in those grades — or 2.8 million youth — reported using any type of tobacco product during 2022-2023.Overall current tobacco use dropped among high school students, from 16.5% to 12.6%, and about 580,000 fewer high schoolers reported currently using e-cigarettes.But among middle school students, overall tobacco use increased from 4.5% to 6.6%, and and use of multiple tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, increased from 1.5% to 2.5%. E-cigarette use among middle school students stayed about the same as last year, the report says.“E-cigarettes remained the most commonly ...

Humza Yousaf’s in-laws cleared to escape Gaza via Rafah crossing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf’s parents-in-law have been given permission to use the Rafah crossing out of Gaza today after weeks trapped in the war zone. The Scottish National Party leader’s in laws Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla were in Gaza when Hamas launched its surprise attacks on Israel on October 7, stranding them in the region. Yousaf announced earlier this week that they had run out of clean water. The couple live in Dundee, Scotland, and were staying with relatives including several young grandchildren during the blockade. Elizabeth El-Nakla and her daughter Nadia — Yousaf’s wife — had described the deteriorating conditions in Gaza during their ordeal.The Rafah crossing into Egypt opened for the first time Wednesday, with a list of foreign passport holders permitted to use the route agreed following a deal between Israel, Egypt and Hamas brokered by Qatar. A limited number of wounded Palestinian civilians were also permitted to enter Egypt through the...

Massive Russian drone attack hits Ukraine infrastructure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

Russian forces launched a barrage of drones at Ukraine overnight, damaging critical infrastructure across the country.In the early hours of Friday, Russia attacked Ukraine with about 40 Shahed drones and one X-59 aviation missile, targeting several regions including Kharkiv, Odesa, Kherson and Lviv, Ukrainian officials said.Ukraine’s air force said they shot down the missile and 24 of the drones, which were launched “in waves and headed in different directions in small groups,” according to a post on Telegram.“We are strengthening air defense and mobile fire groups,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the attack. “As winter approaches, Russian terrorists will try to cause more harm. We will be fighting back.”Officials said there were no reported casualties in the aftermath of the attack, but several facilities — including critical infrastructure and civilian and commercial buildings — were damaged throughout the country.In the northeastern region of Kh...

Enbridge records Q3 profit as it awaits approvals for U.S. gas utility acquisitions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

CALGARY — Enbridge Inc. says its most recent quarter delivered a profit of $500 million as it announced the acquisition of three U.S. gas utilities.The Calgary-based pipeline giant says its second-quarter profit compared with $1.3 billion a year earlier.Enbridge’s third-quarter profit amounted to 26 cents per share for the quarter ended September 30 compared with 63 cents per share in the same quarter a year earlier.On an adjusted basis, Enbridge said it earned 62 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 67 cents per share a year earlier.The results cover the period when Enbridge entered into three agreements with Dominion Energy, Inc. to acquire The East Ohio Gas Company, Questar Gas Company and its related Wexpro companies, and Public Service Company of North Carolina for US$14.0 billion.Enbridge says the acquisitions are still subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals but are expected to close in 2024.This report by The Canadian Press was first published ...

Winds from Storm Ciarán whip up a wildfire in eastern Spain as 850 people are evacuated

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:00 GMT

MADRID (AP) — A wildfire abetted by storm winds in eastern Spain has burned some 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of land and forced the evacuation of 850 people from four towns, officials said Friday. Some 200 firefighters and army emergency unit soldiers were deployed to try to extinguish the day-old blaze near the eastern town of Montitxelvo. The regional government of Valencia said it hoped five water-carrying planes and helicopters would be deployed in the operation. Regional president Carlos Mazón called on people to avoid travel in the area or activities in forests that could start fires. State news agency Efe said winds in the zone reached some 120 kph (75 mph) overnight. Mazón describe the winds as the main element fueling the fire in the mountainous and wooded terrain. The fire comes as Spain, like much of Europe, continues to face heavy rains and gales from Storm Ciarán. However, the rain and low temperatures have not helped prevent the wildfire.Spain has been suffering a dro...