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Lawmaker calls for national ban on children’s toy due to health risks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

(CNN) — Government officials, public health professionals and concerned parents are calling on Congress to ban water beads, a children’s toy that they say poses significant health risks.In a news conference Monday, Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey announced that he will be introducing a bill at the House of Representatives this week aimed at instating a national ban on beads marketed to kids.“They are specifically marketed to kids. In a single small package you can have 25, 50, or even 75 thousand of these beads and it just takes one to cause harm to a child,” said Pallone. “They are not labeled as dangerous to small children, there’s no warning, and they’re not hard to get.”However, Pallone said that product warnings are not enough. “We have to ban them because there’s absolutely no way to ensure through any kind of education that they’re going to be safe or that that kids won’t handle them after they’ve fallen on the floor,” he added.Water beads are tiny balls made...

Manslaughter arrest in death of hockey player whose neck was cut with skate blade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

SHEFFIELD, England (AP) — Police in England arrested a man Tuesday on suspicion of manslaughter in the death of American ice hockey player Adam Johnson, whose neck was cut by a skate during a game.Johnson, 29, was playing for the Nottingham Panthers against the Sheffield Steelers in a Champions Cup game Oct. 28 when the blade cut his neck.South Yorkshire Police did not name the suspect or provide his age. He was in police custody.The player who cut Johnson’s neck was Matt Petgrave, 31, who plays for Sheffield.“Our investigation launched immediately following this tragedy and we have been carrying out extensive inquiries ever since to piece together the events which led to the loss of Adam in these unprecedented circumstances,” Detective Chief Superintendent Becs Horsfall said.Fans had a moment of silence for Johnson at the Steelers next game and gave Petgrave a standing ovation.Johnson was a Minnesota native who appeared in a total of 13 NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins ...

Sacked Suella Braverman says Rishi Sunak has ‘betrayed the nation’ over immigration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

LONDON — Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused Rishi Sunak of betraying his “promise to the nation” on immigration, in an excoriating letter sent just a day after she was sacked by the U.K. prime minister.In her first intervention since being ousted by Sunak, Braverman — popular on the right of the Conservatives and seen as a future leadership contender — said the prime minister had “manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver” on a host of pledges.She accused him of “wishful thinking” over his flagship pledge to cut the numbers of people crossing the English Channel in small boats, and painted the prime minister as having “put off tough decisions in order to minimize political risk to yourself.”Those policies include Sunak’s key pledge to “Stop the Boats.” Braverman’s punchy intervention comes on the eve of a major Supreme Court judgment on whether the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to ...

Olympics is gonna suck for Parisians, French minister admits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

France’s Transport Minister Clément Beaune on Tuesday acknowledged road traffic would be “difficult” in Paris during the Olympics next summer.“On competition days, driving around in Paris will be difficult,” Beaune admitted while speaking to representatives from the restaurant and hospitality industries, who rely on road traffic for deliveries, according to French newswire Agence France-Presse.Beaune said he would present traffic plans for the Olympics “by the end of November, very early in December at the latest,” but warned these would be “hardcore.”“There will obviously be exemptions, specific rules for professionals,” the minister said, adding there would be an “information campaign” to make sure “we have a little less unnecessary travel […] during the Games.”Paris is bracing to welcome around 16 million tourists during the 2024 summer Olympics, sparking concerns over the authorities&...

Footprints in the snow lead rescuers to Rocky Mountains hiker wearing a cotton hoodie with no way to warm themselves

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

(CNN) — A hiker who was unprepared for conditions at over 13,000 feet up in the Colorado Rockies was rescued when searchers followed footprints in freshly fallen snow to find them “alive but very hypothermic,” rescuers said.“When inclement weather moved in the hiker found themself unprepared; out of water, with no food, wearing only a cotton hoodie and no way to warm themselves,” Chaffee County Search and Rescue North said in a news release.“With darkness approaching and hypothermia setting in the individual decided, rather than take the same way down the best plan was to bail down an avalanche chute to try to get to a road.”An avalanche chute is a natural path down a slope created by frequent avalanches.About 25 search and rescue team members deployed to search for the hiker as a severe snowstorm blew in, according to the news release.Around 12:42 a.m. Thursday, a team member spotted footprints in 6 to 8 inches of freshly fallen snow, and began to foll...

Man arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over death of ice hockey player Adam Johnson, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

(CNN) — A man has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following the death of ice hockey player Adam Johnson last month, South Yorkshire Police said in a statement on Tuesday.Johnson died after sustaining a cut to the neck while playing for the Nottingham Panthers against the Sheffield Steelers in England on October 28.A Sheffield coroner’s report found that the 29-year-old “sustained an incised wound to the neck caused by the skate of another player” and later died in hospital as a result of the injury.“Our investigation launched immediately following this tragedy and we have been carrying out extensive enquiries ever since to piece together the events which led to the loss of Adam in these unprecedented circumstances,” detective chief superintendent Becs Horsfall said in a police statement.“We have been speaking to highly specialised experts in their field to assist in our enquiries and continue to work closely with the health and safety department a...

Biden says a deal to free hostages held by Hamas is ‘going to happen’ as officials say they are nearing an agreement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

(CNN) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he believes a deal can be reached to release hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, voicing optimism as officials tell CNN prolonged talks to free hostages are nearing an agreement.“I’ve been talking with the people involved every single day. I believe it’s going to happen. But I don’t want to get into detail,” Biden told reporters at the White House.A senior US official familiar with the talks told CNN on Tuesday that Israel and Hamas are moving closer to a deal to secure the release of hostages taken during the Hamas attacks on Israel in exchange for a sustained, days-long pause in fighting.The official stressed that while the parties have inched closer to striking a deal, the talks remained volatile and could still break down: “It’s closer but it’s not done.” One European diplomat on Monday expressed optimism that some hostages could be released in the coming days or weeks.The broad parameters that are currentl...

Government shutdown looms yet again: What you need to know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

By Anna Helhoski | NerdWalletFour days are left until the government faces another shutdown.A government shutdown would stop or reduce operations for national parks, benefits verification, food inspections and more. It would also send millions of federal workers home without pay for the duration.All that is on the line unless Congress passes crucial budget appropriations or agrees on another funding extension. The latter may be more likely with this bunch.What you need to knowCongress must fund 12 key appropriation bills in order to fund the government for its new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.A last-minute stopgap was passed Sept. 30 and extended government funding through Nov. 17.Come Nov. 18, the government shuts down.The looming shutdown is a test for newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said at a press conference Tuesday that the House GOP conference “had a very refreshing, constructive, family conversation” on the options on the table to prevent a shutdown. He added...

Deadline looming for Scripps Health patients with Medicare Advantage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Scripps Health is dropping out of the Medicare Advantage program at the end of the year.It’s a move affecting 32,000 people in San Diego County who have Scripps Clinic and Scripps Coastal primary care doctors under several health plans.Patients recently received shocking notices and now have less than a month to decide what to do with their coverage.“We have till December 7th to make a decision. After December 7th, it's locked in for January 1st," said John Mendoza, an independent health insurance broker in El Cajon. "There's some PPO plans that will offer that availability to keep their doctors, if they're willing to pay out-of-network costs.”Mendoza says those typically range from $150 to $400 a month, depending on age.It’s a bitter pill to swallow for those who haven’t had to pay anything. Two popular ice-skating rinks opening this week for the holiday season “I have a list of people that have these networks and now they're pulling their hair out -- some of these p...

11 ex-police officers sentenced in 2021 killings of 17 migrants and 2 others in northern Mexico

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A court in Mexico sentenced 11 former police officers to 50 years in prison each for the 2021 slayings of 17 migrants and two Mexican citizens, authorities said Tuesday.The ex-officers were convicted earlier this year of homicide and abuse of authority. A 12th officer was convicted only of abuse of authority and sentenced to 19 years in prison, said Assistant Public Safety Secretary Luis Rodríguez Bucio.The officers were members of an elite police group in the northern state of Tamaulipas, across the border from Texas. They had initially argued they were responding to shots fired and believed they were chasing the vehicles of one of the country’s drug cartels, which frequently participate in migrant smuggling. Police had burned the victims’ bodies in an attempt to cover up the crime. The bodies were found piled in a charred pickup truck in Camargo, across the Rio Grande from Texas, in an area that has been bloodied for years by turf battles between the...