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Ben Wallace is quitting as UK defense secretary. Here’s who might replace him

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

LONDON — Ben Wallace is on the way out as U.K. defense secretary. Attention is already turning to who comes next.Wallace — whose international reputation has been bolstered by the war in Ukraine — announced in a Sunday Times interview that he will resign as defense chief and eventually quit British politics altogether.The jostling to replace him has already started — with prominent Tories well aware that helming the Ministry of Defence during war-time can do wonders for your reputation. Here are the runners and riders to be the next person in charge of U.K. defense.John GlenMuch of Wallace’s tenure was marked by tension between the MoD — pushing to increase capacity — and the bean counters at the Treasury, determined to keep the country’s multibillion-pound defense budget in check.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could always resolve that tension by … installing a bean counter at the MoD. One name in the frame is John Glen, currently second-in-command to Chancellor Jerem...

Second Alzheimer’s drug to slow disease’s progression may be approved in the US this year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

(CNN) — The full approval this month of the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi marked a historic shift in the treatment of the disease: For the first time, doctors have a medicine to prescribe that has been proven to slow the loss of memory and ability to do daily tasks that Alzheimer’s brings.A second drug may join Leqembi — known as lecanemab before it got its brand name — on the market by the end of the year: Eli Lilly’s donanemab.It was shown in May and in fuller Phase 3 clinical trial results released at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Monday to delay the disease’s progression. Lilly said in a news release that it had completed its US Food and Drug Administration submission for the drug, and expects regulatory action by year’s end.More than 6 million Americans are estimated to have Alzheimer’s disease, with about 1 million estimated to be in the early symptomatic stages where these drugs have shown benefit. But even though the medicines ar...

Spotlight on judge in Trump documents case intensifies following controversial earlier ruling

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

By ERIC TUCKER and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON (Associated Press)MIAMI (AP) — A month after former President Donald Trump was charged with mishandling classified documents, the judge presiding over the case is set to take on a more visible role as she weighs competing requests on a trial date and hears arguments this week on a procedural, but potentially crucial, area of the law.A pretrial conference Tuesday to discuss procedures for handling classified information will represent the first courtroom arguments in the case before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon since Trump was indicted five weeks ago. The arguments could provide insight into how Cannon intends to preside over the case while she also confronts the unresolved question of how to schedule Trump’s trial as he campaigns for president.Those issues would be closely watched in any trial involving a former president. But Cannon could face additional scrutiny in light of a much-dissected ruling she issued last year that gr...

Mets outlast rain, walk-off Dodgers in 10 innings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

It took a four-hour rain delay and extra innings, but the Mets managed to salvage a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field with a 2-1 walk-off win.Luis Guillorme pinch-hit to lead off the 10th with the Mets sending him out to bunt. His first two went foul against right-hander Nick Robertson (0-1), but it didn’t matter. He ripped a double down the right side to score the automatic runner and halt the Mets’ losing streak at four games.“The bunt didn’t really work,” Guillorme said. “Then he just threw one in to me and I tried to get out of the way but that didn’t work out either. All I was trying to do was get a ground ball to the right side. It worked out.”Max Scherzer pitched seven innings of one-hit baseball against his former team, holding them scoreless while striking out six and walking three in a performance that manager Buck Showalter called “outstanding.”Scherzer finally managed to ge...

Dylan Cease earns first win since May as the Chicago White Sox top the Atlanta Braves 8-1 to take the series

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

Dylan Cease is a native of Milton, Ga., which is about 25 miles from Truist Park.With an estimated 30 to 40 people he knew in the stands, the Chicago White Sox starter faced the Atlanta Braves for the first time in his career Sunday.“It was really cool,” Cease said. “I never went to Truist growing up, I was always at Turner Field. But it’s still great to pitch at my hometown ballpark.”Cease received a ton of offensive support on the way to his first victory since May 23, as the Sox topped the Braves 8-1 in front of 40,174.The win capped one of the better series of the season for the Sox. They took two of three for their first series victory since June 23-25 against Boston and their first one on the road since June 6-8 at Yankee Stadium.“Our bats were there, we played great defense, our pitching was solid,” Cease said. “It’s one of those series that shows the kind of talent we have.”Saturday, the Sox snapped Atlanta’s ...

Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher as earnings season ramps up

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is edging higher Monday ahead of a week full of updates about where profits for big U.S. companies are heading. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in midday trading, coming off its seventh winning week in the last nine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 65 points , or 0.2%, at 34,574, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.Stocks elsewhere around the world slipped after China reported weaker economic growth for the spring than economists expected. Its recovery following the removal of anti-COVID restrictions has fallen short of forecasts. While that’s helped to limit inflation globally, it’s also diluted a main engine of growth for the world’s economy.The weak data from the world’s second-largest economy helped weigh on crude prices, with benchmark U.S. oil slipping 0.8% to $74.82 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.9% to $79.16 per barrel. The hope among investors is that the disappointing fig...

Nicolas Cage to skip Fantasia Festival in Montreal due to SAG-ACTRA strike

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

MONTREAL — A Montreal film festival says Nicolas Cage will no longer make an appearance due to the Hollywoodactors’ strike.Cage had been set to receive the career achievement award at the Fantasia International Film Festival, which celebrates genre cinema such as horror and science fiction.Cage’s latest film, “Sympathy for the Devil,” is to premiere at the festival on Saturday, but he will no longer be in attendance. The performers union SAG-AFTRA began a strike last Friday, and its rules prohibit members from promoting studio films.In a notice on its website, Fantasia says it will provide regular updates about other SAG members who had planned to attend.The festival, which runs from July 20 to Aug. 9, says it supports the actors, as well as the striking Writers Guild of America, and hopes the unions get a fair deal soon.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2023.The Canadian Press

Hollywood plunges into all-out war on the heels of pandemic and a streaming revolution

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — To get a sense of just how much animosity is flying around Hollywood these days, watch how Ron Perlman responded to a report that the studios aimed to prolong a strike long enough for writers to lose their homes.Perlman, the hulking, gravel-voiced actor of “Hellboy,” leaned into the camera in a since-deleted Instagram live video to vent his anger. “Listen to me, mother-(expletive),” Perlman said. “There’s a lot of ways to lose your house.”Three years after the pandemic brought Hollywood to a standstill, the film and TV industry has again ground to a halt. This time, though, the industry is engaged in a bitter battle over the how streaming — after advancing rapidly during the pandemic — has upended the economics of entertainment.Having weathered plague, Hollywood is now fully at war in its own “Apocalypse Now” double feature. When tens of thousands Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artist hit the picket lines last week, joining 11,000 WGA...

Key Russian bridge to Crimea is struck again, with Moscow blaming Kyiv for attack that killed 2

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia — An attack before dawn Monday damaged part of a bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea that is a key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine, forcing the span’s temporary closure for a second time in less than a year. Two people were killed and their daughter was injured. Vehicle traffic on the Kerch Bridge came to a standstill, while rail traffic across the 19-kilometer (12-mile) span also was halted for about six hours.The strike was carried out by two Ukrainian maritime drones, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.Ukrainian officials were coy about taking responsibility, as they have been in past strikes. But in what appeared to be a tacit acknowledgment, Ukrainian Security Service spokesman Artem Degtyarenko said in a statement that his agency would reveal details of how the “bang” was organized after Kyiv has won the war.The bridge previously was attacked in October, when a truck bomb blew up two of its sections and required ...

1 dead and 50 injured in a bus crash on a major highway in southeastern Czech Republic

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:00 GMT

Two buses collided on a Czech highway in the southeast of the country, killing at least one person and injuring about 50, officials said on Monday.One of the bus drivers was killed, police said, according to preliminary information from the site.The regional rescue service said the accident took place near the second-largest Czech city of Brno, on the D2 highway.Some of the seriously injured people were transported by helicopters to nearby hospitals, it said.Police said the highway that links Czechia with the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, had to be closed in both directions. Long lines of traffic formed on the highway, causing delays.An investigation into the cause of the crash is now underway. Prague, The Associated Press