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Battenfeld: Kelly Ayotte making Massachusetts poster child for failed, liberal policies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

Whether it’s a winning strategy for Kelly Ayotte to attack Massachusetts in her New Hampshire gubernatorial campaign remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: she’s already putting Gov. Maura Healey on the defensive.The superficial, knee-jerk analysis is that the former U.S. senator is positioning her Granite State against Massachusetts, but in fact she’s using the Bay State as a poster child for failed, ultra-liberal policies.If you asked most people in New Hampshire if they would rather live in Massachusetts, they’d come back with a resounding no.The only people defending Massachusetts are the politicians and their apologists in the press corps.As Healey desperately tries to position herself nationally by putting up billboards and attacking Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida, she still must defend the direction Massachusetts is heading, and that’s increasingly difficult.While it’s true some New Hampshire residents commute to jobs in Massachusetts, they choose to call the Granite State...

Wind-tossed boat with dozens of people aboard overturns in Philippines, search and rescue underway

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine passenger boat carrying dozens of people, including children, overturned Thursday after being lashed by strong wind in a town southeast of Manila and search and rescue efforts were underway, the Coast Guard said.The MBCA Aya capsized when its passengers moved to one side of the boat when it was battered by fierce wind about 46 meters (151 feet) from Kalinawan village in Binangonan town in Rizal province, the coast guard said.The Coast Guard said it was trying to validate social media reports of dozens of passengers being rescued or drowning.Typhoon Doksuri moved on Thursday after battering the northern Philippines and enhancing seasonal monsoon rains in a large swath of the archipelago. At least nine people were killed, mostly due to landslides, flooding and toppled trees and thousands were displaced, disaster response officials said.Sea travel was suspended in many ports during Doksuri’s onslaught from Tuesday to Wednesday, stranding th...

Church sex abuse revelations are unwelcome distraction as Pope Francis visits scandal-hit Portugal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — When a panel of experts read aloud some of the harrowing accounts they had collected from recently discovered victims of child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church, the country’s senior bishops squirmed in the auditorium’s front-row seats.During a live television broadcast, the experts reported in February that at least 4,815 boys and girls had been abused since 1950, most aged 10-14. Before the stunning findings, senior Portuguese church officials had maintained there had been only a handful of cases of clergy sex abuse. They lost even more credibility with a response so clumsy and hesitant that victims were inspired to form Portugal’s first survivor advocacy group to press for compensation.Pope Francis will wade into the quagmire of Portugal’s reckoning with its legacy of clergy abuse and cover-up when he arrives in Lisbon next Wednesday to participate in World Youth Day, the international Catholic youth rally. While there is no mention o...

Indonesian President Widodo arrives in China and plans talks with Chinese leader Xi

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived Thursday in China and planned to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.The two will discuss investments and “various strategic projects for Indonesia and China,” including in trade and health, as well as regional and global issues, Widodo said in a statement.During his three-day visit, Widodo will also meet with Chinese businesspeople to discuss possible investments in Indonesia, especially in the petrochemical, renewable energy and health sectors, the statement added.Widodo is to attend the opening of the FISU World University Games in Chengdu in southwestern China. Indonesia is, along with China, a member of the Group of 20 major developed and emerging economies. China is Indonesia’s largest trade and investment partner.Indonesia wants a bigger role as a supplier of nickel and other raw materials to China’s fast-growing electric car brands.The Associated Press

Greek wildfires reach the outskirts of Athens. EU agency records a huge spike in carbon emissions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

RHODES, Greece (AP) — Wildfires reached the outskirts of Athens on Thursday as strong gusts of wind caused flare-ups around Greece, disrupting highway traffic and rail services.The fires have raged across parts of the country during three successive Mediterranean heat waves over two weeks, leaving five people dead, including two firefighting pilots, and triggering a huge evacuation of tourists over the weekend on the island of Rhodes.Water-dropping helicopters and a ground crew scrambled early Thursday to a blaze in Kifissia, just north of Athens, which was quickly put out.Near the central city of Volos, a wildfire burned on two fronts, forcing a section of Greece’s busiest highway to close for several hours, while national rail services passing through the area were delayed.Firefighters also battled flames on Rhodes for a 10th successive day, while flare-ups were reported on the island of Evia.Wildfire carbon emissions for July in Greece were the highest by a huge margin — totaling...

Ukraine eases its sports boycott policy to compete against some Russians ahead of Olympics

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has signaled it will no longer bar its athletes from competing against Russians who are taking part in sporting events as “neutral athletes,” a significant easing of its boycott policy a year before the Paris Olympics.A decree dated Wednesday says Ukrainian athletes and teams will only be required to boycott if competitors from Russia or Belarus are competing under their national flags or other symbols, or have signaled allegiance to either of those countries in another way.The change in policy could smooth the way for Ukrainians to compete at next year’s Paris Olympics. Ukrainian athletes previously boycotted events which allowed Russians and Belarusians as “Individual Neutral Athletes,” the preferred term of the International Olympic Committee.It wasn’t immediately clear how the decree would be implemented in practice, but at least one leading Ukrainian athlete competed against a “neutral” Russian competitor on Thursday.Olympic champi...

EU opens antitrust investigation against Microsoft over Office and videoconferencing Teams bundling

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union announced Thursday that it opened a formal antitrust investigation targeting Microsoft into the software company’s Teams messaging and videoconferencing app over concerns that its bundling with its Office productivity software suites gives it an unfair edge over competitors. The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top competition enforcer, said that it would carry out its in-depth investigation “as a matter of priority.”The investigation stems from a complaint filed in 2020 by Slack Technologies, which makes popular workplace messaging software. Slack, owned by business software maker Salesforce, alleged that Microsoft was abusing its market dominance to eliminate competition — in violation of EU laws — by illegally combining Teams with its Office productivity software suite.“Remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams have become indispensable for many businesses in Europe. We must therefore ensure that the markets fo...

Russian helicopter crashes in Siberia, killing 6 people on board and injuring 7

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A helicopter crashed in Russia’s Siberia on Thursday, killing six of those on board and injuring seven, Russian emergency officials reported. The Mi-8 helicopter in the Altai Republic in southern Siberia caught fire as it was landing and brushed against a power line, the Altai branch of Russia’s Emergency Ministry said. It put out a statement online that carried a photo of the chopper’s wreckage on fire. Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the country’s civilian aviation regulator Rosaviatsia, that the helicopter belonged to a private company and was carrying a group of tourists. The total number of people on board is unclear. According to RIA Novosti, a total of 12 passengers and three crew members were on board, but the Emergency Ministry put the total number on board at 13. The conflicting reports could not be immediately reconciled. The Mi-8 is a two-engine helicopter designed in the 1960s. It has been used widely i...

Shell earnings top $5 billion. But that’s nearly half what it pulled in months ago

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

Shell reported Thursday that it earned nearly $5.1 billion in the second quarter, nearly half what the oil and natural gas giant pulled in during the first three months of the year as energy prices have plunged. The British energy company said its adjusted earnings followed lower oil and gas prices, production and trading. The figure was down from $11.5 billion in the same period a year ago and $9.6 billion in the first quarter.Oil and gas prices surged last year after Russia invaded Ukraine, fueling inflation around the world and driving record profits for energy companies, including Shell, British rival BP and others. Prices have since fallen amid weak global economic growth and other factors, leading to lower earnings.“Shell delivered strong operational performance and cash flows in the second quarter, despite a lower commodity price environment,” CEO Wael Sawan said in a statement.The financial earnings have become a political flashpoint in Britain, spurring calls from opp...

‘The Hardy Boys’ stars on nostalgia and appeal of the show as it enters final season

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:00 GMT

TORONTO — As YTV’s “The Hardy Boys” enters its final chapter, the show’s stars say they’re proud of the way the latest screen adaptation of the classic book series has bridged generations of fans since its 2020 debut. “I remember scrolling down a few IMDb reviews and I saw a whole paragraph and it was this guy who went into so much detail about how he’s 60 years old and grew up reading the books and that he now gets to share it with his kids,” said 18-year-old Toronto actor Alexander Elliot, who plays Joe Hardy, the younger of the two titular teenage brothers and amateur mystery solvers.“That kind of just melted my heart and the ability to reach every part of that legacy is really special.”Rohan Campbell,the 25-year-old Alberta-bornactor who plays older brother Frank Hardy, said the show’s appeal — much like recent TV and film iterations of older stories and pop culture phenomena — comes down to nostalgia.“I can’t imagine how cool it must be as a ...