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South Boston beach remains closed after $31.2M renovation; residents boil

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

Southie residents are steaming over the $31.2 million renovation of the Curley Center.As temperatures soar, residents can’t cool off behind the new digs at the L Street Beach, as its called.It looks like the beach will stay closed for at least the next week, if not longer, as the city’s Conservation Commission still needs to approve a beach operation and management plan that the state has already signed off on.The commission is scheduled to meet July 19, and City Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy says officials have not responded to a request for an emergency hearing to expedite the opening.If the commission held a meeting earlier than next Wednesday, the beach could reopen shortly after, Murphy told the Herald on Tuesday. But a city spokesperson refuted that claim, saying the threatened piping plover bird species continues to stand in the way of access.Murphy requested the emergency meeting in a letter last week to Conservation Commission Executive Director Elena Itämeri. The co...

Howie Carr: Lucky 28 towns get migrants … guess who doesn’t?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

The Healey administration has released a list of the 28 cities and towns where it is spending millions on hotels and motels for thousands of handout-demanding illegals arriving from the Third World.Oddly, however, almost all the ultra-affluent suburban communities most loudly committed to celebrating diversity have thus far been unable to provide suitable free housing for the new non-working classes.The illegals are not being sent to, among other millionaire destinations, Cambridge, Brookline, Newton, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Chatham, Swampscott, Newburyport, Wellesley, Dover, Sherborn, Amherst….Do you begin to get the picture?These melanin-impaired preserves of the Beautiful People all have Hate Has No Home Here signs festooned on every lawn.  Yet oddly they somehow remain unaffected by the Democrats’ ongoing “fundamental transformation” of America into a Third World flophouse.To sum it up, the self-proclaimed sanctuary cities and towns are no-shows when it comes to providing ...

OBF: Just when you thought the Sox were out of it, they pull you back in

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

LAS VEGAS – It was 110 here Tuesday But it’s a dry heat. In much the same way a blizzardoften buries everything with light and fluffy snow covering a sheet of ice. Or in the way the furyof those nuclear weapons once detonated north of the city only sent mild doses of radiationtoward The Strip.Las Vegas continues to evolve. New and colorful ways to take your money are everywhere.Lights and mayhem mask the losses while aggravating your hangover. The decibel never dropsbelow “What Did You Just Say?” They need to mask the sound of all that digital cash beingvacuumed up by casinos, hotels, sports books, and other forms of entertainment.The lights are darkest at the dawn. Morning is the ugliest time of the day here. Those who workbehind the scenes are either coming home from or heading into another day of work at thetables, in the kitchen, at the desk, behind the counter, or cleaning up the mess left from thenight before.Sunshine remains the ultimate disinfectant. It cannot, sadly, do muc...

Ripples of Fukushima: Hong Kong to ban more Japanese products if radioactive water is released

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong would immediately ban the import of aquatic products from Fukushima and other Japanese prefectures if Tokyo discharges treated radioactive wastewater into the sea, a top official in the city said Wednesday. Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said although the wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant would be treated before discharging into the Pacific Ocean, any errors in the process would significantly affect ecology and food safety. The concern stems from Japan’s U.N.-endorsed, but controversial, plan to gradually release the treated water. “Our assessment shows prefectures near Fukushima have higher risks, so we are now taking a responsible way for our residents,” he told reporters at a briefing. The 10 affected territories are Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, he added. A massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s cool...

Raging conflict in Sudan displaces over 3.1 million people, UN says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A raging conflict in Sudan has driven more than 3.1 million people from their homes, including over 700,000 who fled to neighboring countries, the United Nations said Wednesday, amid growing concerns that the country is sliding into a “full-scale civil war.”Sudan has plunged into chaos since mid-April when monthslong tensions between the military and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the northeastern African nation.The conflict derailed Sudanese hopes of restoring the country’s fragile transition to democracy, which had begun after a popular uprising forced the military’s removal of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. A coup, led by the military and RSF, disrupted the democratic transition in October 2021.More than 2.4 million people have fled their homes to safer areas inside the country, according to the International Organization for Migration. Around 738,000 others...

EU fines US firm Illumina $475 million for jumping gun on buying cancer-screening company Grail

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday slapped a $475 million fine on U.S. biotech giant Illumina for buying out cancer-screening company Grail without the approval of the 27-nation bloc’s antitrust watchdog, the latest setback for the deal.Illumina announced an $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail in 2020, but the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said the company broke the bloc’s merger rules by completing the deal without its consent. The EU had announced last year that it was blocking the merger, saying it would hurt competitors.“If companies merge before our clearance, they breach our rules. Illumina and Grail knowingly and deliberately did so by implementing their tie-up as we were still investigating,” said EU antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. “This is a very serious infringement.”Regulators worldwide have taken aim at the deal. The Federal Trade Commission ordered Illumina to reverse the buyout after finding it would “stifle compet...

Medical and aid groups in northwest Syria fear worse conditions if aid flow from Turkey stops

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

IDLIB, Syria (AP) — Youssef al-Ramadan says he always feels guilty for having to put his wife and three children to work in order to survive — and now they might not be able to get by since international aid could stop flowing from Turkey. Standing outside his tent in a displacement camp in northern Idlib, he is worried that their income might not be sufficient to make ends meet if the United Nations Security Council cannot renew a humanitarian border crossing that has been a critical lifeline for him and some 4.1 million people in Syria’s rebel-held northwest. The vast majority live in poverty and rely on aid to survive.On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council failed to renew the Bab al-Hawa border crossing into opposition-held northwestern Syria from Turkey. Russia, a key political and military ally of President Bashar Assad, vetoed a compromise resolution presented by Brazil and Switzerland that would renew the crossing’s mandate for nine months. With the exception of Ch...

Tom Cruise surprises Toronto audience at screening of new ‘Mission: Impossible’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

Moviegoers at a public advanced screening of the latest summer blockbuster got the cameo of a lifetime on Tuesday afternoon.Days after making local headlines for commenting on how bad the city’s traffic is, Tom Cruise was able to brave the gridlock and navigate his way to Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Toronto to introduce his new film ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.’Maurie Sherman from KiSS 92.5’s Roz and Mocha Show was in the crowd and captured the moment the actor stunned audience members at the matinee screening with a surprise appearance alongside the film’s director Christopher McQuarrie.The one and only #TomCruise surprised an audience at a Toronto screening of @MissionFilm Dead Reckoning Part 1 today!! @damnitmaurie was there and captured this video! #MissionImpossible #SpecialGuest #Toronto pic.twitter.com/QgXJ6ik3Wm— KiSS 92.5 (@KiSS925) July 11, 2023The full theatre erupted into applause when the star walked across the f...

Edmunds: 5 hidden automotive gems that no one buys

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

In the new car market, there exist some hidden gems — excellent vehicles with a lot to offer that are overlooked by many shoppers. These vehicles provide a distinct combination of qualities that make them an attractive choice. They may be underappreciated because of branding misconceptions or vehicle type or overshadowed by popular models, but they can potentially please savvy shoppers who want to stand out from the usual mainstream choices. Edmunds explores five of these hidden gems, shedding light on the X factor that makes them special. We list our choices by price and include destination. MAZDA 3 HATCHBACK Mazda’s compact 3 isn’t a top seller, but it offers a trio of qualities that most small cars don’t: distinctive styling, a refined interior and a pleasing driving experience. Its somewhat high price tag is one reason for its low sales, but we think you’re truly getting your money’s worth here.The Mazda 3’s base engine makes a respectable 191 horsepo...

Palestinian president visits Jenin refugee camp after devastating Israeli military raid

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp Wednesday in the wake of a devastating Israeli offensive last week, marking his first visit to the camp since 2005.The visit came at a time of seething discontentment among Palestinians in the West Bank for Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, the autonomous government which administers parts of the West Bank but whose forces have largely lost control over several militant strongholds in the region — including Jenin.The 87-year-old president is widely seen as out of touch with the public and rarely ventures outside of his Ramallah headquarters, making Wednesday’s visit notable.The Palestinian leader’s visit to the Jenin refugee camp came a week after Israel launched a massive two-day military operation there, the largest in the West Bank in nearly two decades, that killed at least 12 Palestinians, forced thousands to flee their homes and left large swaths of the camp ...