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Luxembourg’s Bettel to return as foreign minister in new government

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

Luxembourg’s outgoing Prime Minister Xavier Bettel announced on Wednesday evening that his liberal Democratic Party (DP) had reached an agreement with the center-right Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) to form a government.The 50-year-old Bettel, who was rumored to be gunning for a top job in Brussels after nearly a decade in power, will remain in government as foreign minister and deputy prime minister, according to local media reports.Luc Frieden, the 60-year-old CSV leader, will head the new government as prime minister.A former finance minister and president of the Brussels-based business lobby Eurochambres, Frieden led CSV to a comfortable victory in the latest general elections in October, securing 21 out of 60 parliamentary seats.Meanwhile, the outgoing coalition — led by Bettel’s DP together with the Greens and the Socialists — won only 29 seats, short of a majority.Under the new coalition agreement, Bettel’s liberal DP will hold seven ministerial posit...

Crews reinstall lantern room at historic Scituate Lighthouse

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

After more than a year, the historic Scituate Lighthouse is once again whole.Crews used a crane to hoist the lighthouse’s newly-restored lantern room to the top of the structure Wednesday morning. The restoration is part of a larger restoration project at the lighthouse, which Town Administrator Jim Boudreau recently described as “the iconic place in Scituate.”“It’s been a lot of work,” said Bob Chessia of the Scituate Historical Society. “But it’s well worth it.”Boudreau said the tower itself is 200 years old. Its lantern room was installed in the 1930s. “Clad in copper and being on the ocean for 100 years, it took a beating,” Boudreau said. “So, that had to come off.”Crews removed the lantern room in October of last year and spent the past year fixing it at a cost of more than $2 million. “We just wanted to make sure that it was done right and would last well past our lifetimes,” Chessia said. Several people in Scituate gathered on Wednesday to see the start of a ne...

Reading police release photo of men accused of placing credit card skimmer in local Market Basket

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

Police in Reading released a photo Wednesday of two men accused of placing a credit card skimming device in a local Market Basket store.  Reading police shared details about their investigation a matter of weeks after a Market Basket security and loss prevention representative contacted investigators and one day after police in Concord, New Hampshire said they were investigating their own series of skimmer incidents. In Reading, police said the Market Basket loss prevention representative told authorities they had found a skimmer on a register on Oct. 26. “The device was located by Market Basket employees on the same day it was placed, and a review of data by the store’s IT department indicates that the device was located and removed before any sensitive data could be stolen,” police said. Reading police said a subsequent review of surveillance video showed one suspect distracted a clerk while another suspect placed the skimmer on the credit card machine.&n...

Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok must face teen addiction claims, federal judge rules

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

(CNN) — Major social media companies must face allegations that their services addicted teen users and caused other mental health harms after a federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion to dismiss the bellwether lawsuit filed by a wave of consumer plaintiffs.The decision is a blow to tech giants Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok, who claimed the case should be tossed out on First Amendment grounds and the argument that they are immune from liability under a hot-button legal shield known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.In her 52-page ruling, District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers held that while Section 230 and the First Amendment do shield the social media companies from some of the plaintiffs’ claims, including certain product defect allegations, others should be allowed to proceed.For example, Gonzalez Rogers permitted several product liability claims to move ahead that allege the companies failed to implement effective parental contro...

Justin Fields expected to start for the Chicago Bears at QB on Sunday in Detroit after a 4-game absence

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

The Chicago Bears plan to start Justin Fields on Sunday against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field — the quarterback’s first start in more than a month.Bears coach Matt Eberflus announced the plan before practice Wednesday at Halas Hall, saying Fields is “progressing well” from the dislocated right thumb that kept him out of four games.Eberflus said the practice would be “a big evaluation” as Fields does full-speed team reps after he was limited in practices and walk-throughs before this week. Fields suffered the injury Oct. 15 in the third quarter of a loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and rookie Tyson Bagent went 2-2 as the starter in his place.Now Fields returns with seven games to play in his third season — and a lot to prove to general manager Ryan Poles, Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy as they plot the team’s future at the position.Fields had good and bad performances in the six games he played before he was injured. He c...

Should you replace your roof with solar shingles?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

David McMillin | (TNS) Bankrate.comBy 2030, more than 100 million households will rely on rooftop solar power, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency. If you’re one of the homeowners interested in shrinking your carbon footprint and your energy costs, you are no longer limited to solar panels to help power your home, though.Now there’s another option: an entire solar roof.Solar roofs are composed of solar shingles that can fit over existing shingles or be installed on their own. So the energy-harvesting ability is baked into the roof itself. The shingles do everything regular shingles do to protect your house from the elements, and are quite durable. Plus, they appear a lot more sleek and seamless than solar panels. “It’s such a different look,” says Cassie Morien, director of strategy at Modernize Home Services, a home improvement and contractor platform. Shingles simply “look sexier on your roof.”But looks don’t come cheap. Should you replace your roof with so...

Navy selects Boston as commissioning site for new USS Massachusetts nuclear attack submarine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

The Navy will commission its newest submarine, the USS Massachusetts, in Boston, a decision made earlier this month that “answers the call” from the state’s federal delegation.Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro alerted the delegation on Nov. 2 that he’s selected Boston as the site for the commissioning, according to a letter provided by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office.“Considering the namesake of the ship and the unique roles that Massachusetts has in naval history, with seven previous ships bearing the Massachusetts name, this request is especially fitting,” Del Toro wrote. “I am pleased to announce that we will move forward with Boston as the commissioning site.”“Despite the fact that I am a devoted NY Yankee fan,” Del Toro quipped in a hand-written addendum to his letter.The commissioning is slated to take place in spring 2025, but the site it will be held at still needs to be selected, according to the USS Massachusetts Commissioning Committee.Warren and the remain...

NH schedules presidential primary on Jan. 23

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire’s secretary of state scheduled the state’s presidential primaries for Jan. 23, 2024, extending its century-old streak of going first despite national Democrats’ efforts to overhaul the nominating calendar.State law requires New Hampshire’s Republican and Democratic primaries to be held at least seven days before any similar contest and gives the secretary of state sole authority to set the date. Like his predecessor did for decades, Secretary of State David Scanlan waited for the dust to settle in other states before announcing his decision.“New Hampshire has a tradition, and New Hampshire has a law, and both the tradition and the law were going to be followed no matter what,” he said.Scanlan chose as his backdrop the Statehouse’s Hall of Flags, which displays more than 100 blood-stained and bullet-ridden battle flags carried by New Hampshire soldiers in the Civil War and onward. Calling it a memorial to those w...

Get ready for an even busier holiday travel season in 2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

By Sally French | NerdWalletIf last year’s winter holiday travel season felt costly or chaotic, this year’s might seem even more so.That’s because half of Americans (50%) plan to spend money on flights or hotel stays this holiday season, according to a new NerdWallet survey conducted online by The Harris Poll. The survey was based on responses from 2,057 adults collected Sept. 5-7, 2023.That 50% figure is higher than last year when 44% of Americans said they’d planned to spend money on travel.When will crowds be the biggest? Probably the Sunday after Thanksgiving. That was the busiest travel day in 2019, 2021 and 2022, according to a NerdWallet analysis of Transportation Security Administration data showing the number of passengers screened at TSA checkpoints over the past four years. Travelers can expect 2023’s winter holiday travel season to follow suit.The busiest travel days this holiday seasonWhile half of Americans will travel for at least one of the winter holidays (and...

Hospital director in Haiti says a gang stormed in and took women and children hostage

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:13:31 GMT

By EVENS SANON (Associated Press)PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A heavily armed gang burst into a hospital in Haiti on Wednesday and took hostage women, children and newborns, according to the director of the medical center who pleaded for help via social media.Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Center in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, confirmed the incident in a brief message exchange with The Associated Press. “We are in great difficulty,” he said.Ulysse said on social media that “hundreds” of patients at the hospital were taken hostage, but the number could not immediately be confirmed. No further details were available, and it was not clear why the assailants may have taken patients hostage. Ulysse did not respond to further questions for comment.A spokesman for Haiti’s National Police did not immediately return a message for comment.The hospital is considered an oasis and a lifeline in a...