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Finland entirely shuts border with Russia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

Finland will completely close its border with Russia for two weeks after a surge of asylum seekers crossing the frontier, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo announced Tuesday.“This is Russia’s influence activity, and we do not accept that,” Orpo said at a press conference, according to Finnish news outlet Helsingin Sanomat. The two-week border closure will take effect between Wednesday and Thursday night and will end on December 13, the paper reported.Helsinki’s move follows a decision by the European border agency Frontex last week to deploy border guards and other staff, along with equipment, to bolster Finland’s border control activities amid accusations by Finland that Moscow is stoking the migrant influx. Tension between the two countries has escalated since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prompting Finland to join the NATO military alliance.On Monday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of using m...

Germany must ‘invest heavily’ in green transition despite budget crisis, Scholz says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that his government would still “invest heavily” in the modernization and green transition of his country’s economy, but provided no specifics on how his coalition would pay for it amid a budget crisis that has sharply curbed the government’s ability to spend.“We must now ensure that we in Germany manage to transform our economy and remain competitive as a strong industrialized country,” the chancellor told lawmakers. This means the government “must now invest heavily” and “do everything we can to finally drive forward the energy transition in Germany and Europe,” he said.Earlier this month, the country’s top court ruled it unconstitutional for the government to repurpose €60 billion left over from an emergency COVID-19 fund for climate projects. The ruling also limited the government’s ability to draw from a variety of special funds created to circumvent the country...

Morocco arrests suspect over bomb threats in Belgian schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

An individual suspected of threatening via email to bomb 15 Belgian schools was arrested in Morocco, a spokesperson for the Brussels prosecutor’s office said Tuesday. “The person arrested, who has Moroccan citizenship, was questioned and confessed the facts to the Moroccan authorities,” spokesperson Yasmina Vanoverschelde said in a statement. “The investigation’s initial findings show that the suspect does not have a terrorist motive,” Vanoverschelde added.Thousands of students were unable to attend classes on Monday as close to 30 schools in the Brussels and Walloon Brabant regions were closed after some received bomb threats over the weekend, in which the sender said he would reveal the locations of the explosives in exchange for money.After being checked by the authorities, all the schools reopened Tuesday, the regional school administration said in a statement.“We can only deplore the growing number of alerts of this kind in recent weeks...

Boston police investigating theft of over $5,000 worth of sunglasses in Back Bay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

Police in Boston are looking to identify two people as the department investigates a shoplifting case involving thousands of dollars worth of sunglasses.The Boston Police Department said the theft happened in the city’s Back Bay neighborhood on Monday evening, when at least two suspects stole between $5,000 and $6,000 worth of sunglasses at a store in the area of 800 Boylston St.Sharing several images on their website, Boston PD said they are now looking to identify two individuals seen in the images as their investigation continues.Anyone with information is asked to contact the department’s District D-4 Detectives at (617) 343-5619 or send in tips anonymously by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-(800)-494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

Mark Cuban is leaving ‘Shark Tank’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

(CNN) — Mark Cuban is swimming away from the show that helped America better come to know the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks.During an appearance on the Showtime podcast “All The Smoke,” Cuban talked to hosts and former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson about his time on the entrepreneur series “Shark Tank.”“This is our 15th year. Next year, 16th year, is going to be my last year,” Cuban said.When Jackson joked that – like an athlete – Cuban is “hanging up the shoes” Cuban responded, “It’s time.”“Shark Tank” features successful business people, or “sharks,” like Cuban who hear pitches from entrepreneurs trying to take their businesses to the next level and looking for the sharks to invest. Cuban said he loves the show “because it sends the message the American dream is alive and well.”“I feel like in doing ‘Shark Tank’ all these years, we’ve trained a generation of entrepreneurs, multiple generations of entrepreneurs that if somebody c...

New Zealand’s new government scraps world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

(CNN) — As any smoker will tell you, quitting tobacco isn’t easy – and it’s something New Zealand’s new government just isn’t prepared to do right now.A year after passing a world-leading smoking ban designed to save thousands of lives and prevent new generations of young adults from smoking, New Zealand has announced a u-turn to help pay for tax cuts, infuriating public health officials and anti-tobacco groups.Introduced last year, the anti-smoking law banned the sale of tobacco to anyone born or after January 1, 2009.The legislation was due to be implemented by July 2024 and would have included harsh penalties for violations such as fines of up to NZ$150,000 ($96,000).The country’s new Prime Minister Chris Luxon, whose conservative National Party entered a coalition alliance with the populist New Zealand First party and the libertarian ACT New Zealand party following elections in October, defended the controversial move, saying he disagreed with parts of the po...

Column: ‘Tunnel vision.’ With a clutch completion, Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields finished a sloppy night with a signature win.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

On his final pass of a challenging night, Justin Fields knew he had one responsibility, one obligation to his team, one chance to author the ending of Monday’s tense and sloppy game with the Minnesota Vikings.Make a damn play.Just make one more play. Of any kind.That was all Fields needed to do, even with all the pressure that was intensifying — from the Vikings defense, from his own miscues earlier in the fourth quarter, from the weight of so many previous games the Chicago Bears had their chance to win but couldn’t.Just make a play.After doing so many things wrong Monday, after again stumbling to the edge of the cliff in a winnable game, the Bears had their final chance to steal a win at U.S. Bank Stadium. And the ball was in Fields’ hands near midfield, with his team down a point and the clock ticking inside a minute.On third-and-10, Fields kept his nerves calm and his eyes up. A seven-man protection stonewalled a four-man Minnesota rush. And with the Viki...

Chicago Bears defense hopefully finding its groove after a 4-interception game: ‘They don’t score, they don’t win’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

The barrage of Chicago Bears takeaways started with 11 minutes, 43 seconds to play in the second quarter Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium.Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs lofted a pass to wide receiver Jordan Addison on the left sideline, and Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson leaped into the air to pull it down.Bears safety Jaquan Brisker was next. A Dobbs pass in the second quarter bounced off Addison’s hands, and Brisker dived forward.Then it was linebacker T.J. Edwards’ turn. Johnson broke up a third-quarter Dobbs pass to K.J. Osbourn, and Edwards hopped as he caught it.Finally, nickel Kyler Gordon jumped in on the action in the fourth quarter, diving to pull in a football that defensive tackle Justin Jones nearly secured himself before he bobbled it.When the Bears were done in Minneapolis, they had intercepted Dobbs four times to help drive a 12-10 Bears victory, the team’s first in the NFC North under coach Matt Eberflus. In the last two games against t...

Reports: Patrick Kane to sign with Red Wings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

The Bruins need to right their ship after three straight highly problematic losses, but Patrick Kane will not be part of the solution.According to multiple reports, the former Chicago Blackhawks star has chosen to sign with the B’s Atlantic Division rival Detroit Red Wings on a one-year deal.The B’s had been linked to Kane, who is coming off hip resurfacing surgery, by Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman on his podcast on Monday but Detroit, with over $5million in cap space, was in a far better position than the B’s to offer Kane anything of substance. Friedman, The Athleitc and ESPN all reported on Tuesday morning that Kane will sign with Detroit.While Kane would have added some needed scoring punch, he would not have addressed the B’s most glaring needs. The B’s have lost four of their last five games and, in those games, they’ve allowed 22 goals. While coach Jim Montgomery pulled Jeremy Swayman from Monday’s 5-2 loss in Columbus a wakeup c...

Strike over privatizing Sao Paulo’s public transport causes crowds and delays in city of 11 million

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:21 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Long lines appeared in Sao Paulo’s bus and subway stations Tuesday as a strike opposing privatization efforts of public transport in South America’s largest city caused delays. Traffic on some routes stalled completely.Sao Paulo state Gov. Tarcísio de Freitas, who took office in January, called the strike “unreasonable.” He told reporters he had campaigned for looking into privatizations, concessions and “the participation of private capital in public services as a way of bringing investment.”It was not clear how long the strike would last, and there appeared to be little room for negotiations. The governor insisted that privatization had been the “winning position” in the election and that “to not accept that position is to not accept the results of the polls.”Camila Lisboa, president of the Sao Paulo Subway Workers Union, which opposes privatization, lamented “authoritarian statements that do not consider the right to strike.” Lisboa claimed that ...