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Panel exploring changes to Mass. state seal ready to resume work

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The stalled effort to come up with alternatives to the Massachusetts state motto and seal, condemned as racist by many for its depiction of the state’s Indigenous peoples, is regaining momentum.The panel that was established in 2021 by the state Legislature to review and suggest changes missed its deadline at the end of last year and sought an extension. Lawmakers on Thursday gave it until Nov. 15 to finish its work and forward its recommendations to the Legislature, which would have to approve any changes.“We’re grateful for the Legislature’s support and ready to get back to work,” said Brian Boyles, co-chair of the 19-member Special Commission on the Official Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth.The extension was included in a $1.1 billion supplemental budget approved by the Legislature, which still awaits Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s signature. A spokesperson for the governor’s office says it is under review.The current seal, which dates to the late 19th...

France sees new pension protests, police brace for violence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms kicked off again Tuesday across France, with police security ramped up amid government warnings that radical demonstrators intended “to destroy, to injure and to kill.” Concerns that violence could mar the demonstrations prompted what Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described as an unprecedented deployment of 13,000 officers, nearly half of them concentrated in the French capital. After months of upheaval, an exit from the firestorm of protest triggered by President Emmanuel Macron ‘s changes to France’s retirement system looked as far away as ever. Despite fresh union pleas hat the government pause its hotly contested push to raise France’s legal retirement age from 62 to 64, Macron seemingly remained wedded to it.The French leader previously used a special constitutional power to ram the reform past legislators without allowing them a vote. His move this month further galvanized the prote...

Canada heading into ‘mild recession’ as tight monetary policy squeezes growth: Report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

OTTAWA — New research says Canada is heading into a mild recession as elevated borrowing costs, a downturn in the U.S. and persistent inflation dial up the country’s economic uncertainty. Deloitte Canada’s latest economic outlook, released ahead of the federal budget on Tuesday, says tight monetary policy is set to squeeze economic growth this year. But the research suggests the recession won’t be as deep as previously forecasted thanks to the resiliency of the labour market, which is keeping incomes strong.The report is forecasting real gross domestic product to fall by 0.5 per cent this year before rebounding with two per cent growth in 2024, while inflation is expected to cool rapidly throughout the rest of this year.Deloitte says the federal budget, set to be tabled in Ottawa Tuesday afternoon, will likely include affordability measures to help lower-income Canadians, health care support for provinces and incentives to reduce carbon emissions.The report says th...

Harris pledges support for African innovation in Ghana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Speaking from a monument commemorating Ghana’s independence from colonialism, Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday pledged a new era of partnership with Africa, envisioning “a future that is propelled by African innovation.” The speech on her second full day in Ghana is part of a weeklong trip that will include visits to Tanzania and Zambia. Harris is the most high-profile member of President Joe Biden’s administration to visit Africa as the U.S. escalates its outreach to the continent. “We must invest in the African ingenuity and creativity, which will unlock incredible economic growth and opportunities,” Harris said, highlighting the continent’s innovations to deliver emergency healthcare supplies and provide vaccines, and in farming and mineral processing. The U.S. must be guided “not by what we can do for our African partners, but we can do with our African partners.”Thousands of people gathered in Independence Square, many waiting hours ...

Provincial police officer killed during attempted arrest northeast of Montreal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

LOUISEVILLE, Que. — A Quebec provincial police officer was killed while trying to arrest a man at a home in the province’s Mauricie region Monday night.The police force confirmed in a news release Tuesday the death of Sgt. Maureen Breau, an officer with more than 20 years of experience.The 35-year-old male suspect was later shot and killed by other officers who arrived on the scene in Louiseville, Que., about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal.Johanne Beausoleil, the provincial police chief, offered her condolences to Breau’s husband, children, other family members and colleagues.“It is with immense sadness that I learned of Sgt. Breau’s death,” Beausoleil said in the news release. “An ordeal like this reminds us of the danger police officers face in extreme situations like those confronted by Sgt. Breau, her fellow officers and the emergency telecommunications operators who supported them during the intervention.”Quebec’s police wat...

MI5 hikes Northern Ireland terror threat level to ‘severe’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The U.K.’s MI5 intelligence service on Tuesday raised the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland’ to “severe” amid an increase in activity by dissident Irish republican militants.Severe is the second-highest rung on a five-point scale and means an attack is considered highly likely. The threat had stood one notch lower at “substantial” for the past year.Paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland laid down their arms after the 1998 Good Friday peace accord largely ended three decades of violent conflict between Irish republican and British loyalist groups and U.K. security forces that killed more than 3,600 people. But small Irish Republican Army splinter groups have continued to launch sporadic attacks on security forces.U.K. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said that “in recent months, we have seen an increase in levels of activity relating to Northern Ireland-related terrorism, which has targeted police officers serving their communities and also put a...

French court refuses to extradite former Italian militants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

France’s top court has ruled against extraditing 10 former far-left Italian militants who were convicted for attacks carried out in the 1970s and 1980s.The two women and eight men fled Italy after their convictions and before they could be sent to prison. Now ranging in age from 62 to 79, they have lived freely in France for decades.The crimes for which they were convicted include the killing of a Carabinieri paramilitary general and the kidnapping of a judge, both in 1980.Resistance by French authorities to incarcerating the Italians has long been a thorny issue between Paris and Rome.Over the years, Italy has sought the extradition of around 200 convicted former militants believed to be in France over the years.The Associated Press

Small businesses weigh banking options amid bank turmoil

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Sarah Walker, owner of Nuance Interior Design Showroom in Bellevue, Washington, thought she had her banking arrangements fairly well protected. She kept deposits at Wells Fargo and a brokerage account at Fidelity under the federal insurance cap of $250,000.But after the recent banking turmoil, she moved about 5% of her total savings into Certificate of Deposits, or CDs, at Barclays. They offer 5% interest rates on deposits, much higher than traditional accounts, if a customers keeps money in the CDs for a year. She also invested more in Treasury bonds.“Those are two very stable things, we didn’t put a ton of money in them, but it’s more than a rainy day fund, it would cover us for a year,” she said. “I do feel better about having diversification. The unfortunate thing is there is only so much you can do.”The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, and the bailout of First Republic, was a jolt for small businesses of all stripes, spurring many to scrutiniz...

Planting a garden from seed is easy and can start now

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

The catalogs have been thumbed through, and the seed racks are sprouting like weeds at local nurseries and garden centers.There is now enough daylight across the country to start garden seeds without the aid of artificial lights. Some seeds can be planted directly outdoors. Others will have to be started inside.Either way, where I come from you are not a real gardener unless you start at least one thing you grow from seed. Sure, you can always buy already started plants, but seeds give you bragging rights.The fact of the matter is that starting seeds is easy. Everything the plant needs to germinate is in the seed. All you have to do is put it into damp soil and not let it dry out while it does its thing. If there are any special requirements, they will be noted in the simple instructions on the back of every seed packet.The one thing you might not find in those instructions is the suggestion to roll larger seeds in mycorrhizal funghi, or to sprinkle some on smaller seeds. You shoul...

Suu Kyi’s party faces dissolution in military-ruled Myanmar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:33 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The political party led by Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to face automatic dissolution by the military-appointed election commission on midnight Tuesday because it declined to register for a planned general election it denounced as a sham. Critics say the polls will be neither free nor fair in a country ruled by the military that has shut free media and arrested most of the leaders of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. “We absolutely do not accept that an election will be held at a time when many political leaders and political activists have been arrested and the people are being tortured by the military,” said Bo Bo Oo, a former party lawmaker. Suu Kyi, 77, is serving prison sentences totaling 33 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military. Her supporters say the charges were contrived to keep her from actively taking part in politics.The party won a landslide victory in the N...