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Boston city leaders release safety tips ahead of St. Patrick’s Day festivities

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

Boston city leaders are advising people on how to stay safe during this year’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities.The city’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade returns to its full route this year for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The parade is scheduled to step off from the Broadway T stop at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Bars and restaurants are preparing for a busy weekend. City officials are also gearing up, working to keep everyone safe on parade day as Saint Patrick’s Day festivities look to simultaneously honor Evacuation Day. The parade, back on its traditional longer route, will pass many historic sites in South Boston where Revolutionary War soldiers forced the British to retreat in 1776. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says the city is working hard to make sure this will be a safe celebration.  “There’s going to be a lot of people in Boston,” Wu said. “We encourage everyone to every to enjoy, be aware, be kind, and keep an eye out for those ar...

Patriots signing Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki to 1-year deal in free agency

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

The Patriots are signing former Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki to a free-agent deal, a source confirmed to the Herald.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Source: Patriots re-sign LS Joe Cardona to 4-year deal New England Patriots | Patriots host Trey Flowers and an ex-Lions LB on free-agent visits New England Patriots | Patriots reportedly hosting 3 free-agent veterans on visits Thursday New England Patriots | Source: Patriots re-signing LB Mack Wilson to 1-year deal New England Patriots | Source: Patriots signing veteran RB James Robinson to 2-year deal It’s a 1-year, $9 million, per reports.Gesicki played on the franchise tag last season in Miami, a down year when his numbers fell to 32 catches for 362 yards and five touchdowns under new coach Mike McDaniel. In each of the previous two seasons, Gesicki topped 700 receiving yards. The 27-year-old is a receiving tight end who can run routes out...

St. Patrick's Day DUI checkpoint to be held in East County

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

El Cajon, Calif. -- St. Patrick's Day celebrations will commence Friday and authorities are reminding the public to travel responsibly. The El Cajon Police Department on Thursday said it will be holding a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) checkpoint on March 17 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the 300 block of W Chase Avenue in El Cajon.  Irish pubs in San Diego hosting St. Patrick’s Day celebrations Police say checkpoint locations are chosen based on areas with a history of DUI crashes and arrests.During the checkpoint in El Cajon, officers will look for signs that drivers are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. The department said drivers charged with DUI face an average of $13,500 in fines and penalties. On top of that, their license is suspended which may effect their ability to travel to and from work.Police also reminded the public that impaired driving is not just from alcohol. The department stated, "Some prescription medications or over-the-counter drugs may in...

Wall Street points toward losses to wrap a tumultuous week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

BANGKOK — Wall Street pointed lower early Friday as a wobbly banking sector continued to be the focus in the U.S. and abroad.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials fell 0.5% and futures for the S&P slipped 0.3%. Despite a tumultuous week of wild swings spurred by the failure two U.S. banks, markets are still on track to finish with gains for the week.The past few days, markets’ focus has turned Switzerland’s Credit Suisse and San Francisco’s First Republic. First Republic tumbled 13% in premarket Friday, wiping out gains triggered Thursday after a group of 11 big banks offered a $30 billion lifeline to the latest troubled U.S. lender. First Republic Bank rose 10% Thursday after slumping as much as 36% early in the day.The S&P 500 jumped 1.8% Thursday, erasing earlier losses following the reports that First Republic Bank could get help or sell itself to another bank. Markets have gyrated this week on concerns over the toll on banks from the fastest set of int...

Germany detains 42 in effort to prevent attacks on ATMs

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German police detained 42 people as part of a crackdown on gangs suspected of blowing up cash machines, authorities said Friday.Incidents in which thieves blow up ATMs and then make off with the cash, usually during the night, have become increasingly common in Germany in recent years. There were a record 496 cases last year, a 27% increase over 2021, according to the Interior Ministry.Over the past three days, police in seven of Germany’s 16 states conducted searches on more than 5,300 vehicles and 8,000 people, the ministry said in a statement. It said 42 people were detained, but didn’t specify what they are accused of.The aim was to raise the pressure on perpetrators active across regional and international borders, the ministry said. “Anyone who blows up cash machines risks the life of people who aren’t involved,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.She added that further incidents can be foiled only by effective and wide-ranging preventati...

Parent of Silicon Valley Bank seeks bankruptcy protection

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The parent of Silicon Valley Bank, seized last week by the U.S., is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.SVB Financial Group, along with its CEO and its chief financial officer, were targeted this week in a class action lawsuit that claims the company didn’t disclose the risks that future interest rate increases would have on its business.SVB Financial Group is no longer affiliated with Silicon Valley Bank after its seizure by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The bank’s successor, Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, is being run under the jurisdiction of the FDIC and is not included in the Chapter 11 filing.SVB Financial Group believes it has approximately $2.2 billion of liquidity.Associated Press, The Associated Press

Finland’s president in Turkey for talks on NATO bid

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is meeting his Finnish counterpart in Ankara on Friday, raising hopes that the talks will lead to Turkey’s approval of Finland’s NATO membership bid.Despite the rain, Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Erdogan reviewed military honor guard at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital’s Bestepe district.The leaders’ talks will focus on Helsinki’s application to join the military alliance.Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in May last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning decades of nonalignment.The expansion of the 30-nation bloc has been held up by Turkey and Hungary, the only two countries not to have yet ratified the Nordic states’ bids, which the parliaments of each NATO member must approve.Erdogan has raised specific objections to the countries — especially Sweden — joining NATO. In June last year Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed an agreement designed to smooth the pa...

US to pledge over $171M in humanitarian help for Venezuela

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The U.S. government plans to pledge more than $171 million Friday for humanitarian and development projects to assist Venezuelans experiencing a variety of urgent needs at home and abroad.Some of the money will go for food, water and sanitation efforts within the crisis-wracked country, while other funds are designated for emergency shelter, health care and other services for Venezuelans who have migrated to other South American nations, the U.S. Department of State told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement.The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, is expected to announce the pledged funding during a conference in Brussels. The event is designed to raise awareness of Venezuela’s protracted economic and political crisis, which has pushed millions into poverty and driven more than 7 million others to migrate, mostly within Latin America. The pledge comes almost four months after the government of President Nicolas Maduro an...

Surviving a zombie apocalypse in Toronto? Consider relocating

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

If you’re a Torontonian who’s been watching The Last of Us and wondering how you’d fare in a zombie apocalypse, you may want to consider moving to a new city.Toronto has been ranked as one of the worst cities in Canada to survive a zombie event, according to a new database from an online rental portal.Rentola ranked 35 metropolitan areas in Canada based on five categories — vulnerability, hideouts, supplies, safety, and mobility.Toronto found itself all the way down at number 29 on the list. Though it ranked favourably in the hideout category, fourth in the country, it was ranked as the worst city for vulnerability. It also ranked in the bottom five when it comes to supplies.Here are the five groups of data used to compile the rankings of cities:Vulnerability – Population density, perceived physical & mental health, number of visits to the REA (rapid epidemiologic assessment)Hideouts – Average household size, had a park or green space close to...

China fines Deloitte $30.8 million over audit failings

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:17 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The Beijing office of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has been fined $30.8 million for failing to adequately audit a Chinese state-owned asset management company whose former head was sentenced to death on corruption charges.The office also was ordered to suspend operations for three months for mishandling audit and other work at China Huarong Asset Management Co. in 2014-19, the Ministry of Finance announced Friday.Deloitte was fined 211.9 million yuan ($30.8 million), the ministry said. It said Huarong was fined a total of 800,000 yuan ($116,000) and 13 employees were fined a total of 250,000 yuan ($36,000) for their role in faulty audits.Huarong is one of four entities created in the 1990s to buy nonperforming loans from state-owned banks. They expanded into banking, insurance, real estate finance and other fields.Huarong’s former head, Lai Xiaomin, was sentenced to death on 2021 on charges of embezzlement and taking bribes in exchange for investments, construction contra...