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Europe’s largest party leader warns of far-right parliament unless EU handles migration

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

European People’s Party President Manfred Weber on Tuesday warned the EU must get a handle on migration if it wants to avoid a far-right surge across the continent.“If we do not find the solution or proper common understanding how to manage migration, then I’m very worried about the next European elections,” he said at a POLITICO event.Weber pointed to the Dutch elections — where far-right populist Geert Wilders landed a surprise win last week — as an example, talking about how “a tiny, small detail … created the fall of the government.”Similarly, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany has been gaining ground, propelled by migration concerns, something Weber calls “great shock and a matter of concern.”On the European level, Weber urged countries to finalize the migration deal.“We have to bring it alive,” he said. “People must see that we are not only talking about migration, that we are not only appealing to solve the problems, but we ...

Authorities investigate suspicious death in Goffstown, NH

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

Authorities were on scene in Goffstown, New Hampshire Tuesday afternoon after a suspicious death in a local residence, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office. The AG’s office in a statement near 4:15 p.m. said responding officers determined there was no threat to the general public. “Additional information will be released as it becomes available while protecting the integrity of the investigation,” the AG’s office said.The AG’s office did not identify the location where this suspicious death took place. In a post on Facebook near 3 p.m., though, the Goffstown Police Department said police activity near Joffre Street prompted a lockdown at the nearby Bartlett Elementary School. Police said the police activity was “under control” as of 3 p.m. and the lockdown had ended.“There is no longer a threat to the public,” police said. “We will be in the area for an extended amount of time.”This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-...

Man accused of killing his father in Wareham appears in court, pleads not guilty

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

A man accused of killing his father in Wareham appeared in court Tuesday, pleading not guilty to murder and gun charges. Robert Gomes III’s court appearance came one day after emergency crews responded to the Main Street area in Wareham on Monday. The area was subsequently blocked off for hours.The Plymouth County District Attorney’s office in an update Tuesday afternoon said authorities first responded around 3:30 p.m. Monday after receiving several 911 calls reporting the shooting. Gomes, the DA’s office said, was among the 911 callers. The DA’s office said responding police and emergency medical personnel soon found a man outside a house with apparent gunshot wounds to the chest. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the DA’s office, and was later identified as 61-year-old Robert Gomes, Jr. While an investigation got underway, crews on scene found several shell casings and a black duffel bag with a ghost gun inside, according to the DA’s office. The gun...

Survivor of fiery crash in East Boston describes recovery process after suffering extensive burns

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

A woman who survived a fiery crash in East Boston involving a tanker truck continues to recover weeks after she made it out of the burning wreckage.Sabrina Ouldzenagui, 25, suffered a number of third-degree burns as a result of the Oct. 18 crash that happened on Route 1A .Speaking with 7NEWS by phone, the Revere-native described the moments after her vehicle collided with a tanker carrying 8,000 gallons of diesel fuel.“My left arm was just on fire and I looked around me and I was just surrounded by fire everywhere,” Ouldzenagui said. “That was a miracle that I was able to get out of that alive.”Ouldzenagui said she had been heading home from work when the crash happened around 3 a.m., leaving her with extensive burns across her body as seen in images she shared with the news station.She said it was the truck driver who first ran over to help.“I remember the truck driver, he actually came over to my door and he was like ‘We’ve got to get you ...

Gov. Healey unveils new strategy to help coastal communities cope with climate change

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey unveiled a new strategy Tuesday that she said will help the state’s 78 coastal communities work together to better cope with the challenges brought on by climate change.One element of the “ResilientCoasts” initiative is grouping distinct geographic regions that share similar landscape characteristics and face similar climate hazards, dubbed “coastal resilience districts.” Massachusetts has more than 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) of coastline that spans salt marshes, beaches, rocky shores, dunes, ports and harbors, as well as residential and commercial areas.The program’s goal is to help the communities within each district come up with tailored policies and strategies to address the impacts of climate change, and to pursue federal funds.Other goals of the strategy announced Tuesday include creating nature-based solutions for coastal erosion — including flood protection — nstreamlining the permitting process, and making sure ...

Harvard University faces federal civil rights investigation for antisemitism amid Israel-Hamas war

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

The U.S. Department of Education has added Harvard University to its list of schools that are under investigation for possible civil rights violations as students have reported antisemitic incidents amid the Israel-Hamas war.The Cambridge campus is now under the federal microscope for potential discrimination following antisemitism complaints since Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Oct. 7.One notable incident on campus involved pro-Palestinian protesters surrounding a Jewish student, which led to reports being filed with the FBI and Harvard Police.On Tuesday, Harvard was added to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights list of the higher education and K-12 institutions under investigation for alleged shared ancestry violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Title VI prohibits race, color, or national origin discrimination, including harassment based on a person’s shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.“The Department’s Offic...

Margaret Huntley Main, the oldest living Tournament of Roses queen, dies at 102

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

AUBURN, Calif. (AP) — Margaret Huntley Main, the 1940 Tournament of Roses queen and the oldest living titleholder, has died. She was 102.Main died last Friday in Auburn, California, the Tournament of Roses said in a statement Tuesday. No cause of death was given.She was attending Pasadena City College when she was chosen by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses as queen of the New Year’s Day parade. The grand marshals in 1940 were ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy.Main rode in the Rose Parade several times in later years on the float with former queens and in 2009 on the City of Roseville, California, float. She created the Queens’ Alumni Association and annually attended the October coronation and queens’ luncheon in December until she stopped traveling in 2019. Main met every Rose Queen from 1905 to 2020. She wrote to congratulate 2024 Rose Queen Naomi Stillitano following her crowning.The Tournament of Roses honored Main with a 100th bi...

Key Fed official raises possibility of rate cut

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

WASHINGTON — A key Federal Reserve official raised the possibility Tuesday that the Fed could decide to cut its benchmark interest rate as early as spring if inflation keeps declining steadily.The official, Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, cautioned that inflation is still too high and that it’s not yet certain if a recent slowdown in price increases can be sustained. But he sounded the most optimistic notes of any Fed official since the central bank launched its aggressive streak of rate hikes in March 2022, and he signaled that the central bank is likely done raising rates.Waller is regarded as a relatively “hawkish” official, meaning that he typically favors higher rates to combat inflation rather than low rates to boost job growth. But he has also become somewhat of a bellwether for the Fed’s overall rate-setting committee.If inflation continues to cool “for several more months — I don’t know how long that mi...

Amazon launches Q, a business chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon finally has its answer to ChatGPT. The tech giant said Tuesday it will launch Q — a business chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence.The announcement, made in Las Vegas at an annual conference the company hosts for its AWS cloud computing service, represents Amazon’s response to rivals who’ve rolled out chatbots that have captured the public’s attention. San Francisco startup OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT a year ago sparked a surge of public and business interest in generative AI tools that can spit out emails, marketing pitches, essays, and other passages of text that resemble the work of humans. That attention initially gave an advantage to OpenAI’s chief partner and financial backer, Microsoft, which has rights to the underlying technology behind ChatGPT and has used it to build its own generative AI tools known as Copilot. But it also spurred competitors like Google to launch their own versions. These c...

Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s longtime sidekick at Berkshire Hathaway, dies at 99

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:37:51 GMT

By JOSH FUNK (AP Business Writer)OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Charlie Munger, who helped Warren Buffett build Berkshire Hathaway into an investment powerhouse, has died at a California hospital. He was 99.Berkshire Hathaway said in a statement that Munger’s family told the company that he died Tuesday morning at the hospital just over a month before his 100th birthday.“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation,” Buffett said in a statement.Munger served as Buffett’s sounding board on investments and business decisions and helped lead Berkshire for more than five decades and served as its longtime vice chairman.Munger had been using a wheelchair to get around for several years but he had remained mentally sharp. That was on display while he fielded hours of questions at the annual meetings of Berkshire and the Daily Journal Corp. earlier this year, and in recent interviews on an...