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Mass. officials reiterate call to ‘ditch the drive’ as Sumner Tunnel shutdown continues

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

State officials gathered outside the Orient Heights MBTA station Thursday, reiterating a call for commuters to “ditch the drive” as the planned nearly two-month shutdown of the Sumner Tunnel entered its second day. Acting Governor Kim Driscoll, Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca and others themselves then boarded a Blue Line train bound for downtown Boston.  The Sumner Tunnel, which connects East Boston to the downtown area, closed on Wednesday morning as part of an ongoing project to make repairs within the tunnel. The current closure is scheduled to last until the end of August. Traffic is being diverted through Everett, Route One and the Ted Williams Tunnel, in the meantime.Officials have warned of delays and traffic congestion linked to the tunnel shutdown, advising commuters to utilize public transit, if possible. To that end, the Blue Line is running fare-free service throughout the Sumner Tunnel shutdown. Fares on the Commuter Rail are reduced and...

VIDEO: Water main break drenches Escondido street

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- A water main break spewed out into the street of a residential area in North County on Thursday morning.FOX 5 was at the scene at Encino Drive and Eldorado Drive in Escondido around 6:30 a.m., capturing the incident on camera. The water was seen drenching the area. Body found in Mission Beach City crews were also seen in the area with work trucks blocking a portion of the street. Motorists are encouraged to take alternative routes as this situation remains active. The scene of a water main break in Escondido on Thursday, July, 6, 2023. (KSWB)FOX 5 is working to gather more information about this incident and how it may affect residents in the area.This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Girl dies after SUV crashes into a London school; a woman arrested for possible dangerous driving

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A girl was killed Thursday when an SUV crashed into an elementary school on a very narrow road in the Wimbledon district of southwest London, police said.The Metropolitan Police said there have been further injuries, but didn’t provide any new details. Earlier, police said that seven children and two adults were injured during the crash, which isn’t being treated as terror-related. “This is tragic news and our thoughts are with the girl’s family and friends, and everyone affected today,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland, the local police commander for southwest London.Police also confirmed that the driver of the vehicle, a woman in her 40s, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.Police were called to The Study Preparatory School, a private all-girls school, at 9:54 a.m., along with paramedics on the ground and air ambulances. The driver of the vehicle, believed to be a Land Rover, stopped at the scene.Stephen ...

Stock market today: Wall Street opens lower as job market shows little sign of cooling

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling early Thursday after reports suggested the U.S. job market is much more resilient than many thought. While a sturdy labor market keeps the economy out of a long-expected recession, it could also push the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer in its campaign to defeat high inflation. That could mean more pressure on the economy and markets. The S&P 500 was 0.9% lower. The Dow fell 282 points, or 0.9%, while the Nasdaq was down 1%. ADP Research Institute said hiring by private employers was much stronger last month than expected. Treasury yields rose. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street headed lower for a second day and markets in Europe and Asia fell as well with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in China Thursday attempting to lower tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5%. Share prices have ...

Belarus says Wagner chief who staged mutiny is in Russia, raising questions about Kremlin’s strategy

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The mercenary leader who led a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin is in Russia and his troops are in their field camps, the president of Belarus said Thursday, raising new questions about the deal that ended the extraordinary challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule.Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s claim could not be independently verified, and the Kremlin refused to comment on Yevgeny Prigozhin’s whereabouts. But Russian media have reported he was recently seen at his offices in St. Petersburg.It was not clear if Prigozhin’s presence in Russia would violate the deal, which allowed the head of the Wagner Group military contractor to move to Belarus in exchange for ending the rebellion and a promise of amnesty for him and his troops. But the reports signaled that the agreement may have allowed him to finalize his affairs in Russia.If that’s true, it could suggest the threat posed by Prigozhin has not yet been full...

Serbia to seek meeting with NATO chief, UN Security Council session on Kosovo tensions

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s president on Thursday accused Kosovo of carrying out “silent ethnic cleansing” of Serbs and said his country will seek a meeting with NATO’s chief and an urgent session of United Nations Security Council to demand their protection. “Things are out of control,” Aleksandar Vucic said. “Serbian people have been cornered.”Vucic said he will urge the meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg next week before requesting the U.N. Security Council session. Serbia could begin unspecified difficult “activities” if the two initiatives produce no results, he warned.“We have no right to allow further pogrom, persecution or ethnic cleansing of our people,” Vucic said.Serbia briefly heightened the combat readiness of its armed forces and threatened a military intervention after tensions recently soared in Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian-dominated government and the Serb minority living in northern Kosovo.Vucic cited recen...

Greece welcomes deescalation in the eastern Mediterranean without directly referring to Turkey

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Greece’s newly appointed defense minister on Thursday welcomed a deescalation of tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, expressing hope this would lead to a “climate of trust” without directly referring to Turkey.But Nikos Dendias said that trust must be built on the U.N. charter and on respect for the rule of law on land and at sea with the “absolute condemnation for the threat of the use of force.”Dendias, a former foreign minister, made the remarks after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Michalis Georgallas during his first overseas visit following the reelection of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.Although Dendias’ remarks were clearly referring to Turkey, the Greek top diplomat didn’t mention the country by name, ostensibly in hopes of encouraging reelected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to engage in dialogue with Athens and Cyprus on a host of issues that continue to be a source of friction between the neighbors.Dendias’ visit came two d...

Trial of 10 accused over 2016 Brussels attacks that killed 32 takes major step toward conclusion

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Seven years after the deadliest peacetime attack on Belgian soil, the trial of 10 men accused over the suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a subway station took a major step toward its conclusion on Thursday.More than half a year after the trial started, the court held its last audience and the jury will begin the drawn-out process of deciding on the fate of those charged. The 12 jurors will have to answer almost 300 questions about the suspects, which means reaching a verdict can take several weeks.The 10 men were charged over the morning rush hour attacks at Belgium’s main airport and on the central commuter line on March 22, 2016, which killed 32 people, and nearly 900 others were wounded or suffered mental trauma.The ten defendants face charges that include murder, attempted murder and membership in, or participation in the acts of, a terrorist group. If convicted, some of them could face up to 30 years in prison. Sentencing is not expected before September....

An already full-tilt movie franchise turns it up a notch in ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — There are, as a rule, only so many places you can go as an action movie after leaving Tom Cruise clinging to the side of an Airbus A400M and flinging him out a cargo plane at 25,000 feet.But in the kinetic, headlong world of “Mission: Impossible,” the pressure to keep upping the ante — like the films’ always-running star — never stops.“Every time we finish a movie, the first thing Tom says to me is: We can do better,” says Christopher McQuarrie.McQuarrie, the writer-director of 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” and the 2018 franchise high point, “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” was working with Cruise on “Top Gun: Maverick ” (which McQuarrie wrote) when they started talking about their ambitions for the next iteration of “Mission: Impossible.”Their plan was to make not one but two sequels: Back-to-back blockbusters that would feature even bigger stunts — Cruise envisioned a motorcycle jump-slash-skydive — and a massive train sequence that McQuarrie pined to...

Wimbledon is finally dry as organizers try to catch up following 3 days of rain

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:03:40 GMT

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — The courts are finally dry at Wimbledon and the sun is even shining through the clouds at times, giving organizers hope of fitting in a full day of tennis on Thursday for the first time at this year’s tournament.The first three days of action at the All England Club were affected by rain. Only eight matches were completed on Tuesday. Those matches were played on either Centre Court or No. 1 Court, the only stadiums on the grounds with roofs.Because of the all the disruption, there were a handful of first-round matches being played on Day 4. Normally, the first Thursday of the tournament would wrap up the second round.Among the winners was Stan Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion from Switzerland. Wawrinka beat No. 29-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the third round.The 38-year-old Wawrinka won his major titles at the other three Grand Slam tournaments, and his best result at Wimbledon was reaching the...