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Biden salutes a Good Friday Agreement that just isn’t working any more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

BELFAST — President Joe Biden arrives in Northern Ireland on Tuesday to salute the 25th anniversary of its U.S.-brokered peace accord. But it will be a hollow celebration.Power-sharing between British unionists and Irish nationalists, the central vision of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, is failing.Northern Ireland has for nearly a year had no elected government at Stormont, the grand parliament building overlooking Belfast. It has no annual budget either — only red ink, rising in a sea of dysfunction. And thanks to Brexit, the U.K.’s most socially divided region this month lost tens of millions in annual European Union funds that had sustained the poorest communities.Northern Ireland’s fiscal council, created two years ago to advise Stormont following a previous government shutdown, estimates an extra £808 million is needed this year just to keep existing services running at a time of rising energy bills and wage demands. Instead, the British government in London wants immediate...

Rays top Red Sox 1-0, extend season-opening win streak to 10

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays became the first major league team since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers to open the season with 10 straight wins, getting a solo homer from Brandon Lowe in the eighth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox 1-0 on Monday night.The 1987 Brewers and 1982 Atlanta Braves share the major league record for the best start to a season at 13-0. The Rays are the seventh team since 1901 to begin the year with 10 or more wins.“It’s cool to be part of it,” right fielder Luke Raley said,Lowe homered for the third straight game, sending a 3-2, one-out pitch from Chris Martin (0-1) into the right-field stands. Lowe has nine RBIs over his last three games.“This is the first night where it’s kind of quiet offensively,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I kind of felt like at any given moment somebody could knock one out of the ballpark. Probably the right guy with Brandon.”Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 76-18.In a matchup of the AL’s top two scorin...

Celtics’ Jayson Tatum gifts sneakers to young fan battling cancer during surprise meeting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

Last Friday’s Celtics game brought a major surprise for a young boy battling cancer in the form of an unexpected meeting with Celtics star Jayson Tatum. Tatum also gave the young fan a new pair of sneakers. Speaking after the excitement, the boy’s mom said it was a dream come true for her son. “I was kind of speechless,” Xavier Goncalves said of his meeting with Tatum. “It was just a life changing moment.”Goncalves, 10, is a fifth grader from Raynham. He was diagnosed with cancer back in November and has been living at Christopher’s Haven in Boston with his mother, Samantha Bowditch, while receiving radiation treatments.  “He has been outstanding through the entire thing,” Bowditch said.Bowditch took her Celtics superfan to his first game on Friday, where they had no idea about the surprise the team had in store for him. Then, the team brought Xavier down to the court to meet his idol — Tatum. “The smile that was on his face when Jayson Tatum walk...

Orioles break out new ‘homer hose’ celebration and blast their way to 5-1 win over Athletics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

The Orioles are all about hydrating.Baltimore hit three home runs Monday in its 5-1 win over the Oakland Athletics — ample opportunity to debut its new home run celebration.A week after introducing the sprinkler and dugout water streaming as their doubles tradition, the Orioles (5-5) celebrated the three blasts — from Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rutschman and Austin Hays — by chugging water from a snake funnel.“I love it,” Rutschman said. “We’re just huge proponents of staying hydrated. That’s what we’re about — doing the little things like that.”While fans on social media attempted to nickname the celebration, starting pitcher Kyle Gibson clarified that its official name is the “homer hose.”“We want to make sure that it’s rebranded a little bit. It’s a homer hose, not a, uh, a dong bong,” Gibson said with a smile after allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings. “So it’s a homer hos...

Slow rollers help Mets beat Padres in 1st game between teams since NL Wild Card series

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

Home field advantage typically refers to bigger locker rooms, shorter commutes and friendly fans, but facing the San Diego Padres on Monday night at Citi Field, the Mets received an advantage in the form of some dirt and paint.Two rollers in the same inning made for a couple of entertaining moments. Tens of thousands of fans watched intently to see if a bunt up the third-base side by Luis Guillorme would roll foul and a slow roller off the bat of Tomas Nido just two batters later would do the same. They both stayed fair and the Mets capitalized by scoring three runs in the seventh inning to defeat the Padres, 5-0.With the Mets up 3-0 in the seventh, Yu Darvish came back out for his seventh inning of work and promptly gave up a leadoff double to Mark Canha. Guillorme attempted a sacrifice bunt, which is where the entertainment began.Guillorme’s bunt rolled slowly up the left side of the infield, right along the narrow strip of dirt between the baseline and the grass. Darvish, a...

Louisville bank employee livestreamed attack that killed 5

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

By DYLAN LOVAN and CLAIRE GALOFARO (Associated Press)LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Louisville bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his workplace Monday morning, killing five people — including a close friend of Kentucky’s governor — while livestreaming the attack on Instagram, authorities said.Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside Old National Bank and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said. The city’s mayor, Craig Greenberg, called the attack “an evil act of targeted violence.” The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) to the south. That state’s governor and his wife also had friends killed in that shooting. In Louisville, the chief identified t...

Colombian who made racist comments about VP to be sentenced

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A 62-year-old woman was convicted of discrimination and harassment on Monday for making racist comments about Colombia’s first Black vice president during an antigovernment protest last year.Luz Fabiola Rubiano pleaded guilty to the charges and will be sentenced by the judge on May 30. In Colombia, acts of discrimination are punishable with up to three years in prison, though judges can replace prison time with parole or house arrest.The small business owner from Bogota went viral in September after she railed against Vice President Francia Márquez on a video published by a local news site. Rubiano was protesting in front of Colombia’s congress and responded to a question from a journalist by hurling insults against Márquez and Afro-Colombians.“Apes are now governing us,” Rubiano said in the video, which is still available on Twitter, but was censored by other platforms. “Francia Márquez is an ape … what education can Black people have, they steal, atta...

Rogers to acquire TTC wireless network, bring 5G to subway system

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

Rogers Communications Inc. says it’s buying the company that owns the wireless network in Toronto’s subway and will bring 5G to the entire system.The telecom giant says it has entered into an agreement to purchase BAI Communications’ Canadian operations.In 2012, BAI was awarded a $25-million contract by the TTC to build and operate its public Wi-Fi and cellular network.However, Freedom Mobile is the only telecom company that has signed on to provide coverage to its customers through BAI’s network, meaning most mobile customers have little to no service along the subway line.An increase in violent incidents on the TTC over the past year has brought the gap under fresh scrutiny, with some calling on the federal telecommunications regulator to force Rogers, Bell and Telus to use BAI’s network.Rogers says with the acquisition of BAI, it can now invest in building a comprehensive and reliable 5G network for the entire TTC subway system.Rogers is the parent c...

GO train rider raises concerns over accessibility at Union Station

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

After a frustrating journey home, a GO train rider with a visual impairment is calling out Metrolinx for its lack of accessibility at Union Station.Tara Small says last Monday evening she and her friend were trying desperately to locate the accessibility coach on the GO train heading for Hamilton. Small has low vision and uses a guide cane. Her condition has significantly impacted her depth perception, so the raised platform and ramp found at the accessibility coach is important to help her board safely. “We looked up and down. I couldn’t find the one,” Small recalled. “My friend even got on the train and went over to the other track on the other side of the train because she said maybe it’s on that side. She looked up and down but there wasn’t anywhere that we could see it.”With the help of her friend, Small boarded the train before the doors closed with the hope of finding the right car from the inside. She says there were no staff to ask and no announcement on the int...

India residents try to save a river, officials deny problems

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:32 GMT

KOCHI, India (AP) — Eloor smells like it is dying. Once it was an island of rich farmland on the Periyar River, 17 km (10.5 miles) from the Arabian sea, teeming with fish. Now, a stench of putrid flesh permeates the air. Most of the fish are gone. Locals say people living near the river are hardly even having children anymore.Yet here is Shaji, alone in his small fiber boat, fishing with his handmade rod, the southern Indian state of Kerala’s massive industrial smokestacks behind him. Some 300 chemical companies belch out dense fumes, almost warning people to stay away. The waters have taken on dark hues. Shaji, a fisherman in his late 40s who only uses one name, is among the few who remain. “Most of the people here are trying to migrate from this place. If we look at the streets, it’s almost empty. There are no jobs and now we cannot even find work on the river,” said Shaji, displaying the few pearl spot fish he managed to catch during an entire day in March. EDITOR’S NOTE: This ar...