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ECB lifts interest rates amid financial market turmoil

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

FRANKFURT – The European Central Bank decided to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 3 percent Thursday, sticking to its previous guidance even as fears about a new financial crisis have roiled markets in recent days.Policymakers clearly opted to prioritize a continued fight against raging inflation over financial stability concerns noting that “inflation is projected to remain too high for too long.”After the collapse of two U.S. banks and turmoil at Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse, worries about a potential banking crisis raised doubts over the ECB’s previously signaled rate path — sending financial markets’ bets on a likely move today and peak interest rates on a rollercoaster ride since Monday.Today’s decision will expose ECB President Christine Lagarde to criticism that she is repeating mistakes made by former President Jean-Claude Trichet, who raised rates into the 2011 sovereign debt crisis arguing that anchoring inflation expectations is the best way to boost ...

Commission releases Net-Zero Industry Act

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

The European Commission today unveiled its Net-Zero Industry Act, a long-awaited proposal aiming at boosting Europe’s green industry.The proposed regulation is a key part of the European Green Deal Industrial Plan — the bloc’s response to Washington’s massive green subsidies package — and aims to ensure that at least 40 percent of the bloc’s demand for clean tech is made domestically by 2030.The proposal sets out targets for technologies deemed necessary to decarbonize the bloc’s economy, a move aimed at preventing the EU from deepening its reliance on third countries like China.“If we want to get to climate neutrality as we plan in 2050 and if you want to use all the opportunities this industrial revolution is throwing at us and ward off the challenges … we will need a massive scale-up of clean tech manufacturing,” Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told reporters. Talks on the proposal went down to the wire, as commissioners sought to resolve a fight...

MBTA: Global speed restriction lifted on Mattapan Line, remains in place on Green Line

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

The MBTA announced Thursday that the global speed restriction on the Mattapan Line has been lifted, but remains on the Green Line. The global speed restriction on the Mattapan Line has been replaced with block restrictions where necessary, according to transit officials. Riders should continue to plan for longer travel times. https://twitter.com/MBTA/status/1636320187417804800The news comes one week after the T announced speed restrictions of 10 to 25 miles per hour on the Red, Orange, Blue and Green Lines due to the findings of a site visit by the Department of Public Utilities on the Red Line between Ashmont and Savin Hill stations.A day later, global speed restrictions were lifted on the Red, Orange, and Blue lines except for in localized areas. These speed restrictions follow shortly after the T announced a new slow zone report last month detailing existing restrictions.

Cup-hungry Boston Bruins shrug off shot at NHL records

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — In a season full of extreme numbers, the Boston Bruins know exactly what value they put on winning the most games in NHL history.“Zero,” defenseman Charlie McAvoy said last week, a day before Boston became the fastest team in history to 50 wins. “Bottom of anything I care about.”The Bruins have been cruising through the regular season, and racking up milestones along the way. But even though they could amass the most wins ever — and most points, too — the players and brass insist they don’t have any interest in the biggest regular-season records of all.“We play for the Stanley Cup,” Bruins President Cam Neely said flatly. “I tell everybody, ‘Enjoy the ride, but it’s all about the Stanley Cup.’”The Bruins were coming off back-to-back 100-point seasons – and three straight early playoff exits – when they fired coach Bruce Cassidy last summer and hired Jim Montgomery to replace him. Key players like McAvoy, a Norris Trophy contender, and Brad Marchand,...

Massachusetts governor eyes statewide missing people unit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A new unit to help police improve coordination in handling missing and unidentified people cases has been proposed by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey amid an ongoing search for a missing immigrant woman whose case advocates say demonstrates a lack of urgency on the part of investigators.The $300,000 Healey has proposed will help fund the unit, which she said will assist local police departments and standardize data collection and reporting in missing people cases statewide.Recent immigrant and Boston resident Reina Morales Rojas has been missing since Nov. 26, 2022. It wasn’t until Jan. 12, 2023, that Boston police issued a missing person alert.In February, six Boston city councilors of color sent a letter to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox noting the delay between Rojas’ disappearance and when police issued an alert.“Unfortunately, the type of response Ms. Morales Rojas’ case received reflects a nationwide pattern. Missing case...

Dropkick Murphys to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a weekend of shows in Boston

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

The Dropkick Murphys are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Boston with a weekend of shows. The band will kick off the celebration with their first-ever performance at MGM Music Hall Thursday night. They will also perform at MGM on Friday and Saturday nights before moving to the House of Blues on Sunday. Friday night’s show can be streamed for a small fee.

Watch: US releases video of Russian jet dumping fuel on its drone

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine — The Pentagon on Thursday released footage of what it said was a Russian aircraft pouring fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone and clipping the drone’s propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea.The 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the MQ-9 drone and beginning to release fuel as it passes, the Pentagon said. Dumping the fuel appeared to be aimed at blinding its optical instruments and driving it out of the area.On a second approach, either the same jet or another Russian fighter that had been shadowing the MQ-9 struck the drone’s propeller, damaging one blade, according to the U.S. military.The U.S. military said it ditched the MQ-9 Reaper in the sea after what it described as the Russian fighter making an unsafe intercept of the unmanned aerial vehicle.The video excerpt released by the Pentagon does not show events before or after the apparent fuel-dumping confrontation.Russia said its warplanes didn’t...

VIDEO: Dog abandoned outside animal shelter; reward offered for information

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Security footage captured the heartbreaking moment a dog was abandoned by a man outside of an animal shelter in Rancho Santa Fe on Monday night.The "dumping" occurred shortly before 8 p.m. when an individual is seen parking his vehicle in a nearby parking lot before leading the dog to the front area of Helen Woodward Animal Center.According to center, the dog appeared confused after being left unleashed and uncrated with a bed and some toys. The surveillance video shows the dog wandering around the property before disappearing into the night. Photos: San Diego battered by rain & wind (Surveillance video released by Helen Woodward Animal Center)Those with the organization say they are "devastated by the heartlessness of the act." The center is asking for the public's help in locating the abandoned dog. “The dog looks to be a brownish color, fluffy, and medium-sized,” explained Center Executive Assistant Laura Smith, who first viewed the security footage. “The gait ...

UK bans TikTok on government phones on security grounds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British authorities said Thursday that they are banning the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from government mobile phones on security grounds, following similar moves by the U.S. and European Union. Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden told Parliament that the ban applies with immediate effect to work phones and other devices used by government ministers and civil servants. He described the ban as a “precautionary move,” and said it does not apply to personal phones and devices. “Given the particular risk around government devices, which may contain sensitive information, it is both prudent and proportionate to restrict the use of certain apps, particularly when it comes to apps where a large amount of data can be stored and accessed,” Dowden told British lawmakers. The U.S. government mandated last month that employees of federal agencies have to delete TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices. Congress, the White House, U.S. armed forces a...

Wall Street opens lower as smaller bank stocks sink again

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks of smaller U.S. banks are continuing to tumble as Wall Street hunts for what may be next to crack in the struggling industry. Overall the stock market opened lower Thursday, but the losses were more modest. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% in early trading following a whirlwind several days dominated by a growing banking crisis on both sides of the Atlantic. The Dow and the Nasdaq also fell. European stocks gave up early gains and turned mixed after the European Central Bank made a big interest rate increase. Treasury yields moved lower as investors sought safer places to park cash. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street drifted lower before the bell Thursday, even as European shares got a boost after Credit Suisse said it would borrow up to $54 billion from Switzerland’s central bank to shore up its finances, possibly easing worries about a bank crisis following the failure of two U.S. lenders.Futures for the Dow Jones Ind...