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Far-right group burns Quran in Copenhagen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

A group of far-right protesters set fire to copies of the Quran in Copenhagen on Tuesday in front of the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in an anti-Islam demonstration, following a string of Quran burnings in Denmark and Sweden in the past week.Turkey and Iraq condemned the burning of Islam’s holy book while in other Muslim-majority countries like Yemen, people took to the streets to protest. Hundreds of protesters in Baghdad stormed the Swedish embassy last week in response and tried to reach the Danish embassy but were stopped by security forces.Tuesday’s protest in Copenhagen was organized by a far-right group who call themselves “Danish Patriots.” The group orchestrated the Quran burnings on Monday and Friday, which they live-streamed on Facebook in front of the Iraqi embassy. Quran burnings have increased in the two Scandinavian countries as Swedish and Danish laws allow them to continue under freedom of expression and right to protest laws. Turkey condemned ...

Aaron Hernandez brother faces new charges amid concerns over threats, visits to UConn, Brown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — The older brother of late New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is behind bars after a woman close to him told police she was worried he was planning a school shooting.Dennis Hernandez, a former football player at UConn, was shocked with a stun gun and arrested by police July 18 after he threatened to kill officers who had gone to his home in Bristol, Connecticut, then emerged from the house yelling “shoot me, shoot me,” according to police.On the way to the hospital, Hernandez, who went by DJ while playing quarterback and wide receiver for the Huskies in the mid-2000s, said he planned to kill anyone who had profited off his younger brother, police said in an arrest report.Bristol police officers went to Hernandez’s home after speaking with two women about what they described as his deteriorating mental health.Hernandez, 37, was originally arrested in March after police say he threw a bag containing a brick and a note over a fence ...

Former US Marine who was released by Russia in prisoner swap injured while fighting in Ukraine, source says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

(CNN) — Trevor Reed, the former US Marine who was wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly three years before being released in a prisoner swap, was injured while fighting in Ukraine, a source familiar with the matter told CNN Tuesday.Reed, who was freed in a prisoner swap in April 2022, was transported to a hospital in Kyiv and was evacuated to Germany for medical care, the source said.The circumstances around Reed’s injury in combat were not immediately clear.The Messenger was first to report the news.Jonathan Franks, a spokesperson for the Reed family, declined to comment.Reed is the latest American to be injured while fighting for Ukraine in its war in against Russia. The US State Department has repeatedly warned Americans against traveling to the country.Reed was arrested in Moscow in the summer of 2019 for intoxication, and was sentenced to nine years in prison in July 2020 for endangering the “life and health” of Russian police officers in an altercation. ...

Mass. Lottery Posts Record Profits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the Massachusetts Lottery brought in more revenue than ever before, paid out more in prizes than any previous year, and expects to return a record high profit of $1.176 billion for the state to dole out to all 351 communities as local aid, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and the Lottery Commission announced Tuesday.Fiscal year 2023 saw the Lottery haul in $6.131 billion in sales revenue, surpassing the $6 billion mark for the first time in the Lottery’s 51-year existence and topping the previous record of $5.863 billion set in fiscal 2022 by about $268 million. Contributing to that pile were record-high scratch ticket sales ($4.043 billion) and record-high Keno sales ($1.226 billion).After accounting for an estimated $4.483 billion in prizes, which bested the previous high of $4.309 billion paid out in fiscal 2022, paying a record high $350 million in commissions and bonuses to retailers, and covering administrative costs that equaled about 2 ...

7 renovations that can impact your home insurance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

Cate Deventer | Bankrate (TNS)Homeowners might choose to renovate to create more living space, update their home’s design or even put in a pool. Whatever the reason, homeowners may want to consider if their renovations could impact their home insurance policy. Some renovations may prompt you to adjust your coverage types or limits, while others may actually save you money on your insurance premium. Bankrate’s insurance editorial team explores how seven popular home renovations may impact your home insurance rates.Renovations that increase home insurance ratesA home renovation may increase the value of your home, but it can also drive up the cost of your home insurance. In addition to the expense of the renovation, you may see higher premiums if your renovation pushes you to increase your coverage limits or exposes you to greater liability.1. Building a swimming poolIn certain locations, adding a pool to your home can increase its value and offer an incentive to would-be buyers. Howe...

UPS reaches tentative contract with 340,000 unionized workers potentially dodging calamitous strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

By HALELUYA HADERO (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — UPS has reached a tentative contract agreement with its 340,000-person strong union, potentially averting a strike that threatened to disrupt logistics nationwide for businesses and households alike. The agreement was announced after UPS and the Teamsters came back to the negotiating table Tuesday to talk over remaining sticking points in the largest private-sector contract in North America. Negotiators had already reached tentative agreements on a host of issues but remained at odds on contentious issues like pay for part-time workers who make up more than half of the UPS employees represented by the union. The Teamsters called the tentative agreement “historic” and “overwhelmingly lucrative” in a prepared statement. Under the tentative agreement, existing full- and part-time UPS union workers will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the five-year contract. T...

4 takeaways from Netflix’s money shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

By Chanelle Bessette | NerdWalletIn the past year, streaming service Netflix has released two financially focused offerings: the film “Get Smart With Money” and the series “How to Get Rich.” Both feature powerhouse financial influencers who help people reevaluate their approaches to money to educate and empower them. Here are four takeaways that you can apply to your own life, no matter your financial situation.Takeaways From ‘Get Smart With Money’The “Get Smart With Money” documentary features well-known financial writers, bloggers and podcasters who share their expertise on how to become better at managing money. Here are a couple of lessons they imparted.1. Emotion management is key to money managementIn “Get Smart With Money,” some of the featured participants were dealing with significant debt or with the challenges of living paycheck to paycheck. The stress, fear and frustration that come with money can significantly impact how you manage it.Tiffany Aliche, a finan...

Israeli doctors walk off the job, more strikes may be looming after a law weakening courts passed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

By ISABEL DEBRE and JULIA FRANKEL (Associated Press)JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Israeli doctors walked off their jobs, labor leaders threatened a general strike and senior justices rushed home from a trip abroad on Tuesday, a day after the government’s approval of a law that weakens the country’s Supreme court. Critics say the legislation will erode the system of checks and balances.Four leading Israeli newspapers covered their front pages in black ink — an ominous image paid for by an alliance of high-tech companies. The only words on the pages were in a line at the bottom: “A black day for Israeli democracy.”Monday’s vote — on the first of a series of measures that make up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s divisive judicial overhaul — reverberated across the country. It came despite seven months of fierce popular resistance, Netanyahu’s promises of an eventual compromise and a rare warning against the overhaul f...

Malden man who tried to hire a hitman to kill his wife sentenced to prison; FBI agent posed as a contract killer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

A Malden man who got caught trying to hire a hitman to kill his wife, because that “contract killer” was actually an undercover FBI agent, has been sentenced to prison.Massimo Marenghi, 57, on Monday in Boston federal court was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release.In March, Marenghi pleaded guilty to one count of murder-for-hire.“Domestic violence is a truly haunting reality that is far too pervasive in our society. At its core, that is what the prosecution of Mr. Marenghi was all about,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy. “He was looking to engage in the most extreme form of domestic violence by plotting the murder of his wife.“While the vast majority of domestic violence situations do not involve the federal criminal law, when this office has an opportunity to hold people accountable for this type of despicable conduct, we will spare no effort in prosecuting such...

Wildfires in Algeria kill at least 34 and injure hundreds but 80% now extinguished, officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Fires raging through forests, mountain villages and towns in northern Algeria have left at least 34 people dead, with 23 of them in the coastal region of Bejaia, according to authorities and a local radio station keeping track of the grim toll.The blazes were being drastically curtailed. The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that 80% of the fires, which started Sunday, had been put out, the daily El Watan newspaper reported. A ministry statement quoted by the paper credited uninterrupted mobilization of firefighters, the use of firefighting aircraft and a drop in wind and in temperatures. Among those killed in hard-hit Bejaia were 10 soldiers encircled by flames during an evacuation, the Defense Ministry reported Monday night.In neighboring Tunisia, the official TAP news agency reported one death, a school principal who died of asphyxiation from a fire in Nafza, in the northwest. That was one of several areas in Tunisia’s northwest where firefighters battl...