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Miami’s annual Tree Lighting and Holiday Festival spark festive beginnings for December

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

With November bidding farewell, the Magic City ushered in the holiday season with its much-anticipated Annual Tree Lighting and Holiday Festival outside City Hall in the 305. Families gathered for an enchanting evening filled with music performances, delectable food, and a spirited parade.The festive atmosphere was heightened as Santa Claus himself made a special appearance, adding his magical touch to the celebration. The event marked the official commencement of December, setting the stage for a month filled with joy and holiday cheer in Miami.Residents and visitors alike reveled in the festivities, creating lasting memories as the city illuminated its holiday spirit.

Smorgasburg Miami’s inaugural Filipino Street Food & Ube Festival: A flavorful feast in Wynwood

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

Smorgasburg Miami in Wynwood wants to “thrill ya with manila.” This weekend, they are smashing street food and purple yams together for the first Filipino Street Food & Ube Festival. With over 50 food vendors enticing your taste buds, we think “ube” happy.Gaston Becherano (CEO of Smorgasburg Miami): “I love Filipino food. I particularly love the different street skewer foods like the different organ meats.”Organ meats?Gaston Becherano: “Like hearts, and the [intestines] and the chicken meatballs and the eggs. Love that stuff.”Smorgasburg Miami is all about adventurous eating. And this outdoor-food market will be hosting the very first Filipino Street Food & Ube Festival this weekend.Gaston Becherano: “I think there’s a lot of people in Miami who have some connection to the Philippines. There’s not that much exposure of that type of food and cuisine in Miami itself. So, I thought it was a good idea to bring the...

Greek PM moves to smooth over UK marbles row, as King Charles raises eyebrows

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

ATHENS — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis moved Friday to smooth over his relationship with the U.K. after a furious row with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over the Parthenon sculptures.“I certainly want to leave this unfortunate incident behind me, but it always takes two to tango,” Mitsotakis said in an interview with Bloomberg Television while in Dubai for the COP28 climate summit.Sunak was scheduled to meet Mitsotakis on Tuesday, but the British leader abruptly called off the talks late Monday after Mitsotakis gave an interview to the BBC in which he insisted upon the return of the Parthenon Marbles, the ancient sculptures that Britain’s Lord Elgin removed from Greece in the 19th century.“In the spirit of long-standing good relations our two countries have, which I surely intend to preserve, I don’t have much to add,” Mitsotakis said, adding that he hasn’t spoken to Sunak since the incident.The British PM is also in Dubai on Friday.The frenzy over the unprecedented ...

Ukraine blows up two railway connections between Russia and China

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

Ukraine’s security service blew up railway connections linking Russia to China, in a clandestine strike carried out deep into enemy territory, with pro-Kremlin media reporting that investigators have opened a criminal case into a “terrorist attack.”The SBU set off several explosions inside the Severomuysky tunnel of the Baikal-Amur highway in Buryatia, located some 6,000 kilometers east of Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official with direct knowledge of the operation told POLITICO.“This is the only serious railway connection between the Russian Federation and China. And currently, this route, which Russia uses, including for military supplies, is paralyzed,” the official said.Four explosive devices went off while a cargo train was moving inside the tunnel. “Now the (Russian) Federal Security Service is working on the spot, the railway workers are unsuccessfully trying to minimize the consequences of the SBU special operation,” the Ukrainian official added.Later, anoth...

Manchester, NH police arrest suspect following pair of armed robberies that occurred within hours

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

Police in Manchester, NH, say a 31-year-old man was taken into custody following two armed robberies that happened within hours of each other last week.The Manchester Police Department announced the arrest of Kristofer White on Wednesday, who was charged in connection with a pair of robberies that occurred Friday, Nov. 24.According to police, the first robbery was reported around 9:30 a.m. when officers were called Z&J Market on Bridge Street.Speaking with the store’s clerk, police learned that a man approached the counter with food items to pay for before taking a revolver from his jacket and pointing it at the employee, demanding money.The suspect then fled the scene on foot after being given cash by the clerk.Two hours later, Manchester PD said officers were called to the Union Street Market less than a half-mile away for another report of an armed robbery.Employees there told authorities that a white male came through the stores, grabbed a few items, then came up to th...

Wrentham Police officer answers the bat call

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

A Wrentham police officer came to the rescue of two town residents Thursday – one human, one bat. Officer Jonathan Coliflores responded to a report of a bat inside a Wrentham home, safely and humanely capturing the winged mammal with first a towel, then a piece of Tupperware, before releasing it outside. “His cautioned approach, text book transfer from towel to Tupperware and steady walk as if carrying a bomb was most impressive,” Police Chief Bill McGrath said on Facebook.

Overdue Spending Deal Reached on Beacon Hill, On Hold For Now

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

Weeks after their talks collapsed, House and Senate Democrats got on the same page Thursday and filed a $3.1 billion compromise spending bill packed with money for the state’s emergency shelter system, public worker raises, and special education.But they could not get the overdue legislation across the finish line in the face of frustrated Republicans, triggering a flurry of finger-pointing between the Democrat supermajority and the minority party that is temporarily wielding the influence Democrats gave to them.Both branches kept their sessions open for most of the day as legislative leaders worked behind closed doors on a compromise fiscal year 2023 closeout budget. Shortly before 6 p.m., House Republicans, who voted against the underlying bills due to shelter policy concerns, tried to use parliamentary maneuvers to call for a formal session where the final package could be debated and receive a roll call vote.Democrats referred the order from House Minority Leader Brad...

Wrong-way driver collision prompts closure of southbound I-5 in North County

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- All lanes were blocked on southbound Interstate 5, just north of Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad, around 5 a.m. Friday morning due to a traffic collision, said Caltrans.According to a Sig Alert, the incident was caused by a wrong-way driver suspected of DUI.In an update around 6:15 a.m., Caltrans said the right two lanes reopened for southbound motorists, while the HOV and left two lanes remain closed.No further details are available at this time.This is a developing story. Please checkback for updates.

Israeli survivors of the Oct. 7 music festival attack seek to cope with trauma at a Cyprus retreat

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — Tomer Bassis expected his day to be filled with electronic trance music at the Oct. 7 desert rave party he was attending in southern Israel. Instead, the sounds of bullets whizzing by as he ran to escape the indiscriminate gunfire of Hamas militants became the soundtrack seared into his mind.The 25-year-old Israeli was among some 3,000 other young revelers at the music festival who fled the carnage as the militants from Gaza descended on the field, gunning down young men and women and throwing rocket-propelled grenades into the crowd in an unprecedented rampage. The open-air Tribe of Nova music festival is believed to be the worst civilian massacre in Israeli history, with at least 364 dead. In a single day, Hamas and other Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took around 240 people captive.Bassis remembers that as he ran, a girl he didn’t know was running next to him. “I looked to the left and she got hit with...

Associated Press correspondent Roland Prinz, who spent decades covering Europe, dies at age 85

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:41 GMT

VIENNA (AP) — Roland Prinz, who was born as armies began marching across central Europe then spent nearly four decades covering the Cold War and the fall of communism for The Associated Press, has died. He was 85.Prinz was a linchpin of the AP’s coverage of the turmoil that accompanied the end of the Cold War, starting with the rise of Solidarity in Poland, stretching through the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic, the fall of the Berlin Wall and finally the breakup of Yugoslavia.He on Nov. 20 in Vienna. Throughout his career, Prinz was a gentlemanly presence in the news service’s Vienna bureau, helping newcomers navigate life in the Austrian capital and guiding coverage with his broad knowledge of central Europe. A team player, he was always anxious to contribute to stories, regardless of whether he got the byline, said former Vienna bureau chief Robert Reid.“Roland was an old school Central European, a gentleman of courtly manners and deep personal warmth behind a dignified, ...