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EU to host Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders are set to hold talks in Brussels this weekend as speculation grows that the two sides could sign a peace agreement after decades of violent conflict.European Council President Charles Michel will host Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Financial Times reported Monday, citing diplomatic sources.Two EU officials confirmed to POLITICO that the talks are planned for May 13-14, but the agenda is yet to be formally outlined. Both the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries declined to comment on the news.“We see this as a continuation of efforts for normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, a resumption of the trilateral meetings in the Brussels format and a follow-up to important and positive peace talks held in Washington last week,” one European Commission official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.Foreign ministers from the two former Soviet rep...

School bus drivers Marlboro go on strike amid contract negotiations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

Fifty-five bus drivers in Marlboro are going on strike Monday after the union and the school bus company failed to reach a new contract. The bus company, NRT Bus, operates in three different districts – Marlboro, Westboro, and Framingham. According to Teamsters Local 170, bus drivers in Framingham struck a deal Sunday night to avoid a strike and drivers in Westboro do not plan to strike despite having no deal yet. Despite the strike, school is still on in Marlboro Monday morning. According to a contingency plan up on the district’s website, students who live within a mile and a half of their schools will be expected to walk. Police are being called in to help students get to school safely and a limited number of outside buses have been called in for certain area. Parents were notified Sunday if those buses were coming to their neighborhoods. The union says pay, health care, and benefits were among the issues with the current contract.NRT says it gave bus drivers in Marlb...

Child in Maine tests positive for measles, first case in state since 2019

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

(CNN) — A child in Maine has tested positive for measles, officials said, marking the first case in the state since 2019.The child who tested positive had received a dose of the measles vaccine, but the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in a news release Friday that it “is considering the child to be infectious out of an abundance of caution.”The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all children get two doses of the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine; the first dose between 12 to 15 months of age and the second between the ages of 4 to 6.Some people may still get measles if they have received the vaccine, but those individuals typically have a milder version of the illness and are less likely to be contagious, according to the CDC.The Maine CDC listed several locations where others could have been exposed to measles, including a “Family Time Dine and Play” at a mall and two medical centers between A...

Senior Treasury officials reiterate dire warnings if debt ceiling isn’t lifted, pour cold water on invoking the 14th Amendment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

(CNN) — Ahead of a highly anticipated meeting between President Joe Biden and Congressional leaders on Tuesday, senior Treasury officials reiterated dire warnings of economic “chaos” and “catastrophe” if the US doesn’t raise the debt ceiling as the country barrels toward default in early June.“I know he wants to set up a process in which spending priorities and levels are discussed and negotiated but these negotiations should not take place with a gun, really, to the head of the American people,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday on ‘ABC This Week.’While congressional Republicans want to tie any debt ceiling hike to spending and budget cuts, the administration has said the two issues are separate.Yellen and her No. 2, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, both painted a stark picture of “economic chaos” if the debt ceiling isn’t lifted and confirmed that the latest Treasury data s...

Warm Week Ahead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

Wow! What a weekend we had with temps in the 70s to near 80, full on sunshine and low humidity. Pretty easy to get used to that pattern, and then overall theme of this week, is to have some similar days showing up in the 7 days forecast. After tracking a little bit of wet weather overnight, we’re drying out quickly and quite nicely this morning as temps will jump from the 50s this morning, right back into the mid 70s this afternoon with low humidity and a refreshing breeze. Tomorrow will be the coolest day of the 7day forecast as highs drop into the 60s for most, although along the coast, temps run in the mid to upper 50s in the afternoon with an ocean breeze. More clouds stream in midday into the afternoon, but the pattern remains dry as wet weather missed us to the south. Chilly air settles in at night, with temps falling into the mid 30s in many of the suburbs, 40s in Boston. After a chilly start Wednesday, the afternoon will be fantastic with highs near 70 under a sunny sk...

Man accused in pair of armed robberies in Jamaica Plain to appear in court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

A man arrested in connection with a pair of armed robberies at cellphone stores in Jamaica Plain late last month is set to appear in court Monday.Boston Police said local officers working with state police and members of the US Marshals Office arrested Akeem Lahens, 32, of Dorchester around 2:40 p.m. Friday. Lahens is now facing charges including armed robbery and kidnapping linked to the Jamaica Plain robberies on April 26 and April 27, officials said. 7NEWS previously spoke with people who work at the stores, who described their experiences. “He said ‘Don’t play dumb man. I’m not having a good day. Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to kill you man,’” Emmanuel Sanchez said of the man he said robbed him while wielding two knives on April 27 at a Cricket Wireless store on Centre Street. The robbery Sanchez described happened 24 hours after workers said a man showed two knives while robbing a nearby Boost Mobile store. Store manager Ashley Cruz said the r...

Grace Curley: Biden’s 2024 campaign already reflecting his disastrous first term

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

Team Biden is officially on the campaign trail, and the re-election efforts are going about as well as everything else the octogenarian gets his hands on.This week, President Biden made waves when he told a group of reporters that he would be having a “major press conference” later that Friday.Considering the commander in chief is typically showing reporters the back of his head, this was big news.Alas, it turns out that the president misspoke.When Biden said he would be holding a “major press conference,” what he actually meant was he would be sitting down for a one-on-one interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle later that night.This was a huge bummer for all of the crack scribes in the media who were readying their pertinent questions about ice cream and the First Dog. There’s always tomorrow!Keep in mind that the Biden administration is an example of trickle-down incompetence. So it should come as a surprise to no one that the rest of the best and brightest are also struggling.On ...

Vivek Ramaswamy tours New Hampshire as poll numbers climb

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

It isn’t unusual to see presidential candidates at a diner in New Hampshire, but seldom has the morning crowd at Linda’s Breakfast Place in Seabrook been presented with a candidate quite like Vivek Ramaswamy.The Ohio native was in the Granite State last week for a multi day campaign tour, which on Thursday found him seated in a booth at the back of the eatery off U.S. Route 1 and talking with a pair of voters to explain why he, not former President Donald Trump or another well known Republican, is the right choice to lead the country in 2024.“This is what’s going on in our country: we’re all hungry for a cause, we’re hungry for purpose, and we’re hungry for media identity, at a time when the things that used to fill our hunger — faith, patriotism, hard work and family — these things have disappeared,” he told diners.Voters in New Hampshire, where the country’s first primaries will be held, are used to being treated to early presidentia...

Business confidence falls to lowest level in a year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

Confidence among the state’s employers has fallen to its lowest level in more than a year, a survey of Massachusetts businesses shows.The Associated Industries of Massachusetts, in its monthly Business Confidence Index, said confidence among businesses fell 1.4 points from March to April, dropping from 51.5% to 50.1%, a level which the business association says is “essentially even” with the “the 50 mark that separates optimistic from pessimistic outlooks.”“Businesses report that some customers are postponing buying decisions as they evaluate whether the economy is headed for a soft landing or a recession. At the same time, however, the report on Friday that US employers created 253,000 jobs in April shows that the employment market continues to defy the gravity of any slowdown,” Sara Johnson, the chair of AIM’s Board of Economic Advisors said with the release of the report.That 50.1% confidence score is eight points lower than employers reported this time last year and 8.6 po...

Lucas: Biden should target Mexico’s cartels with troops

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:36 GMT

Joe Biden is sending U.S. troops to the wrong place.They needed to go to New York, a sanctuary city, where hapless Mayor Eric Adams is begging President Biden, a fellow Democrat, for help in dealing with the influx of illegal immigrants flooding his city.Biden’s response has been: “Don’t call me, I’ll call you.”While Adams has blamed “the national government” for “turning its back on New York,” he has held President Joe Biden blameless.Adams said that the once great city of New York “is being destroyed by the migrant crisis.”He said that 59,000 migrants had arrived in New York since last spring, which is about the same number that cross into Texas in a slow week.Perhaps the mayor should be reminded that it was Joe Biden who turned the illegal immigrant spigot on, and only he can turn it off, something he refuses to do.And things are only going to get worse when Title 42 expires May 11. Title 42 allows the U.S.to deny illegal immigrant asylum seekers for health reasons.Biden’s respon...