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Lionel Messi takes to the practice field for 1st time since signing with Inter Miami

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi jogged a lap with his new teammates, took part in a warmup drill of players making short passes in a tight circle and before long tapped his left foot at a ball that wound up in the back of an open net.Inter Miami’s new star wasted no time fitting right in.The World Cup winner and seven-time Ballon d’Or recipient as the world’s best player took part in a training session with his new Major League Soccer club for the first time on Tuesday, three days after signing a 2 1/2 year contract that’ll pay him between $50 million and $60 million a year.A helicopter hovered overhead, drones buzzed around the field and about 200 media members lined up toward the back of the complex to get a look at Messi. He, like newly signed Sergio Busquets — also a World Cup winner — went through a welcome tunnel as part of the first practice, which meant jogging past teammates as they lined up and clapped.Messi’s first match is expected ...

Florida’s Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday extends 14 days

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) — Florida’s annual Back-to-School “Sales Tax Holiday” is set to provide an extended period of tax-free shopping this year. Running from Monday, July 24, to Sunday, August 6, the 14-day tax holiday offers an opportunity for families to prepare for the upcoming school year while saving on essential purchases.During the tax holiday, Florida will waive the 7.02% sales tax, as well as any local option taxes, on various back-to-school items, providing significant relief for families as the summer break draws to a close. Eligible purchases include clothing, footwear, certain accessories, school supplies, learning aids, jigsaw puzzles, and personal computers or related accessories for noncommercial home or personal use.Parents and students can take advantage of the tax-free period to shop for clothing, footwear, and certain accessories with a sales price of $100 or less per item. Certain school supplies with a sales price of $50 or less per it...

Trump says he has been notified he’s a target of the US probe into efforts to overturn 2020 election

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has received a letter informing him that he is a target of the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election, an indication that he could soon be indicted by federal prosecutors.Trump made the claim in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying he received the target letter while with his family on Sunday night. Such a letter can precede an indictment and is used to advise individuals that prosecutors have evidence linking them to a crime; Trump received one ahead of being charged last month in a separate investigation into the mishandling of classified documents.A spokesman for special counsel Jack Smith, whose office is leading the investigation, declined to comment.Smith’s team has cast a broad net in its investigation into attempts by Trump and his allies to block the legitimate transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden in the days leading up to...

Macron keeps Borne as PM amid stalled second term

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron will stick with Elisabeth Borne as his prime minister, ending speculation that he would seek a wider reset after recent unrest.The president decided to maintain Borne in the position because “calm had returned” to France and the Bastille Day celebrations were “a success” despite fears that they would be marred by clashes, according to his staff.After her appointment in May 2022, Borne steered the government through several crises — including weeks of violent demonstrations this spring over Macron’s plans to raise the legal age of retirement to 64 from 62. Last month, the fatal shooting of a young man of North African descent during a police intervention sparked days of riots and chaos in poorer French suburbs.“Borne is a good compromise for Macron. She is doing the job better than expected. He’ll probably change her only after the next elections if the result is very bad for [Macron’s] Renaissance party,” said Bruno Jeanbart, a pollster ...

Spain’s far-right leader threatens long-term occupation of Catalonia

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

MADRID — Far-right leader Santiago Abascal on Tuesday predicted that tensions between Spain and the dormant Catalan separatist movement would be revived and “become much worse” if his Vox party and the center-right Popular Party gain enough votes to form a government after the July 23 national election.“The only way for there to not be any tension is to allow [Catalonia] to secede, for us to just surrender,” he said at an event in Madrid. “But we won’t hesitate: We will lay down the law.”Abascal said that Spain had failed to address the problem of Catalan separatism in 2017, when the region held an illegal independence referendum. In the aftermath of that vote, conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy evoked Article 155 of the Spanish constitution to dissolve the regional government and assume direct control over some of Catalonia’s autonomous powers for over half a year.The far-right leader said that Rajoy’s intervention in Cat...

Police search for two armed home invasion suspects in Brookline

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

Police in Brookline are working to identify two suspects who forced their way into a home and assaulted a man inside early Tuesday morning.The Brookline Police Department said a 61-year-old man was left with a laceration wound to the head after “multiple masked suspects” broke into a home on Warren Street early Tuesday morning and assaulted the resident. Police added there was also evidence that a gun was fired during the incident.Authorities said that based on their investigation, they believed the suspects forced their way through the balcony of the home’s second floor while the residents were sleeping inside.The two suspects were able to flee the scene, according to authorities, while the resident who was attacked was later taken to a hospital as a precaution. Brookline PD later released footage and images of two masked individuals, including video of a suspect approaching a camera and attempting to cover it. This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS ...

Accused Discord leaker Jack Teixeira argues he should be let out of jail as he awaits his classified documents trial, citing Trump’s release

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

(CNN) — The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who is accused of posting a trove of classified documents to social media asked a judge to reconsider his detention on Monday, pointing out that he is charged with the same federal counts as former President Donald Trump and that prosecutors did not oppose Trump’s release.In May, a Massachusetts judge ruled that 21-year-old Jack Teixeira would be held in jail while he awaits trial for charges under the Espionage Act after prosecutors argued he callously mishandled highly sensitive national security information during his short tenure in the National Guard. The magistrate judge, David Hennessy, said that Teixeira posed a continued threat to national security.Teixeira’s lawyers argued in a new filing on Monday that a judge should reverse a decision to keep Teixeira detained, pointing to several other criminal defendants who were released while awaiting trial, including Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta.“The specu...

Suicide bomber targets truck carrying troops in northwestern Pakistan, wounding 8 people

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber targeted a truck carrying security forces in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, wounding at least eight people, police said amid increasing violence in the region.The attack took place in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks on security forces in recent months. The military truck was badly damaged. Police did not give any details about any troop casualties. A senior police officer in the city, Waqas Rafique, said the victims were taken to a nearby hospital and that the attack also damaged other nearby vehicles carrying civilians. The Pakistani Taliban — also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP — are a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Tali...

An American soldier is detained by North Korea after crossing its heavily armed border

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An American soldier crossed the heavily armed border from South Korea into North Korea “willfully and without authorization,” U.S. officials said Tuesday, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.There were no immediate details about why or how the soldier crossed the border or whether the soldier was on duty. The four U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of a public announcement.The American-led U.N. Command overseeing the area tweeted earlier Tuesday that the detained U.S. citizen was on a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom. The U.S. military in South Korea said in a statement that he “willfully and without authorization” crossed the military demarcation line into North Korea.It said he is believed to be in North Korean custody and that the U.N. Command is working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident. ...

Torontonians need to earn more than double minimum wage to afford apartment: Report

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:11:26 GMT

A new report finds there would need to be a huge boost to the minimum wage for low-income earners in Toronto to even come close to comfortably affording a two-bedroom apartment.The findings from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suggests people living in the city would need to earn $40 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment and then still have money left over for food and utilities. For a one bedroom apartment they would need to earn close to $34 an hour.Ontario currently has the second highest minimum wage in the country at $15.50, and will have the highest in October 2023 when it increases to $16.55. The report finds the climbing cost of housing in Toronto has wiped out any gains made by recent minimum wage increases.“The discrepancy between the rental wage and the minimum wage is such that, in most Canadian cities, minimum-wage earners are extremely unlikely to escape core housing need,” reads the report. “They are likely spending too much on rent, ...