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Spain violated Catalan ex-leader’s rights, UN body rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

The Spanish Supreme Court’s decision to suspend former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont from his public duties violated his rights, the U.N.’s Human Rights Committee has ruled. In the resolution, dated May 15, the committee concluded that the Court’s decision to suspend the MEP for “alleged crimes on the basis of public and peaceful acts” in 2018 didn’t meet the bar of “reasonableness and objectivity” and violated his right to be elected. Spain is a signatory to the relevant U.N. code, and must now provide “effective and legal remedy,” according to the decision, although the committee cannot impose penalties on Madrid.Puigdemont, who now lives in Belgium after fleeing Spain in 2017, faces an arrest warrant alongside four others separatists for his role in Catalonia’s controversial independence referendum that took place the same year.The region’s former leader hailed the “very important” resolution in a...

Mother’s boyfriend arraigned on murder charge in Jeremiah Oliver’s death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

A Fitchburg man already serving time for assaulting the family of a 5-year-old boy who was found dead in a suitcase is being charged in connection with the child’s murder.Alberto Sierra Jr., 32, the boyfriend of Jeremiah Oliver’s mother, was ordered held without bail after appearing in Worcester Superior Court on Thursday morning.Sierra is already serving 6 to 7 years in prison after pleading guilty to assault and child endangerment charges back in 2017.The arraignment comes as authorities continue to investigate the death of the 5-year-old Jeremiah, who was discovered to be missing in 2013 before the his body was found in a suitcase on the side of I-190 in Sterling the following year.The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later determined Jeremiah’s death to be a homicide, listing the cause of death as “homicidal violence of undetermined etiology.”Prosecutors said Sierra assaulted Jeremiah Oliver’s mother, Elsa Oliver, and two of his young siblings between March and D...

Judge rejects lawsuit by Nantucket residents to block wind turbines, protect right whales

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit brought by Nantucket residents who argued that the planned construction of dozens of wind turbines off the affluent resort island threatens the survival of endangered Northern Atlantic right whales.Nantucket Residents Against Turbines said Vineyard Wind’s proposed project of some 62 turbines in waters 14 miles (22 kilometers) south of the island is in a crucial area for foraging and nursing for the dwindling species, which researchers estimate to number about 340.In a ruling issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani found the group failed to show that either the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management or the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act in issuing a 2021 biological opinion or final environmental impact statement for the wind energy project.Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller welcomed the decision.“We’re pleased the court has acknowledged t...

Supreme Court avoids ruling on law shielding internet companies from being sued for what users post

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Google, Twitter and Facebook in lawsuits seeking to hold them liable for terrorist attacks. But the justices sidestepped the big issue hovering over the cases, the federal law that shields social media companies from being sued over content posted by others.The justices unanimously rejected a lawsuit alleging that the companies allowed their platforms to be used to aid and abet an attack at a Turkish nightclub that killed 39 people in 2017.In the case of an American college student who was killed in an Islamic State terrorist attack in Paris in 2015, a unanimous court returned the case to a lower court, but said there appeared to be little, if anything, left of it.The high court initially took up the Google case to decide whether the companies’ legal shield for the social media posts of others, contained in a 1996 law known as Section 230, is too broad.Instead, though, the c...

Economists: Mass. Growth Slowing, GDP Declines Forecast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

Massachusetts squeaked out a smidgen of economic growth in the first quarter of 2023, slowing substantially from its late 2022 growth rate, and analysts are predicting GDP declines in the second and third quarters. Gross domestic product here rose at a 0.1 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, after rising at a 2.9 percent annualized rate in the final quarter of 2022, according to the new edition of MassBenchmarks, which is published by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Donahue Institute in cooperation with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Looking ahead, analysts said most of the state’s leading indicators are negative and their index projects state GDP declines of 0.1 percent in the second quarter and 0.6 percent in the third quarter. U.S. gross domestic product increased at a 1.1 percent rate in the first quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, slowing from a 2.6 percent rate in the fourth quarter. The national outlook suggests “a p...

‘Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me’ review: Blond ambition turned tragedy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago Tribune (TNS)A ‘90s-era phenomenon, Anna Nicole Smith became famous for emulating Marilyn Monroe’s blond bombshell appearance, first on the pages of Playboy and later as a model for Guess jeans. Smith’s kinship with the ghost of Monroe always came across as superficial. They cultivated a similar look and both would rise to stardom from humble beginnings, only for it to end in tragedy. But that’s a simplistic understanding of either woman.For anyone old enough to remember Smith’s heyday, the Netflix documentary “Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me” doesn’t reveal unknown facets of her life so much as lay them out in one place. It’s a deeply sad story, but the title of director Ursula Macfarlane’s film is also ironic. I’m not sure anyone here, from those interviewed to the filmmakers themselves, really knows much about Smith beyond what she presented to the world.Hollywood and certain corners of the media have a way of chewing people up and spitting them out, and ...

Boston city councilor blasts Arroyo for Rollins election tampering connection

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

One Boston city councilor is out with a statement blasting Ricardo Arroyo for “eagerly” welcoming U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins’ attempts to influence the outcome of last year’s election for Suffolk District Attorney.Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy said the alleged ethical violations revealed in Wednesday’s Department of Justice report were “disturbing.” She called for “swift and appropriate consequences” for Councilor Arroyo, saying that city constituents “have a right to more ethical representation.”Arroyo, in his own statement, said that the bombshell report, while “sad and unfortunate” did not point to any wrongdoing on his part.“Attempts to influence the outcome of an election by a federal official with as much power as U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins are outrageous,” Murphy said in a Thursday statement. “According to the federal report, residents of Suffolk County had their election tampered with in ways extremely unethical, as well as potentially in violation of state and federa...

The average long-term US mortgage rate rose to 6.39% this week, Freddie Mac says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

By ALEX VEIGA (AP Business Writer)LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate edged higher this week after a two-week drop, a modest move in line with a mostly moderate shift in home-loan rates in recent weeks.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 6.39% from 6.35% last week. The average rate a year ago was 5.25%. The average benchmark rate has moved lower in seven of the last 10 weeks since reaching a high for this year of 6.73% in early March. Still, it remains elevated relative to 2020 and 2021, when the average rate fell below 3%.High rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for homebuyers, limiting how much buyers can afford at a time when the housing market has slowed, but remains unaffordable to many Americans after years of soaring home prices.“Higher mortgage rates have slowed home purchase activity during a time in the year when typically home shoppers are out in full f...

Watch: MLS expected to announce San Diego as location for expansion team

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO — The Commissioner of Major League Soccer is holding a news conference Thursday at Snapdragon Stadium, where San Diego is expected to be announced as the location for the league's 30th team.Joining MLS Commissioner Don Garber will be San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Sycuan Tribe Chairman Cody Martinez and Mohamed Mansour, chairman of Man Capital and Right to Dream.The San Diego expansion team is expected to play at Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley, which is also the home field for the San Diego Wave FC and San Diego State University football. Excitement grows ahead of expected MLS team expansion in San Diego The addition of an MLS team to America's Finest City has become a point of excitement in recent days around San Diego.“I think they’re going to have a really loyal support group in town and it’s exciting that MLS sees that as well,” said Sports San Diego CEO Mark Neville.It was not announced ahead of the Thursday news conference what the team's official name, crest a...

Man accused of killing 2 sisters on Mother's Day pleads not guilty

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The man accused of killing two sisters in a hit-and-run crash in the Bay Terraces neighborhood on Mother's Day made a video appearance before a judge Wednesday afternoon. It left raw emotion both in and outside of a San Diego courtroom as family and friends of the victims gathered for the arraignment of the man in question, 53-year-old Tony Garcia. "I know she’s in a better place right now, she’s watching over us. And what I want to say is that no matter how much time passes, she was my first love," shared Andrew Guttierez, boyfriend to 23-year-old victim Jazmin Higuera Cano. She and her 25-year-old sister Elizabeth Cano, a wife and mother, both died in the hit-and-run crash early Mother's Day morning. Two killed, two hospitalized in crash; one driver fled the scene Garcia of San Diego was driving the F150 that killed the two sisters and injured two others. After running away, he turned himself into police 14 hours later. Authorities say the Honda, which was driven b...