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Crumbled debris from ceiling found on platform at Forest Hills MBTA station

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

Crews were on scene at the MBTA’s Forest Hills station in Jamaica Plain on Wednesday after crumbled debris was found on the station’s Commuter Rail platform.The T said Wednesday night that the debris were padding used around ceiling joints. The T said the debris weighed less than one pound. The broken debris looked to have fallen from the station’s ceiling area above the platform during Wednesday’s morning commute. The T said both the MBTA and Keolis, which operates and maintains the Commuter Rail system, sent crews to the platform to investigate what happened. This incident happened just a matter of weeks after a ceiling tile fell at the Harvard MBTA station in Cambridge earlier this month.Video showed the tile barely missing a woman walking nearby. The incident resulted in additional tiles being inspected and removed. After this incident at Forest Hills, riders reacted.“The whole system should have some sort of overhaul — a systems check,” Jason Kava...

Bruins beat: Issues arising for B’s

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

The time to panic has not yet arrived, Bruins fans. But a healthy concern is not out of line.The B’s have lost three out of four and for the first time this year, two straight in regulation. In the last two losses, they allowed 11 goals to non-playoff teams (Chicago and Detroit). In the last four games, it could be argued the B’s have been outplayed in the first period, even in the game in which they held a 2-0 lead against the Edmonton Oilers.That very well could be a sign of a true contender’s early spring fever, when the team knows it is going to the playoffs and is just going through the motions. And truth be told, the B’s have been able to flip the switch and dominate the game at certain stretches.Showing up on time should be easily remedied once the games start to matter again.What’s more troublesome is the number of turnovers and odd-man rushes that are being allowed. Prior to the Chicago game, coach Jim Montgomery said his goalies’ stellar...

Japan, South Korea renew ties at Tokyo summit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan and South Korea agreed to resume regular visits between their leaders and took steps to resolve a trade dispute as a highly anticipated summit began Thursday, a sign that the two countries are rebuilding their nations’ security and economic ties as they try to overcome a century of difficult history.The summit could revise the strategic map of northeast Asia. The two U.S. allies, who have long often been at odds over their history, are seeking to form a united front, driven by shared concerns about a restive North Korea and a more powerful China.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol both stressed the importance of improved ties as they opened Thursday’s summit, hours after a North Korean missile launch and encounters between Japanese and Chinese vessels in disputed waters.“I’m delighted that a chance has come for us to open a new chapter of Japan-South Korea relations together,” Kishida said in his opening remar...

Lebanon’s Central Bank chief attends corruption questioning

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s embattled Central Bank chief appeared Thursday for questioning for the first time before a European legal team visiting Beirut in a money-laundering probe linked to the governor. Several European countries are investigating Riad Salameh, who in recent years has been charged with a handful of corruption-related crimes. Salameh has been Lebanon’s central bank governor since 1993.The questioning was originally scheduled for Wednesday. Salameh did not show up.Judicial officials told The Associated Press that Judge Helena Iskandar, who is representing the Lebanese state at the questioning in the European probe, charged Salameh, his brother Raja and associate Marianne Hoayek with corruption and ordered detained after the Central Bank chief did not show up. Their assets were also frozen. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press. In addition to the European probe, there are other legal proceedings aga...

Credit Suisse shares soar after central bank aid announced

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse’s shares soared 30% on Thursday after it announced it will move to shore up its finances by borrowing up to nearly $54 billion from the Swiss central bank, bolstering confidence as fears about the banking system moved from the U.S. to Europe.It was a massive swing from a day earlier, when shares of Switzerland’s second-largest commercial bank plunged 30% on the SIX stock exchange after its biggest shareholder said it would not put more money into Credit Suisse.That dragged down other European banks after the collapse of some U.S. banks stirred fears about the health of the global banks. Shares of France’s Societe Generale SA and BNP Paribas as well as Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Britain’s Barclays Bank all were up Thursday after big drops a day earlier.Credit Suisse, which was beset by problems long before the U.S. bank failures, said Thursday that it would exercise an option to borrow up to 50 billion francs ($53.7 billion) from the Swi...

Pakistani court extends pause in arresting ex-premier Khan

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court on Thursday extended a pause in the effort to arrest former premier Imran Khan, a sign of easing tension in the country’s cultural capital after clashes erupted this week when police tried to detain him. The decision is a reprieve for Khan, who was due to be arrested a few hours earlier. The Lahore High Court ordered police to suspend the plan to arrest the 70-year-old opposition leader until Friday. It also asked Khan’s legal team for talks to resolve the issue.Thursday’s order sent a wave of relief through Khan’s stick-wielding supporters, who were prepared to prevent police from reaching Khan’s house in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. Despite the order, however, police and paramilitary rangers deployed for Khan’s arrest were not immediately withdrawn.Usman Anwar, the police chief in the Punjab province, said the violence in Lahore began Tuesday when officers went to comply with the court order and arr...

Asian stocks fall, Europe gains after Credit Suisse jitters

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — European shares advanced Thursday following a retreat in Asia after Credit Suisse said it would borrow up to $54 billion from Switzerland’s central bank to shore up its finances, possibly easing worries about a bank crisis following the failure of two U.S. lenders.London, Frankfurt and Wall Street futures gained. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong declined as Asian bank stocks slid, reversing Wednesday’s gains. Oil prices rose.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 lost 0.7% on Wednesday after Credit Suisse shares fell 30%. That fueled jitters about global banks that are under strain following interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to cool inflation.“Expect confidence to remain fragile,” Chris Turner, Francesco Pesole and Frantisek Taborsky of ING said in a report.The turmoil over banks will complicate a European Central Bank decision due to be announced Thursday about another possible interest rate hike, they said. It is “casting...

China says US spreading disinformation, suppressing TikTok

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China accused the United States on Thursday of spreading disinformation and suppressing TikTok following reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app. The U.S. has yet to present evidence that TikTok threatens its national security and was using the excuse of data security to abuse its power to suppress foreign companies, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a daily briefing. “The U.S. should stop spreading disinformation about data security, stop suppressing the relevant company, and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign businesses to invest and operate in the U.S.,” Wang said. TikTok was dismissive Wednesday of a report in The Wall Street Journal that said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., part of the Treasury Department, was threatening a U.S. ban on the app unless its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., divested. ...

In low-wage Portugal, Europe’s housing crisis bites deep

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Like a growing number of people in Portugal, Georgina Simoes no longer earns enough money to afford a place to live.The 57-year-old nursing home carer earns less than 800 euros ($845) a month, as do about a fourth of the country’s workforce. For the last decade, she got by because she’s been paying just 300 euros a month for her one-bedroom apartment in an undistinguished Lisbon neighborhood.Now, with rents soaring in the capital, her landlord is evicting her. She says she’s not budging because finding another place near work will be too expensive.“You live in this state of anxiety,” she says in her apartment with its partial view of the River Tagus. “Every day you wake up thinking, ‘Am I staying here or do I have to leave?”Simoes and many others, increasingly including the middle class, are being priced out of Portugal’s property market by rising rents, surging home prices and climbing mortgage rates, fueled by factors including the growing...

US pregnancy deaths dropped in 2022 after COVID spike, but still high

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:13:34 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Deaths of pregnant women in the U.S. fell in 2022, dropping significantly from a six-decade high during the pandemic, new data suggests.More than 1,200 U.S. women died in 2021 during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to a final tally released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2022, there were 733 maternal deaths, according to preliminary agency data, though the final number is likely to be higher.Officials say the 2022 maternal death rate is on track to get close to pre-pandemic levels. But that's not great: The rate before COVID-19 was the highest it had been in decades.“From the worst to the near worst? I wouldn’t exactly call that an accomplishment,” said Omari Maynard, a New Yorker whose partner died after childbirth in 2019.The CDC counts women who die while pregnant, during childbirth and up to 42 days after birth. Excessive bleeding, blood vessel blockages and infections are leading causes.COVID-19 can be particularl...