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Richard Branson’s Virgin wins a lawsuit against Florida’s Brightline over rebranding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A British judge ruled in favor of Richard Branson’s Virgin group on Thursday in its lawsuit against a U.S. train company that terminated a licensing agreement and claimed the Virgin brand was no longer one of “high repute.”Judge Mark Pelling ruled in favor of Virgin Enterprises, which had sued Florida passenger train operator Brightline Holdings for breaching an agreement to rebrand as Virgin Trains USA. Brightline said it was disappointed with the ruling and planned to appeal.The lawsuit was over a deal the two companies struck in 2018 and Brightline pulled out of two years later. It came shortly after the Virgin Atlantic airline filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Virgin lost the U.K. train franchise it had held for two decades.Brightline argued that Virgin had “ceased to constitute a brand of international high repute, largely because of matters related to the pandemic.” Virgin Atlantic fought financial support from the British government after COV...

German gas deal with Qatar under renewed scrutiny

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

BERLIN — A high-level state visit by Qatar’s emir to Germany has raised fresh criticism of Berlin’s deal to import natural gas with the gulf state, which is seen as a major sponsor of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as well as President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the German capital on Thursday. None of the meetings were followed by appearances in front of the press, a fact that underscores the political sensitivity of the visit.Coinciding with the visit, some members of Scholz’s ruring coalition sharply criticized plans to import more liquified natural gas, or LNG, from Qatar.“Future energy partnerships should only take place with partners who recognize Israel’s right to exist and do not fight it,” said Michael Kruse, the energy policy spokesperson of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), which rules in a coalition with Scholz’s center-left Socia...

Finland says ‘state actor’ might be involved in gas pipeline damage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

Finland’s intelligence services said Thursday that a “state actor” could have perpetrated the damage to a Baltic Sea gas pipeline that happened over the weekend.“Involvement of a state actor in this job cannot be ruled out,” Finnish Security Intelligence Service Director Antti Pelttari said during a press conference, Reuters reported. “Who is behind this is a matter for the preliminary investigation. We do not comment on it in more detail.” On Tuesday, Finland confirmed that a 77-kilometer-long Balticconnector pipeline that links NATO members Finland and Estonia under the Gulf of Finland suffered a leak after an “unusual” drop in pressure. At the same time, Finnish telecoms operator Elisa reported it had detected a malfunction on an undersea cable it uses to verify communication connections. Senior Finnish officials said the damage to both the gas pipeline and communication cable was likely to have been caused by “external activity,” raising concerns ove...

After X and Meta, TikTok now pressed by EU to tackle Hamas content

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

TikTok’s Chief Executive Officer Shou Zi Chew was asked on Thursday to tell the European Commission within 24 hours how it is protecting children and teenagers from violent content and misinformation around the Israel-Hamas conflict. The letter by Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton is the latest of a series of public calls to chiefs of popular social media platforms to lay out the measures they have taken to stem the spread of false information and violent content depicting hostage-taking following the gruesome attacks in Israel over the weekend.Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly Twitter) also received letters. The EU’s pressure comes as part of the European Union’s content moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA). Breton urged the TikTok CEO to “urgently step up your efforts,” adding that potentially illegal content was circulating on the platform “despite flags from relevant authorities.” Instance...

Why Germany is rattled about sending its Taurus missile to Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

BERLIN — The U.K. and France have supplied Ukraine with powerful cruise missiles but Berlin is balking at doing the same.While the dithering from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is enraging Kyiv, there are some reasons for Berlin’s caution.To the untrained eye, there is little to differentiate the two missiles.Both are launched from fighter jets, they are both around 5 meters long and weigh about the same, 1,300 kilograms for the Storm Shadow/SCALP and 1,400 kg more for the Taurus. Each has a range of about 500 kilometers and very similar warheads — 450 kg for Storm Shadow/SCALP and 461 kg for Taurus.German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed on Wednesday during the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels that Berlin will not send the missile to Ukraine. So why the fuss in Germany?It’s about the fuze, according to Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow and missile expert at the University of Oslo, who dug into the differing devices that each missile family uses to...

Foxboro police to seek charges against several men in connection with death of Patriots fan at Gillette Stadium

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

The Foxboro Police Department says it will seek assault and disorderly conduct charges against several people in connection with the death of a New England Patriots fan at Gillette Stadium.Foxboro Police Chief Michael Grace told 7NEWS on Thursday that his department was in the process of seeking charges in Wrentham District Court against three men from Rhode Island, as officials continue investigating the death of 53-year-old Dale Mooney.State and local police had been investigating Mooney’s death ever since Sunday, Sept. 17, when the Newmarket, NH native suffered “an apparent medical event” during the fourth quarter of the Patriots-Dolphins game.At the time, a Massachusetts State Police spokesperson said detectives were “investigating the facts and circumstances of the man’s death, including the sequence of events prior to the medical incident.”Witnesses who spoke with 7NEWS described seeing a fight break out in the stadium’s 308/309 section, with paramedics...

Boston police make arrest in connection with deadly 2022 shooting in Dorchester

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

A 39-year-old man from Roslindale was taken into custody this week in connection with a 2022 deadly shooting in Dorchester, according to authorities.The Boston Police Department said Tony Vance was arrested on charges related to the shooting death of Derrell Russell.Russell, 33, of Brighton, was found by police after officers were called to the area of 970 Blue Hill Ave. the night of Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022. Authorities at the time said the victim was found suffering from a gunshot wound, and that he was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.More than a year later, Vance was arrested by Boston PD’s Fugitive Task Force, as well as the department’s District D-14’s Drug Control Unit, and the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section.Vance was expected to be arraigned at Suffolk Superior Court sometime on Thursday.

Andrew’s Michael McDonough didn’t meet Deion Sanders. No worries. ‘He’s got next level written all over him.’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

During an unofficial visit this summer to Colorado, Andrew’s Michael McDonough didn’t get to meet former NFL superstar Deion Sanders, who’s been busy reviving the Buffaloes.But he didn’t mind missing out on the man they call “Coach Prime.” McDonough ended up spending time with offensive line assistant Bill O’Boyle, and that was just fine with him.“(Sanders) wasn’t there, but I had a great time with the O-line coach,” McDonough said. “He was a good dude. I like talking to the offensive line coaches.“We’re always talking about technique and stuff like that.”McDonough, a junior guard for the Thunderbolts, is making a lot of friends with offensive line coaches across the country. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound McDonough has a bunch of offers, including notables in Colorado, Illinois, Purdue and Boston College.He has made unofficial visits to Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, Iowa State, Michigan and No...

Five officers shot and wounded in Minnesota, authorities say; suspect not in custody

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

PRINCETON, Minn. (AP) — Five law enforcement officers were shot and wounded Thursday in an incident near the east-central Minnesota city of Princeton, authorities said.The suspect was not in custody and the incident was ongoing late Thursday morning.Three of the officers were taken to North Memorial Hospital in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale while two were taken to a hospital in St. Cloud, said Robbinsdale Police Capt. John Elder, who was assisting the hospital, and added that none of the wounds appeared to be life-threatening.Elder said he did not immediately know which departments the wounded officers were from, but that they came from multiple agencies.The Benton County Sheriff’s Office provided few details in its initial statement. The department said it was being assisted by several other public safety agencies on a “critical incident” unfolding in Glendorado Township, which is a few miles west of Princeton. It said there was no danger to the general public, although the...

Frost advisory for parts of GTA, temperatures expected to fall to near freezing mark

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:41 GMT

Environment Canada has issued a frost advisory for parts of the GTA as temperatures are expected to plunge to near the freezing mark Thursday night and into Friday morning.The advisory is in effect for Newmarket, northern York and Durham regions, Uxbridge, Georgina, Beaverton, and Caledon.If you have outdoor plants that you want to keep a bit longer, you will need to either cover them up or bring them indoors.“Cover up plants, especially those in frost-prone areas. Take preventative measures to protect frost-sensitive plants and trees,” the national weather agency warns.Meanwhile, in Toronto, the temperature is expected to fall to 6 C overnight, with rain moving into the area Friday night.While some are embracing the cooler weather of the autumn season, it was only last week that GTA residents experienced record-breaking warmth amid a rare fall heat wave. The cold front arrived ahead of the Thanksgiving long weekend.The Weather Network’s fall forecast predicted a “...