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Court probes Italian government’s ‘Influencer Venus’ tourism flop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Italy’s “Influencer Venus” is on a digital detox — at precisely the wrong moment. A Court of Audit in Italy is accusing the government’s Ministry of Tourism of wasting public money with a costly promotional campaign, which suddenly stopped posting online at the height of tourist season.The “Open to Meraviglia” marketing campaign, which cost nearly €140,000 in taxpayer money, transformed Botticelli’s Venus into a 21st century influencer, who regularly posted on her Instagram account to promote tourism in Italy.But the Influencer Venus was last spotted active on social media on June 27, more than two months ago, in a picture posing in front of a view of Taormina in Sicily. Her accounts on other social media sites such as Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) disappeared, Italian media reported, along with the promotional video posted on YouTube when the campaign was announced. The disappearance sparked questions from Pio Silvestri, who leads the Prosecutor...

Commission snubs Charles Michel’s EU 2030 enlargement target

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

BRUSSELS — The European Commission on Tuesday shot down Charles Michel’s 2030 target for EU enlargement.The top two institutions in Brussels clashed again as the EU executive pushed back against the European Council president’s remarks Monday that the bloc should be ready to accept new members in 2030.“We are not focused on a date, but focused on working very closely with candidate countries to get ready for joining the European Union,” the Commission’s deputy spokesperson Dana Spinant said at a daily press briefing Tuesday.She added that Michel had not consulted Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about the content of his enlargement speech Monday at a summit in Bled, Slovenia.The latest public disagreement between von der Leyen and Michel — dubbed “Europe’s odd couple” for their difficult relationship — comes as the topic of EU enlargement is gaining momentum in Brussels. Also Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested a “multi-speed” EU...

Eminem to Ramaswamy: Please don’t stand up

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Rap artist Eminem is showing no love to GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, ordering the tech entrepreneur to stop using his music on the campaign trail.In a cease-and-desist letter to Ramaswamy’s campaign on Wednesday, performance rights organization BMI said the company “will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement.” The Daily Mail first reported on the letter.A clip of Ramaswamy rapping “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, whose given name is Marshall Mathers III, at the Iowa State Fair went viral earlier this month. While Ramaswamy’s not afraid to get on stage, he’ll have to pick another artist’s music for “Da Vek” to use as he showcases his musical prowess.“Vivek just got on the stage and cut loose. To the American people’s chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real slim shady,” campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told POLITICO in a te...

Water main break in Rockland leaves nearby businesses without water, car stuck in sinkhole

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Crews in Rockland are working to patch up a road after a water main break left a crater in the pavement, causing an early morning crash in the process.The Rockland Police Department said calls for a main break on Weymouth Street first came in around 6:40 a.m., where water began to accumulate and caused a sinkhole to open up.According to police, a driver ended up crashing into the opening when trying to maneuver through the water in an SUV. No injuries were reported and the vehicle was later towed as repair work got underway. Water service was also stopped for local businesses as public works crews arrived at the scene.Officials say the road work will likely take up most of the day. No timeline on when water service would be restored has been released yet.

MBTA Outlines Another Slew Of Service Disruptions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Parts of the Red Line will shutter for nearly a dozen weeknights and a pair of weekends in September, and a few Orange and Green Line stops will also face more than three weeks of disruptions in downtown Boston, MBTA officials announced Monday.The T rolled out its schedule of planned closures and diversions for maintenance work in September, setting sights on the Red Line’s Braintree branch, where several miles of track are so deteriorated that they cannot safely support full-speed travel.Shuttle buses will replace trains between North Quincy and Braintree Station starting around 8:45 p.m. each night from Sept. 5-7, Sept. 12-14 and Sept. 19-22. That stretch of track will also be completely shuttered the weekend of Sept. 23 and 24.A similar segment, from Quincy Center to Braintree, will also go offline and be replaced by shuttle buses starting around 8:45 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8 through the end of the day on Sunday, Sept. 10.Those closures will precede a 16-day October shutdown...

There Are More 401(k) and IRA Millionaires Than Ever in 2023: Here’s How You Can Get There

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

Financial services firm Fidelity revealed in a recent study that nearly 80,000 of its retirement account investors achieved millionaire status during the second quarter, for 10% more 401(k) clients and 13% more IRA clients holding balances worth $1 million or more.Planning for retirement on your own can be difficult. Talk to a financial advisor about it today.How Many Retirement Account Millionaires Are There?In total, 727,104 Fidelity clients hold retirement accounts that are now posted in seven figures, or just slightly less than 2% of the firm’s 37 million Individual Retirement Account and 401(k) account holders.The new millionaires can thank a 16% gain in stocks during the first six months of the year, as well as any employer matches in 401(k)s and their own discipline in saving and investing.“We are pleased to see a third straight quarter of positive gains for retirement savers as the market continues to improve and both employees and employers commit to establishing a strong f...

Bavarian governor orders his deputy to fully explain himself to clear allegations of antisemitism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The governor of the German state of Bavaria said Tuesday that his deputy had not done enough to prove he wasn’t responsible for an antisemitic flyer as a high school student and ordered him to answer a detailed questionnaire to clear himself of any possible involvement in the scandal that caused an uproar in Germany.Daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported Friday that when Deputy Governor Hubert Aiwanger was 17, he was suspected of writing a printed flyer calling for entries to a competition titled “Who is the biggest traitor to the fatherland?”It listed, among other things, a “1st prize: a free flight through the chimney at Auschwitz.”Aiwanger has denied that he wrote the flyer. His older brother later came forward to claim that he had written it. In a statement on Saturday, Aiwanger also said that one or more copies of the flyer were found in his school bag and he was summoned to see the principal. He said he was threatened with police involvement if he di...

When it comes to the Hollywood strikes, it’s not just the entertainment industry that’s being hurt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The company had struggled for years, tossed around by pandemic-induced production shutdowns that began in March 2020. Last year, though, business for Valentino’s Costume Group had finally picked back up.Hoping to capitalize on that good fortune, the shop moved in January to a North Hollywood space twice the size of its old building.Then Hollywood’s screenwriters and actors went on strike. Now, says co-owner Shon LeBlanc, Valentino’s can no longer afford to pay its rent.“My chest is tightening because the money is so tight,” says LeBlanc, bemoaning the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ apparent lack of urgency to try to reach an agreement with the unions. “When is the mayor going to step in and say, ‘I’m ordering you guys to figure something out because you’re about to collapse the economy in Los Angeles?’”It has been well over 100 days since members of the Writers Guild of America stopped working, and more than a month since the actors uni...

Man who killed 3 at a Dollar General in Jacksonville used to work at a dollar store, sheriff says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Jacksonville shooter used to work at a dollar store and stopped in at one before a security guard’s presence apparently led him to instead target the Dollar General down the road, where he killed three people.The shooter worked at a Dollar Tree from October 2021 to July 2022, Sheriff T.K. Waters said at a news conference Monday. And, the sheriff said, he stopped at a Family Dollar store Saturday before pulling into a parking lot at Edward Waters University, where he donned tactical gear. He left when security approached.“Based off what we saw: him stopping off at the Family Dollar and working at a Dollar Tree previously and then him going to Dollar General, that was his intent the whole time,” Waters said. “Why that store? Still hard to tell.”Security footage from the Family Dollar shows him walking in and leaving a few minutes later with a small shopping bag. But after he reached his car, Waters said, a security guard pulled into the lot and the ...

Stock market today: Wall Street quiet ahead of reports on consumer confidence, job openings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is quiet ahead of some potentially market-moving jobs data and a survey reflecting consumers’ feelings about the economy. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and the Dow was essentially unchanged as trading opened Tuesday. At 10 a.m., investors will get an update on consumer confidence, which jumped sharply in July and is expected to remain strong in August. Also Tuesday, the government will issue a report on job openings in July. Best Buy shares rose a little more than 2% after the consumer electronics retailer beat Wall Street forecasts, even as second-quarter profit and sales declined from a year ago, a consistent theme for retailers this spring.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street was quiet early Tuesday ahead of some potentially market-moving jobs data and a survey reflecting consumers’ feelings about the economy.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and the S&P 500 both inched down about 0.1% before the bell. ...