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€1.8B worth of fraud in EU in 2022, watchdog says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

BRUSSELS — The EU’s anti-fraud watchdog found irregularities worth €1.77 billion in 2022 as the number of cases it investigated increased, it said in a report published Thursday.OLAF, which monitors the abuse of EU funds, said there were 12,455 cases reported by authorities last year, a 7 percent increase from 2021.The majority of these, 11,316 ― an all-time high — were not criminal but concerned irregularities such as poor management, sloppy record-keeping or insufficient financial controls. It represented an 8 percent increase on the previous year.The remaining 1,139 cases — a 2 percent increase year-on-year — concerned various types of fraud including collusion, manipulation of procurement procedures, conflicts of interest, inflated invoices, evasion of customs duties, smuggling and counterfeiting. While the number of cases has gone up, the amount of money concerned represents a 13 percent drop from 2021, which is down to “a limited number of individual cases with hig...

The Dow is on pace to do something today it hasn’t done since 1897

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

New York (CNN) — The Dow is on pace for its best run in 126 years.The blue-chip stock index on Wednesday notched its 13th straight day of gains, its best winning streak since 1987 and its highest level since February 2022.If the Dow closes higher for a 14th consecutive session, that would be its longest run of consecutive gains since May 1897.Should the Dow end the day higher today, and for a 15th straight day on Friday, that would mark the index’s longest daily winning streak ever.The Dow, up 7% for the year, was flat Thursday after rallying in recent weeks as cooler-than-expected inflation data has investors more optimistic that a soft landing, or no recession, could be in the cards for the economy.That, in turn, has spurred investors to snap up shares of cyclical stocks, or shares of companies that are sensitive to the economy.Strong earnings and investor optimism about tech — particularly fueled by interest in AI — has also helped stocks pick up steam throughout t...

Appreciation: Sinead O’Connor, dead at 56, was a singular artist: ‘I would have liked to be a priest,’ she told us in 2013

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

In a world of cookie-cutter pop music stars and automatons, Sinéad O’Connor was a one-off. The Irish singer-songwriter — whose death at the age of 56 was reported Wednesday by her family — was a singular artist who marched to the beat of her own, very idiosyncratic drummer.She not only courted controversy with her take-no-prisoners approach, she welcomed it.Or, as O’Connor said in a 2013 San Diego Union-Tribune interview: “I think artists can be inspiring, as long as we’re courageous enough to be ourselves and to be bullied, but not run away.”This Dublin native could have taught master classes in not running away, no matter how intense the blow-back could be — and, in her case, it was often withering.O’Connor’s area debut concert at the San Diego State University Open Air Theater on May 19, 1990, was electrifying and then some.No cause of death has been disclosed yet for the troubled musician, whose struggles with mental health issue were a ...

MBTA overpaid for transit ambassadors, did not set performance metrics, report finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

The MBTA overpaid a Tennessee-based company by more than $5.3 million to outsource in-station customer service agents and did not set clear goals to track their performance, Massachusetts’ top government watchdog found in a new report.A review from Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro found although the MBTA saved money by using the company, Block by Block, instead of using state workers as “transit ambassadors,” the overpayments arose because the agency failed to account for special events. The study also found the T paid Block by Block employees higher hourly wages than the contract called for.The so-called ambassadors are the employees typically dressed in red shirts that help riders get around, report maintenance and cleaning needs, and help ensure the safety and security of stations.The agency also succeeded in expanding the number of hours and stations covered by customer service agents.But a five-year contract between the MBTA and Block by Block lacked a way to track performance...

Selloff begins for Chicago White Sox, who trade pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to Los Angeles Angels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López were pivotal additions when the Chicago White Sox began their rebuild in 2016.Late Wednesday, they were the first two players moved in what figures to be a busy selloff by the trade deadline.The Sox sent Giolito and López to the Los Angeles Angels for minor-league switch-hitting catcher Edgar Quero and left-handed pitcher Ky Bush.“Given this club’s performance over the course of the last several months, it’s apparent that these types of moves have to take place given where we are at and putting us in the best position we can be going forward,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said.“Certainly not where any of us in the organization thought when this year started we would be come the trade deadline. But clearly moves like these in terms of putting ourselves in the best position going forward are essential and we are certainly pleased to add Bush and Quero.”Giolito and López, both free agents at the end of...

800 great white sharks have visited Cape Cod in recent years: ‘The Cape is among the larger white shark hotspots worldwide’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

A new population study of great white sharks off Cape Cod shows that the region is one of the largest white shark hotspots in the world, as the apex predators flock to the Cape to hunt seals.Local shark researchers recently found that about 800 individual white sharks visited the waters off the Cape from 2015 to 2018. This count of 800 sharks is the first-ever estimate of white shark abundance in the North Atlantic Ocean.Megan Winton, lead author of the study and a staff scientist for the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, had revealed this population estimate last month during a new National Geographic special for Sharkfest.“Cape Cod is the only area in the region where researchers can feasibly monitor the population, and our estimates suggest that the Cape is among the larger white shark hotspots worldwide, which is good news from a conservation standpoint,” Winton said.The researchers found that white shark numbers along Cape Cod peaked in the late summer and early fal...

Army fire kills a 14-year-old Palestinian boy as an Israeli minister visits a flashpoint holy site

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military fire killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, as an ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site that has been a flashpoint for violence between Israel and the Palestinians.The visit by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the disputed hilltop compound comes during a period of heightened Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank for the past year and a half and threatens to inflame already surging tensions. It also prompted the Hamas militant group to announce the launch of a rare rocket from the West Bank and drew condemnation from across the Muslim world.The site is revered by Jews and Muslims, and the competing claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Early Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said 14-year-old Fares Abu Samra was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank town of Qalqilya. The Israel...

Judge sees dark writings of Michigan school shooter who could get life in prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A teenager who killed four fellow students at a Michigan high school in 2021 wrote about his plans in a handwritten journal, detailing how he would target his victims and make himself famous, according to evidence offered Thursday.The lead investigator was the first witness at a unique hearing to determine whether Ethan Crumbley will be sentenced to life in prison or receive a shorter term with an opportunity for parole.Lt. Timothy Willis said a 22-page journal was found in a bathroom stall, apparently left behind by Crumbley before he emerged in a hallway at Oxford High School and began shooting.“I want America to hear what I did,” Crumbley wrote. “I will cause the largest school shooting in the state. I wish to hear the screams of the children as I shoot them.”Willis said Crumbley searched the internet for information about police emergency response times, prison sentences for teenagers and whether Michigan has the death penalty.Crumbley has admitted to carry...

Freedom Mobile adding 5G service for plans over $45 per month

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

TORONTO — Freedom Mobile is adding 5G capability for some customers as its new parent company implements network upgrades in accordance with orders from Ottawa.The telecom provider says it will begin offering 5G service to customers with plans that cost $45 per month or more in the Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton areas along with select cities across Ontario, B.C. and Alberta, with planned rollouts in other markets.In May, Freedom Mobile announced it would offer a $50 monthly plan, its first with national coverage, that includes unlimited calls and texts as well as 40 gigabytes of data usable throughout Canada and the U.S. following its purchase by Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron.The $2.85 billion acquisition was prompted by Rogers Communications Inc.’s takeover of Shaw Communications Inc., which agreed last year to sell Freedom Mobile in an attempt to ease competition concerns as a requirement for the merger.As part of conditions laid out by Industry Minister François-Philippe C...

Sweden’s prime minister “extremely concerned” as new applications to burn religious books pour in

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:57 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s prime minister said Thursday that police have received several permit applications for the burning of religious texts in the country next week, and that he fears this may escalate tensions further with the Muslim world.In his first public comments since the start of the Quran burning crisis that has severely strained Stockholm’s ties with Muslim nations, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT he was “extremely concerned” about a new wave of desecrations.“It’s the police that make those decisions, not me. If they (permits) are granted, we face a number of days with the obvious risk of serious things happening,” Kristersson told TT. A recent string of public Quran desecrations by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Sweden – and more recently in neighboring Denmark – has sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries.Sweden does not have a law specifically prohibiting the burning or desecration of the Quran or other religious...