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‘Everybody loves Americans’: Why US tourists are a hot commodity

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

(CNN) — Justin Albertynas, a travel industry expert based in Vilnius, Lithuania, has some good news for US travelers who might be a bit self-conscious about the “ugly American” stereotype.His opinion: “It’s not true at all.”“Europeans in general, and all the European businesses that I’ve made contact with during my years in the industry, they’re always welcoming to Americans,” explains Albertynas, who’s CEO and co-founder of Ratepunk, a startup whose browser extension scans major travel booking sites to uncover the lowest price on hotel rooms.“Especially when they are from New York or LA, everybody is kind of putting them on a pedestal. So, actually on the contrary to the ugly American fad, everybody loves Americans.”Not everybody might share Albertynas’s sentiment. But the tourism industry does seem to love at least one aspect of US travelers: their spending power.The US market has long been a coveted demographic for tourism boards, tour operators and destination management compani...

UK’s Rwanda asylum plan is unlawful, court rules

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

LONDON — Britain’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their claims processed is unlawful, the Court of Appeal ruled Thursday, in a major blow to Home Secretary Suella Braverman.Britain announced a multimillion-pound deal with Rwanda in spring 2022, and has vowed to deport people it deems have made “dangerous, unnecessary and illegal journeys” to the U.K. to the Central African nation.The High Court last year dismissed several bids to halt the government’s plan, but a number of asylum seekers and the charity Asylum Aid have now succeeded at the Court of Appeal in overturning the finding that Rwanda represents a “safe third country.”It marks the latest blow for the policy, which is yet to see a single flight take off amid legal challenge.Braverman, whose boss Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made “stopping the boats” crossing the English Channel a key political priority, will address the House of Commons on the government̵...

Trial of man accused of killing Weymouth police officer, bystander in the hands of the jury

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

Jury deliberations are set to continue Thursday in the trial of a man accused of killing a Weymouth police officer and an innocent bystander in 2018.During final arguments Wednesday, prosecutors, gripping the gun they say accused killer Emanuel Lopes used to murder Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna and Vera Adams, describe how Lopes first struck Chesna in the head.“He takes this rock and he throws it, and where does it land? It lands on Sgt. Chesna’s head,” prosecutor Greg Connor told the jury in closing arguments. With Chesna’s heartbroken family listening to the impassioned closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors how Lopes grabbed the officer’s gun and opened fire. “He stood over Sgt. Chesna in a defensive posture and with two hands … he shot Sgt. Chesna eight times,” Connor said.Lopes’s attorney painted a very different story of a man wrestling with mental illness for years.“This case is not about sympathy for Mr. Lopes, it’s just about understanding what happened ...

MassDOT to install netting to catch toxic paint chips falling off Tobin Bridge

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has come up with a plan to address the toxic paint chips that are falling off the Tobin Bridge and into a Chelsea neighborhood. The department plans to install netting under the bridge next month to catch the paint chips. They say the freeze/thaw cycle is to blame for the chipping paint.The plan now is to clean, paint, and repair parts of the bridge.Residents who spoke with 7NEWS said they hope the issue is properly addressed during the remediation process.

Battenfeld: Southie Bridge sign faux pas removes late Boston City Councilor Jimmy Kelly’s name

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

A mysterious “error” has led to the abrupt cancellation of Jimmy Kelly.The conservative former City Council president’s name has been wiped off the South Boston bridge welcoming sign named after him — replaced by Mayor Michelle Wu’s name.Instead of Kelly’s name, the sign now just says “Welcome to South Boston West Broadway Bridge” and Wu’s name underneath.It’s a very fishy situation. Some Boston activists have been trying to get the Wu administration to rename the bridge because of the late Kelly’s anti-busing views and allegations of racism.And now it’s done — at least temporarily.What’s next, renaming the Moakley courthouse? Joe Moakley was vehemently anti-busing, too.“This was an error on the part of our sign vendor,” Wu spokesman Ricardo Patron said in a statement to the Herald. “The old sign was to be updated but not changed, and the vendor accidentally included the location of the sign. The property management team is working to address this issue as soon as possible.”Wu is no...

Charles E. ‘Chick’ Silberstein, orthopedic surgeon and Baltimore Orioles team physician, dies

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

Charles Eliot “Chick” Silberstein, an orthopedic surgeon who had been the Baltimore Orioles’ team physician from 1978 to 2009, died of sepsis June 25 at the Gilchrist Center Towson.He celebrated his 90th birthday on June 13.“Chick was a very special human being and he helped me get to the mound,” said Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame pitcher who played for nearly 20 years for the Orioles. “He did both of my knees … he was a neighbor, a friend and a mentor.”Born in Baltimore and raised on Denison Road, he was the son of Louis Silberstein, an assistant Baltimore City solicitor in the administration of Mayor Thomas J. D’Alesandro Jr., and Bessie Rabinowitz.Family members said he told stories of his summer camp days at Camp Saginaw in Pennsylvania and was still singing camp songs throughout his 80s.He attended Liberty School and the old Robert E. Lee School and was a 1950 graduate of Baltimore City College.While in elementary school he b...

Somerville’s Green Line Extension Community Path proving to be a recreational oasis

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

Jon Metzger has been on the move ever since the highly-anticipated but long-delayed Green Line Extension Community Path opened earlier this month in Somerville.A resident of the nearby Maxwell’s Green apartment complex, Metzger continued to take advantage of the recreational oasis by walking with Hudson, his 10-year-old goldendoodle, during a Wednesday workbreak.“It is a huge draw,” said Metzger, who moved to Magoun Square three years ago from Assembly Row. “I think there are some improvements especially on the T, waiting 15 minutes for each stop definitely needs to be improved. But walking on this path, this is huge.”Somerville dignitaries, gathered for a ribbon cutting, said they believe the two-mile segment, stretching the off-street, multi-use path from Lowell Street to Cambridge Crossing, has been transformational. Many pedestrians and cyclists had been getting around a fence that blocked the extension for weeks before it officially opened June 10.The path runs parallel to the ...

UK appeals court rules that plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A British court ruled Thursday that a government plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda in an attempt to deter migrants from making risky journeys across the English Channel is unlawful.Court of Appeal judges said Rwanda could not be considered a “safe third country” where migrants could be sent.The government is likely to challenge the ruling at the U.K. Supreme Court.The Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to “stop the boats” -– the overcrowded dinghies and other small craft that make the journey from northern France carrying migrants who hope to live in the U.K. More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain across the Channel in 2022, and several died in the attempt.The U.K. and Rwandan governments agreed more than a year ago that some migrants who arrive in the U.K. as stowaways or in small boats would be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. Those granted asylum would stay in the East African country rather than re...

French police officer who shot 17-year-old under investigation for ‘voluntary homicide’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

NANTERRE, France (AP) — French prosecutors said magistrates will investigate a police officer who shot and killed a 17-year-old driver for “voluntary homicide,” following two days of violent fires and violent protests. Overnight, protesters set cars and public buildings ablaze in Paris suburbs and unrest spread to some other French cities and towns, despite increased security efforts and the president’s calls for calm.The killing of 17-year-old Nahel during a traffic check Tuesday, captured on video, shocked the country and stirred up long-simmering tensions between young people and police in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighborhoods around France. Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said that based on an initial investigation, he concluded that “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.”Two magistrates have been named to lead the investigation, he said. Under the French legal system, which differs from the U.S. and British systems, magistrates of...

Woman’s leg is amputated after being trapped under a moving walkway in a Thai airport

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:26 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A woman’s leg had to be amputated in a Thai airport after it was trapped by a movable walkway Thursday, officials said.The 57-year-old Thai passenger was due to board a morning flight from Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport to the southern Nakhon Si Thammarat province when she was caught by the walkway in the airport’s Terminal 2. A medical team there eventually had to cut her left leg off from above the knee, according to the airport’s officials.“On behalf of the Don Mueang International Airport, I’d like to express my deepest condolences regarding the accident,” Don Mueang Airport Director Karun Thanakuljeerapat said during a news conference. “I’d like to insist that we will ensure that no such accident will happen again.”He said the airport will be fully responsible for the woman’s medical costs and will be open for negotiations on other compensations. The medical team at the hospital she was initially sent to informed Karun that they could not reattach...