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Madonna’s Celebration Tour kicks off in London after health scare

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Madonna kicked off her career-spanning Celebration Tour at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night, marking her first performance since suffering what her manager called a “serious bacterial infection” that led to hospitalization in an intensive care unit for several days back in June.“I’m on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life,” the pop superstar wrote on Instagram this summer, shortly after news of the ICU stay broke. “My focus now is on my health and getting stronger and I assure you, I’ll be back with you as soon as I can.”On stage, Madonna, 65, said she’d had a “crazy year” that neither she nor her doctors thought she’d make it through. She said her children spurred her on and that she had to “survive for them.” The opening night of the tour also marked the 27th birthday of daughter Lourdes Leon, who appeared on stage with her mother.After a brief technical hitch, the opening night of the tour was indee...

Kim Ng, MLB’s 1st female GM, is leaving the Miami Marlins after making the playoffs in 3rd season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Kim Ng is leaving the Miami Marlins after three seasons as general manager, Marlins chairman and principal owner Bruce Sherman announced Monday.Ng, 54, became the majors’ highest-ranking woman in baseball operations and the first female GM in the four major North American professional sports leagues in a groundbreaking hire in November 2020.The Marlins exercised their team option for her to return for the 2024 season, Sherman said in a statement, but Ng declined her mutual option.“We thank Kim for her contributions during her time with our organization and wish her and her family well,” Sherman said.Ng was the fifth GM in the Marlins’ history. Sherman said the club will immediately begin its search for new leadership.Ng brought in Marlins coach Skip Schumaker ahead of the 2023 season, and he led Miami to its first postseason berth since the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. They lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in the Wild Card Series. The last full season in whi...

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s whirlwind week caps off with ‘SNL’ cameos – and some hand-holding

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

(CNN) — Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are in it to win it.The pair spent their Saturday night together in New York City, where they made surprise cameos on the new episode of “SNL” before engaging in some G-rated PDA.In separate cameos on “Saturday Night Live,” Swift and Kelce winked at the fervor around their coupling.In one sketch, Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Molly Kearney, James Austin Johnson, Devon Walker and host Pete Davidson parodied the NFL’s media coverage of Swift attending Kelce’s games in recent weeks.The Chiefs’ tight end appeared at the end of the sketch when Thompson, playing Fox NFL Sunday broadcaster Curt Menefee, was frustrated with his co-host’s Swift references and he wanted to speak to “someone who actually wants to talk football.”The camera then cut to Kelce, who said, “Yes, please!” He flashed a smile as the crowd whistled and cheered.Swift’s appearance was less of a direct response to the buzz, but her cameo on the same episode as Kelce was acknowle...

Mariano: No End In Sight As Migrant Crisis Costs Pile Up

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

House Speaker Ron Mariano has been advised that colder weather is not likely to stem the ongoing tide of asylum-seeking migrants into Massachusetts and says Gov. Maura Healey’s request for $250 million to help manage the crisis might not be enough to last even until the end of October.During an appearance Sunday morning on WCVB’s “On The Record” program, Mariano said he still has “tons of questions” about the crisis, suggested that state officials are still in the dark on many fronts, and issued a call for congregate housing, with hotels and shelters at capacity and fall’s lower temperatures kicking in.“We have people coming in daily, different times of the day, from different regions, entering our state from different locations,” the Quincy Democrat said. “We’re trying to get them all organized and we have no idea how many we’re going to get, when they’re coming, and what they need to survive here.”...

Justice Department opens federal hate crime investigation into fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

(CNN) — The US Justice Department has opened a federal hate crime investigation after an Illinois landlord allegedly stabbed a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy to death and seriously wounded his mother because the family is Muslim.Joseph M. Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.The sheriff’s office said Czuba did not make a statement to detectives, but investigators determined the victims were “targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”The Justice Department “will use every legal authority at our disposal to bring to justice those who perpetrate illegal acts of hate,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.“This incident cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian co...

Potential Red Sox candidate Kim Ng not returning as Marlins GM

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

One of the more intriguing possibilities for the Red Sox head of baseball operations position has just hit the open market.The Miami Marlins announced Monday morning that Kim Ng will not return as general manager, with principal owner Bruce Sherman saying the decision to leave was her’s.“Although the club exercised its team option for her to return for the 2024 season, Kim has declined her mutual option,” Sherman said in a statement. “We thank Kim for her contributions during her time with our organization and wish her and her family well.”Ng made history when she was hired in late 2020 as the first woman to lead an MLB club’s baseball operations department, and over the past three seasons the Marlins have steadily improved under her leadership. This year the Marlins finished 84-78 and reached the postseason for the first time in a full 162-game season since 2003.Though it’s not known why Ng made the decision to leave, her departure will fue...

Is Kendrick Bourne playing his final games with the Patriots?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

Last season, several NFL front offices called the Patriots with trade interest in Kendrick Bourne.According to The Athletic, those calls continued before the start of this season. The Pats declined.But after Bourne starred in Sunday’s loss at Las Vegas, which dropped the Patriots to 1-5, it’s fair to wonder whether Bill Belichick might change his mind.Bourne, who’s playing out the final year of a team-friendly contract, represents one of the Patriots’ few clear and obvious assets. He caught a game-high 10 passes on 11 targets for 89 yards versus the Raiders. On the season, Bourne leads the team in both categories by a wide margin and is tied for the team lead with two touchdowns.Through six games, he’s on pace for 79 catches, 870 yards and six touchdowns, all would-be career bests. Bourne can play inside the slot and outside the numbers. The Pats have three young receivers, rookies Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte and 2022 second-round pick Tyquan Tho...

Rite Aid seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it deals with lawsuits and losses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

By TOM MURPHY and ELAINE KURTENBACH (Associated Press)Rite Aid has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell part of its business as it attempts to restructure while dealing with losses and opioid-related lawsuits.The drugstore chain said late Sunday it also has obtained $3.45 billion in fresh financing from some of its lenders, which will help support the company through its voluntary Chapter 11 process.The plan will “significantly reduce the company’s debt” while helping to “resolve litigation claims in an equitable manner,” Rite Aid said. The company also said it expects to receive court approval for several motions it made to support its business. Those include paying employee wages and benefits without interruption. The company also said it still plans to pay vendors in full. Rite Aid Corp. runs more than 2,100 stores in the United States, mostly on the East and West Coasts and has posted annual losses for several years.The Philadelphi...

Indonesia’s top court rules against lowering presidential candidates’ age limit, but adds exception

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s top court on Monday ruled against lowering the minimum age of presidential and vice presidential candidates as the country gears up for election in 2024, but allowed an exception for those who served or been elected as regional leaders allowing them to run at younger age.The ruling could pave the way for President Joko Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, to run in the election next year. Gibran, who currently serves as Mayor of Surakarta, hasn’t announced that he would run. But politicians publicly backing former general Prabowo Subianto running for the 2024 presidential election have tapped Gibran to become his running mate. Gibran is currently 36.The Constitutional Court’s decision is final.In August, seven politicians — including from the Indonesian Solidarity Party chaired by the youngest son of current President Joko Widodo — filed a petition against the current age limit for candidates, asking it to be lowered to 3...

Poles vote in huge numbers for the centrist opposition after 8 years of nationalist rule

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:47:50 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The majority of voters in Poland’s general election supported opposition parties that promised to reverse democratic backsliding and repair the nation’s relationship with allies, including the European Union and Ukraine, according to projections Monday.After a bitter and emotional campaign, turnout was projected at almost 74%, the highest level in the country’s 34 years of democracy and surpassing the 63% who turned out in the historic 1989 vote that toppled communism. In the city of Wroclaw, the lines were so long that voting continued through the night until nearly 3 a.m. Young voters particularly came out in force to flood polling stations.A so-called late exit poll by Ipsos suggested that voters had grown tired of the governing nationalist Law and Justice party after eight years of divisive policies that led to frequent street protests, bitter divisions within families and billions in funding held up by the EU over rule of law violations.I...