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France’s Le Maire wants heavier taxation for Airbnb rentals

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

PARIS — French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Friday proposed to raise taxes on Airbnb rentals, bringing them in line with ordinary, non-tourist rentals.“I struggle to understand the [reason for the] very favorable taxation that applies today to Airbnb. We will reform this taxation and I will make proposals,” Le Maire told RCM/BFMTV. In France, rentals of furnished accommodation for tourists, including via Airbnb, benefit from a special tax rebate. Le Maire said his ministry was working on the file and that he would present proposals to French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and President Emmanuel Macron to bring that taxation in line with normal, non-tourist rentals. No details on the timing of such a proposal were provided. “The only concern is fairness. If there are too many windfall effects and the tax system is too favorable, there is no reason to keep this taxation that leads to excesses,” said Le Maire.Earlier this week, junior minister for cities and hou...

Passenger video shows Red Line train traveling down tracks with door open

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

An MBTA rider recently spoke out after she recorded moments on her cell phone showing a Red Line train traveling down tracks with one of its doors open. As the T responds to the incident, 7NEWS spoke with the rider, Melody Cunningham.“I couldn’t believe it,” Cunningham said.Cunningham said the door on the end of one of the train’s cars first came open around Broadway Station on Wednesday afternoon. She said she was startled and rang an emergency button on the train asking for help. “It wasn’t like it slid open,” Cunningham said. “It seemed like it was either on a timer or someone pressed something to open it.”“I couldn’t look away, but also I didn’t know what was happening or what to do about it,” she continued. “And then, when it just kept going, I’m like ‘This is crazy, this thing is really open and it’s staying this way.’”At one point, Cunningham said she and others on board tried to close the door. An MBTA employee who was a passenger on the train also came over to try...

Spotty Saturday Storm, Sunny Sunday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

It’s like Deja Vu again this morning talking about the same area of low pressure we’ve been talking about all week. It’s been here since the weekend and just will not move away from New England! It’s back again today and will touch off another round of scattered showers and thunderstorms. I think today will be the wettest day that we’ve seen this entire week, with most of us seeing some form of shower or thunderstorm this afternoon.The showers will start to pop up by late morning already, with showers and storms filling in for most of the afternoon and evening.Not only are the showers and clouds back today, so are the cooler temperatures. We should be in the middle 70s this time of year, but we will be stuck in the middle 60s again today. This is pretty par for the course so far this June. Aside from the first two days of the month when we had 80s and 90s, most of the month has been dominated by the cooler temperatures.Thankfully we have some warmer air...

The Orioles are slumping at the plate. They hope Thursday’s late outburst is a sign of things to come.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

The Orioles sprinted out to one of the best opening months in club history thanks mostly to an offense that ranked as one of the sport’s best.For the first 24 innings this week against the Brewers, those days seemed like a distant memory, as the Orioles’ recent slump reached a new low in Milwaukee. But then the bats came alive late in Thursday’s game, rallying late to earn a comeback victory similar to many from earlier this season.“We knew it was only a matter of time,” said Gunnar Henderson, whose two-run home run in the eighth propelled the Orioles to victory. “You’ve seen what our offense can do. Everybody goes through it. Yeah, I felt like we were gonna get through it.”One game, however, doesn’t end a slump. The six-run outburst in the final three innings was a sweet end to a bitter series in Milwaukee, during which Brewers pitchers mostly shut down Baltimore’s bats. The Orioles struck out 37 times in three games, incl...

Baltimore Sun’s 2023 Business and Civic Hall of Fame honoree: Richard W. ‘Dick’ Cass

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

Sure, there’s a cap on what the Ravens can spend on players’ salaries, but there’s no limit to what the team can mete out to the community. It’s no coincidence that, in Richard W. “Dick” Cass’ last seven years as the Ravens’ president, the team gave more than $50 million in charitable contributions to an appreciative hometown.During Cass’ 18-year tenure — he retired last year — the Ravens donated $2 million to refurbish two high school athletic fields; created a host of college scholarships; outfitted dozens of sports teams; funded after-school programs; and spruced up city playgrounds.Moreover, at the behest of Cass and team owner Steve Bisciotti, the club recently donated $20 million to renovate the Hilton Rec Center in West Baltimore. It has also funded two bookmobiles (filled with giveaway books), financed Habitat for Humanity projects in Pigtown and Sandtown-Winchester, and given $2.4 million to two area nonprofi...

One person dead in Caledon crash involving motorcycle

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

One person is dead after a crash involving a motorcycle and another vehicle in Caledon.Police tell CityNews the two-vehicle collision happened around 10 p.m. Thursday on Old School Road, east of Heart Lake Road.One person was pronounced dead but it’s unclear if they were riding the motorcycle or in the other vehicle.There is no word on what caused the crash. Ontario Provincial Police are investigating.With files from CityNews reporter Carl Hanstke

South Korea summons China’s envoy over comments accusing Seoul of tilting excessively toward US

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Foreign Ministry summoned China’s ambassador on Friday to protest comments he made accusing Seoul of tilting toward the United States and away from China, as competition between Washington and Beijing for global influence intensifies.South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin warned Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming over his “senseless and provocative” remarks made during a meeting with a South Korean opposition leader. The ministry accused Xing of violating diplomatic protocols and interfering with South Korean domestic politics but didn’t specify the parts of Xing’s comments it saw as inappropriate. The ministry also didn’t share what Xing said in reply to Chang. In a meeting Thursday with South Korean Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, a key rival of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, Xing accused Yoon’s government of leaning excessively toward Seoul’s treaty ally, the United States, and damaging its relati...

Why Turkey’s currency is crashing after Erdogan got reelected

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection last month despite a battered economy and a cost-of-living crisis that experts say are exacerbated by his unconventional economic policies. The longtime leader appointed an internationally respected former banker as finance and treasury minister and on Friday named a former co-CEO of a U.S.-based bank as head of the central bank.But lingering uncertainty over Erdogan’s economic direction and an apparent move to loosen government controls of foreign currency exchanges have led Turkey’s currency to plunge to record lows against the U.S. dollar this week. The Turkish lira has now weakened by around 20% against the dollar since the start of the year. It has raised fears of even higher prices for people already struggling to afford basics like housing and food amid high inflation.“I am anxious. I am unhappy. Soon my income won’t pay the rent,” said Sureyya Usta, a 63-year-old who lives in Ankara.Here’s a lo...

Biden heads to North Carolina to push clean energy agenda and promote order aiding military spouses

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday will sign an executive order that aims to bolster job opportunities for military and veteran spouses whose careers are often disrupted by their loved ones’ deployments.Biden is using a visit to the recently renamed Fort Liberty in North Carolina to highlight the order. The order directs agencies to develop a federal government-wide strategic plan on hiring and job retention for military spouses; bolster child care options; improve the collection of data on military and veteran spouses, caregivers and survivors in the federal workforce; and more than a dozen additional actions.First lady Jill Biden, in a call with reporters to preview the action, said the order was largely framed by conversations through the White House’s Joining Forces initiative, which looks to support families, caregivers and survivors of members of the U.S. military. The Democratic president is expected to sign the order during his visit to the base.With...

Child victims of stabbing attack in France in critical but stable condition, president visits

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:50 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France’s president traveled Friday to the side of families traumatized by the savage stabbings of four very young children, all said to be in stable condition after emergency surgery, while investigators worked to unravel the motives of a Syrian man taken into custody.President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte traveled together to a hospital treating three of the four children who suffered life-threatening knife wounds in Thursday’s still unexplained attack in and around a play park in the Alpine city of Annecy. Macron’s prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, said all four children — aged between 22 months and 3 years — underwent surgery and “are under constant medical surveillance.” “Their situation is stable,” she said. Government spokesman Olivier Veran, a medical doctor by training, said two of the children remain in critical condition.Most of the children were rushed after the attack to a hospital in the French Alpine city of Grenoble — the first s...