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Boys cross country preview: Can anyone catch Westford Academy star?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

With just four returnees from the top 10, there’s plenty of room for new blood in the Div. 1 Meet of Championships in November.The top spot, though, should be out of reach for everyone if defending champion Paul Bergeron of Westford Academy is in the race. Bergeron is as strong a favorite as there has been in years and the race could turn into a runaway from the harrier, who will attend Stanford next year.Bergeron pulled away from his two biggest rivals last year in Sam Burgess of Framingham and Nathan Lopez of St. John’s Prep and he has been training as hard as ever for the fall. It will take a monumental effort to knock Bergeron off his perch and it doesn’t look as though anyone is close enough to challenge him.That’s not to say there’s limited talent in Div. 1 — it’s loaded. Oliver Ames has a terrific returnee in Brendan Thomas, while Bergeron’s teammate, Jack Graffeo, should be in the top three. Billerica’s Ryan Leslie could also b...

‘An uneasy feeling:’ As Lee track unclear, hurricane anxiety increasing on East Coast

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

HALIFAX — Though the track of hurricane Lee remains unclear, anxiety created by powerful storms has been growing on the East Coast — especially in communities that felt Fiona’s wrath last year. The mayor of Port aux Basques, N.L. says since last year’s hurricane damaged over 100 homes and swept a 72-year-old woman to sea, community members are worried about Lee, as forecasters say it’s uncertain whether the hurricane will even track towards the region.“The old attitude was, ‘It’s just another storm. We can batten it down,'” Mayor Brian Button said during an interview on Sunday.“Now, it’s an uneasy feeling.”In Amherst, N.S., Mayor David Kogon said there’s fear that a tidal surge could flood the Chignecto Isthmus.“A hurricane timed with a high tide could flood isthmus…which would totally cut us off from New Brunswick and Canada,” he said.Kogon, who is also a semi-retired doctor, said when he walks arou...

Schools in France send dozens of Muslim girls home for wearing abayas

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

French public schools have sent dozens of girls home for refusing to remove their abayas – long, loose-fitting robes worn by some Muslim women and girls – on the first day of the school year, according to Education Minister Gabriel Attal. Defying a ban on the garment seen as a religious symbol, nearly 300 girls showed up last Monday morning (4 September) wearing abayas, Attal told the BFM broadcaster on Tuesday (5 September), writes HRWF.Most agreed to change out of the robe, but 67 refused and were sent home, he said. The government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke the rules on secularism in education that have already seen headscarves forbidden on the grounds they constitute a display of religious affiliation. The move gladdened the political right but the hard left argued it represented an affront to civil liberties. The 34-year-old minister said the girls refused entry on Monday were given a letter addressed to their families saying that ...

Dear Abby: If I wear this T-shirt, people might guess the secret I’ve only told my husband

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

DEAR ABBY: I’m a woman in my late 30s. I live in the Midwest, where towns can be conservative and residents tend to be judgmental.Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: Why do I meet so many dumb men? Advice | Dear Abby: The houseguests know my sheet rule but they refuse to comply Advice | Dear Abby: I’m worried about my 12-year-old’s serious dating Advice | Dear Abby: This boy makes me so happy. Must we break up because of his parents? Advice | Dear Abby: I thought I’d get over my husband’s misdeed but it haunts me For as long as I can remember, I have always found people of both sexes to be attractive. I don’t act on it because I am married to a straight man I love and plan to stay with for as long as he’ll have me.During the last year, I admitted to him that I am bisexual. He said he has wondered, but loves me regardless.Do I need to disclose this information to ...

Girls cross-country preview: Contenders aplenty as season dawns

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

Aoife Shovlin demonstrated last fall how an off day doesn’t define a cross country runner’s entire season. And she did it on the biggest stage of all.As a Cambridge sophomore, Shovlin finished a somewhat disappointing fifth against a tough field in the Div. 1A meet. But the disappointment was short-lived as Shovlin went on to make a statement a week later when she moved hard with a mile to go to capture the Div. 1 race at the Meet of Champions on the rolling Devens course, leading Cambridge to the team win.The Div. 1 team battle should be an interesting come November. Along with Shovlin, Cambridge returns a strong unit including Eleanor Allan, Eliza Dickie and Sophia Juanes Seto. Wellesley, though, is looking to move up from a runner-up finish in 2022 with a crew made up of Abigail Beggans, who was third overall, Emma and Charlotte Tuxbury, and Audrey Fitzpatrick.As for the individual title, Shovlin will have her hands full with Needham’s Greta Hammer, who took sec...

Biden highlights business deals and pays respects at John McCain memorial to wrap up Vietnam visit

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — President Joe Biden closed a visit to Vietnam on Monday by spotlighting new business deals and partnerships between the two countries and paying respects at a memorial honoring his late friend and colleague Sen. John McCain, who endured a lengthy incarceration during the Vietnam War.Biden met with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, who also accompanied the president to a quick drop by at a meeting of American and Vietnamese business leaders. Biden also sat down with President Võ Văn Thưởng, who hosted the U.S. president for a state luncheon of steamed codfish and Hanoian beef noodle soup. Biden spoke about strengthening Vietnam’s semiconductor industry and his administration’s commitment to an open Pacific. “My message today is quite simple. Let’s keep it up,” Biden told the CEOs. “We need to develop and drive our collaboration, We need to forge new partnerships.”The prime minister also stressed the need to improve cooperation and said “the sky i...

Air China jet evacuated after engine fire sends smoke into cabin in Singapore and 9 are injured

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Nine passengers were injured after an engine fire sent smoke into the cabin of an Air China jetliner landing in Singapore, prompting an evacuation of the aircraft.The Airbus A320 with 146 passengers and nine crew made an emergency landing about 4:15 p.m. Sunday, Changi Airport said in a statement on its Facebook page. The flight was coming from the city of Chengdu in China’s Sichuan province.Nine people had minor injuries related to smoke inhalation and abrasions during the evacuation, the statement said.The pilot declared an emergency after reporting smoke in the forward cargo hold and a lavatory. Smoke blurred the lights in the cabin and flight attendants told people to remain calm and stay in their seats after some stood up, a passenger told Chinese media.The fire in the left engine was extinguished after the plane landed, Chinese media said. A preliminary investigation indicated a mechanical failure in the engine was the cause, Air China said in statement po...

Australians start applying for mail-in ballots ahead of Indigenous Voice referendum

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Voters began applying Monday for mail-in ballots ahead of the Oct. 14 referendum that would create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a proposal for constitutional change that opinion polls suggest is becoming increasingly likely to be rejected.Australians will vote at the first referendum in a generation whether to enshrine in the constitution a collection of appointed Indigenous advocates aimed at giving the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy.People who are unable to attend a polling booth on Oct. 14 for reasons including distance, disability and prison sentences can apply from 6 p.m. Monday for authorities to provide them with postal ballots, which will be cast in Australia’s first referendum since 1999.A majority of voters across the nation and in a majority of Australia’s six states need to support the referendum for it to pass. Only eight out of 44 referendums have achieved that double majority.But a Resolve Pol...

Protests kick off at Israeli justice minister’s home a day before major hearing on judicial overhaul

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

MODIIN, Israel (AP) — Scores of Israeli protesters on Monday flooded the streets outside the home of Israel’s justice minister, the architect of the country’s divisive judicial overhaul, a day before a pivotal hearing in which the Supreme Court will decide whether to accept the curbing of its powers.Israeli police said they arrested six people in the central Israeli town of Modiin, home to Justice Minister Yair Levin, on charges of disrupting public order and blocking roads as they protested plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government to weaken the Supreme Court. The judicial plan has triggered one of the biggest domestic crises in Israeli history and exposed the country’s bitter divides. On Tuesday, all 15 of Israel’s Supreme Court justices will appear on the bench for the first time ever to hear an appeal against the first major part of the overhaul, which the the government pushed through parliament in July. The rowdy crowd of r...

Roadside bombing in northwestern Pakistan kills a security officer and wounds 9 people

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:11:16 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bombing targeted Pakistani security forces Monday in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing a security officer and wounding nine people, including three civilians, police said. The Pakistani Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack.The improvised explosive device went off near a van belonging to the Frontier Corps as it was driving along the key Warsak Road in Peshawar. Police spokesman Bilal Ahmed Faizi said the bomb also wounded three passersby. An investigation was underway, police officer Syed Ashfaq Anwar said.The wounded were moved to the Peshawar military hospital. The outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, have intensified their attacks on Pakistani security forces since pulling out of a unilateral cease-fire agreement with the government last November. They are a separate group but are allied with the Afghan Taliban, who took over Afghanistan in August 2021, following the withdrawal of U.S. ...