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The official Christmas tree arrives

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

Callahan: The Patriots can beat the Giants without a quarterback Sunday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

FOXBORO — As Bill Belichick leads the Patriots in a dance around questions about their starting quarterback this week, here’s one to stop the music: what does it matter?Mac Jones is broken. An intact Bailey Zappe throws interceptions into triple coverage. I have argued for Malik Cunningham to start Sunday, but the fact an undrafted rookie who’s spent most of his NFL career playing receiver represents a compelling option is perhaps most damning.Let’s skip all the reasons how or why the Patriots reached a dead end at quarterback. They live here now. At least for two more months, this is their street.The Giants, of course, are next-door neighbors. After injuries to veteran quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor, undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito jumped from practice-squad intern to full-time starter. DeVito, who couldn’t hold down the starting job at Syracuse, still lives in his childhood home, where his parents do his laundry and cook his food.Not even Mama DeV...

Meal kit company Goodfood reports $3.7M Q4 loss, improves margins

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

MONTREAL — Goodfood Market Corp. reported a loss of $3.7 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $58.4 million a year earlier as the meal kit company improved its margins.The company says the loss amounted to five cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 2 compared with a loss of 78 cents per diluted share a year earlier.Net sales in what was Goodfood’s fourth quarter totalled $37.2 million, down from $50.4 million in the same quarter last year.The drop in net sales came as Goodfood saw a drop in the number of active customers, partially offset by an increase in average order value.Goodfood says the decrease in active customers was mainly driven by its focus on attracting and retaining customers that provide higher gross margins and by changing customer behaviour.The company’s gross margin for the quarter improved to 38.2 per cent compared with 28.3 per cent a year earlier.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2023.Compan...

Where can you shop on Black Friday? Here’s what’s open – and when

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

Black Friday is almost upon us, when retailers kick off the holiday season with offers meant to get customers in the shopping mood.The term “Black Friday” in relation to shopping the day after Thanksgiving is most often traced to Philadelphia where police had to deal with large crowds who thronged the streets of the city before the annual Army-Navy game and to take advantage of sales. According to the Dec. 18, 1961, issue of Public Relations News, a newsletter, it became customary for police to refer to post-Thanksgiving shopping as Black Friday and Black Saturday because of the headaches they created.Retailers began taking ownership of the term in the late 1980s as the opening bell for the holidays. Of course Black Friday has morphed more accurately into a month of offers that begin in October, when Halloween jack-o’-lanterns are still flickering. A number of stores that were closed on Thanksgiving, including Walmart and Target, reopen early Friday as the holiday shopping sea...

Health Canada lifts years-long mad cow blood donation ban in Quebec

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

Quebec’s blood supply agency says Health Canada has lifted a longstanding ban on blood donations in the province that stemmed from fear of mad cow disease.Héma-Québec vice-president Dr. Marc Germain says it’s clear that there is now virtually no risk of transmitting variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease through new blood transfusions. For two decades, people who lived or travelled in the United Kingdom or France for long periods of time in the 1980s and 1990s have not been allowed to donate blood in case they were exposed. Héma-Québec says the change will come into effect Dec. 4. Canadian Blood Services has also asked Health Canada to lift the ban in the rest of the country. It says Health Canada is expected to make a decision soon. The United States and Australia both lifted similar bans in 2022. Both Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec say they have turned away thousands of donors whose travel in the United Kingdom and Europe decades ago disqualified them. This report...

Edmunds picks the five best cars for under $30,000

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

Pricing for the average new car continues to rise, with the latest reports pegging the average new vehicle transaction price around $48,000. High interest rates are a further impediment for shoppers on a tight budget. While buying used is always an option, there are some great new cars out there that are still affordably priced. The automotive experts at Edmunds have selected five standout vehicles with starting prices less than $30,000. While there are other less expensive vehicles on the market, oftentimes spending a little more will get you a much more desirable vehicle over the long term. Edmunds took into account qualities such as comfort, fuel economy, driver assist features and practicality. All of the manufacturer suggested retail prices below include destination charges. SMALL CAR: HONDA CIVICAvailable as a sedan or hatchback, the Honda Civic boasts roomy seating, high fuel economy, and a pleasing amount of standard features even on the base LX trim level. The Civic EX seda...

How to spot 4 Social Security scams and protect your identity

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

When the Social Security Administration calls, you pick up. But between October 2022 and June 2023, more than 55,000 people who answered calls from what they thought was the government agency said they were scammed.Allegations of Social Security scams increased 61.7% in the quarters ending in June 2022 and June 2023, according to the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General.The most common tactic is simple: Scammers say they’re with the SSA and ask for personal information or money.Imposter scams gain victims’ trust by appropriating federal agencies’ authority, says Stacey Wood, the Molly Mason Jones Chair in Psychology at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Some impersonate officials with fake IDs or use caller IDs that resemble government phone numbers.So how do you know if a scammer’s calling? If they tell you any of these four stories, it’s time to hang up.1. ‘YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER IS SUSPENDED’THE TACTIC: A scammer tells you that your Social Se...

India restores e-visa services for Canadian nationals, easing diplomatic row between countries

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

India restored electronic visa services for Canadian nationals, an Indian foreign ministry official said Wednesday, two months after Canada alleged the South Asian nation was involved in the assassination of a Sikh separatist in Canada.The electronic visa was back in order on Wednesday, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to reporters.The move could ease tensions between the two countries that swapped accusations and expelled each other’s diplomats with India introducing a visa ban on Canadian nationals.A diplomatic spat erupted between the two countries after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in suburban Vancouver in western Canada.Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh activist and plumber, was killed by masked gunmen in June in Surrey, outside Vancouver.For years, India had said that Ni...

Pope Francis meets at Vatican with relatives of Israeli hostages and Palestinians living in Gaza

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

Associated Press (AP) — Pope Francis met separately Wednesday with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war and begged for an end to what he called terrorism and “the passions that are killing everyone.”Francis spoke about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians after his meetings, which were arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a temporary halt in fighting was announced. Francis didn’t refer to the deal, which marked the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since the war erupted following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.Francis said he met at the Vatican with relatives of some of the 240 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and separately with a delegation of Palestinians, whom the Vatican said had relatives in Gaza. In the VIP seats of St. Peter’s Square were people holding Palestinian flags and scarves as well as small posters showing apparent bodies in a ditch and the word “Genocide” written underneath. “...

Israel-Hamas pause in fighting to start Thursday, Egyptian state media say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

A cease-fire agreement between the Hamas militant group and Israel has been confirmed by both parties, along with Washington and Qatar, which helped broker the deal that would bring a temporary halt to the devastating war that is now in its seventh week.The Israeli government said that under an outline of the deal, Hamas is to free over a four-day period at least 50 of the roughly 240 hostages taken in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and Israel is to release some Palestinian prisoners in exchange. Egyptian state media say the truce will begin Thursday morning. Egypt helped mediate the cease-fire agreement, which would bring the first respite to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 11,000 people have been killed, according to health authorities.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before the Cabinet voted early Wednesday to back the agreement that the war would continue even if a deal was reached. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initi...