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For the Florida Panthers, celebrations getting a bit hairy, just in time for the Stanley Cup Final

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The tradition of hockey’s playoff beard goes back to at least the mid-1980s, with the Detroit Red Wings widely credited with beginning the facial hair phenomenon.The playoff beard rub might have started last month by accident.Go back to April 26, when the Florida Panthers staved off elimination by beating the Boston Bruins in overtime of Game 5 of the first-round series. Overjoyed in the moment, Panthers teammates Marc Staal and Aaron Ekblad gave each other a big hug on the bench. Completely normal stuff.Here’s the unusual part: As they embraced, they realized their beards were rubbing up against the other. And since it worked that night, it’s become a celebratory routine for Staal and Ekblad.“Yeah, it’s a unique one, for sure,” Staal said.Whatever works. If the Panthers think that it’s helped them to get to the Stanley Cup Final, so be it. Although there’s a superstition that typically prevents talking about how superstitious hockey players are at this time of ...

Air New Zealand to weigh passengers before they board the airplane

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

(CNN) — Remove your shoes. Take your keys out of your pocket. Step on the scale?That’s right: New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority is asking that its national airline weigh passengers departing on international flights from Auckland International Airport through July 2, 2023.The program, which Air New Zealand calls a passenger weight survey, is a way to gather data on the weight load and distribution for planes, the airline said.“We weigh everything that goes on the aircraft – from the cargo to the meals onboard, to the luggage in the hold,” Alastair James, the airline’s load control improvement specialist said in a statement. “For customers, crew and cabin bags, we use average weights, which we get from doing this survey.”Still, weight is a personal thing that not everyone wishes to disclose. In order to protect individuals’ privacy, the airline says it has made the data anonymous.Travelers will be asked to stand on a digital scale when they check-in for their flight. ...

Convenience store owner charged with murder after shooting 14-year-old boy in the back, South Carolina authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

(CNN) — A South Carolina convenience store owner has been charged with murder after allegedly chasing a 14-year-old boy and shooting him in the back after suspecting the boy of shoplifting, authorities said.The child, Cyrus Carmack-Belton, had gone into the store in Columbia around 8 p.m. Sunday and was confronted by the owner who accused him of shoplifting, according to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott.“He did not shoplift anything. We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever,” the sheriff said in a news conference Monday, adding even if he had, “that’s not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old.”“We are confident that this was done in a manner that we will now classify as a homicide. This was not an accidental shooting by any means,” Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford said during the news conference. “This was a very intentional shooting. And unfortunately, Cyrus Carmack-Belton lost his life.”Firearms are the leading cause of death for children ...

Coyote spotted at North Perry Airport

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

A coyote stopped air traffic after it was spotted at North Perry Airport. On Wednesday morning, a letter was distributed by wildlife and airport officials noting coyotes were in the area and to be aware of them on the tarmac.One coyote was captured on live video footage running across the landing area of the airport in Pembroke Pines. Planes were unable to land as a result of the coyote on the loose. Sources said the airport is flooded with rabbits and rats which is likely the reason these predators have been wandering around.According to officials, the airport has hired trappers to capture the coyotes in the area as they have been seen multiple times in the past few weeks.Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

‘Overreaction’: Kosovo leader blasts US response to violent unrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

BRATISLAVA — The U.S. decision to penalize Kosovo following violent clashes that left NATO troops wounded is both surprising and an “overreaction,” Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti told POLITICO on Wednesday.The U.S. and its Western allies have sharply rebuked Pristina amid growing tensions in the region over Kosovo’s decision to forcibly install ethnic Albanian mayors in municipal buildings in majority-Serb areas, despite a turnout of under 4 percent in recent local elections. In response to the deepening crisis, Washington went as far as canceling Kosovo’s participation in a U.S.-led military exercise and declaring that it now has little enthusiasm to help Kosovo move toward EU and NATO membership. “We have a slight difference in approach — and I think that thinking of sanctions against Kosova seems out of proportion and unfair,” Kurti said in an interview on the sidelines of the GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava. “I was surprised,” he added, characterizing the Am...

‘Brexit has failed’: Nigel Farage is the new poster boy for Remainer campaign

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

LONDON — If you didn’t know about Nigel Farage’s complaint that Brexit has failed, you will do soon.A new national ad campaign in the U.K. will highlight the remark from the leading Eurosceptic, who told the BBC’s Newsnight program earlier May that Britain has not benefited economically from leaving the bloc.“Brexit has failed,” the former Brexit Party leader declared at the time. “We’ve not delivered on Brexit and the Tories have let us down very, very badly.”Those words are now set to adorn billboards across the U.K.Led By Donkeys, an anti-Brexit campaign group also responsible for a recent sting against several Conservative MPs, announced Wednesday that they have plastered Farage’s remarks at sites across the U.K., from Aberdeen to Yeovil.150 posters in total — each with a picture of Farage — have been placed in towns and cities across Britain.The publicity push comes amid continued woes for the U.K. economy, which has struggled to rebound following the tr...

Sunak and Biden to discuss AI after ‘extinction risk’ warning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

LONDON — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed he will discuss artificial intelligence, and the risks it poses, when he meets U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington next week. Sunak made the announcement after several leading figures from the AI industry published a letter on Tuesday that said the technology should be recognised as an “extinction risk” to humanity comparable to “pandemics and nuclear war.”“People will be concerned by the reports that AI poses an existential risk like pandemics or nuclear wars — I want them to be reassured that the government is looking very carefully at this,” said Sunak. Referencing his meeting with the heads of OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic last week, as well as recent discussions on AI at the G7, Sunak said the U.K. “can play a leadership role because ultimately, we’re only going to grapple with this problem and solve it if we work together not just with the companies, but with countries around the world.”One government official c...

Crews work to put out 3-alarm fire in Brighton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

Firefighters have been working to put out flames burning at a multistory building in Brighton.The Boston Fire Department said its companies were called to an apartment building at 1980 Commonwealth Ave. on Wednesday morning.Image provided by the Boston Fire DepartmentThe department shared several images from the scene on Twitter, stating how a third alarm was struck during the response. In a later update, the department said it had been knocking on “all 52 unit doors” in the building to evacuate residents.Officials did not report any injuries and noted that several pets were rescued, as well as that a number of units were able to self-evacuate. https://twitter.com/BostonFire/status/1663906994305003528Image provided by the Boston Fire Department

Al Pacino, 83, and Noor Alfallah, 29, are expecting a baby

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

NEW YORK — Al Pacino, 83, and 29-year-old Noor Alfallah are expecting a baby, the actor’s representative confirmed Wednesday.Pacino’s publicist, Stan Rosenfield, verified the news first published by TMZ, but said there would be no statement at this time. The baby would be Pacino’s fourth child. He has a 33-year-old daughter, Julie Marie, with acting coach Jan Tarrant and 22-year-old twins Anton and Olivia with actor Beverly D’Angelo.Pacino and Alfallah reportedly began dating last year. She describes herself as a “raconteur” on her Instagram page and her IMDB page notes that she’s a producer on two movies currently in post-production, including the Pacino-starrer “Billy Knight.”Pacino’s baby news follows close on the heels of longtime friend and collaborator Robert De Niro’s own. A representative for the 79-year-old actor confirmed earlier this month that De Niro had become a father for the seventh time, but few other...

Chris Christie planning to launch GOP presidential campaign next week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:04 GMT

NEW YORK — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to launch a Republican presidential campaign next week in New Hampshire.Christie, who also ran in 2016, is planning to make the announcement at a town hall Tuesday evening at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics, according to a person familiar with his thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm Christie’s plans.The timing, which was first reported by Axios, comes after several longtime Christie advisers started a super political action committee to support his expected candidacy.The Associated Press had previously reported that Christie was expected to enter the race “imminently.”Christie has cast himself as the only potential candidate willing to aggressively take on former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the nomination. Christie, a former federal prosecutor, was a longtime friend and adviser to Trump, but broke with Trump over his refusal to ...