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Leo Messi sparks a surge in Major League Soccer subscription sign-ups

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

New York (CNN) — Soccer superstar Leo Messi’s arrival in America has sparked a surge in ticket prices, apparel and now, streaming subscriptions.MLS Season Pass, which is Apple’s streaming package that broadcasts the soccer matches, experienced 1,690% growth in sign-ups the day Messi first played for his new team Inter Miami, according to analytics firm Antenna. Newly released data shows that the streaming package had about 6,000 subscription sign-ups the day before, but that soared to 110,000 sign-ups on his July 21 debut in the Leagues Cup.In a blog post Tuesday, Antenna said that the “Messi Effect” on a year-old streaming package was “unique and profound.” Ordinarily, Antenna said that sport-specific streaming services experience a large portion of sign-ups at the beginning of the season with “gradual additions” as the season progresses because of big games or pricing promotions.But nearly half of MLS Season Pass sign-ups to date happened in July after Messi joined the league, sho...

US Open: Path to glory opens up for Coco Gauff as top women’s seeds fall in New York

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

(CNN) — Monday was a brutal day for many of the US Open’s top women’s seeds, as the number of genuine contenders in New York was whittled down significantly.Iga Świątek, the No. 1 seed, Jessica Pegula, the No. 3 seed, and Ons Jabeur, the No. 5 seed, all fell in the round-of-16 and all had genuine aspirations of lifting the trophy come Saturday.That has cleared the path to the final somewhat for the two top remaining players, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and US star and No. 6 seed Coco Gauff.Not that reaching Saturday’s showpiece will be a walk in the park for either.Up next for Gauff in the quarterfinals is the resurgent Jelena Ostapenko, who utterly dismantled defending champion and world No. 1 Świątek in their deciding third set on Monday.It is set to be a blockbuster clash between two of the biggest hitters on the WTA Tour and will be a marvel to watch should both players find their precision as well as their power.“She’s a ball-striker,” Gauff told reporters of Ostapenko after her...

Teachers are digging even deeper to afford classroom necessities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

New York (CNN) — Parents aren’t alone in feeling the extra pinch in the wallet this year in paying for back-to-school necessities. Teachers, too, are digging deeper to meet their classroom needs out of pocket.Sarah Adkins, a third grader teacher with Pennoyer School District 79, a Northwest Chicago suburban elementary school, spends an average of $300 to $500 a year of her own money — without reimbursement — on supplies, teaching resources and decorations to make her classroom less bare and more warm and inviting to her young students.“I recently spent $40 on balloons and a T-shirt so we could celebrate the third day of third grade in style,” she said.As the year goes on, her personal expense climbs to over $1,000. She expects it to be over $1,000 — on top of any limited classroom budget provided by the school — this year as well.“I have daughters in college. So this adds up when your personal finances are already stretched,” she said.“The teaching profession is a real struggle. It’...

France and EU to spend 215 million euros shoring up struggling wine producers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

Paris (CNN) — The French government and the European Union will spend 200 million euros ($215 million) to help the country’s wine producers, who are struggling to cope with falling prices and waning demand.The French Ministry of Agriculture had initially allocated 160 million euros ($173 million) for the crisis program allowing certain growers to sell excess stock to distillers, who then turn it into other alcoholic products like hand sanitizer.High demand for the voluntary buyback program, which was announced in June, prompted authorities to stretch its budget to $200 million, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement Friday.France was, as of 2020, the world’s second-biggest wine producer and its biggest wine exporter. But the industry has taken a hit since the Covid-19 pandemic due to inflation and changing consumption patterns. Increasingly poor harvests due to climate change also threaten the future of French vineyards.A good harvest last year combined with the waning demand ...

5 times Rishi Sunak caved on Britain’s Energy Bill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

LONDON — It’s the Energy Bill, Rishi, but not as we knew it.On Tuesday, 14 months after it was first introduced to the British parliament, the government’s mammoth Energy Bill finally returns to the House of Commons for what is likely to be the last major set of votes before it becomes law.The bill contains reams of technical provisions that will underpin the management and regulation of the U.K.’s energy sector in the age of net zero.But it’s also become a lightning rod for internal Tory divisions over green issues — piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from both sides of the debate.In several key fights, Sunak and his ministers have yielded (or given the impression of yielding) by making substantial amendments to the bill, in a bid to head off damaging backbench rebellions.Here are five key issues the government has given ground on.Onshore windNew onshore wind turbines have effectively been banned in England since 2015, because of planning rules ...

Car crashes into Denny’s restaurant near Houston, injuring 23 people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

ROSENBERG, Texas (AP) — A driver plowed through a wall of a busy East Texas restaurant, injuring 23 people.Police in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg, Texas said a man crashed his SUV into a Denny’s restaurant just off the highway late Monday morning. The vehicle slammed into the restaurant’s south wall leaving patrons with injuries ranging from minor cuts to “severe injuries” that don’t appear to be life-threatening, police said in a statement. Victims ranged in age from 12 to 60 years old.The driver of the SUV was not injured, police said. The cause of the crash was not immediately released.Video of the aftermath shows a red vehicle fully inside the restaurant, with the wall and windows around it demolished.

German tourist accused of damaging 16th-century statue in Florence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

(CNN) — A 22-year-old German man has been detained in Florence accused of damaging a statue in the 16th-century Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria, city authorities said in a statement.The city estimates the damage to the statue is around €5,000 ($5,400).The fountain features a statue of the Roman sea god Neptune atop a shell-shaped carriage pulled by horses.The tourist, who has not been named, scaled a protective barrier around the monument in the early hours of Monday and posed on the statue while two friends, who remained on the other side of the barrier, took photos of him, the city statement said, citing police officers who witnessed the event on surveillance footage.“According to the investigators’ reconstruction, after 1 o’clock this morning the tourist, in Piazza della Signoria with two other friends, climbed over the fence of the Neptune Fountain and climbed onto the edge of the pool,” the statement said.“With a jump he then ...

Inside the NFL Premieres September 5th!

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

Saudi Arabia, Russia plan to extend 1.3 million barrel a day oil cut through the end of the year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

By JON GAMBRELL (Associated Press)DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed Tuesday to extend their voluntary oil production cuts through the end of this year, trimming 1.3 million barrels of crude out of the global market and boosting energy prices. The dual announcements from Riyadh and Moscow pushed benchmark Brent crude above $90 a barrel in trading Tuesday afternoon, a price unseen in the market since November. The countries’ moves likely will increase the cost for motorists at gasoline pumps and put new pressure on Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the United States. President Joe Biden last year warned the kingdom there would be unspecified “consequences” for partnering with Russia on cuts as Moscow wages war on Ukraine. Saudi Arabia’s announcement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, said the country still would monitor the market and could take further action if necessary. “This additional voluntary c...

Authorities expand search area for killer who escaped Pennsylvania prison after latest sighting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Authorities have moved and expanded the search area for a convicted murderer who escaped from a suburban Philadelphia prison last week, after he was spotted on a trail camera at one of the nation’s premier botanical gardens.Danelo Cavalcante, 34, has been spotted five time since he escaped Thursday from the Chester State Prison. The most recent siting came Monday night at Longwood Gardens, where surveillance video captured him walking through the area with a duffel bag, backpack and hooded sweatshirt.That sighting led officials to move the search area farther south after they determined that Cavalcante had likely slipped through the original perimeter, but they said his movements show he’s feeling the pressure of the massive search and that his options are dwindling.The expanded search spurred two nearby school districts to cancel classes Tuesday as a precaution, and authorities urged residents to keep their homes and vehicles locked. They also asked ...