Things To Do In SW Florida

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation shut down five Central Florida restaurants for health code violations during the week from Feb. 15-21. There were no emergency shutdowns the week of Feb 8-14.

Orange

Taiwan Express at 3601 Columbia St. in Orlando shut down on Feb. 17. Inspectors found 20 violations, one of which was high priority for rodent activity. A second inspection occurred on Feb. 20. There were 12 violations, but none was a high priority. The restaurant met inspection standards.

China Garden at 2550 W. Colonial Dr. in Orlando shut down on Feb. 19. Inspectors found 24 violations, three of which were high priorities. Those violations included nonfood-grade bags being used in direct contact with food, roach activity and food held at the wrong temperatures. Two more inspections occurred on Feb. 20, with 22 violations still listed, including the same three deemed high priority, although all received time extensions. On the final visit, inspectors didn’t notice any roach activity, though, and so the venue received an administrative complaint, and the restaurant met inspection standards. read more

MOSCOW (AP) — Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, said Tuesday that the Russian government had opened a criminal investigation against him on charges of “aiding terrorism.”

Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia, accused Moscow of fabricating pretexts to restrict access by Russians to the Telegram service as part of an attempt to “suppress the right to privacy and free speech.”

“A sad spectacle of a state afraid of its own people,” Durov wrote on social media.

Russian media outlets had begun circulating unconfirmed reports earlier in the day that a criminal investigation had been opened against Durov by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.

It comes two weeks after Russia’s communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said it was restricting the Telegram app, accusing the company of refusing to abide by Russian law.

The move triggered a rare wave of public outcry, including widespread criticism from pro-Kremlin military bloggers, who warned that Telegram was widely used by Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and restricting its service would derail military communications. read more

Michelle Cowley, a London-based communications specialist, and her husband spent nearly two years planning a $16,000 vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida. Then their children, ages 7 and 11, heard about Renee Good and Alex Pretti being killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and didn’t want to go.

Comments by President Donald Trump in January, including threats to annex Greenland and criticisms of British military contributions in Afghanistan, sealed the family’s decision.

“We have decided that it really is not the place we want to be at the moment,” Cowley said.

Last year, as tourism grew worldwide, the United States was the only major destination to see a decline in foreign visitors, recording a 6% drop, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, an industry group. January saw a continued decline in inbound visitors, down 4.8% from January 2025.

Visitors from Canada, usually the second-largest source of U.S. tourism after Mexico, plunged by 28% in January compared with January 2024. read more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery said that Paramount has raised the price of its takeover offer to $31 per share, in addition to other revisions.

That’s a $1 per share increase from Paramount’s previous offer, which stood at $30 per share since December — when the Skydance owned company launched its hostile bid to challenge a studio and streaming deal Warner had reached with Netflix.

Beyond upping its proposed purchase price, Warner said Tuesday afternoon that Paramount had increased its regulatory termination fee to $7 billion, in case the transaction falls through. Paramount also agreed to move up a previously-promised “ticking fee” payable to shareholders.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery says it’s reviewing a new takeover offer from Paramount, but it continues to recommend a competing proposal from Netflix to its shareholders in the meantime.

Related Articles

Russia opens criminal investigation against Telegram app founder Pavel Durov read more

By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump’s most sweeping tariffs means he can’t conjure up new import taxes on a whim anymore.

But the justices’ ruling on Friday is nonetheless unlikely to ease the uncertainty over Trump’s trade policy that has paralyzed businesses over the past year. “It’s only gotten more complicated for everybody,’’ said trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official.

Vexing questions remain: How will the president use other laws to reconstruct the tariffs the Supreme Court knocked down, and will those attempts withstand legal challenges? What does the decision mean for the trade deals Trump strong-armed other countries into accepting, using his now-defunct tariffs as leverage? Can importers collect refunds for the tariffs they paid last year, and if so, how?

Then there’s Trump’s own unpredictability. Even though he had weeks to prepare for an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling, his response was still chaotic: On Friday, he said he’d use other legal authority to impose 10% levies on imports from other countries. Saturday, he ratcheted it up to 15%. read more