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More Ecuadorians move to US, spared many others’ hurdles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

SPRING VALLEY, New York (AP) — Kléver Ortega and Cristina Lema had a good life until COVID-19 crippled Ecuador’s economy.Ortega was a house-painting contractor and there was work until demand dried up in the pandemic. The entrepreneurial couple launched a pair of food stands. “Then the pandemic hit those, too,” Lema said. With unemployment, instability and crime rising, they decided to leave for the U.S., following many friends, family and acquaintances.“We used to hear it in the street: ‘They left. Look who else abandoned their business and took off,’” Lema said. “That’s when we, too, told ourselves, ‘We aren’t earning enough to survive or pay debts.’”Ecuador — long known for remarkably low rates of crime, despite sitting in South America’s cocaine heartland — is earthquake-prone and has been struggling economically, fighting higher violence and losing its people in record numbers. Like Ortega and Lema, many are headed to the U.S.; the number of Ecuadorians detained near the border...

Christian faithful mark Palm Sunday in Jerusalem

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Christian pilgrims participated in Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem at the start of the Holy Week.Worshipers carried palm fronds and olive branches and marched from the top of the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem’s historic Old City, home to holy sites of the three Abrahamic monotheistic faiths.Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa and other Catholic clergy took part in the traditional procession, and handed out palm fronds to believers before leading them in a procession inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and is the start of the church’s most solemn week, which includes the Good Friday re-enactment of Jesus’ crucifixion and death and his resurrection on Easter.The procession made its way from the Mount of Olives past the Garden of Gethsemane where, according to biblical tradition, Jesus was betrayed, t...

Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto dies at 71

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese musician who scored for Hollywood movies such as “The Last Emperor” and “The Revenant,” has died. He was 71.Japan’s recording company Avex said in a statement that Sakamoto died on March 28.Sakamoto, who had suffered from cancer in recent years, had also acted in films, including playing a Japanese soldier in “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.” He was a pioneer in electronics music of the late 1970s, founding the Yellow Magic Orchestra with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi. He has been nominated several times for the Grammy Award, and won for his work in “The Last Emperor.” The Associated Press

Man converts Tesla into film studio for journey to recount love story in the North

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

A man making a film based on his experiences living in Northern Canada in the early 1970s has found an unusual way to work on his project while travelling in the region.Johnathan Zoesman converted a Tesla into a travelling film studio and drove the electric vehicle from his home in Petersburgh, N.Y., all the way to the Arctic Ocean in the middle of winter. He had taken photos where the story took place five decades ago and spoke to people along the journey.“The Tesla seemed like the perfect thing to do it in,” he said. “I wasn’t going to arrive into the world as a great filmmaker in an old beater. If I was going to arrive it would be in a self-driving car.”Zoesman said his film centres on the “very intense and tragic love story” between himself and his late partner, Maggie Goldberg, after they moved to the North from Quebec.“This was the late ’60s, early ’70s, and we were just so disappointed in the world that we lived in,&...

Banks face rising shareholder pressure through climate resolutions as AGMs loom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

TORONTO — It was only after his flight landed in Toronto last year that Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief Na’Moks learned that Royal Bank of Canada had cancelled its in-person annual general meeting with less than a day’s notice.The bank cited COVID-19 as the reason it moved the event entirely online, but those assembled to protest the bank’s climate record were left wondering if there was more to it andNa’Moks says he was insulted that executives weren’t willing to face him.Undeterred, he is trying again this year. Na’Moks will head to Saskatoon for the bank’s April 5 meeting, where he plans to share his concerns about its fossil fuel funding and encourage the assembled shareholders to support a resolution related to respecting Indigenous rights. “Dave McKay, he’s the CEO, but he has to listen to the people that do business with him,” said Na’Moks.The resolution he’s pushing, put forth by the B.C. General Employees’ Union with the support of the Unio...

Police reform divides community where cop killed Black man

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

The Rev. James Stokes remembers Grand Rapids following the slaying of George Floyd, when demonstrations devolved into rioting that left businesses damaged and scores of people arrested.Stokes and other leaders in the western Michigan city desperately wanted to avoid a similar outbreak of violence when a white Grand Rapids police officer fatally shot Patrick Lyoya, a Black motorist, last April. After video of that shooting was publicly released, outrage in the community grew, and some feared a violent response. But the protests — while loud and angry — were peaceful. No buildings were burned. No shops were looted.City leaders say policing reforms and outreach to Grand Rapids’ Black community, including the clergy, helped to keep the peace after Lyoya’s slaying. Others believe the reform efforts have been slow and their impact superficial at best.“We knew what potentially could have happened,” said Stokes, pastor of New Life Tabernacle church. “As pastors, we g...

One in four college applicants avoids entire states for political reasons

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

(The Hill) – A new survey, drawing notice in academia, shows that 1 in 4 applicants decided against applying to a college this year solely because of the politics in its state. The finding, long rumored in college admissions circles, has dire implications for some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions. Tulane University in Louisiana, Stanford in California, Rice in Texas, Columbia in New York and the University of Miami all pride themselves on assembling a class from large pools of applicants drawn from every state. In the public sector, the University of Alabama counts on out-of-state admissions for revenue, enrolling nearly three-fifths of its students from outside its borders. Yet, large numbers of conservative and liberal applicants ruled out those schools, along with their states, because of partisan politics.  “When you’re making a decision about a school, it’s really about choosing a community to live in,” said Chloe Chaffin, 20, a junior...

The Kings made the playoffs – these teams now have the longest postseason droughts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Their current point guard was just 8 years old and George W. Bush was president the last time the NBA's Sacramento Kings made the playoffs.After a dismal 12th-place finish just one year earlier, the Kings, behind new head coach Mike Brown, completed a stunning turnaround and clinched a top-four seed in the playoffs. “We want to do bigger things, but 16 years — that’s a long time,” star Kings point guard De'Aaron Fox said. These MLB teams have never won a World Series: Will that change this season? The team’s 16-year playoff drought was the longest in NBA history and the longest active postseason dry spell among teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball.So which fan bases can now claim to be the most tortured?EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - NOVEMBER 12: A New York Jets fan looks dejected during the game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium on November 12, 2015 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Buffalo Bills defeated the New York Jets 22-17. (Photo by Elsa/G...

What makes Candida auris so dangerous?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Health care facilities around the country have been put on alert by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and told to look out for signs of Candida auris, or C. auris, a fungus that can be deadly if it enters a patient's bloodstream. The fungus has already been detected in more than half of U.S. states and is spreading at an "alarming" rate, the CDC says.Candida auris, which mainly spreads in health care settings like hospitals or nursing homes, can cause serious and invasive infections, according to the CDC. The fungus is especially dangerous because it is resistant to antifungal drugs, making it hard to treat. CDC warns of drug-resistant, deadly fungus: How is it spread? "If you get infected with this pathogen that's resistant to any treatment, there's no treatment we can give you to help combat it. You're all on your own," Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, said. That means it's up t...

Austin ranks No. 1 on best US housing markets for growth, stability list

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — According to a new study, 12 of the top 20 U.S. cities that ranked as being the best housing markets for growth and stability were in Texas, and six Texas cities made the top 10.SmartAsset compared home value data for 400 metropolitan areas between 1998 and 2022 using data from the Federal Housing Administration and calculated cumulative increases during that time, as well as the frequency of significant drops in value to compile the list.“The Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown metro area ranks No. 1 overall, thanks in large part to home values that have skyrocketed in the last 25 years,” the study said. “Between 1998 and 2022, home prices increased by 353.92%, the most cumulative growth in our study, without much downside.”The nearly 354% increase was more than any other metro area in the nation, according to SmartAsset.According to information from the study, home prices were not the only thing growing.“The population has nearly doubled in the last 20 years, in part than...