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German government plans to allow asylum-seekers to work sooner and punish smugglers harder

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government has approved legislation that would allow asylum-seekers to start working sooner and a plan to stiffen punishment for people who smuggle migrants.The package backed by the Cabinet on Wednesday, which still requires parliamentary approval, is the latest in a series of steps taken recently by the government as it tries to defuse migration as a major political problem. The issue was one of several that led to a poor showing in state elections last month for Chancellor OIaf Scholz’s quarrelsome three-party coalition and gains for a far-right party.Last week, ministers approved legislation intended to ease deportations of unsuccessful asylum-seekers. On Monday, Scholz will hold a meeting with Germany’s 16 state governors expected to center on responses to migration.Shelters for migrants and refugees have been filling up across Germany in recent months and Scholz, who faces enormous pressure on migration from the opposition and elsewhere, ha...

With flowers, altars and candles, Mexicans are honoring deceased relatives on the Day of the Dead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

SANTA MARÍA ATZOMPA, México (AP) — Ana Martínez is eager to welcome her deceased loved ones back home.Martínez and others in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state wait with anticipation for Day of the Dead celebrations every Nov. 1, when families place homemade altars to honor their dearly departed and spend the night at the cemetery, lighting candles in the hope of illuminating their paths.“We preserve the culture of our ancestors, and that is why we make our altars,” said Martínez, 41, who lives in the town of Santa María Atzompa.Each Oct. 31, Martínez builds a three-level altar on her terrace. First come the flowers, a type of marigold known as cempasúchil. Martínez ties them in an arch over the altar.“For us, that arch is a portal so that they (the deceased) can reach our house,” she said. “We also create a path of flowers to the door as a welcoming sign.”Next, she lights copal, an incense which is believed to guide the souls, and places foods such as apples, peanuts and bread. C...

U.S. job openings rise slightly to 9.6 million, sign of continued strength in the job market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers posted 9.6 million job openings in September, up from 9.5 million in August and a sign that the U.S. job market remains strong even as the U.S. Federal Reserve attempts to cool the economy. Layoffs fell to 1.5 million from 1.7 million in August, more evidence that workers enjoy an unusual degree of job security. The number of Americans quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence they can find better pay elsewhere — was virtually unchanged.The September openings are down from a record 12 million in March 2022 but remain high by historical standards. Before 2021 — when the American economy began to surge from the COVID-19 pandemic — monthly job openings had never topped 8 million. Unemployment was 3.8% in September, just a couple of ticks above a half century low. Openings were up by 141,000 at hotels and restaurants, which have struggled to attract and keep workers since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020.The Federal Reserve’s inflation fighte...

2 men arrested in an investigation into a famous tree that was felled near Hadrian’s Wall in England

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Two more men have been arrested in the investigation into who cut down the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree, police in England said Wednesday.The men, both in their 30s, were released on bail Tuesday without being charged in the felling of the iconic sycamore that stood for about 150 years next to the Roman landmark of Hadrian’s Wall, according to Northumbria Police.On the night between Sept. 27 and 28, the tree was cut down, causing some damage to the wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built nearly 2,000 years ago, when Britain was part of the Roman Empire, to guard its northwestern frontier. The 50-foot-tall (15-meter-long) tree planted in the 1800s stood out in a dip between two hills along the wall and became famous after it appeared in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.” It became a popular subject for photographers.Police arrested a 16-year-old boy and a man in his 60s soon after the fallen tree was discovered. Each was released after questio...

Skinned goat head thrown through front window of Vaughan home: police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

York Regional Police are on the hunt for two suspects in a series of eerie vandalism incidents in Vaughan that included a skinned goat head being thrown through a home’s front window.Officers were first called to the Melville Avenue and Hudson Drive area on October 25 after a resident complained that someone had spray-painted obscenities on an SUV in their driveway and on their garage door.“Two male suspects were observed in the area at approximately 2:14 a.m.,” police explained in a release that included video footage of the incident. “One of the suspects is seen walking up the driveway, smashing the vehicle’s windows and spray-painting graffiti on it. He then sprays more graffiti on the garage.”“The second suspect appears to be standing on the sidewalk as a lookout.”Two days later, police believe the same suspects targeted the home again, but this time in an even more disturbing manner — throwing a skinned goat head through the front...

Approaching Storm Ciarán may bring highest winds in France and England for decades, forecasters warn

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

LONDON (AP) — France, England and countries across western Europe are bracing for what meteorologists warn could be some of the highest wind speeds the region has witnessed in decades as Storm Ciarán hurtles toward coastlines and is set to make landfall on Wednesday evening.Residents were battening down the hatches in northwestern France as the national forecaster Météo-France warned of exceptional winds of around 90 miles per hour (145 kilometers per hour) blowing across Brittany, Normandy and Pays de la Loire. Winds of up to 105 miles per hour (170 kilometers per hour) and waves almost 33 feet (10 meters) high are expected in the country’s northwestern tip.The national train authority, the SNCF, has canceled some regional trains in five eastern regions starting late Wednesday night. Fast trains from Paris were eliminating intermediary stops on route to Rennes and several other destinations.“It’s during the calmest moments that we must prepare,” Eric Brocardi, spokesman for t...

CDPQ to buy power transmission network in Brazil in deal valued at up to $108.5M

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

MONTREAL — The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has signed a deal to acquire a 695-kilometre power transmission network in central Brazil in a transaction valued at up to $108.5 million.The Quebec fund manager says Integração Transmissora de Energia SA (Intesa) will be integrated into Verene Energia, its Latin American power transmission platform.Intesa’s network extends across central Brazil and is equipped with two substations.The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.CDPQ says the deal is its second power transmission investment in Latin America in the past 18 months.It follows the acquisition of nearly 1,100 kilometres of power lines in Brazil and Uruguay.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2023.The Canadian Press

Huey Lewis’ rom-com musical ‘The Heart of Rock & Roll’ finds a stage on Broadway in spring

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Huey Lewis, who with his band The News stormed radio in the 1980s with such rock-pop hits as “The Power of Love” and “I Want a New Drug,” is about to take his music to a Broadway stage.Lewis and executive producer Hunter Arnold tell The Associated Press that the jukebox musical “The Heart of Rock & Roll” — constructed from Lewis’ songs — will play the James Earl Jones Theatre starting March 2024, capping more than 10 years of gestation.“It’s been a long road, but it’s very gratifying,” Lewis said. “I’m pinching myself because it’s really going to happen now.”The show, which has an original story unconnected to Lewis, broke the record for highest gross per performance at San Diego’s Old Globe theater in 2018.“It’s smart, first of all, and funny. And it has a lot of heart and it’s about love, basically,” Lewis said. “People ask me, ’What’s it about, ”The Heart of Rock & Roll”? And it’s actually about the power of love.”Lewis has tweaked some s...

2 arrested in attempted crash and grab at retail store on West Side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

CHICAGO — Two people have been arrested in an attempted crash and grab at a clothing store in the city's Garfield Park neighborhood.Just after 2 a.m. Wednesday, a blue pickup truck was driven into Tops and Bottoms, a retail store located at 3960 West Madison Street. Police said officers were able to respond quickly enough and two people were taken into custody.On Monday around 4:30 a.m., a shoe and clothing store in Wicker Park was hit by crash and grab thieves. In this case, the suspects used a Jeep Grand Cherokee that was stolen from Lincoln Park.Surveillance video shows four to five suspects leaving empty handed, but they also left a lot of damage to the building. Attempted crash and grab at Wicker Park shoe store There were no arrests made in this case.

What is a Sundog and how do they form?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:18 GMT

GREELEY, Colorado (KFOR/Storyful) — What can appear to be a giant, colorful eyeball in the sky is actually called a Sundog.Jennifer Finch captured the video at the top of this story, showing a brilliant Sundog in Greeley, Colorado on October 30, while a light snow gently falls in the foreground.Sundogs differ somewhat from rainbows. Almanac.com explains it like this: "Rainbows form when drops of rain act as prisms, breaking sunlight into a multitude of colors. Sundogs appear when sunlight passes through a thin veil of ice crystal clouds (usually cirrus or cirrostratus), and the ice acts as a prism, refracting the light."While rainbows typically signify an end to the rain, Sundogs typically mean that rain will begin within the next 24 hours. Here’s what happens when you drop a half-ton pumpkin into an inflatable pool Sundogs usually appear when the Sun is rising or setting, and is closer to the horizon.According to the National Weather Service, the colorful spots vary fr...