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Volcanic ash from Popocatepetl temporarily shuts down Mexico City airports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City’s two main airports temporarily shut down operations on Saturday due to ash spewing from Popocatepetl volcano, located 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of the country’s capital.The city’s Benito Juarez International airport suspended operations at 04:25 a.m. local time. It resumed operations at 10:00 a.m., after removing volcanic ashes, checking the runways and verifying favorable wind conditions, the airport said on Twitter.The new Felipe Angeles airport, located north of Mexico City and operated by the military, shut down operations around 6 a.m., and service was suspended for five hours.Volcanic ashes are especially dangerous for aviation, not only because they reduce visibility but because they can act as an abrasive, damaging an aircraft’s wings and fuselage.The Popocatepetl rumbled to life again this week, belching out towering clouds of ash that forced 11 villages to cancel school sessions.The explosions registered in t...

Members show solidarity on picket line outside of Casino Woodbine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) workers have been joined by supporters in picketing outside of Casino Woodbine after almost 1,000 employees were locked out by their employer as of May 8.Members were hoping to negotiate a collective agreement that included guaranteed part-time hours, more full-time positions, better wages and sick leave among other concerns.On April 28, Casino Woodbine filed with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development for a “No Board Report”, which legally allowed them to lock out their workers.Casino Woodbine says they have been in negotiations with PSAC trying to reach an agreement with employees that offers them the benefits they are seeking.“On April 27th, we reached an agreement with PSAC’s bargaining committee that included a 16% increase in wages over four years, market adjustments in wages for certain roles, a signing bonus of $1,000 for Full Time team members and $500 for Part Time team members, as well as signifi...

British novelist Martin Amis, who brought a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility to his work, has died at 73

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — British novelist Martin Amis, who brought a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility to his stories and lifestyle, has died. He was 73.His death on Friday at his home in Florida, from cancer of the esophagus, was confirmed by his agent, Andrew Wylie, on Saturday.Amis was the son of another British writer, Kingsley Amis. Martin Amis was a leading voice among a generation of writers that included his good friend, the late Christopher Hitchens, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie.Among his best-known works were “Money,” a satire about consumerism in London, “The Information” and “London Fields,” along with his 2000 memoir, “Experience.”Jonathan Glazer’s adaption of Amis’ 2014 novel “The Zone of Interest” premiered Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, about a Nazi commandant who lives next to Auschwitz with his family, drew some of the best reviews of the festival.The Holocaust was the topic of Amis’ novel “Time’s Arrow” and Josef Stalin’s reign in Russia in “Hou...

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson tells law students ‘Survivor’ offers helpful lessons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called herself a “Survivor superfan” on Saturday and offered an audience of graduating law school students lessons from the reality TV show.The show has been on television for 23 years and is now in its 44th season. Jackson said she has seen every episode since the show’s second season. “I watch it with my husband and my daughters even now, which I will admit it’s not easy to do with the demands of my day job. But you have to set priorities, people. And that’s exactly the first lesson that I have for you today,” she told the graduating class of American University’s law school in Washington.Jackson, the court’s first Black female justice, is coming to the end of her first term on the court. The justices are done hearing arguments for the term and are expected to issue all their remaining opinions by the end of June before going on summer break. Major decisions on affirmative action and President Joe Biden’s st...

Victims of deadly Oregon highway crash were farmworkers, union says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

ALBANY, Ore. (AP) — The victims of one of Oregon’s deadliest highway crashes were farmworkers traveling in a van at an hour when agricultural laborers typically commute home after toiling in the harvest, the state’s farmworkers union said. Authorities have not yet released the names of the seven who died or the four who were injured when a semitruck ran off Interstate 5 on Thursday and slammed into the van as it was parked on the roadside near Albany, in an agricultural area of the Willamette Valley. But the union, the Woodburn-based PCUN, said in a statement late Friday that the 11 people in the vehicle were farmworkers and it has been in contact with some of their families to support them. It also offered condolences to those affected by the tragedy. “At this time, families are asking for safer roads for workers commuting after a hard day’s work,” Reyna Lopez, the union’s executive director, was quoted as saying. The driver of the truck, Lincoln Clayton Smith, 52...

Vatican: Pope Francis tasks cardinal with mission aimed at paving ‘paths to peace’ in Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has tasked a leading Italian cardinal with a mission in hopes it can “ease tensions” in the Ukraine war and lead to a path of peace, the Vatican said Saturday.In a brief written statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that Francis had entrusted the mission to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is close to the pontiff. Bruni said the timetable and the mechanics of the mission “are currently under study.” Just a week earlier, Francis held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican. Afterwards, Zelenskyy, when asked about their meeting, indicated he thought that any mediation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was impossible. At the end of April, flying back to Rome from a pilgrimage in Hungary, Francis indicated to reporters aboard the plane that the Vatican was involved in some kind of peace mission but declined to give details. “I can confirm that Pope Francis has tasked Cardi...

Small plane crashes in Croatia on flight from Slovenia, unclear how many were aboard

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Emergency teams in Croatia have found the remains of a small plane that crashed Saturday in a remote area, police said. The Cirrus 20 aircraft was found in “forested and inaccessible terrain” in northwestern Croatia following an hourslong search that involved 150 people and an army helicopter, said a police statement. Authorities did not specify how many people were on the plane. State HRT network says the search will continue overnight. The plane went missing from the radar earlier Saturday while flying from the Slovenian town of Maribor toward Croatia’s Adriatic Sea coast town of Pula, police said.The Associated Press

California woman searching for missing wedding dress

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. (KTLA) — A southern California woman is desperately seeking the public’s help in finding her missing wedding dress. Rebecca Nguyen, of Mission Viejo, is on the hunt for her wedding dress after a family member accidentally donated it to Goodwill.  Texas to charge EV owners $400 to register vehicles, $200 every year Nguyen got married in 2017 and she left her wedding dress at her parents’ house to keep it safe. Her parents later divorced, and in the process of them moving, her wedding dress was accidentally donated to Goodwill in Brea.  In a Facebook post that has been shared over 2,000 times, Nguyen shared her story and pleaded for the public’s help in finding her dress. "If you have it, please consider selling it back to me," Nguyen wrote. "I will pay more than you paid for it. You can even wear it for your wedding! I don’t mind sharing the joy and beauty of the dress. Please feel free to share this so I can get as many eyes on this post a...

Ed Sheeran surprises students at Florida high school with 'tiny concert'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A group of students from two Tampa-area high schools were surprised by Grammy Award winner and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran on Friday.Sheeran, who is set to perform at the city's Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, gave tickets to the students and played what he called a "tiny concert" for them.Sheeran also donated some guitars to the schools he visited."Times forever frozen still for a group of Middleton and Blake High School students," the school district posted on Facebook. "Thank you Ed Sheeran for stopping by and supporting our students!" Jimmy Buffett hospitalized, forced to reschedule concert In a video shared by the school district, Sheeran can be seen carrying a guitar into band practice while students finished rehearsal. Most appeared to be concentrating on their performance, and didn't notice he was there until their song was over."Thanks so much, guys," Sheeran said, before announcing he had "tickets for all of you guys to come" to his Saturday show...

Charley Walters: Twins batters are major leagues’ strikeout kings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:20 GMT

Minnesota Twins starters Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez, Bailey Ober and Louie Varland are a combined 16-3 this season. That’s pitching. As hitters, though, the Twins lead the majors in strikeouts with 438 in 45 games.Asked at a recent Twin Cities Dunkers gathering why Twins hitters lead the majors in strikeouts, chief baseball executive Derek Falvey joked, “Next question.”Falvey added that strikeouts don’t mean fewer runs, and that he expects the Twins by the end of the season to be somewhere in the middle of the majors.Meanwhile, the Twins’ Triple-A St. Paul Saints have the most strikeouts in all the minor leagues, 452 in 41 games.>> The first-place Twins are averaging 20,469 attendance per game, 18th in baseball.>> The Cubs team the Twins played the other day at Target Field has only one player — starter Kyle Hendricks — left from the 2016 club that won the World Series.Hendricks is the son of former Kellogg High and Minnesota state golf standout John Hendricks, 65...