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Spain’s Socialists to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists in exchange for support of new government

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Socialist Party has struck a deal with a fringe Catalan separatist party to grant an amnesty for potentially thousands of people involved in the region’s failed secession bid in exchange for its key backing of acting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in forming a new government.Socialist lawmaker and party official Santos Cerdán announced the deal on Thursday in Brussels after sealing the agreement with the party led by Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after leading the failed 2017 independence attempt for Catalonia.“This a political agreement and an agreement for an amnesty,” Cedrán said.The decision greatly boosts Sánchez’s chances of forming another minority leftist coalition government. Sánchez, a Socialist and Spain’s leader since 2018, still needs the backing a small Basque party but he is likely to achieve that.An amnesty has been the crucial part of difficult negotiations by representatives of Sánchez’s caretaker leftist government ...

Last 12 months on Earth were the hottest ever recorded, analysis finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

The last 12 months were the hottest Earth has ever recorded, according to a new report by Climate Central, a nonprofit science research group. The peer-reviewed report says burning gasoline, coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels that release planet-warming gases like carbon dioxide, and other human activities, caused the unnatural warming from November 2022 to October 2023. Over the course of the year, 7.3 billion people, or 90% of humanity, endured at least 10 days of high temperatures that were made at least three times more likely because of climate change.“People know that things are weird, but they don’t they don’t necessarily know why it’s weird. They don’t connect back to the fact that we’re still burning coal, oil and natural gas,” said Andrew Pershing, a climate scientist at Climate Central. “I think the thing that really came screaming out of the data this year was nobody is safe. Everybody was experiencing unusual climate-driven heat at some point during the year,” sai...

Israeli strikes pound Gaza City, which tens of thousands have fled in recent days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza City overnight into Thursday as ground forces battled Hamas militants in dense urban neighborhoods from which tens of thousands have fled in recent days.Israeli troops were around 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Shifa Hospital in the heart of downtown, the hospital’s director said. Israel has been vague on troop movements, but officials say Gaza’s largest city is the focus of their campaign to crush Hamas following its deadly Oct. 7 assault inside Israel.Amid a drumbeat of international concern over dire conditions inside Gaza, mediators were closing in on a possible deal for a three-day cease-fire in exchange for the release of around a dozen hostages held by Hamas, according to two Egyptian officials, a United Nations official and a Western diplomat. The deal would also allow a small amount of fuel to enter the territory, which is currently reliant on generators for electricity, for the first time since the war be...

Will the U.S. reach a population of 1 billion? Probably not anytime soon, Census predicts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Last year, we reached a population we've never seen before in the U.S.: 333.3 million, according to the Census Bureau. That came after a historically low rate of change between 2020 and 2021. As you can probably guess, our population is only expected to grow in the coming years, but the growth may not last long, new estimates from the Census show. It's part of the Census's 2023 National Population Projections, released Thursday. The data accounts for the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on our population, as well as the most recent census from 2020. The newest projections stretch to 2100, the furthest into the future the Census has ventured since 2000. Back then, the Census estimated the U.S. would reach a population of anywhere from about 571 million to 1.2 billion by 2100. These were the fastest-growing cities in 2022, Census data shows We aren't expected to reach either over the next seven and a half decades, the Census now projects. Instead, the U.S. could see it...

When will my favorite shows return now that the Hollywood strikes are over?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Missed your favorite actors? After nearly four months of striking, they're coming back.Wednesday's deal between striking actors and studios and streaming services won't immediately restore filming to its full swing. That will take months.But the tentative agreement — which both sides say include extraordinary provisions — means that more than six months of labor strife in the film and television industries is drawing to a close. Soon, tens of thousands of entertainment sector workers could get back to work. And popular franchises, like “Deadpool,” “Abbott Elementary” and “The Last of Us,” will be a step closer to returning to screens.Hollywood loves a happy ending. The actors strike might provide that, though there's still the chance of strike sequels in the months ahead.Here's some of what will happen next:SO IS THE ACTORS STRIKE REALLY OVER?Picket lines are suspended and the only rallies on the horizon are celebratory ones that the actors union is...

MoPac reopens after rollover crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Southbound lanes of MoPac in North Austin reopened Thursday morning after Austin-Travis County EMS said they were shut down following a rollover crash. According to ATCEMS, the single-vehicle crash happened on MoPac just north of the Highway 183 intersection around 1:50 a.m. ATCEMS said one adult was taken to the hospital with critical life-threatening injuries. The adult was the only person in the car and the only patient, according to ATCEMS.Austin Police shut down MoPac after Nov. 9 crash. (Photo courtesy: Antonio Perez)Austin Police shut down MoPac after Nov. 9 crash. (KXAN: Lauren Ryan)KXAN reporter Blake DeVine said southbound MoPac reopened as of 5:40 a.m. A witness told KXAN they saw the car flip several times after it hit a median.

Review: Wrestaurant at the Palace (and its delicious pizza) welcome addition to downtown St. Paul

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

One of the greatest things to happen to downtown St. Paul in the past decade has been the opening of the Palace Theatre as a music venue.The Palace hosts mostly rock shows — often acts that I want to see — in a restored yet still funky old space. And there are some places to eat nearby, but honestly, I have grown tired of most of them.Enter Wrestaurant at the Palace. The bar and pizzeria that opened late this summer in the former Wild Tymes space next to the venue was initially reported to be opening soon in 2017 — I guess good things come to those who wait.The restaurant is a partnership between First Avenue, which manages The Palace, and Wrecktangle Pizza, which has three Minneapolis locations. The interior has been completely transformed from the dingy bar that previously occupied it. Though a long, rectangular bar is still front and center, it’s surrounded by walnut mid-century-modern-style bar stools and smart, dark wood banquet tables. The walls are painted a...

Open house on Burdett Birth Center closure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- On Thursday, St. Peter's Health Partners will host a public open house to gather more public input about the planned closure of the Burdett Birth Center. Hospital leaders, doctors, nurses, and others will be at the open house which starts at 6 p.m. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Those interested in attending virtually may do so online. The Burdett Birth Center is Rensselaer County's only maternity ward, and plans for its closure were first announced in June. The center is set to close by spring of next year.

Ask Amy: A parent confronts a sad Thanksgiving

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

Dear Amy: My mid-30s daughter lived with a partner for 10 years. He is a horrid and manipulative man.I accepted that as an adult she could make her own life choices, however misguided I may think they are.As a “couple,” she and her partner attended holiday gatherings at my home.About a year ago, I heard from my other daughters that she had become engaged to this man, although she never mentioned this to me.Not long ago, my daughter was in a roadway accident, and she died suddenly and tragically.Although she is gone, her former partner continues to consider himself a family member, and this is a sentiment that is shared by my late daughter’s two sisters.I have no such feelings about him, and wish never to see him again.Thanksgiving is coming soon, and he expects that he will share a place at our table.I really do not want this man at the table, although I respect my other daughters’ wish to have him be a part of their lives.How would you recommend that I commu...

Regions with the highest life expectancy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:48 GMT

During the last decade, life expectancy in the EU rose at a relatively consistent pace until 2019, when life expectancy at birth was 81.3 years. Since then, 2020 and 2021 have recorded declines in life expectancy. In 2021, the overall life expectancy at birth in the EU was 80.1 years. The life expectancy for women in the EU stood at 82.9 years, which was 5.7 years longer than that for men, who averaged 77.2 years. At the time of their birth, women are expected to live longer in all 242 NUTS 2 regions where data is available.The largest gender gap was recorded in Latvia, where life expectancy at birth for women was 9.8 years higher. The smallest gender gap was observed in the French outermost region of Mayotte, where life expectancy for women was 2.3 years higher than that for men.The highest life expectancy at birth for women was in the Spanish capital region of Comunidad de Madrid (88.2 years), followed by five other regions in Spain – Comunidad Foral de Navarra (87.6 years), Casti...