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Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue even as hopes for a cease-fire grow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes against Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip continued for a third day Friday. The Palestinian death toll rose to 30, authorities said, as foreign mediators pressed ahead with efforts to reach a cease-fire. After the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group fired longer-range rockets toward Israel Thursday — sending shrapnel slicing through apartments that killed one person — the Israeli military said its warplanes struck Islamic Jihad rocket launchers. Gaza residents reported explosions in farms near the southern city of Rafah. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Despite those sporadic Israeli strikes, the situation early Friday was relatively calm. Islamic Jihad held its rocket fire overnight, raising hopes that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations would be able to broker a cease-fire.The cross-border exchanges this week have pitted Israel against Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the ...

The AP Interview: Mitsotakis hopes for better relations with Turkey if reelected as Greek premier

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

VOLOS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister says he will extend “a hand of friendship” to the winner of upcoming elections in the country’s neighbor and longtime regional rival Turkey — but adds that he hopes the next government will “reconsider its approach toward the West.”Kyriakos Mitsotakis, himself facing an election in just over a week, said he is willing to speak to whomever emerges victorious from Sunday’s polls in Turkey. “But I’m not naive,” he told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview while on the campaign trail in central Greece on Thursday evening. “I know that foreign policies of countries don’t change from one day to the next.”Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led his country as prime minister and president since 2003, faces his most challenging election. Amid a faltering economy, Erdogan has lost some ground to his main rival, the secular, center-left Kemal Kilicdaroglu.Although not to the same ...

Sex? Sexual intercourse? Neither? Teens weigh in on evolving definitions – and habits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Situationships. “Sneaky links.” The “talking stage,” the flirtatious getting-to-know-you phase — typically done via text — that can lead to a hookup.High school students are having less sexual intercourse. That’s what the studies say. But that doesn’t mean they’re having less sex.The language of young love and lust, and the actions behind it, are evolving. And the shift is not being adequately captured in national studies, experts say.For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago, when more than half of teens reported having sex.The Associated Press took the findings to teenagers and experts around the country to ask for their in...

Kevin Durant after Nuggets oust Suns: Nikola Jokic “one of the all-time great centers to ever touch a basketball”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

PHOENIX — As Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic shared an embrace after their second-round playoff series came to an end in Game 6, Durant whispered in the Denver center’s ear.Jokic didn’t want to share what Durant told him, but the Phoenix star had high praise for Jokic after the game — an emphatic 125-100 Nuggets win to clinch the series.Related ArticlesDenver Nuggets | Nuggets’ schedule for Western Conference Finals released Denver Nuggets | PHOTOS: Denver Nuggets top Phoenix Suns 125-100 in Game 6 to close out NBA Western Conference semifinals Denver Nuggets | Nuggets 3-pointers: Nikola Jokic made Mark Jackson, Stephen A. Smith, Suns, haters look like fools. Again. Denver Nuggets | Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fuels Nuggets to Western Conference Finals, sending Suns packing by halftime in Game 6 Denver Nuggets | In home-court, hold-serve series with Suns, Nuggets coach Michael Malone ...

Fruit growers arrested for using illegal wells in drought-hit Spain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

26 people were arrested on Tuesday (9 May) for illegally tapping wells in southern Spain to grow tropical fruits such as mangos and avocados, amid a prolonged drought.In the Axarquia region of Andalusia which has suffered from drought since 2021, authorities conducted a four-year probe and discovered more than 250 illegal boreholes, wells, and ponds.Spain is Europe's largest producer of tropical fruits, which require large amounts of water. Avocado production is expected to drop by 25 percent this year because of high temperatures and lack of water.Police said that the suspects were being investigated on suspicion of misappropriation and fraudulent use of water to irrigate subtropical crops.It was not specified whether the arrested were commercial or subsistence growers.Water management in Spain has been brought to the forefront by the lack of rain, especially around the Donana wetlands, which are also located in Andalusia, and threatened by climate change, as well as illegal irriga...

Get Ready to Shine and Align at WisdoMania Festival 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

Are you ready to shake off the stresses of life and bask in a day of wellness, creativity, and self-care? If so, mark your calendar for WisdoMania Festival 2023, a one-day festival taking place on May 21 at The Lodge in Los Angeles. This immersive mental health and arts festival will do its part to celebrate Mental Health Month by providing an inviting space for young creatives to turn their pain into power through the arts while enhancing their knowledge of wellness and mental health resources. Tickets to WisdoMania Festival 2023 are now available.With free daytime programming, including yoga, dance, a sound bath, and a songwriting workshop, WisdoMania attendees can enjoy an energizing evening of live music and comedy programs all for just $25. Also, in partnership with BetterHelp, all ticket holders will receive three free months of therapy, typically worth hundreds of dollars.Following Spotify’s sponsorship of last year’s event, Amazon Music will sponsor this yearR...

Dear Abby: I heard that she was gossiping about me. Was my response excessive?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

DEAR ABBY: I had a very good relationship with my daughter-in-law. In fact, I treated her like my own daughter and showered her with gifts.People told me she’d been gossiping about me and saying how much she dislikes me. I feel betrayed, so I have distanced myself from her and no longer want her near me.Am I a vindictive mother-in-law? I love my grandson, but I need my privacy, too. What will I do during holidays when family needs to get together? I no longer trust her, and I cannot wear a fake smile. Am I overreacting? DISILLUSIONED IN THE WESTDEAR DISILLUSIONED: If what you were told about your daughter-in-law is true, you are not overreacting.However, you won’t know if the information is accurate or in what context something may have been said until you have been told by her. This is why you need to have a face-to-face conversation in which you ask directly if what you heard was true and if you have done something that upset her. Then listen.Related ArticlesAdvice | ...

K-9 ‘Blaze’ safely locates missing East Bay boy with special needs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

Police in Hayward praised their K-9 unit “Blaze” on Thursday for locating a missing 6-year-old boy with special needs last month.Police said the boy wandered away from his babysitter at a local park and could not be located.Multiple agencies took part in the search for the boy, including Hayward Area Recreation and Park District rangers, the EastBay Regional Park District, Hayward firefighters, and a Hayward police drone.But police say it was their German Shephard named Blaze that located the child, just weeks after the dog completed tracking school.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Search for Palo Alto woman missing since 1996 takes authorities to Redwood City Crime and Public Safety | Peru will allow extradition to US of Natalee Holloway disappearance suspect Joran van der Sloot Crime and Public Safety | Map: Last locations of Beau Mann, missing tech CEO found dead Crime and Public Safety | Northern Cal...

Man pleads guilty to attacking California couple in their home, injuring Sheriff’s Deputy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

A 31-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday, May, 11 to attacking a couple in their San Juan Capistrano home in 2020 and biting an Orange County sheriff’s deputy who was on the scene.Court records show Cole Altuzarra, a San Juan Capistrano resident, pleaded guilty to several felonies, including two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and assault with a weapon on a peace officer. He also admitted to sentencing advancements for inflicting great bodily injury, according to the records.In 2020, a then-29-year-old Altuzarra was charged with attempted murder and other felonies after he was discovered in a “violent struggle” with the residents of a Via Arboleda home, authorities previously said. During the struggle, Altuzarra bit and severely injured a victim’s ear before biting the chin of one of the three deputies on the call.The three deputies were left with minor injuries in the aftermath of the attack, OCSD said at the time.It was not clear what motivated the attack or whether Altuz...

California city ordered to pay affordable housing group $3.5 million in legal fees

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:27 GMT

A state appeals court ordered the city of Huntington Beach to pay $3.5 million in legal fees to an affordable housing group stemming from the organization’s 2015 lawsuit over the city’s housing plan.The three-judge panel ruled the Kennedy Commission’s lawsuit was a catalyst in forcing the city to bring its 2013-21 “housing element” into compliance with state law.While the city ultimately amended that earlier plan, Surf City leaders once again are embroiled in new legal battles with the state over their refusal to adopt a new plan, now 19 months overdue.The appellate ruling Thursday, May 11 also follows news that the Huntington Beach City Attorney’s Office has reached a $5 million to $7 million court settlement with the Pacific Airshow.Huntington Beach Councilmember Dan Kalmick estimated the airshow settlement could total up to $8.5 million. As of November 2021, the city’s litigation reserve was $14 million. These two cases potentially could eat up $10 million to $12 million of that....