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Lucas: From a smuggler’s den to diplomatic calling

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

Uran Ferizi is my kind of illegal immigrant.Twenty-seven years after the penniless 15-year-old boy from Albania snuck into the United Kingdom clinging to the undercarriage of a truck ferried over the English Channel, Ferizi is now set to meet with King Charles.Ferizi, 42, is Albania’s new ambassador to the U.K.And he is now also rubbing shoulders with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and foreign Minister David Cameron.How he got there from where he came from is the stuff that dreams are made of.Ferizi grew up in Albania at a time when his parents lost most of their savings—as hundreds of thousands of Albanians did—when unregulated Ponzi schemes swept the country in 1997.People who lost money rioted against the government and toppled it. Armories were raided and some 2,000 people were killed before the UN authorized a 7,000-member armed force to enter the country and restore order.A year later Ferizi was in Belgium planning to sneak into the U.K. as thousands of other young Albania...

Kimberly Palmer: Overspent in December? Here’s how to battle the January blues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

The first workday in January after the holidays hits a little bit differently: The parties are over, debt payments are soon due and it can feel like there’s nothing to look forward to.You may be able to minimize the doldrums with some planning and other steps to turn things around, financial experts say.“Financial stress can be temporary,” says Tonya Rapley, financial educator and founder of the millennial money and lifestyle blog My Fab Finance. She suggests focusing on small steps such as paying this month’s bills, then reminding yourself that you can recover from December’s overspending.Here are a few more ways to fight this month’s financial downers:MAKE OR UPDATE A BUDGETThe new year is a great time to create or update a budget, which can give you back a sense of control, says Mike Croxson, CEO of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, a nonprofit financial coaching organization.The popular 50/30/20 budget, for example, suggests putting 50% of your take-home income towa...

‘I am done’: Amid rider woes, is Ottawa’s transit system a victim of its own success?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

OTTAWA — It didn’t feel like the glory days at the time, climbing onto a crowded bus and pushing into the crush of bodies, riders sweating into their wool coats and parkas.But despite the cramped rides and the occasional backpack to the face, April Lesnick said those days in the early 2000s were the ones when she felt she could most rely on the transit system in Canada’s capital city.These days, she often finds herself alone in a snowbank next to a stop, bundled up against the cold wind, waiting for a bus that never comes at all. “Sometimes it shows, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes there’s notifications on the app, sometimes there’s not,” Lesnick said. She started taking the bus at just nine years old, but this year, at age 45, the lifelong transit user said she’s had enough and is planning to buy a car for the first time.“I am done,” she said. For years, students, public servants and other workers boarded packed buses that...

‘Unimaginable excess’: Bid to attract showy superyachts to Cape Breton under scrutiny

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

HALIFAX — Not so long ago, the largest community in Cape Breton was best known as home to one of the most toxic waste sites in North America: the infamous Sydney tar ponds.Containing one million tonnes of oozing sewage and industrial sludge — left behind after centuries of steelmaking — the site has since been capped with concrete and transformed into a sprawling urban park that opened 10 years ago.“It’s a transformation from what was an industrial economy to one that is more service-based with tech businesses and education, ” says Terry Smith, CEO of Destination Cape Breton, the island’s tourism marketing organization.With memories of the tar ponds receding, the port city is now trying to cultivate an upscale vibe — one that includes appealing to billionaires and their toys. It wants to become a destination for superyachts, the most expensive, luxurious boats in the world, which have become the ultimate status symbol for A-list celebrities, dot-com titans and lesser-kno...

Pakistan arrests 21 members of outlawed Pakistani Taliban militant group linked to deadly attacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s counterterrorism police said Monday they arrested 21 members of outlawed militant group the Pakistani Taliban, which has been behind several deadly attacks across the country.Acting on intelligence information, the arrests were made in the eastern Punjab province over the past two weeks, the provincial Counterterrorism Department said in a statement. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.The Counterterrorism Department provided a list of the suspects, the cases against them and their alleged affiliation. But the list did not give details about the attacks the militants were allegedly involved in, including the number of casualties.The statement said that Mohammad Arshad, an alleged chief commander of the banned Balu...

Periods of showers & storms return tomorrow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Happy new year! New Year's Day will be significantly cooler than Sunday. Expect breezy conditions with a mix of sun and clouds and highs only in the 50s. NEW: 2023 was Austin's hottest year on record Two storms currently over the Pacific Ocean will bring decent rain chances to Central Texas this week.The first of two areas of low pressure will head to the area leading to an excellent chance for rain and a few thunderstorms Tuesday, mainly during the afternoon and evening. Future radar Tuesday eveningRain and thunderstorms will continue Tuesday night, but they'll be all done by sunrise Wednesday.The second storm gives us another opportunity for rain on Friday before drier weather clears out for the weekend.The two systems combined should bring rainfall amounts from half an inch up to 2 inches with some localized higher amounts.Potential rainfall totals through Sunday Winter Weather Outlook: What a strong El Niño could mean for rainfall and ice risk Austin Inte...

From Colorado to Uganda, Far Away Friends connects students who want to make a difference

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

In a Lakewood High School math classroom on a late fall afternoon, a handful of teenagers are plotting how they will raise $15,000 to build a preschool in rural Uganda.Between mouthfuls of popcorn and the occasional joke, students discuss that will help bring in money to fund construction of a preschool building at the Global Leaders Primary School in Uganda’s Amolatar District. Currently, preschool students attend class in a shelter outside.The goal might seem ambitious, but it’s entirely achievable, because this after-school club has done it before — in 2015, students raised $15,000 to pay for the primary school’s roof. The primary opened in 2016 and now enrolls 500 students.This is Far Away Friends, a nonprofit organization that works to end generational poverty in rural Uganda through education and community development.Far Away Friends was founded in 2014 by Lakewood High School graduate Jayme Ward and Collines Angwech, who met when Angwech was touring the Uni...

Beavers released into California wild for 1st time in 70 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

(KRON) -- A family of seven beavers is thriving this December after spending their first two months exploring the wilderness of Plumas County. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife's October beaver release marked the first time in seven decades that the department released beavers into the wild."The new family group of beavers join a single resident beaver in the valley with the ultimate objective of re-establishing a breeding population that will maintain the mountain meadow ecosystem, its processes, and the habitat it provides for numerous other species," state wildlife officials wrote. Two of the yearling beaver kits hitch a ride on the back and tail of one of the larger beavers in Plumas County, California on October 18, 2023. (CDFW Photo/Travis VanZant)The phrase "busy as a beaver" stems from the species' hard work ethic and building skills. Those skills greatly benefit California's landscapes and wildfire resilience, CDFW officials said.Humans have spent millions of d...

Walters: California labor laws’ unintended consequences

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

When federal government and state governments passed laws governing wages, working hours and other workplace conditions prior to World War II, agricultural labor was exempted.Many years later, after the 40-hour work week became standard, California’s Industrial Welfare Commission decreed that farmworkers could work up to 10 hours a day or six days a week before overtime pay kicked in.In 2016, however, years of lobbying by unions and other groups finally paid off when the Legislature decreed that the eight-hour day and 40-hour work week for agricultural labor would be phased in. Then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation, Assembly Bill 1066, despite warnings from farm groups that it would disrupt their industry.Recently, the University of California’s Cooperative Extension branch, which researches agricultural issues, released a study indicating that having a 40-hour work week has not been as beneficial to farmworkers as its sponsors promised.Alexandra Hill, an assistant professor ...

49ers report card: Clutch moments in Washington deliver win, No. 1 seed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:15 GMT

LANDOVER, Md. – Here is how the 49ers (12-4) graded in Sunday’s 27-10 win over the host Washington Commanders to help secure the No. 1 seed for the upcoming NFC playoffs:PASS OFFENSE: ABrock Purdy rebounded from his career-worst outing on Christmas (four interceptions) and delivered a turnover-free outing that finished strong. He was 22-of-28 for 230 yards with touchdown passes to Deebo Samuel (2 yards; first-quarter shovel pass) and Brandon Aiyuk (17 yards; fourth-quarter improv theater). Purdy’s 4,280 yards this season thus catapulted him past Steve Young (4,170) and Jeff Garcia (4,278) for the most in a 49ers season. Purdy’s 31 touchdown passes are tied for fourth-most, behind Steve Young (36, 1998; 35, 1994) and Jeff Garcia (32, 2001). One more: Purdy’s 124.7 passer rating marked his eighth over 120 this season, which trails only Aaron Rodgers (10, 2020) in NFL history. That is where Purdy’s numbers likely will finish if the 49ers wisely rest him in a Week 18 finale with the Ram...