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Palestinian teachers’ strike grows, reflecting deep crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

AL-AZZA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — In schools across the world, children are halfway into their second semester. But in a Palestinian refugee camp south of Jerusalem, kids wake up at 1 p.m. They kick soccer balls, hang out in barbershops and aimlessly scroll through TikTok. They watch television until dawn, just to wake up late and laze around all over again.Palestinian public schools in the West Bank have been closed since Feb. 5 in one of the longest teachers’ strikes in recent memory against the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. Teachers’ demands for a pay raise have escalated into a protest movement that has vexed the increasingly autocratic Palestinian self-rule government as it plunges deeper into an economic crisis.But the strike isn’t just about money. As the largest group of government employees in the West Bank after security forces, teachers are also calling for a democratically elected union. The authority hasn’t budged, fearing its rivals, like the Islamic ...

Nashville Predators remember shooting victims, play Bruins

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — When the Nashville Predators’ team flight took off for Boston, defenseman Ryan McDonagh wasn’t aboard.He stayed home Monday, to be with his three young daughters in the shaken community.A day after a fatal grade school shooting in Nashville left six dead, including three children, McDonagh caught a commercial flight. Hours after arriving, and with both teams wearing helmet stickers to remember the victims, he helped the Predators beat the Bruins 2-1 Tuesday night.“It’s not really the first shooting, unfortunately. When you have kids and it happens close to home it hits definitely different,” McDonagh said. “Like any parent, you do anything you can to help your family and kids out.”McDonagh’s daughters — Falan, Murphy and Nola — are all under 9 years old. “His daughter was close to the school — their school was in lockdown,” coach John Hynes said.Said McDonagh: “Quite frankly there are really no words that you can say after what went on yesterday in Na...

Elena Rybakina hits 10 aces in Miami for 12th straight win

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina extended her winning streak to 12 matches by delivering 10 aces — her fourth consecutive outing with at least that many — in a 6-3, 6-0 victory over 25th-seeded Martina Trevisan on Tuesday in the Miami Open quarterfinals.Rybakina has 46 aces through four matches at the hard-court tournament in Florida and a WTA-leading 201 this season. The 23-year-old, who represents Kazakhstan, improved to 20-4 in 2023, including a run to the Australian Open final in January and a title at Indian Wells, California, last week.She is trying to become only the fifth player to win the women’s trophies at Indian Wells and Miami in the same season. Top-ranked Iga Swiatek did it a year ago; she withdrew from Miami this time because of a rib injury. “Of course it would be amazing to achieve something like that,” the 10th-seeded Rybakina said about the prospect of completing what’s known as the Sunshine Double, “but it’s still...

Predators snap Bruins’ winning streak at 7

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Juuse Saros stopped 35 shots, Cody Glass scored late in the second period and the Nashville Predators beat NHL-best Boston 2-1 on Tuesday night, halting the Bruins’ seven-game winning streak.Chasing the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot, the Predators won for just the third time in eight games. Former Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon added an empty-netter late in the third.Boston’s David Pastrnak scored his 52nd with less than a second left in the game.Linus Ullmark made 21 saves for Boston, which suffered only its fourth regulation loss at home (30-4-3).The Predators and Bruins wore helmet stickers and held a moment of silence to show support for The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, after a shooting there Monday claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adult staffers.LIGHTNING 4, HURRICANES 0RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Brayden Point had two goals and an assist and Tampa Bay snapped a four-game losing streak.Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 s...

Realizan audiencias públicas sobre proyectos de estabilización de renta en el condado Montgomery

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

El concejo del condado Montgomery el martes fue el epicentro de testimonios relacionados a la necesidad de estabilizar las rentas en la localidad. Dos proyectos de ley mantienen una clara división entre quienes defienden a los inquilinos y quienes a la par están preocupados por el desarrollo urbanístico.Desde temprano, activistas se reunieron para alzar su voz a favor de una regulación para aumentos menores al 3%. Entre ellas estaba Maryuri Avila, quien fue desalojada al perder su trabajo y recibir un aumento de su renta del 6%. Aseguró que el incremento fue desmedido y que si hubiese sido menor no habría llegado al extremo.“Sentimos feo porque somos personas de bajos recursos. No podíamos con tanto. Solo mi mamá estaba con el trabajo, y mi mamá no tiene un trabajo de mucho tiempo, solo es un [trabajo a tiempo parcial] y no nos alcanzaba para pagar”, dijo. Quienes trabajan en bienes raíces dicen que la otra propuesta piensa en ambos sectores, pues el incremento a su juicio...

Curry scores 39, Warriors rally from 20 down, beat Pelicans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Draymond Green yelled at the other bench, his own team and even his coach, and this time those intense emotions absolutely made the difference.Steve Kerr loved it. “We need his fire,” Golden State’s coach said.“It was perfect, right, perfectly executed,” Green said with a grin. Stephen Curry had 39 points with eight 3-pointers, eight rebounds and eight assists, Jordan Poole added 21 points with consecutive layups that gave Golden State the lead early in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors rallied past the New Orleans Pelicans 120-109 on Tuesday night in a testy, playoff-like matchup in late March.Klay Thompson scored 17 and hit five 3s to set a new single-season career high of 278, which leads the NBA.The Warriors moved up a spot into sixth place in the crowded Western Conference standings, a half-game up on Minnesota and 1 1/2 games ahead of New Orleans. Golden State lost 99-96 at home to the Timberwolves on Sunday, so coming back from 20 down to win thi...

Reimer shines in shutout, Sharks blank Jets 3-0

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — James Reimer earned his third shutout of the season as the San Jose Sharks beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 on Tuesday night to stop a nine-game losing streak.Reimer stopped 41 shots, including a diving paddle save with 3:40 left in the second period. Noah Gregor, Kevin Labanc and Martin Kaut scored for San Jose.Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for the Jets, who went 0 for 3 on the power play.Winnipeg holds the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference by two points over Calgary and three over Nashville, which has two games in hand.Sharks forward Jacob Peterson made a nice play behind the net by faking one way and going back the other to find Gregor in front. It was Gregor’s fifth goal of the season, and he extended his point streak to three games.Labanc added his 13th goal 2:23 into the third period. Gregor got an assist on the play as well.Kaut iced the game with 2:03 to go with his fourth goal of the season. Erik Karlsson earned an assist, giving him ...

Goodell: Commanders report to be released even if team sold

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Embattled Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder could very well sell the franchise before an investigation into his organization’s conduct can be complete.NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said even if that’s the case, any report will be made public.“Yes, we’ve committed to releasing the findings,” Goodell said Tuesday at the league’s annual meetings. Snyder and the Commanders are still under investigation by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, who was retained by the league to look into various aspects of the organization stemming from a congressional review into workplace misconduct that also included a referral to the Federal Trade Commission for potential business improprieties.“We’ll allow (White) to do her job and then we’ll see where we are,” Goodell said.A group led by Josh Harris and Mitchell Rales and another group led by Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos have formally submitted fully financed bids for the Commanders...

Asian stocks rise as anxiety over banks starts to fade

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks rose Wednesday as anxiety about the global financial system began to fade following three high-profile bank failures.Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Shanghai followed Wall Street lower. Oil prices gained.Fears global banks might be cracking under the strain of interest rate hikes to cool inflation temporarily pushed aside unease about slowing economic growth. Some calm has returned after regulators announced measures to shore up the system.“Clearly, investors have not completely lost their anxiety,” said Robert Carnell and Min Joo Kang of ING in a report.The Shanghai Composite Index lost less than 0.1% to 3,243.06 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.8% to 27,728.70. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1.9% to 20,165.60 after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group announced plans to split into six units in an effort to become more agile and unlock value for investors. It said they would include e-commerce, entertainment and logistics.The Kospi in Se...

Vietnam economy slows on rising costs, weaker exports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:34 GMT

Vietnam’s economy slowed sharply in the first quarter of this year, with growth coming in at a much weaker than expected 3.3%, as its exporters were hit by rising costs and weaker demand, the General Statistics Office reported Wednesday. The slowdown in the January-March quarter from 5.9% year-on-year growth in the last quarter of 2022 was nearly as severe as that during the beginning of the pandemic and the second lowest for the first quarter in 12 years, it said. Vietnam has been one of the most dynamic economies in Asia in recent years, buoyed by strong foreign investment in manufacturing of electronics and other light industries. But efforts to slow economies to fight stubbornly high inflation are denting demand for consumer goods and other products. The vital manufacturing and construction sectors grew just 0.4% from a year earlier amid a severe downturn in the property sector.“The primary risk facing Vietnam’s growth is the worsening real estate sector crunch that ...