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Xabi Alonso taking Bayer Leverkusen to unprecedented heights in Bundesliga

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Xabi Alonso has transformed Bayer Leverkusen from a relegation candidate to unbeaten Bundesliga leader in just over a year since taking over.Alonso’s team won 22 of its 35 games in the Bundesliga in 2023 — a club record within a calendar year.Highly regarded as a classy midfielder for Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Real Sociedad, Alonso was untested as a coach at a major club until Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes entrusted him with the team in October last year.Leverkusen was second from bottom in the Bundesliga with just five points from its opening eight games, already knocked out in the first round of the German Cup, and struggling in the Champions League.After starting with a 4-0 rout of Schalke, Alonso had to wait for his ideas to take hold as the team failed to win any of its next six games. But then it clicked into gear with a 5-0 rout of then-leader Union Berlin In November 2022. It was the result Alonso needed to restore confidence a...

Live updates | UN aid resolution and diplomatic efforts could yield some relief for Gaza

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

The U.N. Security Council has a long-delayed vote scheduled for Thursday on a new resolution about desperately needed aid to Gaza, where the Israel-Hamas war has created a dire humanitarian crisis.Tens of thousands of people are crammed into shelters and tent camps amid shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies. Israel’s foreign minister traveled to Cyprus to discuss the possibility of establishing a maritime corridor that would allow the delivery of large amounts of humanitarian aid.At least 46 people were killed and more than 100 wounded Wednesday after Israel bombarded the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City, according to a senior official in the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.The Israeli military said its troops located “ a vast tunnel network ” under Gaza City that included command and control positions, meeting rooms and hideout apartments for the most senior Hamas leaders.Nearly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according ...

El papa Francisco pide al personal del Vaticano evitar “posiciones ideológicas rígidas”

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

El papa Francisco llamó el jueves a la burocracia del Vaticano a evitar “posiciones ideológicas rígidas” que le impidan entender la realidad de hoy, días después de que formalmente le permitió a los sacerdotes bendecir a parejas del mismo sexo.Francisco usó su saludo navideño anual a la jerarquía de la Santa Sede para animar a los cardenales, obispos y laicos que administran al Vaticano a que se escuchen entre sí y escuchen a otros, a fin de que evolucionen y presten un servicio verdadero a la Iglesia Católica.En la Sala de Bendiciones, Francisco le dijo que es importante avanzar y crecer en su comprensión de la verdad. Aferrarse temerosamente a las normas podría dar el sentimiento de estar evadiendo problemas, pero solo termina vulnerando el servicio que la Curia Vaticana está llamada a darle a la Iglesia, declaró.“Sigamos alertas en contra de las posiciones ideológicas rígidas que con frecuencia, bajo la ilusión de buenas intenciones, nos separan de la realidad y nos impiden avanz...

Turkish central bank raises interest rate 42.5% to combat high inflation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s central bank hiked its key interest rate by 2.5 percentage points on Thursday as part of its efforts to combat high inflation that has left many households struggling to afford rent and essential items.The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee raised its benchmark rate to 42.5%, delivering its seventh interest rate hike in a row to tame inflation, which rose to 61.98% last month.But the bank signaled that the rate hikes — which took borrowing costs from 8.5% to the current 42.5% — could soon end.“The committee anticipates to complete the tightening cycle as soon as possible,” it said. “The monetary tightness will be maintained as long as needed to ensure sustained price stability.”The series of rate hikes came after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — a longtime proponent of an unorthodox policy of cutting rates to fight inflation — reversed course and appointed a new economic team following his reelection in May.The team includes former Merrill Lynch ba...

Xi Jinping elogia la cooperación con Rusia mientras el comercio supera el objetivo de 200 mil millones de dólares

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

(CNN) — China y Rusia concluyeron un excelente año de cooperación con una reunión anual de fin de año en la que ambos prometieron profundizar los lazos en una variedad de temas a medida que el comercio récord entre ellos superó un objetivo simbólico.El comercio bilateral entre China y Rusia superó los 200.000 millones de dólares en los primeros 11 meses del año, dijo el líder chino Xi Jinping en una reunión con el primer ministro Mikhail Mishustin este miércoles, marcando el logro antes de lo previsto de un objetivo fijado por Xi y su homólogo ruso Vladimir Putin en 2019.Luego, los dos líderes se comprometieron a alcanzar la marca de los 200 mil millones de dólares para 2024. El comercio entre sus países siguió expandiéndose a raíz de la invasión de Ucrania por parte del Kremlin en 2022, creciendo aproximadamente un 30% en 2022 hasta alcanzar un récord de 190 mil millones de dólares.Las últimas cifras comerciales muestran una “fuerte resiliencia y amplias perspectivas” de coop...

Denver weather: Mild end to week ahead of chance for snow

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) —Denver's weather will stay mild for the rest of the workweek ahead of the chance for snow showers leading up to Christmas Day. Pinpoint Weather: White Christmas confidence meterSunday is a Pinpoint Weather Alert Day.Weather today: Decreasing cloudsOn Thursday, clouds will decrease throughout the day. This will help high temperatures climb to the upper 50s, which is a little more than 15 degrees above normal for this time of year. Denver restaurant recognized nationally for having one of best dishes in US Pinpoint Weather: Daily highs on Dec. 21 Weather tonight: Mainly clearOvernight, Denver will stay under a mainly clear sky. Temperatures will stay cool, but seasonally mild and only fall to around 30 degrees. Pinpoint Weather: Overnight lows on Dec. 21 Looking ahead: Mild Friday ahead of weekend showers Friday will be another mild day with plenty of sunshine and a high in the mid to upper 50s. The next big change moves in this weekend. Denver will see rain showe...

2023 New Year's Eve fireworks in Colorado

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Ring in the new year with a bang. There will be fireworks shows across Colorado ranging from early in the night to right at midnight. Colorado is home to 2 of the most festive hotels in the US While there are not a lot of places in the Denver metro area that put on fireworks for New Year's Eve, you can still drive to these nearby spots if you're craving fireworks going into 2024.Downtown Denver9 p.m. and midnightWhen it comes to fireworks around the metro, the only display you will find is on the 16th Street Mall. Luckily, they're going to be dazzling. Last year's fireworks were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.Colorado Springs9 p.m. and midnightJoin the over 100-year-old tradition and watch fireworks launch off Pikes Peak. Fireworks will first go off at 9 p.m. to honor the first "Frozen Five” climbers who started the tradition in 1922. The next fireworks will go off into the new year.Keystone7 p.m.Keystone is hosting night skiing from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Right ...

Bahamas cruise diverted to New England and Canada

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

(CNN) — Passengers on the cruise ship MSC Meraviglia didn’t get the balmy getaway they were expecting.The ship, scheduled to sail to the Bahamas this week, instead headed to New England and Canada “due to unseasonable and rapidly worsening weather that would have made it impossible to safely reach the southern Atlantic Ocean from New York City,” Field Sutton, director of communications, MSC Cruises USA, told CNN via email.The last-minute change left guests scrambling.Lakeya Allen of Bloomington, Illinois, told CNN she was notified of the itinerary change around 8:30 p.m. Friday, just hours before she planned to head to Chicago with her three children to catch an early flight to New York City.“Once I got the notification, I rushed to Walmart to try and get my family winter clothes. I grabbed whatever I could, but Walmart was closing early that night, so we had to just bring what we had packed. We still have shorts, bathing suits and sunscreen with us,” Allen said....

Christmas trees have gotten a lot less real in recent decades, in charts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

(CNN) — Next to those stockings hung by the chimney with care, it appears more likely than ever that the trimmed tree will be, well, faux.The holiday tradition of setting up a Christmas tree has endured centuries. But this year, 77% of Americans displaying a Christmas tree say they’ll opt for an artificial one, according to a survey from the American Christmas Tree Association, an industry promotion group.The shift to fake trees has been a steady one. Imports of artificial trees have been climbing since the mid-90s, and spiked in 2021 despite Covid-19-related supply chain issues, according to the Census Bureau, which started tracking tree imports in 1994.What about the real trees?As artificial trees started looking more authentic and became more accepted in homes, the natural Christmas tree industry has been in a slow decline over 40-50 years, according to Marsha Gray, executive director of the Real Christmas Tree Board, an industry trade group.One recent pain point was the economic...

Viktor Orbán: The EU is blackmailing Hungary

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:31:35 GMT

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Thursday the European Commission is blackmailing Hungary by withholding billions in frozen funds over rule-of-law concerns.Orbán said the blackmail is “a fact,” even admitted by the blackmailers themselves — members of the European Parliament.“In our view, Hungary fulfils all the qualities of the rule of law, and when the European Commission has specific needs, we implement everything from them, and we are also cooperative,” Orbán told reporters in Budapest during a press conference. “You cannot blame me for doing everything I can to promote Hungary’s interests in such a blackmailed situation.”Orbán’s government has been embroiled in a long-standing dispute with Brussels, which has frozen billions of EU funds intended for Hungary over concerns about human rights and the rule of law in the country.Last week, the European Commission unblocked €10.2 billion in frozen EU cohesion funds earmarked for Hungary.The comm...