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Apricot tart a perfect way to welcome stone-fruit season

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

Apricots, members of the rose family, are also known as Armenian plums. They are less tart than plums and perhaps that is why Luther Burbank thought to hybridize apricots with plums to get a sweeter plum. (Pluots are one example.)Photo by Claudia AlexanderApricots are high in beta carotene, calcium, iron and vitamin A, and they are touted as a beneficial food for eye health.The word apricot comes from Latin and Arabic, apricot meaning “early-ripe,” as in an early-ripened peach. Interestingly, apricot has the same root as the word precocious, which we used to describe children who seem to be wise beyond their years.The Chinese are said to have been the first to cultivate apricots more than 4,000 years ago, although Alexander the Great gets the credit for introducing them to Europe and beyond. Today Iran and Turkey are the major producers of apricots; in the United States, they are mostly grown in California, but because they are highly perishable most of the harvest is dried and cann...

Main suspect in 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway arrives in US from Peru to face charges

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

By KIMBERLY CHANDLER, REGINA GARCIA CANO and FRANKLIN BRICEÑO (Associated Press)BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, arrived in the United States on Thursday to face charges that he attempted to extort money from the missing woman’s mother. An FBI-operated plane carrying van der Sloot landed at Birmingham’s Shuttlesworth Airport just before 2:30 p.m. and the suspect was escorted down the steps into a black SUV, which was to take him to a federal courthouse for a hearing.Van der Sloot was extradited to the United States from Peru where he has been serving a 28-year sentence for the slaying of a Peruvian woman. He is wanted in the U.S. on one count each of extortion and wire fraud — the only charges to have ever linked the Dutch citizen to Holloway’s disappearance on the Caribbean island of Aruba. He was handed over in Peru to U.S. custody on Thursday, roughly a month after both...

Biden condemns wave of state legislation to restrict LGBTQ+ rights, says ‘these are our kids’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned a wave of “cruel” and “callous” state legislation curbing the rights, visibility and health care access of LGBTQ+ people, while causing the community to feel under attack for being who they are. “These are our kids. These are our neighbors. It’s cruel and it’s callous,” Biden said at a White House news conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “It matters a great deal how we treat everyone in this country.”Biden commented hours after the White House postponed a large Pride Month celebration with thousands of guests Thursday night on the South Lawn because of poor air quality from hazardous air flowing in from Canadian wildfires. He called on lawmakers to pass legislation protecting the civil rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. “Congress must pass, must pass the Equality Act and send it to my desk,” Biden...

Biden, Sunak vow to stick together on Ukraine, deepen cooperation on clean energy transition, AI

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

By AAMER MADHANI and SEUNG MIN KIM (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday reiterated their commitment to help Ukraine repel Russia’s ongoing invasion, while agreeing to step up cooperation on clean energy and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.The leaders said they came to agreement on a new “21st century partnership” that includes bolstering cooperation between the two countries on clean energy transition, development of emerging technologies, and protecting technology that is critical to national security.The leaders’ wide-ranging talks at the White House also covered China, economic security, a new critical minerals agreement and more. Biden and Sunak have already had four face-to-face meetings since Sunak became prime minister in October, but the talks in Washington offered the two leaders a chance for their most sustained interaction to date.“We will put our v...

SDPD officer shot; gunman at large

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A San Diego police officer was shot Thursday, and authorities were still searching for the shooter.Residents in the Chollas Creek were asked to shelter in place due to the police activity and to call 911 if the suspect is seen.According to SDPD, officers are searching for a Hispanic man who is approximately 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs approximately 150 pounds. He is bald and was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt.The shooting happened around 11:10 a.m. BMX star Pat Casey dies in crash at Ramona motocross track The suspect is considered "armed and dangerous," according to police.Officials were not immediately able to confirm what circumstances led to the shooting. The officer was transported to a nearby hospital. Their condition is not known at this time.Map of shelter in place area. (San Diego Police Department)SDPD's Homicide Unit will be investigating the incident. A large police presence was at the scene of the shooting, including a SWAT team and officials fr...

Ruff day in court: Supreme Court sides with Jack Daniel’s in dispute with makers of dog toy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday gave whiskey maker Jack Daniel’s reason to raise a glass, handing the company a new chance to win a trademark dispute with the makers of the Bad Spaniels dog toy.In announcing the decision for a unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan was in an unusually playful mood. At one point while reading a summary of the opinion in the courtroom Kagan held up the toy, which squeaks and mimics the whiskey’s signature bottle. Kagan said a lower court’s reasoning was flawed when it ruled for the makers of the rubber chew toy. The court did not decide whether the toy’s maker had violated trademark law but instead sent the case back for further review.“This case is about dog toys and whiskey, two items seldom appearing in the same sentence,” Kagan wrote in an opinion for the court. At another point, Kagan asked readers to “Recall what the bottle looks like (or better yet, retrieve a bottle from wherever you keep liquor; it’s prob...

‘Unmitigated gall’: Senator rejects minister’s call to pass Liberal guns bill quickly

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

OTTAWA — A battle appears to be brewing between senators and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, as he tries to see the Liberals’ controversial gun legislation passed swiftly into law. His office sent a letter to leaders of the different Senate groups and the chair of a committee, saying the minister is “eager” answer senators’ questions about Bill C-21.The letter comes with less than a month left before the House of Commons and Senate plan to break for summer, with the Liberals branding the legislation as a legislative priority. The bill seeks to turn a national handgun freeze into law, combat homemade guns and ban what it calls “assault-style” weapons. The government’s attempts to define which weapons are included have led to outrage from Conservatives, Indigenous communities and other firearms owners who say commonly used hunting rifles would fall under the proposed law — which the Liberals say was not the intent.Conservative Senate l...

How ‘The Flash,’ many years in the works and beset by turmoil, finally reached the finish line

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

There were many stressful things about making “The Flash” and getting it to theaters. It was shot in the middle of a pandemic. There was isolation from friends and family for the 138-day shoot. There were A-list schedules to coordinate for cameos. There was a star in Ezra Miller who, after it wrapped, made headlines for legal run-ins amid a mental health crisis. And behind it all, a studio undergoing leadership changes and rethinking the whole DC Comics strategy.But first, they had to figure out how to transport a two-ton Batmobile from Los Angeles to the U.K. amid a worldwide shortage of shipping containers in 2021.This was not just any Batmobile, mind you. It was one of the originals from the Tim Burton movies that was needed for the grand return of Michael Keaton’s caped crusader after 30 years — a major production that also involved building, from scratch, a life-size replica of the Batcave. Director Andy Muschietti and his sister, producer Barbara Muschietti, waited nervously f...

Rate hike prompted by higher risk of sticky inflation: BoC’s Beaudry

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

VICTORIA — Bank of Canada deputy governor Paul Beaudry says recent economic data suggests the risk of sticky inflation has gone up, prompting the central bank’s decision to raise interest rates on Wednesday.Beaudry delivered a speech to the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce Thursday, one day after the central bank announced it was raising its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, ending its pause on rate hikes and bringing the rate to 4.75 per cent.Beaudry said economic data released since April “tipped the balance” for the central bank.“We’ve had an accumulation of evidence – on many fronts, over time and across a whole set – that tell us that inflation seems to be more sticky and it’s going to be harder to get it down to that 2 per cent,” Beaudry said. “It’s that accumulation of evidence that brought us to our (rate) decision.”After raising interest rates eight consecutive times, the Bank of Canada announced in January it was ...

Fresh D.C. breeze eases atmospheric angst as Canadian smoke chokes U.S. capital

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:12 GMT

WASHINGTON — Tourists in the U.S. capital are taking Canada’s prodigious wildfire smoke in stride. Air quality alerts in Washington, D.C., reached “code purple” status today, one notch below the “maroon” levels in neighbouring Baltimore. But while the grey haze made making out the Washington Monument and the Capitol difficult from a distance, it was a different story on the ground. The usual crowds of visitors jammed the sidewalks along the National Mall, outside the White House and on the Capitol grounds, with only a relative handful opting for face masks. One German couple said their day turned out far nicer than what forecasters had suggested — although they’re now worried that flight delays may thwart their plans to get home. President Joe Biden says he has promised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau any additional help Canada might need to fight the wildfires ravaging Ontario and Quebec. The U.S. National Interagency Fire Center, which has already...