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AP PHOTOS: Pastoralists in Senegal raise livestock much as their ancestors did centuries ago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

ANNDIARE, Senegal (AP) — The planet is changing, but pastoralists here in the Sahel region of Africa are in many ways still raising livestock the way their ancestors did centuries ago.And countries like Senegal depend upon their success to feed their growing populations: The United Nations estimates that 65% of meat and 70% of milk sold at local markets in the region come from pastoralists.As the Sahara Desert encroaches ever southward, the amount of arable land for animals to graze decreases each year. That’s putting extra pressure on pastoralist herders. Among them is Amadou Altine Ndiaye, who earlier this year made a 170-kilometer (106-mile) trek in search of more verdant land for animals.“One of the main difficulties related to pastoralism is the lack of grazing,” Ndiaye said. “There would be no problem if there is grazing and water, but it is during this dry season that it is most difficult.”With decreasing rainfall and deforestation in the region, Ndiaye said the terrain is no...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts as hopes for a just-right economy offset profit worries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — More signals of a slowing economy are raising Wall Street’s hopes for a “Goldilocks” outcome that’s just right for markets. That has stocks holding onto most of their strong gains for November so far, despite some unnerving profit forecasts from Walmart and Cisco Systems.The S&P 500 was edging up by 0.1% in morning trading and remains comfortably on its way to a third straight winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 50 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.Stocks have leaped this week, putting November on track to be their best in a year, on hopes that inflation is cooling enough to convince the Federal Reserve to halt its hikes to interest rates following its fusillade since last year. That’s in turn pushed expectations up for when the Fed could begin cutting rates, which can act like steroids for financial markets, in the summer.Several more reports on Thursday indicated the economy is s...

AP PHOTOS: The Brazilian Amazon’s vast array of people and cultures

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

Renowned for its stunning biodiversity, the Amazon rainforest region is also home to a vast array of people and cultures.“People usually think that the environment doesn’t contain and include people, but it does,” said soil scientist Judson Ferreira Valentim, who lives in Brazil’s Acre state. “There are many different Amazonias and many different Amazonians.”From small villages of thatched homes to the skyline of Belém rising above mist on the river – a view sometimes called “Manhattan of the Amazon” – Brazil’s slice of the Amazon is home to 28 million people.Many communities are linked by water. Along the Tocantins River, a tributary of the Amazon, yellow school-boats pick up children from wooden homes on stilts, and fisherman throw scraps of the day’s catch to river dolphins that frequent the docks. Families linger beside river beaches at sunset, the water a relief from the heat of the day.Other communities are linked by rural roads, which often wash out during heavy rains, or new...

UPDATE: Shooting at El Paso County Courthouse, avoid the area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

UPDATE: THURSDAY 11/16/2023 10:28 a.m.(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) said it is responding to a shooting at the El Paso County Courthouse. The message was sent out by CSPD on X (formally known as Twitter) at 10:24 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16. "This is not an active shooter situation. There is no threat to the community," said CSPD.According to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office (EPSO), operations at the El Paso County Courthouse are closed for the day. "Citizens currently in the courthouse will be released from the south entrance to protect CSPD's scene," wrote EPSO.The Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) is also on the scene assisting CSPD. A FOX21 viewer sent us a video from the scene, which can be viewed below. Video Courtesy: FOX21 Viewer Jennifer H.ORIGINAL STORY: Police activity near El Paso County CourthouseTHURSDAY 11/16/2023 10:23 a.m.Police activity near the El Paso County Courthouse has closed several s...

Uber launching shared rides in Denver to help save riders money

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Uber is now offering riders a chance to save on their service if they share the trip with another rider along the way. The service is being launched in several cities, including Denver.Before the pandemic, Uber riders could select the shared ride option. Now, the company is returning the fan favorite. Denver homes are 120% more expensive than 10 years ago UberX Share is the reimagined shared ride offer that has launched in 34 cities across the U.S. Starting Wednesday, the feature is now available in Denver. Previously, the company offered the share option known as Uber Pool, which has now been replaced with UberX Share. What is UberX Share?According to the company, UberX Share allows riders to save up to 20% when they are matched with another rider on their route.Uber is launching UberX Share in Denver, which allows riders to save money on their trip by picking up another passenger along their route. (Uber)This means that the app will try to match your car with an...

Mother arrested after admitting to planning and killing of 8-year-old son, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

A woman has been arrested after confessing to meticulously planning and executing the strangulation of her 8-year-old son, according to police.Officials said 36-year-old woman Shaneka Ann Mckinzie transported her unconscious son to Hialeah Hospital on Tuesday evening, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed strangulation as the cause of death.Police stated that Mckinzie admitted to investigators that she had plotted to kill her child two days prior. She described using a tablecloth to suffocate and strangle him while he slept in the rear passenger seat of her vehicle until he became unresponsive.Shortly after, Mckinzie drove around the county running errands with her lifeless child’s body in the vehicle, police reported.She has since been charged with first-degree murder.

Broward County Public Schools superintendent says classes to be fully open Friday following heavy rainfall, flooding

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Peter Licata on Thursday said that schools will be fully open on Friday after inclement weather caused colleges and schools in Broward to close in an abundance of caution. The relentless rainfall that battered South Florida all day Wednesday led Broward County Public Schools and Broward College to cancel classes on Thursday.“Tomorrow we are expected to be open fully,” Licata said. “We just got off the meeting with the regionals and the cabinet members. We are going to be fully open.”https://twitter.com/browardschools/status/1725200581478740121?s=20During a press conference, Licata said that some schools in the county remain flooded. Those schools include the following: C. Robert Markham Elementary School, located at 1501 NW 15th AvePompano Beach Middle, located 310 NE 6th St.North Side Elementary, located 120 NE 11th St.Piper High School, located 8000 NW 44th St.Northeast High School, lo...

Crews work to clear standing water on runway at FLL; Edgewood neighborhood experiences flooding

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

As heavy rainfall affected parts of Broward County Wednesday night, crews at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport worked to clear standing water that was on the runway.7Skyforce hovered over the scene Thursday morning as crews used trucks in an attempt to remove water that encroached Runway 10 on the north side of the airport. Several support teams were also at the scene as they tried to keep the runways clear so that operations could continue. Despite the flooded runway, the airport remained opened. Nearby, at the Edgewood neighborhood in east Fort Lauderdale, streets were flooded. For residents, the scene was a familiar one. Back in April, Broward County experienced historical flooding, which caused many people to lose everything. 7Skyforce hovered over the neighborhood, on 32nd Place and 17th Avenue, where the standing water looked like a lake.Due to Wednesday night’s heavy rainfall, residents called emergency management to let them know that water was creeping i...

Lab-grown meat threatens Italian culture — Meloni minister

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

ROME — Novel foods such as laboratory-produced “meats” risk undermining Italian culture, identity and civilization, Italy’s minister for food sovereignty and agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, warned on Thursday. Speaking to POLITICO as the Italian parliament passed Europe’s first legislation banning lab-cultured meat, Lollobrigida said the measures were about “defending work, environment, culture and identity — which are rooted in food quality,” and that they were intended to “defend our civilization against a model driven by delocalization and long supply chains.”The right-wing government led by Giorgia Meloni has seized on novel foods to open a new front in the culture wars. For Lollobrigida, cultured meat production is an existential threat to traditional meat farming and to a rural way of life lived in harmony with the land: “If you produce a food that has no relationship to man, land, work, you can move production to a place with lower taxes and less environmental ...

‘Jaws’ movie poster illustrator Roger Karl Kastel has died at 92

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:21 GMT

(CNN) — An iconic artist with over 1,000 illustrations – including movie posters for the movies “Jaws” and “The Empire Strikes Back” – Roger Karl Kastel has died at age 92 in Worcester County, Massachusetts, according to his website.His wife, Grace Kastel, told the Hollywood Reporter that he died of kidney and heart failure at a hospice facility.According to Kastel’s website, “Roger got his first paying art job at the age of 15 doing industrial cartoons. He sold his first illustration in the early 1960s and illustrated paperback book covers and movie posters over the next forty years.”“Roger’s painting of Jaws is included in the books, The Illustrator in American (sic) and 200 Years of American Illustration,” the website reads. “While Jaws and The Empire Strikes Back may be the most widely recognized of his work, Roger received multiple awards for various other illustrations and fine art.”“Jaws” was a 1975 blockbuster thriller about a great white s...