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Otay Mesa East Port of Entry celebrates milestone

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- State Route 11 is nearly finished after 25 years in the making. The 2.4-mile connection from Otay Mesa to Mexico is just a quarter mile to the border. “Otay Mesa East Port of Entry we are creating is going to be a game changer for access between Mexico and the United States," said Toks Omishakin, the Secretary of Transportation for California. The new 12-lane freeway is being built to reinvent the way businesses can be done between the U.S. and Mexico."The San Ysidro Port of Entry, I think many people know it’s not a cargo base of entry, it often sees extensive wait and delay times. The existing Otay Mesa Port of Entry has a lot of cargo coming through it including passenger, same thing there significant wait times, a lot of trucks idling for hours,” Omishakin said. Amazon warehouses are already popping up in anticipation for the major shipping connections, and other major trading partners are also building up their presence in Mexico at the same time. PedWest to temp...

Bloodshed, fear, hunger, desperation: Palestinians try to survive war’s new chapter in southern Gaza

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The roads are so ravaged that the dead and wounded arrive by donkey cart. Desperate relatives rush bloodied and dust-covered people, many of them children, to the hospital.Naseem Hassan, a 48-year-old Palestinian medic in the Gaza Strip’s southern town of Khan Younis, said it had become impossible to walk through Nasser Hospital, with people spread out everywhere. Some patients, terrified or semiconscious, tugged at his sleeve when he squeezed through the halls. They groaned, slept and died on those bloodstained floors, he said.His skeletal staff at the 350-bed hospital has struggled to cope with an influx of over 1,000 patients. Without fresh bandages and gauze, Doctors Without Borders said, patients’ wounds have become seriously infected, in many cases septic. “When I think about it for a moment, I start to cry,” Hassan said by phone, struggling to be heard over the shouts of the doctors and nurses who remained. “It’s a good thing I’m too...

What is Bodhi Day? And when do Buddhists celebrate it?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

Buddhists around the world are celebrating Bodhi Day. Also called Buddha’s Enlightenment Day, it commemorates when Siddhartha Gautama attained awakening — or enlightenment — some 2,600 years ago, becoming the Buddha.When is Bodhi Day celebrated?Japan celebrates on Dec. 8, following the Western calendar.It varies elsewhere in East Asia, but generally, the holiday falls between the winter solstice and the lunar new year, said Scott Mitchell, dean of students at Berkeley, California-based Institute of Buddhist Studies.Southeast Asian and Tibetan Buddhists celebrate Buddha’s enlightenment in May and June respectively, said Judith Simmer-Brown, professor emeritus of contemplative and religious studies at Colorado’s Naropa University.How did Siddhartha Gautama achieve enlightenment?It happened after years of spiritual seeking and meditation, including gaining insights into the ultimate nature of existence: “In particular, the origins of human suffering, the cycle of birth and death ...

Rush’s Alex Lifeson joins Geddy Lee at Toronto book tour stop to share memories

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

TORONTO — Geddy Lee surprised a venue full of Rush fans on Thursday by marching out old friend and longtime band mate Alex Lifeson to help him traverse back through decades of shared memories.It was a rare opportunity to see the progressive rock legends in a semi-causal setting, sans guitars but armed with many punchlines, as the bassist closed out the North American leg of his “My Effin’ Life” book tour at Massey Hall in Toronto.“Don’t make me cry before I get started,” he pleaded with Lifeson shortly after the Rush guitarist was revealed as the other half of the two-hour fireside chat.Turns out, the evening was mostly bereft of tears but loaded with laughs and the occasional light barbs at one of his closest pals.All of it was catered to the thousands of Rush diehards in attendance, some of whom didn’t waste a moment before unleashing their adoration for their heroes.“I love you guys, man!” shouted one from the balcony, provoki...

AP PHOTOS: 2023 images show violence and vibrance in Latin America

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

A little girl perches on the shoulder of her mom, whose eyes fill with trepidation as she wades through waist-deep water in the jungle of the Darien Gap. Another woman sits beside railroad tracks as she and her husband head north through central Mexico. Covering her eyes with her fingers, the woman could be weeping. But the photograph shows her holding bright yellow flowers that her husband just picked.She’s laughing. Associated Press photographers documented violence and vibrance throughout Latin America in 2023, creating vivid portraits of ability to keep moving forward despite suffering. Gangs expanded their control of Haiti, terrorizing civilians. One image shows a police officer on the back of a motorcycle holding a man slumped after being shot in the head. Brazil’s newly sworn-in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stands atop the ramp of the presidential palace alongside an Amazonian leader wearing a feather headdress. Days later, the shattered windows of that palace frame a ...

Mild and windy Friday; chilly breezy Sunday.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

Mild air is brought in by westerly upper winds Friday into Saturday but cooler air comes in as the jet stream turns in from the northwest bringing high temps in the 30s SundayChanges in cold season weather and climate across the Lower 48The contiguous 48 U.S. states collectively recorded their 2nd lowest overall November snowfall of all the years since 1940.The analyses of Alaska-based climatologist, friend and colleague Dr. Brian Brettschneider (https://twitter.com/Climatologist49) are timely and revealing. It's the reason I never miss Brian's posts. Perfect examples are two of his posts yesterday which address changes in cold season weather and climate across the Lower 48.Brettschneider's analysis of November snowfall across the Lower 48 reveals this past month reveals the contiguous 48 U.S. states collectively recorded their 2nd lowest OVERALL NOVEMBER snowfall of all the years since 1940. It has snowed—but over much less territory and with reduced frequency than has been the cas...

Texas volleyball outlasts Tennessee 3-2 to keep repeat hopes alive

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Tennessee took Texas to the brink of defeat Thursday, but in the end, the Longhorns prevailed.Behind a 16-14 fifth-set victory, second-seeded Texas outlasted the third-seeded Volunteers 3-2 in the NCAA volleyball regional semifinals at Maples Pavilion on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California.Texas won the first set 25-19 but the Vols claimed the next two 25-20 and 25-23, and then had match point in the fourth set 24-23 until a 3-0 flurry gave the Longhorns a 26-24 win to even the match.Madisen Skinner had two of her match-high 26 kills to put the Longhorns up 25-24, and then setter Ella Swindle provided the set-winning kill to push the match to a fifth set.Jenna Wenaas had 11 kills while Asjia O'Neal had 10 to go with eight blocks. Texas hit .262 with 22 attacking errors for the match while the Vols hit .235 with 30 errors.Swindle had 40 assists and Emma Halter had 20 digs for the Longhorns. Texas (25-4) will play either fifth-seeded Arizona State o...

Beyond the Silk Road: Uzbekistan's modern resurgence and emergence as a strategic partner for the EU

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

Central Asia's historical significance stems from its strategic location at the crossroads of East and West, nestled between empires and bordering areas of conflict and insecurity (such as Afghanistan, China's Xinjiang province, and Iran). While the region was largely ignored throughout the Cold War, its vitality and importance were quickly rediscovered (NATO.int) (Makarenko, 2010). Spechler & Spechler (2009) write that "Uzbekistan has achieved independence and stability by exploiting its natural resources through a strategy of ‘staple globalism' and by balancing the great powers against each other,” (Arabnews.com)1, writes Derya Soysal, historian and environmental expert with a focus on Central Asia history and geography.Uzbekistan, a former republic of the Soviet Union, gained independence on August 31, 1991. The first president was Islam Karimov but in 2016 Shavkat Mirzoyev came to power. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the former Prime Minister, assumed office and decisively won the pre...

Knife-wielding woman pushes her way into SoCal family's apartment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

A family in Riverside County thought they would have to fight for their lives after a woman armed with a knife forced her way into their apartment earlier this week.  The incident unfolded just before 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 6, in the 700 block of Gianni Drive in Corona, according to officials at the Corona Police Department.  “I thought I was going to die,” Lauren Luna told KTLA’s Rick Chambers. “I thought that woman was going to murder our entire family.”  The suspect, described as a Black female adult, approximately 20-30 years old, with a large build who was wearing a black shirt and dark pants, knocked on the Luna’s front door. When Lauren opened the door, she could see the knife the woman was carrying.  “I looked down, I saw a knife in her hand that looked like she had been playing with,” Lauren explained. “And she started asking for someone named Levon. She said, ‘Where’s Levon? I know he’s here.’” Lauren told the intruder that no one by that name lived in the ...

Mail carrier robbed of postal keys in Palo Alto

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:45:00 GMT

PALO ALTO – Two men robbed a United States Postal Service mail carrier of her postal keys and cell phone Wednesday afternoon in Palo Alto, police said.The victim called police just before 2 p.m. to report she had been robbed roughly 10 minutes earlier in the 3400 block of Alma Street, the Palo Alto Police Department said in a news release. Officers searched the area but did not find the suspects.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Armed suspect linked to vehicle burglary spree in Morgan Hill Crime and Public Safety | San Jose daycare operators arraigned in child pool drownings Crime and Public Safety | Here’s how San Jose plans to nab more catalytic converter thieves Crime and Public Safety | San Jose doctor in spicy ‘Dragon Balls’ lawsuit against Los Gatos restaurant claims the truth has come out Crime and Public Safety | Man arrested in connection with two assaults, hit-and-run in Mo...