Uncategorized
Raúl Castro turns 95 as Cuba celebrates enigmatic figure
Raúl Castro turned 95 on Wednesday, a landmark birthday for a man still helping lead one of the last communist countries in the world. His name and face became synonymous with the 1959 revolution led by his brother, Fidel Castro. Decades after the triumphant revolution, Fidel Castro stepped down, and Raúl Castro served as Cuba’s […]
Trump confirms he called Netanyahu ‘crazy,’ as he says Israel is complicating peace talks with Iran
BEIRUT | President Donald Trump in an interview released Wednesday confirmed an earlier report that he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy” in a Monday phone call, saying he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fighting of Hezbollah in Lebanon was holding back peace talks with Iran. But even as the U.S. […]
Australian judges weigh Indigenous activist’s bid to prosecute King Charles for genocide
MELBOURNE, Australia | Three Australian appeals court judges reserved their decision Wednesday on whether an activist can prosecute Britain’s King Charles III for alleged genocide of Australia’s Indigenous people. Uncle Robbie Thorpe, 68, turned to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Victoria state after two lower courts rejected his bid to launch a private prosecution […]
Trump’s Education Department is backing away from addressing civil rights for Black students
WASHINGTON | For generations, the federal government enforced civil rights laws with an eye toward remedying historic, systemic discrimination against Black people and other people of color. The Justice Department pressed schools to desegregate. The Education Department worked to promote equal opportunity and held schools accountable for racial bias. But under the Trump administration, efforts […]
Feeling a little bleak about the world? There’s a film festival for that
Bleak Week, a film festival celebrating “cinema of despair,” started as a contrarian response to cries for feel good movies after the pandemic. Programmers at the American Cinematheque, a non-profit arts group that curates for several historic theaters in Los Angeles, heard the cries for comedies and thought, well, what if they did the opposite? […]
Tens of thousands are making annual peony pilgrimage to University of Michigan’s garden
ANN ARBOR, Mich. | Nicole Calvin has been visiting the University of Michigan campus annually over the past 16 years to catch a peek — and a whiff — of the school’s sizable peony collection. She even came twice this year. “I just love walking through the gardens,” Calvin said Monday. “I love that they […]
YouTuber box office boom: ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’ draw Gen Z to theaters
Young audiences turned out in droves to movie theaters around the country this weekend. It wasn’t for the big budget “Star Wars” movie, “The Mandalorian and Grogu, ” which fell sharply in its second weekend, however, but for a small budget horror from a 20-year-old first-time filmmaker that began on the internet. “Backrooms,” released by […]
A mop, a broom and a calmer mind. Why some find mental health benefits in everyday tasks
NEW YORK | Amid spring cleaning season, it can be easy to dismiss housework as drudgery, so dreaded or anxiety-inducing that it’s best delegated to others if at all possible. But experts from Zen monks to psychologists say there are mental health benefits to be found in such manual chores as sweeping, mopping and clearing […]
How do you make vampires fly effortlessly on Broadway? Strong wires, harnesses and lots of practice
NEW YORK | For their third Broadway show, husband-and-wife choreographing team Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher “Cree” Grant faced a high-stakes challenge: They were asked to make vampires fly. Not just fly, but also fight and hang upside-down, 60 feet off the stage. Not just that but also make it effortless, like gliding. And, of course, […]
Flower gardens endure hot, dry summers better if you choose these plants
When summer temperatures soar, we humans can take shelter indoors. Our garden plants, however, have no such respite. Some may droop, wilt or get crispy, while others may simply refuse to bloom. Although there’s not much we can do to counter extreme weather, we can equip our gardens to stand up to it better by […]