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UN migration agency sounds alarm over sea deaths as EU arrivals triple in three months

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

Three times as many people sought to reach the European Union across the Mediterranean in the first three months of 2023 compared to a year before, the bloc's border agency said, as the UN migration arm decried the deadliest first quarter since 2017.Overall, the EU agency Frontex reported 54,000 irregular crossings into the bloc via all routes in the first quarter of the year, up a fifth from 2022."The Central Mediterranean route accounts for more than half of all irregular border crossings into the EU," Frontex said in a statement, adding nearly 28,000 people had arrived that way from the start of the year until the end of March, three times as many as in the same period in 2022."Organized crime groups took advantage of better weather and political volatility in some countries of departure to try to smuggle as many migrants as possible across the Central Mediterranean from Tunisia and Libya."On Tuesday (11 April), Italy's right-wing government announced a state of emergency on immi...

How Armenia lost its sovereignty

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

Three separate, seemingly unrelated events occurred recently in the South Caucasus, showing that Armenia cannot coexist peacefully with its neighbours. Another military escalation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, with the latter using Iranian drones. The burning of the Azerbaijani flag at the opening ceremony of the European Weightlifting Championships in Yerevan.  Armenia has once again been caught helping Russia bypass sanctions. Three events, each of them outrageous on their own, but together they simply diagnose an extremely sad situation for Armenia, dangerous for its neighbours, but even more so for the Armenian state itself, and for Europe.On 11 April, Armenian military units for the first time used Iranian-made drones to attack the Azerbaijan Army. Apparently, the same drones used by the Russians in Ukraine. Following the incident, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made claims of treachery within the Armenian army. Pashinyan said that during the hostilities there ...

Salinas Valley growers say much of flood damage due to choked river

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

SALINAS – With the economic impact from the January and March flooding estimated at $1 billion, many growers are left feeling frustrated because they say much of the damage to their croplands could have been prevented.For most of the past century, growers could go into the Salinas River channel and clear out sandbars and vegetation in order to increase flow capacity and stabilize levees. During heavy rains like what was seen in January and March, the water charges down the river and then hits shallow depths because of built-up sediment, as well as large amounts of brush that impede the river’s capacity. The sediment and brush impediments have a damming effect. Water will flow along the path of least resistance, and when the channel is clogged, that path becomes cropland.The one saving grace this year, if there was one, is much of the cropland was fallow, waiting for the spring planting. Still, the Monterey County Farm Bureau estimates the amount of damage is somewhere north of 15,00...

Scientists fired from Marin’s Buck Institute win ruling on arbitration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

Two researchers who sued the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato over their termination have defeated an effort to force them into arbitration.A state appeals court ruled that Shiying Jin and Lei Lei never signed an arbitration agreement with the institute. The decision affirms an earlier decision by a judge in Marin County Superior Court.“Our clients are very pleased that the Court of Appeal vindicated their right to have their claims against the Buck Institute heard in a public forum and decided by jury of Marin County citizens rather than in a secret arbitration, behind closed doors, by a private judge,” said David Ratner, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.“The court affirmed the principle that no one can be compelled to arbitrate a claim unless they specifically agreed to have their dispute decided that way,” Ratner said.The Buck Institute hired Jin and Lei in 2019 to work for its Center for Female Reproductive Longevity and Equality. The center is studying how to preven...

Point Reyes hike shows nature’s constant transformations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

In the early aughties, we often took our two older children — toddlers back then — on the Bear Valley Trail in Point Reyes. On a couple of occasions when (nap)time allowed, we went as far as Arch Rock. That’s not possible today because in 2015, a few days after fissures were reported on top of the rock, it collapsed, killing one person and severely injuring another. The spur trail to that area is closed, and the coast has been recontoured afresh after the collapse.Seeing the remnants of the Point Reyes National Seashore’s Woodward Fire encapsulates nature’s resilience. Nature’s toolkit of fire, water and wind constantly remodels the lands we’re privileged to enjoy, as a recent visit to the Bear Valley area reminded us. This time, we were hiking with the same two children — now in their 20s — and a more recent addition who’s now a teen. Our journey began at the Bear Valley trailhead, but at Divide Meadow, we took a right onto the much-less-used Old Pine Trail and began a gentle ...

Miss Manners: Just because you can legally say it doesn’t mean you should

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

GENTLE READERS: An open society cannot function without etiquette.Yes, etiquette, which many people still dismiss as having to do only with fork-obsessed snobs.Miss Manners cannot help noticing that our basic forums for the open exchange of ideas are flailing: classrooms, lecture halls, town halls and legislatures. When everyone is spewing invectives and personal insults — and, in the worst cases, threats — nothing gets accomplished.A democracy requires people of different views to listen to one another so as to work out compromises to keep the society functioning. So we need to agree not to clog up the works with our emotional outbursts, however strongly felt.We need citizens to behave civilly.Related ArticlesAdvice | Miss Manners: People look when I drive down the street. How can I seem modest? Advice | Miss Manners: Is it OK to walk ahead of one’s wife if she’s carrying things? Advice | Miss Manners: She was the o...

Coachella 2023: A look inside the festival bars and hidden speakeasies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

Like many other festivals, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio has plenty of spots to grab a beer, get a shot of liquor or to sip on a cocktail.But Coachella steps it up a notch when it comes to beverages, with themed bars, hidden speakeasies and even lounges that curate their own live entertainment.“We’re looking for bars that are very mindful of how they’re mixing their drinks (and) what ingredients they’re mixing in their drinks,” said Lizzy Curnen, culinary director for Coachella. “It’s also fun to bring in something that has a theme, these places people can walk into and enjoy a drink and get away from the festival for a moment.”One of those places is Sonny’s by Attaboy, an ’80s themed Miami Vice bar that blasts retro tunes and serves bright-colored slushies with a kick. Sonny’s is a hidden bar that savvy festivalgoers can find by going on a bit of a scavenger hunt (hint: look for the beachball in the Indio Central Market, located near the Outdoor Theatre stag...

California is changing how it goes after illegal cannabis farms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

Fighting the illicit pot marketIt’s been five years since recreational cannabis sales began in California. Many have played by the rules, but the illegal growth and sale of the plant continue to undermine those obeying the laws.Since its establishment in 1983, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) has had more than 110 law enforcement agencies involved, making it one of the largest law enforcement task forces in the U.S.But things are changing.California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced CAMP seized nearly 1 million illegally cultivated cannabis plants and more than 200,000 pounds of illegally processed cannabis. Bonta also announced that the Department of Justice will be phasing out CAMP in favor of a year-round multi-agency program, Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis (EPIC).What is EPICRelated ArticlesMarijuana | Marijuana law presents new challenges for California bosses Marijuana | Former Michigan House speaker and head of marij...

‘It kind of worked,’ says California pilot who missed homes with hard landing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

Gnyandev Patel had less than a minute to come up with a plan.Patel had made the 13-minute flight from Chino Airport to Riverside Municipal Airport to have breakfast there with two friends on Sunday morning, April 16, and was en route with the pair to Brackett Field in La Verne after easing his single-engine Piper into the sky at 10:07 a.m.“The run-up was great, then the takeoff was good. I had plenty of power,” Patel said in a telephone interview.But then at about 1,000 feet, the engine sputtered and stopped.“What happens in 45 seconds, it’s hard to describe,” Patel said.Patel, a 58-year-old resident of Orange who is an internal medicine physician in Lakewood, said he has been flying since 2008 without incident. But now he would be tested.He said he didn’t have the power to make a turn back to the airport, so he scanned the horizon.“There’s always a place to land,” Patel said. “Whether it’s safe or not, you don’t know. If I tried to make the runway, I probably would have crashed int...

California police officer shoots, injures suspect possibly involved in 3 other shootings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

The Long Beach Police Department was investigating on Sunday, April 16 after an LBPD officer shot and injured a suspect who may have been involved in three  other shootings.According to Michael Pennino, LBPD Commander of Special Investigations, officers responded to a shooting at 3rd Street and Elm Avenue at around 4:44 p.m. and found that no one had been struck by gunfire. Dispatchers announced a description of the suspect, a male who fled the scene.Long Beach police investigate after a police shooting Sunday afternoon, April 16, in the area of Elm Avenue and Ocean Boulevard. (Photo by OC HAWK)Long Beach police investigate after a police shooting Sunday afternoon, April 16, in the area of Elm Avenue and Ocean Boulevard. (Photo by OC HAWK)Show Caption of ExpandAt 4:46 p.m., an officer on patrol near Ocean Boulevard and Elm Avenue heard shots, found the suspect, and shot him in the torso. The suspect was transported to a hospital by the Long Beach Fire Department and was expected to ...