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Northern Va. man from Morocco plans to build temporary villages to help earthquake survivors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

Last week’s deadly earthquake in Morocco claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people and left many homeless and displaced. The images of the devastation coming out of the country are motivating members of the D.C. area’s Moroccan community to help, and that includes an ambitious plan to build temporary villages coming from a Lorton, Virginia, man.“You can’t help it but start feeling guilty that you’re … privileged over here,” said Youssef Zeroual, who left Morocco for the United States in 1995.Zeroual said his mother was on the phone with friends in Morocco when the ground started shaking on Friday. Since then, he’s heard stories from friends who survived and spent nights on the streets, worried about aftershocks from the quake.Looking for a way to help, Zeroual, who is a realtor, began working with others in the Moroccan community to develop a plan. The group’s aim is to send building supplies to the region in order to help construct temporary villages.Imple...

Un juez federal vuelve a declarar ilegal DACA, el programa de la era Obama que protege a los “dreamers” de la deportación

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

(CNN)– Un juez federal de Texas dictaminó este miércoles que una regulación destinada a preservar el programa de Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA, por sus siglas en inglés), es ilegal, en lo que representa un duro golpe para el Gobierno de Biden.El año pasado, el Gobierno trató de mantener el programa, que protege de la deportación a los inmigrantes indocumentados que llegaron a EE.UU. cuando eran niños. Con ese objetivo,  publicó una norma para codificar la política en un reglamento federal.Sin embargo, este miércoles, el juez Andrew Hanen, del Distrito Sur de Texas, sostuvo que DACA es ilegal y argumentó que la norma viola la Ley de Procedimiento Administrativo, la cual rige cómo las agencias hacen los reglamentos.La orden no afecta a los actuales beneficiarios del programa.“Para ser claros, ni esta orden ni la orden judicial complementaria que la acompaña requieren que el (Departamento de Seguridad Nacional) o el Departamento de Justicia tomen cu...

Cost of living revealed as major concern in Latino Policy Agenda

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — The third annual Colorado Latino Policy Agenda was released Wednesday. A coalition of advocacy groups took the opinions of 1,600 Coloradans across the state to find out the top issues facing the Latino community.The survey touched on a variety of topics, but the key takeaway from members of the Latino community is that Colorado is becoming way too expensive for people to live here. Will Prop HH eliminate TABOR refunds? Scenario ‘likely’ over time “This year’s data shows 61% of our community has less than $1,000 in savings. If something were to happen, $1,000 is not enough to pay rent, and they would be without a home with just one paycheck," said Mar Galvez Seminario. 1,600 Latino Coloradans polledGalvez Seminario is a legislative and research coordinator at the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, or COLOR for short. The Colorado Legislative Policy Agenda released a poll to 1,600 Latino Coloradans, an initiative from COLOR and Voce...

Former Miami Beach officer accused in road rage incident attacked man in Sawgrass Mills parking lot, internal affairs report says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

A newly retired Miami Beach Police officer who was arrested for road rage was also involved in a chaotic armed confrontation in the parking lot of a local shopping center, according to his internal affairs file.Frank Celestre has got a pending case in what investigators described as a road rage encounter along Interstate 75 in Miramar back in May.According to his arrest report, the former police officer committed aggravated assault with a deadly weapon “by pointing the firearm at the victim during a road rage incident.”On Aug. 23, Celestre faced a judge after his arrest and was given a $20,000 bond.In a statement from Miami Beach Police, a department spokesperson wrote, “The involved officer has retired/separated from the city as of August 31, 2023.”7News then requested and received Celestre’s internal affairs file, and it reveals more gun-related trouble in Broward County.The internal affairs report states that back in 2019, at Sawgrass Mills Mall in ...

Contractor that homeowner hired to install solar panels doesn’t finish the job

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

She hired a company to install a new roof and solar panels, and the nightmares began. Not one, two nightmares — and that’s when she called Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser to find out what to do when a contractor doesn’t finish the job.After walking into Maribel’s home, you might think it looks like something from a TV show, because it does.Maribel Medina: “I like to watch HGTV. I’m an HGTV addict. I watch what they do, and I said, ‘OK, I’ll try that,’ and trust me, there are many failed projects.”Maribel is being humble. She usually succeeds.Maribel Medina: “The noodle board, yeah, I made that. I made this. Oh, this is a post here.”She made this. A company she hired made a mess.Maribel Medina: “When I went ahead and signed the contract, I had absolutely no reason to believe that it wouldn’t come to fruition.”Maribel had signed a contract with a solar company to not only install solar panels,...

WTF is Christine Lagarde up to?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

The ECB president has sounded the death knell for the dollar and predicted the end of the world economy as we know it — does she know something we don’t?By BEN MUNSTERIllustrations by Evangeline Gallagher for POLITICODeep in the Wyoming wilderness last month, Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, stood before a large audience of elite central bankers and casually predicted the collapse of the international financial order. Resplendent in red and black, she resembled a humanoid Lindor chocolate truffle — and though her warning was diluted by the usual impenetrable jargon, the subtext was sufficiently clear and dramatic. “There are plausible scenarios where we could see a fundamental change in the nature of global economic interactions,” Lagarde announced drily to the crowd, which was gathered for the annual central banker confab in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The assumptions that have long informed the technocratic management of the global order were breaking dow...

To clinch peace in the Caucasus, pay attention to both sides

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

Hikmet Hajiyev is foreign affairs adviser to the president of Azerbaijan.When the United States and its Western allies are so distracted by the war in Ukraine, it poses a challenge for those of us elsewhere in the world. How do we ensure the conflicts we face, which are just as urgent and real, are fully understood in the Western corridors of power and the columns of newspapers?Take the situation in Karabakh.This region of Azerbaijan was occupied by neighboring Armenia for 30 years. And after a brutal war in the early 1990s, which saw close to 1 million Azerbaijanis ethnically cleansed from their land, occupying Armenian forces mined thousands of square miles of this territory, save for a small holdout at its center. There, the remaining community of ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan were connected to Armenia via a single land route — the Lachin road.This gray zone of lawlessness and land mines existed illegally — and unchallenged — until three years ago, when Azerbaijan took much of t...

Suspected Chinese spy met UK minister for discussions on key legislation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

LONDON — A suspected Chinese spy met with a U.K. government minister to discuss amendments to a key piece of legislation related to China, three people with knowledge of the meeting told POLITICO. The man in his 20s — who was arrested in March on suspicion of espionage, but has not been charged and is protesting his innocence — worked as a parliamentary researcher in the House of Commons. He accompanied a Tory MP to meet Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart earlier this year to discuss the MP’s proposed amendments to the Procurement Bill, which were designed to toughen up U.K. policy toward China.The Procurement Bill introduces new rules for firms competing for government contacts, and strengthens ministers’ powers to exclude companies that are deemed a national security risk. A Whitehall official said no sensitive government information was discussed at the meeting, which took place in parliament and lasted less than an hour.The researcher has not been charge...

Boris Johnson warns Donald Trump not to drop US support for Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

LONDON — Boris Johnson issued a direct plea to Donald Trump not to ditch U.S. support for Ukraine if he becomes president in 2024.Writing for the Spectator after a trip to Ukraine, the former British prime minister — who has lobbied hard for wavering Republicans to keep the faith in the war-torn country — warned Russian triumph could boomerang on any Trump administration.“A Putin victory would be a catastrophe for the West and for American leadership, and I don’t believe it is an outcome that could easily be endured by a U.S. president, let alone one who wanted to Make America Great Again,” Johnson wrote in the Spectator.Johnson said that should Ukraine succeed in repelling Russia, “then the reverse is true.” “Exactly the opposite message will be sent around the world: that we do care about democracy, that we are willing to back our principles, and that the West still has the guts to stick at something until we succeed,” he added.Johnson’s c...

Searchers race to recover bodies in Libyan city where 5,100 died in flooding after 2 dams collapsed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:50 GMT

By SAMY MAGDY and YOUSEF MURAD (Associated Press)DERNA, Libya (AP) — Search teams combed streets, wrecked buildings and even the sea Wednesday to look for bodies in a coastal Libyan city where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed at least 5,100 people.The Mediterranean city of Derna has struggled to get help after Sunday night’s deluge washed away most access roads. Aid workers who managed to reach the city described devastation in its center, with thousands still missing and tens of thousands left homeless.“Bodies are everywhere, inside houses, in the streets, at sea. Wherever you go, you find dead men, women, and children,” Emad al-Falah, an aid worker from Benghazi, said over the phone from Derna. “Entire families were lost.”Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding Sunday in many towns of eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. Two dams in the mountains above the city collapsed, sending floodwaters r...