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Dortmund gaining confidence in Bundesliga after Champions League success. But Leverkusen is up next

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Dortmund’s success in the Champions League is giving it confidence it can recover its faltering Bundesliga campaign.Dortmund defeated AC Milan 3-1 away on Tuesday to reach the knockout stage of Europe’s premier competition despite a poor start to what many regarded as the toughest group with big-spending Paris Saint Germain and Newcastle.The German team lost 2-0 at PSG in its first game, followed up with a scoreless draw with Milan at home, but recovered with back-to-back wins over Newcastle before Tuesday’s win in Italy.“It’s a real statement to qualify from the group already in the fifth match-day,” Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said. “Not many believed we could do it.”Part of the reason for that is Dortmund’s patchy form in the Bundesliga so far this season. The team ended a run of three games without a win in the league last weekend with a 4-2 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach, but had looked set for more disappointment after finding itself...

Baking Connections: How DC is fueling the craze for pastries with an Asian twist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

This is part one of “Baking Connections,” a series on three local bakers and the popular baked goods with Asian flavors they are bringing to the D.C. region.D.C.-area bakers are expanding the palates of pastry lovers by introducing them to baked goods infused with Asian flavors — from pandan coconut doughnuts and black sesame mochi rolls to matcha almond croissants.This bakery niche became incredibly popular nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been gaining steam in the D.C. area since. WTOP spoke to three bakers who have concocted modern twists on classic recipes and, along the way, built on their unique pastry education to take Asian-inspired baking in completely different directions.The ArtistAt Rose Ave Bakery in Woodley Park, the pastries are artfully displayed behind a glass counter: from the Spam musubi croissants beautifully drizzled with unagi sauce, stuffed with caramelized spam and sprinkled with furikake, to the perfectly sugar-dusted doughnuts with ever-chang...

Tribute band recreates the Beatles' 1964 Red Rocks show

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — The Beatles' first American tour rocked the U.S. in 1964. Now, a band is recreating the experience, which is just about the closest you can get to seeing the iconic Beatles performance at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. 1964 The Tribute is a band that pays homage to the Beatles. Using 38 years of research, they captured the essence of the Beatles in the early 60s with period instruments, vintage costumes, hairstyles, mannerisms and voices. They play songs from the pre-Sgt. Pepper era. Full list of concerts at Red Rocks in 2024, so far The band is performing at Red Rocks because it's one of only four original concert sites still remaining from the Beatles' tour in 1964. During their first American tour, their Red Rocks show wasn't a huge hit. This was the only concert on that tour that didn’t sell out.Only three-fourths of the seats sold. Tickets went for $6.60, according to the amphitheater. 10 of the most notable performances at Red Rocks Now, you get a chance ...

Colorado Springs woman has 68 pet tarantulas and counting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KXRM) — For many families, a bark or meow greets them at the front door. For one household in Colorado Springs, there are multiple pets inside that are much quieter, but will immediately get your attention.Liz Lopez was determined to conquer her arachnophobia and began to research all things about tarantulas. Soon after, she was confident enough to confront her phobia and adopt her very first pet tarantula. "I bought my very first tarantula back in August of 2020 in my local reptile shop down at Scales 'N Tails," Lopez said. "She is an Arizona Blond Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes) that I still own today." Biden visits Boebert’s district to reject Republican criticism of green policies Research brought reassurance, and that first spider would start the pack and pave the way for many more. "I wanted to overcome my fear. Of course I did research, plenty of research, first before buying one," Lopez explained.Liz Lopez got her first spider to help her get...

EU ambitions are ‘glue’ holding Balkans together, North Macedonia says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

BRUSSELS — North Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani called on the EU to move faster on integrating the six Western Balkans countries — or risk a return of ethnic conflicts to the region.“North Macedonia is multi-ethnic, multicultural … The only narrative that has subordinated these conflicting narratives and has become a glue for all these narratives is the European Union,” Osmani told POLITICO during a visit to Brussels. “So you have all groups, social, cultural, religious, ethnic, all share the same ideal: the EU,” the foreign minister added.All six countries from the region — North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo — have applied for EU membership, with varying degrees of progress.All countries but Kosovo have been granted candidate status but, in most cases, negotiations to join have been stalled for years.Brussels opened accession negotiations with North Macedonia in July 2022, and the country is currently g...

Matt Hancock at the COVID inquiry: All the cringe-inducing moments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

LONDON — It’s Matt Hancock’s world, we just live in it. Britain’s controversial former health secretary has been rolling with the punches Thursday as he faces a two-day grilling by the official inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic.Hancock — who quit in scandal after a coronavirus rule-breaching affair with an aide was exposed — is a divisive figure in Westminster, and has rarely been out of the headlines since leaving government. An unauthorized reality TV stint saw him kicked out of the Tory party, while the leak of thousands of his private WhatsApps earlier this year shed an unflattering light on the government he served in.He’s also taken heavy flak for his response to the virus in the inquiry — set up to learn lessons — so far. Now he gets to put his side across.Greatest hits include the ex-No.10 Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings calling Hancock a “proven liar;” former Deputy Cabinet Secretary Helen MacNamara claiming Hancock would say things in meetings that “we’d discover ...

Emmanuel Macron to head to Qatar after COP28

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Qatar on Saturday after meeting regional leaders at the COP28 in Dubai, with discussions expected to focus on the hostages held by Hamas, according to an Elysée Palace official.The French president will also hold talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the sidelines of the climate summit in Dubai.Macron’s visit to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Jordan last month was marred by controversy when the president suggested creating a international coalition to defeat Hamas, an idea which rang alarm bells in Arab nations.Macron will be flying to the United Arab Emirates Thursday to meet regional leaders before kicking off his COP28 program Friday afternoon.In Doha, the French president is expected to press Qatar to seek the liberation of more hostages who are being held by Hamas since the October 7 attacks on Israel. Qatar has been playing a mediation ...

UK energy chief reveals Cabinet split over Bidenomics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

LONDON — U.K. Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho has signaled a Cabinet split over Bidenomics, after praising the impact of a massive U.S. green subsidy scheme. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into subsidies and tax breaks for U.S. clean energy firms, has been widely criticized by senior U.K. government figures including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who branded it “protectionist.”But Coutinho, a close ally of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, told an event on Wednesday night that moves in the U.S. and EU to increase green subsidies are a “welcome thing,” with the potential to drive down prices in the U.K. and elsewhere.Badenoch slammed the IRA in February, arguing it was likely to “create problems with the supply chain for everybody else.” “I don’t think it is a good idea,” she said. The minister stands by her comments, an aide said.“One of the things that we have seen over the past year i...

Harvard and NYC Education Department face federal probe over allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

(CNN) — The US Department of Education added Harvard University and the New York City Department of Education to a growing list of universities and school districts that are being investigated over alleged incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia following the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel.The announcement comes just days before Harvard president Claudine Gay is scheduled to testify before Congress at a hearing on antisemitism on campus, along with MIT president Sally Kornbluth and University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill.The hearing, which is set for Tuesday, will be held by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.There have been hundreds of protests and counterprotests on these campuses, with some of them turning violent. The faces and names of some students allegedly linked to anti-Israel statements were displayed on mobile billboards last month near the Harvard campus.The Office of Civil Rights announced ear...

US Coast Guard leaders long concealed a critical report about racism, hazing and sexual misconduct

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

(CNN) — For nearly a decade, US Coast Guard leaders have concealed a critical report that exposed racism, hazing, discrimination and sexual assault across the agency.The 2015 “Culture of Respect” study, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, documented how employees complained of a “boys will be boys” and “I got through it so can you” culture. Many said they feared they would be ostracized and retaliated against for reporting abuse and that those who did come forward often had their complaints dismissed by supervisors.Some of the report’s core findings mirrored those of another secret investigation into rapes and sexual assaults at the Coast Guard’s academy. The existence of that probe, which was dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor and completed in 2019, was revealed by CNN earlier this year. That investigation found that serious misconduct had been ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials, allowing alleged offenders to rise within the ranks of the Coast G...