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Opinion: Why I, a doctor constantly confronting death, love Christmas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

Over many years as an oncologist, I have grown wary of anyone or anything that is too blithely cheery. Cancer remains too cruel a reaper, too wanton a destroyer, too brazen a thief of dreams for me to see almost anything with unbridled optimism. It’s as if I sense a coming catastrophe around every innocuous corner because cancer leaves no group untouched: the young and the old, the healthy and the ill, the fit and the faint.And perhaps that explains why I love Christmas.From popular depictions — whether secular or, too often, religious — one would believe that Christmas featured a blissful new mother cradling a dewy-eyed newborn, as if all the participants in the nativity came straight over from the greenroom, doffed their slippers and robes, and sat down for a perfectly manicured photo-shoot.But, of course, logic, history and the biblical record tell us nothing could be farther from the truth.Called from Nazareth to report for the census in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph wo...

Review: ‘All of Us Strangers’ is devastating and compelling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

By Lindsey Bahr | Associated PressAndrew Scott plays a writer trying to write something about his dead parents in Andrew Haigh’s transcendent drama “All of Us Strangers.” His parents’ death is not recent – they died when he was 12. Not that one ever really gets over that kind of loss. But we meet Adam at a moment where he is not just thinking about them but visiting them in his childhood home, where they are preparing for Christmas. Just in case it wasn’t sad enough already.“All of Us Strangers” will probably make you cry. Maybe even weep. And while there are some twists along the way, it never feels emotionally manipulative or unearned. In fact, it’s a rather authentic and cathartic experience — a deeply felt journey of acceptance, love and forgiveness.The most calculated flex of the movie is actually just in casting Scott, also known as “the hot priest” from “Fleabag,” opposite Paul Mescal, “the hot guy ...

The top prize in Spain’s ‘El Gordo’ Christmas lottery goes to tickets with the number 88008

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Lucky holders of 20-euro tickets with the number 88008 will be celebrating Friday. They have each won 400,000 euros ($440,000), or some 325,000 euros after tax, in the top prize of Spain’s huge Christmas lottery.People across the country tuned into the television, radio and internet from early morning as children from Madrid’s San Ildefonso school begin singing out the prize-winning numbers in the lottery known as “EL Gordo” (the fat one).The immensely popular lottery will distribute a total of 2.6 billion euros in prizes this year, much of it in small winnings. Street and bar celebrations normally break out, with winners uncorking bottles of sparkling wine and singing and dancing. The event is televised nationally from Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house.Purchasing and sharing tickets, known in Spanish as “décimos” (tenths) in the run-up to Christmas is a major tradition among families, friends, co-workers and in bars and sports and social clubs.The winning numbers...

1 dead after car found in Potomac River, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

Officials search for any more victims from a submerged car in the Potomac River. (Courtesy DC Fire and EMS) Officials search for any more victims from a submerged car in the Potomac River. (Courtesy DC Fire and EMS) A man is dead after a vehicle was found in the Potomac River early Thursday morning, according to U.S. Park Police.The federal agency said officers arrived at Ohio Drive SW in the area of the Memorial Bridge at about 12 a.m., after a car was found in the Potomac River. D.C. police and DC Fire and EMS helped locate the vehicle, and divers from both departments worked together to rescue a man in the car.The fire department posted on X at 12:48 a.m. that the man found in the submerged vehicle was in criti...

A storm brings strong winds to northern Europe, killing 2 people and disrupting transport

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A storm brought heavy rain and strong winds across northern Europe overnight and into Friday, bringing down trees and prompting warnings of flooding on the North Sea coast. A woman in Belgium was fatally injured by a falling Christmas tree, while another tree killed a person in the Netherlands. The 20-meter (65-foot) Christmas tree collapsed onto three people at a busy market in Oudenaarde in western Belgium late Thursday, killing a 63-year-old woman and injuring two other people. The Christmas market was immediately canceled.A woman who was struck by a falling tree on Thursday in the eastern Dutch town of Wilp later died of her injuries, her employer said.Pre-Christmas rail travelers in parts of Germany faced disruption. National railway operator Deutsche Bahn said Friday there were cancellations on routes from Hamburg and Hannover to Frankfurt and Munich, while long-distance services from Hamburg northward to Kiel and Flensburg weren’t running, among other disr...

Live updates | UN says 500,000+ starving in Gaza. EU ‘deeply shocked’ over food insecurity risk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

The United Nations says more than a half-million people are starving in Gaza because not enough food has entered the besieged territory as Israel keeps up its blistering campaign of airstrikes and ground operations.Palestinian officials said Friday that the death toll has now exceeded 20,000 — around 1% of the territory’s prewar population.The Health Ministry in Gaza does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel says more than 130 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 240 hostages. Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crammed into shelters and tent camps as winter descends, raising fears about the spread of disease. The U.N. Security Council has again delayed a vote on a new resolution to halt the fighting in some way, which would allow for an increase in humanitarian aid deliveries. Currently: — At least 5 US-funded proje...

Messi descansa en Rosario antes de comenzar con su cargada agenda 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

(CNN Español) — Y un día Lionel Messi descansó. La máxima figura de la Major League Soccer (MLS), terminaba de ganar el octavo balón de oro a finales de octubre, y reconocía el nuevo escenario que tenía por delante: “Hablaba con compañeros, de lo difícil que va a ser este tiempo sin jugar. Nunca estuve tanto tiempo de vacaciones y quizás es el momento más difícil, después de haberme ido de Europa, de haber elegido Miami”, afirmó en París tras la premiación que lo tuvo como estrella principal.En estas vacaciones Messi eligió descansar con su esposa Antonela Roccuzzo y sus hijos Thiago, Mateo y Ciro, como cada fin de año, en Funes, una ciudad ubicada a 15 km de su Rosario natal. Allí llegó a horas de cumplirse el primer aniversario del mayor logro de su carrera. La Copa del Mundo conquistada en Qatar con la selección argentina, no solo le dio la coronación con el título tanto bregó durante toda su carrera, sino que lo posicionó en el panteón de los futbolistas más ic...

Dec. 22-25: Things to do around Denver this weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Friday marks the last warm day of the week before the cold moves in,. Some parts of Colorado would wake up to a white Christmas.Since it's Christmas weekend, there are not a lot of individual events around Denver, but you can always check out neighborhoods across the Front Range with the best Christmas light displays or holiday pop-up bars that are going on until the end of December. 2023 New Year’s Eve fireworks in Colorado But of course, it's Denver, and even with the holiday weekend, there are always things to do.Elf in Concert - Dec. 22-23One of the best Christmas movies will be playing at Boettcher Concert Hall, except instead of the normal music in "Elf," this movie will be played with a live symphony in the background. Ugly Sweater Singalong - Dec. 22-23 Watch two dueling pianos at Fortissimo. You can enjoy holiday music, libations and a full show. Ugly sweaters and elf costumes aren't required, but they are encouraged.Colorado Avalanche vs. Arizona Coyotes ...

Homeless man arrested after fire crews find man dead inside truck at Cutler Bay shopping center

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

On Friday morning, authorities apprehended 35-year-old Randall Lautzenheiser, a homeless man, on charges of first-degree murder after firefighters who responded to a truck fire in Cutler Bay made a disturbing discovery. According to Miami-Dade Police, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units responded to the scene of the blaze at a shopping center near Southwest 92nd Avenue and Old Cutler Road, at around 1:45 p.m., Thursday.Witnesses captured the aftermath on their cellphones and shared what they saw.“I saw that the guy inside was burnt,” said one man. “Right away when everybody started seeing it, they started covering him up.”When crews put out the flames, police said, firefighters found a man’s body in the driver’s seat of the pickup truck.Officers shut down a wide swath of the parking lot where the burning vehicle was located.7News cameras captured a second scene near a Bank of America branch. Crime scene investigators were seen standing over somethi...

Newborns in NICU celebrate first Christmas with festive photo shoot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:12 GMT

Newborn babies in the newborn intensive care units at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Mass General for Children might not be home for the holidays, but the hospital is making sure their first Christmas is festive and bright. Brigham and Women’s littlest patients were dressed in Santa Claus and elf costumes for photos, a tradition that began years ago to make keepsakes for families. At Mass General for Children, infant patients donned party dresses and cozy hats to meet Santa Claus, with Dr. Kevin Raskin, chief of the Orthopedic Oncology Service at Massachusetts General Hospital trading his scrubs for red velvet to play the part.