Por AKRAM OUBACHIR

CASABLANCA, Marruecos (AP) — La exposición a temperaturas por debajo del punto de congelación cerca de la frontera entre Marruecos y Argelia causó la muerte de nueve migrantes africanos, una tragedia que varios grupos defensores de los derechos humanos en la nación africana aseguraron que era sumamente preocupante y una violación del derecho a la libertad de movimiento.

Los cuerpos de siete hombres y dos mujeres fueron encontrados en Ras Asfour, una remota zona montañosa de Marruecos conocida por sus temperaturas extremas durante el invierno, informó la Asociación Marroquí de Derechos Humanos en un comunicado dado a conocer el sábado.

“Murieron por el frío extremo, que sus cuerpos exhaustos no pudieron soportar”, afirmó.

Uno de los migrantes era originario de Guinea, según el grupo. El resto provenían de distintos países del África subsahariana, aunque de momento no se cuenta con información específica sobre la identidad de las víctimas. El Ministerio del Interior de Marruecos no respondió el domingo a preguntas sobre los fallecidos.

Cada año, miles de migrantes que buscan mejores condiciones de vida intentan llegar ilegalmente a Europa desde el norte de África, incluyendo de Marruecos a España. Algunos se dirigen a Ceuta y Melilla, dos pequeños territorios españoles en el norte de África –a donde intentan llegar escalando vallas fronterizas o nadando. Otros buscan dirigirse a las Islas Canarias de España, tomando una ruta más larga a través del océano Atlántico.

Fuerzas de seguridad de Marruecos informan regularmente sobre el bloqueo de tales intentos.

El norte de África es conocido como un punto de tránsito para los migrantes que se dirigen a la frontera sur de Europa.

Los acuerdos de seguridad con la Unión Europea han reforzado la capacidad de las autoridades para disuadir la migración en el norte de África. Muchos que originalmente tenían la intención de migrar hacia Europa pasan meses o años trabajando de manera informal, en los sectores de construcción, agricultura o trabajo doméstico. Otros dependen de asistencia del gobierno mientras esperan una oportunidad para cruzar el mar Mediterráneo o el océano Atlántico.

El comunicado de la Asociación Marroquí de Derechos Humanos indicó que seis de los cuerpos fueron enterrados la semana pasada y dos se retuvieron a solicitud de sus familiares. “Nos aseguraremos de dar seguimiento a este caso”, expresó.

La Organización Marroquí de Derechos Humanos, una asociación diferente, pidió esta semana un trato humano en las fronteras, la despenalización de la migración y residencia ilegal, así como la creación de un mecanismo para rastrear a los migrantes desaparecidos para prevenir tragedias como la de Ras Asfour.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/14/nueve-migrantes-africanos-mueren-debido-al-fro-cerca-de-la-frontera-entre-marruecos-y-argelia/ 

Por JOE REEDY

CINCINNATI (AP) — Lamar Jackson lanzó para dos touchdowns, Kyle Van Noy y Alohi Gilman se unieron para un pick-six de 95 yardas y los Ravens de Baltimore blanquearon el domingo 24-0 a los Bengals de Cincinnati, la primera vez que Joe Burrow ha sido dejado en cero en su carrera de seis años.

Derrick Henry corrió para 100 yardas en 11 acarreos —su sexto juego de 100 o más esta temporada— mientras los Ravens (7-7) ganaron su cuarto juego consecutivo como visitantes y se colocaron a medio juego de Pittsburgh en la AFC Norte. Los Steelers reciben a Miami el lunes por la noche.

Jackson lanzó pases de touchdown en la primera mitad a Rasheen Ali y Zay Flowers y terminó ocho de 12 para 150 yardas. Fue la primera anotación en la carrera de dos años de Ali.

Cincinnati fue eliminado de la contienda por los playoffs. Burrow —quien expresó su frustración por la decepcionante temporada de los Bengals a principios de esta semana— fue interceptado dos veces mientras completaba 25 de 39 pases para 225 yardas. Ja’Marr Chase tuvo diez recepciones para 132 yardas.

Fue la primera vez que los Bengals han sido blanqueados en casa desde su apertura de 2017, que también fue contra los Ravens.

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Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/14/dos-pases-de-td-de-lamar-jackson-y-un-pick-six-impulsan-a-ravens-a-vencer-24-0-a-bengals/ 

We’re “At The Beginning Of The Credit Destruction Cycle”; Ed Dowd Warns

Tyler Durden
Sun, 12/14/2025 – 16:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/were-beginning-credit-destruction-cycle-ed-dowd-warns 

Por DAN GELSTON

FILADELFIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts se recuperó de su peor partido en la NFL lanzando 3 pases de touchdown, Saquon Barkley tuvo una carrera de touchdown de 2 yardas y los Eagles de Filadelfia rompieron una racha de tres derrotas consecutivas al vencer el domingo 31-0 a los Raiders de Las Vegas.

Los Eagles (9-5) lograron que su criticada ofensiva bajo el mando del coordinador Kevin Patullo funcionara bien contra los tribulados Raiders y finalmente mostraron signos de vida con una buena mezcla de jugadas en temperaturas amargamente frías, superando los 21 puntos por primera vez en seis juegos.

Hurts tuvo sus momentos, que incluyeron un pas para un touchdown a Dallas Goedert en un día que comenzó con el campo cubierto por varios centímetros de nieve. Hurts también conectó con DeVonta Smith en una recepción de 44 yardas en una serie que se detuvo en el segundo cuarto y se conformó con un gol de campo de Jake Elliott y una ventaja de 10-0. Lanzó un pase de touchdown de cuatro yardas a Goedert en el tercer periodo para una ventaja de 24-0.

Sí, sus primeros tres touchdowns que totalizaron diez yardas, y un gran esfuerzo defensivo, fueron suficientes para vencer a unos Raiders (2-12) que han perdido ocho seguidos. Kenny Pickett no rindió siendo titular por primera vez como quarterback en lugar del lesionado Geno Smith.

Hurts necesitaba una victoria personal en su primer juego desde que lanzó cuatro intercepciones y perdió un balón en la derrota el lunes en tiempo extra ante los Chargers de Los Ángeles. La temporada de Hurts ha sido errática: lanzó cinco intercepciones contra solo dos touchdowns en los últimos dos juegos, diez meses después de ganar el MVP del Super Bowl.

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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/14/jalen-hurts-se-recupera-de-su-peor-partido-con-3-en-triunfo-de-eagles-31-0-ante-raiders/ 

ROME — Pope Leo XIV criticized prison overcrowding and insufficient inmate rehabilitation programs on Sunday as he celebrated a special Mass for detainees, guards and their families in the final event of the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year.

The Vatican said an estimated 6,000 people signed up to participate in the weekend pilgrimage, including representatives from big detention facilities in Italy and prison volunteers, wardens and prison chaplains from 90 countries.

Included were a few groups of inmates who received special permission to participate, according to the Italian penitentiary chaplain’s association.

In his homily, Leo acknowledged the oftentimes poor conditions prisoners face even in wealthier countries. He called for a sense of charity and forgiveness to prevail for prisoners and those responsible for guarding them.

“Here, we can mention overcrowding, insufficient commitment to guarantee stable educational programs for rehabilitation and job opportunities,” he said, adding that patience and forgiveness are needed.

“On a more personal level, let us not forget the weight of the past, the wounds to be healed in body and heart, the disappointments, the infinite patience that is needed with oneself and with others when embarking on paths of conversion, and the temptation to give up or to no longer forgive,” he said.

As the last big event of the 2025 Jubilee, the Mass in many ways closed out the Holy Year that Pope Francis inaugurated Christmas Eve 2024, which had as its main thrust transmitting a message of hope especially for those on society’s margins.

During his 12-year pontificate, Francis had prioritized ministering to prisoners to offer them hope for a better future. On Dec. 26 last year Francis travelled to Rome’s Rebibbia prison to open its Holy Door and include the inmates in the Jubilee celebrations.

Leo recalled that visit in Sunday’s homily, as well as Francis’ Holy Year appeal for governments around the world to offer prison amnesties and pardons, which are a mainstay of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee tradition.

In Italy, prison overcrowding is a longstanding problem that has been denounced by the European Court of Human Rights and humanitarian organizations.

Antigone, an Italian prisoner advocacy group, said Italian prisons are now at 135% overcapacity, with more than 63,000 people detained in facilities with fewer than 47,000 beds. Italian prison authorities received 5,837 complaints of inhuman or degrading treatment last year, 23.4% more than in the previous year, Antigone said.

The Mass was the final big Jubilee event of the 2025 Holy Year, which Leo will officially close out on Jan. 6 when he shuts the Holy Door of St. Peter’s.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/14/pope-prison-overcrowding/ 

Any time a police officer responds to a situation, it often goes in a completely different direction than they anticipate, but Gary high school students interested in law enforcement are getting a jump on how to react.

Those students on Tuesday showed off their burgeoning skills during a demonstration using a de-escalation training simulator with live-action footage that at least three Northwest Indiana police departments use at the Gary Area Career Center. The Gary Community School Corporation purchased the VirTra equipment through $200,000 in federal funding, GACC Career and Technical Director Derek Bodley said.

Sophomore Aubrey Pusser-Shirley, center, runs a simulation program for the VirTra V-180 as sophomores Samaria Graham and Justin Gordon, from left; and seniors Ja’Nyla Smith and Xavier Clinton watch on December 9, 2025. The students are part of the Gary Career Center’s Criminal Justice class. (Michelle L. Quinn/Post-Tribune)

From behind a computer, Sophomore Aubrey Pusser-Shirley chose the situations her classmates and newly minted Gary Police officers would navigate. One situation was an office shooting; another was a human trafficking situation in which undocumented people were being transported in a box truck, and a third was a drunk-driving incident that turned violent.

All the situations ended up involving guns.

The partners, armed with prop weapons of their own, attempted to first assess the situation and then try to prevent an already volatile scenario from ending up in gunfire. As added stress, the partners were also outfitted with a device that signaled when they got shot; as in life, they were expected to “work through the pain.”

“If the (the student’s or officer’s) commands are good, we’ll let them win,” said Col.  Richard Ligon, instructor for the course. ” But this is not a video game — this is a training tool.”

Gary Police Chief Derrick Cannon added that while an officer never wants to come to a situation and use deadly force, people need to understand that even a hint of deadly force from a civilian is an act from which they may not recover.

“We don’t want our officers to second-guess and end up on the opposite end,” Cannon said. “If there’s a member of the public here, we want them to know that at no point in time that when you engage with an officer, you should reach for a gun.”

Pusser-Shirley wants to pursue a career in Forensics and took an Intro to Psychology class before taking the Law Enforcement class. She’s one of three students who are trained to run the VirTra software.

“I like the hands-on experience of the class,” she said.

Samaria Graham, who’s also a sophomore, was thinking about law enforcement from a different angle: the attorney side, because she was concerned about the people who don’t have a good defense attorney in their corner. The class has strengthened her resolve, she said.

Senior Ja’Nyla Smith said she’s interested in becoming a police officer from the experience.

“I was excited but nervous because I’ve never shot a gun,” Ja’Nyla said. “I think people think police are trying to get them to do wrong, but some officers really do want to help. You just have to approach them like you want to be treated yourself.”

To give the students a taste of the other side of the law, Ligon said he’s working with U.S. District Judge Gretchen Lund to set up a mock trial at the U.S. District Courthouse in Hammond.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/14/gary-students-experience-de-escalation-training/ 

Theater producer Cameron Mackintosh has been bringing long runs of grand theatrical spectacles to Chicago for nearly half a century now. Delivering a big night out for regular folks remains a point of pride for him, and his brand-new tour of “The Phantom of the Opera” remarkably manages to deliver the classic Hal Prince production in a refreshed and fiscally practical package that, necessarily in my view, gives more sensual self-actualization to Christine while maintaining the empathetic Phantom so crucial to the experience.

I’ve seen this show a dozen times or more from Chicago to London to Las Vegas, home of the most terrifying chandelier in “Phantom” history. I was there when the Broadway production finally closed in New York. And most recently, I reviewed the new interactive version, dubbed “Masquerade,” in New York.

These experiences have taught me that the show, while never as emotionally substantial as “Les Miserables” (the greatest of the Mackintosh extravaganzas), engenders a unique hold over its fans, a relationship which has not meaningfully diminished over time, regardless of the problematic elements of the melodrama at its core. This remains an aspirational show that people purchase to impress a date, or relive a memory or to find something with multi-generational appeal that can bring a family together. One need only look at how the audience dressed at Saturday night’s opening — which took place in frigid temperatures — to see the expectations and while I like eavesdropping on audience conversations, this time I made a point of overhearing. The chatter of anticipation was palpable and, more importantly, so was the talk of expectations fulfilled. “They kept breaking the fourth wall,” one ‘tween girl seating near me, said to her mother, offering up dramatic theory like she was George Bernard Shaw. I can’t say I saw much of that myself, but I suspect she was reacting to the uncommonly intense relationship between the show and its fans.

The job of a critic in these rare instances, it seems to me, is one of protector. So. This “Phantom” delivers on all prior expectations. This is no longer easy since director Prince, the original “Phantom” choreographer Gillian Lynne, and the original production designer Maria Björnson, all are no longer alive.  So we are in world of recreation (direction by Seth Sklar-Heyn, design by Matt Kinley and choreography by Chrissie Cartwright) but Andrew Lloyd Webber and Mackintosh are joint keepers of the “Phantom” flame, with the latter most invested in this Prince production above all.

It is now a historic entity, really, from Prince’s famed “Masquerade” staging on the steps to Björnson’s boat ride through the catacombs, illuminated by those famed giant candles, to her incredible use of heavy drapery to delineate space; I view it with great affection and it is a wonderful thing that it has been kept alive in the famously ephemeral world of the theater. Few great pieces of direction are so lucky.

But musicals are mostly the province of humans and this one retains its cast of 32 (plus about 16 musicians in the pit), a true rarity these days among touring productions and, indeed, shows on Broadway, at least in the cast size, plus swings and all. Isiah Bailey is a moving “Phantom,” fully able to inhabit the, well, operatic requirements of the role while offering some gentleness at the same time and Jordan Lee Gilbert’s more accessible Christine is no pushover, even as Gilbert beautifully hits all comers and goers within the part’s famous vocal range. Midori Marsh adds an uncommon note or two of humanity to the trampled-upon role of Carlotta.

Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber unveil their new tour of ‘Phantom of the Opera’

Daniel Lopez, a floppy-haired actor who plays Raoul, has a boyish quality that works well for a role which can (and has) come off as the province of a stiff. This show needs Raoul to be empathetic, too, especially given the conclusion and he serves that well, without trampling on the reality that Christine sees (and feels) some things in and from the Phantom that her besuited young boyfriend can’t yet understand about a woman and maybe never will. That’s all part of what this show has been selling for decades and, so far, it has found more than 160 million global buyers.

Long may the chandelier rise and fall, eight shows a week, hooking casual theatergoers on an art form that very much needs their help beyond this one title. And in an era of shorter runs, how great to have this guy committed all winter to Chicago’s Loop; you can’t see it in New York anymore, unless you want the Phantom right in your face.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Review: “The Phantom of the Opera” (4 stars)

When: Through Feb. 11

Where: Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.

Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes

Tickets: $49-$195 at broadwayinchicago.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/14/review-phantom-opera-chicago/