
Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in downtown Barcelona on Saturday to protest the skyrocketing cost of renting an apartment in the popular tourist destination. Protesters cut off traffic on main avenues in the city center, holding up homemade signs in Spanish reading “Fewer apartments for investing and more homes for living" and “The people without homes uphold their rights.” The lack of affordable housing has become one of the leading concerns for the southern European Union country, mirroring the housing crunch across many parts of the world, including the United States. Organizers said that over 100,000 had turned out, while Barcelona’s police said they estimated some 22,000 marched. Either way, the throngs of people clogging the streets recalled the massive separatist rallies at the heigh of the previous decade’s Catalan independence movement. Now, social concerns led by housing have displaced political crusades. That is because the average rent for Spain has doubled in last 10 years. The price per square meter has risen from 7.2 euros ($7.5) in 2014 to 13 euros this year, according to the popular online real estate website Idealista. The growth is even more acute in cities like Barcelona and Madrid. Incomes meanwhile have failed to keep up, especially for younger people in a country with chronically high unemployment. Protestor Samuel Saintot said he is “frustrated and scared” after being told by the owners of the apartment he has rented for the past 15 years in Barcelona’s city center that he must vacate the premises. He suspects that the owners want him out so they can renovate it and boost the price. “Even looking in a 20- or 30-kilometer radius outside town, I can’t even find anything within the price range I can afford,” he told The Associated Press. “And I consider myself a very fortunate person, because I earn a decent salary. And even in my case, I may be forced to leave town.” A report by the Bank of Spain indicates that nearly 40% of Spaniards who rent dedicate an average of 40% of their income to paying rents and utilities, compared to the European Union average of 27% of renters who do so. “We are talking about a housing emergency. It means people having many difficulties both in accessing and staying in their homes,” said Ignasi Martí, professor for Esade business school and head of its Dignified Housing Observatory. The rise in rents is causing significant pain in Spain, where traditionally people seek to own their homes. Rental prices have also been driven up by short-term renters including tourists. Many migrants to Spain are also disproportionately hit by the high rents because they often do not have enough savings. Spain is near the bottom end of OECD countries with under 2% of all housing available being public housing for rent. The OECD average is 7%. Spain is far behind France, with 14%, Britain with 16%, and the Netherlands with 34%. Carme Arcarazo, spokesperson for Barcelona’s Tenants Union which helped organize the protest, said that renters should consider a “rent strike” and cease paying their monthly rents in a mass protest movement. “I think we the tenants have understood that this depends on us. That we can’t keep asking and making demands to the authorities and waiting for an answer. We must take the reins of the situation,” Arcarazo told the AP . “So, if they (the owners) won’t lower the rent, then we will force them to do it." The Barcelona protest came a month after tens of thousands rallied against high rents in Madrid. The rising discontent over housing is putting pressure on Spain’s governing Socialist party, which leads a coalition on the national level and is in charge of Catalonia’s regional government and Barcelona’s city hall. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez presided over what the government termed a “housing summit” including government officials and real estate developers last month. But the Barcelona’s Tenants Union boycotted the event, saying it was like calling a summit for curing cancer and inviting tobacco companies to participate. The leading government measure has been a rent cap mechanism that the central government has offered to regional authorities based on a price index established by the housing ministry. Rent controls can be applied to areas deemed to be “highly stressed” by high rental prices. Catalonia was the first region to apply those caps, which are in place in downtown Barcelona. Many locals blame the million of tourists who visit Barcelona, and the rest of Spain, each year for the high prices. Barcelona’s town hall has pledged to completely eliminate the city’s 10,000 so called “tourist apartments,” or dwellings with permits for short-term rents, by 2028.
HOUSTON (AP) — Addison Patterson's 25 points helped Northwestern State defeat Houston Christian 64-57 on Saturday night. Patterson also added five rebounds and three steals for the Demons (5-5, 2-0 Southland Conference). Jon Sanders shot 5 of 9 from the field, including 2 for 4 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 5 from the line to add 17 points. Willie Williams shot 5 of 6 from the field to finish with 10 points, while adding 11 rebounds. Bryson Dawkins finished with 13 points for the Huskies (3-7, 1-1). D'Aundre Samuels added nine points for Houston Christian. Julian Mackey also had nine points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .By KELVIN CHAN, Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Looking for a new social media platform because X, Threads and Mastodon just aren’t cutting it? You could try Bluesky . People seeking to avoid chaos, noise and political bluster in the aftermath of the U.S. elections are noticing a different mood on the Bluesky social platform, where the vibe is seemingly welcoming and there are noticeably fewer trolls. The site announced it had rapidly added more than a million new users in the week after Election Day, and has emerged as one of the fastest growing rivals to Elon Musk’s X and similar platforms. If you’re tempted to check out the new space, here’s a guide on how Bluesky works: Maybe you’re not ready to commit to adding yet another social media account. No problem — you can still look around on Bluesky without signing up because all posts and profiles are public. You might get a sense of deja vu because the platform’s look and feel are very similar to X. That should be no surprise because Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was an early Bluesky champion. (Dorsey’s no longer involved with Bluesky, which is owned and run by its executive team as a public benefit corporation.) If you take the plunge and get an account, you’ll need a username. You’ll notice Bluesky handles are a little bit different because they end by default in the site’s domain, .bsky.social. You can personalize your handle to make it more memorable, by using your own website’s domain or buying a custom one through Bluesky. But it might not be something most newbie users need or want to do right away. Bluesky boasts that it gives users “algorithmic choice” to tailor the content they’re shown instead of leaving it up to the whims of a centralized system. “Our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see,” it says . Related Articles What it means is that you can follow custom feeds set up by other users, or design your own. If you tap #Feeds in the menu on the left, you’ll see some default offerings like Cat Pics and Gardening. My Bangers is a list of your most popular posts by likes and Catch Up shows the site’s most popular posts from the past 24 hours. You can find more by doing a search and tapping the Feeds button. There’s also the usual “Discover” feed of suggested posts and a chronological feed of accounts that you follow. To help new users settle in, Bluesky has starter packs of recommended feeds and accounts to follow, which anyone can create and share. They don’t show up in Bluesky’s search results but can be found in directories online . Or someone might share one with you. After I signed up, a colleague pointed me to one for major news outlets . There are tens of thousands of starter packs, ranging from broadly appealing topics like Taylor Swift to niche interests like cargo bikes or U.K. comedians . You can follow the whole pack or scroll down the list to choose individual accounts. What about people you followed on X? There’s a browser extension tool called Sky Follower Bridge that will help you find X users who’ve migrated to Bluesky. But check before clicking the follow button to make sure it’s not a different user using the same display name or handle. Ready to join the conversation? You can write posts or reply to others but keep it short because there’s a limit of 300 characters — 20 more than on X. You can also upload photos and videos, though videos can’t be longer than 60 seconds. GIFs and emojis are, of course, available too. You can still @ people by typing in their username, like posts by tapping a heart icon or use hashtags to highlight a theme. Bluesky has added a menu to hashtags, so when you click on one you’ll get different options for seeing, or muting, posts on that topic. Bluesky’s decentralization ethos extends to the content control options it offers. For starters, users can choose in their settings menu whether to see replies, reposts or quote posts in their feed. Specific words or tags can be muted temporarily, or forever, while accounts can be muted or blocked individually, or in bulk by adding them a moderation list. You can even fine tune the level of adult content that shows up in your feed. Related Articles Bluesky has a team of content moderators to police the site for material that’s illegal or breaks the rules. But it’s also taking a different approach by open sourcing its content moderation system in an attempt to resolve problems with traditional moderation services which it says “lack transparency and user control.” So, individuals or groups can set up their own content filters, or labelers, that go beyond what Bluesky offers. These labelers can be used to categorize content or users, which can then be blocked or hidden. But they could also be used for informational or creative purposes, like curating or verifying content. There are labelers to identify images generated by artificial intelligence or to fact check news posts. You can find lists of labelers online. After I subscribed to a U.S. politics labeler, some posts in my feeds were flagged “!Donald Trump” or “!Democrat politician” and hidden unless I click Show. Follow Kelvin Chan on Bluesky Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
After the midsize SUV craze took off in the '90s with the introduction of the Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Mercedes-Benz ML (now GLE), BMW in 1999 hopped on the train by adding the BMW X5 E53 to its portfolio, which was previously dominated by luxury sedans and rear-wheel drive sports cars. As a result, the E53 became both the first X5 generation and BMW's first SUV (in case you're curious, E53 is the factory code for the first BMW X5 generation). BMW's goal at the time was to create a high-riding vehicle with the versatility of an SUV and driving dynamics typical of its performance cars. And so the X5 E53 was based on the BMW E39 5 Series but also shared features such as a split tailgate and hill-descent control with the Range Rover. By the time it was ready for the market, the midsize luxury crossover SUV was complete with a sturdy unibody construction that made it relatively lightweight compared to SUVs with body-on-frame design, an all-wheel drive layout, a stiff, fully independent suspension system with dynamic stability control, and later a range of brawny engines laying beneath its beautiful skin. The BMW X5 E53 initially offered a 4.4-liter M62 V8 at launch for the 2000 model year, and then a 3.0-liter M54 straight-six the following year. Eventually, by 2006, the engine count had grown to five for the gas-powered first-generation X5, following the introduction of the 4.6-liter M62 V8 in the X5 4.6is, 4.4-liter N62 V8 in the revised X5 4.4i, and a larger 4.8-liter N62 V8 in the 4.8is. The Bavarian giant also offered the celebrated BMW M57 straight-six diesel engine under the hood of the E53 X5 3.0d for those wanting an oil burner. Here's a look at the engines that were in the BMW X5 E53 and their specs. The 3.0-liter M54B30 straight-six was the smallest gasoline engine offered on the crossover SUV. It powered the BMW X5 3.0i between the 2001 and 2006 model years, generating 225 hp and 214 lb-ft of torque. That output makes its way to the wheels via either a 5-speed manual transmission (a six-speed manual was offered from 2004) or a 5-speed automatic. Equipped with the manual, the 2002 BMW X5 E53 3.0i shoots to 60 mph in 8.1 seconds; models with the automatic require 8.6 seconds to reach 60 mph. Top speed in both cases is 126 mph, according to the automaker. And as for fuel economy, BMW quotes 15 mpg city and 21 mpg highway for BMW X5 E53 3.0i models with the manual gearbox. Those numbers sure won't blow many modern minds, but where the BMW X5 E53's 3.0-liter M54 straight-6 DOHC engine truly shines is in its durable build. A high-strength, cast-aluminum alloy cylinder block provides the engine with a rock-solid foundation, while the chain-driven cylinder head was made of aluminum construction, and in addition, BMW used cast iron alloy materials for the cylinder liners. Together, these features not only ensure that the engine rarely goes wrong, but also help make a case for the M54 as one of the most reliable engines BMW has ever built . Currently, opinions on the 4.4-liter M62 engine's reliability vary. But from the late 90s to mid-2000s, it was one of the engines you wanted if you were after BMW's premium options. The 4.4-liter M62 is a 90-degree V8 that came with an aluminum cylinder block and heads, four valves per cylinder and DOHC technology, intake variable camshaft timing (what BMW calls VANOS), fracture-split forged connecting rods, as well as hypereutectic pistons. Fittingly enough, the updated M62TUB44 version of the engine was nestled beneath the hood of the highly revered BMW X5 E53 4.4i where it produces 282 hp and 324 lb-ft of torque. The powerplant routes that output through the five-speed automatic, allowing a 0-60 mph sprint in 7.5 seconds and a manufacturer-estimated top speed of 128 mph (143 mph with Sport Package). According to EPA data, the 2000 BMW X5 E53 4.4i returns 12 mpg city, 16 mpg highway, and 14 mpg combined. For the 2002 model year, BMW uprated the M62 V8 in the 4.4i to produce 8 extra hp, resulting in 290 horses and similar torque to the previous V8. Despite the uptick in power, fuel economy increased slightly to 13 mpg city, 17 mpg highway, and 14 mpg combined for 2003. Following a refresh for 2004, BMW replaced the 4.4-liter M62 V8 engine with the 7-Series' 4.4-liter N62 V8 engine — the same one famed for pioneering BMW's variable valve lift system (Valvetronic) and debuting the industry's first continuously variable-length intake manifold. Output in this case is 315 hp and the same 324 lb-ft of torque as the previous V8s – good enough for a 0-60 mph run in 7.1 seconds, per a Car and Driver test. A six-speed Steptronic automatic transmission was offered alongside the new engine. Yet another BMW engine from the E53 generation X5 is the M62 V8 stuffed under the hood of the high-performance 4.6is model that debuted for 2002 in response to the Mercedes-Benz ML55 AMG. It is a stroked version of the 4.4-liter M62 V8 above, and proved to be punchier than its forebear, evidenced by its thumping 340 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque. Sadly, its reign under the hood of the E53 BMW X5 was quite short, as it was only available for the 2002 and 2003 model years . Despite the brief stint, however, history will long remember it for being the first BMW X5 engine to hit 150 mph in standard guise — acceleration from 0-60 was equally impressive at 6.2 seconds. The X5 4.6is speed intentions are ideally matched with a 5-speed automatic transmission with shorter final drive and a higher stall speed torque converter than the versions in the 3.0i and 4.4i. According to BMW data, a 2003 BMW X5 4.6is achieves 14 mpg in the city and 18 mpg highway. The 4.8-liter N62 V8 was the last in a long line of gasoline E53 BMW X5 engines. It launched under the hood of the 2004 X5 4.8is and was available until 2006, when the first X5 generation ceased production. This is the same engine found in the Wiesmann GT MF4 , where it generates 367 horsepower and 361 pound-feet of torque. On the E53 X5, though, output was limited to 355 horses and 350-369 lb-ft of torque, all directed to the wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission. The combination offers 0-60 mph acceleration in 5.9 seconds and a top speed of 153 mph, making the BMW X5 4.8is the most powerful, quickest, and fastest BMW X5 E53 model. The engine manages to be reasonably efficient as well, despite the massive power. Per KBB data, a 2004 BMW X5 E53 4.8is returns 14 mpg in the city, 20 mpg on the highway, and 16 mpg combined. BMW offered two M57 diesel engines for the first X5 generation. Early E53 X5 3.0d models had a 2.9-liter M57D30 turbocharged straight-6 produced from 2000 to 2003. It generated 184 hp and 302 lb-ft of torque, with that output handled by either a five-speed automatic or manual transmission. 0-62 mph takes around 10.5 seconds with the automatic (10.1 seconds with the manual), with top speed estimated at 124 mph (200 kph). Of course, the diesel was by far the most efficient of the E53 BMW X5 engines, with a manufacturer-claimed combined fuel economy of 29.1 mpg. For their own part, late E53 X5 3.0d models got a 3.0-liter M57TÜD30 turbocharged straight-6 sold from 2003 until the BMW X5 E53's eventual discontinuation in 2006. It made 215 horsepower and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque, with that output propelling the X5 diesel to 62 mph in 8.3 seconds and a top speed of 130 mph (210 kph) – which was decent enough for its day. The BMW M57-powered E53 X5 models sadly never made it to the States.