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CNN coverage of the death of Pope Francis

CNN coverage of the death of Pope Francis

CNN22-04-2025
April 21st, 2025
CNN continues to provide comprehensive, essential and multilingual coverage of the death of Pope Francis with more than a dozen teams around the world reporting across CNN's TV, digital, mobile and streaming platforms.
CNN Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb, Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward, Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman, CNN International Anchor Isa Soares, CNN en Español Correspondents Jose Levy and Pau Mosquera as well as journalists Barbie Nadeau and Javier Romero are positioned across Rome and Vatican City.
As tributes pour in worldwide, CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper and CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson report from London, CNN Senior International Correspondent Jim Bittermann reports from Paris, CNN National Correspondent Nick Watt reports from Los Angeles while CNN Correspondent Brynn Gingras and CNN en Español Correspondent María Santana both report from New York.
And in light of Pope Francis' legacy as the first Latin American pontiff, CNN has journalists in key locations across Latin America including CNN Senior National Correspondent David Culver and CNN en Español Correspondents Cecilia Dominguez, Darío Klein and Emiliano Gimenez all reporting from Buenos Aires, CNN en Español Correspondent Valeria León reporting from Mexico City and CNN International Correspondent Patrick Oppmann reporting from Havana.
Follow CNN's live updates here.
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The Tire Shop Food Stand Serving Unique-to-Seattle Venezuelan Hot Dogs
The Tire Shop Food Stand Serving Unique-to-Seattle Venezuelan Hot Dogs

Eater

time5 hours ago

  • Eater

The Tire Shop Food Stand Serving Unique-to-Seattle Venezuelan Hot Dogs

is a freelance journalist living in Seattle. A contributor to Eater since 2023, his work has also appeared in Outside Magazine, The Stranger, and Seattle Met. In Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, where Mexican food and people are the most visible representatives of Latin American culture, Latin American cuisine often gets oversimplified to Mexican food, which in turn gets over-over simplified to tacos, burritos, and $5 margaritas. But if you look beyond Mexico's southern border, there's a literal world of food in Central and South America that deserves appreciation and recognition. Fortunately for North Seattleites, taking the first step toward something new is easy. Just walk across the street from the Wallingford Chipotle into the parking lot of Omar's Tires, and you'll find Fido Hot Dogs, a new Venezuelan hot dog stand that has emerged as the neighborhood's most wonderful surprise. 'I heard about it through TikTok,' said Jonathan, a customer making his first visit on a busy Saturday night. 'This guy I always see on my feed lives in Venezuela, but somehow was doing promotion for a place in Seattle! My friend went before me, and now here I am.' (Eater Seattle conducted the interviews for this story in Spanish.) For just over two months, Fido Hot Dogs has been bringing a street food vibe to North 45th Street, a slightly dingy strip of Fremont dotted with ice cream shops and Thai restaurants. Fido has no website, no Instagram — just a TikTok mixed with guest creators promoting Fido Hot Dog's locations in Seattle and Tacoma — and only accepts cash and Zelle. The owner Fido (pronounced fee-dough), declined to provide his last name, but says that he is friends with the Omar's Tires owner. A hot dog at Fido Hot Dog. Charlie Lahud-Zahner But what even is a Venezuelan hot dog? Basically, it's a regular steamed dog in a split-top brioche bun like those typically used for lobster rolls that is then heaped with toppings that might impress even the most ardent Seattle dog supporter. The menu options range from a regular hot dog to one with sliced hard-boiled egg to mechipan, a dog with egg and a rich shredded stewed beef (carne mechada), distinct to South America. A full toppings package includes egg, diced onion, shredded cabbage with carrots, crunchy small fried potato strands (papas al hilo), carne mechada, shredded cheese, mustard, ketchup, and mayo. It's humongous and even if you think you're an adult, use two hands and take small steps. Despite the presence of dairy, egg, and two different types of meat, the varying textures get along well and are relatively light on the stomach. The fried potato bits and onions add crunch, the egg yolk and the cheese blend well with the carne mechada, and the cabbage makes the whole thing a meal. The only downside is the slightly undercooked dog — the meat is often barely larger than how it came out of the package and would definitely benefit from grilling. However, without a doubt it's the carne mechada that sets Fido Hot Dog apart. The beef is super savory, juicy, and easily worth the extra two dollars. For drinks there's Frescolito, a Venezuelan soft drink with an almost bubble gum-esque flavor, Coke, or Maltín, a soda best described as a malted cola. A scene one recent night at Fido Hot Dog. Charlie Lahud-Zahner 'This is the food I ate growing up in Venezuela, the same way you'd have tacos in Mexico or McDonalds here,' says one patron named Uriel. 'The food is different, but the feeling is similar.' With that being said, most customers are of Venezuelan descent and/or Spanish-speaking. Non-Spanish-speaking Wallingfordians seem simultaneously intrigued and intimidated by the bilingual scene. Jokes, jeers, and jibes in a distinctive fast-paced Venezuelan Spanish fill the air and the cling cling of Doordash notifications is a constant background refrain. According to Michel, the second half of the two-man stand, the majority of the patrons are delivery drivers, and it's not uncommon to see hot dogs eaten at Joey Chestnut speeds as they maintain quick turnaround times. English speakers do their best to ask clarifying questions while Fido and Michel do their best to give clarifying answers, but small miscommunications regularly occur. Fido and Michel hope that the new printed English menu will help attract even more locals. With this in mind, any curious diners should make their best Spanish effort if they have the ability to do so. If not, an order of uno con todo will give you the most bang for your buck. Fido Hot Dog's is located at 2221 N 45th Street in the parking lot of Omar's Tires in Wallingford; open from 7:30 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Sunday; the Tacoma stand is located at 11111 Pacific Avenue South, in the parking lot of another Omar's Tires. Eater Seattle All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

What a DNA test revealed about my long-lost abuela — and her secret life
What a DNA test revealed about my long-lost abuela — and her secret life

Los Angeles Times

time7 hours ago

  • Los Angeles Times

What a DNA test revealed about my long-lost abuela — and her secret life

In 1969, when my mom was an infant, her mother, Amanda, disappeared one day and was never heard from again. 'I spent my entire childhood wondering what happened to her,' my mom, Zoyda, explained to me in Spanish. My mom and her sister, Juana, grew up without the love of a mother. As children, they would fantasize and imagine what Amanda was like, crying themselves to sleep every night wondering why she was gone. The family never found an answer, but many theories about Amanda's whereabouts emerged in their small town of Ensenada, a port city in the coastal Mexican state of Baja California. 'Some people said she ran away with a lover, an army guy,' my mom told me. 'Others said she must have been killed and that's why she never came back for us, because who would abandon and leave two little girls behind like that?' That theory seemed the most plausible to me. I spent the majority of my life believing that my grandmother, or abuela, was dead. In Mexican culture, and most Latin American cultures, grandmothers are powerful matriarchal figures at the center of every family. They are the glue that holds households together. This archetype is well-represented in popular culture, in Disney films like 'Coco' and 'Encanto,' and in the modern-day reboot of the hit TV show 'One Day at a Time.' Beyond the big screen, Latina grandmothers are often the subject of cultural appreciation — in 2020, Syracuse University's La Casita Cultural Center installed an exhibit titled 'Abuelas,' and in 2023, NBC News anchor Tom Llamas did a segment celebrating abuelas for 'Today.' Even though the role of a grandmother has always been emphasized in my culture, not having a grandmother never bothered me or afflicted me. Yet as I got older, the journalist in me began to have questions about my roots and heritage on my maternal side. Curious to unravel this long-lost history, I bought an Ancestry DNA testing kit. Strangely, the results linked me to the state of Sonora: a place my mom has neither visited nor knew she had any family from. I was also matched with a person named Bernie (his real name withheld for privacy purposes), whom Ancestry determined was my first cousin on my mom's side — our DNA had a match of '667 cM across 21 segments.' I didn't know what that meant, but I messaged this mysterious match to see if he could provide me with any intel about our connection. 'Hi Bernie, are we related?' I asked while revealing my mom's name. Bernie said he didn't know her. I then mentioned the full names of my mom's parents and asked, 'Do either of those names sound familiar?' 'Omg,' he wrote. After some back and forth, Bernie revealed that Amanda was his grandmother, and she was happily living in Arizona as the matriarch of her extended family. I was in shock. Could my grandmother, who I believed had been dead for more than 50 years, really still be alive? Bernie asked if we could FaceTime. Minutes later, I nervously dialed his number. My hands were shaking, and my heartbeat was racing. 'You look exactly like my Nana,' Bernie said to me during our call. Bernie was friendly and animated throughout our entire conversation. He said he lived in Tucson and was really close to Amanda. Because of their close relationship, he was eager to get to the bottom of his grandmother's sordid past. 'In our family, we know there is a period of a few years where my grandma left Sonora, but no one knows where she lived or what she did during that time. She doesn't talk about it, and it's a mystery in our family,' Bernie told me. 'What is Amanda like?' I asked. 'My grandma is a huge family person,' he said. 'Family is number one to her, there's nothing she wouldn't do for us.' The words stung. How could this be the same person who abandoned her two daughters in Ensenada and never looked back? I didn't say anything and continued to listen as he revealed that despite a traumatic childhood in Sonora, Amanda went on to achieve the American dream in Arizona. She ran a successful daycare for kids, got her college degree in something related to child development, and was beloved by her community as an advocate for women and children. Everything that Bernie shared with me seemed to be disconnected from the reality of what Amanda did to my mom and her sister. I asked how he could help facilitate a meeting between Amanda and her daughters to reunite them. 'They've been waiting their entire lives to meet their mother,' I said. 'My Nana suffers from high blood pressure,' he said. 'I want to do this in a way that won't stress her out or make her condition worse, but I do want to confront her and get to the bottom of this.' We spoke for more than two hours in what seemed like a positive and productive conversation, and he excitedly told me he would ultimately strategize the best way to talk to his grandma. I called my mom immediately to tell her the news. 'Mami, your mother is still alive, I just talked to her grandson, I found him on Ancestry,' I nervously told her on the phone. My mom was in shock and silently listened as I filled her in on my discovery. I left out what Bernie said about Amanda being a loving matriarch to her large family — I didn't want my mom to feel hurt. 'I doubt she will want to meet us,' my mom said. 'She's had a lifetime to look for us and she hasn't. She doesn't care about us, but I guess we'll see what Bernie can deliver.' She wasn't relieved about the discovery of her mother's confirmed existence. She was hurt to find out that Amanda had been alive this entire time and had not returned for the two daughters who intensely missed a woman they never knew. It pained my mom to know that Amanda started fresh with a new life hundreds of miles away. In the days that followed this revelation, my mom's hopes unexpectedly emerged to the surface. She tried playing coy, but whenever we would talk on the phone she would casually ask, 'So … any update from Bernie?' A few weeks passed and I hadn't heard back from him. I sent him a friendly text asking if he had talked to Amanda yet. 'No update as of now … I haven't had the opportunity and still figuring out how to even bring it up,' he wrote. Months went by without any communication from Bernie until I reached out again for an update. The next day, he responded to my text. 'Hi,' read the message. 'I feel terrible for giving any hope on this to your mom/fam, I just honestly don't know if I can have that conversation with her. I'm not necessarily opposed to it, but the timing lately hasn't been the best. It is something I would like to do just no idea of when or how … but I'll definitely keep you posted!' I never heard from him again. 'I knew he wasn't going to do anything,' my mom said when I revealed what had happened — or rather, what hadn't. 'And I knew there was no reason to get my hopes up. This was a waste of everyone's time.' She began sobbing as she said this. Her hurt was loudly palpitating through the telephone, and I began to feel hurt too, not for myself, but for the little girl in my mom who was still crying for her mother's love all these years later. I tried my best to comfort her, but nothing I said could stop the flow of tears. 'It was a waste of time,' she said again. My mom may have thought that the entire experience with Bernie was a 'waste,' however, something else happened in the aftermath — my mom began opening up about her childhood to me, and I began asking more questions. I asked her what happened immediately after Amanda went missing. 'What did her family do?' According to family lore, Amanda left her two young daughters with a babysitter, saying she would return later. When she never came back, the babysitter notified my mom's relatives, who were confused and alarmed by her disappearance. At the time, my mom lived with her 2-year-old sister Juana, their father, Jose, and Amanda. Jose was a fisherman who would be gone for months at a time; he was out at sea when Amanda went missing. Jose spiraled into alcoholism not long after. For most of my mom's life, he was an absent father who left Juana and my mom under the care of any distant relative willing to house them. My mom and her sister were severely neglected and forced to provide for themselves by working jobs as young children, often subjected to abuse by men who were supposed to look after them. They were failed by all the adults in their lives. Their father, Jose, died in 1987. I realized, after she told me this, that her childhood was very similar to Amanda's. 'My grandma had a hard life, she was abandoned by her mom and forced to work as a kid to provide for her siblings,' Bernie told me during our FaceTime call. 'She was abused and assaulted by men she knew — it was very traumatic.' My mom, of course, knew none of this growing up; but she inevitably inherited Amanda's generational trauma, and it made its way into my childhood too. But in learning more about my mom's abandonment, the trajectory of her life became clear to me. I understood the pain she endured her entire life. Even though it led to difficulties in my own upbringing, I felt more connected to her; and then I felt myself becoming more protective of her. Because of this trauma, my mom faced many personal struggles, including failed toxic relationships with men, especially with my father. But unlike Amanda, my mom never gave up on her family and never abandoned my two siblings and me. She tried her best to overcome the challenges and move forward, even if she made mistakes along the way. And my mom is still persevering now, even if it's without the love of a mother who left everything behind and never looked back. 'Everything about Amanda hurts, but what will I do?' My mom told me recently. '[I] continue to move forward. It's all I can do.'

CNN Reports From Latin America in 'Ecuador: The Narco Superhighway'
CNN Reports From Latin America in 'Ecuador: The Narco Superhighway'

CNN

time10 hours ago

  • CNN

CNN Reports From Latin America in 'Ecuador: The Narco Superhighway'

August 4th, 2025 EPISODE PREMIERES SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 AT 9PM ET/PT NEW YORK, NY – (August 4, 2025) – The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper , a five-time Emmy® Award-winning CNN Original, returns with an immersive dispatch from inside the brutal cocaine trafficking system which has made Ecuador the deadliest country in Latin America. 'Ecuador: The Narco Superhighway' with CNN Senior National Correspondent David Culver premieres Sunday, August 10 at 9pm ET/PT on CNN. Since 2018, Ecuador's homicide rate has surged by 580%, with 2025 on track to be Ecuador's deadliest year on record. With roughly 70% of the world's cocaine moving through Ecuador, gangs are at war for control of an underground global economy worth tens of billions of dollars a year. In 'Ecuador: The Narco Superhighway,' Culver goes deep inside a system that pulls in the poor, empowers the brutal and protects the powerful, all to indulge the habit of a global addiction with local Ecuadorians caught in the undertow. 'We spent more than two weeks in fishing villages, border towns, major cities and ports… places where the violence isn't just a headline, it's part of daily life. We met grieving families, fishermen pulled into the trade, even gang members who claim they had no other option but to commit horrific acts, which they openly admit to,' said Culver. 'This isn't just a story about drugs. It's about how power, poverty, and global demand collide in Ecuador.' From coastal villages and jungle borderlands to banana plantations and bustling ports, and even to the Galapagos islands, Culver follows the chain of smuggling, extortion and violence. He rides along with Ecuador's navy as they train to chase down drug runners off the vast Pacific coast and speaks with a high-ranking gang commander reflecting on the impact of his trade on his community. The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper is a collection of unique and immersive single subject, one-hour episodes from CNN's Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning longform storytelling team showcasing character-driven stories, special interviews, and investigative deep dives featuring reporting from CNN's anchors and correspondents . The series is executive produced by Susan Chun. Culver previously reported for The Whole Story from Dujiangyan Panda Base in China, the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain and a psychedelic retreat in Jamaica. The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN connected TV and mobile apps on Sunday, August 10. 'Ecuador: The Narco Superhighway' will also be available on demand beginning Monday, August 11 to pay TV subscribers via CNN connected TV and mobile apps, and Cable Operator Platforms. Past episodes of The Whole Story are available to stream on demand now on Max. The Whole Story is also available as a CNN Podcasts showcast. Visit or listen wherever you get your podcasts. ### About CNN Originals The CNN Originals group develops, produces and acquires original, long-form unscripted programming for CNN Worldwide. Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent, CNN Originals and creative development, oversees the award-winning CNN Originals portfolio that includes the following premium content brands: CNN Original Series, CNN Films, CNN Flashdocs, and CNN Studios. Since 2012, the team has overseen and executive produced more than 60 multi-part documentary series and 70 feature-length documentary films, earning more than 120 awards and 450 nominations for the cable network, including CNN Films' first Academy Award® for Navalny . Acclaimed titles include the Peabody Award winning and 13-time Emmy® Award-winning Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown ; five time Emmy® nominee, Apollo 11 , directed by Todd Douglas Miller; Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid directed by Matt Tyrnauer; Emmy® nominated Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico ; the Emmy® Award-nominated 'Decades Series': The Sixties , The Seventies , The Eighties , The Nineties , The 2000s , and The 2010s, executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman; The Last Movie Stars , directed by Ethan Hawke about the lives and careers of actors and humanitarians Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman; the Emmy® Award winning Little Richard: I Am Everything , directed by Lisa Cortés; Luther Vandross: Never Too Much , directed by Dawn Porter; The Many Lives of Martha Stewart ; Primetime Emmy® and duPont-Columbia Award-winning, RBG , directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen; See It Loud: The History of Black Television , executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter; Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight in partnership with the BBC; the Producers Guild Award and three-time Emmy® Award-winning Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy ; T his is Life with Lisa Ling ; BAFTA nominee and Directors Guild Award winner, Three Identical Strangers , directed by Tim Wardle; the five-time Emmy® Award-winning United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell ; the American version of the long-running UK comedy series, Have I Got News For You , hosted by Roy Wood Jr; and the five-time Emmy® Award-winning The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper . CNN Originals can be seen on CNN, the CNN Original Hub on Max and discovery+, the CNN Originals FAST channel, and for pay TV subscription via CNN apps and cable operator platforms. About Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world's most differentiated and complete portfolio of content and brands across television, film and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, Max, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Film Group, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visit Press Contacts The Whole Story Press Contacts David Culver Press Contact

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