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UK foreign secretary leaves Pacific early to focus on Sudan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly cut short a Pacific tour Friday to return to Britain and deal with the deteriorating situation in Sudan.Sudan’s military ruled out negotiations with a rival paramilitary force Thursday, saying it would only accept its surrender as the two sides continued to battle in central Khartoum and other parts of the country.The British High Commission said Cleverly had been dealing with the Sudan situation from its offices in Wellington by making a series of calls to key partners overnight.Cleverly left from New Zealand a day before he was due to meet with his counterpart, Nanaia Mahuta. He’d arrived in New Zealand earlier than scheduled Thursday on his first official visit to the country after skipping a planned visit to Samoa and flying in directly from the Solomon Islands.“It’s with real regret that due to the ongoing situation in Sudan I’ve had to cut the visit short,” Cleverly said in a statement....

Leaving drama behind, GOP warms to McCarthy in debt fight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last Republican holdout in the grueling race for Kevin McCarthy to become House speaker, firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz, may be a surprisingly easier vote to get when it comes to passing the House Republican plan to raise the debt ceiling.That’s because the 320-page debt ceiling package McCarthy has drafted includes many long-sought conservative priorities — a rollback of current spending levels, a cap on future spending, work requirements for government aid recipients — that Gaetz, the House Freedom Caucus and other factions demanded.Rather than drag McCarthy down with painstaking internal party battles over the debt ceiling bill, House Republican lawmakers are looking to prop up their leader, get behind the bill and take the spending fight to President Joe Biden at the White House.“I’m not looking to spit in the face of the gift horse,” Gaetz, R-Fla., told reporters at the Capitol as he weighs how he will vote.“If you took this plan, and the plan that the Ho...

Supreme Court set to decide on access to abortion pill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is facing a self-imposed Friday night deadline to decide whether women’s access to a widely used abortion pill will stay unchanged or be restricted while a legal challenge to its Food and Drug Administration approval goes on.The justices are weighing arguments that allowing restrictions contained in lower-court rulings to take effect would severely disrupt the availability of the drug, mifepristone, which is used in the most common abortion method in the United States.It has repeatedly been found to be safe and effective, and has been used by more than 5 million women in the U.S. since the FDA approved it in 2000.The Supreme Court had initially said it would decide by Wednesday whether the restrictions could take effect while the case continues. A one-sentence order signed by Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday gave the justices two additional days, without explanation.The justices are scheduled to meet for a private conference Friday, where t...

Stock market today: Asian shares follow Wall Street lower

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

NEW YORK — Shares were weaker in Asia on Friday, tracking a decline on Wall Street following mixed earnings reports from big companies and more signals the U.S. economy may be slowing. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1% to 28,638.24. The Kospi in Seoul dropped 0.8% to 2,542.72. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up 0.6% to 20,274.42. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.3% to 7,337.40, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.5% to 3,349.56. On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 4,129.79 after drifting listlessly earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3% to 33,786.62, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8% to 12,059.56. Tesla weighed heavily on the market for a second straight day on worries about how much profit it’s making on each of its electric vehicles. It dropped 9.7% after reporting revenue for the first three months of the year that fell short of analysts’ expectations as it repeatedly cut prices on its models. Several banks also dropped after rep...

Poll: Biden 2024 splits Dems but most would back him in Nov.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Only about half of Democrats think President Joe Biden should run again in 2024, a new poll shows, but a large majority say they’d be likely to support him if he became the nominee.The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 26% of Americans overall want to see Biden run again — a slight recovery from the 22% who said that in January. Forty-seven percent of Democrats say they want him to run, also up slightly from only 37% who said that in January. The ambivalence among Democratic voters comes as Biden is preparing to formally announce his 2024 reelection campaign as soon as next week, according to people briefed on the discussions. The president has been eyeing Tuesday, April 25 — four years to the day since he entered the 2020 race — although no final decisions have been made. Despite the reluctance of many Democrats to see Biden run for another term, 78% of them say they approve of the job he’s doing as president. And a to...

The Big Weather Story Emerging is One Of Below Normal Temps

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

Temps are to average BELOW NORMAL each of the coming 14 days, which takes up well into the week after next.The chill this weekend will be noticeable with daytime highs not likely to move out of the 40s. It's likely to be the coolest weekend here in a week--one with temps averaging 20-degrees below those we saw last weekend and more than 11-degrees below normal.What's more ANY daytime heating sets the stage for cloud develop in what is to be a very unstable atmosphere with cold air aloft. Temps in such a situation drop faster than usual with height and this encourages air at the bottom of the atmosphere to become unstable and begin to rise and cool. The clouds which form in such an environment can be "convective" and capable of produce scattered instability showers in the warmer hours of the day. What's more, given temps as low as 20 degrees within a mile of the service, it wouldn't be surprising to see any spotty rain showers capable of being mixed with some small hail in spots.THE ...

Severe storms bring flash flooding, hail and tornado warnings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A complex of severe thunderstorms brought flash flooding and water rescues in north Austin, large hail to many communities, and Tornado Warnings in several counties. Storms continue south of Austin overnight, but will clear the area Friday after a quick early-morning sprinkle.Isolated storm development Thursday afternoon produced brief quarter-size hail in Leander. An evening cold front then brought the main event. Ping pong ball size hail was reported in Fredericksburg, Liberty Hill and La Grange as a lumbering complex of storms made its way southeastward. Storms stalled over north Austin dropping 4.64" in Walnut Creek in north Austin in less than 2 hours, 1.52" of which falls in 15 minutes. This prompted at least 8 water rescues in various north Austin locations. Walnut Creek surged to 23 feet deep, where two people were pulled from the creek. One other water rescue victim went to the hospital. 20-30 cars were stranded for some time at Highway 183 and Duval as peo...

Man describes getting caught in high water during north Austin flash floods

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As storms moved through Central Texas, parts of the area were hit with flash flooding. One Austin man spoke with KXAN’s Nabil Remadna about his experience getting stuck in the water near Duval Road and U.S. Highway 183 in north Austin. LIVE BLOG: ATCEMS responding to water rescues in north Austin “It just happened all of a sudden,” the man said. “I was coming down the exit ramp, and I had seen the car in front of me and they kept going. And basically, as I went along, it just got deeper and deeper, and there was no backing out of it.”He said his car eventually stalled out and it began floating away.“I've lived in this area for 10 years, and I've lived in Austin for 21. I've never seen this. I always thought it never would happen here—couldn't happen to us. We see it on the TV, and I know it sounds crazy, but it does.”He said he and everyone else who got stalled were OK, but that the situation was scary.“Physically, I think we're all OK. Everybody that got stalled—w...

BLOG: Storms move out of Central Texas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

This blog is no longer being updated.(KXAN) -- Severe weather with the potential for hail is expected throughout Central Texas Thursday afternoon and evening.According to the KXAN First Warning Weather team, storms will initially carry a high risk for large hail, but as individual storms develop into a line the hail threat will transition to a straight-line wind risk. KXAN First Warning Weather forecast A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for all of Central Texas until 10 p.m. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are favorable for the development of storms.Weather ResourcesHow to talk to your kids about severe weatherWatches vs Warnings: Understanding how a storm is madeTraffic mapLive Central Texas radarCentral Texas rainfall totalsDownload KXAN Weather AppSign up for KXAN daily forecast newsletter and severe weather alerts newsletterFollow along in our weather blog belowSevere weather live blog11:05 p.m.A complex of storms is moving across the I-35 corridor. Larg...

Avs bounce back from two-goal deficit to even series with Seattle Kraken on Devon Toews’ game-winning goal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

In the aftermath of a lifeless playoff opener, Bo Byram was careful to differentiate this Avalanche team from last year’s squad.Those Stanley Cup champions? They responded to postseason losses with remarkable poise.“We’re not the same team as last year,” though, Byram pointed out to The Post as a quiet locker room emptied out after a Game 1 playoff loss. He and his teammates have grown tired of the constant comparisons to that title run. This team hadn’t proven anything yet in the face of adversity.This year’s Avalanche unlocked confidence in their ability to respond with a comeback 3-2 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night at Ball Arena. Down 2-0 in the second period and staring at a potential 2-0 series deficit, the Avs found new energy. Their three consecutive goals were capped by Devon Toews’ game-winning rebound with 7:01 remaining in the third.And, as if the game needed any more drama, Colorado killed a penalty in the final thr...