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As House debt ceiling vote nears, Biden shores up Democrats and McCarthy scrambles for GOP support

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

By LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING and STEPHEN GROVES (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Hard-fought to the end, the debt ceiling and budget cuts package is heading toward a crucial House vote as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assemble a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans to push it to passage over fierce blowback from conservatives and some progressive dissent.Biden is sending top White House officials to meet early Wednesday at the Capitol to shore up support ahead of voting. McCarthy is working furiously to sell skeptical fellow Republicans, even fending off challenges to his leadership, in the rush to avert a potentially disastrous U.S. default.Despite deep disappointment from right-flank Republicans that the compromise falls short of the spending cuts they demanded, McCarthy insisted he would have the votes needed to ensure approval. “We’re going to pass the bill,” McCarthy said as he exited a lengthy Tuesday night meeting at th...

Western efforts to defuse Kosovo crisis mount as ethnic Serbs in Kosovo rally anew after clashes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

ZVECAN, Kosovo (AP) — International efforts to defuse a crisis in Kosovo intensified Wednesday as ethnic Serbs held more protests in a northern town where clashes with NATO-led peacekeepers earlier this week left dozens injured and sparked fears of renewed conflict in the troubled region. Hundreds of Serbs repeated at a rally that they want the Kosovo special police and ethnic Albanian officials they call “fake” mayors to withdraw from northern Kosovo where they are a majority. The crowd then spread a huge Serbian flag.Working to avert any escalation, European Union officials met with Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti on the sidelines of a conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, while the leaders of France and Germany announced plans to meet top Serbia and Kosovo officials on Thursday at a summit in Moldova. “The current situation is dangerous and unsustainable,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. “We need urgent de-escalation.”Speaking in Slovakia, Kurti fl...

Priceless painting looted by Nazis during World War II returns to Poland from Japan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A priceless 16th century Italian painting that was looted by Nazi Germany during World War II and discovered in Japan has been returned to Poland, authorities in Warsaw said Wednesday.The “Madonna with Child” attributed to Alessandro Turchi, is the latest of some 600 looted artistic pieces that Poland has successfully repatriated. More than 66,000 so-called war losses remain unaccounted for. The painting was handed over during a ceremony at Poland’s Embassy in Tokyo Wednesday. Culture Minister Piotr Glinski told reporters in Warsaw that the baroque painting was on the Nazis’ list of the 521 most valuable pieces of art among the tens of thousands of artworks that they looted when they occupied Poland between 1939-45. He said it was “not easy” to explain the history behind the looted works as well as the need for their return. But he said the “Madonna with Child” was returned following negotiations with the Japanese side and the “Mainichi Auction Inc....

US job openings hit 10.1 million and labor market still strong despite Fed efforts to cool economy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job openings rose unexpectedly in April, illustrating the resilience of the American labor market and complicating Federal Reserve efforts to fight inflation.Employers posted 10.1 million job openings last month, up from 9.7 million in March and the most since January, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Economists had expected vacancies to slip below 9.5 million.“Demand for workers is still strong and the labor market is largely continuing to chug along nicely,” said Nick Bunker, research director at the Indeed Hiring Lab.Layoffs fell, but the number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence that they can find better pay or working conditions elsewhere — slid last month to the lowest level since March 2021, according to the Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Quits remain well above pre-pandemic levels.The Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate 10 times in the last 14 months, making it more expe...

Jury selection begins in trial of former deputy accused of failing to confront Parkland shooter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Jury selection began Wednesday in the trial of a former Florida sheriff’s deputy charged with failing to confront the shooter who killed 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland high school five years ago. The first four dozen prospective jurors to be considered for Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson ‘s child neglect trial were brought into Circuit Judge Martin’s Fein’s courtroom at mid-morning. Fein, prosecutors and Peterson’s attorney will spend several days winnowing through hundreds of prospects until they find a pool of 50 who say they could serve for the two months the trial is expected to take.From those 50, the attorneys will try next week to agree on a panel of six and four alternates to hear the case. Florida is one of six states that allow six-member juries for trials other than capital murder. The others are Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts and Utah. All other states use 12-member juries in ...

Latvian Parliament elects foreign minister as new president

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — Latvian lawmakers on Wednesday picked the country’s long-serving and popular foreign minister, a strong backer of Ukraine, as its new head of state in a tight vote.The 100-seat Saeima legislature elected Edgars Rinkevics, the country’s top diplomat since 2011, as president to serve for a four-year term. He received 52 votes, one vote more than required to win the race. Incumbent Egils Levits, Latvia’s head of state since 2019, didn’t seek reelection.Rinkevics, who announced in 2014 that he is “proudly” homosexual. will be the first openly gay president in the Baltic nations — all former Soviet republics where attitudes to sexual minorities have been less tolerant than in western Europe.His closest rival, businessman Uldis Pilens, got 25 votes in the third round of voting between the two remaining contenders after the third candidate, Elina Pinto, had dropped out of the contest. After the vote, Rinkevics tweeted that he was “honored and humbled” by t...

Oman launches $5B investment fund as part of efforts to diversify oil-dependant economy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oman plans to launch a $5 billion public investment fund to support plans to overhaul the economy in the Gulf Arab nation over the next two decades, state media reported Wednesday.The Oman Future Fund will aim to increase economic activity and support the private sector as the country looks to reduce its reliance on oil. With a population of some 4.5 million, Oman is the second largest Gulf Arab nation after Saudi Arabia but has nowhere near its vast oil reserves.Oman has long served as a regional mediator, maintaining close ties to the U.S. and other Gulf states as well as Iran. That has allowed it to facilitate prisoner exchanges and other tense negotiations.State media said Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said approved the new fund, which would launch with 2 million riyals, or around $5.2 billion. It would support the country’s Vision 2040 plans to grow and diversify the economy.Oman, like other Gulf countries, already has a sovereign wealth f...

Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a Syrian refugee, will travel the US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Little Amal, a 12-foot (3.7-meter) puppet of a Syrian refugee, will journey across the United States this fall, visiting key places in America’s history to raise awareness about immigration and migration.The puppet of the 10-year-old girl will visit the U.S. Capitol, Boston Common, Joshua Tree National Park and the Edmund Pettus Bridge among other sites during a trek which starts in Boston on Sept. 7 and ends Nov. 5 along the U.S.-Mexico border.“There is something in the act of welcoming a stranger which redefines you,” says Amir Nizar Zuabi, the artistic director. “I think that’s part of what we’re trying to create when walking into places that have a beautiful, complicated, defining history.”Stops are also planned for Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, the Tennessee cities of Nashville and Memphis, New Orleans, the Texas cities of Austin, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso, as well as the California cities of Los Angeles and San Die...

Chipotle giving away free food during NBA Finals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

(WHNT) - The 2023 NBA Finals are set and Chipotle is giving away free food throughout the series. The popular Mexican grill announced Tuesday that every time a player makes a three-pointer in the NBA Finals they will give away 300 free entrees.During the "Chipotle Free Pointer" promotion, every time a Denver Nuggets or Miami Heat player makes a three-pointer, Chipotle will tweet a unique message from @CHIPOTLETWEETS. The first 300 to text that message to 888222 will receive a free entrée code. Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s introduce new app feature that can track customers’ location Those who are one of the first 300 to text will be eligible to redeem the Entrée Code by placing an order through the Chipotle App or on the Chipotle website during normal business hours.Combined, the Nuggets and Heat average 23 three-pointers per game, and the chain says it will give away up to 10,500 free entrees per game."This year, when it rains threes, it rains free burritos," said Chris Brandt, Chief&...

Seaweed mixing with plastics could provide fertile ground for flesh-eating bacteria, research shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:59 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) fear a pathogen could be breeding amid the rising levels of seaweed known as sargassum found washing up on some Florida beaches.Masses of the sargassum seaweed have grown larger in recent years. This year, the seaweed bloom reached record size, and experts said "major beaching events are inevitable.""It impacts tourism, it impacts some of the health of some people living by the beaches," said Dr. Frank Muller-Kager, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida. Giant seaweed bloom’s beaching begins, expected to worsen In newly-released research, scientists expressed a new concern: the increased presence of plastics in our waters, plus blooming sargassumn, could provide a breeding ground for vibrio, a bacteria found in oceans and other waterways. Vibrio bacteria "are the dominant cause of death in humans from the marine environment," explains a summary of the FAU findings. "Vibrio vulnificus, o...