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Senior US diplomat says Niger coup leaders refused her to meet with president during visit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat said coup leaders in Niger refused to allow her to meet Monday with the West African country’s democratically elected president, whom she described as under “virtual house arrest.”Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland also described the mutinous officers as unreceptive to U.S. pressure to return the country to civilian rule.“They were quite firm about how they want to proceed, and it is not in support of the constitution of Niger,” Nuland told reporters.She spoke after a two-hour meeting in Niger’s capital, Niamey, with some leaders of the military takeover in Niger, a vital counterterrorism partner of the United States.Nuland said that in speaking to junta leaders, she made “absolutely clear the kinds of support that we will legally have to cut off if democracy is not restored.”She said she also stressed U.S. concern for the welfare of President Mohamed Bazoum, who she said was being detained with his wife and son.The meeting was with G...

Trump lawyers say proposed order on info release is too broad, urge more limited rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

Donald Trump’s legal team told a judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against him on Monday that prosecutors’ proposed protective order aimed at preventing the public disclosure of evidence is too broad and would restrict his First Amendment rights. Lawyers for the early 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner said the judge should impose a more limited order that would bar the public release only of materials deemed “sensitive” — such as grand jury documents — rather than all evidence handed over by the government in the case accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss. Prosecutors have said a protective order — not unusual in criminal cases — is particularly important in Trump’s case because of his penchant for using social media. They have expressed concern that Trump could improperly share sensitive case information online that could have a “harmful chilling effect on witnesses.” In their filing Friday seeking the order, p...

2 Russian missile strikes hit a city in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 5 people, officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two Russian missile strikes hit the city center of the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region Monday evening, killing at least five people and wounding two dozen more, Ukrainian officials said.The strikes, which targeted the Ukrainian portion of a region partially occupied by Russia, occurred within 40 minutes of each other, according to Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko. The attack damaged nine- and five-story buildings, residential houses, a hotel where foreign journalists used to stay, dining establishments, shops and administrative buildings, he said. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said five people, including a local official of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, were killed and 31 more were wounded by the strikes. Nineteen policemen, five rescuers and one child were among the wounded, Klymenko said. The Suspilne news site, however, cited head of the Pokrovsk City Military Administration Serhiy Dobriak as saying that seven peopl...

Colombia’s first leftist president is stalled by congress and a campaign finance scandal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro took office a year ago laying out ambitious goals for the nation’s first leftist government.He said his agenda would provide Colombians with a “second opportunity” to end decades of internal violence, and he promised that his “government of change” would tackle longstanding inequalities by increasing government spending and reforming the health system and labor laws.Yet, while celebrating his first year in office Monday, Petro is facing growing doubts about his ability to fulfill his promises in the remainder of his four-year term.The president’s approval rating has plunged 20 points, leaving just over a third of Colombians expressing satisfaction with his performance. Fighting among rebel groups and drug traffickers persists in rural areas, and his social and economic reforms are stalled in the fractured congress.A campaign finance scandal involving Petro’s eldest son, which broke out earlier this summer, has further weakene...

Cost of Missouri abortion-rights petition challenged in court again

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists on Monday filed a court challenge against an initiative petition to legalize abortion. In the lawsuit, Rep. Hannah Kelly, Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman and activist Kathy Forck argued that the cost estimate that will be provided to voters considering whether to adopt the constitutional amendment is too low. Attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote in a court brief that the price tag should account for a potential loss of Medicaid funding, as well as the projected number of fewer people born because of abortions and subsequent lost tax revenue.“These future losses to Missouri from loss of population due to abortion are both absolutely certain (fewer citizens definitely means fewer future taxpayers and laborers) and potentially generational and infinite,” the lawsuit argues. The Missouri Supreme Court last month sided with the abortion-rights campaign in a lawsuit over a similar dispute about the petition’s cost. ACLU...

Arrest warrants issued for Alabama riverfront brawl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Police said Monday that arrest warrants have been issued in connection with a riverfront brawl in Alabama’s capital that drew nationwide attention after video showed a group of white people pummeling a Black riverboat worker, an exchange that sparked a massive fight.Major Saba Coleman of the Montgomery Police Department said there are currently four active warrants and more could be issued after authorities review more footage. Police said Sunday that several people were detained and charges are pending.Video circulating on social media showed a large melee Saturday that appeared to begin when a crew member of a city-operated riverboat tried to get a pontoon boat moved that was blocking the riverboat from docking.A white man shoved and punched the Black crew member, according to the video taken by a riverboat passenger and published by WSFA. The conflict escalated when several white people joined in on attacking the Black crew member. A separate video s...

Federal judge says California’s capital city can’t clear homeless camps during extreme heat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily banned Sacramento from clearing homeless encampments for at least 14 days, citing the extreme heat forecast this month in California’s capital city. Judge Troy L. Nunley in the U.S. District Court for Eastern California issued the order last week after homeless advocates argued that the city disregarded its own protocol by pushing a vulnerable population out of shaded areas during blistering heat. Advocates said clearing the camps in such weather puts homeless people in “obvious danger.” Sacramento defines temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius) as being “excessive heat” in its protocols, the complaint reads. The temperature at the state capital is forecast to hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit or greater on 21 days in August, including nine days where the temperature is expected to reach 95 Fahrenheit (35 Celsius). The complaint includes details about a so-called sweep in mid-July, when the temperature was...

Fargo officer wounded in fatal shooting while responding to crash to leave hospital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A Fargo police officer wounded last month by a shooter who killed an officer and injured another is expected to leave the hospital on Monday, police said.Officer Tyler Hawes, who was wounded along with officer Andrew Dotas, was “anticipated to be released” from the hospital, the Fargo Police Department announced on Facebook. Dotas left the hospital Saturday.Dotas, Hawes and a bystander, Karlee Koswick, were wounded when Mohamad Barakat opened fire on them as police responded July 14 to a routine traffic crash. Barakat fatally shot officer Jake Wallin, 23. A fourth officer, Zach Robinson, shot and killed Barakat, 37.After the shooting, investigators found guns, 1,800 rounds of ammunition and explosives in Barakat’s vehicle. Authorities have said he appeared to have been planning a larger attack on the day of the shooting, when summer festivities were underway in the Fargo area.Police visited Barakat’s home and interviewed him at least twice in recent ye...

Neighbors say a Chicago man charged with killing an 8-year-old girl was upset over noise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A man was charged with first-degree murder Monday after witnesses said an 8-year-old Chicago girl riding a scooter was fatally shot by someone upset over noise.The charge was filed against Michael Goodman, 43, in the death of Sarabi Medina, Chicago police announced. “It just didn’t make sense. None of it made sense,” neighbor Megan Kelle told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Everybody in the community would just tell him they are just kids having fun playing. Just let them be.” The shooting happened Saturday night in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood. Police were at Goodman’s apartment building Sunday, interviewing people and collecting evidence, hours after the shooting.“Before he shot her, he had said something about them being too loud,” Kelley said.After the shooting, Goodman was tackled by Sarabi’s father and shot during a struggle, according to a police report. He was taken to a hospital.“He ran over there, football-tackled this guy,”...

Skilling: Cloudy, warm on Tuesday before possible showers arrive

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:25 GMT

Chicagoans came off the first weekend of August---a weekend which was  cooler than normal and sporadically wet in the city with drenching rains soaking southern sections of the metro area where as much as 4 to 6" of rain was reported Friday night into Saturday---into a Monday which opened cloud but saw breaks in the clouds allow patches of blue sky and some mixed sunshine by and during the afternoon. Monday will go into the books with a high of 79 and a low of 67—which average out 2.4-deg below normal. It's the 3rd consecutive day to post a daily average temp deficit.  Still. last week finished nearly a deg ABOVE NORMAL—this week is likely to post a 0.4-deg temp surplus with next week likely to approach a degree above normal. (NOTE: There has been a "cool bias" in recent official 6 to 10 and 8 to 14 day temp projections—a trend which seem likely to continue based on the latest forecasts and our in house model work).It's worth noting August's opening 7 days are off to a coo...