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Communication outage hits flood-stricken city in Libya, further complicating search efforts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A day-long communication outage in a flood-stricken city in eastern Libya further complicated the work of teams searching for bodies under the rubble and at sea Wednesday. The country’s chief prosecutor, meanwhile, vowed to take “serious measures” to deliver justice for the victims of the floods, which killed thousands of people and devastated the coastal city of Derna more than a week ago.The outage was caused by fiber-optic cables being severed Tuesday, Libya’s state-owned telecommunications company said. Engineers were investigating to determine whether it happened because of digging for bodies or was sabotage, the company’s spokesman, Mohamed al-Bdairi, told a local television station.Internet and phone service were knocked out, with residents and journalists unable to reach those inside Derna. Authorities said communications with the city were restored Wednesday evening.Heavy rains triggered deadly flooding across eastern Libya earlier this month. The storm overwhe...

A 96-year-old federal judge is barred from hearing cases in a bitter fight over her mental fitness

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

A 96-year-old U.S. federal appeals court judge was barred Wednesday from hearing cases for a year after a panel said she refused to undergo medical testing amid concerns that she is no longer mentally fit to serve on the bench. It’s the latest development in an unusually public and bitter fight over whether Judge Pauline Newman should continue to serve on the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that has sparked a lawsuit and turned judges against one another. Newman, a President Ronald Reagan appointee who has been on the court for nearly four decades, insists that she remains physically and mentally fit to decide matters of the law, and has accused her colleagues of making baseless claims in an effort to push her out because of her age. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is one of 13 U.S. appellate courts. It hears cases on issues like government contracts, patents and trademarks. Federal judges chosen by presidents and confirmed by t...

Calls renewed for ‘woefully underused trail’ to become bike path to new DC high school

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

Capital Trails Coalition is working to help connect trails in the region. (WTOP/Kate Ryan) Capital Trails Coalition is working to help connect trails in the region. (WTOP/Kate Ryan) With D.C. opening a new high school in the Palisades neighborhood, there are renewed calls to pave the Palisades Trolley Trail to create a bike path for resident and student use.When you are walking on the grassy Palisades Trolley Trail you’ll notice plenty of beautiful views of the Potomac, but very few other people.“It’s a woefully underused trail,” said Brett Young, who lives in the Palisades near MacArthur High School. “And there’s no bike lanes in this neighborhood.”Young is also a member of the Ward 3 Bicycle Advocate...

Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf has died at 64. He shot themes from gay nightlife to the royal family

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Erwin Olaf, an acclaimed Dutch photographer whose work documented topics ranging from gay nightlife in Amsterdam to portraits of the Dutch royal family, has died. He was 64.Olaf’s highly stylized photos, with lighting often influenced by Dutch master painters Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer, were exhibited at galleries around the world during a career spanning decades.His website carried a statement saying that Olaf recently underwent a lung transplant. “The recovery seemed to be going very well. He suddenly became unwell on Wednesday morning and CPR was to no avail. We’re going to miss him terribly,” it added.Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum, paid tribute in a statement on the Amsterdam museum’s website.“Erwin Olaf saw beauty in every person. He is of historical importance because of his activism and role in the LHBTIQ+ community,” Dibbits said.He called Olaf “an artist with enormous drive and with a very great eye for deta...

Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes happy for reworked deal, chance to keep winning Super Bowls in KC

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes was trying to walk a tightrope taking him three different directions while negotiating his revised contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, which effectively makes him the league’s highest-paid player over the next four years.Mahomes wanted to maximize his income. He wanted to leave salary cap space so the Chiefs could continue to surround him with championship talent. And he wanted to keep pushing the bar higher for other players seeking contracts around the league.“You have to watch and see what’s going on around the league and find that right spot,” Mahomes said Wednesday in his first comments since reworking his deal. “I think we found a good one in this negotiation we did to keep cap space to get other guys signed, but obviously I’ve got more money up front and we’ll renegotiate when we get to the right time.”Mahomes still has nine years left on his 10-year, $450 million contract, which set the standard for overall va...

Live Updates: World leaders convene for Day 2 of the UN General Assembly high-level meeting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Welcome to the United Nations. Over the course of the next week, leaders from scores of countries will take the marbled dais that, despite being geographically located in midtown Manhattan, belongs to the world. It’s part of the U.N. General Assembly’s General Debate, in which a parade of speakers will cycle through the iconic hall from Tuesday, Sept. 19, through Tuesday, Sept. 26.At the United Nations and on the sidelines, pressing topics will reflect the myriad global crises at hand: climate change, rampant inequality, Russia’s war in Ukraine, public health and geopolitical instability, among others. Presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other high-ranking representatives are convening under the 78th session’s theme of “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.”Check back here throughout fo...

Biden administration announces $600M to produce COVID tests and will reopen website to order them

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home COVID-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household — aiming to prevent possible shortages during a rise in coronavirus cases that has typically come during colder months. The Department of Health and Human Services says orders can be placed at COVIDTests.gov starting Sept. 25, and that no-cost tests will be delivered for free by the United States Postal Service. Twelve manufacturers that employ hundreds of people in seven states have been awarded funding and will produce 200 million over-the-counter tests to replenish federal stockpiles for government use, in addition to producing enough tests to meet demand for tests ordered online, the department said. Federal officials said that will help guard against supply chain issues that sparked some shortages of at-home COVID tests made overseas duri...

Catholic priests bless same-sex couples in defiance of a German archbishop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Several Catholic priests held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples outside Cologne Cathedral on Wednesday night in a protest against the city’s conservative archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.Their protest was triggered by Cologne church officials’ criticism of a priest from Mettmann, a town near Duesseldorf, who in March had held a “blessing ceremony for lovers” — including same-sex couples.Officials from the Cologne archdiocese, which Mettmann belongs to, had reprimanded the priest afterward and stressed that the Vatican doesn’t allow blessings of same-sex couples, German news agency dpa reported.The blessing of same-sex couples on Wednesday was the latest sign of rebellion of progressive believers in Germany’s most populous diocese with about 1.8 million members.Several hundred people showed up for the outdoor blessing service for same-sex and also heterosexual couples. Waving rainbow flags, they sang the Beatles hit “All You Need Is Love,” d...

The fall equinox isn't what you think it is

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Ask most people and they will tell you that the spring or fall equinox is the date when day and night are equal in length.That, however, is not actually the case.Day and night last for around the same time on the equinoxes, but it isn't exact.There is a term for when the two are exactly the same: equilux. Daylight saving time: Yes, Coloradans will still need to fall back in November What is the equinox, and when is it?The equinox is a very specific thing astronomically and happens on the same date and time no matter where you are.It is, put most simply, when the earth's axis is not tilted away or toward the sun.The earth experiences two equinoxes a year: the spring equinox, which marks the start of astronomical spring, and the fall equinox, which marks the start of astronomical fall. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up for alerts from the Pinpoint Weather team When the equinox happens is based on the equator, which is why it happens at the same time no matter where you a...

Police seek information on hit-and-run in NE Miami-Dade that left bicyclist dead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:04 GMT

Police seek the public’s help in finding information regarding a fatal hit-and-run in Northeast Miami-Dade that left a woman dead. According to Miami-Dade Police, the crash unfolded on Sunday at 10:01 a.m. in the vicinity of Northeast 205th Terrace and Northeast 14th Avenue and claimed the life of 20-year-old Maria Araujo Muniz de Souza, who was riding her bicycle to work. The driver of the subject vehicle fled the scene without offering assistance or reporting the crash. The description of the subject vehicle is as follows: a gold, four-door Toyota Tundra, model years 2007-2013, with visible damage to the right front corner. Officials urge anyone with information about this fatal hit-and-run, the subject vehicle or its driver to contact MDPD Detective E. Diaz at 305-471-3292. Those wishing to remain anonymous can reach out to Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers through various channels, including phone, 305-471-TIPS (8477) or 1-866-471-8477, the website www.CrimeStoppers305...