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Biden to host Colombia leader Petro for White House talks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hosting Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House for talks next week, offering a high-profile visit to the leftist leader who has vowed to bring “total peace” to his nation of 50 million after six-decades of conflict.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that Biden and Petro during the April 20 visit will discuss economic and security cooperation as well as efforts to combat climate change, counter narcotics trafficking, migration, and more.Colombia’s government and its largest remaining rebel group – the communist-inspired National Liberation Army, known as ELN—launched talks in November shortly after Petro was elected president.Petro has called the talks with the ELN a cornerstone of his plan aimed at resolving a conflict that dates back to the 1960s.Some rural areas of Colombia are still under the grip of drug gangs and rebel groups despite a 2016 peace deal with the larger Revolutionary Armed...

‘Maisel’ costumes enhance storytelling with boldness, color

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — In the cavernous Brooklyn warehouse where “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” was filmed were towers of pillbox hats, double-stacked racks of dresses and coats in rainbow order, and vision boards teeming with fabric swatches.At an October set visit during the shooting of the comedy’s latest season, Emmy-winning costume designer Donna Zakowska gave marching orders to her team in order to translate the characters’ emotions and aesthetic tone of each scene. Over five seasons, Zakowska says she’s dressed nearly 50,000 principal actors and extras for Amazon Prime Video’s hit show, which launches its final season Friday.“Maisel” follows a New York City housewife who makes an unlikely turn to standup comedy in a journey of self-discovery after her husband’s infidelity blows up their conventional life.Before filming, Zakowska gave each player a once-over to ensure every shoe, brooch and belt looked right. When seeking inspiration, Zakowska often referred to what she called the...

FAA gives OK for SpaceX’s Starship test flight from Texas

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX has cleared the final hurdle for launching its new giant Starship from Texas as early as next week on a first test flight.The Federal Aviation Administration issued the long-awaited license on Friday. SpaceX announced that Starship — the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket — could soar as soon as Monday. No people or satellites will be aboard the 394-foot (120-meter) rocket. SpaceX will attempt to send the spacecraft atop the colossal booster around the world, from the southern tip of Texas all the way to Hawaii. The first stage will be discarded in the Gulf of Mexico and the spacecraft into the Pacific. No landings will be attempted for this debut.It will be the first launch attempt of a full-size Starship, made of shiny stainless steel and powered by methane-fueled engines.The FAA said SpaceX had met all requirements, including safety and environmental. The license is valid for five years.“We carefully analyzed the public safety risks ...

22 overdoses in one night: Ex-paramedic looks back on 7th anniversary of B.C. crisis

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

VANCOUVER — Brian Twaites remembers the first time he realized toxic drugs in British Columbia had hit a crisis level.On one shift as a paramedic, he handled 26 calls and more than 22 of them were drug overdoses.“Twenty-two of them were narcotic overdoses that we actually resuscitated,” he said.“Another couple of those calls were, unfortunately, cardiac arrests and were more than likely related to drug poisonings but we were unable to resuscitate those people, and then there were a couple of other general medical calls that I did in that shift. “I think that was a big realization of how hard it hit us.”That was in either 2016 or 2017. It’s difficult to remember for sure, he said, as the increasing number of calls have become a bit of a blur.On April 14, 2016, B.C. became the first jurisdiction in Canada to declare a public health emergency over the increasing number of overdoses in the province.At the time, officials said there had been 474 overdoses in 2015 and the numbers we...

Canada’s pledge to make more vaccines at home is still a work in progress

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

OTTAWA — The COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t even six months old, and not a single vaccine for it had been approved for use anywhere, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to a podium in Montreal to promise that Canada’s National Research Council would be able to start churning out millions of doses by the end of 2021.Nearly 1,000 days later, it hasn’t produced even one dose for clinical use.But that day is coming.Earl Brown, a virologist and professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa, said getting a new plant from the ground up was never going to happen in less than a year.“As soon as I heard that, I thought, ‘Well gee, that’s overly optimistic by a couple or three years.’ You have to have an objective, but that one wasn’t realistic.”Still, Brown said if another coronavirus pandemic hits the world, Canada is now in a better position to make its own vaccines and medicines than it was when COVID-19 arrived three years ago.“We...

Montana lawmakers pass bill to ban social media app TikTok

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana lawmakers gave final passage Friday to a bill banning the social media app TikTok from operating in the state, a move that’s bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America many national lawmakers have envisioned.The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte for his consideration. The state House voted 54-43 to pass the bill, which goes further than prohibitions in place in nearly half the states and the U.S. federal government that prohibit TikTok on government devices. Montana already bans the app on state-owned devices.TikTok spokesprson Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement that “We will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach.” The bill’s supporters “have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices and that the ...

Ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not running for president

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday he will not enter the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.The former secretary of state said on Fox News that he would not seek the GOP nomination in a contest that would have put the devoted ally and defender of Donald Trump into competition with his former commander in chief.Pompeo would have been the second former Trump Cabinet member to enter the race to challenge the former president for the 2024 GOP nomination, joining former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who announced her campaign in February. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also considering entering the race and has stepped up his travel and activity in early-voting primary and caucus states.Thomas Beaumont And Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press

Mexico’s president vows to eliminate national news agency

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Friday he will shut down Notimex, a national news agency that has been locked in a years-long strike against the woman he appointed to run it.Founded in 1968, Notimex was generally a non-political service that mainly sent news reports from Mexico’s 32 states, many of which weren’t covered much by Mexico’s national newspapers, which are almost all based in Mexico City. Analysts said it is the latest chapter in an effort by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to control or quash independent government media, scientific or cultural bodies. López Obrador said Friday that there is no longer a need for Notimex, saying his carefully orchestrated morning news briefings are enough to keep the country informed. “We do not need a government news agency anymore. That was from the era of press statements,” López Obrador said. “It is not something that we need as a government. We have the mañanera” — his daily news briefing.The unionized workers ...

‘Exhausted’ Indiana city waits for all-clear after big fire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) — An evacuation order for people living near an extraordinary plastics fire in Indiana stretched into a fourth night Friday as officials acknowledged “our community is exhausted,” longing to return home and anxious about possible adverse health effects.Richmond Fire Chief Tim Brown said the fire was declared under control Thursday night. But crews would be on duty all weekend to extinguish any hot spots at the 14-acre (5-hectare) former factory site.Mayor Dave Snow said experts would meet Saturday to discuss air quality and other environmental issues related to the fire, all needed before lifting an evacuation order for a half-mile (1 kilometer) radius of the blaze.“I know our community is exhausted from this emergency,” said Christine Stinson, director of the Wayne County health department. At least 1,500 people live in the evacuation zone, though it’s not known how many residents actually obeyed the call to get out when the fire began Tuesday afternoon in...

'What were asking for isn't hard': Chicago advocates to march in DC for federal ban on assault weapons

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:52 GMT

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. -- Advocates fighting for a federal ban on assault weapons are taking their message all the way to the nation's capitol, once again hoping to convince congress to pass the legislation.Congressman Brad Schneider (D-10) is one of the lawmaker pushing for a federal ban on assault weapons. He, alongside members of the community, headed back to Washington D.C. Monday hoping to see the legislation passed sooner than later."What were believe is what we're asking for isn't hard and it's not complicated," Kitty Brandtner, founder and co-president of March Fourth.After the recent shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville where six people, including three 9-year-old children were killed, March Fourth founder Kitty Brandtner decided to take her message back to Washington D.C.Brandtner hopes the march, scheduled for this upcoming Monday, pushes congress to act on passing a federal ban on assault weapons."Congress needs to act, the country needs to act," Congressman Scheneid...