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As House debt ceiling vote nears, Biden shores up Democrats and McCarthy confident of GOP support

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

By LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING, STEPHEN GROVES and FARNOUSH AMIRI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Hard-fought to the end, the big debt ceiling and budget cuts package headed toward a crucial House vote Wednesday as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans for passage over fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent.Biden sent top White House officials to the Capitol to shore up support ahead of voting. McCarthy worked to sell skeptical fellow Republicans, even fending off challenges to his leadership, in the rush to avert a potentially disastrous U.S. default.“Everybody has a right to their own opinion, but on history, I’d want to be here with this bill today,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said as he arrived at the Capitol.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 nee...

Earth is ‘really quite sick now’ and in danger zone in nearly all ecological ways, study says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

By SETH BORENSTEIN (AP Science Writer)Earth has pushed past seven out of eight scientifically established safety limits and into “the danger zone,” not just for an overheating planet that’s losing its natural areas, but for well-being of people living on it, according to a new study.The study looks not just at guardrails for the planetary ecosystem but for the first time it includes measures of “justice,” which is mostly about preventing harm for countries, ethnicities and genders. The study by the international scientist group Earth Commission published in Wednesday’s journal Nature looks at climate, air pollution, phosphorus and nitrogen contamination of water from fertilizer overuse, groundwater supplies, fresh surface water, the unbuilt natural environment and the overall natural and human-built environment. Only air pollution wasn’t quite at the danger point globally.Air pollution is dangerous at local and regional levels, while climate...

US safety agency to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles and set tougher standards

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s auto safety agency plans to require that all new passenger cars and light trucks include potentially life-saving automatic emergency braking and meet stricter safety standards within three years.Wednesday’s announcement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration represents the agency’s latest move toward regulating electronic systems that take on certain tasks that drivers themselves have normally done. NHTSA has been reluctant in the past to impose regulations, saying the technology will change during the time it takes to enact new rules.Ann Carlson, the safety agency’s chief counsel, says 90% of new passenger vehicles already include the braking technology under a voluntary program that automakers have approved. But she says NHTSA wants to make the braking systems more effective at higher speeds and better at avoiding pedestrians.The regulation proposed by NHTSA will require, for example, that the systems allow v...

Theodoros Pangalos, outspoken Greek former foreign minister, dies at 84

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Theodoros Pangalos, a former Greek foreign minister known for his undiplomatic outbursts and on whose watch Greece suffered one of its most embarrassing foreign policy debacles in 1999, has died. He was 84.Pangalos’ family said on Twitter that he died on Wednesday “peacefully at home, surrounded by his family and close associates.”Caretaker Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas’ office expressed condolences, as did other leading Greek politicians. A statement from Sarmas’ office praised the “dynamic and decisive” former minister who stood out for his “sharp and substantial intellect.”Born on Aug, 17, 1938, Pangalos was the grandson of a former Greek military dictator. He studied law in Athens and economics in Paris, was involved in left-wing politics and actively opposed the new military regime of 1967-1974. He became a senior official in the Socialist Pasok party, founded by Andreas Papandreou, that dominated the political scene in most of the 1980s ...

At 83, Al Pacino is expecting a baby with 29-year-old Noor Alfallah

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Al Pacino, 83, and 29-year-old Noor Alfallah are expecting a baby, the actor’s representative confirmed Wednesday.Pacino’s publicist, Stan Rosenfield, verified the news first published by TMZ, but said there would be no statement at this time. The baby would be Pacino’s fourth child. He has a 33-year-old daughter, Julie Marie, with acting coach Jan Tarrant and 22-year-old twins Anton and Olivia with actor Beverly D’Angelo.Pacino and Alfallah reportedly began dating last year. She describes herself as a “raconteur” on her Instagram page and her IMDB page notes that she’s a producer on two movies currently in post-production, including the Pacino-starrer “Billy Knight.”Pacino’s baby news follows close on the heels of longtime friend and fellow actor Robert De Niro’s own. A representative for the 79-year-old actor confirmed earlier this month that De Niro had become a father for the seventh time, but few other details — includin...

FBI seeking photos, videos to identify suspects in Florida Memorial Day beach shooting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — The FBI is looking for any photos and videos that could help identify suspects in a Memorial Day shooting at a popular Florida beach promenade in which nine people were wounded, including a 1-year-old child.The FBI issued a statement Wednesday asking for people to upload any visual evidence from the shooting to a page on their website.“When the FBI has established digital media tip lines in the past, the public responded with a tremendous volume of information that is then reviewed by investigators,” the bureau statement said.Authorities are searching for three suspects in the shooting, which police said began as a group of people fought in front of a busy stretch of shops on the Hollywood Oceanfront Broadwalk around 7 p.m. Monday.Two 18-year-old men involved in the altercation have been arrested on firearms charges, police said. Five handguns have been recovered, including one that was reported stolen in the Miami area and another in Texas, they said. The sho...

Adaptation or recreation? The art of translating poetry into another language

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

TORONTO — Among the five works nominated for this year’s Griffin Poetry Prize is a collection from Iman Mersal, whose unflinching poems put in stark terms the realities of everyday life. But Mersal’s name is not alone on the cover of her collection, nor on the Griffin short list. If “The Threshold” wins the $130,000 prize, the Egypt-born, Edmonton-based professor will get only 40 per cent of it. The rest will go to Robyn Creswell, the American critic who translated the poems from their original Arabic and compiled them into the collection. The oft-overlooked art of poetry translation is not so simple as taking a sentence in one language and putting it in another, writers say. Poems are rich with double meaning, with esthetic choices that influence the feeling they’re meant to evoke, all of which a good translation will capture. “Words have history, right? The poems are universal — you can relate to a story of love or death — but sometimes the geog...

Stock market today: Wall Street slumps with markets worldwide

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is slumping with stock markets worldwide Wednesday as worries rise about the strength of the global economy and inflation.The S&P 500 was 0.8% lower in midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 261 points, or 0.8%, at 32,781, as of 11:20 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.Stock markets in Asia fell even more following discouraging data on manufacturing from China. The world’s second-largest economy has not been rebounding as strongly as many investors had hoped. That raises worries when economies around the world are contending with still-high inflation and much higher interest rates than a year earlier.Wall Street has been able to weather such concerns pretty well recently, largely because of big gains for a handful of tech companies and others getting swept up in the buzz around AI. The S&P 500 is still on track to close out a roughly flat May and may squeeze out a third straight winning month.But some o...

Summer-like weather brings 30-degree temperatures this week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

Toronto and surrounding areas have not seen 30-degree weather yet, but will finally hit that mark as temperatures remain above seasonal.CityNews 680 meteorologist Jill Taylor says the high for Wednesday reaches 30 degrees at around 3:00 p.m., the first time 30-degree weather in Toronto will happen this year.Seasonal temperatures for this time of year are usually around 22 degrees, but the weather at Toronto Pearson International Airport is currently 27 degrees.Similar highs of up to 30 degrees are expected Thursday and Friday, though the weekend will see sunny but more seasonal temperatures ranging from 24-26.There is no rain in the forecast for the weekend, though temperatures are expected to drop to the low 20’s and rain will return early next week.Summer officially arrives on Wednesday, June 21, at 10:58 a.m. ET.

Italy displays returned antiquities looted from London dealer Symes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:37 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italy on Wednesday displayed hundreds of antiquities that had been looted from Italian territory and were recovered from a London antiquities dealer.The 750 objects, which date from the 8th century BC and the medieval period, include an Etruscan three-legged bronze table, marble busts of men from the imperial age, and wall paintings that are believed to be from the area of Mt. Vesuvius.The Culture Ministry valued the items at 12 million euro ($12.79 million), according to a statement.They were in the possession of a London company in liquidation, Symes Ltd, owned by dealer Robin Symes.“The most complex moment was when the liquidators showed their availability (to return the objects), which was a willingness that implied a demonstration of illegality,” said Carabinieri Cmdr. Vincenzo Molinese, who is in charge of the carabinieri unit protecting cultural heritage. He said Symes didn’t provide documentation for the artifacts, but research showed the items had been illegally...