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Conservative Texas judge weighs challenge to abortion pill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A conservative federal judge in Texas heard arguments Wednesday from a Christian group seeking to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s more than 2-decade-old approval of an abortion medication, in a case that could threaten the most common form of abortion in the U.S.Lawyers for the group Alliance Defending Freedom asked Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk during the hearing in Amarillo, Texas, to issue an immediate order that would revoke or suspend the drug mifepristone’s approval. Such a step would be an unprecedented challenge to the FDA, which approved mifepristone in combination with a second pill as a safe and effective method for ending pregnancy in 2000.During a 90-minute presentation to the court, alliance attorney Erik Baptist told the judge that removing mifepristone from the market “would restore proper policing power to the states” — a reference to last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and left it to states to...

Newborn found dead in Iowa ditch; mom, granddad charged

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

The mother and grandfather of a newborn found dead in a ditch in Iowa have been charged with first-degree murder, and court documents say they told investigators the baby was still alive when they put him in a trash bag and abandoned him.Megan K. Staude, 25, of Norfolk, told police the child was born at home on Feb. 24, according to a police affidavit. She told authorities that she put him in a box and didn’t provide any care for two days before she and her father Rodney A. Staude, 64, put him in the bag.Rodney Staude also confessed and said he helped his daughter dispose of the bag in a ditch near Norwalk, according to the documents. Both the Staudes initially told police the baby died on the way to the hospital after it was born, authorities said. Megan Staude said she buried him in a cemetery in Cumming, Iowa, but authorities found no evidence of a fresh grave at the cemetery. Law enforcement officers received a tip from Megan Staude’s co-workers on March 8, leading to the ...

Montreal-born Adrien Morot on winning an Oscar with ‘The Whale’ star Brendan Fraser

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

LOS ANGELES — The Montreal-born makeup artist on “The Whale,” Adrien Morot, says his first Oscar wouldn’t mean as much if his friend Brendan Fraser didn’t come away with some hardware of his own. “If I would have won and Brendan didn’t, in some ways, I would have felt like I failed the movie,” Morot said Tuesday from his Los Angeles studio, who was back at work painting a pair of prosthetic hands and feet for another project.  “The makeup would have become a technicality — this is a movie with heart and it’s a movie about the performances of all the actors, the great direction of Darren Aronofsky, and sharing the Oscar with Brendan means the world.”Morot won best makeup and hairstyling at the Academy Awards ceremony Sunday night for his work on”The Whale,” alongside makeup artist Judy Chin and hairstylist Annemarie Bradley. Meanwhile Fraser, who was born in the U.S. to Canadian parents, earned a best actor win for his turn as Charlie, ...

UN says intense diplomacy under way to end 8-year Yemen war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Yemen said Wednesday that intense diplomatic efforts are underway to end the eight-year war in Yemen. He cited new regional and international momentum, including the recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who back rivals in the conflict.Hans Grundberg told the U.N. Security Council there has also been “a step change in the scope and depth of the discussions,” and he urged Yemen’s internationally recognized government and Houthi rebels “to seize the opportunities” created by the new momentum. He singled out continuing efforts by Saudi Arabia and Oman.Grundberg also indicated progress in talks on a prisoner exchange between the Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Houthis that are co-chaired by the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross. He urged the parties “to finalize the details of the current phase they have agreed on, including the implementation plan.”U.N. Assistant Secretary-...

Cyclone Freddy wanes after battering Malawi, Mozambique

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — After killing hundreds and displacing thousands as it barreled through Mozambique and Malawi since late last week, Cyclone Freddy has dissipated over land, although flooding remains a threat in both countries, a regional monitoring center said late Wednesday.The cyclone has killed at least 225 people in Malawi’s southern region including Blantyre, the country’s financial hub, according to local authorities. Another 88,000 people are displaced. In neighboring Mozambique, officials say at least 20 people have died since the storm made landfall in the port town of Quelimane on Saturday night. Over 45,000 people are still holed up in shelters, with about 1,300 square kilometers (800 square miles) still under water, according to the EU’s Copernicus satellite system.“There are many casualties — either wounded, missing, or dead and the numbers will only increase in the coming days,” said Guilherme Botelho, the emergency project coordinator in...

Blinken says Ethiopia must do more on Tigray peace deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia needs to make more progress implementing a peace agreement with its northern Tigray region before relations with the U.S. are normalized, visiting Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.Speaking in Addis Ababa, Blinken said Ethiopia must ensure “there are no ongoing gross violations of human rights” and establish an “inclusive and credible” transitional justice process after the two-year Tigray conflict.“Then our own ability to move forward on our engagement with Ethiopia, to include economic engagement, will also move forward,” Blinken said after meeting with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and others.Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the Tigray conflict before the peace agreement was signed in November. Communications, banking and other basic services in the region of more than 5 million people were cut off and recently began to resume.Out of concern for massacres, gang rapes and other abuses committed by all sides in the fighting, t...

Garcetti’s India envoy nomination passes Senate test vote

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appeared headed for confirmation Wednesday as the next U.S. ambassador to India, 20 months after he was initially selected for the post and amid fallout from a sexual harassment scandal involving a onetime top adviser.The nomination cleared a key test vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate, 52-42, with a final vote expected late Wednesday. The session began with uncertain prospects for Garcetti, a two-term, progressive Democrat first nominated to the prominent diplomatic post by President Joe Biden in July 2021. With several Democratic defections, Garcetti’s fate rested with enlisting Republicans in a chamber often divided along partisan line. He secured seven GOP votes to advance the nomination to a final vote. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said, “I met with him personally. He clearly has an enormous amount of expertise about India. India’s been two years without an ambassador, and that is far too long. And I...

Judge weighing abortion pill is favorite of conservatives

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas judge hearing a case that could throw into jeopardy access to the nation’s most common method of abortion is a former attorney for a Christian legal group who critics say is being sought out by conservative litigants because they believe he’ll be sympathetic to their causes.U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who’s considering a lawsuit aimed at putting a nationwide halt to use of the drug mifepristone, was appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed in 2019 over fierce opposition by Democrats over his history opposing LGBTQ rights. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone in the body and is used with the drug misoprostol to end pregnancy within the first 10 weeks.Kacsmaryk is hearing arguments in the case on Wednesday, days after he took the unusual step of telling attorneys during a status conference not to publicize the hearing because the case has prompted death threats and protests and he believed “ less advertisemen t of this ...

14-year-old boy seriously wounded in South Side drive-by shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

CHICAGO — A 14-year-old was seriously wounded following a drive-by shooting Wednesday morning in Greater Grand Crossing.At around 11:30 a.m., a 14-year-old boy was standing outside in the 100 block of West 74th Street when a vehicle drove by.At some point, multiple occupants of the vehicle fired shots at the boy, striking him in the stomach and right leg. He was transported to Comer Children's Hospital in serious condition. No suspects are in custody. CPD: 6 armed robberies conducted in under 2 hours on Southwest Side Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.

Rodgers plans to play for Jets in 2023, awaits Packers' move

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:27:57 GMT

Aaron Rodgers said Wednesday he intends to play for the New York Jets in 2023 after 18 seasons in Green Bay as the four-time NFL MVP quarterback waits for the Packers to trade him.Rodgers made his comments during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on YouTube and Sirius XM. The 39-year-old Rodgers said he believes the Packers want to move on and make 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love their starting quarterback. “At this point, as I sit here, I think since Friday I’ve made it clear that my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets,” Rodgers said. “I haven’t been holding anything up at this point. It’s been compensation the Packers are trying to get for me, kind of digging their heels in.” Report: Bears sign former Seahawks RB Travis Homer to 2-yr deal Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy has acknowledged the team granted the Jets permission to talk to Rodgers. The Jets sent a contingent that reportedly included owner Woody Johnson, coach Robert Sa...