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US orders pull-out of many embassy personnel in Niger

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

The U.S. government is ordering many U.S. embassy personnel to temporarily leave Niger amid the country’s military coup.The State Department announced Wednesday evening that it was ordering “non-emergency U.S. government personnel” and their families to leave Niger. A core group of staffers will remain, and the facility will not close. But the embassy has “suspended routine services, and is only able to provide emergency assistance to U.S. citizens in Niger.” Such orders typically apply primarily to American citizens and it was not immediately clear if it would apply to non-U.S. citizens employed by the embassy.The decision was made “out of an abundance of caution,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in the announcement. He noted that “commercial flight options are limited.” It was not clear how or exactly when the embassy personnel and their relatives could be taken out, but chartered flights are a potential option.The decision to pull U.S. diplomats out of the West ...

Rishi Sunak could get mobbed (and bag a trade deal) when he heads to India

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak might struggle to set pulses racing at home. But Downing Street hopes for a different story when the U.K. prime minister visits India next month.His ascent has already been hailed by the country’s press. “Indian son rises over the empire” read a headline by major broadcaster NDTV as Sunak entered Downing Street last year. The Times of India ran a piece on the shift “from age of empire to Rishi Raj.”As Sunak prepares to travel to India for the first time since he took office, U.K. officials believe the prime minister — born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent and with strong family ties there — will receive a warm welcome.“There’s going to be enormous excitement about Rishi,” a senior member of the U.K. government who has already travelled to India for G20 meetings this year said.“Every single Indian person I spoke to asked about Rishi — they regard it as a sort of reverse takeover, having been the subject of colonial rule by Britain. Now some...

Orioles lose to Jays, 4-1, after Fujinami plunks 2 with bases loaded in sloppy 6th: ‘I wanted to get an out so bad’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

Shintaro Fujinami, the Orioles’ lone bullpen addition ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, brings tremendous upside. Wednesday’s outing showed his downside.Inheriting two runners from rookie starter Grayson Rodriguez with two outs in the sixth of Baltimore’s matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays, Fujinami issued a four-pitch walk, then hit consecutive batters, allowing both of Rodriguez’s runners to score before an error by shortstop Jorge Mateo brought in another. The three scores in a hitless inning provided the final margin in Baltimore’s 4-1 defeat at the Rogers Centre.“I wanted to get an out so bad,” Fujinami said through interpreter Issei Kamada. “Grayson was doing a great job today. I didn’t want to give up a run, and I just put too much pressure on myself.”At the cost of sending No. 30 prospect Easton Lucas to the Oakland Athletics, Fujinami was a tantalizing acquisition for the Orioles (66-42), with his high-veloc...

Chicago White Sox snap their scoreless streak at 26 innings, but still suffer 11-1 blowout loss to the Texas Rangers: ‘We have to figure it out’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

Dylan Cease didn’t make it out of the second inning.Pedro Grifol was ejected in the third.The Chicago White Sox offense, meanwhile, put up zero after zero for the third straight game.It was another tough night for the Sox, who were blown out by the Texas Rangers 11-1 on Wednesday in front of 28,735 at Globe Life Field.“It was a rough one,” Cease said of his start. “Not enough strikes, not enough execution and they did a good job of hitting it.”The Sox lost for the ninth time in 11 games and are a season-high 23 games under .500 at 43-66.The rough times continued for the Sox offensively as they saw a scoreless streak extend to 26 innings before Seby Zavala hit a home run with two outs in the eighth.“We’re hitting too many groundballs,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “They’re pitching us down in the zone and we’re hitting too many groundballs. We chased quite a bit today, too. We’re not putting good swings on hittable...

Gas prices increase for ninth day in San Diego County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Gas prices are soaring across the country and here at home in San Diego during the peak of summer.“Oil prices are going up and they are pushing gas prices up around the country. That is because of increased trading activity related to the effects of the Saudi oil production cut now being felt in the marketplace, as well as that lack of Russian oil,” said Marie Montgomery, spokesperson for AAA Southern California.In San Diego County, the price of gas has gone up for nine consecutive days, bringing the county average to about $5.10 Wednesday.The current average is the highest amount per gallon drivers have seen since last November.“I notice. I’m trying to save a penny I can right now and it seems like everything is going up these days,” Jacob Ardis said. 2 San Diego spots among best mom-and-pop shops in US: Yelp San Diegans are paying about 12 cents more per gallon than they were a week ago and 21 cents more than one month ago.“I definitely try to look for the cheapest ...

Human remains found in search for Australian army helicopter that crashed at sea with 4 crew aboard

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The search for an Australian army helicopter that crashed at sea killing four people during a military exercise with the United States last week found human remains but not the black box crucial to explaining the tragedy, an officer said on Thursday.Retrieving the bodies of the four air crew and the black box flight data recorder have been the main priorities since an MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crashed on July 28 during a nighttime operation in the Whitsunday Islands off the northeast Australian coast.An underwater drone spotted the human remains and part of the cockpit at a depth of 40 meters (131 feet) on Wednesday, said Army Lt.-Gen. Greg Bilton, who is coordinating the operation.“The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic, high impact” with the ocean surface, Bilton told reporters.The Australian navy would soon deploy specialized equipment to retrieve the wreckage and remains, he said.The search and recovery operation, which has involved the U.S....

Hurricane Dora intenstifies far from Mexico’s Pacific coast, poses no threat to land, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Dora grew into a major Category 3 hurricane Wednesday far off Mexico’s western Pacific coast but will not be a threat to land, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.Officials said Dora was located 700 miles (1,130 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, packing winds of 125 mph (205 kph). It was moving west, away from land, at 16 mph (26 kph).Forecasters say that while the storm is expected to grow even stronger with winds as high as 145 mph (235 kph), it will probably weaken by later in the week.The Associated Press

Gunman and police dog killed in confrontation at community college campus in San Diego

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego police shot and killed a gunman who fatally wounded a police dog Wednesday in a confrontation at a community college campus, authorities said.The 33-year-old man was pronounced dead at a hospital after the confrontation at San Diego Mesa College, according to a statement from San Diego County sheriff’s homicide Lt. Joseph Jarjura. His name wasn’t immediately released.Police were investigating a report that the driver of a white Tesla had shot at another driver at around 1:30 a.m., Jarjura said.The Tesla was being driven erratically and the other motorist heard a gunshot as he drove around the vehicle, according to Jarjura.The Tesla then followed the motorist to a location where he parked and more shots were fired. The motorist wasn’t struck but one bullet went into a nearby home, although nobody inside was injured, Jarjura said.Officers searched the area and located the Tesla. They saw the suspect, a 33-year-old male, in the driver’s seat with ...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to appear in Houston court hearing for his securities fraud trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, awaiting the start of a separate impeachment trial, is set to appear in a Houston courtroom Thursday to discuss his nearly decade-long delayed trial on securities fraud charges.It’s unclear if any decision will be made during the court hearing on when Paxton might finally go to trial on felony charges of defrauding investors in a tech startup. He was indicted in 2015.The case is back in a Houston courtroom after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a decision last month by a judge who originally oversaw the case to move the proceedings out of Paxton’s hometown near Dallas. Paxton has spent years fighting to keep the trial in Collin County, where he maintains wide support among GOP activists and his wife, Angela Paxton, is a state senator.Paxton was scheduled to appear in court during the hearing, said Philip Hilder, one of Paxton’s lawyers. Paxton has rarely appeared in court for hearings in the securities fraud case....

Reenactment of Florida school massacre will bring gunfire back to Parkland campus

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:12 GMT

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Gunfire will again ring out at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Friday as a reenactment of the 2018 massacre that left 17 dead, 17 wounded and hundreds emotionally traumatized is conducted as part of lawsuits filed by the victims’ families and the injured. Ballistics experts for the families will conduct the test, firing up to 139 shots inside a three-story classroom building as part of the lawsuit against the families’ primary targets: the school’s then-assigned deputy, Scot Peterson, and his employer, the Broward Sheriff’s Office. They will fire live ammunition from the sames spots gunman Nikolas Cruz did on Feb. 14, 2018, with an identical AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. The bullets will be caught by a safety device. Outside, technicians will record the shots, seeking to show what Peterson heard during the six-minute attack. The school is closed for summer break and students and teachers are not on campus. Pet...