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1 dead, several injured in train crash near The Hague

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — One person died and some 30 passengers were injured, many of them seriously, when a train partially derailed near The Hague in the early hours of Tuesday, sending at least one carriage into a field next to the tracks, Dutch emergency services said. Television images showed one of the people using makeshift bridges to cross a canal running alongside the rails to reach the stricken train in the darkness. Many windows in the train carriages were broken. It was not clear if that happened during the accident or as passengers attempted to escape.Injured passengers were treated in homes near the rails and transported in a fleet of ambulances to hospitals, including a “calamity hospital” opened in the central city of Utrecht.The cause of the accident that happened around 3:25 a.m. (0125 GMT) in the town of Voorschoten, near The Hague, was not immediately clear. Dutch media reported that there was a small construction crane on the tracks, but authorities did not...

ADB forecasts China, India to power strong growth in ’23

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s recovery from the pandemic and strong demand in India will drive strong economic growth in Asia this year, the Asian Development Bank said in a report issued Tuesday. The Manila, Philippines-based ADB’s latest update forecasts an expansion of 4.8% in this year and the next, up from 4.2% in 2022. It said inflation would likely cool slightly this year and fall further in 2024. ADB economists said a weekend decision by oil producing nations to cut output, pushing oil prices sharply higher, might reignite inflationary pressures and add to challenges for the region. The report’s analysis was based on the assumption that Brent crude oil, the pricing basis for international trading, would average $88 a barrel this year and $90 a barrel next year. Oil prices remain below that level, with Brent at $83 on Monday. But they soared about 5% after Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers said they will cut production by 1.15 million barrels per day from May until th...

Australia pauses key interest rate at 3.6% after 10 hikes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 3.6% on Tuesday following evidence that inflation is falling.It was the first monthly meeting at which the Reserve Bank of Australia board did not hike the cash rate since April 6 last year.Australia’s annual inflation appears to have peaked in December at 8.4%, falling to 7.4% in January and 6.8% in February. The bank manipulates rates to keep inflation within a target band of between 2% and 3%.Bank Governor Philip Lowe said his board had halted the rise in interest rates to observe the full impact of the rate hike of 3.5 percentage points since May last year.“The board recognizes that monetary policy operates with a lag and that the full effect of this substantial increase in interest rates is yet to be felt,” Lowe said in a statement. “The board took the decision to hold interest rates steady this month to provide additional time to assess the impact of the increase in interest r...

Forecast warns of more severe storms in South, Midwest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

Forecasters are warning of more severe weather, including tornadoes, Tuesday in parts of the South and Midwest hammered just days ago by deadly storms.That could mean more misery for people sifting through the wreckage of their homes in Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois. Dangerous conditions also could stretch into parts of Missouri, southwest Oklahoma and northeast Texas. Farther south and west, fire danger will remain high.“That could initially start as isolated supercells with all hazards possible — tornadoes, wind and hail — and then over time typically they form into a line (of thunderstorms) and continue moving eastward,” said Ryan Bunker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma.Just last week, fierce storms that spawned tornadoes in 11 states killed at least 32 people as the system that began Friday plodded through Arkansas and traveled northeast through the South and into the Midwest and Northeast.The same conditions that fueled last week’s storms — an...

New Mexico recreational pot sales top $300M in 1st year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Recreational cannabis consumers bought just over $300 million in pot in New Mexico since sales without a prescription were legalized a year ago, the state cannabis control division said Monday.New Mexico legalized recreational marijuana on April 1, 2022, and brought sales to the doorstep of Texas, the largest prohibition state. Further legalization efforts stumbled last month as voters in Oklahoma rejected a ballot measure that would have made the state the 22nd in the U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana.In New Mexico, marijuana entrepreneurs have launched hundreds of retail outlets, farms and industrial kitchens for manufacturing cannabis products, including edible candies. There are now 633 registered cannabis retailers across the state of 2.1 million residents.Across the state, more than $27 million in excise taxes on recreational cannabis have been collected over the past 12 months. Local governments receive a minority share of the state’s 12% excise ta...

Gunmen kill 2 police in northwest Pakistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants in Pakistan shot at the country’s police force in a volatile northwestern province overnight, killing two officers, officials said Tuesday. The latest attack on police was made overnight in the Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan. Senior police officer Islamuddin Khan said two officers were on their way on motorcycle for protection duty at a mosque during the special night prayers in the holy month of Ramadan. Khan said the gunmen opened fire on the officers when they slowed at a turn, killing them on the spot. He said a search operation to arrest the shooters had begun. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.Two attacks last week in the same province that killed four officers and wounded six were claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.Pakistani Taliban is allied with but separate separate from Afghanistan’s Taliban. There has been an increase in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban since they unilaterally ...

Abortion access at stake in Wisconsin Supreme Court race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The fate of abortion access in battleground Wisconsin likely rests with Tuesday’s outcome of the heated race for state Supreme Court, with the future of Republican-drawn legislative maps, voting rights and years of other Republican policies also hanging in the balance.The Wisconsin Supreme Court has been under conservative control for 15 years, serving as the final word on a wide array of Republican policies enacted by the GOP-controlled Legislature. The court came within one vote of overturning President Joe Biden’s narrow win in 2020. Democratic-backed candidate Janet Protasiewicz faces Republican-backed Dan Kelly in the race that is the most expensive court race in U.S. history, nearly tripling the previous $15 million record set in Illinois in 2004.Democrats hope to win the race to wrest conservative control for at least the next two years, including the run-up and aftermath of the 2024 presidential election. Four of the past six presidential elections...

Dodgers use seven-run inning to blast Rockies 13-4 in first meeting of 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

New season, same David-vs.-Goliath storyline when the Rockies play the Dodgers.Los Angeles walloped Colorado 13-4 on Monday night in the first of 13 meetings between the divisional rivals this year. The Dodgers, owners of a 59-28 record against the Rockies over the past five seasons, added to that tally at Chavez Ravine thanks to a seven-run fifth.Colorado entered the bottom of that inning up 4-2, and Ryan Feltner was looking solid in his first start of the year in the back end of the rotation. But after two quick outs to start the frame, the game changed in a matter of about 10 minutes. L.A. chased Feltner and then proceeded to blast right-hander Jake Bird, punctuated by Jason Heyward’s two-run homer to make it 9-4.“(Feltner’s) got to smell the finish line there, and he just couldn’t do it,” Rockies manager Bud Black told reporters. “Then Jake came in and got a number of pitches up in the strike zone and they took advantage of it.“It’...

Russia to place nuclear weapons near Belarus' borders with NATO

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

Russia will move its nuclear weapons near the Belarusian borders, the Russian envoy said Sunday. This would place them at NATO's threshold, a move that could further escalate Moscow’s standoff against the West.One of Russia's most prominent nuclear signals since its invasion of Ukraine 13 month ago, President Vladimir Putin stated on March 26th that Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.Both Slav neighbors are officially part of a "union" state and have been in talks for many years to further integrate. This process has been accelerated since Minsk allowed Moscow access to Belarusian territory last year to send troops to Ukraine.Boris Gryzlov (Russian ambassador to Belarus) stated that the weapons would be moved to the west border of the union state, increasing the security possibilities."This will be done, despite all the noise from America and Europe."Gryzlov didn't specify the location of the weapons, but he confirmed that a storage facility would be built, as ...

Southern California native to pilot NASA's next mission to the moon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:03 GMT

On Monday, NASA announced the names of four astronauts scheduled to fly around the moon by the end of next year in a 10-day mission called Artemis II, and one member of the quartet is a Southern California native.Victor Glover, from Pomona, is a U.S. Navy Captain, a pilot and the first man of color to work on the international space station. He was also 1994 Athlete of the Year at Ontario High School. “I don’t think there is anything he couldn’t do, honestly. He was amazing,” Dave Cook, who was Glover's pole-vaulting coach in high school, said. “If we were doing a drill, he would want to do it over and over until he could get it right, the way it should’ve been done. So, he was driven, no doubt.”  Cook said he recently reunited with Glover at the National Pole-Vault Summit where the astronaut was the keynote speaker and surprised his former coach with a flag that was on the international space station. “I was moved, to say the least,” Cook said. “To say that I’m proud...