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Biden to visit fire-ravaged Maui on Monday as search efforts continue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

(CNN) — President Joe Biden will journey Monday to fire-ravaged Maui to witness up close the devastation left by an inferno more than a week ago and assess for himself a government response that some residents initially found lacking.Monday’s trip will bring Biden to the scene of the deadliest American wildfire in more than 100 years. His initial response to the Maui wildfires drew criticism earlier this month, mainly from Republicans, who seized upon a lengthy period of public silence from the White House as the death toll rose.With hundreds of people still unaccounted for, the death toll is still expected to rise, as emergency responders and cadaver dogs search through the incinerated wasteland for victims. Biden is planning to name a senior federal emergency official to oversee long-term recovery efforts during his visit.The trip will provide Biden an opportunity to demonstrate in-person compassion for a community shaken by the disaster, and to dispel some of the early backlash a...

Popular Dutch politician shakes up November election with new party

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

Pieter Omtzigt, a longtime member of the Dutch center-right Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), has created a new party to fight for votes in November’s election.Omtzigt announced the new party, called New Social Contract, on social media on Sunday night, and gave some more details during an interview with Dutch newspaper Tubantia.“I look forward to working with a great group of people to really implement the proposals we have made in the chamber in recent years in the field of good governance and livelihood security, for example,” Omtzigt — who initially left the CDA in 2021 to become an independent — said on his website.The party does not have a list of candidates yet, but Omtzigt said they are “talking to people.”“Next week there will be a call on our website for people who want to join us to come forward,” he said. “We have until October 9 to come up with an electoral list.”Omtzigt’s new party threatens to roil the Dutch political landscape ahead of NovemberR...

Spain rails against football chief who kissed World Cup winner on the lips

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales is under fire for “sexual violence” on Monday, after kissing a victorious Spain player on the lips after the Women’s World Cup final on Sunday. As the Spanish players were presented with their gold medals by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Rubiales — who kissed and vigorously hugged multiple Spanish players during the ceremony — tightly gripped Jenni Hermoso’s head in his hands and planted a kiss on her lips. In Instagram Live footage from Spain’s locker room celebrations, Hermoso said that she “didn’t like it.” And Spain’s left-wing politicians went much further. Equality Minister Irene Montero, from the left-wing Podemos party, said: “Let’s not take it for granted that kissing without consent is something that ‘happens.’ It is a form of sexual violence that we women suffer on a daily basis and until now invisible, and that we cannot normalize. It is the task of socie...

Lawrence father drowns trying to save child, child’s mother from fast-moving river in NH

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

A Massachusetts man drowned in New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon while trying to rescue his child and his child’s mother from a fast-moving river. New Hampshire state troopers responding to a possible drowning in the Swift River in Albany around 12:33 p.m. learned that a family from Massachusetts was on the Passaconaway roadside when a mother and child became stuck in an area with fast-moving water, according to police.That’s when the father attempted to rescue them and ultimately became stuck in the current himself. The mother and child got to shore and bystanders helped get the victim to shore, where they performed CPR. He was later pronounced dead. His name has not been relased.Anyone who witnessed the incident or has additional details is asked to contact New Hampshire State Police – Marine Patrol Lieutenant Crystal McLain at (603) 227-2113 or [email protected] is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Summery Start

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

What a day we had for ourselves yesterday as sunshine won out, and temps topped off in the low to mid 80s with the humidity in check. With so many unsettled days this summer, it was great to sneak in a fantastic pool/beach day over the weekend. Can we do it again today? Sort of. The temps run back into the mid to even a few upper 80s, so no doubt it’ll be warm. It’ll be more humid too with dew points sliding back into the mid 60s. We’ll have more clouds today, filtering and fading the sun at times and after 3pm, it’s fair game for a few isolated to scattered showers/rumble of thunder to pop up too. About 30% of us will pick up a shower/storm, and most of them will be brief. That means if you’re planning that pool or beach day, most of the day turns out dry, get keep an eye out for that possible brief interruption late afternoon. Those scattered showers/storm will be ahead of a cold front that slips through overnight tonight. On the other side of that f...

Patriots-Packers film review: Mac Jones makes subtle progress and 29 more takeaways

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

If the Patriots allow Mac Jones to face pressure at the rate he did Saturday against the Packers, there’s a non-zero chance he will finish the season in a hospital bed.But if Jones stares down that pressure, and beats it with the regularity he managed in Green Bay, the Pats should be playoff-bound.This is the place Bill O’Brien’s offense finds itself through two preseason games: caught between the hope of Jones’ improvement under new coaching and the harsh reality that another free rusher is just around the corner. Both of the sacks Jones took in Saturday’s exhibition killed drives. Packers edge-rusher Kingsley Enagbare strong-armed his way into Jones’ lap on the first, then cracked him from behind with no notice on the second.But around those sacks, Jones went 3-of-4 for 45 yards against pressure, per the Herald’s charting. On his final series, Jones hit rookie receiver Demario Douglas to convert on third-and-10, then lofted a 17-yard compl...

Lucas: A tale of two bridge projects

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

Who will prevail in the Battle of the Bridges?Will it be Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in her attempt to rebuild the Long Island Bridge at cost of $100 million?Or will it be Gov. Maura Healey who is attempting to replace the two ancient Cape Cod bridges, first the Sagamore and then the Bourne, for $4.5 billion?The Long Island Bridge, dedicated in 1951, was demolished in 2014 after it was deemed unsafe, although its underpinnings are still in place.At its dedication, former Boston Mayor Maurice Tobin, then Secretary of Labor, called the bridge “a symbol of compassion” in that it connected “the aged, the infirm, the needy and the lame” to medical and caring facilities on Long Island.Mayor Wu would like the bridge to represent the same thing, only now for those afflicted by drugs and despair. The bridge is her effort to cope with the increasing number of drug addicted people who have turned Boston’s Mass and Cass area into the New England center of addiction, homelessness, dread and death.S...

Southern California prepares for more floods as Tropical Storm Hilary soaks from coast to desert

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tropical Storm Hilary deluged arid parts of Mexico and then drenched Southern California from the coast to inland mountains and deserts, forcing rescuers to pull several people from swollen rivers. Millions expected more flooding and mudslides Monday, even as the storm begins to weaken.The storm first made landfall in Mexico’s arid Baja California Peninsula on Sunday in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles (250 kilometers) south of Ensenada. One person drowned. It then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border. The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary dropped more than half an average year’s worth of rain on some areas, including the desert resort city of Palm Springs, which saw nearly 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of rain by Sunday evening.Forecasters warned of dangerous flash floods across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, and fire officials ...

Thailand’s Pheu Thai party joins with pro-military parties in coalition to form new government

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s populist Pheu Thai party announced Monday that it plans to form a new government with an 11-party coalition that includes two pro-military parties affiliated with outgoing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.Parliament is expected to confirm the country’s 30th prime minister on Tuesday after a three-month stalemate following elections in May. Pheu Thai leader Chonlanan Srikaew said the coalition partners have agreed to nominate real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin as the new leader.Pheu Thai finished second in the elections but received a chance to form a government after members of the conservative unelected Senate repeatedly blocked the surprise winner, the progressive Move Forward Party. Both houses of Parliament vote together for the prime minister under the military-implemented constitution, in an arrangement designed to protect conservative military-backed rule.Many Senate members, appointed by a Prayuth-led military government, opposed Move Forward...

Zelenskyy thanks Danes in person for F-16s, though the planes won’t have an immediate war impact

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:27 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Danish lawmakers on Monday for helping his country resist Russia’s invasion, a day after Denmark and the Netherlands announced they will provide Kyiv with American-made F-16 warplanes that could be delivered around the end of the year.Zelenskyy told the lawmakers in Copenhagen that if Russia’s invasion is successful, other parts of Europe would be at risk from the Kremlin’s military aggression.“All of Russia’s neighbors are under threat if Ukraine does not prevail,” he said in a speech.Zelenskyy portrays Ukraine as defending Western values of freedom and democracy against tyranny. He has argued that Ukraine needs to be properly provisioned to fend off Russia’s much bigger force. Ukraine has been pressing its Western allies for months to give it F-16s. Its armed forces are still using aging Soviet-era combat planes from the 1970s and ’80s, and its counteroffensive against Russian positions is advancing w...