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Zoo Miami ends kiwi petting experience after outcry from New Zealanders

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

(CNN) — A US zoo has apologized after video showing a kiwi named Paora being handled by humans sparked outrage in New Zealand, where the species is the national bird.The protests began after video footage of so-called “kiwi encounters” at Zoo Miami were posted on social media, showing the flightless bird being handled by visitors and kept awake by artificial lighting.Wildlife photographer Holly Neill, who posted a video showing clips of the encounters, said it was “appalling” to see a kiwi treated this way.“It’s being kept awake during the day despite being a nocturnal species. When it runs to hide in a dark box, they open the lid,” she wrote.“For $ 23.36 USD, Miami Zoo will let you disrupt a nocturnal, endangered kiwi by forcing it into artificial lighting and allow you to touch it. I’m so upset about the welfare of this kiwi.”The birds, which once numbered around 12 million in New Zealand, have seen their population plummet to just 68,000, according to the Save the Kiwi charity, a...

BSO search for missing 16-year-old girl from Pampano Beach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

Broward Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help to locate 16-year-old Raziah Peterson missing from Pompano Beach.According to detectives, Peterson was last seen at around 8:30 p.m., on Tuesday, May 16, in the 1300 block of Northwest 18th Drive in Pompano Beach. She was last seen wearing a white shirt and unknown color pants. Peterson is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs around 150 pounds. She has red hair and brown eyes.Anyone with information on Peterson’s whereabouts should contact BSO Detective Chris Blankenship at 954-321-4268 or the BSO non-emergency number 954-764-4357.

Ron DeSantis Has a Problem. It’s Florida.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

Ron DeSantis is set to join the 2024 campaign amid high Republican hopes that he’s precisely the kind of conservative who can knock off President Joe Biden. But the odds are stacked against him.The problem isn’t really Biden, or even former President Donald Trump, who leads the Florida governor in early GOP polls. It’s his state and the weight of history.No Florida politician has ever been elected president. A half-dozen have run in the last 50 years — essentially the period in which the state evolved from political backwater to electoral powerhouse — but all have ended up in the same place, dead in the water long before the nominating convention. Most never even made it past New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.The curse of Florida Man — and to date, every Florida presidential candidate has been male — lingers despite the fact that the state is an ideal proving ground for a White House bid. Winning statewide office requires campaigning in two time zones, 10 TV markets, and a...

Plan to return decommissioned Leopard 2 tanks to Germany wins backing of Swiss executive branch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland’s executive branch on Wednesday threw its weight behind a proposal to decommission 25 out-of-service Leopard 2 battle tanks that Germany’s government wants returned to the German manufacturer to help plug gaps in Berlin’s arsenal after it shipped tanks of its own to Ukraine.The Federal Council, the Swiss seven-member executive body, said it backs a proposal from a key parliamentary security-policy committee to decommission the tanks and re-export them to Germany. Defense Minister Viola Amherd is expected to endorse the plan a speech to the lower house of the legislature next month. Any such re-export would also require the backing of the upper house at its session in September, and a subsequent go-ahead from the Swiss economy minister. The tanks would be sent only on condition that they would be returned to manufacturer Rheinmetall — and not go to Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led Switzerland to grapple with its longtime,...

Stock market today: Wall Street dips as markets drop worldwide

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A worldwide swoon for financial markets is carrying over to Wall Street, and stocks are slipping further. The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower in early trading Wednesday, a day after dropping 1.1% as the U.S. government creeps closer to a possibly disastrous default on its debt. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also fell. Other markets around the world were hit even harder as discouraging figures piled up on the economy. Kohl’s jumped 15% after reporting a surprise profit for its latest quarter, helped in part by momentum at its Sephora beauty shops. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.U.S. markets followed global stock markets lower early Wednesday as the U.S. government crept closer to a catastrophic debt default.Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined more than 0.3%.The longstanding Washington debate over the size and scope of the federal government now has just days to be resolved, ...

South Korea experts say Japan carefully answered questions on plan to release radioactive water

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The head of a South Korean team of experts said Wednesday they saw all of the facilities they had requested to visit at Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and Japanese officials had carefully answered their questions about a contentious plan to release treated but still slightly radioactive water into the sea, a sign of a further thawing of ties between the countries.During their two-day visit, which was closed to the media, officials from the Japanese government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, showed the 21-member delegation facilities related to treatment, safety checks, transport and dilution of the waste water. The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns.The water release has particularly been a sensitive issue between Tokyo and Seoul, which a...

Authorities capture 1 inmate who escaped Ohio prison, but convicted murderer still on the lam

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

LIMA, Ohio (AP) — One of two inmates who escaped from an Ohio prison was captured early Wednesday in Kentucky after a police pursuit of a stolen car the men were believed to be in ended in a crash and a foot chase, authorities said.James Lee, 47, was captured at the scene but Bradley Gillespie, 50, remained at large. Gillespie has been imprisoned since 2016 for murder, while Lee was serving a sentence he received in 2021 for burglary and safecracking.The two men were reported missing from the Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio on Tuesday, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Officials have not disclosed further details, including how the escape occurred or when the men were discovered missing.The vehicle chase in Henderson, Kentucky, began when officers spotted a car the men were believed to be traveling in and tried to stop it. A chase ensued and the crash occurred a short time later. Both inmates then fled the scene on foot.Residents...

US announces $524 million in new aid for Horn of Africa drought, climate crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States announced at a U.N. conference on Wednesday nearly $524 million in additional humanitarian aid for the Horn of Africa that aims to put a spotlight on the extreme effects of climate change and the worst drought in the region in 40 years — and the need for more than $5 billion.The U.N. has appealed for $7 billion and has received just $1.6 billion — far from enough to help the 43.3 million people in need of assistance in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya or even just the 21 million among them who don’t have access to enough food.The United States is the largest provider of humanitarian aid to the region, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the pledging conference that the $524 million in new funds will bring the total U.S. humanitarian contribution to the region to $1.4 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.When Thomas-Greenfield visited the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in September, she said she heard firs...

Statistics agency: Migration from Russia to Finland at record levels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — Migration from Russia to neighboring Finland was at record levels last year, higher than figures seen after the collapse of the Soviet Union over 30 years ago, the Finnish statistics agency said Wednesday.Citing official 2022 immigration data, Statistics Finland said just over 6,000 people immigrated from Russia to the Nordic country of 5.5 million last year. Some 94% of those had Russian citizenship and the figure was almost equally divided between males and females.When the Soviet Union was brought down at the end of 1991, some 5,500 people migrated from the fallen empire to Finland that year.The number of migrants Finland received from Russia hovered between 1,700 and 2,600 annually in 1992-1995, the agency said, adding that the yearly figure remained below 3,100 until 2021.Senior statistician Juhana Nordberg from Statistics Finland said there was a temporal connection between last year’s migration figure and Russia’s war in Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24...

Biden judicial nominee Wamble withdraws from consideration, cites nearly 2-year wait for action

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal prosecutor tapped by President Joe Biden to become a U.S. district judge in Kansas has withdrawn from consideration, citing the nearly two-year wait for action on his nomination. Jabari Wamble is Biden’s second judicial nominee to withdraw this month. Attorney Michael Delaney backed out of consideration for the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week in a rare judicial defeat for the Democratic president. Delaney did not have enough support in the Senate Judiciary Committee to send his candidacy on to the full Senate for confirmation.Wamble wrote to Biden that he had been “humbled and honored by the faith you placed in me with this nomination” but said he was withdrawing his name from consideration for appointment to the U.S. District Court for Kansas. “My path to this nomination began more than 18 months ago and after careful thought and consideration I feel that it is best for me to continue my work at the United States Atto...