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DeSantis signs 6-week abortion ban in closed-door ceremony

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, giving the Republican a major conservative policy victory as he prepares to launch an expected presidential candidacy.DeSantis signed the measure late Thursday night in a private ceremony without fanfare, hours after the Republican-dominated statehouse approved the bill.The law will take effect only if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld in an ongoing legal challenge that is before the state Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservatives.For DeSantis, the late night, closed door bill signing was a departure from his usual bombastic style and signals the difficult political line he is walking on abortion politics ahead of his anticipated White House run. Restrictions, popular among some conservative GOP primary voters, are seen as potentially damaging among the broader electorate and have led to bruising losses at the ballot box for Republicans in recent mont...

US: Billing records helped ID suspect in military docs leak

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Billing records of an Internet social media platform helped the FBI identify a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman in the leak of highly classified military documents, according to court records unsealed Friday.The new details came as Jack Teixeira appeared in court to face charges of unauthorized removal and retention of classified and national defense information.A judge ordered him held until a detention hearing next week.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts Air National Guardsman arrested in the leak of highly classified military documents has arrived in federal court Friday as the Justice Department prepares to outline the criminal case against him.Jack Teixeira, 21, was arrested by heavily armed tactical agents on Thursday following a weeklong criminal investigation into the disclosure of highly sensitive government records, an alarming breach that exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments on th...

Supreme Court asked to preserve abortion pill access rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration and a drug manufacturer asked the Supreme Court on Friday to preserve access to an abortion drug free from restrictions imposed by lower court rulings, while a legal fight continues.The Justice Department and Danco Laboratories filed their emergency requests with the high court less than two days after an appeals court ruling in a case from Texas that had the effect of tightening the rules under which the drug, mifepristone, can be prescribed and dispensed.The new limits would take effect Saturday unless the court acts before then.The fight over mifepristone lands at the Supreme Court less than a year after conservative justices reversed Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.The justices are being asked for a temporary order to keep in place Food and Drug Administration regulations governing mifepristone. Such an order would give them time to more fully consider each side’s arguments without t...

Ukraine bans its athletes from tournaments where they may face Russians, Belarusians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

KYIV — The Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports issued a ban on national-level athletes entering Olympic and non-Olympic international sports competitions where they might face competitors from Russia or Belarus. The ministry also urged Ukrainian sports federations to monitor the participation of both Russians and Belarusians in upcoming competitions, and withdraw their athletes if they are taking part. Many Russian athletes are serving in the Russian army and have supported the invasion of Ukraine.“We lost diplomatically when the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee and Ministry of Sports failed to persuade IOC [the International Olympic Committee] to ban Russians. Now our athletes have become hostages of this situation,” said Zhan Beleniuk, a Ukrainian lawmaker and 2020 Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling. He had already started preparing for the fall qualification matches to get a license for the 2024 Paris Olympics. But now his participation, as ...

World needs Biden ‘in time of great danger,’ Irish foreign minister says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

DUBLIN – Joe Biden hasn’t yet officially announced whether he’ll run for U.S. president again – but the government of Ireland sees him as still the right man for the job.Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, who’s been by Biden’s side during much of the president’s three-day tour of the Republic of Ireland, says he’s convinced that what the world needs “at a time of great danger” is four more years of Biden.When asked whether he thought the 80-year-old Biden could remain sufficiently fit for a second term, Martin – a youthful 62 himself – said he’d seen enough of Biden’s hands-on energy to conclude that politics is the very thing that sustains him.“Certainly he draws energy from politics, he draws energy from people, and he’s a natural politician. There’s no waning of the appetite,” Martin said, referring in particular to their Wednesday tour of County Louth north of Dublin, when Biden pressed the flesh for hours in the border town of Dundalk and clambered around Carlingford Castle.RTÉ r...

Still Boston Strong: Donors, health care workers remember role of donated blood in saving lives after marathon bombing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

Blood donations were crucial in saving the lives of victims injured in the Boston Marathon bombing 10 years ago. A decade later, the spirit of generosity lives on as many in Boston remember the aftermath of the attack and continue efforts to help others. Mass General Blood Donor Services Manager Kim Cronin told 7NEWS 38 patients were brought to MGH “almost immediately” following the bombing. Of those patients, eight were considered critical, according to Cronin.“The key there was the blood needed to be at the emergency room by the time that they got there,” Cronin said.Minutes mattered in the race to save lives. But MGH was prepared. A South Boston law firm, Morrison Mahoney, hosted a blood drive just two weeks before the attack. All of the donated blood collected at that drive was processed and ready on April 15, 2013, when the bombs went off.  “We knew that this blood drive was the one that really had the blood already tested, ty...

Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher turns herself in on child neglect charge, her attorney says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

(CNN) — The mother of a 6-year-old student who shot his first-grade teacher in a classroom in Newport News, Virginia, earlier this year turned herself in Thursday on charges of child neglect and recklessly leaving a firearm so as to endanger a child, her attorney said.Deja Taylor surrendered to the Newport News Sheriff’s Office and was later released on $5,000 bond, attorney James Ellenson told CNN.The indictments against Taylor, 26, were announced Monday in a press release from the office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.Ellenson said in a statement Tuesday his client has no criminal record, has cooperated since the shooting occurred and planned to turn herself in before the end of the week.“As always, first and foremost is the continued health and wellbeing of all persons involved in the incident at Richneck Elementary School, to include both the teacher and Deja’s son,” the statement said.The charges were handed down three months after ...

Boeing discovers new issue with 737 Max jets but says they can continue flying

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

(CNN) — Boeing said it has discovered a manufacturing issue with some 737 Max aircraft, although it insisted the problem is not “an immediate safety of flight issue.”A supplier used a “non-standard manufacturing process” during the installation of two fittings in the rear fuselage, Boeing said in a statement to CNN.The company said Max jets can continue flying while inspections are underway and the Federal Aviation Administration said it “validated” that conclusion. It already subjects new 737 Max aircraft to greater scrutiny than it does other newly manufactured planes prior to delivery following two fatal 737 Max crashes.Boeing declined to say how many 737 Max planes are affected, beyond calling it a “significant number.” Shares are down nearly 6% in premarket trading.United Airlines said it doesn’t expect “any significant impact on our capacity plans for this summer or the rest of the year.” Southwest Ai...

Drug manufacturer asks Supreme Court to intervene in abortion drug dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

(CNN) — The manufacturer of a key medication abortion drug asked the Supreme Court on Friday to intervene in an emergency dispute over a Texas judge’s medication abortion drug ruling, requesting that the court step in now rather than wait for an appeal of the ruling to formally play out.The case is the most important abortion-related dispute to reach the high court since the justices overturned Roe v. Wade last term. It centers on the scope of the US Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate a drug that is used in the majority of abortions today in states that still allow the procedure.The Department of Justice is also expected to ask the justices to step in on an emergency basis before Friday night at midnight.The clock is ticking. If the Supreme Court does not step in, the district court’s ruling, as amended by a subsequent appeals court opinion, will go into effect Friday night at midnight, and access to the drug mifepristone...

How did Jack Teixeira earn Top Secret security clearance?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:52 GMT

Jack Teixeira, the Dighton 21-year-old Guardsman accused of leaking Top Secret government documents on the war in Ukraine, was granted that ultra-sensitive clearance in 2021, court documents show.An FBI affidavit in his case states that Teixeira “holds a Top Secret security clearance, which was granted in 2021.” The FBI agent adds that “based on (his) training and experience, I know that to acquire his security clearance, TEIXEIRA would have signed a lifetime binding non-disclosure agreement in which he would have had to acknowledge that the unauthorized disclosure of protected information could result in criminal charges.”