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Vote counting starts in Madagascar election marked by low turnout and boycotted by most candidates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — Polling stations closed and the counting of votes began Thursday in Madagascar in a presidential election that was boycotted by the majority of candidates following weeks of unrest and court battles.A low voter turnout marked the election, as many people appeared to heed a call by a collective of 10 candidates to stay away from voting booths. Civil society groups had also called for a postponement of the election.The country’s elections management body, Céni, is expected to announce late Thursday the first nationwide trend, based on the counting of 60% of the votes cast in major cities, before proclaiming the “provisional consolidated results” between Nov. 24 and Nov. 25.It will then be up to the country’s High Constitutional Court to proclaim the official results of the election at the beginning of December. A runoff has been scheduled for Dec. 20 if none of the candidates attain more than 50 percent from Thursday’s vote.But the opposition has alread...

RSV is straining some hospitals, and US officials are releasing more shots for newborns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — RSV infections are rising sharply in some parts of the country, nearly filling hospital emergency departments in Georgia, Texas and some other states.To help counter the surge, federal officials on Thursday announced they were releasing 77,000 doses of a new RSV shot for newborns that have been in short supply.Reports of the seasonal virus are rising nationally, but experts said RSV is not expected to generate the kind of patient traffic seen last fall, when hospital emergency departments were overwhelmed with sick, wheezing kids.Nevertheless, it will get worse and the virus may be intense in some places, said Dr. Meredith McMorrow, an RSV expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.In Virginia, 20 kids are currently hospitalized with RSV at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU Health, with about half of them in the intensive care unit, said spokesperson Shira Pollard. In Georgia, the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital system is in “surge” m...

General Motors becomes 1st of Detroit automakers to seal deal with unionized workers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

FILE - United Auto Workers members hold picket signs near a General Motors assembly plant in Delta Township, Mich., Sept. 29, 2023. About 46,000 United Auto Workers at GM are expected to wrap up voting on a tentative contract agreement in a close race that will decide the fate of the deal that ended a six-week strike. The union is expected to announce GM results Thursday evening. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)(AP/Paul Sancya) FILE - United Auto Workers members hold picket signs near a General Motors assembly plant in Delta Township, Mich., Sept. 29, 2023. About 46,000 United Auto Workers at GM are expected to wrap up voting on a tentative contract agreement in a close race that will decide the fate of the deal that ended a six-week strike. The union is expected to a...

Ebert Metropolitan District board member subject to recall election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder received a recall election petition for Murray Hawthorne, a member of the office of director for the Ebert Metropolitan District in Green Valley Ranch.According to the office, the petition was reviewed and has enough valid signatures to initiate a recall election. The official date for that election is still pending. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox Hawthorne is treasurer of the Ebert Metropolitan District. His term expires in May 2025. He was appointed to the position prior to his election in 2022, serving from 2020-2022.Recall elections are to try and remove an elected official from their position. The petition must have valid signatures for 25% of the total votes cast in the last preceding general election.According to the recall petition, signatories believe Hawthorne "does not represent or respect Ebert residents."The petition continues by citing a pattern of verbal abuse and physic...

BSO search for missing 28-year-old man in Tamarac

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

The Broward Sheriff’s Office Missing Persons Unit is seeking the public’s help in finding a missing 28-year-old man.Isaac Samuel Mathis was last seen on Nov. 8, at approximately 9:38 a.m., near the 7000 block of North University Drive in Tamarac. He was last seen wearing a green long sleeve shirt, black pants and Nike sneakers.Mathis stands at about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighs around 150 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes. According to his family, Mathis suffers from bipolar disorder.Anyone with information on Mathis’ whereabouts is urged contact BSO Detective Leonard Charla at 954-321-4274 or the BSO non-emergency number at 954-764-HELP (4357

BSO search for missing 21-year-old man in Oakland Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

The Broward Sheriff’s Office Missing Persons Unit is seeking the public’s help in finding a missing 21-year-old man.Omarie Jamoie King was last seen on Oct. 21, at around 11 p.m., in the 200 block of Lake Pointe Drive in Oakland Park. He was last seen wearing a yellow hoodie, black pants, a black beanie and black and white sneakers.King stands at about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighs about 150 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes.Anyone with information on King’s whereabouts should contact BSO Detective Leonard Charla at 954-321-4274 or the BSO non-emergency number at 954-764-HELP (4357).

Israel won’t pick Hamas’ successors in Gaza, top official says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

TEL AVIV — Israel doesn’t want to end up deciding who rules Gaza after Hamas but is liaising closely with its allies on the future of the coastal enclave, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told POLITICO on Thursday. For now, it seems easier to answer the question of who won’t govern the coastal enclave after the war, rather than who will. Israel insists it won’t stay on as an occupier, and Ophir Falk, Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, also dismissively shook his head when asked about a role for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority or the U.N. “I think the worst thing that could happen is for Israel to say who governs, but we can say who’s not going to govern, and it is not going to be Hamas,” he noted emphatically.Given Israel won’t pick the successor to Hamas, Falk argued a diplomatic approach would be needed to help settle what comes next. “We are talking with our partners and allies, and obviously have been from day o...

Sticker Shock: $24.5 Bil Needed To Address MBTA Problems

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

MBTA officials have long been sounding the alarm about the poor state of the system’s infrastructure and lamenting years of disinvestment, and on Thursday they put an eye-watering new price tag on the myriad issues that have piled up: $24.5 billion.The T published a new analysis of the quality of its trains, tracks, signals, construction equipment and other assets, confirming the dire state of the system that is widely understood but has not been quantified in four years.Nearly two-thirds of all MBTA assets are not in a state of good repair, and it would cost $24.5 billion to fix all of those issues, the agency concluded in its latest assessment. That figure includes the costs only of addressing current problems, not regular maintenance for infrastructure in a state of good repair nor expansions, electrifications and other large-scale projects.The new estimate is nearly two and a half times more expensive than the last capital needs assessment produced in 2019 under the B...

New York judge lifts gag order that barred Donald Trump from maligning court staff in fraud trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court judge on Thursday paused a gag order that barred Donald Trump from commenting on court staffers in his civil fraud trial. The trial judge had imposed the gag order last month and later fined Trump $15,000 for violations after the former president made a disparaging social media post about a court clerk.In his decision, Judge David Friedman of the state’s intermediate appeals court cited constitutional concerns about restricting Trump’s free speech. He issued a stay of the gag order, allowing Trump to comment freely about court staff while a longer appeals process plays out.Trump’s lawyers filed a lawsuit against the trial judge, Arthur Engoron, late Wednesday challenging the gag order as an abuse of power. Friedman scheduled an emergency hearing Thursday afternoon around a conference table in a state appellate courthouse a couple of miles from where the trial is unfolding.Trump’s lawyers had asked the appeals judge to scr...

The most powerful rocket ever built is about to attempt a second launch. Here’s what’s at stake

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:28 GMT

(CNN) — After months of rebuilding and clearing red tape following the April explosion of the Starship system’s first test flight, SpaceX is set for its next attempt.The megarocket — the most powerful launch vehicle ever built — was expected to lift off on Friday, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post Thursday that the company would hold off until Saturday to allow for time to replace a small rocket part.It was not immediately clear what time SpaceX is planning to launch Saturday. The company had been targeting a two-hour window that opened at 7 a.m. CT (8 a.m. ET) if Starship had lifted off on Friday. But public notices sent to airplanes and ships indicate SpaceX can launch anytime between 5:25 a.m. CT and 11:10 a.m. CT on Saturday.Musk shared that the reason for the delay was the need to replace an actuator — or a mechanical component that allows movement — on one of the rocket’s grid fins. Grid fins are metal, mesh squares that line the top of S...