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States accelerate efforts to block Chinese purchases of agricultural land

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

Washington (CNN) — A growing number of states are considering or have passed measures this legislative term to ban “foreign adversaries” and foreign entities – specifically China – from buying farmland.Proponents of the laws, mostly Republicans but some Democrats as well, have frequently cited concerns about food security and the need to protect military bases and other sensitive installations. But the moves have stoked anxieties among some experts on US-Chinese relations, including those who see echoes of past discriminatory laws in the United States like the Chinese Exclusion Act.Florida last month joined a list of at least seven other states – including Virginia, North Dakota, Montana and Arkansas – to pass variations of such bills this session, according to the National Agricultural Law Center (NALC), which is tracking the issue and conducts research on agricultural and food law. Similar measures are percolating in more than two dozen states and there’s a bill in Congress that s...

2 injured after waterspout appears on Florida’s West Coast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

CLEARWATER, Fla. (WSVN) – Two Kansas residents needed to be hospitalized after a waterspout that appeared on Florida’s West Coast sent beachgoers scrambling for cover. City officials in Clearwater said that Friday’s waterspout forced umbrellas and other beach items into the air. The winds were so strong they propelled the beach gear across the highway nearby. Local authorities said a 70-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man were treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, waterspouts develop on the water’s surface and normally dissipate once landfall is made. Some may even cause significant damage and injuries as this waterspout proved that fact.

Liz Truss says being compared to a lettuce was not funny

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

LONDON — Liz Truss isn’t laughing at the lettuce that outlasted her premiership.Asked Monday about the Daily Star’s live stream of a lettuce that eventually outlasted Truss’ chaotic, market-crashing period in Downing Street, the former British prime minister did not see the funny side. “I don’t think it was particularly funny, I think it’s puerile,” Truss told Irish broadcaster RTÉ — after she snapped at the interviewer for even asking the question. Truss — who crashed out of office after 44 days while the lettuce was still going strong — was speaking at the European Broadcasting Union’s NewsXchange conference in Dublin on Monday.Since leaving No. 10, Truss has primarily intervened on foreign affairs and particularly on U.K.-Chinese relations. She became the first former U.K. PM to visit Taiwan in May and has called for “more action” from the West to combat China.But in her interview with RTÉ’s David McCullagh, Truss was largely questi...

Blinken and Xi pledge to stabilize the deteriorating ties between the US and China

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

By MATTHEW LEE (AP Diplomatic Writer)BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China have pledged to stabilize their badly deteriorated ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Xi pronounced himself satisfied with progress made during talks in Beijing. But, Blinken told media, China refused to resume military-to-military communications, a U.S. priority.It remains to be seen whether the two countries can resolve their most important disagreements, many of which have international financial, security and stability implications.The two sides expressed a willingness to hold more talks, but there was little indication that either is prepared to bend from its positions on issues including trade, Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.Blinken said later that the U.S. set limited objectives for t...

Sean Marks is the man for this job

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

No doubt about it: The Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving era took a hard left turn that blemished Nets general manager Sean Marks’ six-year tenure.But for a Brooklyn franchise with as many as 12 first-round draft picks through 2030 – eight eligible to trade this summer – and a bevy of coveted veteran players on tradeable contracts, there may not be a better man in all of basketball to get up off the mat and come out swinging.Marks’ very claim to fame was resuscitating an organization that had no draft capital and a bare bones roster. Now entering his eighth season at the helm, the Nets’ GM has a full array of assets at his disposal.This time, Marks faces a new challenge: He must rebuild the team he bulldozed at the February trade deadline around newfound franchise cornerstone Mikal Bridges.Bridges needs a lot of help if these Nets plan on making it out of the first round of the playoffs next season. Chief among Marks’ challenges is discerning whether ...

Days of sweltering heat, power cuts in northern India overwhelm hospitals as death toll climbs

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

BALLIA, India (AP) — A scorching heat wave in two of India’s most populous states has overwhelmed hospitals, filled a morgue to capacity and disrupted power supply, forcing staff to use books to cool patients, as officials investigate the number of deaths that has reached nearly 170. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, 119 people have died from heat-related illnesses over the last several days while neighboring Bihar state reported 47 fatalities, according to local news reports and health officials.“So many people are dying from the heat that we are not getting a minute’s time to rest. On Sunday, I carried 26 dead bodies,” Jitendra Kumar Yadav, a hearse driver in Deoria town, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Ballia, told The Associated Press. Other residents said they were scared of going outside after midmorning.The largest hospital in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh is unable to accommodate more patients. Officials said the morgue was full after 54 people, all of whom were elde...

Greece: Court Hearing for Egyptian suspects in deadly migrant boat sinking postponed until Tuesday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

MALAKASA, Greece (AP) — A court in southern Greece on Monday postponed a hearing for nine Egyptian men accused of being migrant smugglers in a case involving the sinking of a fishing trawler last week that killed at least 78 people and left hundreds more missing.Estimates have put the number of people packed on the dilapidated fishing trawler at around 700-750. A total of 104 people were rescued when the boat capsized and sank in international waters off the coast of Greece last Wednesday, while 78 bodies were recovered. A search and rescue operation continues in the area to locate survivors, but there are slim chances of them being found alive. The court in Kalamata postponed the hearing of the nine Egyptians until Tuesday to provide them and their lawyers with time to review the testimonies of nine Syrian and Pakistani survivors, given over the weekend. The Egyptians, who were reportedly identified as members of a smuggling ring by some of the survivors, face charges of participat...

Pakistan widens search for human traffickers after a boat carrying hundreds sank off Greece’s coast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan on Monday widened its search for human traffickers after a tragedy off the Greek coast last week that left more than 500 migrants feared drowned, including many Pakistanis, officials said.With no definitive casualty numbers announced, families feared for the fate of their loved ones and the nation observed a day of mourning Monday, declared by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government. The Pakistani flag was flying at half-staff, and lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, expressed their condolences. The fishing trawler packed with migrants overturned and went down early Wednesday off southwestern Greece in one of the deadliest-ever incidents in the central Mediterranean Sea. The vessel was carrying as many as 750 people, including scores of Pakistanis, when it sank in international waters. A search-and-rescue operation has since been underway. Pakistan’s Embassy in Athens has so far identified 12 Pakistani nationals r...

Weekend mass shootings leave 6 people dead and dozens injured across the US

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

Mass shootings and violence across the U.S. killed at least six people this weekend, including a Pennsylvania state trooper, and wounded dozens of people. Multiple people with guns fired shots at a holiday crowd in Missouri and bullets flew among teenagers partying in Illinois. The shootings follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. They happened in suburban Chicago, Washington state, central Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore.“There’s no question there’s been a spike in violence,” said Daniel Nagin, a professor of public policy and statistics at Carnegie Mellon University. “Some of these cases seem to be just disputes, often among adolescents, and those disputes are played out with firearms, not with fists.”Researchers disagree over the cause of the increase. Theories include the possibility that violence is driven by the prevalence of guns in America, or by less a...

Tunisian government says an attacker stabbed guard at Brazilian Embassy, suspect arrested

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:51 GMT

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A security agent guarding the Brazilian Embassy in Tunisia was stabbed in the heart Monday and was hospitalized in critical condition, according to the Tunisian Interior Ministry.The suspected assailant was shot in the leg by police and arrested, the ministry said in a statement. It said the agent was stabbed after he asked the suspect why he was outside the embassy.The area, in a residential zone of the capital, Tunis, was cordoned off by police. Ministry spokesperson Faker Bouzghaya said the security guard was wounded in the heart.Bouzghaya said the suspect’s son told investigators that his father is a 53-year-old teacher who had suffered psychiatric troubles and had not been home for two days.The spokesperson said the suspect was not known to Tunisian security services and that the attack did not appear to have terrorist motives. Tunisia has experienced some terrorist and other attacks in recent years.The Associated Press