In the news today: Donald Trump moved Tuesday to end federal affirmative action; a record-breaking winter storm has spread into Florida and the Carolinas; and how a camera and a notepad saved hundreds of trapped miners in South Africa. Also, an aquarium’s ailing sunfish rebounded after human cutouts were set up outside its tank. |
President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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Trump administration directs all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on leave
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President Donald Trump’s administration moved Tuesday to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by President Lyndon Johnson. Read more.
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Winter storm that dropped record-breaking snow in New Orleans spreads into Florida and the Carolinas
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A major winter storm that slammed Texas and blanketed the northern Gulf Coast with record-breaking snow moved east overnight, spreading heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, and eastern Carolinas. Read more. |
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Ahead of the storm, governors in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and even Florida declared states of emergency. In the Texas capital, two people died in the cold weather, according to a statement from the city of Austin. Officials said one person has died from hypothermia in Georgia.
It had been over a decade since snow last fell on New Orleans. Tuesday’s rare snowfall set a record in the city, where 10 inches fell in some places, far surpassing its record of 2.7 inches set Dec. 31, 1963, the National Weather Service said. Mobile, Alabama, hit 5.4 inches Tuesday, topping the city’s one-day snowfall record of 5 inches, set Jan. 24, 1881.
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The rescue of hundreds of miners in a South African gold mine began with a camera and a note
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Late last year, a specialized camera was lowered into an almost 1.6-mile-deep shaft in South Africa where hundreds of miners were reported to be trapped and starving. Rescuers got their first visuals when the camera reached 4,200 feet underground: A large group of miners standing, waiting for help to arrive. The camera was next lowered with a notepad, and the miners replied that 480 of them were underground and those still alive were desperate to leave. Read more.
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The miners had been working illegally in the abandoned Buffelsfontein Gold Mine, and authorities have faced growing anger and a possible investigation over their initial refusal to help and cutting off their food. At least 87 miners died in the monthslong standoff.
South African authorities have been fiercely criticized for cutting off the miners. That tactic to “smoke them out,” as described by a prominent Cabinet minister, was condemned by one of South Africa’s biggest trade unions.
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A sunfish swims near cardboard cutouts of people in Shimonoseki, Japan on Tuesday. (Kaikyokan via AP)
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Solitary sunfish recovers after human cutouts are set up outside tank
A sunfish at an aquarium in southwestern Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fishtank, and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and set up human cutouts outside the tank. The next morning, the sunfish ate for the first time in about a week.
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Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. For news in real time visit APNews.com. - Sarah
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Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. For news in real time visit APNews.com. - Sarah
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