North America

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Senate on Wednesday approved a reform of the country’s electoral institute, a move that opponents say will undercut democracy but which the president contends will save money and reduce political privileges.

Lawmakers voted 72-50 in favor of the controversial overhaul of the body overseeing Mexico’s elections. Opponents immediately said they will challenge the changes in the supreme court. Protests are planned in multiple cities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of U.S. mass killings linked to extremism over the past decade was at least three times higher than the total from any 10-year period since the 1970s, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League.

The report — provided to The Associated Press ahead of its public release Thursday — also found that all extremist killings identified in 2022 were linked to right-wing extremism, with an especially high number linked to white supremacy.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A brutal winter storm that trapped drivers on icy roads, blacked out hundreds of thousands of homes, grounded airplanes and closed schools across much of the country was poised to slam California Thursday.

“We are in for a VERY busy week!” the National Weather Service bureau in San Diego tweeted. “We have issued warnings for damaging winds, heavy mountain snow, highly hazardous boating conditions and the list goes on.”

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN General Assembly meets Wednesday, two days ahead of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Kyiv and its allies hoping to garner broad support for a resolution calling for a “just and lasting peace.”

The draft resolution, sponsored by some 60 countries, is to be voted on after the close of debate — not expected until at least Thursday.

HAVANA, Feb 22 (NNN-ACN) — After two years, the Habano Festival has resumed in Cuba, an event that promotes the millenary culture and the art of harvesting, making and enjoying an authentic and unique product.

The event, which in its 23rd edition will be held between Feb 27 and March 3, praises the values of cigars and minimizes the economic contributions, sometimes much, sometimes less, but leaves a foreign exchange fund that is delivered to the Ministry of Public Health and is entirely destined to the program to fight cancer.

CHICAGO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - A winter storm spreading across the U.S. West into the Northern Plains and Midwest on Tuesday could produce blizzards, brutal cold, and record snowfall, making roads treacherous and disrupting air travel.

The National Weather Service issued winter storm, blizzard and high-wind advisories for large parts of the western and north-central United States. Up to two feet (61 cm) of snow and winds of up to 60 miles (97 km) per hour were expected in some spots from Tuesday through Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Norfolk Southern on Tuesday to "conduct all necessary actions associated with the cleanup" from the train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, over two weeks ago.

The federal agency said the legally binding order would require Norfolk Southern to identify and clean up contaminated soil and water resources; attend and participate in public meetings at the EPA's request and post information online; and pay for the agency's costs for work performed under this order, among other things.

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle City Council on Tuesday added caste to the city’s anti-discrimination laws, becoming the first U.S. city to ban caste discrimination and the first in the world to pass such a law outside South Asia.

Calls to outlaw discrimination based on caste, a division of people based on birth or descent, have grown louder among South Asian diaspora communities in the United States. But the movement has been getting pushback from some Hindu Americans who argue that such legislation maligns a specific community.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are holding relatively steady on Wall Street Wednesday, firming a bit a day after falling to their worst loss since December on worries about higher interest rates.

The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 59 points, or 0.2%, at 33,188, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.

WASHINGTON (AP) — One month into the invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden stood in the courtyard of a grand Polish castle and laid out the punishing economic costs that the U.S. and its allies were inflicting on Vladimir Putin’s Russia, declaring that the ruble is almost immediately “reduced to rubble.”