Tuesday, November 24, 2015
NBC to give time to 4 Republicans
NEW YORK
NBC agreed Monday to give four Republican presidential candidates free time on affiliates in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina after they complained Donald Trump unfairly benefited from appearing as “Saturday Night Live” host earlier this month.
The network said John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, James Gilmore and Lindsey Graham each will get about 12 minutes of time to tout their candidacies during prime time Friday and Saturday and during this week’s “Saturday Night Live.”
Republican George Pataki also had complained, but the network did not announce an agreement with his campaign.
The candidates will get the time on each of the 18 NBC stations in those three states, where early GOP nominating caucuses or primaries will take place.
Planned Parenthood sues Texas over blocking of Medicaid
AUSTIN, Texas
Planned Parenthood sued again Monday over efforts by Republican governors to block Medicaid funding to the nation’s largest abortion provider, this time against Texas, where the organization says health care access to 13,500 women is on the line.
Federal courts have so far halted similar attempts in Arkansas, Louisiana and Alabama while lawsuits play out. Texas plans to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid program by Dec. 8.
The lawsuit filed in Austin begins another legal showdown between Texas and abortion providers.
Canada to reveal plans to resettle 25,000 Syrians
TORONTO
Canada’s new Liberal government will announce details today of how it intends to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hasn’t backed down from a pledge to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by Dec. 31 despite pushback by some after the deadly attacks in Paris.
Trudeau said all of Canada’s premiers support resettling 25,000.
Today’s announcement is sure to raise alarm in the U.S., where many Republican governors have said they don’t want any Syrian refugees.
UN: 90% of disasters are weather-related
UNITED NATIONS
Ninety percent of disasters in the past 20 years have been caused by floods, storms, heatwaves and other weather-related events – and these weather-spawned disasters are becoming more frequent, according to a report released Monday.
The report said the 6,457 weather-related disasters that were recorded between 1995 and 2015 claimed 606,000 lives and affected more than 4 billion people.
Flooding alone accounted for 47 percent of the weather-related disasters, affecting 2.9 billion people – 95 percent of them living in Asia which bore the brunt of disasters due mainly to its large and varied landmass including multiple river basins and flood plains, it said.
Panel strikes down Wis. abortion law
MADISON, Wis.
A Wisconsin law that requires abortion providers to get admitting privileges at nearby hospitals is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court panel ruled Monday.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel’s 2-1 decision doesn’t put the question to rest. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed earlier this month to hear a challenge to a similar Texas law in a case that could settle the issue nationally.
Associated Press