Wednesday morning news: February 21, 2024

SOUND: [Rushing water]

California weather » Torrential rain in Southern California has turned normally calm creeks into raging torrents. Ethan Ragsdale with the Santa Barbara Police Department:

RAGSDALE: Please stay away from the creeks. They are absolutely dangerous. It is swiftly flowing water.

Flash floods have forced first responders to carry out dangerous high-water rescues as another atmospheric river wreaks havoc in parts of the state. Andrew Rorke with the National Weather Service:

RORKE: Definitely a storm for the ages. In fact, so far, without the month even done yet, this is the fifth-wettest February in the history of Los Angeles County with records going all the way back to the 1880s.

He said the current system could drop up to 5 inches of rain in some areas.

Trump town hall / Haley address / Biden fundraising » Donald Trump and Nikki Haley are courting voters in South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s Republican primary.

Haley, the former governor of that state threw a few sharp jabs Tuesday at both the current and former president, calling Joe Biden and Donald Trump “two old men” who aren’t fit to lead.

HALEY: We’re talking about the most demanding job in human history. You don’t give it to someone who’s at risk of dementia.

Haley heard there in Greenville, South Carolina just hours before Donald Trump took part in a town hall event only miles away. He questioned why Haley is still in the race.

TRUMP: You’re not supposed to lose your home state. Shouldn’t happen anyway, and she’s losing big. I mean, look, if she was doing well, I’d understand it. But she’s doing very poorly.

Recent polls in the state show Trump up by 25 points.

But Haley is undeterred, vowing to fight on regardless of Saturday’s results.

U.S.-Russia sanctions / Navalny's mother » President Biden says the United States will hold the Kremlin accountable for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

BIDEN: I told you we'd be announcing sanctions on Russia. We'll have a major package announced on Friday.

The 47-year-old Navalny died Friday in a Russian penal colony. And the Russian government has refused to turn his remains over to his family.

LYUDMILA NAVLNAYA: [Speaking Russian]

Navlany’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, on Tuesday appealed directly to Vladimir Putin.

NAVLNAYA: [Speaking Russian]

She said, “Let me finally see my son. I require that Alexei’s body be immediately given so that I can bury him humanely."

Many of Navalny’s supporters say that by withholding his remains, the Kremlin is effectively hiding evidence about how the outspoken Putin critic actually died.

U.S. vetoes UN Security Council resolution » Top U.S. officials say they will continue to pull every diplomatic lever in pursuit of a new cease-fire deal in Gaza.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told members of the UN Security Council on Tuesday …

GREENFIELD: The United States is working on a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas along with Egypt and Qatar. This hostage deal would bring an immediate and sustained period of calm to Gaza for at least six weeks.

The ambassador spoke as the United States vetoed a UN resolution backed by Arab nations that would demand an immediate end to the fighting.

And State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that is a bad idea:

MILLER: Because we think just an unconditional cease-fire only benefits Hamas.

Miller said any arrangement that allows Hamas to regroup without freeing its remaining hostages will not be effective.

AI task force in House » At the Capitol, leaders in the House are forming a task force on artificial intelligence to help build guardrails for the AI industry. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the mission is to keep America at the forefront of the game-changing technology while also guarding against risks posed by A-I.

The 12-person bipartisan panel will explore possible legislation to achieve those goals and then hand in a thorough report with its recommendations.

So far, efforts to pass legislation to regulate AI have stalled out despite a number of high-profile hearings on the matter.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Chiefs parade shooting suspects charged » Authorities in the Kansas City area are charging two adults with murder stemming from last week’s deadly shooting at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade. They’re identified as Lyndell Mays and Dominic Miller.

Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said the two men were involved in an argument.

BAKER: Mays pulled his handgun first. Almost immediately, others pulled their firearms. Defendant Miller was one of those individuals.

One person was killed and more than 20 more were wounded in the incident.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: A preview of the South Carolina primary on Washington Wednesday. Plus, World Tour.

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