In brief: Obama officially announces Lynch as his choice for AG

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama formally nominated U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch to be the nation’s next attorney general Saturday, choosing a career federal prosecutor who would be the first black woman to hold the office if confirmed.

With Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. alongside him, Obama introduced Lynch, the federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, in a hurried event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House hours before he departs on a trip to Asia.

“Loretta might be the only lawyer in America who battles mobsters and drug lords and terrorists and still has the reputation for being a charming person,” Obama said as Lynch stood by his side. “That’s probably because Loretta doesn’t look to make headlines, she looks to make a difference. She’s not about splash, she is about substance.”

Lynch, who was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, the daughter of a school librarian and fourth-generation Baptist minister, praised Holder as a leader “whom I admire” for pushing the Justice Department to “live up to its name.”

International pressure yields another truce in South Sudan

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Leaders of two warring sides in South Sudan agreed to another peace deal early Saturday after two days of talks convened in an atmosphere of increasing international pressure.

South Sudan descended into violence in December when fighting broke out between soldiers and rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar and government loyalists backing President Salva Kiir.

Since then, two peace deals have been signed and quickly discarded as fighting continued – especially around the country’s oil installations – forcing more than 1.7 million to flee their homes. Thousands have been killed.

The deal agreed to Saturday may hold more weight because of increasing threats by the U.N. Security Council and leaders of East African countries to impose economic and travel sanctions on South Sudanese leaders.

A statement from the regional body IGAD said the warring parties commit to an unconditional, complete and immediate end to all hostilities.

Any violation of the deal would invite asset freezes and travel bans from throughout the East African IGAD member states.

Humanitarian officials say that South Sudan risks falling into a famine situation next year if the violence doesn’t end and people don’t return home to plant crops.

Storm leaves Aleutians behind; plains in line for frigid temps

A storm fueled by the remnants of a powerful typhoon was losing power Saturday after blasting remote, mostly uninhabited islands that are part of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain with hurricane-force winds.

The storm was forecast to move slowly eastward, then help generate a high-pressure system that will allow Arctic air to blanket the central plains, starting with eastern Montana and the Dakotas today. The frigid temperatures are expected to spill south into the central plains Monday.

The storm’s strongest recorded winds were on Shemya Island, where 120 civilian contractors staff an early warning radar installation for the U.S. military.

Sustained winds of 70 mph and gusts up to 96 mph were recorded on Shemya, said Shaun Baines, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Anchorage.

The storm peaked Friday night, Baines said.

The high-pressure system from the storm is expected to send temperatures plunging across a wide swath of the Lower 48. High temperatures were forecast to be below freezing Tuesday across much of Wyoming to Minnesota and parts of Iowa, said Bruce Sullivan of the National Weather Service’s prediction center.

The high in Great Falls, Montana, is expected to be 7 degrees, Sullivan said.