News Wrap: After backlash, Haley tries to clarify comments about cause of Civil War

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley today sought to clarify comments she made last night about the Civil War.

  At a campaign event in New Hampshire, the former South Carolina governor was asked what she thought caused the war. She did not mention slavery in her response, which the man in the audience who posed the question noted.

  Nikki Haley (R), Presidential Candidate: I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn't do.

• Man:

  In the year 2023, it's astonishing to me that you answered that question without mentioning the word slavery.

• Nikki Haley:

  What do you want me to say about slavery?

• Geoff Bennett:

  Following backlash, Haley clarified her remarks today at a New Hampshire town hall.

• Nikki Haley:

  Of course the Civil War was about slavery. We know that. that's unquestioned, always the case. We know the Civil War was about slavery. But it was also more than that. It was about the freedoms of every individual. It was about the role of government.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Haley is trying to close the wide polling gap in New Hampshire between her and former President Donald Trump. And she has less than a month before that state's first-in-the-nation primary.

  A federal judge has accepted Georgia's newly redrawn voting districts that favor Republicans. He said state legislators fully complied with his order to create more majority-Black voting districts. The judge's approval paves the way for the maps to be used in the 2024 elections. The fight over redistricting was sparked by Democrats whittling away at the GOP's dominance in Georgia over past election cycles.

  Huge surf battered the West Coast and Hawaii today, bringing coastal flooding to some low-lying areas. Dangerous waves and rip currents were generated by storms churning in the Pacific Ocean. High surf warnings were issued for parts of Northern California, where waves were expected to surge as high as 40 feet in some areas. Residents flocked to a beach in Santa Cruz county for a firsthand look.

  Parts of Northern and Central Europe are underwater tonight after heavy rain caused rivers to overflow. Hundreds of people in Germany were forced to evacuate. The Elbe River there is nearly 13 feet above its normal level in some areas.

  Meantime, in Hungary, residents and tourists in Budapest are grappling with flooding from the Danube River. It overflowed after days of unseasonably warm weather.

• Sandor Esztergalyos, Hungarian Tourist (through interpreter):

  We're standing next to Europe's biggest river, which can carry away flash floods in the summer so fast we don't even notice. But now the weather has caused a sudden melting of all the snow, and we're facing a flood in the winter.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The rain cleared across much of the region today. But authorities warned it will take some time before water levels finally start receding.

  U.S. and Mexican officials have agreed to strengthen their cooperation to curb record levels of migration. Their pledge comes a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Mexico City for high-level talks on the issue. They plan to hold another round of discussions in Washington next month. Meantime, a caravan of some 6,000 migrants continues the long journey by foot from Southern Mexico toward the U.S. border.

  Starting today, independent lawyers will now prosecute cases of sexual assault and other major crimes in the U.S. military. The mandate comes from a new law aimed at addressing a rise in assaults and harassment in the Armed Services. It arose from concerns that some commanders aren't taking victims' cases seriously or are protecting alleged perpetrators.

  In economic news, the U.S. job market cooled last week, but not enough to cause concern. The Labor Department reported weekly jobless claims rose to 218,000. That's an increase of 12,000 from the previous week. But the four-week average of claims fell by 250 to 212,000.

  And trading was light on Wall Street today. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 53 points to close at 37710. The Nasdaq fell four points. The S&P 500 added two.