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Donald Trump may visit the Capitol to address Republicans as they pick a new speaker, AP sources say

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and JILL COLVIN (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is in talks to visit Capitol Hill next week as Republicans debate who should be the next speaker of the House following Kevin McCarthy’s stunning ouster, according to three people familiar with the talks.Some on the far right have floated the idea of Trump as a speaker candidate — perhaps on an interim basis. One of the people cautioned that if Trump goes ahead with the visit, he would be there to talk with Republican lawmakers and not to pitch himself for the role. Trump would most likely attend a closed-door candidate forum that Republicans plan to hold Tuesday evening, ahead of a vote that could happen as soon as Wednesday.The people spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement.Trump is being encouraged to run by a small group of far-right allies including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. McCarthy, of Californ...

X removes article headlines in latest platform update, widening a rift with news media

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — X, formerly known as Twitter, has stopped showing headlines on articles shared on the platform. Now, X only displays an article’s lead image and a link to the story.Plans for the change were first reported by Fortune in August, when owner Elon Musk confirmed in a post that he thought the change— which came from him “directly” — would “greatly improve the esthetics” of posts.Linked articles now appear as an image, and include text in the left-hand corner noting the domain of the link. Users must click on the image if they wish to visit the full article, which could lead to confusion. Musk’s platform has been the target of a lot of criticism recently, including accusations by a top European Union official who said that X has “the largest ratio of mis- or disinformation posts.” The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil-rights organization, has accused Musk of allowing antisemitis...

Raves popping up beneath San Diego freeways are 'extremely dangerous': CHP

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- California Highway Patrol Sgt. Brian Pennings joined FOX 5 Wednesday to discuss the dangers of raves that have been popping up beneath San Diego freeways."Partygoers are finding these secluded places, industrial parks and whatnot, underneath freeway overcrossings and remote locations, and they're putting up these impromptu gatherings," Pennings said.Three major raves were held in the San Diego area this summer, Pennings said. These parties are attended by hundreds to thousands of people, Pennings said, adding that the largest one he has seen consisted of 2,500 partygoers. SDSU places seven fraternities on interim suspension Pennings says these raves are dangerous because they're often held in areas not meant for pedestrians, such as construction zones or riverbeds. These areas are dark, and the alcohol and drug use makes the activity even more unsafe."We had one here locally underneath the 805 where they had literally full access up the path to the center divide of th...

US officials bring concerns about migration to meetings in Mexico

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. officials worried by rising migration took their concerns south of the border this week with separate trips to Mexico City by high-level Biden administration officials and New York City’s mayor.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed migration with his Mexican counterpart Alicia Bárcena, as well as foreign ministers from Panama and Colombia, Wednesday. Talks were scheduled to continue Thursday, including a meeting between U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.López Obrador said Thursday during his daily news briefing that Mexico has reiterated in talks its position that there should be investment to spur development in the countries that migrants leave.“The people don’t abandon their towns because they want to, but rather out of necessity,” the president said. He also criticized the Biden administration’s announcement yesterday that it waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wa...

Maryland Supreme Court weighs victims’ rights in case of Adnan Syed from ‘Serial’ podcast

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Maryland Supreme Court on Thursday scrutinized a hearing that vacated Adnan Syed ’s murder conviction last year and released him after more than two decades behind bars, as the victim’s family says they weren’t given adequate opportunity to take part in the proceeding.Syed’s case, chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” has been fraught with legal twists and divided court rulings for decades. The arguments Thursday before Maryland’s highest court were no exception.Among the issues discussed were whether Syed’s 2000 murder conviction should still be reinstated after a recent appellate court decision ruled in favor of the family, as well as the extent to which Maryland crime victims have a right to participate in hearings on whether to vacate a conviction. The panel of seven justices will release their ruling in the coming weeks or months. Ultimately, Syed’s freedom hangs in the balance. While unlikely, he could eventually be sent back to prison for lif...

Biden says he had to use Trump-era funds for the border wall. Asked if barriers work, he says ‘No’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday defended his administration’s decision to waive 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow for construction of roughly 20 miles of additional border wall, saying he had no choice but to use the Trump-era funding for the barrier to stop illegal migration from Mexico.Asked if he thought such walls work, he said flatly, “No.”The new construction was announced in June, but the funds were appropriated in 2019 before the Democratic president took office. Biden said he tried to get lawmakers to redirect the money but Congress refused, and the law requires the funding to be used as approved and the construction to be completed in 2023. “The money was appropriated for the border wall,” Biden said. “I can’t stop that.”Still, the waiving of federal laws for the construction — something also done when Republican Donald Trump was president — raised questions, particularly because Biden condemned border wall spending when he was running for the...

Hand grenade fragments were found in the bodies of victims in Prigozhin’s plane crash, Putin claims

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that hand grenade fragments were found in the bodies of people who died in the Aug. 23 crash of mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane.Experts investigating the crash found no indication the private jet had suffered an “external impact,” he said. Prigozhin and two of his top lieutenants of the Wagner private military contractor were among the 10 people killed when the jet came down as it flew from Moscow to St. Petersburgh.There was no way to independently verify Putin’s statement.A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the crash, and Western officials have pointed to a long list of Putin foes who have been assassinated. The Kremlin called allegations he was behind the crash as an “absolute lie.”A Russian investigation was launched but no findings have been released. Moscow rejected an offer from Brazil, where the Embraer business jet was built, to join the inquiry...

US shoots down armed Turkish drone after it came too close to US troops in Syria

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Thursday shot down an armed Turkish drone that had come too close to U.S. troops on the ground in northeastern Syria, U.S. officials told The Associated Press, in a rare use of force by one NATO member against another. The drone had been dropping bombs on targets near Hasakah, and while it was not aiming at U.S. troops the bombs were determined to be close enough to pose a danger to U.S. forces, one of the officials said. The officials said the shootdown was ordered after more than a dozen calls to Turkish military officials stating that U.S. forces were on the ground in the area and that the U.S. military would take action to protect them if the drone didn’t leave. The drone was shot down by a U.S. F-16 fighter jet, one official confirmed to the AP. Typically, the U.S. and Turkish militaries, which are NATO allies, work in close coordination in conducting air maneuvers. But American troops also work closely with Kurdish-led forces to counter the ...

Former Rogers CEO responds to countersuit, alleges ‘campaign of dishonesty’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

TORONTO — The former chief executive of Rogers Communications Inc. has fired back at the company, alleging Rogers is carrying out “a campaign of dishonesty” surrounding his ouster in November 2021 by fabricating claims in its defence to his lawsuit.In court documents filed Thursday, Joe Natale accused Rogers of altering business documents to support its position in the ongoing legal battle between the two sides.“In an egregious violation of ethics for one of Canada’s largest public companies, RCI has altered meeting minutes from RCI Board meetings from the relevant period to change statements made by Edward Rogers to the Board to better align with RCI’s self-serving narrative of events,” Natale’s filing stated.It said Edward Rogers, the company chairman, previously filed “different, contemporaneous versions of these meeting minutes in British Columbia Supreme Court in 2021, representing their accuracy to the Court at that time.”Natale sued t...

B.C. sets out law to ban use of illegal drugs in many public places

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:16:28 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia is setting out new rules as it attempts to navigate a way to curb the overdose crisis with drug decriminalization. Possession of small amounts of many illicit drugs was decriminalized in B.C. in January after the federal government issued an exemption, but legislation introduced by the province today would make their use illegal in many public spaces. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the government is committed to its initiatives to fight the crisis, but the public consumption of illegal drugs can’t happen everywhere.Instead, the changes, if passed, would ban illicit drug use in public and recreational spaces, similar to tobacco, cannabis and alcohol use. Farnworth says the law wouldn’t criminally punish people using drugs in public areas but enforcement officers will ask them to stop or direct them to another area.Local politicians in B.C. passed three resolutions last month at their annual convention on the issue, including asking ...