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Texas AG Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial is almost over. This is what happened and what’s next

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Closing arguments were set to begin Friday in the historic impeachment trial that could remove Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from office over corruption allegations. It will soon go the jury of 30 senators, most of them Republicans like him.The impeachment charges against Paxton center on allegations that the three-term incumbent improperly used the powers of his office to protect Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who was indicted in June on federal charges of making false statements to banks.Senators heard from some of Paxton’s former top aides who reported him to the FBI. They detailed their concerns about Paxton’s efforts to help Paul, including an alleged extramarital affair, burner phones and arguments over who paid for kitchen countertops in Paxton’s home renovation project.Defense attorneys called four of Paxton’s current employees who testified they have seen Paxton do nothing wrong and are proud to work for him.Paxton was sus...

The Republicans most at risk in next year’s election are falling in line behind impeachment inquiry

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republicans whose elections in swing districts next year will determine which party gains control of the House are overwhelmingly voicing their support for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. It’s a stance, Democrats say, that could come back to haunt them.McCarthy spared the Republican lawmakers from having to take a vote to launch the impeachment investigation, a likely signal he didn’t have the votes to succeed. Yet many of the 18 Republicans representing districts that Biden won in 2020 were quick to say they supported McCarthy’s launch despite the potential political risk back home.“I think the American people deserve to know the facts and I am looking forward to seeing what the outcome of the inquiry is,” said Rep. Jen Kiggans, who represents a Virginia district she won in 2022, but Biden carried by nearly 2 percentage points in 2020. If the inquiry does lead to an impeachment vote, hi...

Secret records: Government says Marine’s adoption of Afghan orphan seen as abduction, must be undone

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

The U.S. government has warned a Virginia judge that allowing an American Marine to keep an Afghan war orphan risks violating international law and could be viewed around the world as “endorsing an act of international child abduction,” according to secret court records reviewed by The Associated Press.It is rare for the federal government to step into a local custody case, but concern about the child’s fate has stretched across the Trump and Biden administrations. The Justice Department argued in the court documents that the dispute has ramifications that extend far beyond the rural courthouse where the girl’s future is being decided.Failing to return the child, now 4, to Afghan relatives in the U.S. could jeopardize American efforts to resettle Afghan refugees, threaten international security pacts and might be used as propaganda by Islamic extremists — potentially endangering U.S soldiers overseas, Justice Department attorneys and other U.S. officials warned in court filings seek...

Climate protesters around the world are calling for an end to fossils fuels as the Earth heats up

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

Tens of thousands of climate activists around the world are set to march, chant and protest Friday to call for an end to the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels as the globe suffers dramatic weather extremes and record-breaking heat. The strike — driven by several mostly youth-led, local and global climate groups and organizations, including Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future movement — will take place in dozens of countries and in hundreds of cities worldwide and continue through the weekend. A week before the planned protest, the United Nations warned that countries are way off track to curb warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, as agreed in Paris in 2015. The world has warmed at least 1.1 degrees (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since then.Over the past few months, Earth broke its daily average heat record several times according to one metric, July was the hottest month ever on record, and the Northern Hemisphere summer was declared ...

Trial begins in Elijah McClain death, which sparked outrage over racial injustice in policing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Elijah McClain’s fatal encounter with police began on a summer night in 2019 when a 911 caller reported that the young Black man looked “sketchy” as he walked down the street wearing a ski mask and raising his hands in the air in the Denver suburb of Aurora.In reality, McClain, who was often cold, was just walking home from a convenience store, listening to music. But moments later, police stopped him and after struggling with him, put the 23-year-old in a neck hold. Then paramedics gave him a sedative that officials eventually determined played a key role in his death days later. McClain, a massage therapist known for his gentle nature, was unarmed and hadn’t committed any crime. Four years after his death — which left a gaping hole in his mother’s heart and sparked outrage over racial injustice in American policing — a trial for two of the officers was set to begin Friday with jury selection. Trials for a third officer and two paramedics are schedul...

He couldn’t see his wedding. But this war-blinded Ukrainian soldier cried with joy at new love

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Blinded by a Russian mortar shell, Ukrainian veteran Ivan Soroka couldn’t see his bride when she walked into his family home in a shoulderless white dress, a bouquet of white flowers in her right hand. But when Vladislava Ryabets, 25, stepped toward him, Soroka wept with joy at the new chapter of life starting months after enemy artillery stole his sight. “The first thing I said after I was wounded was, who will want me now?” said Soroka, 27, sitting inside his family home in a village in the outskirts of Kyiv.“I succeeded in rebuilding myself,” he said. “I am seeing with my feelings, with my emotions.”Dozens sat around a garden table in Bortnychi village under a tent decorated with balloons and garlands for a day of festivity steeped in Ukrainian rural tradition. Folk songs and laughter filled the air as neighbors and friends poured into the humble pastoral home, gulped drinks and toasted the young newlyweds. A round loaf decorated with viburnum ber...

Donald Trump isn’t backing a national abortion ban. That’s not hurting him in the GOP primary

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump is dominating the early stages of the Republican presidential primary even as he’s refused to endorse a federal ban on abortion, allowing some top rivals to get to the right of him on an issue that animates many conservative activists. Aiming to return to the White House, the former president often notes how his presidency advanced the cause of abortion opponents. He appointed three conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, abolishing the federally guaranteed right to the procedure and fulfilling the decades-long aspirations of anti-abortion activists.But Trump has so far declined to go along with some of his rivals, most notably his onetime vice president, Mike Pence, who is pushing for national bans that would take effect relatively early into a pregnancy. He’s also warned Republicans against locking themselves into positions that are unpopular with a majority of the public, and has argued that the Supreme...

Hurricane Lee to strike weather-worn New England after heavy rain, flooding and tornadoes

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — After a deluge of rain, flooding, sinkholes and tornadoes this week, New England is about to face Hurricane Lee. As the Category 1 system impacted Bermuda, Maine was under its first hurricane watch in 15 years and a state of emergency declared Thursday by Gov. Janet Mills. The water-logged region prepared for 20-foot (6-meter) waves offshore and wind gusts up to 80 mph (129 kph), along with more rain.The hurricane watch applied to eastern Maine, while the rest of the state and an area extending south through Massachusetts was under a tropical storm warning. Powerful winds and coastal flooding were expected to arrive Friday afternoon in southern New England and spread north.Although Lee did not contribute to the flooding that hit New England earlier in the week, it threatened to exacerbate conditions in a region that is already waterlogged.The Coast Guard and emergency management agencies warned New England residents to be prepared, and utility companies brough...

Kim Jong Un stops to see a fighter jet factory as Russia and North Korea are warned off arms deals

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stopped in a far eastern Russian city Friday to see a factory that builds the country’s most advanced fighter jets on his extended trip that hints at his interest in sophisticated weaponry, as the U.S. and others warned Moscow and Pyongyang against making banned weapons transfer deals. Kim’s visits to Russian weapons and technology sites and meetings with President Vladimir Putin have raised speculation he will supply ammunition to Russia for its war efforts in Ukraine in exchange for receiving advanced weapons or technology from Russia as the two nations deepen their ties while both are increasingly isolated and sanctioned in separate confrontations with the West. Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti published video showing Kim’s armored train pulling into a station in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Kim’s convoy sweeping out of the station shortly afterward. TASS news agency said Kim and local Russian offic...

What’s streaming now: ‘Barbie,’ Dan & Shay, ‘The Morning Show’ and ‘Welcome to Wrexham’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:32:38 GMT

Tunes from Dan & Shay and Vic Mensa plus a genre-blending Hulu series “The Other Black Girl” set inside the world of publishing are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near youAmong the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are a joyous season two of “Welcome to Wrexham,” “Barbie” can be bought for $30 and Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon return for season three of “The Morning Show.”NEW MOVIES TO STREAM— “Barbie” is finally coming to the small screen, giving audiences everywhere the freedom to belt out “I’m Just Ken” along with Ryan Gosling without shame. It’ll come at a cost, though, at least for a little while. Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar blockbuster is available to buy on video-on-demand for a cool $29.99. The film took on a life of its own after a wild marketing blitz and “Oppenheimer” proximity, inspiring moviegoers to don their pinkest, most sparkly ensembles for group trips to t...