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Appeals court to quickly consider Trump’s presidential immunity claim in sex abuse case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court will quickly consider former President Donald Trump’s claim that presidential immunity protects him from being held liable for statements he made in 2019 when he denied that he sexually attacked a New York writer in the 1990s, the court said Wednesday.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued an order to say it will expedite the appeal a day after Trump attorney Alina Habba told a three-judge panel of the court that the appeal raised “an important question that will affect the delicate balance between the judiciary and the executive branch for many years to come.”The 2nd Circuit set a schedule for written arguments to be filed within a month.U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has set a Jan. 15 date for a jury to decide damages in a long-delayed lawsuit brought by the writer, E. Jean Carroll. She claimed Trump defamed her in 2019 when he said she fabricated claims in a memoir in which she said Trump sexually attacked her in a l...

NFL players union renews call for grass fields after Aaron Rodgers’ injury

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Skin scraped down to bloody patches. Sore bodies stinging in post-game showers. Aching shoulders, backs, hips, knees and ankles.Add in season-ending injuries like four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers tearing his left Achilles tendon in his debut with the New York Jets on Monday night and Buffalo pass rusher Von Miller tearing his ACL, an incident that he blames on artificial turf.Yes, NFL players prefer playing on natural grass. It’s why the NFL Players Association called on the league Wednesday to switch all fields to grass in what executive director Lloyd Howell said was “the easiest decision the NFL can make.”It’s a matter of career preservation.“I mean the NFL is already ‘Not For Long,’ right?” Carolina linebacker Shaq Thompson said. “It sucks it had to happen that way. … Hopefully they run with it. Hopefully they blow it up and shout it out loud and everybody puts it on social media, takes a stand and does something.” The players union repeated ...

Bryan Kohberger, charged in the slayings of 4 Idaho college students, wants cameras out of courtroom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Attorneys for a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death late last year want cameras banned from the courtroom, contending that news coverage of the criminal proceedings has violated a judge’s orders and threatens his right to a fair trial.Bryan Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in connection with the deaths at a rental house near the university campus in Moscow, Idaho, last November. A judge entered a not-guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf earlier this year. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson has said he intends to seek the death penalty, and the case is scheduled for trial this fall, although it could be postponed. Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University, which is a short drive from the scene of the killings across the state border. He was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, and the unusual details of the case have drawn widespread interest.Second...

Suspect in custody after University of North Carolina locked down for ‘armed and dangerous person’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has given the “all clear” and arrested a suspect after campus was locked down Wednesday over reports of an armed and dangerous person.Chapel Hill Police arrested Mickel Deonte Harris, 27, of Durham, in a neighborhood north of campus at approximately 2:45 p.m., according to UNC Police Chief Brian James. Harris is suspected of confronting an employee at Alpine Bagel Cafe, a restaurant in the student union, and threatening the employee with a firearm, James said. No shots were fired in the altercation.The campus alert system was activated in the early afternoon when police received a 911 call informing them that someone had brandished a weapon in the student union, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said. The lockdown was in place for more than an hour. Students were told to “go inside now” and avoid windows. The UNC community is still recovering from the fatal shooting of a faculty member in a science building about two ...

B.C. facing wildfires through fall after hot, dry summer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

VANCOUVER — Wildfire behaviour in British Columbia received a late-summer boost from higher than normal temperatures and lower than normal rainfall, especially in the north, and provincial officials say dry conditions are expected well into the fall. In an update Wednesday, Neal McLoughlin with the provincial wildfire co-ordination centre cautioned that wildfire season remains in full swing, as he recapped the month of August.McLoughlin said parts of northern B.C. saw 75 per cent less precipitation than typically seen last month, conditions that have intensified this year’s record-breaking wildfire season. He said the most notable event was a dry cold front that hit the province on Aug. 17, causing extreme fire behaviour, including tornado-like fire wheels and intense growth from the McDougall Creek and Bush Creek East wildfires in the interior. McLouglin said current drought conditions aren’t unexpected in southern B.C., but those in the north are not typical, and dry f...

Haitian officials meet in Dominican Republic to prevent border closings over canal dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Haiti’s government announced that it met Wednesday with Dominican officials in the Dominican Republic to talk about a recent threat by that country’s president to close all borders in response to a row over the construction of a supposed canal.The brief statement by Haiti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not provide much detail, except to say that both sides were trying to find a “fair and definitive” solution to squabbles over the use of the Massacre River that runs along the border both countries share on the island of Hispaniola.Dominican officials have not commented on the apparent meeting.Simmering tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic deepened on Monday when Dominican President Luis Abinader announced that he had suspended issuing visas to Haitians and threatened to shut down land, air and sea traffic if the conflict over the canal wasn’t resolved before Thursday.The excavation of a supposed canal on Haitian soil began recently, but it...

UAW chief says offers from Detroit companies are inadequate, says union is ready to go on strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — With just over 24 hours left before a strike deadline, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain says offers from the companies aren’t enough and the union is getting ready to strike.In an online address to members Wednesday, Fain said General Motors, Ford and Stellantis have raised their initial wage offers, but have rejected some of the union’s other demands.“We do not yet have offers on the table that reflect the sacrifices and contributions our members have made to these companies,” he said. “To win we’re likely going to have to take action. We are preparing to strike these companies in a way they’ve never seen before.”The union is threatening to strike after contracts with companies that haven’t reached an agreement by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. It would be the first time in the union’s 80-plus-year history that it struck all three companies at the same time.Talks continued Wednesday with the companies, but it appeared that both si...

A federal judge again declares that DACA is illegal. Issue likely to be decided by US Supreme Court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen agreed with Texas and eight other states suing to stop the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. The judge’s ruling was ultimately expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, sending the program’s fate before the high court for a third time.Hanen barred the government from approving any new applications, but left the program intact for existing recipients during the expected appeals process. Hanen said his order does not require the federal government to take any actions against DACA recipients. The states have argued the Obama administration didn’t have the authority to first create the program in 2012 because it circumvented Congress.In 2021, Hanen had declared the program illegal, ruling it had not been subject to public not...

Argentine inflation keeps soaring, putting the government on the defensive as elections near

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Consumer prices in Argentina soared 12.4% in August, compared to the previous month, the highest rate since February 1991, a number that puts the government on the defensive a little more than a month before presidential elections in which a right-wing populist who admires Donald Trump appears the favorite to win. Argentina’s annual inflation rate rose to 124.4%, according to figures released by the government’s INDEC statistics agency Wednesday.Argentina has been suffering from galloping inflation for years, but August marked the first time in more than two decades the monthly rate reached double digits, a phenomenon that is likely to be repeated in September, according to economists.Amid the sharp rise in consumer prices, Economy Minister Sergio Massa is trying to convince Argentines to elect him president rather than Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho capitalist” who shook up Argentina’s political system by receiving the most votes in last mont...

UNESCO approves report outlining threats to Wood Buffalo National Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:50 GMT

The United Nations body that oversees World Heritage Sites is approving a report that finds Wood Buffalo National Park’s place on that list is in danger.At a meeting in Saudi Arabia, UNESCO delegates voted to approve an investigation that found the park remains under environmental threats from dam construction in British Columbia, oilsands development and climate change.Delegates voted to recommend that Canada implement 17 recommendations in the report.Five of those recommendations pertain specifically to threats posed by the oilsands, upstream of the park.The report is the latest step in UNESCO’s ongoing examination of concerns originally expressed by the Mikisew Cree First Nation almost a decade ago.In 2018, Ottawa developed a plan to revive the park and the report was an assessment of how well it’s working.The report did not recommend removing the park from the list of World Heritage Sites but said about half of what makes it a special place is deteriorating.Of ...