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Live updates | Negotiations underway for 3-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, officials say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

Negotiations are underway to reach a three-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about a dozen hostages held by Hamas. That’s according to two officials from Egypt, one from the United Nations and a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic efforts.The deal would enable more aid, including limited amounts of fuel, to enter the besieged territory to alleviate worsening conditions for the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped there. It is being brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, according to the officials and the diplomat.The war, now in its second month, was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.The number of Palestinians killed in the war passed 10,500, including more than 4,300 children, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said. In the occupied West Bank, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed,...

MGM’s CEO says tentative deal to avoid strike will be reached with Las Vegas hotel workers union

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — MGM Resorts International, the largest employer on the Las Vegas Strip, was close to reaching a tentative deal with the hotel workers union, the casino company’s CEO said as the clock ticked closer to a union deadline for a sweeping strike.CEO Bill Hornbuckle said Wednesday in an earnings call at the same time negotiations were taking place in a casino ballroom that he was confident a “historic” agreement would come together before 5 a.m. Friday, when the Culinary Workers Union is threatening to strike if negotiations fail.“We know from listening to our employees that they are looking for a pay increase to combat inflation, among other concerns,” Hornbuckle said. “This deal, when announced, will do just that.”During a break in bargaining, the union’s chief contract negotiator said he welcomed Hornbuckle’s sentiments. “His representatives are here,” Ted Pappageorge said from the ballroom where negotiations were taking place. “I hope they’re listening to him.” Since A...

The man charged in last year’s attack against Nancy Pelosi’s husband goes to trial in San Francisco

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man accused of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home, bludgeoning her husband with a hammer and seeking to kidnap her goes on trial Thursday. Opening statements are scheduled in the federal trial of David DePape who prosecutors say assaulted then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi, sending shockwaves through the political world just days before last year’s midterm elections. The attack in the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022, also highlighted how conspiracy theories and misinformation that spread online can fuel political violence.DePape pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. Paul Pelosi is expected to testify next week.DePape posted rants on a blog and an online forum about aliens, communists, religious minorities, and global elites. He questioned the results of the 2020 election and echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims ...

Western and Arab officials are gathering in Paris to find ways to provide aid to civilians in Gaza

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Officials from Western and Arab nations, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations are gathering Thursday in Paris for a conference on how to provide aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s war with Hamas, including proposals for a humanitarian maritime corridor and floating field hospitals.French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called for a “humanitarian pause” in the war, wants the conference to address the besieged Palestinian enclave’s growing needs including food, water, health supplies, electricity and fuel.Over 50 nations are expected to attend including several European countries, the United States and regional powers like Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf countries, the French presidency said. Also attending is Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.Israeli authorities won’t participate in Thursday’s conference, the Elysee said.The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the U.N.’s top aid official and t...

The US and Chinese finance ministers are opening talks to lay the groundwork for a Biden-Xi meeting

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart will meet in San Francisco on Thursday for two days of talks aimed at making progress on a slew of economic issues at a time when competition has markedly intensified between the two countries. Yellen’s talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng are designed to help lay the groundwork for an expected meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, which would be their first engagement in nearly a year.The White House is not expecting the face-to-face meeting to result in major changes to the relationship between the two nations, according to a person familiar with the planning, although it hopes to see some signs of progress. Analysts say expectations should be kept low, given the competitive nature of the countries’ relationship. Nicholas Szechenyi, deputy director for Asia at the Center fo...

Turkey is marking its centennial. But a brain drain has cast a shadow on the occasion

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Huseyin Buyukdag says he loves Turkey and his job as a teacher. But with the rampant economic crisis and growing repression in his country, he said he and his wife have decided to try and find a better life in Germany.They are among a growing number of young and educated looking to leave Turkey, where rights and freedoms are being eroded and inflation is surging under increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.After Erdogan secured a third term in office in May elections, things are unlikely to change, he says.“Even if I don’t want this, even if I hate this, I will … leave this beautiful country,” the 27-year-old English teacher told The Associated Press.Buyukdag and his wife, a nurse, live in the impoverished southeastern province of Sirnak. Their government-appointed jobs bring the two roughly up to $1,750 a month — over the official poverty line of $ 1,564. It’s enough to make ends meet in their border province but far short of what is needed ...

Judge to hear arguments as Michigan activists try to keep Trump off the ballot

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A judge in Michigan is expected to hear arguments Thursday on whether Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has the authority to keep Donald Trump’s name off state ballots for president.Activists are suing Benson in the Michigan Court of Claims to force her to keep Trump’s name off ballots and to assess Trump’s constitutional qualifications to serve a second term as president.Meanwhile, attorneys for the former president are demanding that Trump’s name be allowed on the 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot.Arguments were scheduled to begin Thursday morning in Grand Rapids before Judge James Robert Redford.Activists — in two separate suits — point to a section of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment that prohibits a person from running for federal office if they have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S. or given aid or comfort to those who have.Liberal groups also have filed lawsuits in Colorado and Minnesota to bar Trump from th...

Holocaust survivor recalls ‘Night of Broken Glass’ horrors in interactive, virtual reality project

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Charlotte Knobloch was 6 years old when she saw the synagogues of Munich burning and watched helplessly as two Nazi officers marched away a beloved friend of her father who was beaten up and bleeding on the forehead.It was Nov. 9, 1938, or Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass” — when Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria. This Thursday, on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Knobloch still remembers that night with horror and says it will be burned into her memory forever.“My whole life, I’ve never been able to get those pictures out of my head,” she told The Associated Press.Knobloch, 91, still lives in Munich where she is the President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria. She worries that the atrocities of the Nazis’ persecution of Jews may get forgotten and thinks it is especially important to teach the young generation about the past.“We have to address young people, because without them there is no remembrance,” ...

Texas inmate who says death sentence based on false expert testimony faces execution

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas inmate whose attorneys say received a death sentence due to false and unscientific expert testimony faced execution Thursday evening for fatally stabbing an Amarillo man during a robbery more than 33 years ago.Brent Ray Brewer, 53, was condemned for the April 1990 death of Robert Laminack, 66, who was attacked as he was giving Brewer and his girlfriend a ride to a Salvation Army location. Prosecutors said Laminack was stabbed in the neck as he was robbed of $140.Brewer’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, which was scheduled for Thursday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. They argue that during the inmate’s 2009 resentencing trial, prosecutors relied on false and discredited testimony from an expert, Richard Coons, who claimed Brewer would be a future danger, a legal finding needed to impose a death sentence.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday dismissed an appeal on this issue without reviewing th...

Ballot shortages in Mississippi created a problem for democracy on the day of a governor’s election

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:23:50 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — People in Mississippi’s largest county are demanding answers about why some polling places ran out of ballots and voters had to wait for them to be replenished on the day the state was deciding its most competitive governor’s race in a generation.It’s unclear how many people left without voting, and activists and local leaders say election officials’ failure is shocking, especially in a state where civil rights leaders were beaten or killed in the 1960s and earlier to secure voting rights for Black residents.“If you can’t vote, that’s a problem for democracy,” said Paloma Wu, a Mississippi Center for Justice attorney who filed one of two lawsuits to keep polling places open later than usual in Hinds County.Republican Gov. Tate Reeves defeated Democratic challenger Brandon Presley in Mississippi’s most expensive gubernatorial race.Nearly 40% of Mississippi residents are Black. Presley, who’s a state utility regulator and secon...