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Fizzled probe spares governor scrutiny over Ronald Greene’s deadly arrest

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana legislators who last year demanded answers from Gov. John Bel Edwards on whether he was complicit in a cover-up of state troopers’ deadly arrest of a Black motorist have quietly abandoned their work without hearing from the governor or issuing any findings.Lawmakers involved in the special committee probing the 2019 death of Ronald Greene offered an array of explanations, including election-year politics, concern the probe of state police wasn’t playing well with Louisiana’s mostly conservative voters and even a lack of resources in the legislature.“We only make $17,000 a year, and as much as I want to get to the heart of the Ronald Greene matter for justice, I also want my kids to have dinner tonight,” said state Rep. Tanner Magee, a Republican who chaired the bipartisan panel and ran unsuccessfully last year for a state judgeship.“We’re not the feds with unlimited resources,” Magee said. “Behind the facade, it’s a Mickey Mouse organization trying ...

Mexico president’s ruling party wins governorship of country’s most populous state

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

NAUCALPAN, Mexico (AP) — A quick-count sampling of votes for governor of Mexico’s most populous state suggested a victory late Sunday for the candidate from the governing party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which would end nearly a century of uninterrupted rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party.Preliminary results indicated Delfina Gómez of the Morena party was likely to win between 52.1% and 54.2% of the ballots in the State of Mexico, compared with 43% to 45.2% for Alejandra del Moral, representing the opposition coalition, according to the National Electoral Institute.The forecast was based on representative sampling of voting stations with at least 95% certainty. The outcome will not be final until all ballots were counted. Participation was between 48.7 and 50.2% of eligible state voters.Del Moral conceded shortly after the preliminary forecast was announced.“In democracy to be able to win, you have to know how to lose and I am a democrat,” she said, ad...

US releases video showing close-call in Taiwan Strait with Chinese destroyer

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The United States military released video Monday of what it called an “unsafe” Chinese maneuver in the Taiwan Strait on the weekend, in which a Chinese navy ship cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing the U.S. ship to slow to avoid a collision.The incident occurred Saturday as the American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal were conducting a so-called “freedom of navigation” transit of the strait between Taiwan and mainland China. China claims the democratic self-governing island of Taiwan as part of its own territory, and maintains the strait is part of its exclusive economic zone, while the U.S. and its allies regularly sail through and fly over the passage to emphasize their contention that the waters are international.During the Saturday transit, the Chinese guided-missile destroyer overtook the Chung-Hoon on its port side, then veered across its bow at a distance of some 150 yards (137 meters), according to the U.S....

Rescuers in Japan search for 3 missing in or near rivers swollen by heavy rains last week

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Rescue workers in Japan searched Monday for three people who went missing in or near rivers swollen by heavy rains last week that left one person dead and dozens injured.A man in his 60s who was pulled from a flooded car Friday in the central city of Toyohashi was pronounced dead over the weekend.In Wakayama prefecture, a woman was seen being swept into a swollen river while driving and an older man who went to check on a friend in a riverside neighborhood is also believed to have been swept away. Rescuers also are searching for a person who lived beside a swollen river and was missing in the central prefecture of Shizuoka.On Monday, residents were cleaning up in flood-hit parts of Iwata city in Shizuoka, where a river bank was breached and dozens of homes were flooded. The residents, helped by volunteers, shoveled out mud that gushed into their houses, washed the floors and brought out mud-smeared furniture.Heavy rain also caused widespread damage in the Tokyo region. ...

Racist abuse of Vinícius Júnior highlights entrenched problem in soccer

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Hanging from a highway bridge in Madrid, an effigy of one of the world’s most famous Black soccer players stands as a graphic reminder of the racism that sweeps through European soccer.In truth, the signs are everywhere.In Italy, where monkey chants swirled around the stadium in April as a Black player celebrated a goal. In England, where a banana peel thrown from a hostile crowd during a game in north London landed at the feet of a Black player after he scored a penalty. In France, where Black players from the men’s national team were targeted with horrific racial abuse online after they lost in last year’s World Cup final.Go outside Europe and you’ll find them, too. In Australia, where there were monkey noises and fascist chanting during last year’s Australia Cup final. In South America, where matches in the continent’s biggest competition, the Copa Libertadores, have been blighted by monkey chants. In North Africa, where Black players from visiting teams from ...

Biden set for critical talks on Ukraine this week with Denmark’s Frederiksen, UK’s Sunak

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is welcoming Denmark and Britain’s prime ministers this week to Washington for talks that will focus heavily on what lays ahead in the war in Ukraine —including the recently-launched effort to train, and eventually equip, Ukraine with American-made F-16s fighter jetsBritain and Denmark are playing a pivotal role in the nascent joint international plan that Biden recently endorsed after months of resisting calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for U.S. aircraftBiden’s separate meetings with the leaders of two key NATO allies — he’ll huddle with Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen on Monday and the UK’s Rishi Sunak on Thursday — come at a crucial period in the 15-month war as Ukraine readies to launch a counteroffensive. It’s also a moment when the U.S. and Europe are looking to demonstrate to Moscow that the Western-alliance remains strong and focused on cementing a longer-term commitment to Ukraine with n...

Pride becomes a minefield for big companies, but many continue their support

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

Many big companies, including Target and Bud Light’s parent, are still backing Pride events in June despite the minefield that the monthlong celebration has become for some of them.Target and Bud Light recently came under fire for their efforts to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community, only to come under more fire when they tried to backpedal.But even as they battle the negative publicity, Target and Bud Light haven’t pulled away from this year’s Pride celebrations. Target is a platinum sponsor of NYC Pride, which requires a $175,000 donation. And Bud Light’s parent Anheuser-Busch is a sponsor of Pride celebrations in Chicago, San Francisco, Charlotte and elsewhere.Many other big companies are sticking to their sponsorships as well, including PepsiCo, Starbucks, General Motors and Jeep parent Stellantis — all of which said they have been supporting Pride events for decades and aren’t hesitating to back them again this year. Jeff Gennette, CEO of Macy’s, another major Pride sponsor, t...

Federal trial set to begin over Oregon’s tough gun control measure approved by voters

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal trial over Oregon’s voter-approved gun control measure is set to open Monday in Portland, marking a critical next step for one of the toughest gun control laws in the nation after months of being tied up in the courts.The trial, which will be held before a judge and not a jury, will determine whether the law violates the U.S. Constitution. The protracted legal battle over the law could well last beyond the trial. Whatever the judge decides, the ruling is likely to be appealed, potentially moving all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.Oregon voters in November narrowly passed Measure 114, which requires residents to undergo safety training and a background check to obtain a permit to buy a gun. The legislation also bans the sale, transfer or import of gun magazines with more than 10 rounds unless they are owned by law enforcement or a military member or were owned before the measure’s passage. Those who already own high-capacity magazines can only po...

California attorney general says Florida responsible for flying migrants to Sacramento

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s attorney general said the state of Florida appears to have arranged for a group of South American migrants to be dropped off outside a Sacramento church. “While this is still under investigation, we can confirm these individuals were in possession of documentation purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida,” Bonta said in a statement late Saturday. The documents indicate the Florida Division of Emergency Management coordinated the flights, Bonta told the Los Angeles Times. Florida paid contractor Vertol Systems Inc. $1.56 million to fly migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, last year.The 16 migrants who arrived in Sacramento on Friday are from Colombia and Venezuela. They entered the U.S. through Texas. They were transported to New Mexico then flown by a charter plane to California’s capital, where they were then dropped off in front of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, California o...

Soccer authorities move toward tougher sanctions for racial abuse over last decade

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:23:31 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — When Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off the field to protest being racially abused by an opposing team’s fans a decade ago, he set soccer authorities on a path toward tougher sanctions in cases of discrimination.His teammates at Italian club AC Milan had his back when Boateng, who is Black, refused to tolerate the abusive chants he heard from fans of a small provincial club during a mid-season exhibition game in 2013.Boateng kicked the ball toward the opposing fans before striding back to the locker room, his teammates right behind him.At FIFA headquarters in Zurich, then-president Sepp Blatter seized the moment to demand tougher punishments for clubs, national federations and their teams — or the players responsible — in cases of racism and discrimination.Longer bans. Point deductions. Relegation or expulsion from competitions and tournaments.FIFA created a racism task force and strengthened its disciplinary code within months of Boateng’s actions. So did European soccer...