Republicans join Trump’s attacks on justice system and campaign of vengeance after guilty verdict
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Congress are embracing Donald Trump’s strategy of blaming the U.S. justice system after his historic guilty verdict. They’re also enlisting themselves in his campaign of vengeance and political retribution. It’s all part of the GOP bid to reclaim the White House. On Friday, the House Judiciary chairman demanded the prosecutors in the New York hush money case appear for questioning. Republicans who expressed doubts about Trump’s innocence or political viability were instantly bullied to stay silent — or told to “leave the party.” President Joe Biden said the attacks on the justice system are “reckless” and “irresponsible.” Experts on authoritarianism warn that Trump is vowing to use the state against his opponents.
Israel describes a permanent cease-fire in Gaza as a ‘nonstarter,’ undermining Biden’s proposal
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s prime minister calls a permanent cease-fire in Gaza a “nonstarter” until long-standing conditions for the ending the war are met. The statement appears to undermine a proposal that U.S. President Joe Biden had announced as an Israeli one on Friday. Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas urge all parties to immediately accept the proposal. Biden asserted that Hamas is no longer capable of another large-scale attack on Israel. And he urged Israel and Hamas to agree to an extended cease-fire. Hamas says it views the proposal “positively.” Gaza’s humanitarian crisis is growing meanwhile as Israel presses on in Rafah.
The Biden administration says Israel hasn’t crossed a red line on Rafah. This could be why
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has gone to lengths to avoid any suggestion that Israeli forces have crossed a red line set by President Joe Biden in the deepening offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. That includes administration officials calling Israeli military operations around Rafah an “uptick.” The administration says Israel has changed its approach, going for select, limited strikes that reduce civilian deaths. Biden said early last month that he wouldn’t supply offensive weapons if Israel launched an all-out assault on Rafah. Critics say Biden has come up against a domestic red line of his own — namely, challenging ally Israel in an election year. And they say he’s decided not to cross it.
The ANC party that freed South Africa from apartheid loses its 30-year majority in landmark election
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The African National Congress party has lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. With more than 99% of votes counted Saturday, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% of votes cast Wednesday, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela. The final results are still to be formally declared by the Independent Electoral Commission.
100 years ago, US citizenship for Native Americans came without voting rights in swing states
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An act of Congress a century ago guaranteed citizenship to wary Native Americans in an age of forced assimilation and marked the outset of a long, arduous journey to secure voting rights that were denied for several more decades. Daunting legal and logistical obstacles to voting persist in remote stretches of the southwestern United States, where the Native vote is credited with swinging the 2020 presidential election in Arizona to President Joe Biden. In New Mexico, recent election reforms are promising tribal communities a greater voice in how and where they can vote — bolstering an already robust path to political power.
From collapsed plea deal to trial: How Hunter Biden has come to face jurors on federal gun charges
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is headed to trial on federal gun charges in a case brought by his father’s Justice Department. The trial is set to open Monday in Delaware with jury selection. The case isn’t about Hunter Biden’s business dealings, which have been the focus of a lengthy federal investigation and an impeachment inquiry into the Democratic president by congressional Republicans. Prosecutors say Hunter Biden bought the gun illegally in October 2018 because he falsely swore on a federal form that he wasn’t a drug user. His lawyers say he never fired the gun and that it ended up dumped in a trash can.
North Korea is sending more trash-carrying balloons to South Korea
South Korea’s military says North Korea launched even more trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea, following a similar campaign earlier in the week as it continues to retaliate against activists flying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border. The military advised people to beware of falling objects and not to touch objects suspected to be from North Korea but report them to military or police offices instead. South Korea’s military dispatched chemical rapid response and explosive clearance teams to recover the debris from some 260 North Korean balloons that were found in various parts of the country from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Is intermittent fasting better than counting calories? Maybe not, but you might stick with it
Intermittent fasting, where people eat what they want, but only during certain daily windows of time, has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. Time-restricted eating, a practice where people condense all of their eating to 10 hours a day or less, is the most popular form. Early studies in mice and humans suggested that the strategy could help shed pounds. Recent research found that time-restricted eating was “no better or worse” than cutting calories. Experts say it might be easier to sustain over the long-term than dieting alone.
Panama prepares to evacuate first island in face of rising sea levels
GARDI SUGDUB, Panama (AP) — The Gunas of Gardi Sugdub are the first of 63 communities along Panama’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts that government officials and scientists expect to be forced to relocate by rising sea levels in the coming decades. Generations of Gunas who have grown up on Gardi Sugdub in a life dedicated to the sea and tourism will trade that next week for the mainland’s solid ground. They will move to a new site built by the government of concrete houses on a grid of paved streets carved out of the lush tropical jungle just over a mile or 2 kilometers from the port.
Stuck at sea for years, a sailor’s plight highlights a surge in shipowner abandonment
The United Nations over the last decade has logged an increasing number of crew members abandoned by shipowners around the world. That’s left sailors aboard months and sometimes years without pay. More than 2,000 seafarers on some 150 ships were abandoned last year. The number of cases is at its highest since the U.N.’s labor and maritime organizations began tracking abandonments 20 years ago. The numbers spiked during the global pandemic and continued to rise as inflation and logistical bottlenecks increased costs for shipowners. And the problem shows no signs of abating.
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