Netanyahu meets with Biden and Harris to narrow gaps on a Gaza war cease-fire deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House to discuss the war in Gaza with President Joe Biden and likely Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at an important moment for all three politicians. Netanyahu’s White House visit Thursday comes at a time of growing pressure in Israel and the U.S. to find an endgame to the war in Gaza and engineer the return of hostages held by Hamas. Biden is aiming to get Israel and Hamas to seal a U.S.-backed proposal to release hostages in Gaza over three phases as a legacy-affirming achievement. White House officials say the negotiations are in the closing stages but there are issues needing to be resolved.
Harris says she’s ready to debate Trump and accuses him of ‘backpedaling’ from Sept. 10 faceoff
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has told reporters that she’s “ready to debate Donald Trump.” She accused Trump of “backpedaling” away from a previous agreement for a debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10. Trump has said he would prefer to shift the event to Fox News, but he would be open to holding two debates with Harris. She says, “I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage.” She spoke to reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a trip to Indiana and Texas.
Prosecutors urge judge not to toss out Trump’s hush money conviction, pushing back on immunity claim
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are urging a judge to uphold Donald Trump’s historic hush money conviction. The Manhattan district attorney’s office argued in court papers made public Thursday that the verdict should stand despite the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity. Prosecutors said in a court filing that the high court’s opinion “has no bearing” on the hush money case because the New York case involves unofficial acts for which a former president is not immune. Lawyers for Trump are trying to get the verdict — and even the indictment — tossed out because of the Supreme Court’s decision that gives presidents considerable protection from prosecution.
Kamala Harris: A Baptist with a Jewish husband and a faith that traces back to MLK and Gandhi
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black clergy who know Vice President Kamala Harris, now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, marvel at the fusion of traditions and teachings that have molded her religious faith and social justice values. A Baptist married to a Jewish man, she’s inspired by work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother’s native India as well as the Black Church.  Religious leaders and theologians say Harris’ candidacy has special symbolic significance following President Joe Biden’s departure from the presidential race. Not only because she would be the nation’s first woman president, but she’s a Black American with South Asian roots and her two cultures are intrinsically linked.
Newsom orders California state agencies to start clearing homeless encampments
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies to start removing homeless encampments on state land Thursday. The order comes a month after a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. Newsom’s order is aimed at the thousands of tents and makeshift shelters across the state that line freeways, clutter shopping center parking lots and fill city parks. The order makes clear that the decision to remove the encampments remains in local hands. While Newsom cannot order local authorities to act, his administration can apply pressure by withholding money for counties and cities.
Video game performers will go on strike over artificial intelligence concerns
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood’s video game performers are going on strike, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections. The strike will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday. It’s the second strike for video game actors and performers under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It comes after nearly two years of negotiations with gaming giants. Union negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety but that the game studios will not make a deal over the regulation of generative AI.
Biden signs bill strengthening oversight of crisis-plagued US Bureau of Prisons after AP reporting
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill strengthening oversight of the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons after The Associated Press exposed systemic corruption and abuse in the prison system. The Democratic president signed the Federal Prison Oversight Act on Thursday. The law establishes an independent ombudsman to field and investigate complaints after sexual assaults and other criminal misconduct by staff, escapes and high-profile deaths. The AP investigation exposed rampant staff-on-inmate sexual abuse at a women’s prison in Dublin, California. Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff introduced the oversight bill in 2022. Ossoff says the human rights crisis behind bars in the United States is “a stain on America’s conscience.”
Prisoners fight against working in heat on former slave plantation, raising hope for change in South
As daily temperatures hit record highs across much of the South, a federal judge has taken an unusual step, challenging the treatment of mostly Black incarcerated workers in the fields. America’s largest maximum-security prison, known as Angola, sits on 18,000 acres in Louisiana. It was once a slave plantation. Prisoners have toiled on the same farm lines since after emancipation, often without shade, adequate work breaks or even sunscreen. Several incarcerated workers along with an advocacy group filed a class-action lawsuit calling for an end to the farm line. U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order earlier this month accusing correctional officials of showing “deliberate indifference” to the risks of injuries or death of incarcerated workers.
Secret DEA files show agents joked about rape in a WhatsApp chat. Then one of them was accused of it
MIAMI (AP) — A group of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents boasted in a WhatsApp chat of their “world debauchery tour,” shared lurid images of their latest sexual conquests and at one point even joked about “forcible anal rape.” Within months of that exchange, one of the agents in the chat was accused of that very crime. The 2018 case in Spain, which was ultimately dismissed, is detailed in a trove of secret documents obtained by The Associated Press that offer a never-before-seen window into a culture of corruption among agents who parlayed the DEA’s shadowy money laundering operations into a global pursuit of binge drinking and illicit sex.
With big goals and gambles, Paris aims to reset the Olympics with audacious Games and a wow opening
PARIS (AP) — Paris has long been a city of dreamers: Just look at the Eiffel Tower, for decades the world’s loftiest structure. But France’s capital is aiming higher still with its first Olympic Games in a century, which open Friday. The most audacious Olympic opening ceremony ever — a gala spectacular on the River Seine that even French President Emmanuel Macron says initially felt like “a crazy and not very serious idea” — kicks off 16 days of competition that promise to be ground-breaking. Expect a heady blend of Olympic sports, iconic Paris monuments and France’s famous “savoir faire” in its world-renowned capital of fashion, gastronomy and culture could help secure the Games’ longer-term future. But Paris’ challenges are huge, too.
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