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The Polish president will appoint a new prime minister after opposition coalition’s election win

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish President Andrzej Duda will appoint a new prime minister in a national address on Monday, an aide said. The announcement will trigger the process of forming a new government after general elections last month in which the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party lost its parliamentary majority to three allied opposition parties but emerged as the single biggest vote-getter. This has fed speculation over Duda’s choice. “Following consultations and after deep consideration, President Andrzej Duda has taken his decision regarding the so-called first step” (in forming a government), presidential aide Marcin Mastalerek said on X, formerly known as Twitter.He said the decision is “final” and not subject to pleas from politicians, whom he advised to “calmly watch the evening address.”An ally of the current government, Duda has said the two candidates for prime minister are the current conservative premier, Mateusz Morawiecki, and former prime minister and ...

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi goes on a hunger strike while imprisoned in Iran

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A campaign urging Iran to free Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi said Monday that the activist has begun a hunger strike over the conditions of her imprisonment and the country’s requirement that women wear headscarves. The Free Narges Mohammadi campaign said she “through a message from Evin Prison has informed her family that she started a hunger strike several hours ago.” It said Mohammadi and her lawyer for weeks have sought her transfer to a specialist hospital for heart and lung care.It did not elaborate on what conditions Mohammadi suffered from, though it described her as receiving an echocardiogram of her heart.Iranian state media did not immediately acknowledge that Mohammadi had gone on a hunger strike. Mohammadi, 51, has kept up her activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars. She has remained a leading light for nationwide, women-led protests sparked by the death last year of a...

AP survey finds 55 of 69 schools in major college football now sell alcohol at stadiums on game day

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — College football tailgates are as synonymous with the game as blocking and tackling. Burgers, brats and beer go along with the cornhole and camaraderie for tens of thousands of people every Saturday, a beloved tradition seen outside stadiums big and small.“My dad almost gets more excited for football season than I do because of the tailgating and stuff like that,” said J.J. McCarthy, the star quarterback for No. 2 Michigan. For many years, the booze flowed only outside of stadiums. Not anymore: Selling beer and wine inside college football stadiums has become the norm over the past decade, a way for schools to bring in more revenue and attract fans who might otherwise be inclined to stay home.According to a survey by The Associated Press of Power Five conference schools and Notre Dame, 55 of 69 of them — 80% — now sell alcohol in the public areas of their stadiums on game days. Of the remaining schools, some sell alcoholic drinks in non-public areas of the...

US senators seek answers from Army after reservist killed 18 in Maine

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Two senators from Maine asked the U.S. Army inspector general on Monday to provide a full accounting of interactions with a reservist before he killed 18 people and injured 13 others in the deadliest shooting in the state’s history.U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, told Lt. Gen. Donna W. Martin in a letter that it’s important to understand “what occurred, or failed to occur” at the federal level, including the Army, before Robert Card opened fire at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston.Fellow soldiers expressed concerns about Card’s mental health before the Oct. 25 shootings. One of them sent a text message in September saying, “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” according to law enforcement.The senators view their federal request as working in tandem with an independent commission that Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is convening to explore the facts related to the shooting, inc...

Florida lawmakers to begin special session by expressing support of Israel

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Legislature will return to the Capitol for a special session Monday that will allow lawmakers to express their support for Israel, while giving Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis some talking points as he campaigns for president. Lawmakers are expected to consider new sanctions against Iran, which has supported Hamas, as well as vote on resolutions expressing support for Israel’s right to defend itself.After Hamas militants attacked Israeli citizens last month, a large, bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers met in the Capitol to express their horror and to stand with Israelis. Now, they’ll be taking official action to send a similar message, both about the current war and against antisemitism at home.More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting. The Palestinian death toll has reached 9,700, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.The session will open with an...

Ukraine says 19 troops killed by missile at an awards ceremony. Zelenskyy calls it avoidable tragedy

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine confirmed on Monday that 19 service members were killed by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia during a military awards ceremony in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented was a “tragedy that could’ve been avoided.”Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has ordered an investigation into why the 128th Separate Mountain-Assault Brigade of Zakarpattia participated in the crowded event Friday honoring troops for Rocket Forces and Artillery Day so close to front lines.The announcement came as officials said Russian drone and missile strikes in Odesa wounded eight people and damaged an art museum that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, and satellite photos showed damage done by a Ukrainian missile strike to a Russian naval ship.Odesa’s National Art Museum said seven exhibitions, most featuring the work of contemporary Ukrainian artists, were damaged by a strike that left a large crater outside the museum celebrating its 124th anniversary.Photos and vide...

Yellen will host the Chinese vice premier for talks in San Francisco before the start of APEC summit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will host Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for two days of talks this week, the latest in a series of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials as the world’s two largest economies aim to ease tensions, the Treasury Department announced Monday.The Yellen-He talks set for Thursday and Friday come ahead of the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco which starts November 11. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet next week during the summit, what would be the first engagement between the two leaders in nearly a year.“As a foundation, our two nations have an obligation to establish resilient lines of open communication and to prevent our disagreements from spiraling into conflict,” Yellen wrote in a Washington Post op-ed to spotlight the upcoming meeting. “But we also know that our relationship cannot be circumscribed to crisis management.”The...

‘Amtrak Joe’ Biden is off to Delaware to give out $16 billion for passenger rail projects

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden — perhaps the nation’s biggest Amtrak fan — is set to promote new federal investments for trains on the heavily trafficked Northeast Corridor. The Democratic president is headed to Bear, Delaware, on Monday to announce more than $16 billion in new funding that will go toward 25 passenger rail projects between Boston and Washington, the White House says. Bear is located about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Biden’s home of Wilmington.His remarks will be held at the Amtrak Bear Maintenance Shops, where trains are maintained and repaired. The investments, the White House says, will help trains run faster, cut delays and create union jobs.The money comes from the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed nearly two years ago, one of several legislative achievements that the president is touting as he gears up for his reelection bid. From the law, Amtrak will get about $66 billion in new investments, according to t...

This year’s Affordable Care Act enrollment is different: What you need to know

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

(The Hill) - Open enrollment for plans available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace has officially begun, and this year’s sign-up period will have some new factors that may make it easier for more people to sign up for coverage. Prospective customers now have until Jan. 15 to sign up for ACA insurance plans, though those who want coverage at the start of the calendar year should sign up by Dec. 15. Last year’s enrollment reached record numbers — 15.7 million — and this year’s is expected to exceed that rate. “We're already at a record high in terms of ACA Marketplace enrollment, and there's really been a couple of years of record highs in a row,” said Cynthia Cox, KFF vice president and director of the program on the ACA. “A lot of that was driven by the enhanced subsidies. The pandemic also might have motivated more people to get or maintain their health coverage.” Several factors could drive up this year’s enrollment, includin...

Trump set to testify in New York fraud trial with business empire at stake

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:02:13 GMT

(The Hill) - Donald Trump and lawyers from New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) office will face off this week when the former president is expected to take the stand in the fraud case jeopardizing his business empire.His testimony marks an unprecedented turn in U.S. history where a former president and current White House candidate must defend himself on trial and in the shadow of a host of other legal troubles. However, that seems to have had little effect among GOP primary voters throwing their support behind Trump, who is consistently polling with double-digit leads ahead of his challengers among that contingent of likely voters.Still, the former president’s fury over the probe into his business has been on full display — both online and in fiery stump speeches in the Manhattan courthouse’s hallways — throughout which he has derided James as “corrupt,” “racist” and complicit in “prosecutorial misconduct.” At stake are Trump’s business licenses and the potential for...