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Hunter Biden’s guilty plea is on the horizon, and so are a fresh set of challenges

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, faced new challenges on the eve of a scheduled court appearance Wednesday in which he’s set to plead guilty in a deal with prosecutors on tax and gun charges.On Capitol Hill, where Republicans are ramping up their investigations of the president and his son, the GOP chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee took the unusual step of filing court documents urging the judge in Hunter Biden’s case to consider testimony from IRS whistleblowers. The whistleblowers alleged the Justice Department interfered with investigations into Biden, a charge that has been denied by the lead prosecutor in the case, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was also appointed by Trump, will consider whether to accept the plea agreement. Judges rarely throw out plea bargains, but the effort to intervene by Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith of Missouri amounted to a high...

Toronto police dog killed, suspect injured in ‘officer-involved’ shooting

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

A Toronto police K9 was shot and killed, and a suspect is injured after an officer-involved shooting in Etobicoke on Tuesday evening.Authorities were called to the Dixon Road and Kipling Avenue area just after 8:30 p.m. for reports of a suspect armed with a gun.A Toronto police officer and a K9 were searching for the suspect on foot. Investigators said the police dog was killed following an interaction with the suspect, who was also injured as a result.Toronto paramedics tell CityNews one person was transported to a hospital. It’s unclear if it was the suspect.The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is expected to invoke its mandate.The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person.

Typhoon blows off roofs, floods villages and displaces thousands in northern Philippines

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Doksuri ripped tin roofs off of homes, flooded low-lying villages, knocked out power and displaced more than 12,000 people Wednesday as it smashed into a small island and lashed northern Philippine provinces with ferocious winds and rain, officials said.There were no immediate reports of casualties after the typhoon slammed into Fuga island off Aparri town in Cagayan province, where more than 12,100 people were evacuated from high-risk coastal villages and schools, and workplaces were shut down as a precaution as Doksuri approached. Thousands of people in other northern provinces were also displaced by the typhoon, which has a 700-kilometer-wide (435-mile-wide) band of wind and rain.Doksuri weakened slightly but remained dangerous and lethal with sustained winds of 175 kph (109 mph) and gusts of up to 240 kph (149 mph). It was blowing over the coastal waters of Fuga and Aparri town Wednesday morning, forecasters said.“Our northern coastal towns are...

Israel’s government has passed the first part of its legal overhaul. The law’s ripples are dramatic

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

The Israeli government has passed the first major piece of legislation in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s legal system — part of a broader plan that has triggered nationwide protests, divided the country and rattled the powerful military and influential business community. The plan seeks to weaken the country’s Supreme Court and transfer more powers to the parliament. Supporters say Israel’s unelected judges wield too much power. But opponents say the judges play an important oversight role, and that the plan will push Israel toward autocratic rule.Despite the fraught atmosphere, Netanyahu’s allies say they are moving forward on the overhaul.Here’s a look at how the overhaul could affect Israel in the coming months:WHY IS THE COUNTRY SO DIVIDED?Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has long been a polarizing leader. His government took office in December, after narrowly winning the country’s fifth election in un...

Blinken visits tiny Tonga as US continues diplomatic push to counter China in the Pacific

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the tiny kingdom of Tonga on Wednesday, as the United States continues to increase its diplomatic efforts in the Pacific while China’s influence in the region grows.Home to just over 100,000 people, Tonga last year was the site of a massive volcanic eruption that sent millions of tons of water vapor into the atmosphere and killed four people in Tonga. Blinken’s visit helped highlight the opening of a new U.S. Embassy in Tonga and the return of Peace Corps volunteers following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.Blinken met with Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni and other officials to discuss the bilateral relationship as well as regional and global issues, said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. “Secretary Blinken outlined how the United States is following through on commitments made by President Biden at last year’s historic summit with Pacific Islands leaders to elevate our diplomatic...

ESPN considers adding sports leagues as partners as it transitions from cable to digital

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said the network could take on a sports league as a minority partner as the network continues its transition from a cable channel to a digital company.“I will emphasize that we believe there are parties out there that can help us on the content side. So you can draw whatever conclusions you want from that,” Pitaro said Tuesday during a seminar sponsored by CNBC and Boardroom, a sports media company founded by Kevin Durant.Pitaro declined to say which leagues have been in talks with him and Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger, but he said there has “been a healthy level of interest” from leagues as well as technology, marketing and distribution companies.Pitaro also said it is not a question of if but when ESPN will roll out a direct-to-consumer product to view its offerings.A league having an equity stake in a network like ESPN would be groundbreaking and would pose some questions about fairness and objectivity in coverage. It would ma...

Men’s players send cease-and-desist orders to Canada Soccer sponsors

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

The Canadian men’s soccer team has fired another salvo in its ongoing labour battle with Canada Soccer, accusing the governing body of “attempting to capitalize on the Women’s World Cup to force us into an inadequate deal.”The statement, by the Canada Men’s National Soccer Team Players Association, was released on social media on the eve of Wednesday’s showdown in Perth, Australia, between Canada and Ireland at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.Canada captain Christine Sinclair said going into the soccer showcase in Australia and New Zealand that the Olympic champion women wanted an interim agreement covering compensation at this World Cup done in advance of the opening kickoff so they could focus on football.And while that deal has yet to be confirmed, Sinclair has said it is all but done and the women are concentrating on their on-field mission.The men are not satisfied, however.#CMNSTPA Statement re Ongoing Labour Negotiations (July 25, 2023) pi...

Family of Amber Alert kids calls disappearance ‘devastating’ to their siblings

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

The family of two British Columbia children who are the subject of an Amber Alert says their disappearance has had a “devastating” effect on their big sisters and brother.Surrey RCMP says the whereabouts of eight-year-old Aurora and 10-year-old Joshuah Bolton remain unknown, with the last confirmed sighting at a Merritt, B.C., gas station on July 7.A written statement by their family says the children are loved and missed.It says Aurora and Joshuah love family picnics, movie nights with popcorn, playing pranks and having water fights in their front yard.The statement also says the missing pair are “exceptionally close” to their entire extended family, particularly their cousins, who they visit often and with whom they enjoy swimming, having sleepovers and playing outdoors.Amber Alert issued on July 19Surrey RCMP says Verity Bolton, the kids’ mother, failed to return them to their father earlier this month, and authorities suspect the trio is living R...

Biden's dog bit Secret Service officers 10 times in four months: records

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's dog Commander bit or otherwise attacked Secret Service personnel at least 10 times between October 2022 and January, including one incident that required a hospital visit by the injured law enforcement officer, according to records from the Department of Homeland Security.The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch on Tuesday released nearly 200 pages of Secret Service records that it obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The group said it filed suit after the agency, a division of DHS, “failed to respond adequately” to its request last December for records about biting incidents involving the purebred German shepherd. The group said it filed the request after receiving a tip about Commander's behavior.Commander is the second dog of Biden's to behave aggressively, including biting Secret Service personnel and White House staff. They eventually sent the dog, a German shepherd named Major, to live with friends ...

Are we alone? House hearing seeks extraterrestrial explanations

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:11:36 GMT

As the House prepares to hear from a UFO whistleblower who claims the U.S. is concealing evidence of nonhuman craft, the question looms over members of Congress: Are we alone?Many members insist they have not seriously considered the question or are keeping their concern focused on national security risks from not knowing the cause of UFO sightings.But some members say they have seen enough to think that the unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) — a more recent term for sightings of strange objects or effects in the sky — are of nonhuman extraterrestrial origin.“It’s either something extraterrestrial, or something extraterrestrial that they reverse-engineered,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a leader of Wednesday’s UAP hearing, said when asked about the possibility of the sightings being secret Chinese or Russian technology.Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) also said he thinks the UAPs were of nonhuman extraterrestrial origin.“Listen, God made a phenomenal planet with phenomenal people, e...