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US, S. Korea hold drills as North launches missiles from sub

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries launched their biggest joint military exercises in years Monday, as North Korea said it tested submarine-launched cruise missiles in apparent protest of the drills it views as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea’s missile tests Sunday signal the country likely will conduct provocative weapons testing activities during the U.S.-South Korean drills that are to run for 11 days. Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to be ready to repel its rivals’ “frantic war preparation moves.”The South Korean-U.S. drills include a computer simulation called the Freedom Shield 23 and several combined field training exercises, collectively known as the Warrior Shield FTX.The South Korean and U.S. militaries said earlier that the computer simulation is designed to strengthen the allies’ defense and response capabilities amid North Korea’s increasing nuclear threats and other changing security environments. They said t...

Masks stay put in Japan as 3-year request to wear them ends

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Monday dropped its request for people to wear masks after three years, but hardly anything changed in the country that has had an extremely high regard for their effectiveness at anti-virus protection.Most commuters exiting Tokyo’s main train station in the morning were wearing masks as they headed to work. So were people on the streets. During a televised budget committee meeting at parliament, some lawmakers still wore masks, though Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wasn’t wearing one when he arrived at his office Monday. Baseball fans who gathered outside of the Tokyo Dome hours before Monday’s games Australia-Czech Republic and China-South Korea also had on masks. They’ll also be able to cheer without their masks as that ban was lifted, too.Dropping the mask-wearing request is one of the last steps Japan’s government is taking in easing COVID-19 rules in public places as it tries to expand business and other activity.“From today, mask wearing i...

‘Everything Everywhere’ duo win directing, writing Oscars

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The writing-and-directing duo the Daniels won double Oscars on a dominant night for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” In victories that were entirely expected Sunday but might have seemed like a sci-fi fantasy a year ago, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won Academy Awards for best director and best original screenplay, two of seven won by their multiversal dramedy. The Daniels topped talented fields that included Hollywood royalty Steven Spielberg in both categories. “There is greatness in every single person,” Kwan said as he accepted best director. “It doesn’t matter who we are. There is genius in every single person, you just have to find it. Thank you to the people who unlocked my genius.”But Kwan assured his young son he would not foist similar expectations on him.“This is not normal, this is kind of crazy,” he said. “I will love you no matter what.” The Daniels came into the night the favorites for the directing Oscar, and “ Everything Everywhere All at ...

Report: 4 dead in shooting at Dallas apartment building

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — A news report said four people died in a Sunday night shooting at a Dallas apartment building. WFAA-TV reported police have confirmed officers were called for a report of a shooting around 7:10 p.m. in the Northwest Dallas area. The station reported police said four people were discovered with gunshot wounds and all of the victims died at the scene. No information on the victims was immediately available.Police said there was no perceived threat to the public, WFAA reported.The Associated Press

Trump returns to Iowa aiming for more disciplined campaign

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — To outsiders, they looked like simple stacks of paper. But for Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, they represented a missed opportunity.A month before Iowa’s 2016 presidential caucuses, mountains of so-called pledge cards sat in the corner of Trump’s suburban Des Moines state headquarters. They contained the names and contact information of roughly 10,000 Iowans who attended Trump campaign events and responded by returning the cards suggesting they were open to backing the reality television star who was now seeking the White House.In what’s considered political malpractice by Iowa standards, those who returned the cards received no follow-up contact from the campaign.“None of that data was used. None of it was entered,” said Alex Latcham, the former political director for the Iowa Republican Party and now Trump’s early-voting state director. “And those people weren’t encouraged or mobilized to caucus.” Chuck Laudner, who...

Cohen to testify before grand jury in Trump hush-money probe

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is poised to testify Monday before a Manhattan grand jury investigating hush-money payments he arranged and made on the former president’s behalf.Cohen’s impending grand jury appearance was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about grand jury proceedings and did so on condition of anonymity.Cohen’s closed-door testimony is coming at a critical time as the Manhattan district attorney’s office closes in on a decision on whether to seek charges against Trump.A Trump loyalist turned adversary, Cohen is likely to provide critical details about whatever involvement the Republican presidential candidate may have had in the payments, made in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, to two women who alleged affairs with him.Cohen has given prosecutors evidence, including voice recordings of conversations he had with a lawyer for one of the women, as well ...

US turns to new ways to punish Russian oligarchs for the war

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has begun an aggressive new push to inflict pain on Russia’s economy and specifically its oligarchs with the intent of thwarting the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. From the Treasury Department to the Justice Department, U.S. officials will focus on efforts to legally liquidate the property of Russian oligarchs, expand financial penalties on those who facilitate the evasion of sanctions, and close loopholes in the law that allow oligarchs to use shell companies to move through the U.S. financial system. Andrew Adams, who heads the KleptoCapture task force, designed to enforce the economic restrictions within the U.S. imposed on Russia and its billionaires, told The Associated Press that the group is prioritizing its efforts to identify those who help Russians evade sanctions and violate export controls. “These illicit procurement networks will continue to take up an ever-increasing amount of our bandwidth,” said Adams, who also serves as acting deputy assis...

Biden to announce Australia submarine deal in San Diego

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to meet with two of America’s closest allies to announce that Australia will purchase U.S.-manufactured, nuclear-powered attack submarines to modernize its fleet, amid growing concerns about China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.Biden is traveling Monday to San Diego, where he will meet Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for talks on the 18-month-old nuclear partnership known by the acronym AUKUS.The partnership, announced in 2021, paved the way for Australia’s access to nuclear-powered submarines, which are stealthier and more capable than conventionally powered boats, as a counterweight to China’s military buildup.San Diego is Biden’s first stop on a three-day trip to California and Nevada. He will discuss gun violence prevention in the community of Monterey Park, California, and his plans to lower prescription drug costs in Las Vegas. The trip will include fundr...

AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

US government moves to stop potential banking crisisNEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government took extraordinary steps Sunday to stop a potential banking crisis after the historic failure of Silicon Valley Bank, assuring all depositors at the failed institution that they could access all their money quickly, even as another major bank was shut down.The announcement came amid fears that the factors that caused the Santa Clara, California-based bank to fail could spread. Regulators had worked all weekend to try to find a buyer for the bank, which was the second-largest bank failure in history. Those efforts appeared to have failed Sunday. In a sign of how fast the financial bleeding was occurring, regulators announced that New York-based Signature Bank had also failed and was being seized on Sunday. At more than $110 billion in assets, Signature Bank is the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history.The near-financial crisis that U.S. regulators had to intervene to prevent left Asian market...

China’s Xi wants bigger global role after Saudi-Iran deal

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:10:55 GMT

BEJIING (AP) — President Xi Jinping called for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs after Beijing scored a diplomatic coup by hosting talks that produced an agreement by Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen diplomatic relations.Xi spoke Monday following a legislative session that installed a government of loyalists to tighten his control over the economy and society.China should “actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system” and promote “global security initiatives,” said Xi, the country’s most powerful leader in decades, in a speech at end of the annual meeting of China’s ceremonial legislature.That will add “positive energy to world peace and development and create a favorable international environment for our country’s development,” Xi said.Xi gave no details of the ruling Communist Party’s ambitions, but his government has pursued increasingly assertive policies abroad since he took power in 2012. It has pressed for chang...