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Trump returns to New York to face historic criminal charges

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

By JILL COLVIN, MICHAEL R. SISAK, TERRY SPENCER and WILL WEISSERT (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump returned to New York from his Florida estate Monday to face historic booking and arraignment on hush money charges related to allegations of sexual encounters. The nation’s largest city bolstered security and warned potential protesters it was “not a playground for your misplaced anger.”Trump’s long day started with a motorcade ride from his Mar-a-Lago club to his red, white and blue Boeing 757, emblazoned with his name in gold letters — all carried live on television. The mini-parade took him past supporters waving banners and cheering, decrying the case against him that stems from payments made during his 2016 campaign — as politically motivated. Already months into a third campaign to reclaim the White House he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump and his advisers seemed to relish the attention. Cable net...

Adam Duvall’s historic debut series earns him American League Player of the Week

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

A tremendous debut series earned Adam Duvall American League Player of the Week honors.“Duvie’s got about 1,800 hits already,” Alex Verdugo joked after Sunday’s win.“We all knew that he was gonna love Fenway Park,” Kiké Hernández said.In his first three regular-season games with the Red Sox, Duvall went 8-for-14 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs (in the same game), six runs scored, and eight RBI. He leads or ties for the MLB lead in runs, doubles, RBI, and total bases (19). He had at least one hit, run, and RBI in each game.On Saturday evening, Duvall needed a single to hit for the cycle, but used his last at-bat to hit a walk-off two-run homer to the Green Monster, instead, capping a stunning comeback. At one point, the Red Sox trailed the Baltimore Orioles by six runs; the largest deficit they overcame in 2022 was five.“It seems like he always came up with a big hit throughout the series,” Cora said after the Red Sox won their opening ...

Brian Daboll’s accountability for blowout Eagles playoff loss a good start to Year 2

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

Brian Daboll has walked the red carpets and given all the speeches as the NFL’s reigning coach of the year, but he’s done patting himself on the back.When a reporter listed Daboll’s rookie year accomplishments in Phoenix last week, the Giants’ head coach cut off the praise.“Yeah, got smoked in the playoffs,” Daboll said. “Yeah.”In seven words, Daboll demonstrated the kind of personal accountability that is imperative for his Giants to take another step in Year 2.Daboll’s team didn’t just lose to the divisional rival Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC’s divisional round. They got embarrassed, with Daboll front and center making critical mistakes.“We got outcoached. We got outplayed. And that all starts with me,” Daboll said in January.His decision to go for it on 4th and 8 at the Eagles’ 40-yard line down 7-0 after a Haason Reddick sack of Daniel Jones was a panic move. It accelerated a 38-7 beatdown in t...

Carlos Carrasco allows 5 ER in first outing this season as Mets lose 10-0

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

MILWAUKEE — Buck Showalter was confident that Carlos Carrasco would have a strong showing in his first outing of the 2023 season but that premonition didn’t quite come to fruition.The Mets arrived in Milwaukee riding high after a 3-1 series win in Miami to start the 2023 campaign. But an implosion in the fifth inning ultimately doomed them against the Brewers and they were blown out 10-0 on Monday afternoon at American Family Field.Carrasco (0-1) ran into trouble in the fourth inning with the Brewers rallying for two runs with two outs and the struggles continued in the fifth, with Milwaukee scoring seven runs and batting around. Brice Turang, a 23-year-old rookie infielder, hit a grand slam off Tommy Hunter for his first career home run, which cued up a chorus of cowbells from a sellout crowd of 42,017.The Mets’ bats went quiet as Freddy Peralta (1-0) blanked them through six two-hit innings. He walked three but the Mets only had two baserunners get past first wit...

DiCaprio testifies in money-laundering case of Fugees rapper

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Movie star Leonardo DiCaprio testified in federal court Monday morning as part of a trial involving international money laundering, bribery and a prominent rap artist. Prakazrel “Pras” Michel — a founding member of the iconic 1990s hip-hop group, The Fugees — is accused of funneling money from a fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. Five years later, prosecutors say he tried to squelch an investigation into that same financer under former President Donald Trump’s administration.At the heart of the case is Low Taek Jho, usually known as Jho Low. He is accused of masterminding an international money laundering and bribery scheme that stole billions from the Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB. DiCaprio’s connection with the case comes from his years-long relationship with Low, who was one of the primary financers of the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Low is currently a fugitive but has maintaine...

Russia rejects US claims its UN council presidency is a joke

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s U.N. ambassador on Monday dismissed U.S. and European Union descriptions of its presidency of the Security Council this month as an April Fool’s joke and announced a meeting to be chaired by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on defending the principles of the U.N. Charter, which Moscow is widely accused of breaking by invading Ukraine.U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters earlier Monday that the U.S. expects the Russians will use their presiding seat “to spread disinformation and promote their own agenda as it relates to Ukraine, and we will stand ready to call them out at every single moment that they attempt to do that.”She and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell both called Russia’s takeover of the council presidency an April Fool’s joke. Under Security Council rules, the presidency rotates monthly in alphabetical order among its 15 members. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters there will be no c...

Second autopsy done in unsolved South Carolina death probe

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A second autopsy was completed this weekend on the exhumed body of a teenager found dead nearly eight years ago on a South Carolina road, according to the family’s lawyer, after the public attention surrounding Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial boosted a mother’s search for answers in the unsolved case.The mother’s lawyers have said there is no evidence linking Stephen Smith’s death to the Murdaugh family, and state investigators have remained tight-lipped since taking the case around the same time police said Murdaugh killed his wife and son.But speculation following the since-disbarred lawyer’s recent life sentence for those killings helped Sandy Smith raise more than $87,000 to have her son’s body re-examined in an investigation that South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has said was never closed since the agency opened it in June 2021.Attorney Eric Bland, who is representing the family, said in a Sunday statement that ...

More severe weather forecast for battered South, Midwest

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — While residents across parts of the South and Midwest pummeled by deadly storms and wildfires sifted through the wreckage of their homes Monday, forecasters warned of more severe weather and fire danger in the days ahead across much of the same region.The fierce storms that spawned tornadoes in 11 states killed at least 32 people as the system that began Friday plodded through Arkansas and traveled northeast through the South and into the Midwest and Northeast.Here’s a look at the severe storms over the weekend and what’s expected in the days ahead:WILDFIRE DANGER REMAINS HIGHOn the western side of the storm lines that developed Friday were extremely dry conditions in Oklahoma that combined with high winds to fuel several large wildfires that forced interstate closures and sent residents fleeing from their homes.More than 40 homes were destroyed across Oklahoma, including 30 in an area near the town of Guthrie, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of...

4 found dead in hotel area of Mexico’s Cancun beach resort

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in the Mexican resort of Cancun said Monday they have found four dead bodies in the city’s hotel zone near the beach. There was no immediate information on the nationalities or identities of the victims. The announcement of the deaths came less that a week after a U.S. tourist was shot in the leg in the nearby town of Puerto Morelos.Prosecutors originally said three bodies were found Monday in a lot near one of Cancun’s beachside hotels along the Kukulkan Boulevard. They then added that a fourth body was found in the undergrowth on the same lot, brining to four the number of victims.Prosecutors in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo said two suspects had been detained in the killings. They said the deaths were under investigation, but did not give a cause of death. Last week in Puerto Morelos, a U.S. tourist was approached by several suspects, and they shot him in the leg. The motive remains under investigation. The wounded man was taken to a hos...

B.C. to spend billions on plan to build more homes to ease housing crisis

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 14:53:39 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government has introduced a multibillion-dollar plan to construct more homes as quickly as possible in an attempt to build its way out of the housing crisis. The so-called Homes for People plan starts with a $4-billion investment over three years and commits to $12 billion over a decade with incentives to build, laws to curb speculation and financial help for renters and homeowners. “This crisis is touching people in every corner of our province. It’s impacting quality of life in our communities and it’s holding back our entire economy,” Premier David Eby said.“Businesses are struggling to attract workers who can’t afford to live in the communities where the jobs are.”As part of the plan, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the government will introduce provincial legislation this fall to allow three to four units on a traditional single-family detached lot with additional density permitted in areas well served ...