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Accused of bomb threats they say they didn’t make, family of Chinese dissident detained in Thailand

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — When Gao Peng landed in Thailand on July 3, he was not expecting to be accused of making bomb threats, to be put on an EU travel blacklist, or to see his mother and 16-year-old sister detained and threatened with deportation back to China.But bomb threats made in his and his mother’s names against airports, luxury hotels and the Chinese embassy in Bangkok derailed the family’s plan to seek asylum in the Netherlands, where Gao Peng’s father moved three years ago. The threats appear to be part of Beijing’s increasingly sophisticated efforts to harass Chinese dissidents living overseas and their families.While parts of the story told by Gao Peng and his father, Gao Zhi, couldn’t be independently confirmed, their predicament echoes accounts by other Chinese dissidents abroad, who believe Chinese authorities are making bomb threats in their names to control their political activities.William Nee, research and advocacy coordinator at a coalition of rights organization...

As e-bikes proliferate, so do deadly fires blamed on exploding lithium-ion batteries

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The explosion early on a June morning ignited a blaze that engulfed a New York City shop filled with motorized bicycles and their volatile lithium-ion batteries. Billowing smoke quickly killed four people asleep in apartments above the burning store.As the ubiquity of e-bikes has grown, so has the frequency of fires and deaths blamed on the batteries that power them — sparking a push to better regulate how the batteries are manufactured, sold, reconditioned, charged and stored.Consumer advocates and fire departments, particularly in New York City, are urging the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish national safety standards and confiscate imports that don’t comply with regulations at the border, so unsafe e-bikes and poorly manufactured batteries can be taken off the streets and out of homes.The matter comes under discussion when the commission convenes a public hearing Thursday in Washington.“We’ve been sounding the alarm for months,” New York ...

Biden looks to provide relief from extreme heat as record temperatures persist

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — With millions of Americans facing broiling heat across the Southwest, President Joe Biden on Thursday plans to announce new steps to improve weather forecasts and make drinking water more accessible, according to the White House.He’ll be joined by the leaders of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, described the heat wave as “a difficult time” and said Biden was treating climate change with “the urgency it requires.”Climate activists and some Democrats have pushed Biden to declare a climate “emergency,” but the White House has resisted.The mayors of Phoenix and San Antonio, two cities that have suffered from the heat waves, are expected to participate in the White House event virtually. Phoenix has seen at least 26 days in a row of temperatures exceeding 110 degrees. Maricopa County, where the city is located, reported recently that there wer...

Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn to pay $10M to end fight over claims of sexual misconduct

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Casino mogul Steve Wynn’s long legal fight with Nevada gambling regulators over claims of workplace sexual misconduct is expected to end Thursday with a settlement calling for him to pay a $10 million fine and cut virtually all ties to the industry he helped shape in Las Vegas.The Nevada Gaming Commission was scheduled to meet in the state capital of Carson City and accept a deal in which the 81-year-old Wynn admits no wrongdoing.The seven-page agreement that Wynn signed July 17 with members of the investigatory Nevada Gaming Control Board said he was accused of “failure to exercise discretion and sound judgment to prevent incidents that have reflected negatively on the reputation of the gaming industry and the State of Nevada.”Wynn, who now lives in Florida, will not attend the hearing, his attorney Colby Williams said Wednesday. Williams declined to comment about the proceedings until they are complete.Under terms of the deal, Wynn will be allowed to maintai...

How many transgender and intersex people live in the US? Anti-LGBTQ+ laws will impact millions

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

New laws targeting LGBTQ+ people are proliferating in GOP-led states, but often absent from policy decisions is a clear understanding of how many people will be directly affected. There has been relatively scant data collected on the number of LGBTQ+ residents in the U.S., particularly intersex people — those born with physical traits that don’t fit typical definitions for male or female categories. That means lawmakers are often writing laws without the same kind of baseline information they might have for other demographic groups. “We can’t study the impact without knowing the population,” said Christy Mallory, legal director of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. The Williams Institute is a think tank that researches sexual orientation and gender identity demographics to inform laws and public policy decisions.Here’s a look at what we know and what we don’t know about the number of people in the U.S. who are LGBTQ+ or intersex. ___WHY DOES IT MATTER?Legi...

Biden is welcoming far-right Italian Prime Minister Meloni for White House talks

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set for talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday, welcoming the far-right leader who has won praise from the U.S. administration for her strong backing of the U.S.-led effort to assist Ukraine as it tries to fend off the Russian invasion.The warm reception comes after initial trepidation in the Biden administration about Meloni, who rose to power last year as the head of Italy’s most far-right government since the end of World War II. Biden administration concerns about her ideology have been eased by her support for Ukraine and her seeming openness to pull back from Italy’s participation in China’s infrastructure-building Belt and Road Initiative. Her visit comes as Italy prepares to take up the presidency next year of the Group of Seven industrialized nations.White House officials said that in addition to discussing Ukraine and China, the two leaders were expected to discuss migration from North Africa to Eur...

Trump once condemned the Jan. 6 rioters. Now he’s become one of their biggest supporters

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The day after Jan. 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump denounced the rioters who violently stormed the Capitol building, breaking through barricades, battling law enforcement and sending members of Congress — who were set to formally certify his reelection loss — running for their lives.“Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem,” he said in a video, condemning what he called a “heinous attack.”That condemnation was delayed and only offered amid widespread criticism — including from fellow Republicans — for his role in sparking the mayhem. But 2 1/2 years later, any sign of regret or reprimand from Trump has vanished as he prepares to face federal criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.Now the early but commanding front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Trump regularly downplays the violence, lionizes the rioters as patriots and spreads false claims about who was involved. He has n...

A Michigan judge will decide if a teenage school shooter will spend his life in prison

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — There is no dispute that Ethan Crumbley killed four fellow students and wounded others at Michigan’s Oxford High School in 2021. The next step: Should the 17-year-old spend the rest of his life in prison for the mass shooting?Prosecutors will argue in favor of that punishment Thursday during a unique hearing in suburban Detroit. Crumbley’s lawyers will argue that he should be allowed to seek parole some day, claiming that the violence was the catastrophic climax of the teen’s untreated mental illness and “abhorrent family life.”Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe has set aside at least two days for the hearing but isn’t expected to make an immediate decision. A life sentence is rare for Michigan teens convicted of first-degree murder since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 said minors must be viewed differently than adults.Life in prison “will only be imposed on a juvenile who’s believed to be incorrigible, unredeemable and with no reasonable e...

US economy likely slowed in April-June quarter but still showed its resilience

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most aggressive streak of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes in 40 years has slowed the U.S. economy. But to the surprise of many, it hasn’t derailed it.The economy’s resilience has been on display for months, and on Thursday the government could provide another encouraging snapshot: Its first estimate of growth in the April-June quarter is expected to show that the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — expanded at a modest 1.5% annual rate, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. A pace of roughly that size would reflect a continuing slowdown from a 2% growth rate in the January-March quarter, 2.6% for the October-December period and 3.2% for July through September of last year. But it would still point to consistent growth.In fighting inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high, the Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times in 17 months, most recently on Wednesday. The resu...

White Sox make first major trade before deadline in 2023

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:10:13 GMT

CHICAGO - On Wednesday night, after another difficult loss in a difficult season, the White Sox became officially sellers ahead of the Major League Baseball trade deadline.Oddly enough, they sent away two of the pitchers who were originally part of a major rebuild nearly seven years ago. The First White Sox Trade Before the 2023 Deadline..Pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez are headed to the Angels in exchange for minor league catcher Edgar Quero and left-handed pitcher Ky Bush. .@WGNNews pic.twitter.com/DojHMnXun5— Larry Hawley (@HawleySports) July 27, 2023After a 10-7 loss to the Cubs at Guaranteed Rate Field on Wednesday, the White Sox traded pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to the Angels. In exchange, the club got two of the top three prospects in the Los Angeles system - catcher Edgar Quero and left-handed pitcher Ky Bush.It's the first trade for the White Sox where they sent talent at the major league level to a team for minor league prospects since before...