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At summit, Biden aims to show he can focus on Pacific amid crises in Ukraine, Mideast and Washington

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden is looking to use this week’s summit of Asia-Pacific leaders to show world leaders the United States has the gumption, attention span and money to focus on the region even as it grapples with a multitude of foreign and domestic policy crises.Biden’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday is the main event of his four-day visit to San Francisco, where leaders from the 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are gathering for their annual summit. The talks with Xi are of enormous importance as the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies try to find a measure of stability after what’s been a difficult year for U.S.-China relations.But the White House also wants to demonstrate to APEC’s leaders that Biden can remain focused on the Pacific while also trying to keep the Israel-Hamas war from exploding into a broader regional conflict and to persuade ...

Tourists find the Las Vegas Strip remade for its turn hosting Formula One

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The famous fountains at the Bellagio won’t be very visible this week amid the roar of Formula One racing on the Las Vegas Strip, and gondoliers won’t be serenading tourists at the Venetian resort.“Fountains have been shut off, canals drained, streets closed or harder to navigate,” Michael Green, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas history professor, said after six months of road work and temporary grandstand construction for some of the most monied spectators in sports. “What are they calling it? Stripmageddon? It is clearly causing a lot of uproar.”“But this is a different kind of big event,” said Green, who remembers two Grand Prix races held 42 years ago at Caesars Palace. “We’re talking about billionaires from around the world. They’re going to bring in a ton of money. They’re not necessarily the usual tourist.”Organizers, local officials and hotel operators believe the discomfort will be forgotten after racing ends late Saturday. They hope Las Vegas w...

Thousands in Mexico demand justice for LGBTQ+ figure found dead after death threats

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Thousands marched in Mexico’s capital Monday night demanding justice for Jesús Ociel Baena, an influential LGBTQ+ figure who was found dead at home in the central city of Aguascalientes after receiving death threats.Baena was the first openly nonbinary person to assume a judicial post in Mexico, becoming a magistrate in the Aguascalientes state electoral court, and broke through other barriers in a country where LGBTQ+ people are often targeted with violence.The state prosecutor’s office confirmed that Baena was found dead Monday morning next to another person, who local media and LGBTQ+ rights groups identified as Baena’s partner, Dorian Herrera.State prosecutor Jesús Figueroa Ortega said at a news conference that the two displayed injuries apparently caused by a knife or some other sharp object.“There are no signs or indications to be able to determine that a third person other than the dead was at the site of the crime,” Figuerora Ortega said.The su...

The last government shutdown deadline ousted the House speaker. This week’s showdown could be easier

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last time Congress tried to fund the government to prevent a federal shutdown, it cost House Speaker Kevin McCarthy his job.This time, new Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., appears on track for a better outcome Tuesday as the House prepares to vote on a stopgap package to keep the government running into the new year. If approved, the Senate would act next, ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline.The new Republican leader faces the same political problem that led to McCarthy’s ouster, and is unlikely to win enough support from his Republican majority to pass the bill on its own. Instead, Johnson will be forced to rely on Democrats to ensure passage to keep the federal government running. Johnson has called it a “necessary bill” that he hoped would put House Republicans “in the best position to fight” for their conservative priorities in the new year. Under his proposal, Johnson is putting forward a unique — critics say bizarre — two-part process that tempora...

Colorado supermarket shooting suspect’s case finally resumes after he’s ruled competent

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors are finally set to lay out their case against a mentally ill man now deemed competent to stand trial in a mass shooting more than two years ago, accused of gunning down 10 people at a supermarket in a Colorado college town. A judge planned a hearing Tuesday to decide if there is enough evidence for Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who has schizophrenia, to go on trial in the March 22, 2021, shooting at a crowded King Soopers store in Boulder, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Denver. Authorities have not revealed if they know a motive for the shooting. But a forensic psychologist testified during a hearing in September that the 24-year-old Alissa bought firearms to carry out a mass shooting and indicated “there was some intention to commit suicide by cop.” Alissa, who is charged with murder and multiple attempted murder counts, has not been asked to enter a plea yet. But neither his attorneys nor anyone else has disputed that he was the gunman. At the...

PHOTOS: Denver Broncos upset Buffalo Bills 24-22 in NFL Week 10

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

The Denver Broncos stunned the Buffalo Bills 24-22 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York on Nov. 13, 2023. Denver won on a last-minute 36-yard field goal by kicker Wil Lutz.Related ArticlesDenver Broncos | Kiszla: Can bizarre ending to 24-22 victory be beginning of miraculous playoff run for Broncos? Denver Broncos | Heroes and Zeros from Broncos’ win over Buffalo Bills: Ja’Quan McMillian one season’s biggest surprises Denver Broncos | Broncos four downs: Russell Wilson just cooked Josh Allen, Bills in their own dang kitchen Denver Broncos | Broncos walk off Bills on Monday night after Wil Lutz knocks home game-winning 36-yard field goal Denver Broncos | Broncos lineups similar coming out of bye week, including feisty, play-making nickel Ja’Quan McMillian

1 in 3 US Asians and Pacific Islanders faced racial abuse this year, AP-NORC/AAPI Data poll shows

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

By TERRY TANG and LINLEY SANDERS (Associated Press)Despite ongoing advocacy and legislation to combat anti-Asian racism that arose after the pandemic, about a third of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders say they have experienced an act of abuse based on their race or ethnicity in the last year, including being on the receiving end of verbal harassment, slurs, physical threats or cyberbullying. A new poll from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 15% of Asian American and Pacific Islanders specifically say they believe they have ever been the victim of a hate crime. About half — 51% — believe racism is an “extremely” or “very serious” problem in the U.S.From as early as a decade ago to as recently as two weeks ago, Jennifer Lee, a 29-year-old Filipino American in San Diego, can recall being called racial slurs and being discriminated against. She recently interviewed for a job at a tutoring service. Th...

Kiszla: Can bizarre ending to 24-22 victory be beginning of miraculous playoff run for Broncos?

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — When the football reaper came knocking, announced by the deathly chill of Old Man Winter’s breath on the back of their necks, the Broncos climbed out of the abyss and beat the Bills 24-22 in a way so weird this Monday night that will long be remembered as the Brain Freeze in Buffalo.I can’t believe what I just saw. Was this the NFL? Or Bizarro World?In the chaos of the fourth quarter’s final seconds, Denver kicker Wil Lutz, whose night had been one, long, slow-motion pratfall of botched kicks, rushed on the field with his teammates and doinked a 41-yard field goal that had everybody in the stadium thinking the Bills had escaped with a one-point victory.“I couldn’t tell if (Lutz) made it,” Broncos coach Sean Payton admitted. “Did he put it wide right?”He did. But Lutz was bailed out by the foolish fisherman of Lake Erie that couldn’t count to 11. In their haste to get its special teams unit on the field,...

Dozens arrested: Protesters have taken over Oakland federal building calling for Gaza ceasefire

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

OAKLAND – Dozens of protesters were arrested Monday night, hours after they took over the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.More than 700 Jewish people and their allies occupied the building’s rotunda, many of them wearing matching black T-shirts declaring, “Jews Say Ceasefire Now.”Jewish-led groups protest and call for a ceasefire in Gaza at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) Related ArticlesPolitics | Online misinformation is thriving in Israel-Hamas war Politics | Letters: Delinquent rent | Divulging RMDs | Cutting homelessness | No armchair QBs Politics | California high school student suspended for saying ‘Free Palestine’ Politics | Medics and patients, including babies, stranded as battles rage around Gaza hospitals Politics | GOP hopeful Chr...

The Chargers prove once again they struggle when facing the NFL’s top offenses

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:50 GMT

The Los Angeles Chargers’ defense under Brandon Staley has shown it can shut down mediocre offenses.When it comes to the NFL’s top units, that’s another matter.The Chargers on Sunday became only the second team since 1991 to lose despite the offense scoring a touchdown on its final five drives. LA tied the game four times but never led, and Riley Patterson’s 41-yard field goal as time expired gave the Detroit Lions a 41-38 victory.The defense didn’t force a three-and-out, had no sacks and allowed a 300-yard passer (Jared Goff), 100-yard rusher (David Montgomery) and 100-yard receiver (Amon-Ra St. Brown) in a game for the second straight season.Staley, hired after he coordinated the Rams’ top-ranked defense in the 2020 season, was on the defensive Monday when asked what makes him believe the Chargers have the capacity to contain the league’s top offenses.“I know the group that I’ve been coaching for nine games, and it is good enough to beat a...