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Jeffrey Epstein documents: Here’s what we know so far

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of previously sealed court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein were made public late Wednesday, as a court releases more records from a years-old lawsuit connected to the late financier.They’re likely to disappoint sleuths online, where the plan to release documents prompted rumors of a list of “clients” or “co-conspirators.” In fact, the judge who made the call wrote in December that she was ordering the records released because much of the information within them is already public.The first 40 documents, of around 250 expected to eventually be unsealed, largely mention figures whose names were already known, including high-profile friends of Epstein’s and victims who have spoken publicly.Ahead of the documents’ release, misinformation about their contents ran rampant on social media. Users wrongly claimed that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s name might appear, spurred by a joke New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made Tuesday on ESPN’s “The Pat McA...

Stock market today: Asian shares slip, echoing Wall Street’s weak start to 2024

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian stocks slipped on Thursday, tracking a weak start to 2024 on Wall Street as Japan’s markets reopened. The mood was somber in Tokyo as the market reopened from the New Year holidays with a moment of silence instead of a celebratory New Year’s ring of the bell after a major earthquake Monday left at least 77 people dead and dozens missing. Dark-suited officials bowed their heads in a ceremony that usually features women clad in colorful kimonos. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% to 33,288.29.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.4% to 16,574.36 and the Shanghai Composite index sank 0.4% to 2,946.15. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.4% to 7,494.10. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.8% to 2,586.02. India’s Sensex, however, climbed 0.6%. Stocks fell on Wall Street on Wednesday, as the slow start to the year there stretched into a second day. The S&P 500 lost 0.8% to 4,704.81, though it remains within 2% of its record set exactly t...

California restaurant’s comeback shows how outdated, false Asian stereotype of dog-eating persists

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — David Rasavong’s cultural pride is evident all throughout his restaurant.It’s on the wall of family portraits and where a stunning mural depicts his family’s journey from Laos to California. It’s on the menu filled with Lao and Thai dishes like the crispy coconut rice salad of Nam Khao and the stir-fried rice noodles of Pad See Ew.And it’s in the fact that Love & Thai in Fresno, California, restaurant is open at all. A baseless accusation grounded in a racist stereotype about Asian food using dog meat brought a six-month barrage of harassment so heated that Rasavong, 41, closed down its previous location over fears for his family’s safety.His earlier restaurant had itself only been open for seven months when a so-called animal welfare crusader in May implied on social media that a pitbull tied up at an unconnected home next door was going to be served on the menu.A day after the initial commentary, vitriolic statements, voicemails and calls rained down. Ras...

Bombings hit event for Iran’s Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a shadowy figure slain in 2020 US drone strike

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — For Iranians backing the country’s theocracy, whose icons since the Islamic Revolution have been stern-faced clergymen, Gen. Qassem Soleimani represented a popular figure of national resilience in the face of four decades of U.S. pressure.For the U.S. and Israel, he was a shadowy figure in command of Iran’s proxy forces, responsible for fighters in Syria backing President Bashar Assad and for the deaths of American troops in Iraq. Solemani survived the horror of Iran’s long war in the 1980s with Iraq to take control of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, responsible for the Islamic Republic’s campaigns abroad. Relatively unknown in Iran until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Soleimani’s popularity and mystique grew after American officials called for his killing. A decade and a half later, Soleimani had become Iran’s most recognizable battlefield commander, ignoring calls to enter politics but growing as powerful, if not more, than ...

San Pedro family targeted with racial slur painted on their car

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

A San Pedro family remains shaken after waking up to find their car vandalized with a racial slur and Swastikas.“I couldn’t believe this happened to me in San Pedro,” said Reginald Scott, the victim.Scott said his red Ford Mustang was vandalized sometime between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.The suspect used black spray paint to leave a large message across one side of the car saying, “Merry Christmas” followed by the N-word. The other side was also painted across with indiscernible lettering. Swastikas were painted onto the bumper and the vehicle’s tires were slashed. Scott believes the vandalism may be in retaliation for parking in front of someone’s house. A San Pedro family remains shaken after they woke up to find their car was vandalized with a racial slur and a Swastika during the holidays. (KTLA)A San Pedro family remains shaken after they woke up to find their car was vandalized with a racial slur and a Swastika during the holidays. (KTLA)A San Pedro famil...

Tarzana shop owner doused with bear spray during attempted robbery

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

Surveillance video captured an attempted robbery at a shop in Tarzana last month that had already been broken into just five weeks earlier.  The incident at Optical Universe happened on the morning of Dec. 30.  Three suspects are seen in the footage as they approach the shop unaware that someone, the store’s owner Slava Samsanovich, was inside.  "With the side of my eye, I saw a lot of movement through the window,” Samsanovich told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo. “I turn around and see three big guys covered in big hoodies, masks, everything, gloves.”  The owner of Optical Universe decided he was not going to go down without a fight.  “I grabbed my pepper spray, and I started screaming at them. I started going at them,” he recalled. “As I approached them, one of the guys turns around and takes out a can this big and it was bear spray. He sprayed me from about five feet, right into my eyes and into my face.” The three men fled the store without any merchandise, but by...

Prep roundup: Green’s clutch three-pointer gives O’Dowd boys dramatic victory

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

Boys basketballBishop O’Dowd 63, Alameda 62Josh Green, running unhindered by the ball but conscious of the seconds dwindling down, found himself open on the right wing with under 30 seconds left. The Bishop O’Dowd sharpshooter stopped, jumped, and let a three-pointer go.  In front of a packed Alameda gymnasium split between visiting O’Dowd supporters and Hornets fans who could taste the team’s first league win, Green watched the ball begin and then complete its journey into the bottom of the net. O’Dowd (7-5) took the one-point lead with 23.8 seconds left thanks to Green’s clutch shot, and then held onto the victory. “We lost our first game in the league last year, so we wanted to come in and get the win this time,” said Green, who scored 15. “I wanted to come up big for my teammates.”Alameda (7-5) entered the matchup with momentum, having won the bronze division at the Classic at Damien in La Verne. Meanwhile, O’Dowd, happy to be back in the East Bay, had gone 2-2 at the Holiday Cl...

One dead in Wednesday Vallejo shooting

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

(KRON) -- One person was killed in a shooting in Vallejo on Wednesday morning, the city's police department said. The Vallejo Fire Department was called to the 700 block of Ohio Street at 10:36 a.m. Wednesday for an unconscious man. VFD attempted to provide aid, but the man was pronounced dead, police said. The police department and Solano County Coroner came to the scene and determined that the victim had at least one gunshot wound. Police are investigating the shooting and the circumstances surrounding it. Anyone with information is asked to call (707) 648-4278 or (707) 648-4533.

Kings outlast short-handed Magic in double overtime behind triple-double from Domantas Sabonis

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Domantas Sabonis had his seventh triple-double of the season, Malik Monk scored 37 points off the bench and the Sacramento Kings outlasted the Orlando Magic 138-135 in double overtime Wednesday night.Sabonis finished with 22 points, 23 rebounds and 12 assists as Sacramento overcame a hot shooting night by the short-handed Magic, who made 25 3-pointers to break the franchise record. That helped them come back from a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to take a lead in the fourth. Paolo Banchero had a career-high 43 points to lead the Magic but missed a potential tying 3 as the final buzzer sounded. Jalen Suggs scored 24.De’Aaron Fox made two field goals in the second overtime, including a jumper that put the Kings ahead 137-135 with under a minute to play after the teams had furiously traded baskets. In overtime, Sabonis gave the Kings a 126-125 lead with 17.1 seconds left on a dunk off a pass by Monk, who had nine assists in 46 minutes. Monk then made on...

Iran says at least 84 were killed in blasts at a ceremony honoring slain general

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:30:28 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two bombs exploded and killed at least 84 people at a commemoration for a prominent Iranian general slain by the U.S. in a 2020 drone strike, Iranian officials said, as the Middle East remains on edge over Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.No one immediately claimed responsibility for what appeared to be the deadliest militant attack to target Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran’s leaders vowed to punish those responsible for the blasts, which wounded at least 284 people.The explosions struck minutes apart on Wednesday, shaking the city of Kerman, about 820 kilometers (510 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran. The second blast sprayed shrapnel into a screaming crowd fleeing the first explosion.An earlier death toll of 103 was twice revised lower after officials realized that some names had been repeated on a list of victims and due to the severity of wounds suffered by some of the dead, health authorities said. Many of the wou...