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Senate Judiciary panel considering ethics rules for the Supreme Court

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering a new ethics code for the Supreme Court, an attempt to respond to recent revelations about justices’ interactions with wealthy donors and others. Republicans are strongly opposed, arguing the ethics bill could “destroy” the high court. The legislation, which the panel is expected to vote on Thursday, would impose new ethics rules on the court and a process to enforce them, including new standards for transparency around recusals, gifts and potential conflicts of interest. Democrats first pushed the legislation after reports earlier this year that Justice Clarence Thomas participated in luxury vacations and a real estate deal with a top GOP donor — and after Chief Justice John Roberts declined to testify before the committee about the ethics of the court. Since then, news reports also revealed that Justice Samuel Alito had taken a luxury vacation with a GOP donor. And The Associated Press reported last week that Justice ...

Public funding for King Charles III and royals has been recalculated due to windfarm deal profits

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The amount of public funding for King Charles III and the royal family’s official duties has been recalculated for next year because of an unexpected profit boost from offshore wind farms on the monarch’s Crown Estate, the U.K. Treasury said Thursday.Treasury officials say they will halve the proportion of the crown estate’s profits paid to the royals from 25% in recent years to 12% next year. Charles and the royal family receive an annual Sovereign Grant from the Treasury that is based on a proportion of profits from the crown estate, a vast collection of land and property across the U.K. The crown estate is run independently and has assets worth around 16 billion pounds (nearly $18 billion), including some of London’s most expensive properties. The crown estate also manages coastlines and the seabed around the country, and six new offshore windfarm lease deals secured earlier this year have generated a windfall estimated to be worth 1 billion pounds ($1.1...

Russia seeks a 20-year prison term for Kremlin foe Navalny in closed trial, ally says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian prosecutors asked a court to sentence imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 20 years in prison on extremism charges, his ally Ivan Zhdanov said Thursday. According to Zhdanov, the trial against Navalny, which went on behind closed doors in the prison where the politician is serving another lengthy sentence, is scheduled to conclude with a verdict on Aug. 4. Navalny, 47, is President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. The authorities sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison for parole violations and then to another nine years on charges of fraud and contempt of court. The politician is currently serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison east of Moscow. The new charges relate to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption...

Video shows alleged impaired driver in Vaughan arrested at 5 times legal limit

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

Police in York Region say they have arrested and charged a driver who was found to have a historic level of alcohol in their system.Officers responded around 10 a.m. on Tuesday after a caller told police a black Honda CRV travelling southbound on Highway 400 had pulled into a gas station south of King Road in Vaughan after it sideswiped concrete barriers on the highway several times, and was driving with its turning signal flashing.The 911 call can be heard in a video released by York Regional Police.“Someone who appears very drunk just pulled into this gas station,” said the caller.Officers arrived to find the vehicle idling in the lot with its front passenger door open. Police allege both the driver and passenger were asleep in the vehicle when they arrived on scene.The video goes on to show officers approaching the vehicle and attempting to speak to the driver. The officer taps on the window and asks the driver to step out.“I slipped a disk in my back and heR...

Mexican volunteer searchers find 27 hacked-up bodies in northern border city

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Searchers have found 27 corpses in clandestine graves in the Mexican border city of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas, and many of them were hacked to pieces, volunteer searchers said Wednesday. Some of the corpses were buried so recently that bits of skin with tattoos remained, and that has allowed relatives to identify four of the bodies, searchers said. But many were hacked into a half-dozen pieces.Edith González, leader of the search group “For the Love of the Disappeared,” said clandestine burial site was located relatively close to the center of Reynosa. The spot is only about 4 miles (7 kms) from the border. González said some of the 16 burial pits contained two or three bodies, and that the clandestine burial site may have been used by gangs as recently as a month or two ago. Some were covered by only 1 1/2 feet (a half meter) of earth.The prosecutor’s office in the border state of Tamaulipas confirmed the find.Drug and kidnapping gangs use such sites to...

Bosnian Serb lawmakers pass law recriminalizing libel which critics say threatens free speech

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The Bosnian Serb parliament on Thursday passed a law recriminalizing libel which critics say will restrict freedom of expression and silence critical media.Lawmakers approved the law by a 47-16 vote. The assembly in the Serb-run part of Bosnia has 83 lawmakers but not all attended the session.The law was championed by pro-Russian Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, who has faced U.S. and British sanctions for his separatist policies. It amends the existing criminal law to reintroduce fines of up to 60,000 euros ($64,000) for libel, which is far beyond what most people in the impoverished Balkan nation can pay.A previous law did not consider libel a criminal offense.Journalist organizations in Republika Srpska, the Serb mini-state, and international rights groups demanded that the new law be revoked, but Dodik has ignored their protests. “With today’s approval of the amendments to the Criminal Law, the authorities in Republika Srpska entere...

Man in custody after shots fired at ambulance: CPD

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

CHICAGO -- A man is in custody after shots were fired at a CFD ambulance in Logan Square Wednesday night.According to police, a 34-year-old man exited his vehicle near the 2600 block of North Hamlin Avenue around 9:34 p.m. yelling at a CFD ambulance to move out of the way. 77-year-old woman found dead in her Burbank home; death ruled homicide Police said the man removed a handgun and fired several shots into the rear door of the ambulance before returning to a white sedan and speeding away. Police in the area curbed a vehicle matching the description and placed a man into custody. A handgun was also recovered from the car.No one was hurt and police are investigating the incident.

Martial arts fans honor Bruce Lee 50 years after his death

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Fans of late martial arts legend Bruce Lee, who broke negative stereotypes around Asian men in films, gathered in Hong Kong this week to commemorate their idol’s death half a century ago, remembering his legacy and his life philosophy on persistence.Lee, who was born in San Francisco but raised in the Asian financial hub, was famous for his martial arts talent and his fight against racist portrayals of Asians on big and small screens in the 1960s and 70s. He died at the height of his fame due to an allergic reaction to painkillers when he was 32.The 50th anniversary of Lee's death on Thursday drew fans to exhibitions in Hong Kong on his life and career. They also laid flowers at his statue at the Avenue of Stars, a tourist attraction modeled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the Kowloon shore of Victoria Harbor.Fans gather in front of the statue of martial artist Bruce Lee to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death in Hong Kong, Thursday, July 20, 202...

Tesla recalling nearly 16,000 Model S and Model X vehicles over seat belt issue

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

Tesla is recalling nearly 16,000 of its 2021-2023 Model S and Model X vehicles because some front-row seat belts may not have been reconnected properly after being repaired.Tesla said in its safety recall report that in the vehicles, a first-row seat belt was disconnected from its pretensioner anchor as part of a necessary step to perform a repair. But the seat belt may not have been reconnected to its pretensioner anchor properly after the repair was made.The company said that if the seat belt isn't reconnected properly, it may not perform as it's supposed to in a collision, which may increase the risk of injury. Tesla owners sue over battery software update impact U.S. highway safety regulators opened an investigation into possible Tesla seat belt issues in March.As of June 19, Tesla has identified 12 warranty claims related to the issue, but the company is not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths that may be related to the seat belt issue.Notification letters will be mailed...

'Americana-themed' amusement park the size of Disney's Magic Kingdom is coming to Oklahoma

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:59 GMT

VINITA, Okla. (KSN/KODE) — A $2-billion "Americana-themed" theme park roughly the size of Disney World's Magic Kingdom is scheduled to open in Oklahoma in 2026, developers announced this week.The American Heartland Theme Park will be located along Route 66 near Vinita, in northeast Oklahoma.An artist's rendering shows the entrance to American Heartland Theme Park, scheduled to open in 2026. (American Heartland Theme Park)"Our whole objective is to bring family entertainment and value to the world," said Larry Willhite, the CEO of development firm Mansion Entertainment Group. The best amusement parks in the U.S. for 2023: report The 125-acre park will offer rides and attractions across "six distinctly American lands" to be known as Great Plains, Bayou Bay, Big Timber Falls, Stony Point Harbor, Liberty Village and Electropolis. The park will also offer "restaurant-quality food" throughout, according to a press release.In addition to the theme park, developers also plan to build what...