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Estonia’s Reform Party starts coalition government talks

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s center-right Reform Party started talks with two smaller parties Wednesday about forming a new liberal-minded coalition government.The party of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas won the Baltic nation’s general election on Sunday with 31.2% of the vote. Kallas hosted a meeting of delegates from the Reform Party, the centrist Estonia 200 party and the left-leaning Social Democratic Party at Stenbock House, where the Estonian prime minister’s office is located. “We want to reach an agreement that will improve the lives of all people in Estonia,” Kallas said. “The Reform Party’s priorities are to firmly protect Estonia in the coming years, improve the livelihood of Estonian people and launch economic growth based on the green reform.”The Reform Party was the senior partner in the outgoing three-party government. Although it won nearly twice as many votes Sunday as the election’s runner-up, the far-right populist Conservative People’s Party of E...

US defense chief: Egypt ties an ‘essential pillar’ in region

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that America’s defense partnership with Egypt is an “essential pillar” of Washington’s commitment to the Middle East. Austin made the remark on Twitter after touching down in Cairo on the latest leg of his Middle East tour. He was greeted by senior Egyptian military officials at the Cairo airport. After landing, Austin held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and other high-ranking officials.According to a statement issued by Egypt’s presidential spokesperson, el-Sissi and Austin discussed various issues, including military cooperation and surging violence in the Palestinian territories. Few further details about the meeting were given.Austin was expected to depart Cairo for Israel later Wednesday. His previous stops on the tour included Jordan and Iraq. He was in Baghdad on Tuesday on an unannounced visit, days before the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Egypt ...

Safety board report says deadly tug sinking in B.C. highlights systemic safety issues

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

VANCOUVER — The deaths of two men after their tugboat sank off British Columbia’s coast have prompted recommendations from the Transportation Safety Board for all such small vessels in Canada. The tug Ingenika was towing a loaded barge in a narrow channel along the northern coast when poor weather affected its ability to tow and maintain speed, and the safety board’s report says the tug started taking on water. The three men aboard were able to abandon ship, but only one person made it to the life raft and the bodies of the pilot and deck hand were recovered hours later by search and rescue crews. Transportation Safety Board chair Kathy Fox says it has investigated six occurrences of similar-sized tugs since 2015 and their systemic safety issues have been on its safety watchlist for 13 years. The board makes four recommendations, including that tugs under 15 gross tonnes undergo regular inspections, that owners and operators assess risks adequately and that the Pacific P...

Tucker Carlson’s scorn for Trump revealed in court papers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A defamation lawsuit is revealing scornful behind-the-scenes opinions by Fox News figures about Donald Trump, including a Tucker Carlson text message declaring “I hate him passionately.”Carlson’s private text conversation was revealed in court papers at virtually the same time that the former president was hailing the Fox News host on social media. Trump said he was doing a “great job” in presenting excerpts of U.S. Capitol security video of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — though Carlson used the video to produce a false narrative of the attack.The documents are also coming to light at a time of increased tension between Trump and the dominant media force appealing to conservatives as he campaigns to regain the presidency.Voting machine manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News for $1.6 billion, claiming the network broadcast false claims that the company was responsible for fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The case is to go to trial this ...

California company’s 3D-printed rocket to make debut launch

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A rocket made almost entirely of 3D-printed parts was poised to blast off Wednesday on its debut launch. California-based Relativity Space is attempting to launch the rocket to orbit from a former missile site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It’s a relatively small rocket, just 110 feet (33 meters), and won’t be carrying anything for this test flight except for a memento: the first successful metal 3D print from the company’s printers.About 85% of the rocket, named Terran, is made of 3D parts printed at the company’s factory in Long Beach, California, including its engines. Relativity Space aims to increase that percentage on its future versions.SpaceX’s Falcon rockets have been flying with 3D parts for years, but not nearly to the extent of Relativity Space’s new rocket.Relativity Space said its rocket is the largest 3D printed object to attempt a launch.Businessman Mark Cuban of TV’s “Shark Tank” was among the early invest...

2023 Oscars: What to know about supporting actor nominees

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The only downside of Ke Huy Quanbeing a lock for the best supporting actor win at the Oscars is that you don’t get to hear much from the other nominees as a result. And this is a category full of interesting performances and actors at all stages of their careers.All will be celebrated during the Academy Awards, which airs live Sunday on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. There’s still time to catch up on their performances before the show.Here’s a bit more about the contenders:BRIAN TYREE HENRYWhile filming “Causeway,” Jennifer Lawrence would sometimes finish a scene with Brian Tyree Henry and say to him, “You’re going to get nominated for an Oscar” and then just walk away.Henry was a little baffled at the time, but Lawrence (a four-time nominee and one-time winner ) was right.“She was unforgiving in reminding me that this was possible. I truly owe her a debt of gratitude,” Henry told The Associated Press. “She really believed it.”Henry plays a grieving mechan...

Harry & Meghan’s daughter christened, will use royal title

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan announced Wednesday that their daughter had been christened in a private ceremony in California, publicly calling her a princess and revealing for the first time that they will use royal titles for their children.Princess Lilibet Diana, who turns two in June, was baptized on Friday by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Rev John Taylor, Harry and Meghan said in a statement. Lilibet’s title and that of her brother, Archie, who will be four in May, will be updated on the Buckingham Palace website later.The announcement marked the first time that the children’s titles had been used in public.The question of the children’s titles took center stage two years ago during Harry and Meghan’s television interview with Oprah Winfrey. Meghan, who is biracial, said that when she was pregnant with Archie “they” — presumably the palace — “were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince … which would be different from protocol.”Meghan suggested that thi...

Closing arguments heard in Winnipeg trial of priest charged with indecent assault

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

WINNIPEG — A two-day trial in Winnipeg has wrapped up for a retired priest accused of assaulting a First Nations woman when she attended a former residential school more than 50 years ago. Arthur Masse, who is now 93, is charged with one count of indecent assault from when the woman was a 10-year-old student at the Fort Alexander Residential school north of Winnipeg.A Manitoba Court of King’s Bench justice has heard closing remarks from the Crown and the priest’s defence lawyer. Masse’s lawyer argues the woman’s testimony was inconsistent and unreliable due to the passage of time.The Crown says the accuser never wavered in her recollection of what happened to her.Justice Candace Grammond reserved her decision for the end of the month. This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2023. The Canadian Press

Lawyer: DNA proves XXXTentacion’s alleged killer’s innocence

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — An attorney for the man accused of gunning down rising rap star XXXTentacion during a 2018 robbery outside a Florida motorcycle shop told a jury Wednesday that DNA evidence proves his client and another man are innocent. Attorney Joseph Kimok gave the final defense closing argument in the trial of three men accused of first-degree murder, saying that while the artist struggled with his killers before being shot and DNA was found on the body and on a stolen necklace, it wasn’t from his client, 28-year-old Michael Boatwright. Nor was it from accused second gunman Trayvon Newsome, 24, or accused getaway driver and ringleader Dedrick Williams, 26. “Whoever (XXXTentacion) struggled with is not in this courtroom,” Kimok told jurors as the four-week trial neared its conclusion. “The DNA proves that someone not named Michael Boatwright or Trayvon Newsome participated in this murder.”A fourth man, Robert Allen, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder and...

Wall Street steadies itself after painful drop on rate fears

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:12:34 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are steadying on Wall Street Wednesday, a day after sinking to one of their worst days of the year. The S&P 500 was 0.2% lower in afternoon trading after shifting between small gain and losses earlier in trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 196 points, or 0.6%, at 32,660, as of 1:13 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was mostly unchanged.Stocks are coming off a sharp drop the prior day after the head of the Federal Reserve warned it could speed up its hikes to interest rates if pressure on inflation stays high. Such hikes can ease inflation by slowing the economy, but they also hit prices for stocks and other investments and raise the risk of a recession in the future.The Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, said again Wednesday that pressure on inflation appears to be running higher than earlier expected. But he also stressed much more strenuously than he did on Tuesday that the Fed hasn’t made a decision yet on the size of its futur...