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The US and Chinese finance ministers are opening talks to lay the groundwork for a Biden-Xi meeting

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart will meet in San Francisco on Thursday for two days of talks aimed at making progress on a slew of economic issues at a time when competition has markedly intensified between the two countries. Yellen’s talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng are designed to help lay the groundwork for an expected meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, which would be their first engagement in nearly a year.The White House is not expecting the face-to-face meeting to result in major changes to the relationship between the two nations, according to a person familiar with the planning, although it hopes to see some signs of progress. Analysts say expectations should be kept low, given the competitive nature of the countries’ relationship. Nicholas Szechenyi, deputy director for Asia at the Center fo...

Turkey is marking its centennial. But a brain drain has cast a shadow on the occasion

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Huseyin Buyukdag says he loves Turkey and his job as a teacher. But with the rampant economic crisis and growing repression in his country, he said he and his wife have decided to try and find a better life in Germany.They are among a growing number of young and educated looking to leave Turkey, where rights and freedoms are being eroded and inflation is surging under increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.After Erdogan secured a third term in office in May elections, things are unlikely to change, he says.“Even if I don’t want this, even if I hate this, I will … leave this beautiful country,” the 27-year-old English teacher told The Associated Press.Buyukdag and his wife, a nurse, live in the impoverished southeastern province of Sirnak. Their government-appointed jobs bring the two roughly up to $1,750 a month — over the official poverty line of $ 1,564. It’s enough to make ends meet in their border province but far short of what is needed ...

Judge to hear arguments as Michigan activists try to keep Trump off the ballot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A judge in Michigan is expected to hear arguments Thursday on whether Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has the authority to keep Donald Trump’s name off state ballots for president.Activists are suing Benson in the Michigan Court of Claims to force her to keep Trump’s name off ballots and to assess Trump’s constitutional qualifications to serve a second term as president.Meanwhile, attorneys for the former president are demanding that Trump’s name be allowed on the 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot.Arguments were scheduled to begin Thursday morning in Grand Rapids before Judge James Robert Redford.Activists — in two separate suits — point to a section of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment that prohibits a person from running for federal office if they have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S. or given aid or comfort to those who have.Liberal groups also have filed lawsuits in Colorado and Minnesota to bar Trump from th...

Holocaust survivor recalls ‘Night of Broken Glass’ horrors in interactive, virtual reality project

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Charlotte Knobloch was 6 years old when she saw the synagogues of Munich burning and watched helplessly as two Nazi officers marched away a beloved friend of her father who was beaten up and bleeding on the forehead.It was Nov. 9, 1938, or Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass” — when Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria. This Thursday, on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Knobloch still remembers that night with horror and says it will be burned into her memory forever.“My whole life, I’ve never been able to get those pictures out of my head,” she told The Associated Press.Knobloch, 91, still lives in Munich where she is the President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria. She worries that the atrocities of the Nazis’ persecution of Jews may get forgotten and thinks it is especially important to teach the young generation about the past.“We have to address young people, because without them there is no remembrance,” ...

Texas inmate who says death sentence based on false expert testimony faces execution

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas inmate whose attorneys say received a death sentence due to false and unscientific expert testimony faced execution Thursday evening for fatally stabbing an Amarillo man during a robbery more than 33 years ago.Brent Ray Brewer, 53, was condemned for the April 1990 death of Robert Laminack, 66, who was attacked as he was giving Brewer and his girlfriend a ride to a Salvation Army location. Prosecutors said Laminack was stabbed in the neck as he was robbed of $140.Brewer’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, which was scheduled for Thursday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. They argue that during the inmate’s 2009 resentencing trial, prosecutors relied on false and discredited testimony from an expert, Richard Coons, who claimed Brewer would be a future danger, a legal finding needed to impose a death sentence.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday dismissed an appeal on this issue without reviewing th...

Ballot shortages in Mississippi created a problem for democracy on the day of a governor’s election

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — People in Mississippi’s largest county are demanding answers about why some polling places ran out of ballots and voters had to wait for them to be replenished on the day the state was deciding its most competitive governor’s race in a generation.It’s unclear how many people left without voting, and activists and local leaders say election officials’ failure is shocking, especially in a state where civil rights leaders were beaten or killed in the 1960s and earlier to secure voting rights for Black residents.“If you can’t vote, that’s a problem for democracy,” said Paloma Wu, a Mississippi Center for Justice attorney who filed one of two lawsuits to keep polling places open later than usual in Hinds County.Republican Gov. Tate Reeves defeated Democratic challenger Brandon Presley in Mississippi’s most expensive gubernatorial race.Nearly 40% of Mississippi residents are Black. Presley, who’s a state utility regulator and secon...

Nearly half of Democrats disapprove of Biden’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, AP-NORC poll shows

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half of Democrats disapprove of how President Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research — showing a deep divide within his party over the war. The poll found 50% of Democrats approve of how Biden has navigated the conflict while 46% disapprove — and the two groups diverge substantially in their views of U.S. support for Israel. Biden’s support on the issue among Democrats is down slightly from August, as an AP-NORC poll conducted then found that 57% of Democrats approved of his handling of the conflict and 40% disapproved. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed more than 1,400 people and Israel’s responding incursion into Gaza have created a political tightrope for Biden, who has supported Israeli sovereignty since the attack but also pressured Israel’s government to try to limit civilian casualties and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. More than 1...

Verdict is in: Texas voters tell oldest judges it’s time to retire

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — When it comes to age on the ballot, Texas didn’t wait until 2024 to weigh in. Asked to let judges stay on the bench until they’re 79 years old — a year younger than President Joe Biden — Texas voters soundly rejected the proposal in Tuesday’s elections, a defeat that drew new attention to issues of age and fitness for office in the U.S.“Age is front of mind for American voters in a way that it has not traditionally been and they are nervous about it,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.Others cautioned against broader takeaways. At least four other states have rejected similar proposals over the last decade, according to the National Center for State Courts. And states that have passed the measures have mostly done so in close votes. Still, the outcome in Texas put another spotlight on age on politics. Biden is now 80 and former President Donald Trump is 77. Today, the age factor is shaping up as an...

GOP candidates hit Trump and back Israel. Here are highlights from the Republican debate

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As they face an increasingly urgent task to emerge as a clear alternative to former President Donald Trump, five Republican presidential candidates gathered Wednesday for the party’s latest debate.Trump, the overwhelming front-runner in the race, skipped the event, as he has the first two, citing his polling advantage. There was no shortage of noteworthy confrontations on stage, as the participants debated the Israel-Hamas war, the future of abortion rights and Trump himself.But with the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses approaching, it seemed unlikely that the debate fundamentally changed the presidential nomination fight. Here are some debate takeaways: The foreign policy debateWednesday marked the first time the presidential candidates gathered on a debate stage since war broke out between Israel and Hamas, resulting in a sharper foreign policy conversation compared to previous forums. The contenders were unified in offering robust support for Israel and bemoaned anti...

Blinken in Seoul for talks focused on North Korea and its military cooperation with Russia

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:34 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, suspected North Korean cooperation with Russia in its war on Ukraine and concerns about China’s growing assertiveness topped U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s agenda in South Korea on Thursday.Blinken was in Seoul for talks with South Korea’s leadership following a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Japan on Wednesday in which the group previewed much of what he will discuss.The G7 “strongly condemned” North Korea’s ballistic missile tests as well as its alleged arms transfers to Russia, which are both in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North.Even before Blinken’s arrival, North Korea’s official news agency, the Korean Central News Agency, condemned the visit as well as one by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who travels to Seoul next week, describing them as “warmongers” bringing a “new war cloud” to Asia.Tensions between the Koreas are at their highest point years as the pa...