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Tag: U.S. News

  • Police cast doubt on Carlee Russell’s kidnapping claim after reporting toddler on an Alabama highway

    Police cast doubt on Carlee Russell’s kidnapping claim after reporting toddler on an Alabama highway

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    Authorities in Alabama cast doubt Wednesday on the story of a woman who set off a frantic search when she disappeared for two days after calling 911 to report a toddler wandering on the highway. Carlee Russell told investigators she was abducted and forced into a car Thursday, but they have been unable to verify her account, police said.

    The 25-year-old’s return home Saturday prompted intense speculation about where she had been and what had happened to her.

    Carlee Russell’s mother, Talitha Russell, told NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday that her daughter was abducted and fought for her life when she disappeared.

    But Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis cast doubt on that account at a news conference, saying detectives were still investigating her whereabouts, but had so far been “unable to verify most of Carlee’s initial statement.”

    She told detectives she was taken by a man who came out of the trees when she stopped to check on the child, put in a car and an 18-wheel truck, blindfolded and held at a home where a woman fed her cheese crackers, Derzis said. At some point, Carlee Russell said she was put in a vehicle again but managed to escape and run through the woods to her neighborhood.

    In the days before her disappearance, she searched for information on her cellphone about Amber Alerts, a movie about a woman’s abduction and a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham, Alabama, to Nashville, Tennessee, departing the day she disappeared. Her phone also showed she traveled about 600 yards while telling a 911 operator she was following a 3- or 4-year-old child in a diaper on the side of the highway, Derzis said. She has not talked to investigators a second time.

    “I do think it’s highly unusual the day that someone gets kidnapped that seven or eight hours before that they’re searching the internet, Googling the movie ‘Taken’ about an abduction,” Derzis said. “I find that very, very strange.”

    Her family told police she was traumatized and not ready to talk again, he said.

    “As you can see, there are many questions left to be answered, but only Carlee can provide those answers,” he said, later adding, “We want to know the truth.”

    Talitha Russell told “Today” her daughter was not in a “good state” when she got back and needed medical care. She said her daughter gave detectives a statement so they could “continue to pursue her abductor.”

    “There were moments when she physically had to fight for her life, and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life,” Talitha Russell said.

    Police said Tuesday that detectives did not uncover any evidence of a toddler walking on the interstate. Surveillance video from the Russells’ neighborhood showed Carlee Russell walking down the sidewalk alone before arriving at her home. She was conscious and talking when first responders arrived, and later treated and released from a hospital, police said.

    Police have said Carlee Russell called a 911 operator Thursday night and then a relative and told both of them she saw a toddler in a diaper on the side of Interstate 459 and was stopping to check on him. Police played the 911 call at Wednesday’s news conference.

    When officers arrived at the location, they found her car, cellphone and wig but were unable to find her or a child in the area.

    Talitha Russell told al.com last week that her daughter was headed home after leaving work and stopping to get food. Carlee Russell was on the phone with her brother’s girlfriend when they lost contact.

    “My son’s girlfriend heard her asking the child, ‘Are you OK?’ She never heard the child say anything but then she heard our daughter scream,’’ Talitha Russell said. “From there, all you hear on her phone is background noise from the interstate.”

    A single witness reported possibly seeing a gray vehicle and a man standing outside Carlee Russell’s vehicle, police have said.

    Police said Tuesday that she also stopped for snacks on the way home, but none of the food was found in her car or with her cellphone and wig.

    Hoover is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Birmingham.

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  • Stock market today: Asian shares mixed as Japan reports weaker than expected trade data

    Stock market today: Asian shares mixed as Japan reports weaker than expected trade data

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    TOKYO — Asian shares were mixed Thursday after Japan reported weaker than expected trade data for June, with imports falling nearly 13% from a year earlier.

    Shares rose in Sydney and Hong Kong but fell in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul. U.S. futures slipped and oil prices were little changed.

    Japan logged a trade surplus in June for the first time in nearly two years as imports sank, largely due to lower oil prices. Exports rose only 1.5% from a year earlier despite sharp increases in shipments of vehicles as supply chain problems eased. Economists say they anticipate weaker exports in coming months as demand in other major economies slows.

    Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 declined 1.2% to 32,490.52. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added less than 0.1% to 7,326.00. South Korea’s Kospi edged down 0.1% to 2,604.61. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was virtually flat at 18,954.78, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.7% to 3,175.81.

    On Wednesday, Wall Street added to its big rally for the year following profit reports from a spate of banks and other big U.S. companies. Gains on the Nasdaq were muted as Netflix reported that its subscriber base grew while profit was weaker than forecast. Tesla’s results, although positive, also proved disappointing.

    The tepid results for Netflix and Tesla may have made Asian investors cautious, Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a commentary.

    “But with inflation easing and odds for a soft landing rising, investors may adopt an ‘it could have been worse mood,’ ” he added.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 4,565.72. It is now up nearly 19% for the year so far and at its highest level in more than 15 months.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3% to 35,061.21 and the Nasdaq composite edged up less than 0.1%, to 14,358.02.

    Elevance Health helped lead the market after it climbed 4.4%. The insurance provider reported stronger profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected and raised its earnings forecast for the full year.

    Western Alliance Bancorp bounced from an early loss to a gain of 7.8% after reporting weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said customers added $3.5 billion in deposits from April through June.

    U.S. Bancorp rose 6.5% after reporting weaker profit than expected but slightly stronger revenue. It also said its deposits grew 3.2% from earlier this year. M&T Bank gained 2.5% after reporting stronger profit than expected and higher deposits. Investment bank Goldman Sachs added 1% after it fell short of profit expectations for the latest quarter but topped forecasts for revenue.

    The pressure caused by high interest rates has led to failures of several U.S. banks. Other smaller and midsized banks are under heavy investor scrutiny. Recent data reports have raised hopes that inflation is moderating enough to convince the Federal Reserve to halt rate hikes soon. That could help the economy avoid a long-predicted recession.

    One of Wall Street’s biggest winners was Carvana, which soared 40.2%. The used-car dealer agreed with its creditors to reduce its debt by more than $1.2 billion. It also reported a milder net loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

    The earnings reporting season is picking up momentum in its second week. Analysts are forecasting a third straight quarter of weaker earnings per share for S&P 500 companies, but that low bar makes it easier for companies to top expectations.

    In the commodities market, wheat prices surged after Russia launched drone and missile attacks on critical port infrastructure in Ukraine, destroying 60,000 tons of grain. The price of soft red winter wheat, traded in Chicago and used for cookies and specialty products, rose 8.5%.

    The attacks come days after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed exports from Ukraine to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger.

    In other trading Thursday, benchmark U.S. crude shed 7 cents to $75.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 8 cents to $79.38 a barrel.

    The U.S. dollar fell to 139.54 Japanese yen from 139.68 yen. The euro cost $1.1207, up from $1.1204.

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  • Stock market today: Asian shares mixed as Japan reports weaker than expected trade data

    Stock market today: Asian shares mixed as Japan reports weaker than expected trade data

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    TOKYO — Asian shares were mixed Thursday after Japan reported weaker than expected trade data for June, with imports falling nearly 13% from a year earlier.

    Shares rose in Sydney and Hong Kong but fell in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul. U.S. futures slipped and oil prices were little changed.

    Japan logged a trade surplus in June for the first time in nearly two years as imports sank, largely due to lower oil prices. Exports rose only 1.5% from a year earlier despite sharp increases in shipments of vehicles as supply chain problems eased. Economists say they anticipate weaker exports in coming months as demand in other major economies slows.

    Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 declined 1.2% to 32,490.52. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added less than 0.1% to 7,326.00. South Korea’s Kospi edged down 0.1% to 2,604.61. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was virtually flat at 18,954.78, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.7% to 3,175.81.

    On Wednesday, Wall Street added to its big rally for the year following profit reports from a spate of banks and other big U.S. companies. Gains on the Nasdaq were muted as Netflix reported that its subscriber base grew while profit was weaker than forecast. Tesla’s results, although positive, also proved disappointing.

    The tepid results for Netflix and Tesla may have made Asian investors cautious, Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a commentary.

    “But with inflation easing and odds for a soft landing rising, investors may adopt an ‘it could have been worse mood,’ ” he added.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 4,565.72. It is now up nearly 19% for the year so far and at its highest level in more than 15 months.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3% to 35,061.21 and the Nasdaq composite edged up less than 0.1%, to 14,358.02.

    Elevance Health helped lead the market after it climbed 4.4%. The insurance provider reported stronger profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected and raised its earnings forecast for the full year.

    Western Alliance Bancorp bounced from an early loss to a gain of 7.8% after reporting weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said customers added $3.5 billion in deposits from April through June.

    U.S. Bancorp rose 6.5% after reporting weaker profit than expected but slightly stronger revenue. It also said its deposits grew 3.2% from earlier this year. M&T Bank gained 2.5% after reporting stronger profit than expected and higher deposits. Investment bank Goldman Sachs added 1% after it fell short of profit expectations for the latest quarter but topped forecasts for revenue.

    The pressure caused by high interest rates has led to failures of several U.S. banks. Other smaller and midsized banks are under heavy investor scrutiny. Recent data reports have raised hopes that inflation is moderating enough to convince the Federal Reserve to halt rate hikes soon. That could help the economy avoid a long-predicted recession.

    One of Wall Street’s biggest winners was Carvana, which soared 40.2%. The used-car dealer agreed with its creditors to reduce its debt by more than $1.2 billion. It also reported a milder net loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

    The earnings reporting season is picking up momentum in its second week. Analysts are forecasting a third straight quarter of weaker earnings per share for S&P 500 companies, but that low bar makes it easier for companies to top expectations.

    In the commodities market, wheat prices surged after Russia launched drone and missile attacks on critical port infrastructure in Ukraine, destroying 60,000 tons of grain. The price of soft red winter wheat, traded in Chicago and used for cookies and specialty products, rose 8.5%.

    The attacks come days after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed exports from Ukraine to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger.

    In other trading Thursday, benchmark U.S. crude shed 7 cents to $75.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 8 cents to $79.38 a barrel.

    The U.S. dollar fell to 139.54 Japanese yen from 139.68 yen. The euro cost $1.1207, up from $1.1204.

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  • Trimmed trees outside LA studio become flashpoint for striking Hollywood writers and actors

    Trimmed trees outside LA studio become flashpoint for striking Hollywood writers and actors

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    A row of tightly trimmed ficus trees along a stretch of sidewalk outside Universal Studios has become a hot spot in the face-off between Hollywood studios and striking screenwriters and actors

    ByJEFF TURNER Associated Press

    Trees are seen outside Universal Studios on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, in Burbank, Calif. The actors strike comes more than two months after screenwriters began striking in their bid to get better pay and working conditions. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

    The Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES — A row of tightly trimmed ficus trees along a stretch of sidewalk outside Universal Studios has become a hot spot in the face-off between Hollywood studios and striking screenwriters and actors.

    Some members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Writers Guild of America unions — along with sympathetic local politicians — think the studio purposely pruned the trees in an effort to remove a source of shade for workers picketing under the hot Southern California sun. They gathered regardless on Wednesday, with one woman wearing a green wreath on her head and holding a sign depicting a full, untrimmed tree under the words “Never Forget.”

    “Universal, get your ducks in order. We don’t want to see any more shady nonsense because the people are watching,” said Konstantine Anthony, a SAG-AFTRA member and the Democratic mayor of nearby Burbank.

    Burbank’s city limits don’t include the stretch of Barham Boulevard where the trees were trimmed, which is part of Los Angeles. Anthony said he had consulted with Los Angeles political leaders about the trimming.

    “We can’t find any work orders done for this particular tree trimming, which is problematic because in Southern California we have a lot of laws governing trees,” he said. “Normally, you don’t trim until October, and in fact, the exact same style and type of tree about 200 feet this way are not trimmed. But those aren’t providing shade to the picketers, are they?”

    Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman, whose district includes Universal City, said in a statement that no permits had been issued for tree trimming at the site. City Controller Kenneth Mejia said his office was investigating the issue.

    An NBCUniversal spokesperson said in a statement that it knew the trimming had “created unintended challenges for demonstrators, that was not our intention.” The studio said it was working to provide some shade coverage for picketers.

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  • The wait is over as Powerball finally has a winner for its jackpot worth over $1 billion

    The wait is over as Powerball finally has a winner for its jackpot worth over $1 billion

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    A winning ticket has been sold in California for the Powerball jackpot worth an estimated $1.08 billion

    A woman purchase a Powerball ticket from a machine, Wednesday, July 19, 2023, in Hawthorne, Calif. The new jackpot for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing would be the seventh highest in U.S. history and the third largest for the game. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

    The Associated Press

    A winning ticket has been sold in California for the Powerball jackpot worth an estimated $1.08 billion, the sixth largest in U.S. history and the 3rd largest in the history of the game.

    The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were: white balls 7, 10, 11, 13, 24 and red Powerball 24. The California Lottery said on Twitter that the winning ticket was sold in Los Angeles at Las Palmitas Mini Market.

    Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot beyond its earlier estimate of $1 billion to $1.08 billion at the time of the drawing, moving it from the seventh largest to the sixth largest U.S lottery jackpot ever won.

    The winner can choose either the total jackpot paid out in yearly increments or a $558.1 million, one-time lump sum before taxes.

    The game’s abysmal odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to build big prizes that draw more players. The largest Powerball jackpot was $2.04 billion Powerball in November.

    The last time someone had won the Powerball jackpot was April 19 for a top prize of nearly $253 million. Since then, no one had won the grand prize.

    Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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  • North Korea not responding to US attempts to discuss American soldier who ran across border

    North Korea not responding to US attempts to discuss American soldier who ran across border

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea wasn’t responding Thursday to U.S. attempts to discuss the American soldier who bolted across the heavily armed border and whose prospects for a quick release are unclear at a time of high military tensions and inactive communication channels.

    Pvt. Travis King, who was supposed to have been heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, after finishing a prison sentence in South Korea for assault, ran into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. He is the first known American held in North Korea in nearly five years.

    “Yesterday the Pentagon reached out to counterparts in the (North) Korean People’s Army. My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered,” Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, told reporters Wednesday in Washington.

    Miller said the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department are working together to gather information about King’s well-being and whereabouts. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. government will continue to work to ensure his safety and his return to his family.

    The motive for King’s border crossing is unknown. A witness on the same civilian tour said she initially thought his dash was some kind of stunt until she heard an American soldier on patrol shouting for others to try to stop him. But King had crossed the border in a matter of seconds.

    King, 23, was serving in South Korea as a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division. He could be discharged from the military and face other potential penalties after being convicted of crimes in South Korea.

    In February, a Seoul court fined him 5 million won ($3,950) by convicting him of assaulting an unidentified person and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul last October, according to a transcript of the verdict obtained by The Associated Press. The ruling said King had also been accused of punching a man at a Seoul nightclub, though the court dismissed that charge because the victim didn’t want King to be punished.

    It wasn’t clear how King spent the hours from leaving the airport Monday until joining the Panmunjom tour Tuesday. The Army realized he was missing when he did not get off the flight in Texas as expected.

    North Korea has previously held a number of Americans who were arrested for anti-state, espionage and other charges. But no other Americans were known to be detained since North Korea expelled American Bruce Byron Lowrance in 2018. During the Cold War, a small number of U.S. soldiers who fled to North Korea later appeared North Korean propaganda films.

    “North Korea is not going to ‘catch and release’ a border-crosser because of its strict domestic laws and desire to deter outsiders from breaking them. However, the Kim regime has little incentive to hold an American citizen very long, as doing so can entail liabilities,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

    “For Pyongyang, it makes sense to find a way of extracting some compensation and then expel an American for unauthorized entry into the country before an isolated incident escalates in ways that risk North Korean diplomatic and financial interests,” he said. “In the best-case scenario, the American soldier will return home safely at the cost of some propaganda victory for Pyongyang, and U.S and North Korean officials will have an opportunity to resume dialogue and contacts that went stagnant during the pandemic.”

    Other experts say North Korea won’t likely easily return King as he is a soldier who apparently voluntarily fled to North Korea, though many previous U.S. civilian detainees were released after the United States sent high-profile missions to Pyongyang to secure their freedom.

    The U.S. and North Korea, who fought during the 1950-53 Korean War, still have no diplomatic ties. Sweden provided consular services for Americans in past cases, but Swedish diplomatic staff reportedly haven’t returned since North Korea ordered foreigners to leave the country at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “What I will say is that we here at the State Department have engaged with counterparts in South Korea and with Sweden on this issue, including here in Washington,” Miller said.

    Jeon Ha-kyu, a spokesperson of South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said Thursday his ministry is sharing related information with the American-led U.N. Command in South Korea, without elaborating.

    Currently, there are no known, active dialogues between North Korea and the U.S. or South Korea.

    King’s case happened as North Korea has been stepping up its criticism of the United States over its recent moves to bolster its security commitment to South Korea. Earlier this week, the U.S. deployed a nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea for the first time in four decades. North Korea later test-fired two missiles with the potential range to strike the South Korean port whether the U.S.. submarine docked.

    King’s family members said the soldier may have felt overwhelmed by his legal troubles and possible discharge from the military. They described him as a quiet loner who did not drink or smoke and enjoyed reading the Bible.

    “I can’t see him doing that intentionally if he was in his right mind,” King’s maternal grandfather, Carl Gates, told The Associated Press from his Kenosha, Wisconsin, home. “Travis is a good guy. He wouldn’t do nothing to hurt nobody. And I can’t see him trying to hurt himself.”

    Carl Gates said his grandson joined the military three years ago out of a desire to serve his country and because he “wanted to do better for himself.”

    King’s mother, Claudine Gates, told reporters outside her Racine, Wisconsin, home that all she cares about is bringing her son home.

    “I just want my son back,” she said in video posted by Milwaukee television station WISN. “Get my son home.”

    King’s grandfather called on his country to help rescue his grandson.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Melissa Winder in Kenosha, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

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  • Black lawmakers say Alabama GOP’s proposed new congressional map insults the Supreme Court

    Black lawmakers say Alabama GOP’s proposed new congressional map insults the Supreme Court

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    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) —

    Facing an order to draw new congressional district lines, Alabama Republicans advanced dueling proposals on Wednesday that boost the number of Black voters in a district, but Black lawmakers called the plan an insult to the court directive to give minority residents a greater voice in elections.

    The Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate advanced separate plans that increase the number of Black voters in the state’s 2nd congressional district, but do not establish the second majority-Black district sought by plaintiffs who won the Supreme Court case last month.

    The GOP plans would increase the percentage of Black voters from about 30% to 38% under the Senate proposal, or 42% under the House plan. Republicans said that complies with the court’s directive to provide a second district where Black voters can influence the outcome of congressional elections. Democrats said that does not comply with a three-judge panel’s directive to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it.”

    “This is really a slap in the face, not only to Black Alabamians, but to the Supreme Court,” Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, said during the floor debate.

    State lawmakers face a Friday deadline to adopt new lines after the U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a three-judge panel’s finding that the current state map — with one majority-Black district out of seven in a state that is 27% Black — likely violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

    Republican House Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Pringle argued that the proposed lines satisfy the court requirement to provide greater “opportunity” to Black voters. Republicans said the reconfigured district would become a swing district that could be won by either a Democrat or a Republican.

    “We’ve drawn a district that provides an opportunity for the minorities to elect a candidate of their choosing,” Pringle said. “The court said we had to provide an opportunity and that’s what that district does,” Pringle said.

    Republicans in the House and Senate have proposed different maps. Sen. Steve Livingston, a Republican from Scottsboro, said the two chambers will work toward a compromise.

    “The question is what is opportunity there?” Livingston said. “I think everybody has a different interpretation of what opportunity is.”

    Black lawmakers said the proposals invoke the state’s sordid Jim Crow history.

    “Once again, the state decided to be on the wrong side of history,” Rep. Prince Chestnut, a Democrat from Selma said. “We’re fighting the same battles that they were fighting 100 years ago, 50 years ago, 40 years ago, right here today,” Chestnut said. “Once again the (Republican) super majority decided that the voting rights of Black people are nothing that this state is bound to respect. And it’s offensive. It’s wrong.”

    A group of voters who challenged the existing congressional plan said white Republicans drew the map “to maintain power by packing one-third of Black Alabamians” into a single majority-Black district while leaving lopsided white majorities in every other district. Alabama now sends one Black congresswoman to Washington — Rep. Terri Sewell, whose 7th congressional district is majority Black — and six white Republicans.

    The appellate ruling that struck down the existing congressional map said Alabama should have “either an additional majority-Black congressional district, or an additional district in which Black voters otherwise have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.” The judges added any map should include two districts where “Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.”

    Black lawmakers disputed that the 2nd congressional district, a rural district with deep ties to farming and military bases, would easily become a swing district. They said history shows that Black candidates generally don’t win in Alabama unless they run in a majority-Black district.

    Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, a Democrat from Greensboro, said data shows that former President Donald Trump would have won the district in 2020 under the Senate proposal.

    “(It) tells you everything you need to know about that opportunity district,” Singleton said. “What Black has an opportunity to win in that district? I just don’t see it.”

    Republicans hold a lopsided majority in the Alabama Legislature and will control what ultimately passes. Republican lawmakers in both chambers voted down an effort by Democrats to bring up a plan, backed by plaintiffs who won the Supreme Court case, that would create a second majority-Black district.

    Once a new GOP map is approved, the fight will shift quickly back to the courts. Republicans, who have been resistant to creating a solid Democratic district, are wagering that the court will accept their proposal or that the state will prevail in a second round of appeals. The three-judge panel could step in and draw its own plan if they deem it unacceptable.

    “You can save your time. You can save your money, because we’re going to have a special master drawing this map,” Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said.

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  • Southern California man convicted in 2018 spa bombing that killed ex-girlfriend

    Southern California man convicted in 2018 spa bombing that killed ex-girlfriend

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    LOS ANGELES — A Southern California man was convicted Wednesday of blowing up his ex-girlfriend’s spa business with a package bomb in 2018, killing her and seriously injuring two clients.

    A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Stephen Beal of four felonies including use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

    Beal could face at least 30 years and up to life in prison when he’s sentenced in November.

    He was retried after a mistrial was declared last year when the jury deadlocked.

    Beal, 64, of Long Beach, was charged with killing Ildiko Krajnyak on May 15, 2018, with a homemade bomb in a cardboard box that he slipped into her Aliso Viejo spa, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Los Angeles.

    Krajnyak, 48, was killed in the fiery blast when she opened the box. Two clients — a mother and daughter — she had just treated were knocked off their feet.

    The blast destroyed the business and tore a large hunk from the building. Body parts were found in the parking lot.

    Beal, a partner in the salon business, was jealous Krajnyak had been dating someone else after their 18-month relationship ended, prosecutors said.

    “Mr. Beal was a jilted lover who wanted to obliterate his ex-girlfriend after she sought to end their relationship,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada told journalists at a news conference after the verdict. “He used his expertise in building rockets and explosives to create a bomb that he disguised as a mail package.”

    While Krajnyak was in Hungary visiting family, Beal left the bomb at the spa for her to open when she returned, according to the U.S. attorney’s office statement.

    A day after the explosion, investigators searched Beal’s home and found more than 130 pounds (59 kilograms) of explosive mixtures and precursor chemicals, the statement said.

    “Beal had years of experience building high-powered model rockets and homemade pyrotechnics,” according to the statement. “Laboratory testing determined that the explosive mixture Beal used in the bomb came from the same chemicals he had at his home.”

    Beal also was found guilty of malicious destruction of a building resulting in death, use of a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, and possession of an unregistered destructive device.

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  • Gunman had 1,800 rounds of ammo as he launched ‘murderous barrage of fire’ on Fargo police officers

    Gunman had 1,800 rounds of ammo as he launched ‘murderous barrage of fire’ on Fargo police officers

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    A man armed with 1,800 rounds of ammunition, a grenade and other explosives in his car unleashed a “murderous barrage of fire” as he ambushed officers who were investigating a routine crash, killing one and wounding two before a fourth stopped him and thwarted what authorities described as plans for further mayhem, officials said Wednesday.

    Mohamad Barakat, 37, shot Officers Jake Wallin, Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes from inside his car on Friday, from about 15 to 20 feet away, before they could even reach for their guns, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said at a news conference. Wallin was killed while Dotas and Hawes remain hospitalized in critical condition. Wrigley said Barakat also shot and injured a bystander, who was trying to run away when she was hit twice.

    But Officer Zach Robinson, who just happened to be nearby, “disabled” Barakat’s .223 -caliber rifle with a difficult shot from his own 9 mm handgun from about 75 feet (22.86 meters) away. Wrigley said Barakat — who was on the ground — then picked up a handgun and waved it around. As Robinson moved closer, he ordered Barakat to drop the gun 16 times, then killed him in a confrontation that lasted about two minutes, Wrigley said.

    “In the wake of Mohamad Barakat’s murderous, unprovoked attack, Officer Zach Robinson’s use of deadly force was reasonable, it was necessary, it was justified, and in all ways, it was lawful,” Wrigley told reporters. “Mohamad Barakat engaged in a savage attack. … He unleashed what can only be described fairly as a murderous barrage of fire. But that isn’t to say it wasn’t precise. In fact, it was.”

    Investigators found 1,800 rounds of ammunition, three long guns, four handguns, numerous ammo magazines, explosives, canisters with gasoline and a homemade hand grenade in Barakat’s car, he said. Officials released a photograph showing that eight of the magazines bore American flag stickers or decals.

    Wrigley said Barakat also had a “shooting vest” that wasn’t bulletproof, but had magazines in every pocket, and he had a suitcase of weapons, which he had rolled out of his apartment right before getting into his car. There was no mention of whether Barakat had any protective gear.

    “When you look at the amount of ammunition this shooter had in his car, he was planning on more mayhem in our community,” Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said. Police Chief David Zibolski said Barakat’s target was unknown.

    Wrigley provided the most detailed account yet that authorities have given about what happened during the gunfight. He said investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the attack on police but promised more details on the investigation at a news conference planned for Friday.

    Wrigley said video evidence shows Barakat drove around and was nonchalant before opening fire.

    “He’s casing the place up and stalking his way in and sizing up his opportunity and then parks there and spends minutes watching the officers and waits until they are literally walking,” Wrigley said. “That’s when he lifts his firearm out the window and begins firing. It was an absolute ambush. There’s no other way to describe that.”

    Wrigley said Robinson displayed “absolute courage under fire” as he moved away from the cover of his vehicle and exchanged fire with Barakat, including a shot that “incapacitated” the suspect’s rifle — leaving roughly 20 rounds unused that could have been fired at other people. Robinson called in for help, and as he started approaching Barakat, he saw his colleagues were shot.

    “He said, ‘We have three officers down. Send everybody,’” Wrigley said. “And send everybody they did.”

    At some point Barakat was wounded, and was down on the ground, but he rearmed himself with a 9 mm handgun that he kept waving around, protected by his car, Wrigley said. Barakat continued to disobey Robinson’s repeated commands to drop his gun. Robinson continued to move in and gave him one final command.

    “’Put down the gun,’ He does not. And the threat was neutralized by the officer,” the attorney general said.

    Shortly after the shooting, authorities, including the FBI, converged on a residential area about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away and evacuated residents of an apartment building to gather what they said was related evidence. Wrigley said Wednesday that authorities found more firearms at the apartment.

    The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI are still investigating.

    The funeral service for Wallin, 23, is set for Saturday morning in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, according to an obituary. A private service will follow graveside at a cemetery in Nisswa, Minnesota.

    Wallin served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq from November 2020 to July 2021. He and Hawes were sworn in less than three months ago and were still in training when they responded to Friday’s crash.

    Governors of Minnesota and North Dakota have directed U.S. and state flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Wallin through sunset on Saturday, and encouraged residents and businesses to do the same.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Zach Robinson’s first name in a quote.

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  • Shooting at a South Florida Walmart kills 1 person and wounds 2 others

    Shooting at a South Florida Walmart kills 1 person and wounds 2 others

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    Authorities say one person is dead and two others are wounded following a shooting at a South Florida Walmart

    ByDAVID FISCHER Associated Press

    MIAMI — One person was dead and two others were wounded following a shooting Wednesday at a South Florida Walmart, authorities said.

    The shooting occurred at the Walmart in Florida City, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Miami, Miami-Dade police spokesman Luis Sierra said.

    Rescue workers transported three victims to a nearby hospital, and one later died. The victims weren’t immediately identified.

    Officials didn’t immediately release details about the shooting, but police confirmed that one person was in custody.

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  • American soldier’s dash into North Korea leaves family members wondering why

    American soldier’s dash into North Korea leaves family members wondering why

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    KENOSHA, Wis. — Family members of the U.S. Army private whosprinted across the border into North Korea said Wednesday that he may have felt overwhelmed as he faced legal troubles and his possible looming discharge from the military.

    Relatives described Pvt. Travis King, 23, as a quiet loner who did not drink or smoke and enjoyed reading the Bible. After growing up up in southeast Wisconsin, he was excited about serving his country in South Korea. Now King’s family is struggling to understand what changed before he dashed into a country with a long history of holding Americans and using them as bargaining chips.

    “I can’t see him doing that intentionally if he was in his right mind,” King’s maternal grandfather, Carl Gates, told The Associated Press from his Kenosha, Wisconsin, home. “Travis is a good guy. He wouldn’t do nothing to hurt nobody. And I can’t see him trying to hurt himself.”

    King was supposed to be returned to the U.S. this week to face military discipline after serving nearly two months in a South Korea prison on assault charges. But instead of boarding a flight for Texas on Monday, as planned, King slipped away and quietly joined a civilian tour group on Tuesday morning headed for the the Demilitarized Zone that divides South and North Korea.

    Even with legal troubles hanging over him, King’s relatives said they are at a loss to explain why he acted as he did.

    King’s uncle, Myron Gates, questioned whether his nephew was experiencing a mental problem.

    “I don’t understand why he would do that, because it seemed like he was on his way back here to the United States,” Myron Gates said. “He was on his way home.”

    Another relative said King was despondent over the recent loss of a young cousin. Lakeia Nard said King was close with her 7-year-old son, King’nazier Gates, who died in February of a rare genetic disease.

    Carl Gates said his grandson joined the military three years ago out of a desire to serve his country and because he “wanted to do better for himself.” He has an older brother who is a police officer and a cousin who is in the Navy.

    King served as a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division.

    “He’s a nice, quiet guy,” Carl Gates said. “He doesn’t bother anybody. He keeps to himself.”

    King was facing discharge from the Army because he was convicted of a crime in a foreign country, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

    In February, a court fined King 5 million won ($3,950) after he was convicted of assaulting an unidentified person and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul last October, according to a transcript of the verdict obtained by the AP.

    The ruling said King was also accused of punching a 23-year-old man at a Seoul nightclub, though the court dismissed that charge because the victim did not want the soldier to be punished. King served 47 days in prison.

    According to the U.S. official, King was escorted to the airport on Monday by two U.S. service members. He was supposed to board an American Airlines flight to Texas that was scheduled to leave at 5:40 p.m. Upon arrival, he was to be met by military personnel who would escort him to Fort Bliss.

    On the way to his departing flight, King was escorted as far as customs but left the airport before boarding the plane. It was unclear how he spent the hours until joining the tour in the border village of Panmunjom and running across the border Tuesday afternoon.

    Sarah Leslie, a tourist from New Zealand, said King was in her tour group and was traveling alone. He initially acted like any other tourist, buying a DMZ hat from a gift shop. He was casually dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

    As the tour was ending, the group members were milling about and taking photos. That’s when Leslie saw King running “really fast.” She thought it was a stunt.

    “I assumed initially he had a mate filming him in some kind of really stupid prank or stunt, like a TikTok, the most stupid thing you could do,” Leslie said. “But then I heard one of the soldiers shout, ‘Get that guy.’”

    Before soldiers could catch him, King was across the border. It took just a few seconds.

    U.S. officials were saying little about what may have motivated King.

    “We are still gathering facts,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration was trying to figure out where King was being held, his condition and his reason for crossing into North Korea. She said administration officials would work to ensure his safe return to his family.

    King’s mother, Claudine Gates, told reporters outside her Racine, Wisconsin, home that all she cares about is bringing her son home.

    “I just want my son back,” she said in video posted by Milwaukee television station WISN. “Get my son home.”

    King’s grandfather called on his country to help rescue his grandson.

    “We’re the United States. We make things happen. If they get him out of there, we appreciate it as a family,” Carl Gates said. “Save my grandson.”

    ___

    Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press writers Hyung-Jin Kim and Kim Tong-Hung in Seoul, South Korea; Darlene Superville, Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand; Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

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  • No drug test for ‘Rust’ movie armorer in upcoming trial over fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin

    No drug test for ‘Rust’ movie armorer in upcoming trial over fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin

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    The former weapons supervisor on the set of the movie “Rust” won’t have to take a drug test as she confronts charges of evidence tampering and involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin

    ByMORGAN LEE Associated Press

    FILE – In this image from video released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, Alec Baldwin speaks with investigators following a fatal shooting on a movie set in Santa Fe, N.M. Film-set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will appear before a judge during a remote court hearing scheduled for Wednesday, July 19, 2023, in connection to charges related to the 2021 shooting death of a cinematographer. (Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)

    The Associated Press

    SANTA FE, N.M. — The former weapons supervisor on the set of the movie “Rust” won’t have to take a drug test as she confronts felony charges of evidence tampering and involuntary manslaughter in the on-set shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin.

    A New Mexico district court judge on Wednesday dismissed a request from prosecutors to test Hannah Gutierrez-Reed for illegal drugs, calling it “an ambush” against her defense lawyers.

    Prosecutors say Gutierrez-Reed passed narcotics to another person to avoid legal consequences in the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting in October 2021, while contending in court documents that the armorer was likely hungover on the day a live bullet was placed into the gun Baldwin used.

    Defense attorney Jason Bowles said the drug use allegations are unsubstantiated and undocumented.

    It’s still unclear how several live rounds of ammunition got on set. Prosecutors say they have some evidence to support the theory that Gutierrez-Reed may be responsible for the introduction of the rounds.

    Wednesday’s hearing, held online, was the first for a recently filed felony charge against Gutierrez-Reed of tampering with evidence in the shooting, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.

    State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer advised Gutierrez-Reed of her legal rights on the evidence-tampering charge, which carries a possible penalty of up to 18 months in prison. Gutierrez-Reed did not enter a plea.

    An involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin was dropped in April. The actor was pointing a gun at Hutchins when it went off, killing her. Baldwin has said the gun fired accidentally after he followed instructions to aim it toward Hutchins, who was behind the camera.

    Evidentiary hearings may take place as soon as August to determine whether the case against Gutierrez-Reed advances toward trial.

    Additionally, Gutierrez-Reed still has access to guns as a self-defense measure against threats — something prosecutors raised as a concern during Wednesday’s online court hearing.

    “We have a person who is a substance user who is in possession of firearms,” said special prosecutor Kari Morrissey.

    Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers say prosecutors are resorting to “character assassination” to prop up their involuntary manslaughter case.

    The filming of “Rust” resumed in April in Montana under an agreement with the cinematographer’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, that makes him an executive producer. Souza says he returned to directing “Rust” to honor the legacy of Halyna Hutchins.

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  • Why the Hollywood strike is already ‘a big deal’ for Canada’s film industry – National | Globalnews.ca

    Why the Hollywood strike is already ‘a big deal’ for Canada’s film industry – National | Globalnews.ca

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    The strain of Hollywood’s actors’ and writers’ strikes is being felt in productions all around the world, and film industry insiders say Canada is far from exempt.

    Due to long-established industry ties to American unions and networks, most film and television productions in Canada have come to a screeching halt. Alistair Hepburn, executive director of ACTRA Toronto, says productions began slowing down in spring when rumours of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike began.

    “Some shows that were scheduled to come (to Canada) never even started. With this now, adding our siblings at SAG-AFTRA to the picket lines, we will absolutely see an impact,” Hepburn said to Global News in an interview, referring to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

    “There won’t be new shows recorded over the summer in time for a fall premiere.”

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    Summer is typically the film industry’s most lucrative season across the board, he said, but this year will be “relatively slow.”

    A lot of Canadian productions work with American studios and SAG-AFTRA actors, but just under half of the work done in provinces like Ontario is domestic, which includes shows like Murdoch Mysteries and Run the Burbs.

    “It’s all of those shows that are filmed here using Canadian talent, Canadian writers, Canadian directors, Canadian crews to do the work. Those shows continue,” Hepburn explained.


    Click to play video: 'Impact of Hollywood strike on Canada’s film industry'


    Impact of Hollywood strike on Canada’s film industry


    SAG-AFTRA is also working on an agreement where independent Canadian producers – not affiliated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) – will be able to engage the services of a SAG member through a waiver system for the duration of the strike.

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    Independent Canadian producers will have access to actors who are dual card holders as well, meaning they have both a SAG-AFTRA and ACTRA membership.

    “We’ve been in constant contact with our colleagues at SAG-AFTRA and they are assuring us that they’re not looking to do harm to our industry,” Hepburn said.

    Hepburn says he doesn’t know how long the strikes will go on and doesn’t see a resolution coming soon.

    “This is going to have an impact for months, absolutely months on not just performance, but the entire industry as a whole.”

    Hepburn emphasized that it’s not just performers that will be affected by the production drought. Directors, technicians, caterers and Mom-and-Pop hardware stores will feel the strain too.

    “In Ontario, it’s 35,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the film industry. The trickle-down effect is real,” Hepburn said.

    Shane Boucher, who is the founder of an Ottawa-based studio called 1Development Entertainment Services, says this is the first July in the industry where he hasn’t worked.

    “It’s really an industry-wide shutdown. It’s a big deal,” Boucher said in an interview with Global News.

    1Development is a service company, meaning they service other parent companies or networks. Almost all of the TV movies the company works with are American.

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    Click to play video: 'Implications of Hollywood strikes on Canadian Film Industry'


    Implications of Hollywood strikes on Canadian Film Industry


    Boucher says business started as usual at the start of the year with approximately 16 productions lined up. When rumours of the WGA strike started, Boucher found himself scrambling to finish as many films as possible by June. Now, he doesn’t have any projects in production.

    Trending Now

    Many productions gained buzz when it was announced they were set to film in Canada this summer, including the first season of Cruel Intentions, filmed in Toronto.

    Stefan Steen, a producer on the show by Amazon, says production has stopped until the strike ends.

    “It’s completely devastating to the local film industry. Everyone currently filming U.S. productions has had to stop and all local crews are immediately out of work. Most get one week’s additional pay but that’s it,” Steen said in an email to Global News.

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    Click to play video: '‘We are the victims here’: SAG-AFTRA president says as Hollywood actors go on strike'


    ‘We are the victims here’: SAG-AFTRA president says as Hollywood actors go on strike


    Creative B.C., a program in British Columbia that supports the provinces’ creative sector, said in a statement on their website that they are “watching the situation closely” and “respect the process and all parties.”

    “In our role as the economic development organization for motion picture in B.C., together with our local industry partners, we are concerned for the workforce, companies, industry, and people,” the group said.

    “The industry is evolving rapidly, business models have changed, and addressing these changes is part of a necessary industry business cycle.”

    Hepburn says anyone who wants to support the strike can vote with their wallets.

    “It’s time to cancel your streaming account. That’s ultimately what is going to force the hand here. It’s going to be about financial hardships on the AMPTP companies,” he said.

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    “There needs to be action taken by the public.”

    Hepburn also says he hopes other countries will show solidarity in what performers are fighting for.

    “SAG’s fight is everybody’s fight,” he said. “It’s a righteous fight on behalf of performers worldwide.”

    &copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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    Naomi Barghiel

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  • Missouri Supreme Court weighs fate of amendment to restore abortion rights

    Missouri Supreme Court weighs fate of amendment to restore abortion rights

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    Whether Missouri voters get a chance to weigh in on legalizing abortion is now up to state Supreme Court judges

    BySUMMER BALLENTINE Associated Press

    FILE – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks to reporters after taking the oath of office in Jefferson City, Mo., Jan. 3, 2023. A constitutional amendment to restore abortion rights in Missouri will move forward after a judge on Tuesday, June 20, broke a standoff between Bailey and the Missouri’s state auditor that had halted the process. The auditor estimates that allowing abortions once again could cost local governments at least $51,000. Bailey says the measure would cost between $12 billion and $51 billion. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb, File)

    The Associated Press

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Whether Missouri voters get a chance weigh in on legalizing abortion is now up to state Supreme Court judges, who on Tuesday heard arguments in a case about Republican infighting that has stalled the amendment’s progress.

    Judges did not indicate when they might rule on the case, which centers around a proposed amendment to enshrine in the constitution the individual right to make decisions about abortion, childbirth and birth control. Abortion-rights supporters proposed it after the state banned almost all abortions last summer.

    The amendment hit a snag in April, when Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey refused to sign off on Republican Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s cost estimate.

    Without Bailey’s approval, abortion-rights supporters have not been able to start work getting the signatures needed to put the measure before voters in 2024.

    They sued, and a circuit court judge last month ordered Bailey to approve the cost estimate. He has not, instead appealing to the Supreme Court to validate him.

    ACLU attorney Tony Rothert on Tuesday asked judges to force Bailey to act so he no longer can singlehandedly “hold hostage and potentially even kill an initiative.”

    “The attorney general’s actions here are the most serious threat to direct democracy that has ever happened in Missouri,” Rothert said.

    Assistant Attorney General Jason Lewis told Supreme Court judges Tuesday that Fitzpatrick’s office used “nonsensical methodologies” to calculate the cost estimate of at least $51,000 annually in reduced local tax revenues.

    Lewis argued the price tag could be up to $12.5 billion each year because of reduced tax revenue from fewer births and the complete loss of federal Medicaid funding.

    “The auditor could have and should have done more,” Lewis said.

    Auditor’s Office attorney Robert Tillman said the Attorney General’s Office engaged in “legal gymnastics” to defend the stonewalling.

    “The attorney general would have you believe that facts and figures are argumentative and prejudicial,” Tillman said. “But numbers are numbers.”

    ___

    This story has been updated to correct the cost estimate cited by an assistant attorney general of an initiative petition on abortion rights. The attorney cited a $12.5 billion estimated cost for the amendment, not $51 billion. Attorney General Andrew Bailey proposed the $51 billion price tag in an April letter to the state auditor.

    For more AP coverage of the abortion issue: https://apnews.com/hub/abortion

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  • Microsoft and Activision extend deadline to close $69 billion deal under close regulatory scrutiny

    Microsoft and Activision extend deadline to close $69 billion deal under close regulatory scrutiny

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    The deadline for Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard has been extended as the companies seek to close a deal that has been challenged by regulators in the U.S., as well as by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority.

    Microsoft believes that pushing back the deadline to Oct. 18 will provide enough time to work through the remaining regulatory issues, said Brad Smith, the company’s president.

    “We are confident about our prospects for getting this deal across the finish line,” Smith said.

    The extension comes with a bigger termination fee, should the deal be called off, and a number of other new agreements.

    Tuesday marked an important deadline for the deal announced 18 months earlier. Both Microsoft and Activision had agreed that either party could walk away from the planned merger if it hadn’t closed by then, triggering Microsoft to potentially have to pay a $3 billion breakup fee unless both sides decided to renegotiate.

    That termination fee has been increased to $3.5 billion with the extension. If the deal does not close by Sept. 15, it will increase to $4.5 billion.

    “I am happy to share that based on our continued confidence in closing our deal, the Activision Blizzard and Microsoft boards have mutually agreed not to terminate the deal until after October 18,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a note to employees.

    He emphasized that it’s already been granted approval in 40 countries, which includes those in the European Union, and he was confident the U.K. concerns would be resolved.

    Microsoft spent this month working to resolve longstanding legal challenges from antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and U.K. who argued the merger would harm competition.

    The deal was effectively clear to go in the U.S. this week, especially after the Supreme Court decided against hearing a last-ditch effort to block the takeover from gamers who have described themselves as fans of popular Activision titles Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo.

    Justice Elena Kagan rejected the emergency appeal without comment on Tuesday. Kagan handles emergency matters from California and other western states.

    But the U.K. remained an obstacle, though one that’s likely to be surmounted.

    The Competition and Markets Authority initially rejected the deal, but later pushed back its final decision so it can consider Microsoft’s argument that new developments mean its acquisition can go through.

    A judge on Monday conditionally approved a joint request from Microsoft and the British regulator to delay upcoming proceedings, enabling both sides to further negotiate.

    Daniel Beard, an attorney representing Microsoft in the U.K. case, told the judge Monday he was grateful the process is moving quickly because “the U.K. is the only impediment to closing and speed is of the essence.”

    Among the additional information sought by the judge was Microsoft’s Sunday announcement of a deal addressing concerns from top rival Sony, maker of the PlayStation console that’s a competitor to Microsoft’s Xbox. Microsoft said it signed a deal with Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for at least 10 years.

    Such a deal would also appear to address at least one of the concerns about loss of competition brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which sued in December to stop the deal.

    The FTC hasn’t said if it will continue to fight the takeover after a federal judge and a federal appeals court both denied its attempt to stop the deal from closing. The FTC could still continue a case set for the agency’s in-house judge in August, but that wouldn’t preclude the two companies from completing the merger beforehand.

    Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, said in an email to employees: “While we can technically close in the United States due to recent legal developments, this extension gives us additional time to resolve the remaining regulatory concerns in the UK.”

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  • Women denied abortions in Texas ask court for clarity over state’s exceptions to ban

    Women denied abortions in Texas ask court for clarity over state’s exceptions to ban

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    Women who sued Texas after saying they were denied abortions despite serious risks to their health are asking a court to step in

    ByPAUL J. WEBER Associated Press

    AUSTIN, Texas — Women who sued Texas after saying they were denied abortions despite serious risks to their health are headed to court Wednesday as legal challenges to abortion bans across the U.S. continue a year after the fall of Roe v. Wade.

    The Texas case is believed to be the first brought by women who were denied abortions since the right to an abortion in the U.S. was overturned, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing them.

    The case before a Texas judge in Austin does not seek to reverse the state’s abortion ban, which is one of the strictest in the country. It instead asks the court for clarity on when exceptions are allowed in Texas, where the women say they were told they could not end their pregnancies even though their lives and health were in danger.

    One woman had to carry her baby, who was missing much of her skull, for months, knowing she’d bury her daughter soon after she was born. Others had to travel out of state to receive medical care for pregnancy-related complications after doctors recommended an abortion.

    Texas doctors who perform abortions risk life in prison and fines of up to $100,000, leaving many women with providers who are unwilling to even discuss terminating a pregnancy.

    “Even if they provide an abortion that they believe complies with the bans’ narrow exceptions, they still risk the laws being enforced against them,” the plaintiffs argued in court filings this month.

    The Texas Attorney General’s Office, which is defending the state’s ban, has argued that the women lack standing to sue and pushed back on accounts by doctors who said they were confused over the law’s wording.

    Sixteen states, including Texas, do not allow abortions when a fatal fetal anomaly is detected, while six do not allow exceptions for the mother’s health, according to an analysis by KFF, a health research organization.

    The lawsuit in Texas comes as abortion restrictions elsewhere in the U.S. continue to face challenges. On Monday, an Iowa judge temporarily blocked the state’s new ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, just days after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law.

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  • North Korea silent about its apparent detention of the US soldier who bolted across the border

    North Korea silent about its apparent detention of the US soldier who bolted across the border

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea was silent about the highly unusual entry of an American soldier across the Koreas’ heavily fortified border although it test-fired short-range missiles Wednesday in its latest weapons display.

    Nearly a day after the soldier bolted into North Korea during a tour in the border village of Panmunjom, there was no word on the fate of Private 2nd Class Travis King, the first known American detained in the North in nearly five years. The North’s missile launches Wednesday morning were seen as a protest of the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea the previous day and weren’t likely related to King’s border crossing.

    “It’s likely that North Korea will use the soldier for propaganda purposes in the short term and then as a bargaining chip in the mid-to-long term,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea.

    King, 23, was a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division who had served nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault. He was released on July 10 and was being sent home Monday to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he could have faced additional military discipline and discharge from the service.

    He was escorted as far as customs but left the airport before boarding his plane. It wasn’t clear how he spent the hours until joining the Panmunjom tour and running across the border Tuesday afternoon. The Army released his name and limited information after King’s family was notified. But a number of U.S. officials provided additional details on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

    King’s mother told ABC News she was shocked when she heard her son had crossed into North Korea.

    “I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Claudine Gates, of Racine, Wisconsin, said.

    Gates said the Army told her on Tuesday morning of his son’s entrance to North Korea. She said she last heard from her son “a few days ago,” when he told her he would return soon to Fort Bliss. She added she just wants “him to come home.”

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the U.S. government was working with North Korean counterparts to “resolve this incident.” The American-led U.N. Command said Tuesday the U.S. soldier was believed to be in North Korean custody.

    “We’re closely monitoring and investigating the situation,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Pentagon news conference, noting he was foremost concerned about the troop’s well-being. “This will develop in the next several days and hours, and we’ll keep you posted.”

    It wasn’t known whether and how the U.S. and North Korea, which have no diplomatic relations, would hold talks. In the past, Sweden, which has an embassy in Pyongyang, provided consular services for other Americans detained in North Korea. But its embassy’s Swedish diplomatic staff reportedly haven’t returned to North Korea since the country imposed a COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020 and ordered out all foreigners.

    Some observers say North Korea and the U.S. could still communicate via Panmunjom or the North Korean mission at the U.N. in New York.

    Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, though more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic difficulties since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

    Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, said North Korea is likely pleased to have “an opportunity to get the U.S. to lose its face” because King’s crossing happened on the same day a U.S. submarine arrived in South Korea. Tae, now a South Korean lawmaker, said North Korea won’t likely return King because he is a soldier from a nation technically at war with North Korea who voluntarily surrendered to the North.

    Panmunjom, located inside the 248-kilometer-long (154-mile) Demilitarized Zone, has been jointly overseen by the U.N. Command and North Korea since its creation at the close of the Korean War. Bloodshed has occasionally occurred there, but it has also been a venue for diplomacy and tourism.

    Known for its blue huts straddling concrete slabs that form the demarcation line, Panmunjom draws visitors from both sides who want to see the Cold War’s last frontier. No civilians live at Panmunjom. North and South Korean soldiers face off while tourists on both sides snap photographs.

    Tours to the southern side of the village reportedly drew around 100,000 visitors a year before the coronavirus pandemic, when South Korea restricted gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19. The tours resumed fully last year.

    A small number of U.S. soldiers who went to North Korea during the Cold War, including Charles Jenkins, who deserted his army post in South Korea in 1965 and fled across the DMZ. He appeared in North Korean propaganda films and married a Japanese nursing student who had been abducted from Japan by North Korean agents. He died in Japan in 2017.

    In recent years, some American civilians have been arrested in North Korea for alleged espionage, subversion and other anti-state acts, but were released after the U.S. sent high-profile missions to secure their freedom.

    In May 2018, North Korea released three American detainees who returned to the United States on a plane with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a short period of warm relations. Later in 2018, North Korea said it expelled American Bruce Byron Lowrance. Since his ouster, there have been no reports of other Americans detained in North Korea before Tuesday’s incident.

    Their freedoms were a striking contrast to the fate of Otto Warmbier, an American university student who died in 2017 days after he was released by North Korea in a coma after 17 months in captivity.

    The United States, South Korea and others have accused North Korea of using foreign detainees to wrest diplomatic concessions. Some foreigners have said after their release that their declarations of guilt were coerced while in North Korean custody.

    Sean Timmons, a managing partner at the Tully Rinckey law firm, which specializes in military legal cases, said if King is trying to present himself as a legitimate defector fleeing either political oppression or persecution, he would be dependent on North Korea’s leadership to decide if he can stay.

    He said it will likely be up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to decide King’s fate.

    “It’s going to be up to the whims of their leadership, what they want to do,” Timmons said.

    ___

    Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • ‘Oppenheimer’ stirs up conflicted history for Los Alamos and New Mexico downwinders

    ‘Oppenheimer’ stirs up conflicted history for Los Alamos and New Mexico downwinders

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    LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — The movie about a man who changed the course of the world’s history by shepherding the development of the first atomic bomb is expected to be a blockbuster, dramatic and full of suspense.

    On the sidelines will be a community downwind from the testing site in the southern New Mexico desert, the impacts of which the U.S. government never has fully acknowledged. The movie on the life of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the top-secret work of the Manhattan Project sheds no light on those residents’ pain.

    “They’ll never reflect on the fact that New Mexicans gave their lives. They did the dirtiest of jobs. They invaded our lives and our lands and then they left,” Tina Cordova, a cancer survivor and founder of a group of New Mexico downwinders, said of the scientists and military officials who established a secret city in Los Alamos during the 1940s and tested their work at the Trinity Site some 200 miles (322 kilometers) away.

    Cordova’s group, the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, has been working with the Union of Concerned Scientists and others for years to bring attention to what the Manhattan Project did to people in New Mexico.

    While film critics celebrate “Oppenheimer” and officials in Los Alamos prepare for the spotlight to be on their town, downwinders remain frustrated with the U.S. government — and now movie producers — for not recognizing their plight.

    Advocates held vigils Saturday on the 78th anniversary of the Trinity Test in New Mexico and in New York City, where director Christopher Nolan and others participated in a panel discussion following a special screening of the film.

    Nolan has called the Trinity Test an extraordinary moment in human history.

    “I wanted to take the audience into that room and be there for when that button is pushed and really fully bring the audience to this moment in time,” he said in a clip being used by Universal Studios to promote the film.

    The movie is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.” Nolan has said Oppenheimer’s story is both a dream and a nightmare.

    Lilly Adams, a senior outreach coordinator with the Union of Concerned Scientists, participated in the New York City vigil and said it was meant to show support for New Mexicans who have been affected.

    “The human cost of Oppenheimer’s Trinity Test, and all nuclear weapons activities, is a crucial part of the conversation around U.S. nuclear legacy,” she told The Associated Press in an email. “We have to reckon with this human cost to fully understand Oppenheimer’s legacy and the harm caused by nuclear weapons.”

    In developing and testing nuclear weapons, Adams said the U.S. government effectively “poisoned its own people, many of whom are still waiting for recognition and justice.”

    Adams and others have said they hope that those involved in making “Oppenheimer” help raise awareness about the downwinders, who have not been added to the list of those covered by the federal government’s compensation program for people exposed to radiation.

    Government officials chose the Trinity Test Site because it was remote, flat and had predictable winds. Due to the secret nature of the project, residents in surrounding areas were not warned.

    The Tularosa Basin was home to a rural population that lived off the land by raising livestock and tending to gardens and farms. They drew water from cisterns and holding ponds. They had no idea that the fine ash that settled on everything in the days following the explosion was from the world’s first atomic blast.

    The government initially tried to hide it, saying that an explosion at a munitions dump caused the rumble and bright light, which could be seen more than 160 miles (257 kilometers) away.

    It wasn’t until the U.S. dropped bombs on Japan weeks later that New Mexico residents realized what they had witnessed.

    According to the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, large amounts of radiation shot up into the atmosphere and fallout descended over an area about 250 miles (402 kilometers) long and 200 miles (322 kilometers) wide. Scientists tracked part of the fallout pattern as far as the Atlantic Ocean, but the greatest concentration settled about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the test site.

    For Cordova and younger generations who are dealing with cancer, the lack of acknowledgement by the government and those involved with the film is inexcusable.

    “We were left here to live with the consequences,” Cordova said. “And they’ll over-glorify the science and the scientists and make no mention of us. And you know what? Shame on them.”

    In Los Alamos, more than 200 miles (321 kilometers) north of the Tularosa Basin, reaction to the film has been much different. The legacy of Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project means Los Alamos is home to one of the nation’s premier national laboratories and has the highest percentage of people with doctorate degrees in the U.S.

    Oppenheimer Drive cuts through the heart of Los Alamos, Hoppenheimer IPA is on tap at a local brewery and the physicist is the focus of an exhibit at the science museum, where some of his handwritten notes and ID card are displayed.

    The city is hosting an Oppenheimer Festival that starts Thursday and runs through the end of July.

    About 200 extras used in the film were locals, many of them Los Alamos National Laboratory employees.

    During breaks, conversations among the extras centered on science and world problems, said Kelly Stewart, who works with Los Alamos County’s economic development division and was the film liaison when Nolan and his crew were on location at historic sites around town.

    There’s a pride that’s woven into the town’s DNA, Stewart said, and it revolves around the lab’s work to address national security and global concerns.

    The goal is to position Los Alamos as a place where people can begin to learn “the true stories” behind the events depicted in the film, Stewart said.

    The county’s “Project Oppenheimer” effort began in early 2023 and has included forums, documentaries, art installations and exhibits to educate visitors about the science happening at the lab as well as the social implications of the Manhattan Project.

    A special area will be set up during the festival where people can discuss the movie after seeing it.

    She believes efforts to help people understand the community’s history will continue.

    “There’s a huge interest here in our own community to keep revisiting that and discussing it,” she said.

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  • A key part of Biden’s strategy to control immigration at the US-Mexico border gets a court hearing

    A key part of Biden’s strategy to control immigration at the US-Mexico border gets a court hearing

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    A judge is set to hear arguments in a lawsuit opposing an asylum rule that’s a key part of the Biden administration’s immigration policy

    ByREBECCA SANTANA Associated Press

    FILE – Migrants wait to be processed after crossing the border, Jan. 6, 2023, near Yuma, Ariz. A judge will hear arguments Wednesday, July 19, in a lawsuit opposing an asylum rule that has become a key part of the Biden administration’s immigration policy. Critics say the rule endangers migrants trying to cross the southern border and is against the law, while the administration argues that it encourages migrants to use lawful pathways into the country and prevents chaos at the border. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

    The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — A judge will hear arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit opposing an asylum rule that is a key part of the Biden administration’s immigration policy. Critics say the rule endangers migrants trying to cross the southern border and is against the law, while the administration argues that it encourages migrants to use lawful pathways into the U.S. and prevents chaos at the southern border.

    The new rule took effect May 11 with the expiration of a COVID-19 restriction known as Title 42 that had limited asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The new rule makes it extremely difficult for migrants who come directly to the southern border to get asylum unless they use a government app to get an appointment or they’ve already tried to seek protection in another country before coming to the U.S. It includes room for exceptions and would not apply to children traveling alone.

    The lawsuit threatens to undermine a key tool that President Joe Biden’s administration has relied on to manage immigration as congressional Republicans attack the administration for what they say is a failure to control the roughly 2,000-mile (3,220-kilometer) border with Mexico. Republicans see immigration as a key issue in next year’s presidential election.

    A group of immigrant rights organizations that sued argues the new rule violates immigration law that allows people to seek asylum wherever they arrive on the border. The groups argue that it forces migrants to seek protection in countries that don’t have the same robust asylum system and human rights protections as the United States and leaves them in a dangerous limbo.

    “The rule is already inflicting untold suffering on thousands of asylum seekers, who are either being deported to persecution or stranded in Mexican states where migrants face horrific and pervasive violence,” the groups argue in court filings.

    They also argue that the CBP One app that the government wants migrants to use to set up appointments is faulty. It doesn’t have enough appointments and isn’t available in enough languages, they argue.

    Also, opponents say the Biden rule is essentially a rehash of efforts by President Donald Trump to limit immigration at the southern border. A federal appeals court prevented those similar but stricter measures from taking effect.

    The Biden administration has argued that the asylum rule is not a rehash of Trump’s efforts but part of an overall strategy that provides a way into the U.S. for those who follow legal pathways and consequences for those who don’t. They also argue that the new asylum rule was needed because it took effect when immigration numbers at the southern border were expected to skyrocket when Title 42’s use went away. And, they say, the strategy is working. The number of border crossings peaked ahead of the end of Title 42 and then fell.

    As for legal pathways, the government points to a program it created in January that allows 30,000 people a month to enter the country from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela if they have a sponsor and fly into an airport. Advocates for immigrants note that program covers only four countries.

    Separately, Republican-aligned states are suing over that January program. A trial is slated for late August.

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  • After nearly 30 years, there’s movement in the case of Tupac Shakur’s killing. Here’s what we know

    After nearly 30 years, there’s movement in the case of Tupac Shakur’s killing. Here’s what we know

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    LOS ANGELES — An investigation into Tupac Shakur’s unsolved killing has been revived. It took nearly three decades, but a new twist came when authorities in Nevada served a search warrant this week in connection with the rap star’s shooting death, they confirmed Tuesday.

    Here’s what to know about one of the most infamous fatal shootings in hip-hop history:

    WHAT’S NEW IN THE INVESTIGATION?

    Las Vegas police served a search warrant in connection to the killing of Shakur, who was gunned down Sept. 7, 1996.

    The warrant was executed Monday in the nearby city of Henderson. It’s unclear what they were looking for or where they searched.

    Citing the ongoing investigation, a police spokesperson said he couldn’t provide further details on the latest development in the case, including whether a suspect has been identified.

    WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT SHAKUR DIED?

    The 25-year-old rapper was traveling in a black BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight in a convoy of about 10 cars, apparently headed to a nightclub, after watching Mike Tyson knock out Bruce Seldon in a championship fight at the MGM Grand. Police said no one else was in the car with them.

    A white Cadillac with four men inside pulled alongside the BMW while it was stopped at a red light at an intersection near the Las Vegas Strip, and one person opened fire, riddling the passenger side of Knight’s car with bullets, police said. Sitting in the passenger seat, Shakur was shot four times, at least twice in the chest. Knight was grazed by a bullet fragment or shrapnel from the car.

    Shakur was rushed to a hospital, where he died six days later.

    WHAT IS THE RAPPER’S LEGACY?

    Shakur is one of the most prolific figures in hip-hop, also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli. His professional music career only lasted five years, but he sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including the diamond-certified album “All Eyez on Me,” which was packed with hits including “California Love (Remix),” “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” and “How Do U Want It.”

    Shakur has had five No. 1 albums including “Me Against the World” in 1995 and “All Eyez on Me” in 1996, along with three posthumous releases: 1996’s “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory,” 2001’s “Until the End of Time” and 2004’s “Loyal to the Game.”

    The six-time Grammy-nominated artist was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Snoop Dogg in 2017.

    As a rising actor, Shakur starred in several popular films such as John Singleton’s “Poetic Justice” with Janet Jackson and Ernest Dickerson’s “Juice.” He also played major roles in “Gang Related” and “Above the Rim.”

    In April, a five-part FX docuseries called “ Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur” delved into the past of the rapper’s mother, Afeni Shakur, as a female leader in the Black Panther Party, while exploring Tupac’s journey as a political visionary and becoming one of the greatest rap artists of all time.

    Last month, Shakur received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

    “He defied the distinction between art and activism,” said radio personality Big Boy, who emceed the ceremony.

    Shakur has been remembered with museum exhibits, including “Tupac Shakur. Wake Me When I’m Free” in 2021 and “All Eyez on Me” at the Grammy Museum in 2015. He’ll soon have a stretch of an Oakland street renamed after him.

    WHAT ABOUT HIS BIGGEST RIVARLY?

    Shakur’s death came amid his feud with rap rival the Notorious B.I.G., who was fatally shot six months later. At the time, both rappers were in the middle of the infamous East Coast-West Coast rivalry, which primarily defined the hip-hop scene during the mid-1990s.

    The feud was ignited after Shakur was seriously wounded in another shooting during a robbery in the lobby of a midtown Manhattan hotel in 1994. He was shot several times and lost $40,000.

    Shakur openly accused B.I.G. and Sean “Diddy” Combs of having prior knowledge of the shooting, which both vehemently denied. The shooting sparked enough of a feud that created a serious divide within the hip-hop community and fans.

    The New York-born Shakur represented the West Coast after he signed with the Los Angeles-based Death Row Records. He often traded verbal jabs with New York-natives B.I.G. and Combs, who hailed from the East Coast while representing New York City-based Bad Boy Records.

    Diss tracks were seemingly delivered to drive home their ferocious points across. Shakur released the aggressive single “Hit ’Em Up,” which took aim at B.I.G., who on the other hand returned with “Who Shot Ya?,” a record that was received as a taunt. However, B.I.G. claimed the song was not directed toward Shakur.

    MORE ON SHAKUR’S LIFE AND CAREER

    Shakur was born June 16, 1971, in New York City. He later moved to Baltimore and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he began writing raps. He eventually made his way to Marin City, California, near San Francisco, and continued to write and record.

    As a member of the Grammy-nominated group Digital Underground, Shakur appeared on the 1991 track “Same Song″ from ”This Is an EP Release″ and on the album “Sons of the P.″

    That same year, Shakur achieved individual recognition with the album “2Pacalypse Now,″ which spawned the successful singles “Trapped” and “Brenda’s Got a Baby.”

    The album, with references to police officers being killed, drew notoriety when a lawyer claimed a man accused of killing a Texas trooper had been riled up by the record. Then-Vice President Dan Quayle targeted “2Pacalypse Now″ in his 1992 battle with Hollywood over traditional values.

    In 1993, Shakur followed up with the sophomore album, which produced songs ”I Get Around,” “Keep Ya Head Up″ and “Papa’z Song,″ and he was nominated for an American Music Award as best new rap hip-hop artist.

    The next year he appeared with hip-hop group Thug Life on the “Above The Rim″ soundtrack and on the group’s album “Volume 1.″ In a photo on the album liner, he framed his face between his two extended middle fingers.

    Over the years, Shakur had some brushes with the law. He served several months in a New York prison for sex abuse.

    While in prison, Shakur indicated he was rethinking his lifestyle. He had support from Black leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who counseled him while he was locked up.

    “Thug Life to me is dead. If it’s real, let somebody else represent it, because I’m tired of it,″ Shakur told Vibe magazine. ”I represented it too much. I was Thug Life.″

    Shakur was up-front about his troubled life in the 1995 release “Me Against The World,″ a multimillion-selling album that contained the ominously titled tracks ”If I Die 2Nite″ and “Death Around The Corner.″

    “It ain’t easy being me. … Will I see the penitentiary, or will I stay free?″ Shakur rapped on the album, which produced the Grammy-nominated “Dear Mama″ and standout singles “So Many Tears″ and ”Temptations.″

    The Las Vegas shooting occurred as Shakur’s fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,″ remained on the charts, with some 5 million copies sold.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Travis Loller reported from Nashville.

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