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Speaker McCarthy faces an almost impossible task trying to unite House GOP and fund the government

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

By LISA MASCARO and STEPHEN GROVES (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing fresh challenges to his leadership, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is trying to accomplish what at times seems impossible — working furiously to convince House Republicans to come together and pass a conservative bill to keep the federal government open.It’s a nearly futile exercise that could help McCarthy keep his job, but has little chance of actually preventing a federal shutdown. Whatever Republicans come up with in the House is nearly certain to be rejected by the Senate, where Democrats and most Republicans together want to fund the government.With time dwindling, plans for a Tuesday test vote in the House were scrapped as negotiations resumed. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to pass legislation and get a bill to President Joe Biden’s desk to become law. Otherwise, the U.S. faces massive federal government closures and disruptions.“The ball’s in Kevin’s court,...

Officer’s bail revoked in shooting death of driver after prosecutors lodge constitutional challenge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia police officer charged in the shooting death of a driver last month is back in custody following the revocation of his bail after prosecutors challenged the constitutionality of his release.Officer Mark Dial was taken into custody in the courtroom Tuesday following the ruling. He had surrendered Sept. 8 and posted 10 percent of $500,000 bail. But prosecutors said the Pennsylvania Constitution typically prohibits bail for offenses carrying a life term or if there is evidence the defendant poses a threat to the community.Dial is charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, official oppression and four other counts. The 27-year-old officer has served on the force for five years and was suspended with intent to dismiss after officials said he refused to cooperate in the investigation. Defense attorneys contend that the shooting was justified, saying Dial thought 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry had a gun.Authorities have said Dial shot Irizarry after officer...

TikTok is launching new tool that will help creators label AI content on the app

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

In its bid to curb misinformation, TikTok said on Tuesday it will begin launching a new tool that will help creators label AI-generated content they produce. TikTok said in a news release that the tool will help creators easily comply with the company’s existing AI policy, which requires all manipulated content that shows realistic scenes to be labeled in a way that indicates they’re fake or altered. TikTok prohibits deepfakes – videos and images that have been digitally created or altered with artificial intelligence – that misled users about real-world events. It doesn’t allow deepfakes of private figures and young people, but is OK with altered images of public figures in certain contexts, including for artistic and educational purposes. Additionally, the company said on Tuesday it will begin testing an “AI-generated” label this week that will eventually apply to content it detects to been edited or created by AI. It will also rename effects on the app that have AI to...

Video shows high school band director arrested, shocked with stun gun after he refused to stop music

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Police on Monday released body camera video of an Alabama high school band director being arrested and shocked with a stun gun after he refused to stop his band from playing after the conclusion of a football game.The Birmingham Police Department on Monday released body camera video of the arrest that drew national attention. The altercation occurred at the end of the Thursday football game between Minor High School and Jackson-Olin High School.The video shows officers approach Minor band director Johnny Mims as the band plays in the stands after the game. Officers ask him several times to stop the band and clear the stadium. Mims continues to direct the band and replies to the officer, “get out of my face.” He tells the officers, “We’re fixing to go. This is their last song.” As the band plays on, an officer tells the band director he will go to jail and another says she will contact the school. The band director next gives a thumbs up and ...

Census Bureau wants to test asking about sexual orientation and gender identity on biggest survey

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

The U.S. Census Bureau asked the Biden administration Tuesday for permission to test questions about sexual orientation and gender identity for people age 15 and above on its most comprehensive annual survey of life in the country.The statistical agency wants to test the wording, response categories and placement of gender identity and sexual orientation questions on the questionnaires for the American Community Survey, which collects data from 3.5 million households each year. The ACS covers a wide range of topics, from family life, income, education levels and employment to commuting times, internet access, disabilities and military service.Federal agencies are interested in the data for civil rights and equal employment enforcement, the Census Bureau said in a Federal Register notice.Because of the American Community Survey’s size, asking those questions will give researchers a chance to look at differences among LGBTQ+ people, whether some face bigger challenges than other...

Israeli military raid kills 2 in West Bank. Officials say 3rd man killed by Israeli fire in Gaza

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops raided the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday, killing two people and wounding some 30 others, according to Palestinian health officials. A third Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire in separate unrest in the Gaza Strip, officials said.The bloodshed in Jenin was the latest in a deadly wave of fighting in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has stepped up its activities over the past year and a half in what it says is an effort to crack down on Palestinian militants. Tensions now appear to be spreading to Gaza.The Israeli army gave few details about the operation in the camp — a stronghold of Palestinian militants where the army often carries out deadly raids. In July, Israel launched its most intense operation in the West Bank in nearly two decades, leaving widespread destruction in the camp.The army said it carried out a rare strike with a suicide drone during the operation, but gave no further information. Palestinian ...

A teen girl found an iPhone in an airplane bathroom. Her family says it was put there to record her

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The family of a 14-year-old girl who allegedly discovered an iPhone taped to the back of a toilet seat on a recent flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston said they believe it was put there to record her by a member of the crew.During the Sept. 2 American Airlines flight 1441, the girl was told by a male member of the crew to use the first-class bathroom. The crew member entered just before the 14-year-old, told her the seat was broken but not to worry about it and then re-entered the bathroom after she left, her family said in a written statement.After using the toilet, the girl realized that a largely obscured iPhone had been affixed to the back of the toilet seat, apparently to record her. She took a picture of this with her own phone before leaving the bathroom.“These events have left our daughter — and entire family — shocked and profoundly disturbed,” the family wrote in a statement.Paul Llewellyn, a lawyer representing the family, said they have not yet...

Book Review: ‘Astor’ is a primer on the rise and fall one of America’s richest families

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s hard to escape the name Astor when you are in New York: from Astor Place downtown to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and even the neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, the family’s legacy is everywhere.In “Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune,” CNN journalist Anderson Cooper and his co-writer Katherine Howe trace the famous family’s legacy from its beginning, when John Jacob Astor immigrated from Germany and established himself in the beaver fur trade, a bloody and highly competitive business. He invested his fortune in buying up land in the rapidly developing island of Manhattan and became one of the richest men in the U.S.Cooper and Howe wrote the book as a follow-up to “Vanderbilt,” a chronicle of Cooper’s own famous family that came out in 2021. “Astor” sketches how subsequent generations either built on or frittered away the family’s initial fortune. It ends with the elder abuse case of Brooke Astor in the 2000s. At times, the narrative drifts away fr...

Several security forces killed in an ambush by gunmen in Nigeria’s southeast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen opened fire and killed several members of a patrol of security forces in Nigeria’s southeastern region Tuesday, police said, in the latest in a spate of violent attacks that typically are blamed on separatist militants.A team of various Nigerian security agencies were patrolling a remote community in Imo state’s Ehime Mbano district when they were ambushed by the gunmen, police said.Authorities said they were still investigating the attack and that they could not immediately confirm the number of dead, but Lagos-based newspapers reported eight of the security personnel were killed, citing local sources. Videos that appeared to have been shot at the scene showed bodies of the security forces lying beside burning vehicles.The police in Imo said security forces have been deployed to restore calm to an area that has become concerned over the trend of such attacks in areas with inadequate security presence. “The commissioner of police has ordered an inv...

What is the Sikh separatist movement at centre of the Canada-India dispute?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

The shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., in June has touched off a foreign affairs crisis between Canada and India over the Sikh leader’s role in the Khalistan separatism movement. Here is what you need to know about the movement.What is Khalistan? Khalistan is the term used for the quest of an independent Sikh homeland centred around the Indian state of Punjab where Sikhs make up a majority of the population. The group comprises about 1.7 per cent of India’s overall population.How long has the Khalistan movement been around? The idea for a separate Sikh state has been around for at least 300 years, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. The idea featured prominently during the talks before the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.Where is the movement now? A report by the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society at the University of Waterloo says the movement in Punjab peaked in the 1980s and early 1990s with a number of ...