AP

AP Photo/Amr Nabil

CAIRO (AP) — Seven years ago, Cairo’s Tahrir Square was filled with tens of thousands of Egyptians demanding change. Now it is plastered with portraits of the president, vowing continuity.

Almost all traces of the popular revolt that overthrew longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 are now gone. Instead there are banners and posters – dozens of them – showing a beaming Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the general-turned-president who’s running for re-election this week in a vote widely dismissed as a farce.

“What happened in Tahrir was the biggest threat to the network of corruption and theft throughout Egypt’s modern history,” said Wael Eskandar, a blogger and activist who took part in the protests that brought down Mubarak. “Tahrir symbolizes that threat and is a reminder that people can awaken and ask for their rights. That’s why el-Sissi and his regime insist on appropriating it to erase a nation’s memory.”

The election, which begins Monday with voting staggered over three days, nearly ended up as a one-man referendum, after all serious challengers were arrested or pressured into withdrawing. The only other candidate to make the ballot, Moussa Mustafa Moussa, is a little-known politician who supports el-Sissi and has made almost no effort to campaign against him.

Banners extolling el-Sissi, often bearing the names of local businessmen or organizations advertising their support, have proliferated across Egypt, prompting mockery from some critics. But it is in Tahrir Square, where mass protests raised hopes of democratic change in the Arab world’s most populous country, that the effect is most jarring.

In February 2011, protesters who had clashed with police and camped out in the square for 18 days erupted into cheers as the end of Mubarak’s 29-year-rule was announced on a giant screen. Now, a massive LCD monitor plays pro-Sissi videos on a perpetual loop.

“Everyone loves him,” said Hossam, as he left a store plastered with pro-el-Sissi posters. “Times are tight but we’re betting on him. He saved the country,” he said. He asked that his full name not be used, fearing reprisals for talking to foreign journalists, who are regularly vilified by Egypt’s pro-government media.

The 2011 uprising ushered in a period of instability, as Egypt’s military, the Muslim Brotherhood group and other Islamists, and a loose coalition of liberal parties vied for power. Egypt’s first freely elected president, the Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi, proved divisive, and in the summer of 2013 tens of thousands of people returned to Tahrir Square, demanding his resignation.

The military, under the leadership of el-Sissi, removed Morsi from power and launched a massive crackdown on the Brotherhood, which won a series of elections held after the 2011 uprising but is now outlawed as a terrorist group. Authorities have jailed thousands of Islamists as well as several well-known secular activists, including many who played a leading role in the 2011 uprising. The media is dominated by pro-government commentators, and hundreds of websites have been blocked.

El-Sissi has said such measures are necessary to restore stability and revive the economy in a country of 100 million, one that is grappling with widespread poverty and confronting an Islamic State-led insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula.

He has also enacted a series of long-overdue economic measures, such as cutting subsidies and floating the local currency, and has championed mega-projects aimed at improving infrastructure and providing jobs. The economy is showing signs of improvement, but the austerity measures have made it even harder for Egyptians to make ends meet in a country where more than a fourth of the population lives below the poverty line.

With heavy restrictions on public opinion polling and an absence of critical voices in the media, it’s impossible to know whether el-Sissi is as popular as the posters suggest. The best indication may come from turnout, which the government hopes will bolster the election’s legitimacy.

Mohammed, a deliveryman who asked that his full name not be published for fear of reprisal, didn’t know the name of the candidate running against el-Sissi and doesn’t plan on voting.

“Normal people don’t want (el-Sissi) to win. They would vote for any alternative, but there is no one,” he said. “People with money, of course, want him to stay. He defends their interests. That’s why they’re putting up all these posters.”

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Portraits of Egypt's leader fill iconic Cairo Square
Portraits of Egypt's leader fill iconic Cairo Square
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on protests over the killing of an unarmed black man (all times local):

1 a.m.

Police have handcuffed shut a downtown Sacramento hotel door to stop protesters from entering as they march against the recent killing of an unarmed black man.

Capital Public Radio reports protesters had a brief confrontation with police outside the hotel. The scuffle came during the fourth hour of a protest that began at City Hall and continued through downtown streets blocking traffic.

The protest has largely remained peaceful, with leaders of Black Lives Matter Sacramento helping diffuse tensions. Protesters and the police had a brief standoff near a ramp onto the interstate before protesters went a different direction.

They’re calling for justice for 22-year-old Stephon Clark who was shot March 18 by police who were responding to a call of someone breaking car windows. An autopsy commissioned by Clark’s family and released Friday shows police shot him in the back.

—

12 a.m.

Calls for justice and charges against two police officers who fatally shot an unarmed black man aren’t abating in California’s capital city after an autopsy showed Stephon Clark was shot in the back.

The findings by pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu counter the department’s narrative that Clark was approaching the officers when he was killed.

Several hundred protesters marched through downtown streets Friday for the fourth evening in a row after a community meeting at a South Sacramento church with several Sacramento Kings players.

Another rally is planned for Saturday afternoon, hours before a Sacramento Kings-Golden State Warriors game will bring thousands of fans to the downtown arena that protesters have twice blocked.

Clark was killed March 18.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

The Latest: Police chain downtown hotel door during protest
The Latest: Police chain downtown hotel door during protest
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump instructed the U.S. trade representative to consider slapping an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods on Thursday in a dramatic escalation of the trade dispute between the two countries.

Trump’s surprise move came a day after Beijing announced plans to tax $50 billion in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to a U.S. move this week to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports.

And it intensified what was already shaping up to be the biggest trade battle since World War II. Global financial markets had fallen sharply as the world’s two biggest economies squared off over Beijing’s aggressive trade tactics. But they had calmed down Wednesday and Thursday on hopes the U.S. and China would find a diplomatic solution.

Instead, the White House announced after the markets closed Thursday that Trump had instructed the Office of the United States Trade Representative to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to. He’s also instructed his secretary of agriculture “to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests.”

“China’s illicit trade practices – ignored for years by Washington – have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs,” Trump said in a statement announcing the decision.

The latest escalation comes after the U.S. on Tuesday said it would impose 25 percent duties on $50 billion of imports from China, and China quickly retaliated by listing $50 billion of products that it could hit with its own 25 percent tariffs. The Chinese list Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, and aircraft up to 45 tons (41 metric tons) in weight. Also on the list were American beef, whiskey, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals.

Earlier in the week, Beijing announced separate import duties on $3 billion of U.S. goods in response to the Trump administration’s duties on all steel and aluminum imports, including from China.

U.S. officials have sought to downplay the threat of a broader trade dispute, saying a negotiated outcome is still possible. But economists warn that the tit-for-tat moves bear the hallmarks of a classic trade rift that could escalate. And already, tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have rattled global stock markets.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called China’s moved “unjustified” and said Trump’s proposal was an “appropriate response to China’s recent threat of new tariffs.”

“Such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farmers, and businesses,” he said in a statement. “Under these circumstances, the President is right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the unfair acts, policies, and practices identified in USTR’s report.”

The clash reflects the tension between Trump’s promises to narrow a U.S. trade deficit with China that stood at $375.2 billion in goods last year and China’s ruling Communist Party’s development ambitions. Trump says China’s trade practices have caused American factories to close and lead to the loss of American jobs.

Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said earlier Thursday in an interview with Fox Business Network that negotiations were ongoing. But, he said, “at the end of the day, China’s unfair and illegal trading actions are damaging to economic growth, for the U.S., for China and for the rest of the world.”

He also called Trump “the first guy with a backbone in decades … to actually go after it. Not just whisper it, but to go after it with at least preliminary actions.”

But Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, a frequent Trump critic, called the escalation “the dumbest possible way” to punish China.

“Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he’s even half-serious, this is nuts,” Sasse said in a statement. “Let’s absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us.”

Any additional tariffs would be subject to a public comment process and would not go into effect until that process is complete.

—

Associated Press writers Paul Wiseman and Josh Boak contributed to this report.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Trump proposes 0 billion in new tariffs on Chinese goods
Trump proposes 0 billion in new tariffs on Chinese goods
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Residents in the Northeast dug out from as much as 2 feet of wet, heavy snow Thursday, while utilities dealt with downed trees and electric lines that snarled traffic and left hundreds of thousands without power after two strong nor’easters in less than a week – all with possibility of another storm in the wings.

With many schools closed for a second consecutive day Thursday, forecasters tracked the possibility of yet another late-season snowstorm to run up the coast early next week.

“The strength of it and how close it comes to the coast will make all the difference. At this point it’s too early to say,” said Jim Nodchey, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “We’re just looking at a chance.”

Snow was still falling Thursday in southern Maine, where the storm was expected to move on by midday.

More than 800,000 customers were without power in the Northeast, including some who have been without electricity since last Friday’s destructive nor’easter. Thousands of flights across the region were canceled, and traveling on the ground was treacherous.

There were multiple storm-related delays on Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s commuter rail, light rail and bus lines, and authorities were investigating after a train with more than 100 passengers on board derailed in Wilmington, Massachusetts. Nobody was hurt. The low-speed derailment was under investigation to determine if it was weather related.

In New Hampshire, Interstate 95 in Portsmouth was closed in both directions because of downed power lines.

Amtrak suspended service between New York City and Boston until at least 11 a.m. Thursday. New York City’s Metro-North commuter railroad, which had suspended service on lines connecting the city to its northern suburbs and Connecticut because of downed trees, restored partial service Thursday.

Members of the Northeastern University women’s basketball team pushed their bus back on course Thursday after it was stuck in the snow outside a practice facility in Philadelphia. The Huskies were in the city to compete in the 2018 CAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The team posted a video of the feat on its Twitter account.

Steve Marchillo, a finance director at the University of Connecticut’s Hartford branch, said he enjoyed the sight of heavily snow-laden trees on his way into work Thursday but they also made him nervous.

“It looks cool as long as they don’t fall down on you and you don’t lose power,” he said.

Montville, New Jersey, got more than 26 inches from Wednesday’s nor’easter. North Adams, Massachusetts, registered 24 inches, and Sloatsburg, New York, got 26 inches.

Major cities along the Interstate 95 corridor saw much less. Philadelphia International Airport recorded about 6 inches, while New York City’s Central Park saw less than 3 inches.

The storm was not as severe as the nor’easter that toppled trees, flooded coastal communities and caused more than 2 million power outages from Virginia to Maine last Friday.

It still proved to be a headache for the tens of thousands of customers still in the dark from the earlier storm – and for the crews trying to restore power to them.

Massachusetts was hardest hit by outages, with more than 345,000 without service Thursday and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker closing all non-essential state offices. Republican Maine Gov. Paul LePage also closed state offices and encouraged residents to stay off roads “unless it is an absolute emergency.”

In New Jersey, the state’s major utilities reported more than 247,000 customers without power a day after the storm.

In North White Plains, New York, 10 people were taken to hospitals with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator inside a home, police said. All were expected to survive.

In Manchester Township, New Jersey, police said a teacher was struck by lightning while holding an umbrella on bus duty outside a school. The woman felt a tingling sensation but didn’t lose consciousness. She was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

—

This story has been corrected to show that New Jersey has more than 247,000 power outages, not 247,000,000.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Northeast tries to dig out, power up after latest storm
Northeast tries to dig out, power up after latest storm
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/J. David Ake

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will herald a robust economy and push for bipartisan congressional action on immigration in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, as he seeks to rally a deeply divided nation and boost his own sagging standing with Americans.

The speech marks the ceremonial kickoff of Trump’s second year in office and is traditionally a president’s biggest platform to speak to the nation. However, Trump has redefined presidential communications with his high-octane, filter-free Twitter account and there’s no guarantee that the carefully crafted speech will resonate beyond his next tweet.

Trump was quiet Tuesday on Twitter, and the White House sought to focus attention on his big speech to Congress and millions of Americans watching at home.

While stocks have been falling this week, the economy has been strong and White House officials are hopeful the president can use the prime-time address to take credit. Though the trajectory of lower unemployment and higher growth began under his predecessor, Trump argues that the tax overhaul he signed into law late last year has boosted business confidence and will lead companies to reinvest in the United States.

Considering the strength of the economy, Trump will step before lawmakers Tuesday night in a remarkably weak position. His approval rating has hovered in the 30s for much of his presidency and at the close of 2017, just 3 in 10 Americans said the United States was heading in the right direction, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In the same survey, 67 percent of Americans said the country was more divided because of Trump.

It’s unlikely Trump will be able to rely on a robust legislative agenda to reverse those numbers in 2018. Congress has struggled with the basic function of funding the government, prompting a brief government shutdown earlier this month that was resolved only with a short-term fix that pushed the spending deadline to Feb. 8.

Against the backdrop of the spending fight, Republicans and Democrats are also wrestling with the future of some 700,000 young immigrants living in the United States illegally. Trump has vowed to protect the so-called Dreamers from deportation, but is also calling for changes to legal immigration that are controversial with both parties.

“We’re going to get something done, we hope bipartisan,” Trump told reporters Monday, before giving his speech a practice run-through in the White House map room. “The Republicans really don’t have the votes to get it done in any other way. So it has to be bipartisan.”

Though Democrats are eager to reach a resolution for the young immigrants, the party is hardly in the mood to compromise with Trump ahead of the midterm elections. Lawmakers see Trump’s unpopularity as a key to their success in November, and are eager to mobilize Democratic voters itching to deliver the president and his party a defeat at the ballot box.

Trump also is expected to use the speech to talk about the fate of the controversial U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the speech and spoke on condition of anonymity. Trump, who vowed during his campaign to load Guantanamo up with “bad dudes,” has long been expected to rescind President Barack Obama’s 2009 order to close the prison and issue his own stating his administration’s policy to keep it open.

Seeking to set the tone for their election-year strategy, party leaders have tapped Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, to deliver a post-speech rebuttal aimed at casting Democrats, not Trump, as champions of the middle class.

Democrats are also looking to make their mark in other ways. A handful of lawmakers are planning to boycott the president’s remarks. And several Democratic women plan to wear black to protest sexual harassment, an issue that has tarnished several lawmakers in both parties. Trump himself has been accused of assault or harassment by more than a dozen women, accusations he has denied. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that the president’s lawyer arranged a payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, to prevent her from talking about her alleged encounter with the future president.

First lady Melania Trump, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight following those allegations, will attend Tuesday’s address, according to the White House. She’ll be joined in the audience by several guests whose stories amplify the president’s agenda, including an Ohio welder who the White House says will benefit from the new tax law and the parents of two Long Island teenagers who were believed to have been killed by MS-13 gang members.

—

AP Writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

—

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Trump puts Twitter aside as he prepares for big speech
Trump puts Twitter aside as he prepares for big speech
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Craig Ruttle

NEW YORK (AP) — In Palm Beach, Florida, home to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, several hundred people gathered carrying anti-Trump signs as they prepared to march as part of Saturday’s planned protests.

Across the globe, people hit the streets on the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, marching against his policies and in support of the #MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment.

In Palm Beach, a group of women wearing red cloaks and white hats like the characters in the book and TV show “The Handmaid’s Tale” marched in formation, their heads bowed.

Elsewhere around the U.S., people congregated in Chicago; Houston; Richmond, Virginia; and Rhode Island. In Los Angeles, organizers predicted thousands of people, including state officials and celebrities, would march to City Hall.

A protest in New York was among more than 200 such actions planned for the weekend around the world. By mid-morning, people gathered in Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver and Raleigh, North Carolina. In Philadelphia, many marchers wore pink cat-ear hats as a show of solidarity, while others carried signs stating opposition to Trump and his policies.

In Chicago, thousands of people gathered in Grant Park. Fawzia Mirza drew cheers from the crowd as she kicked off the event with a reference to the partial government shutdown, which began hours earlier.

“When the government shuts down, women still march,” she said.

She said the event was about channeling women’s energy and “putting that power in the polls.”

Earlier Saturday, dozens of activists gathered in Rome to denounce violence against women and express support for the #MeToo movement. They were joined by Italian actress and director Asia Argento, who made headlines after alleging in 2017 she had been sexually assaulted by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in the 1990s.

The 2017 rally in Washington, D.C., and hundreds of similar marches created solidarity for those denouncing Trump’s views on abortion, immigration, LGBT rights and more. Millions of people around the world marched during last year’s rallies, and many on Saturday thought about all that’s happened in the past year.

“I’d be lying if I said that I’m not dispirited and discouraged over having to march yet again to register our opposition to this disastrous first year of the Trump presidency,” said Peggy Taylor, a New York tour guide.

She said that last year she felt “a kind of euphoria” walking through the city with hundreds of thousands of participants.

This year, “the hard reality of what lies ahead of us has sunk in,” she said. “I know that we have a long slog ahead of us to undo the damage that this man has inflicted.”

The Republican president on Friday delivered new support to the anti-abortion movement he once opposed, speaking by video to thousands of activists at the annual March for Life.

In New York, scheduled speakers included Ashley Bennett, a Democrat who was elected Atlantic County, New Jersey, freeholder last November. Bennett defeated Republican incumbent John Carman, who had mocked the 2017 women’s march in Washington with a Facebook post asking whether the women would be home in time to cook dinner.

Among the goals of this year’s march are getting more Democrats to run for public office and bolstering voter registration.

In Rome, Argento addressed the criticism she received once she spoke up about her abuse.

“Women are scared to speak and because I was vilified by everything I said, I was called a prostitute for being raped,” she said at the rally. “I wonder how women who received such violence would find the courage to come out as I did, when they saw what happened to me, so I am here to assess the necessity of women to speak out and change things.”

Argento, who’s 42, was strongly criticized by many Italian media and Italian women for not speaking out earlier and was hounded on Twitter with accusations that she sought trouble.

Weinstein has apologized for causing “a lot of pain” with “the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past,” but he has denied “any allegations of non-consensual sex.”

Last year’s march in Washington sparked debate over inclusion, with some transgender minority women complaining that the event seemed designed for white women born female. Some anti-abortion activists said the event did not welcome them.

The organizers for the Sunday rally are striving for greater inclusion this year, with Latina and transgender female speakers, said Carmen Perez, another co-chair of the 2017 Washington march. Women in the U.S. illegally, sex workers and those formerly incarcerated are welcome, she said.

Linda Sarsour, one of the four organizers of last year’s Washington march, said Las Vegas was slotted for a major rally because it’s a strategic swing state that gave Democrat Hillary Clinton a narrow win in the presidential election and will have one of the most competitive Senate races in 2018.

The rallies also laid the groundwork for the recent movement that brought a reckoning for powerful men accused of sexual misconduct, Sarsour said.

“I think when women see visible women’s leadership, bold and fierce, going up against a very racist, sexist, misogynist administration, it gives you a different level of courage that you may not have felt you had,” she said.

—

Lush reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.

—

This story has been corrected to show the surname is Mirza, not Miza.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Protesters gather near Trump's Florida home, bow their heads
Protesters gather near Trump's Florida home, bow their heads
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The evidence against the Florida school shooting suspect is so overwhelming, the only question left for the courts if he is convicted is whether he will be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.

The fate of 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who faces 17 counts of first-degree murder in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, will depend on his mental state and the wishes of the victims’ families, which have a say in how the prosecution proceeds.

Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, whose office is representing Cruz, said there were so many warning signs that Cruz was mentally unstable and potentially violent that the death penalty might be going too far. Finkelstein said Cruz would likely plead guilty if prosecutors opt not to seek the death penalty.

“Because that’s what this case is about. Not, did he do it? Not, should he go free? Should he live or should he die,” Finkelstein said. “He will never see the light of day again, nor should he. But I know personally I am very upset and angry that we all failed to spot a problem and do anything as a result.”

Michael J. Satz, the state attorney for Broward County, said Saturday in an email that, “This certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for.” He called the slayings “absolutely horrific and tragic.” However, he also said his office is working with law enforcement and will announce later what penalty it plans to seek.

The prosecution will likely take years. The sheriff’s office said Cruz confessed, and they have his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, ammunition clips and video from the school. The FBI also said Friday it had gotten a call from someone close to Cruz who expressed concern that he had “a desire to kill people” and “the potential” to conduct a school shooting.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement that the information was not properly investigated and promised to get to the bottom of it.

A major issue for the courts will be Cruz’s mental state. Officials have said he underwent unspecified treatment at a mental facility but quit after his mother died in November. His father had died some years earlier. Without any living parents, he was taken in by a local family.

Cruz’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill, told reporters after Cruz’s initial court appearance that he had become unmoored from society and had no support network to lean on.

“When your brain is not fully developed, you don’t know how to deal with these things,” she said. “When you have the lack of impulse control that a 19-year-old has, that affects the behavior you exhibit.”

McNeill also said of Cruz: “He’s sad, he’s mournful, he’s remorseful. He’s just a broken human being.”

An initial decision will be whether Cruz is mentally competent to understand legal proceedings and assist in his own defense. Experts say it’s a relatively high bar to clear to be declared incompetent and McNeill said Cruz is “fully aware of what is going on.”

Cruz could try to plead innocent by reason of insanity, which also rarely works. James Holmes, the shooter who killed 12 people and wounded 70 in a Colorado movie theater in 2012, was convicted despite pleading insanity and was sentenced to life behind bars.

David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said the penalty phase of Cruz’s case is likely to be where his background, family situation, mental condition and life history will play the biggest part. Even if he pleads guilty and prosecutors refuse to waive the death penalty, a jury must decide by a 12-0 vote that Cruz deserves to be executed.

The victims’ families also have a legal right to participate in discussions over whether to seek the death penalty.

“I think among them there are many people who aren’t going to want to go through this,” Weinstein said. “That would save a lot of time and a lot of anguish for people. Some will say, ‘we don’t care, we want him put to death. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ They will want retribution.”

—

Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt

—

Follow the AP’s complete coverage of the Florida school shooting here: https://apnews.com/tag/Floridaschoolshooting

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Life or death main decision for school shooting suspect
Life or death main decision for school shooting suspect
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Co. following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

In court papers filed in Manhattan on Sunday, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (SHNEYE’-dur-muhn) says the Weinstein Co. “repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination.”

Schneiderman says any sale of the company “must ensure that victims will be compensated” and that employees will be protected.

Schneiderman launched a civil rights probe into the New York City-based company in October after The New York Times and The New Yorker exposed allegations of sexual assault and harassment spanning decades. The company later fired Weinstein.

Telephone and email messages seeking comment from Weinstein were not immediately returned.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

New York attorney general files lawsuit against Weinstein
New York attorney general files lawsuit against Weinstein
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/John Antczak

WASHINGTON (AP) — Opposition to the Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore drilling is mounting as Democrats from coastal states accuse President Donald Trump of punishing states with Democratic leaders and a second Republican governor asks to withdraw his state from the plan.

Democrats said Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke were being hypocritical by agreeing to a request by Florida’s Republican governor to withdraw from the drilling plan, but not making the same accommodation to states with Democratic governors.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California said on Twitter that his state, “like Florida, has hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline and a governor who wants to keep it that way. Or is that not enough for blue states?”

“If local voices matter why haven’t they excluded Virginia?” asked Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “Is it because the governor of Florida is a Republican and the Virginia governor is a Democrat?”

The complaints came as South Carolina’s Republican governor said Wednesday he is seeking an exemption from the proposed drilling expansion, a move that will test the relationship between Trump and one of his earliest supporters.

Gov. Henry McMaster told reporters that risks associated with drilling pose a serious threat to South Carolina’s lush coastline and $20 billion tourism industry.

“We cannot afford to take a chance with the beauty, the majesty and the economic value and vitality of our wonderful coastline in South Carolina,” McMaster said.

Opposition to drilling is bipartisan within South Carolina’s congressional delegation: All three House members who represent the state’s 190 miles of coastline told The Associated Press they are against the expansion plan. Two of the three are Republicans, including Rep. Mark Sanford, a former governor who said Zinke had set a precedent by honoring Florida’s request for an exemption.

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” Sanford said, adding that Republicans should respect local wishes.

In Virginia, GOP Rep. Scott Taylor joined Kaine and Gov.-elect Ralph Northam in opposing the drilling plan. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called Trump’s plan “a complete non-starter.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said on Twitter that “the only science @SecretaryZinke follows is political science. He’ll reverse course to protect fellow Republicans in Florida, but not to protect coastlines and jobs across the rest of the country? Totally unacceptable.”

Heather Swift, a spokeswoman for Zinke, accused Kaine and other Democrats of taking cheap shots at her boss.

“The secretary has said since day one that he is interested in the local voice. If those governors would like to request meetings with the secretary, they are absolutely welcome to do so,” she said. “Their criticism is empty pandering.”

As of Wednesday, only McMaster and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina had requested a meeting with Zinke on offshore drilling, Swift said.

In Oregon, Democratic Gov. Kate Brown took to Twitter to ask Zinke for relief. Linking to Zinke tweet about Florida, Brown wrote: “Hey @secretaryzinke, how about doing the same for #Oregon?”

Zinke said after a brief meeting with Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., at the Tallahassee airport Tuesday that drilling in Florida waters would be “off the table,” despite a plan that proposed drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean off Florida.

The change of course – just five days after Zinke announced the offshore drilling plan – highlights the political importance of Florida, where Trump narrowly won the state’s 29 electoral votes in the 2016 election and has encouraged Scott to run for Senate.

The state is also important economically, with a multibillion-dollar tourism business built on sunshine and miles of white sandy beaches.

And Florida is where Trump has a winter home in Palm Beach. Trump spent his Christmas and New Year’s break at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Former White House ethics chief Walter Shaub said Zinke’s decision to exempt Florida from the drilling plan appears to be a conflict of interest for Trump.

Trump is “exempting the state that is home to the festering cankerous conflict of interest that the administration likes to call the ‘Winter White House’ and none of the other affected states,” Shaub tweeted.

Zinke said Tuesday that “Florida is obviously unique” and that the decision to remove the state came after meetings and discussion with Scott, a Trump ally and a likely candidate for the Senate seat now held by Democrat Bill Nelson.

Nelson called Scott’s meeting with Zinke “a political stunt” and said Scott has long wanted to drill off Florida’s coast, despite his recent opposition.

Scott’s office said he repeatedly voiced his opposition to drilling to Zinke, including at an October meeting in Washington.

“Senator Nelson and anyone else who opposes oil drilling off Florida’s coast should be happy the governor was able to secure this commitment. This isn’t about politics. This is good policy for Florida,” said John Tupps, a Scott spokesman.

Zinke announced plans last week to greatly expand offshore oil drilling from the Atlantic to the Arctic and Pacific oceans, including multiple areas where drilling is now blocked. The plan was immediately met with bipartisan opposition on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Democratic governors along both coasts unanimously oppose drilling, as do a number of Republican governors, including McMaster, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker.

The five-year plan announced by Zinke would open 90 percent of the nation’s offshore reserves to development by private companies.

Industry groups praised the announcement, while environmental groups denounced the plan, saying it would impose “severe and unacceptable harm” to America’s oceans, coastal economies, public health and marine life.

—

Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., Ben Finley in Norfolk, Va., and Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Fla., contributed to this report.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Another GOP governor seeks exclusion from drilling proposal
Another GOP governor seeks exclusion from drilling proposal
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The Latest on the border talks between North and South Korea (all times local):

1:40 p.m.

South Korea says North Korea has agreed to send a delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics in the South.

South Korea’s Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung says the North made such a statement during rare talks between the rivals at the border on Tuesday.

He cited the North Korean officials there as saying its delegation would include officials, athletes, cheerleaders and journalists.

Chun says South Korea proposed the two Koreas conduct a joint march during the Game’s opening and closing ceremonies.

He says South Korea also proposed resuming temporary reunions of families separated by war and offering talks designed to reduce animosities in frontline areas.

—

1:20 p.m.

North Korea has slammed President Donald Trump’s claim that it was his strong position toward Pyongyang that set the stage for the first high-level North-South talks in more than two years.

The North’s ruling party newspaper criticized Trump’s claims that enforcement of sanctions and increased pressure on the North were a “diplomatic success” of his first year in office, calling that a “ridiculous sophism” in a commentary published as the two sides started their talks on Tuesday.

“It is very deplorable to see the U.S. politicians boasting of their diplomatic failure as ‘diplomatic success,'” it said.

Senior officials from the North and South are meeting in the border village of Panmunjom to discuss a proposal by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to send a delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and other bilateral issues.

—

11:15 a.m.

A State Department adviser says the U.S. views Tuesday’s talks between North and South Korea as a good start but it’s too early to know if they’ll be meaningful beyond the Olympics preparations.

Brian Hook, a chief adviser to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, told reporters in a conference call that sanctions on Pyongyang would continue until the U.S. reached its goal of “the complete verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Hook said President Donald Trump credits the pressure campaign with convincing the North to agree to renewed dialogue with the South.

Senior officials from the two Koreas held the rivals’ first formal talks in about two years in the border village of Panmunjom. The talks were arranged after North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un recently made an abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea.

—

10:15 a.m.

South Korean media say North and South Korea have begun talks at their border about how to cooperate in next month’s Winter Olympics and how to improve their long-strained ties.

Yonhap news agency reported that the first talks between the rivals in about two years began as scheduled Tuesday morning at the border village of Panmunjom. YTN television network carried a similar report.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been making an apparent push for improved ties with the South after a year of elevated tension over his country’s nuclear and missile tests. Critics, though, say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington to weaken international pressure and sanctions over the tests.

Kim Jong Un had said in his New Year’s Day address that he was willing to send a delegation to the Olympics being held next month in Pyeongyang, South Korea. South Korean President Moon Jae-in welcomed Kim’s overture and proposed the talks.

—

7:50 a.m.

Senior South Korean officials are heading to the Demilitarized Zone for rare talks with their North Korean counterparts.

The officials departed Seoul early Tuesday morning for the border.

The agenda includes cooperation at next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea and improving long-strained ties.

The rival Koreas’ first formal meeting in about two years comes after months of tension over North Korea’s expanding nuclear and missile programs.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in his New Year’s Day address that he was willing to send a delegation to the Olympics. South Korean President Moon Jae-in welcomed Kim’s overture and proposed holding talks.

Critics say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

The Latest: Seoul: North Korea to send Olympic delegation
The Latest: Seoul: North Korea to send Olympic delegation
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES