The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)2025-01-14T14:31:55Z LOS ANGELES (AP) As uncontrolled blazes have turned large swaths of Los Angeles into hellscapes the last week, Associated Press photographers have been on the frontlines. They have captured burning so intense that it lights the night sky, people so shocked they have a hard time putting sentences together and destruction so complete that what stands out is the little that survived. Balancing the need for safety with the risks of getting close to wildfires, these photojournalists have also had to manage their emotions. Seeing unimaginable destruction and suffering is hard. And for some, Los Angeles is home. Here 12 photographers, each selecting a picture they made the last week, share a little about it. __ The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More I chose this picture because it speaks to the enormity of the Los Angeles fires. I made the photo as winds showered embers down the streets, the fire rapidly burning down through Palisades, destroying block after block. Having covered dozens of wildfires, some the largest in Californias history, I immediately knew the scale of destruction was unlike anything Id seen before. Ethan Swope Firefighters work from a deck as the Palisades Fire burns a beachfront property Jan. 8, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent) Firefighters work from a deck as the Palisades Fire burns a beachfront property Jan. 8, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Working alongside firefighters means your priority is to make sure you are not compromising their work and safety while reporting on their actions and trying to capture the essence of the moment. Taking this picture meant working close to them while on a cramped wooden deck while strong gusts of winds were blowing ashes, embers and other debris in our faces, which was a delicate task. Etienne Laurent A person walks amid the destruction left behind by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) A person walks amid the destruction left behind by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More One of the biggest challenges in taking this photo was ensuring my safety in such a hazardous environment. The air was thick with smoke, making it hard to breathe. Emotionally, it was difficult to document such a tragic scene, knowing that many people had lost their homes and possessions. Documenting the aftermath while respecting the emotions of survivors is always a challenge. Jae C. Hong Robert Lara looks through his home that was destroyed after the Eaton Fire burns in Altadena, Calif., Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Nic Coury) Robert Lara looks through his home that was destroyed after the Eaton Fire burns in Altadena, Calif., Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Nic Coury) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Its emotionally hard asking people often on the worst day of their lives when they have nothing left to take the time away from their grief and talk to someone they just met who wants to invade their space. It takes empathy, good ethics and professionalism to approach this work and in those moments, the work is never about you as a photojournalist. You cant approach what youre documenting with any ego or anything. Nic Coury Ari Rivera, rear, Anderson Hao hold each other in front of their destroyed home in Altadena, Calif., Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher) Ari Rivera, rear, Anderson Hao hold each other in front of their destroyed home in Altadena, Calif., Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More When you hear that thousands of homes have been destroyed, a picture like this reminds you that each of those homes represent the memories collected by the people who live there. For some it stretches back generations. For others Like Ari Rivera and Anderson Hao, it may not be as long but its just as meaningful. It was the first place theyve lived together. John Locher Caution tape cordons off townhomes and trees burned by the Eaton Fire on Jan. 13, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Caution tape cordons off townhomes and trees burned by the Eaton Fire on Jan. 13, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More I chose this picture because of the trees. The dramatic light illuminated the yellow caution tape that cordoned off townhomes and trees that had been burned by the Eaton Fire. It was a crime scene. Scorched trees are everywhere. Im going to keep photographing the trees. They are part of us. Carolyn Kaster A VW van sits among burned out homes, Jan. 9, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) A VW van sits among burned out homes, Jan. 9, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More While there were lots of images that illustrated the enormity of the disaster better than this, it was the splash of color among the charcoal grey remnants of peoples homes that immediately stood out to me and makes it unique from the thousands of other photographs that I took on that helicopter flight. From the comments that I am getting from people on social media, it seems to speak to people in a way that I didnt really expect. The van. So California. Wow, said one person. Beautiful desolation, said another. Mark J. Terrill Water is dropped by helicopter on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer) Water is dropped by helicopter on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More This picture was made on the fifth day of the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, where homes were still threatened. At that point most of the devastation had already occurred, but firefighters were still working on active parts of the fire. The effort of the firefighters, even as they were completely overwhelmed, cannot be emphasized enough. They worked in a calm and methodical way, even as chaos played out all around them. Eric Thayer A firefighter walks past a charred bunny sculpture and debris at the destroyed Bunny Museum, Jan. 9, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) A firefighter walks past a charred bunny sculpture and debris at the destroyed Bunny Museum, Jan. 9, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More The Bunny Museum is among the most unique museums Ive ever seen over 46,000 pieces of bunny memorabilia, so its a truly irreplaceable part of Altadena. My family and I had visited it just a month or so before. Chris Pizzello A statue and other structures are burned in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) A statue and other structures are burned in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More The statue makes me think of the tragedy of Pompeii. The volcanic eruption turned humans into preserved stone statues. The Southern California fires have turned us headless and homeless. We lay down with our arms crossed motionless in the face of an environmental catastrophe. Damian Dovarganes A car drives past homes and vehicles destroyed by the Palisades Fire at the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates on Jan. 12, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) A car drives past homes and vehicles destroyed by the Palisades Fire at the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates on Jan. 12, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More One of the biggest challenges of documenting a wildfire with widespread destruction is conveying the scale. Ground level views often cannot show the striking devastation. I took this shot from a bluff overlooking the Pacific Coast Highway. The contrast between the pristine red car driving through the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates also drives home the intensity of this fire. A week ago, this view wouldve shown a vibrant, colorful community now left in rubble. Noah Berger A surfer takes off on a wave in Santa Monica, Calif., during sunset under a blackened sky from the Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) A surfer takes off on a wave in Santa Monica, Calif., during sunset under a blackened sky from the Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More It had been a little tricky to get to the beach with traffic being so frantic and people evacuating. I was struck by how casual the surfer was under this smoke-filled blood red sky filled with smoke. It was very apocalyptic. Richard Vogel ______The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A New Orleans police officer leans against a patrol car, Sept. 11, 2005. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, file)2025-01-14T15:46:36Z NEW ORLEANS (AP) The New Orleans Police Department can begin winding down its longstanding federal oversight, a judge ruled Tuesday in response to a request from the city and the Justice Department to start wrapping up the monitoring program.U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan said the police department has transformed itself into a more transparent and accountable agency, even though more work remains to be done over the next two years.The court is tremendously proud of the achievements the NOPD has made, Morgan said during a hearing. The hard work of the civilian and sworn members of the NOPD paid off. The NOPD is a far different agency from the one that spawned the DOJ investigation in 2011.In 2013, the City of New Orleans agreed to what it called the nations most expansive federal oversight plan after a U.S. Justice Department investigation found evidence of racial bias, misconduct and a culture of impunity. The department had long engaged in mistreatment of the citys Black community and been plagued by high-profile scandals including a 1994 murder ordered by a corrupt cop and an attempt to cover-up police killings of unarmed civilians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Although critics say the police department hasnt done enough to change the department and restore the publics trust, Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told Morgan during a Monday hearing that the NOPD has established a new culture. In the years since oversight started, the department has created a framework of audits and data analysis, increased transparency by revising and publishing online training materials and policies, and enhanced efforts to cut down on longtime issues such as payroll fraud, police officials said. This is the way we do business nowadays, Deputy Superintendent Nicholas Gernon told the judge Monday.Morgan praised the department for its transformation but reminded the city that more work remains. One thing you want is to put these procedures in place in a way that you dont slip, you dont backslide. Thats why all the safeguards you put in place matter, Morgan said Monday. And thats why its important, I think, to have the involvement of the monitors and the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the court, until everyones sure all the policies are in place and that theyll survive changes in leadership and changes in officers. During a public comment period, advocacy groups and watchdogs raised a host of concerns that police officials say they are trying to address. An initiative to establish community advisory boards to meet with and provide recommendations to the police has by almost all accounts languished, though the city appointed a full-time staffer in December to try and revive these groups in the coming months. Detectives still struggle to handle high sex crime caseloads, leading to far fewer getting solved than the national average. In the past three weeks, NOPD officials say they assigned eight more detectives to work on these cases, bringing the total number of officers from 17 to 25. And in a city thats just over 50% Black, nearly 90% of police uses of force targeted Black people last year, the citys Office of the Independent Police Monitor reported. A court-appointed federal monitors reviewed the NOPDs use of force and concluded there was no evidence of bias based on Justice Department analysis. The NOPD also plans to hire Sigma Squared, a bias consulting firm co-founded by Harvard University economist Roland Fryer, to improve its analysis of potential bias in its policing. Fryer did not respond to a request for comment.Its a demonstration that were going above and beyond minimum requirements, Gernon told the judge Monday.But Antonia Mar, an organizer with the advocacy group New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, said she felt as if federal and NOPD officials had largely shrugged their shoulders at community input following hundreds of pages of public comments mostly critical of the NOPD and testimony submitted to the court in the past several months. Mar and other police reform advocates said they felt as if the NOPD was rushing to make long overdue changes at the last minute. The city also revived an old motion Friday evening, requesting Morgan terminate federal oversight immediately. Instead, Morgan said she was sticking to the joint motion filed in September by the city and Justice Department that requested she grant a two-year sustainment period to allow time for the NOPD to fix outstanding problems and demonstrate that existing reforms remained in place. More improvements are needed before the city can fully exit federal oversight, Jonas Geissler, a Justice Department attorney, told Morgan on Monday. The Justice Department will continue to review audits, policies and data throughout the sustainment period, he said. The object here is not perfection, the object here is constitutional policing with a durable remedy, Geissler said. Let us not make perfection be the enemy of good and let us not settle for less than good. ___Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on X: @jack_brook96 JACK BROOK Brook covers Louisiana government, infrastructure and environmental issues from New Orleans. He is a Report for America corps member. twitter mailto

Former first lady Michelle Obama speaks at a campaign rally for democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the Wings Event Center, in Kalamazoo, Mich., Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)2025-01-14T15:00:03Z WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) Former first lady Michelle Obama will skip the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, the second time in two weeks that she is not attending a gathering of former U.S. leaders and their spouses, but former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will be there.Laura Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will join their husbands for the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol, representatives said.Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration, said a statement from the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama that was shared with The Associated Press.No explanation was given for why Michelle Obama was skipping Trumps inauguration. She also did not attend last weeks state funeral in Washington for former President Jimmy Carter. Former presidents Trump, Obama, Bush and Clinton and their spouses attended except for her. Bill Clinton will attend the swearing-in ceremony, a person familiar with the former presidents schedule confirmed for the AP. Hillary Clinton will also attend, a spokesperson said. The Office of George W. Bush said he and former first lady Laura Bush are attending. Michelle Obama was the only spouse absent from the service last week at Washington National Cathedral, where her husband and Trump were seated next to each other and chatted and laughed like old friends despite the history of political animosity between the Democratic former president and the returning Republican. All three former presidents and their wives attended Trumps first inauguration in 2017, including Hillary Clinton, after she lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump. Carter also attended. DARLENE SUPERVILLE Superville covers the White House for The Associated Press, with a special emphasis on first ladies and first families.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken departs from Ciampino's G.B. Pastelle Airport near Rome, Italy on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Yara Nardi/Pool Photo via AP)2025-01-14T14:10:56Z WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a last-minute case Tuesday for a plan for the post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears tantalizingly close to completion.Blinken touted the proposal, which has been in the works for a year, and discussed the importance of ensuring its success after the Biden administration leaves office in a speech to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.We have a responsibility to ensure that the strategic gains of the last 15 months endure and lay the foundation for a better future, Blinken said. All too often, the Middle East, weve seen how the shoes of one dictator can be filled by another, or give way to conflict and chaos.Blinken said the plan, which he has outlined repeatedly in the past, envisions the Palestinian Authority inviting international partners to stand up an interim governing authority to run critical services and oversee the territory. At the same time, other partners, notably Arab states would provide forces for an interim security mission, he said. The Gaza plan was just one part of the speech, which also covered other areas of the administrations Middle East policy, including Iran and potential normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Blinken and his top aides have spent months trying to sell Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Gulf Arab nations on the plan, which outlines how Gaza would be run without Hamas in charge, details reconstruction priorities and provides for security in the territory that has been devastated by the war that began in October 2023 after Hamas attacks inside Israel. Those efforts initially met with resistance from all fronts, with Israel objecting to calls for its complete withdrawal from Gaza and the Palestinian Authority taking a lead role in governance as well as Arab nations insisting that a ceasefire had to be sealed before any discussion of a day after plan. A sticking point also has been Arab countries demand for a pathway to a Palestinian state, which Israel has refused. But during multiple trips to the region since last January, Blinken managed to get the Gulf Arab states, many of which would be asked to pay for reconstruction, on board with preparing the proposal. The plan calls for reform of the Palestinian Authority and for Arab countries to help train PA security forces in Gaza.The urgency of keeping the Gaza plan alive even without a ceasefire became more intense after the November election of President-elect Donald Trump. U.S. officials have brought Trump aides into the discussions over the past month to get their buy-in on the plan, which will require significant American involvement during Trumps presidency.One fear was that the plan might be abandoned by Trumps team in a similar fashion to the way former President George W. Bushs administration tossed aside a U.S.-backed proposal for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq that was crafted while Bill Clinton was in the White House.That detailed, multi-volume plan designed to prevent Iraq from falling into chaos in the event of Saddams ouster was the result of the Future of Iraq project that was started after Congress called for regime change in Iraq while Clinton was in office. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

People wait for a moving van after boxes were moved out of the Eisenhower Executive Office building inside the White House complex, Jan. 14, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)2025-01-14T15:49:33Z WASHINGTON (AP) The last time Joe Biden packed up and left office, he took with him thousands of papers from his decades in public service including some classified documents that should have gone to the National Archives for safekeeping.That move spawned a federal investigation into whether Biden had knowingly broken the law and a damaging Justice Department report that referred to Biden as an elderly man with a poor memory, igniting public concerns over his mental acuity that eventually led Biden to drop out of the race.The discovery also watered down the significance of the criminal case against President-elect Donald Trump, who had been accused of purposefully hoarding top secret documents at his Florida estate and it helped fuel Trumps claims of unfair political persecution. The moving trucks are at the White House again, and Bidens staff is loading documents and items for storage as he prepares to depart next week. The administration has promised a new, more secure protocol to review and separate out classified information. But with just a week left to go, theres no word yet on recommendations from a federal task force formed at Bidens behest to develop best practices for transitions. We are going to do our best, certainly, to be careful, to follow the rules, to do this the right way, to follow traditions, obviously, as the president truly wants to do, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the packing effort. When a president packs up and leaves the White House Biden formed the presidential records task force early in 2024, in order to study past transitions to determine best practices for safeguarding classified information from an outgoing administration. It was also assessing the need for changes to existing policies and procedures to prevent the removal of sensitive information that by law should be kept with the National Archives and Records Administration.White House officials said the work continues and were still expecting to provide recommendations in advance of the next presidential transition.Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginias Miller Center, said it would be better to err on the side of caution and keep more documents in safe storage. And although the U.S. government should probably revisit how and why documents are classified, she said, until the nation figures that out, the documents need to be turned over to the National Archives and we need the best, easiest mechanism to do it.The most important thing is to make sure that state secrets remain secret, she said. Generally speaking, when a president leaves the White House, he has to sort through all the stuff hes accumulated. Thats what Biden is doing now as he prepares to leave office. He is allowed to take personal items, like diaries and family photos. But most of the papers and memos and especially classified documents are sent to the National Archives under the Presidential Records Act. The 1978 law requires the preservation of presidential documents as property of the U.S. government. It was passed in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, when a collection of secret tapes that President Richard Nixon had considered destroying played a defining role. But the policies meant to control the handling of the nations secrets are haphazardly enforced among top officials and rely almost wholly on good faith. Classified documents have been turning up in the garages and storage units and offices of government officials off and on for decades, from presidents and vice presidents to Cabinet members and staff across multiple administrations stretching as far back as Jimmy Carter. When former officials discover they are in possession of such materials, they typically turn them over to authorities and thats the end of the matter. But Trump refused to give back boxes of classified material he took after he left office in 2021, prompting an unprecedented FBI seizure of thousands of pages of records. Classified documents found at Mar-a-LagoTrump was indicted on dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally retaining sensitive documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructing efforts to get them back. The Justice Department dismissed the case after Trump was elected, citing a long-standing policy prohibiting prosecutions against sitting presidents.Trump had documents stored in various places around the private club where guests came and went, including a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom and a storage room. The documents included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries, United States nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack, and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack, according to the indictment against him. When Biden left the vice presidency in early 2017, he put items in his garage and at a think tank he planned to lead. In his telling, Biden was surprised to learn he had classified documents in his possession, wasnt sure what they were and turned them over right away. They found some documents in a box you know, a locked cabinet, or at least a closet, Biden said in early 2023 in his first comments about the discovery. And as soon as they did, they realized there were several classified documents in that box. And they did what they should have done: They immediately called the Archives immediately called the Archives, turned them over to the Archives.The investigation into Biden and classified documents Biden said he never intended to retain the documents, which were first discovered in November 2022 by a personal attorney at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. He reported the discovery, and subsequent searches of his home turned up more material, including hand-written notes. When Justice Department officials sought to investigate, Biden and his attorneys cooperated; the president sat for an interview with special counsel Robert Hur, tasked by Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into the matter. The special counsels final report listed dozens of sensitive documents found at Bidens home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at his former Washington office. The papers were marked as classified or later assessed to contain classified information.The majority of the documents, Hurs report stated, appeared to have been mistakenly removed from government offices, though he also detailed some items that Biden appeared to knowingly retain. Hur concluded that criminal charges were not warranted.The special counsel acknowledged I cooperated completely. I did not throw up any roadblocks. I sought no delays, Biden said after report was released.Legally, the report was a win for Biden, clearing away any criminality. But politically, the discussion about his mental acuity the report raised led to concerns about his ability to seek reelection, concerns that only grew louder and more persistent after his disastrous debate performance against Trump. Biden bowed out of the race, giving Vice President Kamala Harris only a few months to pull together a campaign that normally would be years in the making. It ended with Trump winning the 2024 election and about take over the White House once again. ___AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report. COLLEEN LONG Long covers the White House for The Associated Press, with a focus on domestic policy including immigration, law enforcement and legal affairs.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense secretary, appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-01-14T17:30:04Z WASHINGTON (AP) Pete Hegseth faces an important test on Tuesday but he wont just have to prove himself to the senators who immediately began sparring over his nomination as Defense Secretary. His confirmation hearings are also an opportunity for Hegseth to make his case to the sizable share of Americans who dont know him or dont approve of President-elect Donald Trumps decision to tap him for this key role in his administration.A new poll finds only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Hegseth being nominated as the Secretary of Defense, a position that would put the 44-year-old Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News Channel weekend host in charge of overseeing U.S. troops. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted before Hegseths confirmation hearings began, finds that roughly one-third of U.S. adults disapprove of Trumps choice, and about 1 in 10 say they neither approve nor disapprove. About one-third of Americans say they dont know enough about Hegseth to have an opinion. Hegseths experience in the Army National Guard is seen by the incoming administration and supporters in Congress as an asset for the job, but he also brings a jarring record of past statements and actions, including allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking and derisive views about women in military combat roles, minorities and woke generals. He has vowed not to drink alcohol if he is confirmed to lead the Pentagon. He is among the most endangered of Trumps cabinet picks, but GOP allies are determined to turn him into a cause clbre for Trumps governing approach amid the nations culture wars. Republican men are more likely to have an opinion of Hegseth and approve of his nominationMore Republicans approve than disapprove of Trump nominating Hegseth -- about 4 in 10 approve, and only about 1 in 10 disapprove. But many Republicans, about one-third, still dont have an opinion of him yet. About half of GOP men approve of Hegseth for Defense Secretary, compared to about one-third of Republican women. Republican women are less likely to express a view on his nomination either way. About half of Republican women do not have an opinion of him.Hegseth faced some criticism for saying he opposes putting women in combat roles. He has walked those comments back since his nomination, saying if we have the right standard and women meet that standard, roger. Lets go. Two former female combat veterans, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, are among those who will question him.Older Republicans are also more likely to approve of Hegseths nomination. About half of Republicans over 45 approve, compared to about 3 in 10 Republicans under 45. The younger Republicans are also less likely to have formed an opinion of him.Only one-quarter see a lack of government experience as a plusHegseth acknowledged during his Tuesday hearing that he does not have the traditional background of past Defense secretaries, promising to be a change agent for the branch. The poll finds, though, that a lack of government experience isnt a positive for many Americans. About half of Americans say its a very or somewhat bad thing for the president to rely on people without any background in government for advice about government policy, and only about one-quarter say its a very or somewhat good thing. About one-quarter are neutral, calling it neither good nor bad. Republicans, however, are more likely than Democrats and independents to say its good for the president to rely on people without government experience for input on policy. About 4 in 10 Republicans say this is a good thing, compared to about 2 in 10 independents and roughly 1 in 10 Democrats.-Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Tara Copp and Matt Brown contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.-The AP-NORC poll of 1,147 adults was conducted Jan. 9-13, using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. LINLEY SANDERS Sanders is a polls and surveys reporter for The Associated Press. She develops and writes about polls conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, and works on AP VoteCast. twitter

FILE This image taken from video from Louisiana state trooper Lt. John Clary's body-worn camera shows trooper Kory York standing over Ronald Greene on his stomach on May 10, 2019, outside of Monroe, La. Text messages obtained by The Associated Press show Louisiana's governor was informed within hours of the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene.(Louisiana State Police via AP, File)2025-01-14T17:06:34Z Federal prosecutors told family members Tuesday they will not bring charges in the deadly 2019 arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene, closing the books on a lengthy FBI investigation into the white troopers who stunned, punched and dragged Greene on a roadside and allegations of an attempted cover-up by the Louisiana State Police. The U.S. Justice Department informed Greenes family of the decision as officials were also preparing to release findings from a broader civil rights investigation that found a pattern of state troopers using excessive force, according to two officials familiar with the inquiry. The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they could not publicly discuss details ahead of an announcement expected later in the week.That pattern-or-practice inquiry, launched in 2022, followed an Associated Press investigation that found Greenes arrest was among at least a dozen cases in which state troopers and their bosses ignored or concealed evidence of beatings, deflected blame and impeded efforts to root out misconduct in the agency. In one case, a white trooper pummeled a Black man 18 times with a flashlight following a traffic stop, leaving him with a broken jaw, broken ribs and a gash to his head. The APs reporting also turned up state police violence against white suspects, including one beaten beyond recognition. Troopers shared the mans photograph in jeering text messages, saying he shouldnt have resisted and joking that his injuries had been caused by a fall following his 2019 arrest. Federal prosecutors opened grand jury investigations into some of the cases but closed most of them without charges. In the Greene case, they wavered for years on whether to indict the troopers captured on graphic body-camera video swarming his vehicle following a high-speed chase outside Monroe, Louisiana. The body-camera footage, withheld by officials for two years but published by AP in 2021, showed troopers swarming Greene even as he appeared to raise his hands, plead for mercy and wail, Im your brother! Im scared! Im scared! Troopers repeatedly jolted Greene with stun guns before he could even get out of the car, with one of them wrestling him to the ground, putting him in a chokehold and punching him in the face. Another called him a stupid motherf---. They then ordered a shackled Greene to remain face down on the ground, a prone restraint that experts said could have dangerously restricted Greenes breathing.State police initially blamed the 49-year-olds death on a crash following a high-speed chase over a traffic violation. But that explanation was called into question by photos of Greenes body on a gurney showing his bruised and battered face, a hospital report noting he had two stun gun prongs in his back and the fact that his SUV had only minor damage. Even the emergency room doctor questioned the troopers initial account of a crash, writing in his notes: Does not add up.A reexamined autopsy ordered by the FBI ultimately debunked the crash narrative and listed prone restraint among other contributing factors in Greenes death, including neck compression, physical struggle and cocaine use. A federal indictment seemed imminent for several years, so much so that federal prosecutors asked the local district attorney to hold off on bringing state charges until the FBI inquiry ran its course. They later reversed course, and, in late 2022, a state grand jury indicted five officers on counts ranging from negligent homicide to malfeasance.The state case withered away to charges against just two of those officers, one of whom dragged Greene by his ankle shackles and pleaded no contest last year to misdemeanor battery. The lone remaining defendant in the case is scheduled to enter a similar plea this week, concluding the state proceedings. Perhaps the most significant hurdle to federal charges was the untimely death of Chris Hollingsworth, the trooper who was seen on the video repeatedly bashing Greene in the head with a flashlight and was later recorded by his own body camera calling a fellow officer and saying, I beat the ever-living f--- out of him. Hollingsworth died in a high-speed, single-vehicle crash in 2020, hours after he was told he would be fired over his actions in Greenes death. Another major sticking point was whether prosecutors could prove the troopers acted willfully in abusing Greene a key component of civil rights charges that has complicated such prosecutions around the country. The FBI even enhanced the video of the arrest in an ultimately inconclusive attempt to determine whether he had been pepper-sprayed after he was in custody, focusing on an exchange in which a deputy jeeringly said, S--- hurts, doesnt it?But the federal investigation also included a lengthy focus on the state police brass suspected of obstructing justice by suppressing video evidence, quashing a detectives recommendation to arrest a trooper and pressuring a state prosecutor.Still pending is the federal wrongful death lawsuit Greenes family filed four years ago seeking damages from the officers, who have denied wrongdoing. The civil case was long put on hold as the criminal proceedings played out. JIM MUSTIAN Mustian is an Associated Press investigative reporter for breaking news. twitter mailto

Rockets fired from Gaza and intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system over Israeli skies are seen from Gaza City, on May 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)2025-01-14T17:01:34Z CAIRO (AP) If the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal goes according to the current draft, then fighting will stop in Gaza for 42 days, and dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be freed. In this first phase Israeli troops will pull back to the edges of Gaza, and many Palestinians will be able to return to what remains of their homes as stepped-up aid flows in.The question is if the ceasefire will survive beyond that first phase.That will depend on even more negotiations meant to begin within weeks. In those talks, Israel, Hamas, and the U.S, Egyptian and Qatari mediators will have to tackle the tough issue of how Gaza will be governed, with Israel demanding the elimination of Hamas.Without a deal within those 42 days to begin the second phase, Israel could resume its campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas even as dozens of hostages remain in the militants hands. Hamas has agreed to a draft of the ceasefire deal, two officials confirmed, but Israeli officials say details are still being worked out, meaning some terms could change, or the whole deal could even fall through. Here is a look at the plan and potential pitfalls in the draft seen by the Associated Press. Swapping hostages for imprisoned PalestiniansDuring the first phase, Hamas is to release 33 hostages in exchange for the freeing of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. By the end of the phase, all living women, children and older people held by the militants should be freed.Some 100 hostages remain captive inside Gaza, a mix of civilians and soldiers, and the military believes at least a third them are dead.On the first official day of the ceasefire, Hamas is to free three hostages, then another four on the seventh day. After that, it will make weekly releases. Which hostages and how many Palestinians will be released is complicated. The 33 will include women, children and those over 50 almost all civilians, but the deal also commits Hamas to free all living female soldiers. Hamas will release living hostages first, but if the living dont complete the 33 number, bodies will be handed over. Not all hostages are held by Hamas, so getting other militant groups to hand them over could be an issue. In exchange, Israel will free 30 Palestinian women, children or elderly for each living civilian hostage freed. For each female soldier freed, Israel will release 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 serving life sentences. In exchange for bodies handed over by Hamas, Israel will free all women and children it has detained from Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.Dozens of men, including soldiers, will remain captive in Gaza, pending the second phase.Israeli pullbacks and the return of PalestiniansDuring the proposed deals first phase, Israeli troops are to pull back into a buffer zone about a kilometer (0.6 miles) wide inside Gaza along its borders with Israel.That will allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, including in Gaza City and northern Gaza. With most of Gazas population driven into massive, squalid tent camps, Palestinians are desperate to get back to their homes, even though many were destroyed or heavily damaged by Israels campaign. But there are complications. During the past year of negotiations, Israel has insisted it must control the movement of Palestinians to the north to ensure Hamas does not take weapons back into those areas.Throughout the war, the Israeli military has severed the north from the rest of Gaza by holding the so-called Netzarim Corridor, a belt across the strip where troops cleared out the Palestinian population and set up bases. That allowed them to search people fleeing from the north into central Gaza and bar anyone trying to return. The draft seen by the AP specifies that Israel is to leave the corridor. In the first week, troops would withdraw from the main north-south coastal road Rasheed Street which would open one route for Palestinians returning. By the 22nd day of the ceasefire, Israeli troops are to leave the entire corridor.Still, as talks continued Tuesday, an Israeli official insisted the military will keep control of Netzarim and that Palestinians returning north would have to pass inspections there, though he declined to provide details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed negotiations. Working out those contradictions could bring frictions.Throughout the first phase, Israel will retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the strip of territory along Gazas border with Egypt, including the Rafah Crossing. Hamas dropped demands that Israel pull out of this area. Humanitarian aidIn the first phase, aid entry to Gaza is to be ramped up to hundreds of trucks a day of food, medicine, supplies and fuel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. That is far more than Israel has allowed in throughout the war.For months, aid groups have struggled to distribute to Palestinians even the trickle of aid entering Gaza because of Israeli military restrictions and rampant robberies of aid trucks by gangs. An end to fighting should alleviate that.The need is great. Malnutrition and diseases are rampant among Palestinians, crammed into tents and short on food and clean water. Hospitals have been damaged and short of supplies. The draft deal specifies that equipment will be allowed in to build shelters for tens of thousands whose homes were destroyed and to rebuild infrastructure like electricity, sewage, communications and road systems.But here, too, implementation could bring problems. Even before the war, Israel has restricted entry of some equipment, arguing it could be used for military purposes by Hamas. Another Israeli official said arrangements are still being worked out over aid distribution and cleanup, but the plan is to prevent Hamas from having any role.Further complicating matters, Israels government is still committed to its plan to ban UNRWA from operating and to cut all ties between the agency and the Israeli government. The UN agency is the major distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The second phaseIf all of that works out, the sides must still tackle the second phase. Negotiations over it are to begin on Day 16 of the ceasefire.Phase twos broad outlines are laid out in the draft: All remaining hostages are to be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a sustainable calm.But that seemingly basic exchange opens up much bigger issues.Israel has said it will not agree to a complete withdrawal until Hamas military and political capabilities are eliminated and it cannot rearm ensuring Hamas no longer runs Gaza. Hamas says it will not hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from everywhere in Gaza.So the negotiations will have to get both sides to agree to an alternative for governing Gaza. Effectively, Hamas has to agree to its own removal from power something it has said it is willing to do, but it may seek to keep a hand in any future government, which Israel has vehemently rejected.The draft agreement says a deal on the second phase must be worked out by the end of the first.Pressure will be on both sides to reach a deal, but what happens if they dont? It could go in many directions.Hamas had wanted written guarantees that a ceasefire would continue as long as needed to agree on phase two. It has settled for verbal guarantees from the United States, Egypt and Qatar.Israel, however, has given no assurances. So Israel could threaten new military action to pressure Hamas in the negotiations or could outright resume its military campaign, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened. Hamas and the mediators are betting the momentum from the first phase will make it difficult for him to do that. Relaunching the assault would risk losing the remaining hostages infuriating many against Netanyahu though stopping short of destroying Hamas will also anger key political partners.The third phase is likely to be less contentious: the bodies of remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a 3- to 5-year reconstruction plan to be carried out in Gaza under international supervision. LEE KEATH Keath is the chief editor for feature stories in the Middle East for The Associated Press. He has reported from Cairo since 2005. twitter mailto

President Joe Biden speaks about foreign policy during a speech at the State Department in Washington, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)2025-01-14T18:41:21Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Biden administration on Tuesday is expected to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, according to U.S. officials familiar with matter. The officials were not authorized to comment and insisted on anonymity to discuss the yet to be publicly announced move.White House National Security Council officials declined to comment on the matter.The determination is likely to be reversed as early as next week after President-elect Donald Trump takes office and incoming Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio assumes the position of Americas top diplomat.Rubio, whose family fled from Cuba in the 1950s before the communist revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, has long been a proponent of sanctions on the communist island. Rubio will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing and is expected to address his Cuban roots in his testimony. In the final days of Trumps first administration, on Jan. 11, 2021, the White House reinstated the designation, which had been reversed during the period of rapprochement between Cuba and the United States during President Barack Obamas second term in office.In doing so, the Trump administration cited Cubas support for Venezuelas leader, Nicolas Maduro, and its refusal to extradite Colombian rebels to Colombia, among other issues, including its continued harboring of wanted Americans. AAMER MADHANI Aamer Madhani is a White House reporter. twitter mailto COLLEEN LONG Long covers the White House for The Associated Press, with a focus on domestic policy including immigration, law enforcement and legal affairs. ZEKE MILLER Zeke is APs chief White House correspondent twitter mailto

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense secretary, appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-01-14T17:06:09Z WASHINGTON (AP) President-elect Donald Trumps pick for Defense secretary is publicly facing senators for the first time after weeks of questions from Democrats and praise from Republicans about his unconventional resume.Pete Hegseth, a former combat veteran and TV news show host, says he will be a change agent and a warrior for the department as Republicans demand new and strong leadership in the Pentagon. Democrats say Hegseths lack of experience, his past comments about women and Black troops and allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct, make him unfit to serve.Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called Hegseths nomination to lead the Defense Department unconventional but compared him to Trump, and said that may just be what makes him an excellent choice.Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hegseth lacks the character and the competence to lead the Pentagon. Reed he has voted to confirm the nine previous Defense secretaries, including in Trumps first term, but will not support Hegseth. His confirmation would be an an insult to the men and women who have sworn to uphold their own apolitical duty to the Constitution, Reed said.Here are some takeaways from Hegseths confirmation hearing: A warrior culture at the PentagonHegseth told senators that Trumps primary charge to him was to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense and that he wants a Pentagon laser focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. Thats it. That is my job.Republicans have criticized President Joe Bidens Pentagon for encouraging diversity and say there is no place for woke culture in the military.Reed said he wants Hegseth to explain why diversity makes the military weak and how you propose to undo that without undermining military leadership and harming readiness, recruitment, and retention. Our military is more diverse than it has ever been, but more importantly, it is more lethal than it has ever been, Reed said. This is not a coincidence.Hegseth replied that it was precisely right the military was a forerunner in courageous racial integration in ways no other institutions were willing to do but argued that modern diversity and inclusion policies divide current troops and didnt prioritize meritocracy.A secretary with dust on his bootsRepublicans have praised Hegseths lack of a high-level leadership role. Its time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm, he said. Hegseth would not be the first defense secretary to have served in combat far from it. An array of previous secretaries have had combat service, dodging bombs and leading troops into the fight, including current Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was a leader in the initial invasion into Iraq.Lt. Col. Jim Mattis, Trumps first Defense secretary, fought in the Gulf War and later retired as a four-star general. And Trumps final acting Pentagon chief, Chris Miller, served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army special forces officer. He later retired as a colonel.Chuck Hagel, who served under former President Barack Obama, was first former enlisted soldier to become Defense secretary, and he served as a sergeant on the front lines in Vietnam. Equal standards for female troopsHegseth made overtures to women and Black troops, an attempt to blunt some of the criticism of his previous comments that women should straight up not serve in combat and his suggestions that some Black troops may not be qualified.It would be the privilege of a lifetime, if confirmed, to be the secretary of defense for all men and women in uniform, Hegseth said.At the same time, he implied that the Pentagon has lowered standards for women to fight without giving examples of those standards. The standards need to be the same and they need to be high, Hegseth said, adding that where those standards have been eroded to meet diversity quotas, that should be under review.New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, told Hegseth that his quotes about women are terrible and harmful to morale. You will have to change how you see women to do this job, she said.In response to Hegseths repeated comments, a senior defense official said that the standards for military service have not been lowered, and that the standards are based on each field and based on ability, not gender. He was also questioned about the issue by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iraq veteran and a survivor of sexual assault. Hegseth reiterated an earlier promise to Ernst that he will to hire a senior official to prioritize those cases in the military. Insufficient background checkReed told Wicker at the beginning of the hearing that he believes the FBI background check on Hegseth was insufficient.There are still FBI obligations to talk to people, Reed said.The background check did not probe or produce new information beyond whats already in the public realm about Hegseth, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss it.Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked Hegseth if hed be willing to submit to an expanded background check with interviews of former colleagues, ex-wives, sexual assault survivors and others.Im not in charge of FBI background checks, Hegseth said. Im not a perfect personHegseth did not directly address the allegations of sexual misconduct and aggressively pushed back on Democrats who asked questions about it, calling it a coordinated smear campaign. Im not a perfect person but redemption is real, Hegseth said.In 2017, a woman told police that Hegseth sexually assaulted her, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and told police at the time that the encounter at a Republican womens event in California was consensual. He was not charged, but paid the woman a confidential settlement to head off a potential lawsuit.Asked by Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Democrat, if he had entered into a settlement, Hegseth replied that he was falsely accused. He has said repeatedly that he was completely cleared. Hirono also asked him about reports of excessive drinking, which he has also denied. Hegseth has told Republican senators in meetings over the last month that he will not drink on the job.Republicans dismissed the allegations. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., noted that Democratic senators had asked Hegseth questions about his drinking, and asked How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Dont tell me you havent seen it, because I know you have, Mullin said to his colleagues.___Associated Press writers Matt Brown, Tara Copp and and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.

Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility staff members, back row from left, Juan Pablo Sandoval, Sam Baum and Diversified Healthcare Services President/CEO Adam Khalifa, and front row from left, Sharon Gallego, Maria Quizon, Katherine Castro, Maggie Jay, Edgardo Exia Jr. and Lashawna Thompson pose together amidst the charred remains of the facility on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)2025-01-14T19:07:41Z Flush with her $1.25 winnings at the bingo tables, Sharon Tanner retired to a room off the dining hall to discuss the top worry for the residents council at her senior living community: what to do about people leaving their laundry in the washing machines and dryers.Dinner service at the Terraces at Park Marino in Pasadena, California, was about half over, and residents were gathering in the lobby for the nights movie feature: Scent of a Woman. Tanner and Carlene Sutherland, the council vice president and secretary, were discussing the laundry scofflaws when something caught their attention. This photo provided by Tricia Peterson shows Sharon Tanner, a resident at the Terraces at Park Marino, in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 13, 2025. (Tricia Peterson via AP) This photo provided by Tricia Peterson shows Sharon Tanner, a resident at the Terraces at Park Marino, in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 13, 2025. (Tricia Peterson via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More I smell smoke, Tanner said.So do I, remarked Sutherland.High above in the surrounding hills, a fire was burning. But staff had decided they were in no immediate danger, and the women figured they were smelling a distant fire. Then they heard a commotion in the lobby. The space was filling up with people, many of them agitated. Outside, the wind was howling. Then the power went out.Tanner was looking out a picture window toward the backyard, where she sometimes takes meals, when embers began falling from the sky like hail. She sat amazed as first the bushes, then a wooden fence burst into flames. Within an hour, the Terraces staff and residents would be in a race for their lives, walking, rolling and stumbling out into a hellscape of swirling coals in what one person called a hurricane with flames. Four of 15 residents in the Safe Haven wing were in hospice care. As Yesenia Cervantes, director of the memory care unit, scrambled to get people prepared to evacuate, a dark thought began gnawing at her.Oh, my God, she thought. Will we have to decide which people we can save, and which to leave behind? Residents and staff at Pasadena Park Healthcare & Wellness Center evacuate as the Eaton Fire approaches on Jan. 7, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File) Residents and staff at Pasadena Park Healthcare & Wellness Center evacuate as the Eaton Fire approaches on Jan. 7, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Deadly firesThe wildfires that have ravaged the Los Angeles area since Jan. 7 have claimed at least two dozen lives and destroyed thousands of structures. AccuWeather, a company that provides data on weather and its impact, puts the damage and economic losses at $250 billion to $275 billion.About 150,000 people in Los Angeles County remain under evacuation orders.Around 850 patients and residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and group homes were evacuated after the blazes last week, according to the California Department of Public Health. Among them are the people who called the Terraces home. A California state flag hangs outside the charred remains of the Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) A California state flag hangs outside the charred remains of the Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A place for peoples next stage A three-story wood and stucco building partially covered with ivy, the Terraces nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. The 95 residents ranging in age from 60 to 102 were divided between assisted living and memory care. Jan. 7 started out just like any other Tuesday. Breakfast was served from 7-9 a.m. Then at 9:45, it was time for Stay Fit what they call their chair exercises.Walking Club is usually at 10:15, but the staff decided it was too windy for the residents many of whom, like Tanner, use a walker. After lunch, it was Tech Hour, where staffers helped residents with their devices, and dinner started at 4. Residents had a choice between orange chicken with rice and broccoli, or a cold shrimp salad. At 5:30, it was time for Movie Night, a tradition for which the residents could thank Louise Miller. This undated photo taken and provided by her son James Dyer, shows Louise Miller, a resident at the Terraces at Park Marino in Pasadena, Calif. (James Dyer via AP) This undated photo taken and provided by her son James Dyer, shows Louise Miller, a resident at the Terraces at Park Marino in Pasadena, Calif. (James Dyer via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More The 83-year-old widow and her neighbor, a 70-year-old man named Eddie, were inseparable, and also kind of night owls and wanted something to do after dinner, said Sam Baum, the community relations director. Soon, other residents began joining them, and Movie Night was born. Not long into the film, a visiting nurse came by and told staff there was a fire in the hills above. Baum decided to jump in his car and head up for a closer look.It was part of the Eaton fire, which began earlier that day and, fanned by vicious Santa Ana Winds, would eventually grow and all but obliterate the nearby community of Altadena. But when Baum stopped his car and took a look around, he didnt see cause for alarm. There were lots of firefighters on the scene, and the blaze would have to jump a major thoroughfare and a canyon stream to get to the Terraces. So, when he got back, he told his colleagues, I think were OK.Neither local nor state officials had suggested that the Terraces evacuate, says Terraces CEO Adam Khalifa. Just the same, staff decided to begin bringing the 93 residents (two others were already in other facilities when the fire broke out) down to the lobby.They started methodically draping lanyards around each neck with badges containing the residents photo, name and apartment number; on the back were medical details: any conditions, cognitive deficits and do not resuscitate orders.Off-duty staffers began showing up to volunteer. They started calling families to let them know what was happening, and some came and picked up their loved ones.Suddenly, the lights went out. It was around 6:40 p.m. Residents and staff at Pasadena Park Healthcare & Wellness Center evacuate as the Eaton Fire approaches on Jan. 7, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File) Residents and staff at Pasadena Park Healthcare & Wellness Center evacuate as the Eaton Fire approaches on Jan. 7, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A rush to escape the flamesCervantes was on the phone with hospice to get some help evacuating those residents when the power went out. Thats when she saw the backyard catch fire. She and another employee grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran outside, trailed closely by Cervantes Pomeranian-Yorkie mix WALL-E, and put out the blaze.Smoke began filling the lobby. Residents donned protective masks.By 7:45 p.m., the backyard had reignited. Cervantes decided it was time to clear Safe Haven. Around the same time they got an evacuation order.Some residents were still in bed. One woman whod had a seizure earlier that day was too weak to rise; Cervantes lifted her up and put her in a wheelchair.Other staff made multiple forays to the upper floors, carrying residents down strapped in emergency stair chairs, in wheelchairs, even on their backs. The dining room had caught fire, and Cervantes finally rushed out.When they got outside, it was bedlam. Workers from the Pasadena Park Healthcare & Wellness Center, a skilled-nursing facility next door, were wheeling their residents across the road in chairs and on beds. First responders were shouting and gesturing.Go straight, they yelled, pointing down the street into the murk. Go to 7-Eleven. Cervantes made multiple trips back and forth to the 7-Eleven, WALL-E following her every move. Tanner, 72, was struggling when a man with dark hair appeared out of the smoke and told her sit on the bench of her walker.Hold your feet up, the stranger said as she faced back toward to the Terraces. Be careful.He towed her across the road like a bat out of hell, made sure she was OK, then disappeared into the haze in search of someone else to help.Terraces executive director Maria Quizon was pushing a woman in a wheelchair when she noticed a man sitting on a sidewalk bench. He was confused, probably in shock, and she begged him to follow her. The winds were so fierce that Quizon was forced to zig and zag, like a sailboat tacking in a gale, the man close in her wake.The Terraces is set about 200 feet back from the street. Then it was another 800 feet to the 7-Eleven.It was the longest, scariest walk of Quizons life.When the nursing home next door had finished evacuating its 93 residents, staff pitched in with the Terraces folks.It didnt matter who it was, Pasadena Park vice president of operations Rhea Bartolome said to herself. Nobodys dying.When residents and staff reached the convenience store parking lot, transport vehicles were already waiting. Tanner and two other residents were loaded into an ambulance and whisked away. Other residents were packed into buses and whisked away to the Pasadena Convention Center 5 miles away.When he was sure everyone had gotten away, Baum drove to his condominium about eight minutes away from the Terraces to retrieve the ashes of his late wife Patrice, medications, some shoeboxes full of photos and his two cats.Then he headed to the convention center to rejoin his staff and charges.A temporary shelterAt 10:25 p.m. that night, Miller called her son, who was also under an evacuation order, to make sure he didnt worry about her. The call went to voicemail. We are in some giant facility in Pasadena, his mother said in a sweet, even tone. She had no idea where that was _Its like a football field with a linoleum floor and lots and lots of people.After Miller and the other refugees were situated with cots, water and food, the Terraces staff went to work finding each of their residents a place to stay be it a home, a hospital or another senior living facility. They found two facilities that would take 20 residents each. They made sure Miller and Eddie were kept together.When the smoke cleared, all that remained of their former home was a charred, water-stained shell, some of the black metal letters spelling out the Terraces at Park Marino still intact over the front door.Miller lost all her treasures, including the precious papier-mch sculptures her mother made everything but her wallet, cellphone and the clothes on her back.Her son, James Dyer, had nothing but praise and admiration for the Terraces staff. It was like a hurricane with flames, he says of the disaster. And they did amazing work for the very short notice that they had.The Terraces staff set up a makeshift command center in the lobby of a hotel just a few miles away to continue advocating for their residents and employees. Baum has vowed that his second home will be rebuilt, and that they will al be together again. Tanner a former waitress whod worked at Dennys, Frischs Big Boy and too many other restaurants to count had only been at the Terraces for 10 months. She loved the place so much that she was already a resident ambassador.For now, shes staying with her sister and brother-in-law in San Jose. But she cant wait to see all of her friends again.Wherever I go is going to be just temporary, she says. Because as soon as its built, Im back to the Terraces. That was my home, and thats where I want to live. Maggie Jay, left, business office manager for the Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility, walks past damage to the facility from the Eaton Fire with her colleagues on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Maggie Jay, left, business office manager for the Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility, walks past damage to the facility from the Eaton Fire with her colleagues on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Diversified Healthcare Services President/CEO Adam Khalifa reacts after seeing the damage from the Eaton Fire to The Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Diversified Healthcare Services President/CEO Adam Khalifa reacts after seeing the damage from the Eaton Fire to The Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More An employee of the Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility holds up a charred nurse's note she found outside the facility after the Eaton Fire swept through on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) An employee of the Terraces at Park Marino assisted living facility holds up a charred nurse's note she found outside the facility after the Eaton Fire swept through on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More ___=Breed, an AP national writer, reported from Wake Forest, North Carolina; Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri. ALLEN G. BREED Breed is an Associated Press general assignment/feature writer. He joined the AP in 1988 in Kentucky. twitter mailto

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)2025-01-14T16:01:35Z MOSCOW (AP) Russias top diplomat said Tuesday that Moscow is open for talks with President-elect Donald Trump and praised him for pointing to NATOs plan to embrace Ukraine as a root cause of the nearly 3-year-old conflict.Any prospective peace talks should involve broader arrangements for security in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at his annual news conference, while adding that Moscow is open to discussing security guarantees for Kyiv.Lavrov specifically praised Trumps comments earlier this month in which he said that NATOs plans to open its doors to Ukraine had led to the hostilities. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago on Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago on Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Trump said Russia had it written in stone that Ukraines membership in NATO should never be allowed, but the Biden administration had sought to expand the military alliance to Russias doorstep. Trump added that, I could understand their feelings about that.Trumps comments echoed Moscows rhetoric which has described its special military operation in Ukraine launched in February 2022 as a response to planned NATO membership for Kyiv and an effort to protect Russian speakers. Ukraine and its allies have denounced Russias action as an unprovoked act of aggression. NATO did exactly what it had promised not to do, and Trump said that, Lavrov said. It marked the first such candid acknowledgement not only from a U.S. but any Western leader that NATO had lied when they signed numerous documents. They were used as a cover while NATO has expanded to our borders in violation of the agreements. The West has dismissed that assessment. Before the conflict, Russia had demanded a legal guarantee that Ukraine be denied NATO entry, knowing the alliance has never excluded potential membership for any European country but had no immediate plan to start Ukraine down that road. Russia said NATO expansion would undermine its security, but Washington and its allies argued the alliance didnt threaten Moscow Ukrainian servicemen collect damaged ammunition on the road at the front line near Chasiv Yar town, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Jan. 10, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraines 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP, File) Ukrainian servicemen collect damaged ammunition on the road at the front line near Chasiv Yar town, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Jan. 10, 2025. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraines 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged his Western allies to invite Kyiv to join NATO, or, at the very least, offer comprehensive security guarantees that would prevent any future Russian attacks. The alliances 32 member countries say Ukraine will join one day, but not until the fighting ends.Trump has reaffirmed his intention to broker peace in Ukraine, declaring earlier this month that Putin wants to meet and that such a meeting is being set up. In the past, he has criticized U.S. military aid for Ukraine and even vowed to end the conflict in a single day if elected.Lavrov emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared his openness for talks with Trump, adding that Moscow looks forward to hearing Trumps view on Ukraine after he takes office.Lavrov also praised comments by Trumps pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who said Sunday its unrealistic to expect that Ukraine could drive Russian forces from every inch of Ukrainian soil.The very fact that people have increasingly started to mention the realities on the ground deserves welcome, Lavrov said during his annual news conference un Moscow. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More In its final days, the Biden administration is providing Kyiv with as much military support as it can, aiming to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations. The U.S. also introduced new sanctions on Russias oil industry.Lavrov described those efforts as an attempt by the Biden administration to slam the door and leave a difficult legacy for Trump. The Democrats have a way of screwing things up for the incoming administration, he said. President Joe Biden waits to speak about foreign policy at the State Department in Washington, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) President Joe Biden waits to speak about foreign policy at the State Department in Washington, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More He emphasized that any prospective peace talks must address Russias security concerns and reflect a broad European security environment.Threats on the western flank, on our western borders, must be eliminated as one of the main reasons (of the conflict), he said. They can probably be eliminated only in the context of some broader agreements.He added that Moscow is also open to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv, for the country, which is now called Ukraine. Lavrov was asked about Trumps comments in which he wouldnt rule out using force or economic pressure to make Greenland a semiautonomous territory of Denmark a part of the United States.Lavrov emphasized that the people of Greenland must be asked what they want.For a start, its necessary to listen to the Greenlanders, Lavrov said, noting that they have the right for self-determination if they believe that their interests arent duly represented by Denmark. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More

ARCHIVO - El presidente Donald Trump habla durante una entrevista con The Associated Press en la Oficina Oval de la Casa Blanca en Washington el 16 de octubre de 2018. (AP Foto/Evan Vucci, Archivo)2025-01-14T18:25:42Z WASHINGTON (AP) President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans to create a new agency called the External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and other revenues from foreign nations. We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, Trump said Tuesday on his social media site, Truth Social. He compared his planned creation to the Internal Revenue Service, which is the nations domestic tax collector.The creation of a new agency requires an act of Congress, and Republicans hold the majority of both the House and the Senate. Trump, who has vowed to shrink the size of government, would be creating a new agency to do functions already handled by existing agencies, including the Commerce Department and the Customs and Border Patrol, which collect duties and revenues from other nations. The president-elect has tapped two business titans to lead his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a nongovernmental task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, all part of what he calls his Save America agenda for a second term in the White House. Billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are leading the DOGEs ambitious efforts to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.Tariffs, with the threat of a potential 25% levy on all goods from allies like Canada and Mexico and 60% on goods from China, have become a benchmark of Trumps economic agenda as he heads into his second term. Economists have said the cost of the tariffs will be passed on to consumers, and are generally skeptical of them, considering them a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money and promote prosperity. Democratic lawmakers were quick to criticize the External Revenue Service plan. No amount of silly rebranding will hide the fact that Trump is planning a multi-trillion-dollar tax hike on American families and small businesses to pay for another round of tax handouts to the rich, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement. FATIMA HUSSEIN Hussein reports on the U.S. Treasury Department for The Associated Press. She covers tax policy, sanctions and any issue that relates to money. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Water flows down the Sandusky River between farms, Aug. 26, 2024, in Fremont, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)2025-01-14T15:07:30Z Harmful chemicals in sewage sludge that is spread on pasture land as fertilizer are causing cancer, the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday. The risk is highest for people who regularly consume milk, beef and other products from farms where it is spread. The risk is several orders of magnitude above what it considers acceptable, the agency said.When cities and towns treat sewage, they separate the liquids from the solids and treat the liquid. The solids need to be disposed of and can make a nutrient-rich sludge often spread on farm fields. The agency now says those solids often contain toxic, lasting PFAS that treatment plants cannot effectively remove. When people eat or drink foods containing these forever chemicals, the compounds accumulate in the body and can cause kidney, prostate and testicular cancer. They also harm the immune system and childhood development. Most at risk are people who drink one quart of milk per day from dairy cows raised on pasture with the biosolids, eat one or two servings of fish a week from a lake contaminated by runoff, or drink PFAS-laden water, the draft risk assessment said. The EPA looked at farmers and those living nearby who regularly consumed these products over years not the broader general public. Organic farms arent allowed to use the sludge, so the findings could reassure consumers who purchase organic grass-fed beef, although farms that transitioned to being organic may have had it applied earlier. The federal government does have the power to regulate harmful substances in sewage sludge. Years ago, it set limits on some metals. But it does not regulate PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.This draft assessment provides important information to help inform future actions by federal and state agencies as well as steps that wastewater systems, farmers and other stakeholders can take to protect people from PFAS exposure, while ensuring American industry keeps feeding and fueling our nation, EPA Acting Administrator Jane Nishida said in a statement. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Lee Zeldin to head the EPA. When Trump announced the pick, he said Zeldin, will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions while also keeping the water and air clean.Sewage sludge has been used as fertilizer for many years. Wastewater treatment plants produce millions of tons of it and tens of millions of acres of farmland have been allowed to use it, according to a group thats compiled state data. The EPA said this sludge is applied on less than 1% of fertilized acreage of agriculture each year.PFAS chemicals were used in nonstick pans, firefighting foam and other products in wide use. The two most common types of PFAS, the ones assessed by the agency, are not manufactured in the U.S. anymore, but are still in the environment and wastewater. Paper and textile manufacturers have released PFAS into the environment.The risk may be higher for some farmers than the EPA assessment indicates. Many farms have far higher concentrations of PFAS than the study assumed. As the amount of PFAS increases, so does the health threat. And the EPA assumed people werent exposed to PFAS from other sources when estimating risk, even though many people are. Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, said the assessment finally makes official what regulators, polluters and utility operators have known for decades - that PFAS-contaminated fertilizer was getting into food and animal products. He called for tougher rules on its farm use and said EPA should limit how much PFAS manufacturers may release into waterways.There is no doubt that sending PFAS waste to wastewater treatment plants and then using that sludge as a fertilizer was a mistake. The only question is whether well continue to make the same mistake, Faber said.The Biden administration has taken several actions to reduce PFAS levels in the environment including writing a rule to drastically reduce PFAS in drinking water. A small number of states including Maine and Conneticut have limited or banned the use of PFAS-contaminated fertilizers made from sewage. The EPA said officials monitor the food supply to protect people from exposure to forever chemicals.___The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment MICHAEL PHILLIS Phillis is an Associated Press reporter covering the environment with a focus on water. He is based in St. Louis. mailto

Rescuer workers assist an illegal miner who has been trapped deep in an abandoned gold mine for months, in Stilfontein, South Africa, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)2025-01-14T08:55:02Z STILFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) Months after South African authorities initially cut off supplies to miners working illegally in an abandoned gold mine, rescuers brought dozens of bodies and emaciated survivors to the surface Tuesday with hundreds more still believed to be underground, many of them dead and others too weak to come out on their own.At least 60 bodies and 92 survivors had been pulled from one of South Africas deepest mines since Monday in a red cagelike structure lowered thousands of feet underground, police said. Police are uncertain how many miners remain inside but said it is likely in the hundreds. Another nine bodies were brought out Friday in a community-led rescue effort, according to a group representing the miners.Residents desperately waiting for news of family members gathered at the mine near the town of Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg, some holding placards criticizing authorities for their response. One sign said there had been a Sacrifice at Stilfontein while some handcuffed survivors were led away in a line by police. Authorities say the surviving miners are able to come out and are refusing because of fear of arrest, but that has been disputed by rights groups and activists, who have fiercely criticized police tactics at the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine, where more than 100 miners are believed to have died of starvation or dehydration. The mine has been the scene of a tense standoff between police, miners and members of the local community since authorities launched an operation in November to force the miners out by cutting off food and water from the surface for a period of time. At the time, a Cabinet minister said the aim was to smoke them out and the government would not send help because they were criminals.Civic groups won a court case to force authorities to allow food, water and medicine to be sent down to the miners. But they say the supplies arent enough and many of the miners are dying of starvation and unable to climb out because the shaft is too steep and the ropes and pulley system they used to enter have been removed. The community organized its own rescue operation on Friday before the official effort by authorities began Monday. They say a proper rescue operation should have been launched months ago.We are happy that this operation is happening, even though we believe that if it was done earlier, we wouldnt even have one dead person, said Mzukisi Jam, the regional chairperson of the South African National Civics Organization, an umbrella for civic and rights groups. Authorities have grappled with informal mining for years Illegal mining is common in parts of gold-rich South Africa where companies close down mines that are no longer profitable, leaving groups of informal miners to enter them illegally in a search for leftover deposits. Large groups of miners often go underground for months to maximize their profits, taking food, water, generators and other equipment with them, but also relying on others in their group on the surface to send down more supplies. Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe visited the site Tuesday and said that more than 1,500 miners who resurfaced from the Buffelsfontein mine have been arrested since authorities began a larger crackdown on illegal mining in late 2023. He said the vast majority were foreign nationals from neighboring countries.Police have also doubled down on their assertion that the miners who are still underground arent coming out because they are afraid of being arrested.Activists said the only way out is for miners to make a dangerous trek to another shaft, which can take days, and crawl out there, but many are too weak or ill to climb out. The mine is 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) deep with multiple shafts, many levels and a maze of tunnels. The group representing the miners said there are numerous groups in various parts of the mine.The last time I spoke to my brother was in July, when he told us that he is going underground, said Zinzi Tom, a sister of one of the miners who remained underground. We had not heard anything from him, but yesterday one of the miners who surfaced said he saw him about two weeks ago. Apparently he is very sick and he is struggling to survive. Cellphone videos emerge from undergroundThe Mining Affected Communities United in Action group, which took authorities to court in December to force them to allow supplies to be sent down to the miners, released two cellphone videos that they said were from underground and showed dozens of dead bodies of miners wrapped in plastic. A spokesman for the group said a minimum of 100 miners had died. The cellphone videos purportedly from the depths of the mine are filmed by a man who can be heard saying, This is hunger. People are dying because of hunger, as he records emaciated-looking men sitting on the damp floor of the mine. He adds: Please help us. Bring us food or take us out.The rescue operation will go on for 10 days and authorities would then reassess, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said. Police also said that the survivors who had been brought to the surface will be arrested and charged with illegal mining and trespassing after receiving medical attention. Authorities have come under scrutiny for their tactics after South African Cabinet Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters in November that the government would not help the miners, who they consider criminals.We are not sending help to criminals, she said. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out.She added: Criminals are not to be helped. Criminals are to be persecuted.___Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.___AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Police officers stand in front of the gate of the presidential residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)2025-01-14T21:34:24Z SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korean law enforcement officials arrived early Wednesday at impeached President Yoon Suk Yeols official residence in the capital Seoul to begin their second attempt to detain him over his imposition of martial law last month.The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are jointly investigating whether Yoons brief martial law declaration on Dec. 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. They pledged more forceful measures to detain him after the presidential security service blocked their initial efforts on Jan. 3.Despite a court warrant for Yoons detention, the presidential security service has insisted its obligated to protect the impeached president and has fortified the compound with barbed wire and rows of buses blocking paths.Vehicles from the anti-corruption agency were spotted near the residence, while rows of police officers dressed in black jackets were observed approaching its gate. TV footage showed lawmakers from Yoons People Power Party, along with at least one of his lawyers, lined up near the residences gate, apparently arguing with anti-corruption officials and police officers attempting to enter. Hundreds of Yoons supporters and critics held competing protests near the residence one side vowing to protect him, the other calling for his imprisonment while thousands of police officers in yellow jackets closely monitored the situation, setting up perimeters with buses. Yoons top aide Tuesday pleaded with law enforcement agencies to abandon their efforts to detain him. Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk said Yoon could instead be questioned at a third site or at his residence and said the anti-corruption agency and police were trying to drag him out like he was a member of a South American drug cartel.But Yoon Kab-keun, one of the presidents lawyers, said Chung issued the message without consulting them and that the legal team has no immediate plan to make the president available for questioning by investigators. If investigators manage to detain Yoon Suk Yeol, they will likely ask a court for permission to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, he will be released after 48 hours.Yoon has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks, and the presidential security service prevented dozens of investigators from detaining him after a nearly six-hour standoff on Jan. 3.The National Police Agency has convened multiple meetings of field commanders in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province in recent days to plan their detainment efforts, and the size of those forces fueled speculation that more than a thousand officers could be deployed in a possible multiday operation. The agency and police have openly warned that presidential bodyguards obstructing the execution of the warrant could be arrested. Yoon declared martial law and deployed troops around the National Assembly on Dec. 3. It lasted only hours before lawmakers managed to get through the blockade and vote to lift the measure. Yoons presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion. His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him. KIM TONG-HYUNG Kim has been covering the Koreas for the AP since 2014. He has published widely read stories on North Koreas nuclear ambitions, the dark side of South Koreas economic rise and international adoptions of Korean children. twitter mailto

U.S. Attorney for the District of Colombia Matthew Graves in Washington, Jan. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)2025-01-14T21:51:28Z WASHINGTON (AP) Pardoning rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol four years ago cant erase the truth about what happened that day, the top federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C., said Tuesday as he prepares to leave office.There is no undoing these prosecutions, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves told The Associated Press. The vindication of the rule of law is something that has already occurred. And no one can take that away.Graves helped lead the largest investigation in Justice Department history, overseeing hundreds of cases against rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His successor, whoever that will be, may preside over an abrupt end to that work.President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to pardon Capitol rioters when he returns to the White House next week, but Graves said pardons cant undo the record that was built through these prosecutions and the accountability that has already been imposed. There will always be a public record of what occurred on January 6th, and people who care to know the facts will be able to find out the facts, Graves said.Graves, who has faced a torrent of online abuse and calls for retribution from Trump supporters, said he has no plans to seek a pardon for himself before President Joe Biden leaves office. I dont even begin to know what I could possibly be pardoned for as a prosecutor, he added. There is no crime here. There is just public servants doing their job and enforcing the law. Graves, who took office in November 2021, plans to step down Thursday ahead of Trumps inauguration Monday. Trump has vowed to issue pardons to Capitol rioters on his first day back in the White House, repeatedly referring to them as hostages and patriots.More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related crimes. Nearly 1,300 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a judge or jury after trials. And over 1,000 riot defendants have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving a term of imprisonment ranging from several days to 22 years. Only two Capitol riot defendants have been acquitted of all charges in both cases by a judge after a bench trial. Many Trump supporters have cited that as evidence that Washington juries cant be fair and impartial.Graves believes his offices near-perfect conviction rate reflects the strength of their evidence. Many rioters used cellphones to record and narrate their crimes and posted confessions on social media in the days following their attack, which disrupted the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election.This is the most recorded crime in the history of the country, Graves said. The evidence is just overwhelming in these cases. As someone who is a career prosecutor, its rare that you have this much evidence, which is why youre seeing these outcomes.Over 100 police officers were injured while defending the Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters. Trump hasnt specified whether he would pardon rioters who assaulted officers, but Vice President-elect JD Vance said during an interview televised Sunday that rioters who engaged in violence obviously shouldnt be pardoned. Vance later said there was a bit of a gray area in some cases. Graves said he doesnt see any basis for a pardon or clemency in any Jan. 6 case. He also expressed confidence that the Justice Department can remain free from political interference.I came in as a career prosecutor during a Republican administration, he said. Ive never seen a whiff of political interference in my time as a career prosecutor. I tend to believe past is prologue.Graves said combating violent crime in Washington has been his primary focus over the past three years. He believes his offices efforts contributed to a 35% reduction in violent crime last year in the District of Columbia.Prosecutors can influence these crime trends. They dont control them. There are a host of other actors that are involved, he said. Graves said he had planned to leave the U.S. Attorneys office in 2025 no matter who won the presidential election. In the short term, he is looking forward to taking a vacation.And then Im sure at some point I will transition back to (law) practice, but thats all to be determined in the future, he said.

Its that time again! Were planning our latest FOIA Forum, a live, hour-long or more interactive session where Joseph and Jason will teach you how to pry records from government agencies through public records requests. Were planning this forThursday, 23rd January at 1 PM Eastern. Add it to your calendar!So, whats the FOIA Forum? We'll share our screen and show you specifically how we file FOIA requests. We take questions from the chat and incorporate those into our FOIAs in real-time. Well also check on some requests we filed last time. This time we're particularly focusing on how to use FOIA in the new Trump administration. We'll talk all about local, state, and federal agencies; tricks for getting the records you want; requesting things you might not have thought of; and how to apply when the federal government tries to withhold those records.If this will be your first FOIA Forum, dont worry, we will do a quick primer on how to file requests (although if you do want to watch our previous FOIA Forums, the video archive is here). We really love talking directly to our community about something we are obsessed with (getting documents from governments) and showing other people how to do it too.Paid subscribers can already find the link to join the livestream below. We'll also send out a reminder a day or so before. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up now here in time to join.We've got a bunch of FOIAs that we need to file and are keen to hear from you all on what you want to see more of. Most of all, we want to teach you how to make your own too. Please consider coming along!

Meta is deleting links to Pixelfed, a decentralized Instagram competitor. On Facebook, the company is labeling links to Pixelfed.social as spam and deleting them immediately.Pixelfed is an open-source, community funded and decentralized image sharing platform that runs on Activity Pub, which is the same technology that supports Mastodon and other federated services. Pixelfed.social is the largest Pixelfed server, which was launched in 2018 but has gained renewed attention over the last week.Bluesky user AJ Sadauskas originally posted that links to Pixelfed were being deleted by Meta; 404 Media then also tried to post a link to Pixelfed on Facebook. It was immediately deleted.Pixelfed is experiencing a surge in user signups in recent days, after Meta announced that it would loosen its rules to allow users to call LGBTQ+ people mentally ill amid a host of other changes that shift the company overtly to the right. Meta and Instagram have also leaned heavily into AI-generated content. Pixelfed announced earlier Monday that it is launching an iOS app later this week.Pixelfed said Sunday it is seeing unprecedented levels of traffic to pixelfed.social.Over the weekend, Daniel Supernault, the creator of Pixelfed, published a declaration of fundamental rights and principles for ethical digital platforms, ensuring privacy, dignity, and fairness in online spaces. The open source charter, which has been adopted by Pixelfed and can be adopted by other platforms, contains sections titled right to privacy, freedom from surveillance, safeguards against hate speech, strong protections for vulnerable communities, and data portability and user agency.Pixelfed is a lot of things, but one thing it is not, is an opportunity for VC or others to ruin the vibe. I've turned down VC funding and will not inject advertising of any form into the project, Supernault wrote on Mastodon. Pixelfed is for the people, period.Meta did not respond to a request for comment.

A VW van sits among burned out homes, Jan. 9, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)2025-01-14T21:43:38Z Preston Martin figured the retro blue Volkswagen van he slept in for a year during college was a goner, given that he parked it in a Malibu neighborhood just before the Palisades fire ripped through, reducing homes and cars to rubble and charred metal.So the surfboard maker was stunned to find that the vehicle survived. Not only that, a photo of the vibrant bus taken by an Associated Press photographer was circulating widely on television and online, giving viewers a measure of joy.There is magic in that van, Martin, 24, said Tuesday in an interview with AP. It makes no sense why this happened. It should have been toasted, but here we are. Martin purchased the 1977 Volkswagen Type 2 somewhat on a whim sometime around his junior year studying mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His mother, Tracey Martin, of Irvine, yelled at him for blowing his money, but Martin told her hed save on rent by fixing up the inside and living in it his senior year, which he did. She came to love the bus, and sewed curtains for the windows. Last summer he sold the van to his friend and business partner, Megan Krystle Weinraub, 29, who designs surf and skate boards under the Vibrant Boards brand. Martin makes carbon fiber surfboards under Starlite. On Jan. 5 the friends went surfing with the van, which Weinraub calls Azul Spanish for blue. Afterward Martin parked it on a flat spot up the hill from her apartment by the Getty Villa, as she is still learning to drive the manual transmission. Two days later the Palisades fire erupted, and Weinraub fled with her dog, Bodi, and some dog food in her primary car. She felt sad about Azul, but that was minor compared with those who lost homes or loved ones. On Thursday a neighbor sent her a photo. In the background was the bus, still blue and white and not at all damaged. I freaked out, she said. I was in the bathroom, and I screamed. She called Martin, who also freaked out. He called his mom, who was ecstatic. Ive never cried for a car before, Tracey Martin texted her son.They were even more surprised when the AP photo aired on television and popped up online. We made the news, Martin said in a reel on Instagram page, and Weinraub contacted the photographer. Weinraub, whose home survived, has not been able to visit Azul because the area remains closed to the public. The two are thrilled that the vans survival has touched so many people. Its so cool that its become this, like, beacon of hope, Martin said. Everything around it was toasted, just destroyed. And then heres this bright blue shiny van, sitting right there.

Firefighters from an Oregon strike team survey damage at a Sunset Blvd. home leveled by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades community of Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)2025-01-14T19:19:13Z Hollywoods awards season has all but come to a rare halt as the wildfires continue to disrupt life and work in the Los Angeles area. There are near daily updates from the Hollywood guilds and organizations that put on awards shows as the industry navigates the ongoing crisis. Heres an overview of the major upcoming awards shows, from the Oscars to the Grammys, including updated dates for nominations. Producers Guild and Writers Guild award nominationsPostponed, no new dates announcedThe Writers Guild of America nominations were to be announced Jan. 8, a date that was pushed to Jan. 13 and then postponed indefinitely. The Producers Guild of America nominations for feature films were to be announced on Jan. 10, which was pushed to Jan. 12 and then postponed to an unspecified date this week. Academy Award nominationsJan. 23The Oscar nominations have been twice-delayed they were initially slated for Jan. 17, then Jan. 19, before being delayed again. The delay in the announcement accommodates an extended voting deadline, as many Academy members have been affected by the wildfires.The nominations will be announced via a virtual presentation, eschewing press on site. Critics Choice AwardsJan. 26Originally slated for Jan. 12, the awards were set to take place at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, only miles from the Pacific Palisades neighborhood where fire was raging.The awards will be broadcast live on E!, hosted by Chelsea Handler.Grammy AwardsFeb. 2By virtue of announcing their nominations back in November, the Grammys schedule has largely been unaffected by the wildfires. Some auxiliary events have been canceled, though Universal Music Group nixed all related events, including its Artist Showcase and after-party, saying it would redirect those resources to wildfire recovery aid.The Grammys will be broadcast live on CBS; a host has yet to be announced. Producers and Directors Guild awardsFeb. 8These are two separate awards shows. Both untelevised shows are still set to be held in Los Angeles on the same night. The winner of the PGAs Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures has six times in the past seven years gone on to win the best picture Oscar. Over the past two decades, the winner of the DGA award has nearly always also triumphed at the Oscars. Writers Guild awardsFeb. 15The Writers Guild of America gives awards to adapted and original feature film screenplays, which often align with Oscar nominees and winners, documentaries and television shows and films. Its an untelevised event. BAFTAsFeb. 16The British Academy Film Awards officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards are Britains equivalent of Hollywoods Academy Awards. Nominations will be announced Jan. 15, a date that has been unaffected by the fires (while the awards are in London, nominees come from all over and even many British celebrities call LA home.)Airing on BBC in the U.K. and BritBox in North America, David Tennant will host. Spirit AwardsFeb. 22The Film Independent Spirit Awards spotlight films made for budgets of $30 million or less, meaning some years it lines up with the Oscar frontrunners (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and other years (Oppenheimer) it doesnt.The show streams on YouTube, and will be hosted by Aidy Bryant. SAG AwardsFeb. 23The actors guild went ahead with announcing nominees, though pivoted to a press release instead of a live announcement in the early days of the fires. The SAG Awards are arguably the most telling Oscar forecast there is. Their picks dont always align exactly with those of the film academy, but they often come very close to mirroring them. The last three best ensemble winners Oppenheimer, Everything Everywhere All at Once and CODA all went on to win best picture at the Academy Awards.The show will stream live on Netflix, hosted by Kristen Bell.Academy AwardsMarch 2The marquee event and capper of Hollywoods awards season will proceed as scheduled from Los Angeles Dolby Theatre, which was briefly imperiled by the quickly extinguished Sunset Fire. The film academy did delay the Scientific and Technical Awards from Feb. 18 (a rescheduled date has not been announced) and canceled altogether its annual nominees luncheon, an untelevised mainstay of the social calendar known for its mingling and class photo.The Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC, hosted by Conan OBrien. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Mikey Shulman, the CEO and founder of the AI music generator company Suno AI, thinks people dont enjoy making music. We didnt just want to build a company that makes the current crop of creators 10 percent faster or makes it 10 percent easier to make music. If you want to impact the way a billion people experience music you have to build something for a billion people, Shulman said on the 20VC podcast. And so that is first and foremost giving everybody the joys of creating music and this is a huge departure from how it is now. Its not really enjoyable to make music now [] It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you need to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people dont enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.Suno AI works like other popular generative AI tools, allowing users to generate music by writing text prompts describing the kind of music they want to hear. Also like many other generative AI tools, Suno was trained on heaps of copyrighted music it fed into its training dataset without consent, a practice Suno is currently being sued for by the recording industry.Its not really enjoyable to make music now it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you have to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people dont enjoy the majority of time they spend making pic.twitter.com/zkv73Bhmi9 Mike Patti (@mpatti) January 11, 2025In the interview, Shulman says hes disappointed that the recording industry is suing his company because he believes Suno and other similar AI music generators will ultimately allow more people to make and enjoy music, which will only grow the audience and industry, benefiting everyone. That may end up being true, and could be compared to the history of electronic music, digital production tools, or any other technology that allowed more people to make more music.However, the notion that the majority of people dont enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of music, why people make art, become artists, and the basic human practice of skill building and mastery.Music is a form of creative expression thats old as humanity itself and exists in every culture. Babies will make music by clapping their hands and smashing blocks together long before they can talk, and they dont find that frustrating.Its true that becoming very good at making music takes time. Picking up a guitar for the first time does not immediately produce the joy of perfectly executing a sick guitar solo. You have to start from zero, maybe learn some theory, and build the muscle memory and calluses on your fingers. Some people enjoy this slow process of getting a little better over time and become musicians. Some people dont and instead spend their time becoming good at blogging, carpentry, programming, cutting hair, etc.The interviewer, Harry Stebbings, interjects while Shulman says the making music isnt enjoyable and compares it to running, another obviously challenging thing that many people enjoy getting better at over time.Most people drop out of that pursuit because its hard, and so I think that the people you know that run, this is a highly biased selection of the population that fell in love with it, Shulman said.Its funny and frustrating that Shulman cant (or pretends he cant) connect the dots and understand that the process of learning and challenging yourself is part of what makes music inherently appealing. During the interview, he repeatedly says that Suno can grow the music industry to be as big as the video game industry by making it more accessible. This, of course, ignores the fact that video games are designed to be challenging, that the most popular games in the world are incredibly competitive and difficult to master, and that most video games are essentially the process of slowly getting better at a difficult task.This is not a surprising position for the CEO of a generative AI company to take. It is very possible that generative AI will become a more popular way for producing images, music, and text in the future. We report on how those AI-generated outputs are flooding the internet already, though in most cases that output is derided as slop because its low quality and annoying to users who find it increasingly difficult to find valuable, human-made content on the internet. Pretending that typing a text prompt into Suno makes one a musician inflates the worth of that output and the company.Every single person at Suno has an incredible deep love and respect for music, Shulman said later in the interview.

Ali Riley, a professional soccer player for the Angel City Football Club, lost her home in Los Angeless Palisades Fire. The last image she saw of her house standing was an Amazon package delivery confirmation photo, sent after the neighborhoods mandatory evacuation order.Friday morning, Riley posted a screenshot of an Amazon delivery confirmation photo. The photo showed an Amazon box on a bench in front of a glass door.Last photo we have of the house standing is from this #amazon delivery made after the mandatory evacuation orders, Riley wrote in the post. Rileys home in the Pacific Palisades was included in the first evacuation order issued on January 7, about two hours after the fire started burning. Bewildering! Sincerely hope this driver is ok.Amazon drivers have continued delivering packages in some areas of Los Angeles affected by ongoing wildfires, according to numerous posts by drivers on social media and corroborated by the companys website.Last photo we have of the house standing is from this #amazon delivery made after the mandatory evacuation orders. Bewildering! Sincerely hope this driver is ok #PalisadesWildfire pic.twitter.com/ox3CIRJ7y1 Ali Riley (@RileyThree) January 10, 2025Since Tuesday, uncontrolled fires in the northern parts of Los Angeles have burned down over 12,000 buildings, and thousands of people have lost their homes.Amazon closed the DLX5 warehouse in Glendale on Wednesday, the day after the fires broke out. But Amazons distributed delivery system has led to some confusion. Amazon uses a network of Delivery Service Partners, which are nominally independent businesses who hire delivery drivers. Amazon also delivers packages in Los Angeles with a system called Flex, which functions sort of like DoorDash or Uber in that drivers use their personal vehicles to deliver packages.An Amazon Flex driver posted that they had been instructed to deliver close to the fires on Thursday. The screenshot of their route map showed a road in Westgate Heights, in an area that is now under an evacuation warning and is immediately next to an area under a mandatory evacuation order. A photo they shared taken in their warehouse parking lot showed a massive plume of orange smoke. They said in a comment that they had refused to deliver the packages.While some drivers told 404 Media or posted on driver subreddits and Discords that their routes had been canceled, some said they were given delivery routes close to fires or in areas that were eventually evacuated.Multiple drivers wrote that the DLX5 warehouse in Glendale, for example, had closed on Wednesday. I was still scheduled to work on the 8th, one driver wrote to 404 Media in an online chat. I didnt hear much from management until 30 minutes before our clock in time, that the station had closed due to the fires.The driver posted a photo of a brown smoke-darkened sky above the parking lot of their warehouse.Another Flex driver posted a screenshot of a delivery cancellation notice they got from VAX5, a warehouse in LAs Boyle Heights neighborhood.The block youre scheduled for on 09 January 2025 at 3:30 am at VAX5 has been canceled. Please dont come to the delivery station. This cancellation is due to circumstances beyond your control. Your standing wont be impacted and you will still be paid for the block.Multiple drivers on the Amazon delivery subreddit, r/AmazonDSPDrivers, have written that despite nearby fires and evacuation zones, their work days have gone on as normal over the last week.I deliver east in LA county and today was just another day on the job, one user wrote in a comment on a post asking how drivers in the state were dealing with the fires. Not really that bad out here tho[ugh], but one of our delivery areas is close to level 2 evacuation warning.Another driver wrote, We cover the Burbank/Glendale area, still working. A lot of businesses are closed. Some unprecedented traffic. We were just given N95 masks for mild ashes falling. Glendale sits just west of the Eaton fire, which is the second most destructive fire in the state.A third driver in Santa Monica, about 20 minutes away from the Palisades, wrote last Wednesday that their workload had been reduced because of the fires. They posted a screenshot of a route with 192 packages. I honestly thought theyd send us home since we deliver close to the fires but no they just gave us masks to wear, the driver wrote.Delivering in wildfire conditions can be dangerous even if you arent close to the source of the fire itself. In 2023, New York City was enveloped in smoke from Canadian wildfires, and the citys air quality was categorized as hazardous. Delivery drivers at the time said they had spent their whole workday coughing. As of Sunday, Los Angeles air quality was poor.The driver subreddits are also full of people discussing whether they would get paid for canceled routes, and screenshots of drivers talking to Amazon support. In many cases, Amazon appears to be paying drivers for routes cancelled because of the fires.Amazon spokesperson Montana MacLachlan told 404 Media in a statement that the company was supplying drivers with N95 masks and was monitoring the air quality in the area.If [the air quality index] is over a certain threshold for extended timeframes as defined by Cal OSHA, we have mechanisms in place to reduce time on the road for drivers, MacLachlan said. If its still deemed safe to be on the road, we suggest DSPs [delivery service partners] advise their drivers to keep vehicle windows closed and to run the A/C on high with air recirculating, out of an abundance of caution.In a blog post written two days after the fires began burning, the company wrote that its customers would likely experience delays due to the temporary closing of some Amazon facilities, and that it would fulfill their orders when its safe to do so from outside the affected regionOur top priority is ensuring the safety of our employees and partners.MacLachlan said Amazon had instructed drivers not to make deliveries in mandatory evacuation zones. Safety is our utmost priority and drivers are encouraged and instructed to never make deliveries if they feel unsafe, and they will never be penalized for it, MacLachlan said. She also said the company was investigating Rileys post about the Amazon package.Were looking into the details of this delivery, MacLachlan said. However, drivers have been instructed to not deliver in evacuation zones, or areas closed to public access. And if a driver arrives at a delivery location and the conditions are not safe to make a delivery, they are not expected to do so, and the drivers performance will not be impacted.

A man uses measuring tape on his waist in California on Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/JoNel Aleccia)2025-01-14T23:50:39Z A group of global experts is proposing a new way to define and diagnose obesity, reducing the emphasis on the controversial body mass index and hoping to better identify people who need treatment for the disease caused by excess body fat. Under recommendations released Tuesday night, obesity would no longer be defined solely by BMI, a calculation of height and weight, but combined with other measurements, such as waist circumference, plus evidence of health problems tied to extra pounds. Obesity is estimated to affect more than 1 billion people worldwide. In the U.S., about 40% of adults have obesity, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The whole goal of this is to get a more precise definition so that we are targeting the people who actually need the help most, said Dr. David Cummings, an obesity expert at the University of Washington and one of the 58 authors of the report published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal. The report introduces two new diagnostic categories: clinical obesity and pre-clinical obesity. People with clinical obesity meet BMI and other markers of obesity and have evidence of organ, tissue or other problems caused by excess weight. That could include heart disease, high blood pressure, liver or kidney disease or chronic severe knee or hip pain. These people would be eligible for treatments, including diet and exercise interventions and obesity medications. People with pre-clinical obesity are at risk for those conditions, but have no ongoing illness, the report says. BMI has long been considered a flawed measure that can over-diagnose or underdiagnose obesity, which is currently defined as a BMI of 30 or more. But people with excess body fat do not always have a BMI above 30, the report notes. And people with high muscle mass football players or other athletes may have a high BMI despite normal fat mass. Under the new criteria, about 20% of people who used to be classified as obese would no longer meet the definition, preliminary analysis suggests. And about 20% of people with serious health effects but lower BMI would now be considered clinically obese, experts said. It wouldnt dramatically change the percentage of people being defined as having obesity, but it would better diagnose the people who really have clinically significant excess fat, Cummings said. The new definitions have been endorsed by more than 75 medical organizations around the world, but its not clear how widely or quickly they could be adopted in practice. The report acknowledges that implementation of the recommendations will carry significant costs and workforce implications. A spokesman for the health insurance trade group AHIP, formerly known as Americas Health Insurance Plans, said its too early at this point to gauge how plans will incorporate these criteria into coverage or other policies. There are practical issues to consider, said Dr. Katherine Saunders, an obesity expert at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-founder of the obesity treatment company FlyteHealth. Measuring waist circumference sounds simple, but protocols differ, many doctors arent trained accurately and standard medical tape measures arent big enough for many people with obesity. In addition, determining the difference between clinical and pre-clinical obesity would require a comprehensive health assessment and lab tests, she noted. For a new classification system to be widely adopted, it would also need to be extremely quick, inexpensive, and reliable, she said.The new definitions are likely to be confusing, said Kate Bauer, a nutrition expert at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The public likes and needs simple messages. I dont think this differentiation is going to change anything, she said. Overhauling the definition of obesity will take time, acknowledged Dr. Robert Kushner, an obesity expert at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and a co-author of the report. This is the first step in the process, he said. I think its going to begin the conversation. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. JONEL ALECCIA JoNel is a national reporter covering food and nutrition. twitter mailto

Forensic service workers carry remains in blue body bags during a rescue operation to rescue miners from below ground in an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein, South Africa, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)2025-01-14T14:15:13Z CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) South African authorities have come under intense scrutiny for their response after civic groups said hundreds of miners have been trapped deep in an abandoned gold mine for months, with more than 100 of them believed to have died of starvation or dehydration.Authorities launched an operation in November to force out the men who were mining illegally at the closed Buffelsfontein Gold Mine by cutting off their food and water supplies from the surface for a period of time. Police say the miners can come out but are refusing for fear of being arrested.But groups representing the miners dispute that and say they are trapped up to 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) below the surface in one of the countrys deepest mines and a proper rescue operation should have started months ago.One group says more than 100 have died and 500 others are still trapped, with many ill and starving. How long have they been underground?Its not clear exactly how long the miners have been underground near the town of Stilfontein, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of Johannesburg. But its certain they have been there since at least November, when police first tried to force them out. Some members of the local community say their relatives have been in the mine for nearly six months, since July.Illegal mining is common in parts of gold-rich South Africa where companies close down mines that are no longer profitable, leaving informal miners to illegally enter them to try and find leftover deposits. Large groups often go underground for months to maximize their profits, taking food, water, generators and other equipment with them, but also relying on others on the surface to send down more supplies. What have authorities done? Police tried to force the miners out last year by cutting off their supplies and dismantling ropes they used to climb down into the mine and a pulley system used for supplies. A Cabinet minister said the aim was to smoke them out and the government would not send help because they were criminals.That tactic is now being fiercely criticized by rights groups. Some of them won a court case in December forcing police and provincial authorities to allow food, water and medicine to be sent down to the miners again. But they say the supplies are not enough for all those who are trapped.Some miners have emerged in the last two months and been arrested. Police say that shows they can come out. But a spokesman for the Mining Affected Communities United in Action group, which is representing the miners and their families, said the miners who did escape undertook a treacherous days-long journey underground to a different shaft, and many are too weak to do that.The police operation at Stilfontein last year was part of a countrywide crackdown on mining gangs known as zama zamas, or hustlers in the Zulu language, that have long been a problem in South Africa. The government estimates that there are about 6,000 abandoned mines and that close to $1 billion is lost annually in revenue due to illicit mining. Whats happening now?A community-led rescue effort began bringing survivors and bodies out of the Buffelsfontein mine on Friday, while authorities started the official rescue and recovery effort on Monday using a cage lowered into the mine.At least 60 bodies have been recovered and more than 90 survivors have been pulled out, police said.But it could take weeks to rescue survivors and bring all the bodies out as the cage can fit less than 10 people. Authorities have also said no official rescue personnel will go down into the mine because it is extremely dangerous. Volunteers from the community who are familiar with the mine have been in the cage as it is dropped deep underground.___AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

A hacker compromised an administrative account on the website for popular game Path of Exile 2, which allowed them to reset the passwords on dozens of players accounts, according to comments from developer Grinding Gear Games (GGG) made during a podcast on Sunday. This access would have given the hacker the ability to steal powerful and rare items from those players, with some players spending hundreds of hours grinding for valuable in-game currency.The news comes after a wave of Path of Exile 2 players complained on the games forums and social media about being hacked and their inventories emptied. The comments also show how the hacker compromised the account shortly before the games launch, seemingly laying in wait for players to build up their stashes of items before pulling off their heist.We totally fucked up here, Path of Exile 2 game director Jonathan Rogers said during a podcast recording with action roleplaying game (ARPG) content creators GhazzyTV and Darth Microtransaction.

Welcome back to the Abstract!This week, its time to demand a new planet. Dont we deserve it? Havent we been good? Fortunately, we may be on the cusp of finally discovering whether the solar system has, indeed, been hiding a massive world up its sleeve. Can you imagine the fight over naming this world, if it actually is discovered? Im already exhausted. Lets just skip the fuss and call it Becky.Then, well hang around the outer system for a while to check in on Pluto and Charon. How did they meet? Violently, it turns out! Next, scientists confirm that saber teeth are extremely efficient at converting living things into dead things. Last, meet Punk and Emo, founding members of the mollusc underground. Its a week of deep space and deep time; enjoy the ride.All I Want for Christmas 2025 is A GIANT PLANETSiraj, Amir et al. Orbit of a Possible Planet X. The Astrophysical Journal.For nearly a decade, scientists have speculated that an undiscovered giant planet lurks in the distant reaches of the solar system. The existence of this unconfirmed Planet X or Planet Nine could explain strange observations of objects far beyond Neptune, known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs).These TNOs appear to be being gravitationally influenced by some unknown entity, though there is a lot of debate about the origin of the anomaliesor whether they are real at all. Planet X is one popular hypothesis, but scientists have also speculated that the anomalies could point to an expansive disk of smaller objects, or even a primordial black hole. The effects may also just be a temporary coincidence that does not require the invocation of some hidden hulking entity.To help constrain these possibilities, scientists have presented new predictions about Planet X, assuming it exists, in part by expanding the sample of TNOs from 11 objects to 51. The results suggest that a hypothetical Planet X would be about 4.4 times as massive as Earth, and occupy an orbit about 300 times farther from the Sun than Earth..Most importantly, the studys projected orbit places Planet X right into the sights of Vera C. Rubin Observatorys Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a major new astronomical facility in Chile. LSST is expected to begin operating later this year, and it will be especially adept at illuminating the here be space dragons parts of our solar system map.Nearly all of the parameter space for the unseen planet proposed here falls within LSSTs field of view and detection limits, so if such a planet exists, it is likely to be discovered early on in the survey, said researchers led by Amir Siraj of Princeton University. LSST will simultaneously reveal whether the observed clustering of distant TNOsis real, an observational selection effect, or a statistical fluke, given the large number of expected TNO discoveries.In other words, we may genuinely be on the cusp of adding a new planet to our solar familyor, perhaps, learning that Planet X was just an astronomical mirage. LSST is poised to answer the riddle, one way or another.Vera Rubin Observatory. Image: Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. QuintIn addition to the exciting prospect, the new study offers other tantalizing predictions. The team found that the planets projected orbit is probably aligned with the plane of the solar system, a result that contrasts with past studies that predicted the planet would orbit at an angle. The angle of the orbit has implications for the origins of the planet; a world aligned to the plane of the solar system is more likely to be a homegrown member of our solar family, whereas a planet with a more inclined orbit could have been gravitationally captured by the Sun after making an interstellar journey from its native star system.Look, were living through an overwhelming time of climate disasters, political strife, and obscene inequities. I really think we deserve a new planet, as a treat. Ill even take a primordial black hole, if thats whats on offer. Given that LSST is not set to start running until the back-end of 2025, it will probably be at least a year before the existence of a planet is confirmed or refuted. But if anyone starts a betting market on this long-sought mystery, put me down for Planet X.Kiss-and-Capture: The Pluto-Charon StoryDenton, C. Adeene et al. Capture of an ancient Charon around Pluto. Nature Geoscience.Speaking of TNOs, lets talk about the most famous of them all: Pluto. This farflung world was the OG Planet Nine before it was officially downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006, a decision that ignited an astronomical culture war. But though Pluto and its moon Charon arent big enough to count as planets, they are giants for TNOs; indeed, the Pluto-Charon system is the largest binary in the known TNO population. (Pluto is about two thirds the size of Earths Moon, and Charon is about half the size of Pluto.)Scientists have long suspected that the system formed in the wake of a collision between two icy bodies billions of years ago, but the dynamics behind this event have defied easy explanation.Now, scientists have developed a new formation model for this system that they call the kiss-and-capture regime. In this scenario, the two parent bodies of Pluto-Charon collided and then kind of just merged together for about 10 to 15 hours, before separating into the distinct bodies we see today.Kiss-and-capture leaves the bodies mostly intact; however, it does result in the resurfacing of Charon and a large portion of Pluto, said researchers led by Adeene Denton of the University of Arizona. The scenario provides a new foundation for the accumulation of geological features observed today, including Charons widespread fracture network and Plutos ancient ridgetrough system, which reflects early and widespread extension.Simulation of kiss-and-capture. Image: Denton, C. Adeene et al.Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer when kisses keep the bodies mostly intact. Given that Pluto has a giant heart-shaped region on its surface, this binary is really shaping up to be the most romantically coded system in the solar system.Brushing Up on Saber TeethPollock, Thalia et al. Functional optimality underpins the repeated evolution of the extreme saber-tooth morphology. Current Biology.You dont need anyone to tell you that saber teeth are rad. They are deadly weapons that grow out of skulls. The allure is self-evident. But just in case you wanted empirical proof to back it up, scientists have now demonstrated that extreme saber teeth are functionally optimal for killing bites, which explains why they have independently evolved at least five times in mammals and mammal ancestors (including gorgonopsians).To assess the advantages of saber teeth versus other canine morphologies, researchers examined 95 teeth from carnivorous mammals, including 25 from saber-toothed animals like Smilodon, Homotherium, and Thylacosmilus. The team concluded that saber teeth optimize puncture performance at the expense of breakage resistance, meaning that these dental daggers evolved to deliver swift death.Study framework. Image: Pollock, Thalia et al.Predatory scenarios for saber-toothed animals favor a killing bite through penetration causing tissue damage and blood loss over the suffocation through clamp-and-hold bite of conical-toothed pantherine felids, such as snow leopards, said researchers led by Tahlia Pollock of the University of Bristol.The most recent saber-toothed cat, Smilodon, went extinct only 10,000 years ago, so our ancestors would have encountered it. In fact, saber-toothed cats may have occasionally preyed on humans. But those iconic canines are no longer spilling blood and severing arteries out there in the wild anywhere, suggesting that the niche(s) they once occupied do not exist in the modern context, according to the study.Its bittersweet to live in an era devoid of saber teeth. While I wouldnt want to see these fatal fangs up close, the world is undoubtedly duller without them.Punk is Dead! LikeReally, Really DeadSutton, Mark et al. New Silurian aculiferan fossils reveal complex early history of Mollusca. Nature.A nice bonus of discovering a new species is that you typically get to name it. Scientists have been having fun with this responsibility for decades, which is why we have spiders called Hotwheels sisyphus, fungus called Spongiforma squarepantsii, and wasps called Aha ha.Now, scientists have continued this tradition with two new mollusc species identified from fossils that date back 430 million years ago. Everyone, meet Punk (Punk ferox) and (Emo vorticaudum).Punk is named for the fancied resemblance of the spicule array to the spiked hairstyles associated with the punk rock movement paired with ferox (Latin) meaning wild, bold, defiant, said researchers led by Mark Sutton of Imperial College London.Emo is named after the emo musical genre related to punk rock, whose exponents canonically bear long bangs or fringes which is reminiscent of the fossilized molluscs exoskeleton, the team added. In addition, Emos anterior valves resemble studded clothing.Reconstructions of Punk (top) and Emo. Image: Dr Mark Sutton, Imperial College London.There you have it: mohawks, devilocks, studs, and other punk culture mainstays were pioneered by rabble-rousing molluscs all the way back in the Silurian period, long before animals ever walkedlet alone crowd-surfedon land.Now all we need is to discover a new species of screeching weasel to really round out the punk biological kingdom.Thanks for reading! See you next week.

Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in support of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in Folsom, Pa., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)2025-01-15T00:11:43Z The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued billionaire Elon Musk, saying he failed to disclose his ownership of Twitter stock in a timely manner in early 2022, before buying the social media site. As a result, the SEC alleges, Musk was able to underpay by at least $150 million for shares he bought after he should have disclosed his ownership of more than 5% of Twitters shares. Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 and later renamed it X. Musk started amassing Twitter shares in early 2022, and by March of that year, he owned more than 5%. At this point, the complaint says, he was required by law to disclose his ownership, but he failed to do so until April 4, 11 days after the report was due. Representatives for X and Musk did not immediately return a message for comment. After Musk signed a deal to acquire Twitter in April 2022, he tried to back out of it, leading the company to sue him to force him to go through with the acquisition. The has SEC said that starting in April 2022, it authorized an investigation into whether any securities laws were broken in connection with Musks purchases of Twitter stock and his statements and SEC filings related to the company. Before it filed the lawsuit, the SEC went to court in an attempt to compel Musk to testify as part of an investigation into his purchase of Twitter. The SECs current chair, Gary Gensler, plans to step down from his post on Jan. 20 and it is not clear if the new administration will continue the lawsuit. BARBARA ORTUTAY Ortutay writes about social media and the internet for The Associated Press. mailto

A man walks across the street from a Capital One location in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)2025-01-14T20:34:59Z NEW YORK (AP) A U.S. watchdog is suing Capital One for allegedly misleading consumers about its offerings for high-interest savings accounts and cheating customers out of more than $2 billion in lost interest payments as a result.In a complaint filed Tuesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took aim at Capital Ones promises and handling of its 360 Savings accounts. Despite promoting 360 Savings as an account that provides one of nations highest interest rates, the CFPB alleges that Capital One froze its rate at a low level for at least several years, even as rates rose nationally.At the same time, the CFPB adds, the bank created 360 Performance Savings, which saw a much higher rate grow. But the agency says that Capital One did not notify 360 Savings accountholders about this new offering and instead worked to keep them in the dark alleging that the company marketed the products similarly to obscure their distinction and forbade employees from proactively telling those with 360 Savings accounts about 360 Performance Savings. These actions mean Capital One illegally avoided paying billions in interest to millions of consumers, the CFPB wrote in its Tuesday complaint. The agency says its seeking to impose civil penalties and provide financial relief to those impacted. Banks should not be baiting people with promises they cant live up to, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a prepared statement. In response, Capital One said that it strongly disagreed with the CFPBs allegations and plans to vigorously defend itself in court. The banking giant added that it was deeply disappointed to see the CFPB continue its recent pattern of filing eleventh-hour lawsuits ahead of a change in administration.Capital One also maintained that all of its 360 banking products offer great rates and have always been available in just minutes to all new and existing customers without any of the usual industry restrictions. According to disclosures on the Capital Ones website, 360 Savings accounts currently carry an interest rate of just under 0.50%. 360 Performance Savings accounts have an interest rate of about 3.74%.That means the rate for 360 Performance Savings is nearly 7.5 times higher than that of 360 Savings today. But the CFPB says theyve been farther apart in the past. In July 2024, the agency notes in Tuesdays complaint, the 360 Performance Savings rate was more than 14 times that of 360 Savings.The CFPB alleges that Capital One kept the rate for its 360 Savings accounts at 0.30% between December 2020 through at least August 2024. The rate for 360 Performance Savings, by contrast, climbed from 0.40% in April 2022 to as high as 4.35% at the start of 2024 falling slightly to 4.25% by August, the agency noted Tuesday.The CFPBs complaint against Capital One comes less than one week before the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. Despite the change in administration, some say this litigation could still survive. Analyst commentary from TD Cowen on Tuesday noted that the CFPB still brought enforcement actions under Trumps first term, for example, although such litigation may also be easier to settle under the incoming administration. WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Grantham-Philips is a business reporter who covers trending news for The Associated Press. She is based in New York. twitter mailto

Subscribe Join the newsletter to get the latest updates. Success Great! Check your inbox and click the link. Error Please enter a valid email address. Meta deleted nonbinary and trans themes for its Messenger app this week, around the same time that the company announced it would change its rules to allow users to declare that LGBTQ+ people are mentally ill, 404 Media has learned.Metas Messenger app allows users to change the color scheme and design of their chat windows with different themes. For example, there is currently a Squid Game theme, a Minecraft theme, a Basketball theme, and a Love theme, among many others.These themes regularly change, but for the last few years they have featured a trans theme and a nonbinary theme, which had color schemes that matched the trans pride flag and the non-binary pride flag. Meta did not respond to a request for comment about why the company removed these themes, but the change comes right as Mark Zuckerbergs company is publicly and loudly shifting rightward to more closely align itself with the views of the incoming Donald Trump administration. 404 Media reported Thursday that many employees are protesting the anti LGBTQ+ changes and that its total chaos internally at Meta right now because of the changes.Do you work at Meta? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +1 202 505 1702. The trans theme was announced for Pride Month in June 2021, and the nonbinary theme was announced in June 2022 in blog posts that highlighted Metas apparent support for trans and nonbinary people. Both of these posts are no longer online. Other blogs about updates to Messenger have been moved over from the old website they were originally published on to new URLs on the Meta newsroom, but these two blog posts have not.This June and beyond, we want people to #ConnectWithPride because when we show up as the most authentic version of ourselves, we can truly connect with people, the post announcing the trans theme originally said. Starting today, in support of the LGBTQ+ community and allies, Messenger is launching new expression features and celebrating the artists and creators who not only developed them, but inspire us each and every day.

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss weird fake furniture and shared reality (or the lack thereof).SAM: It has been such a busy week I forgot its Friday until I woke up this morning, so Ill be brief with a quick couple of thoughts about Googles AI Overview, which I wrote about serving bizarre results that suggested people pass a Magic Wand vibrator to a child like a talking stick for counseling purposes.Emanuel found the thread on Reddit where someone posted a screenshot of the result they got with the search term magic wand pregnancy. He was getting the same result as that person; I assume both he and OP were doing a lot of Googling about pregnancy related topics, as Emanuels wife just had a kid and this person was clearly looking for answers about what sorts of buzz buzz were safe to throw down with while pregnant. When I searched with the same term, I didnt get that answer, and couldnt replicate it. I could get the other one mentioned in the storysearching what is a magic wand showed me an AI Overview result about magicians small sticks (ouch) but not the pregnancy one. I assumed, and mentioned in the story, that this is because of the aforementioned Googling about babies; Google personalizes search based on activity, and parents are a valuable market for advertisers.

This articlewas producedwith support from WIRED.Some of the worlds most popular apps are likely being co-opted by rogue members of the advertising industry to harvest sensitive location data on a massive scale, with that data ending up with a location data company whose subsidiary has previously sold global location data to US law enforcement.The thousands of apps, included in hacked files from location data company Gravy Analytics, include everything from games like Candy Crush to dating apps like Tinder, to pregnancy tracking and religious prayer apps across both Android and iOS. Because much of the collection is occurring through the advertising ecosystemnot code developed by the app creators themselvesthis data collection is likely happening both without users and even app developers knowledge.For the first time publicly, we seem to have proof that one of the largest data brokers selling to both commercial and government clients, appears to be acquiring their data from the online advertising bid stream, rather than code embedded into the apps themselves, Zach Edwards, senior threat analyst at cybersecurity firm Silent Push, and who has followed the location data industry closely, tells 404 Media after reviewing some of the data.The data provides a rare glimpse inside the world of real-time bidding (RTB). Historically, location data firms paid app developers to include bundles of code that collected the location data of their users. Many companies have turned instead to sourcing location information through the advertising ecosystem, where companies bid to place ads inside apps. But a side effect is that data brokers can listen in on that process, and harvest the location of peoples mobile phones.This is a nightmare scenario for privacy because not only does this data breach contain data scraped from the RTB systems, but there's some company out there acting like a global honey badger, doing whatever it pleases with every piece of data that comes its way, Edwards adds.

Meta employees are furious with the companys newly announced content moderation changes that will allow users to say that LGBTQ+ people have mental illness, according to internal conversations obtained by 404 Media and interviews with five current employees. The changes were part of a larger shift Mark Zuckerberg announced Monday to do far less content moderation on Meta platforms. I am LGBT and Mentally Ill, one post by an employee on an internal Meta platform called Workplace reads. Just to let you know that Ill be taking time out to look after my mental health.On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be getting back to our roots around free expression to allow more speech and fewer mistakes. The company said were getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity, and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate. A review of Metas official content moderation policies show, specifically, that some of the only substantive changes to the policy were made to specifically allow for allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation. It has long been known that being LGBTQ+ is not a sign of mental illness, and the false idea that sexuality or gender identification is a mental illness has long been used to stigmatize and discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.Earlier this week, we reported that Meta was deleting internal dissent about Zuckerberg's appointment of UFC President Dana White to the Meta board of directors.Do you work at Meta? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +1 202 505 1702.

Icons for the smartphone apps Xiaohongshu and TikTok are seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)2025-01-14T16:36:17Z HONG KONG (AP) As the threat of a TikTok ban looms, U.S. TikTok users are flocking to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu making it the top downloaded app in the U.S.Some of the TikTok refugees, as they call themselves, say the TikTok alternative, a Chinese app, is being chosen in protest of the TikTok ban.The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule on a law that stipulates TikTok must be divested from its Chinese parent company ByteDance by Jan. 19 or face a ban in the U.S. over national security concerns.After the justices seemed inclined to let the law stand, masses of TikTok users began creating accounts on Xiaohongshu, including hashtags such as #tiktokrefugee or #tiktok to their posts. Since Monday, Xiaohongshu has become the top downloaded free app on Apples App Store in the U.S.Xiaohongshu, which in English means Little Red Book is a Chinese social media app that combines e-commerce, short video and posting functions. The app has gained traction in China and other regions and countries with a Chinese diaspora such as Malaysia and Taiwan in recent years, racking up 300 million monthly active users, a majority of whom are young women who use it as a de-facto search engine for product, travel and restaurant recommendations, as well as makeup and skincare tutorials. The #tiktokrefugee topic has racked up over 160,000 posts on Xiaohongshu, many of which are videos of American users introducing themselves and asking for tips on how to navigate the app, which they are calling RedNote. Xiaohongshu did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.Alexis Garman is a 21-year-old TikTok user in Oklahoma with nearly 20,000 followers. She joined Xiaohongshu on Tuesday after seeing others do the same. Garman said she is not particularly concerned about data privacy. What I experienced on (Xiaohongshu) so far has been really great and inviting, said Garman, who has left two posts on the platform. I like your makeup, a Xiaohongshu user from Beijing comments one of her posts, and Garman thanks them in a reply. A user from the southwestern province of Sichuan commented I am your Chinese spy please surrender your personal information or the photographs of your cat (or dog).TikTok possibly getting banned doesnt just take away an app, it takes away jobs, friends and community, Garman said. Personally, the friends and bond I have with my followers will now be gone.Other American users who have joined Xiaohongshu have been outspoken about joining the app in protest of the possible TikTok ban.An American user with the handle Definitelynotchippy made a video addressed to the Chinese users of Xiaohongshu, explaining why Americans are downloading the app.The reason that our government is telling us that they are banning TikTok is because theyre insisting that its owned by you guys, the Chinese people, government, whatever, she said. And theyre trying to make us think that you guys are bad.A lot of us are smarter than that though so we decided to piss off our government and download an actual Chinese app, she said. We call that trolling in short were here to spite our government and to learn about China and hang out with you guys. Chinese users on Xiaohongshu have so far welcomed American users, with some offering to teach them Chinese. Others have offered tips on navigating the Chinese internet, warning the new users not to mention or discuss anything considered politically sensitive as they may get censored. In some cases, Chinese students have asked the Americans for help with their English homework.Like most apps and internet services in China, Xiaohongshu is subject to censorship. Platforms typically enforce censorship by deleting or shadowbanning content that Beijing deems politically sensitive. Large Western platforms, such as Google and Facebook, are blocked in China.Though Xiaohongshu has seen an influx of users, it is not clear if the app could replace TikTok, which has created an ecosystem that allows for e-commerce and advertising. Before TikTok was under threat, the overwhelming majority of Xiaohongshus users were Chinese, and the app, which lacks translation features, is not optimized for an international user base. Even though U.S.-China tensions remain high over trade and national security, many Chinese and American Xiaohongshu users have pursued friendly cultural exchanges on the app. Those interactions range from live chat rooms to comments on posts.A TikTok refugee who goes by the name Amanda posted a video on how happy she was in finding the Xiaohongshu app, saying that Chinese users have been welcoming. Under her post, a Chinese user comments: We are not enemy, we are human beings (living) in one world!We also never had a chance to communicate with you foreign guys directly sharing the same app or platform, so the (feeling is) mutual since you come on this app, another says.In a comment posted in Chinese, Amanda, the TikTok refugee said she would work on posting captions and subtitles in Chinese in the future.I am so happy to talk to Chinese people and learn about your culture and experiences, she said. ZEN SOO Soo reports on technology and business in China and across Asia for The Associated Press. She is based in Hong Kong. twitter mailto

Theres a video going viral this week of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles with a wildfire raging behind it, letters glowing in the blaze. Its a powerful scene, up there with the burning McDonalds sign in imagery thats come out of this weeks devastating fires spreading across LA.Unfortunately goes hard pic.twitter.com/Hzglibzs4t Joseph (@CaudilloXIV) January 9, 2025I've seen several people sharing this same video with shades of shock and heartbreak. But its AI-generated. When it was posted, according to a Community Note on one of the posts, a look at the Hollywood sign livestreams showed the sign was fine; as of writing, the feeds are down, but Hollywoodsign.org, a website that runs a live webcam pointed at the sign, told fact-checking site Snopes "Griffith Park is temporarily closed as a safety precaution, but the Sign itself is not affected and is secure and the cameras will slowly but surely come back up."Another viral image of the Hollywood sign burning is also AI: All reports that the Hollywood sign is on fire are false. This is a AI generated image. #Hollywood #California #LosAngeles #HollywoodHills #RunyonCanyon #PalisadesWildfire #Palisades #PacificPalisades #Curson #lafires #wildfires #BreakingNews #WorldNews #HollywoodSign pic.twitter.com/HOzVe2bCHm Media Insider (@_MediaInsider) January 9, 2025Then theres X poster Kevin Daltons image, which he later admitted was made with Xs Grok generative AI tool for now, showing what I can only assume he imagines as antifa in all black descending on a burned-out neighborhood to loot it. The remains of Pacific Palisades will get picked clean tonight, he wrote. (Daltons been making AI paint him little fantasy pictures of Trump firing California governor Gavin Newsom, so this is a big week for him.)People are also obsessively generating Grok images of Newsom fiddling in front of fires or saving goldfish (???).Grok nailed it. Gavin Nerosome playing the fiddle while California burns. pic.twitter.com/BlfaLEcFjW Liekitisnt (@liekitisnot) January 8, 2025Grok showing Gavin Newsome saving a goldfish during the fires pic.twitter.com/mX3qb61M5q KillaKirby (@KillaKirby1) January 9, 2025The very real footage and images coming out of Southern California this week are so surreal theyre hard to believe, with entire miles of iconic coastline, whole neighborhoods, and massive swaths of the Pacific Palisades and LAs east side turned to ash (and still burning as of writing).Interestingly, a lot of this weeks news cycle has turned to blaming AI and its energy usage as contributing to climate change. But others are not wasting an opportunity for boosterism. In a stunning show of credulity, British-owned digital newspaper The Express ran a story with the headline Five dead in LA fires as residents think AI tech could have prevented disaster based on a quote from one evacuating 24 year old they found who took the opportunity in front of a reporter to breathlessly shill for AI, as an AI industry worker himself. [Los Angeles] fire and police departments dont invest in technology [sic] hopefully more people build AI robotics solutions for monitoring or help. Instead a lot of people in ai are building military solutions. Aka putting a gun on top of a robot dog, Chevy Chase Canyon resident William Lee told The Express. Robotics operated fire response systems. It costs $6-18k for AI humanoid robots. LAFD salary is approx $100k/yr 3,500 firefighters. We can slowly integrate robotics to put less lives at risk, but also for assistance."That guy was so close to saying something prescient its painful: Robot dogs are a stupid waste of taxpayer money, and not a hypothetical one, as LA approved $278,000 for a surveillance robot dog toy for the LAPD in 2023. But the Los Angeles Fire Departments budget was cut by nearly $17.6 million this fiscal year, while giving even more money to the police departments already massive budget: the LAPD received a $2.14 billion budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, representing an 8.1% increase.Humanoid robots as an absurd proposition aside, I dont want to write off all forms of new technology as useless in natural disasters. Machine learning and machine vision technology seem to show promise in helping detect, track, or prevent wildfires: Last week, University of California San Diegos ALERTCalifornia camera network alerted fire officials of an anomaly spotted on video, and firefighters were reportedly able to contain the blaze to less than a quarter acre. But companies taking investment to solve wildfires are also profiting off of a crisis thats only getting worse, with no promise that their solutions will improve the situation.OCFA RESPONDS TO VEGETATION FIRE DETECTED EXCLUSIVELY BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE A FIRST IN AGENCY HISTORYIrvine, CA In December 2024, the OCFA successfully utilized artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and >>> pic.twitter.com/mgo4HGFcGv OCFA PIO (@OCFireAuthority) January 3, 2025Overwhelmingly, AI is being crammed down the publics throats as a tool for generating some of the dumbest bullshit imaginable. That includes misinformation like weve seen with these fires, but also bottomless ugliness, laughably terrible bots, sexual abuse and violence. And its sold to us as both our inevitable savior and the next world-ending existential crisis by people with billions earned on the theft of human creativity, and billions more yet to gain.AI might help solve tough problems related to climate change and things like wildfires, water scarcity, and energy consumption. But in the meantime, data centers are projected to guzzle 6.6 billion cubic meters of water by 2027, in service of churning out sloppy, morbid fantasies about tragedies within tragedies.

In 2020, after walking by refrigerated trailers full of the bodies of people who died during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic one too many times, my fianc and I decided that it would maybe be a good idea to get out of New York City for a while. Together with our dog, we spent months driving across the country and eventually made it to Los Angeles, where we intended to stay for two weeks. We arrived just in time for the worst COVID spike since the one we had just experienced in New York. It turned out we couldnt and didnt want to leave. Our two week stay has become five years.While debating whether we were going to move to Los Angeles full time, my partner and I joked that we had to choose between the fire coast and the water coast. New York City had been getting pummeled by a series of tropical storms and downpours, and vast swaths of California were fighting some of the most devastating wildfires it had ever seen. We settled on the fire coast, mostly to try something new.It turns out this was a false choice. Since weve moved to Los Angeles, we have experienced the heaviest rains in the citys recorded history, the first hurricane to ever trigger a tropical storm warning in Los Angeles, and, of course, the fires. New York City, meanwhile, has had both tropical storms and this summer fought an out-of-control brushfire in Prospect Park after a record drought. Both coasts are the fire coast, and the water coast. We have been very lucky, and very privileged. Our apartment is in Venice Beach, which is probably not going to burn down. This time, we will not lose our lives, our things, our memories. We had the money and the ability to evacuate from Los Angeles on Wednesday morning after it became clear to us that we should not stay. What is happening is a massive tragedy for the city of Los Angeles, the families who have lost their homes, businesses and schools.I am writing this to try to understand my place in a truly horrifying event, and to try to understand how we are all supposed to process the ongoing slow- and fast-moving climate change-fueled disasters that we have all experienced, are experiencing, and will definitely experience in the future. My group chats and Instagram stories are full of my friends saying that they are fine, followed by stories and messages explaining that actually, they are not fine. Stories that start with were safe, thank you for asking have almost uniformly been followed with circumstances have changed, we have evacuated Los Angeles. Almost all of my friends in the city have now left their homes to go somewhere safer; some people I know have lost their homes.I knew when I moved to Los Angeles that we would to some extent experience fires and earthquakes. I live in a tsunami hazard zone. I also know that there is no place that is safe from climate change and climate-fueled disaster, as we saw last year when parts of North Carolina that were considered to be safer from climate change were devastated by Hurricane Helene.We are living in The Cool Zone, and, while I love my life, am very lucky, and have been less directly affected by COVID, political violence, war, and natural disasters than many people, I am starting to understand that maybe this is all taking a toll. Firefighters and people who have lost their homes are experiencing true hell. What I am experiencing is something more like the constant mundanity of dystopia that surrounds the direct horror but is decidedly also bad. I knew it would be windy earlier this week because I check the surf forecast every day on an app called Surfline, which has cameras and weather monitoring up and down nearly every coast in the world. The Santa Ana windsa powerful wind phenomenon I learned about only after moving to Californiawould be offshore, meaning they would blow from the land out to sea. This is somewhat rare in Los Angeles and also makes for very good, barreling waves. I was excited.I had a busy day Tuesday and learned about the fire because the Surfline cameras near the fire were down. In fact, you can see what it looked like as the fires overtook the camera at Sunset Point here: 0:00 /0:18 1 The camera livestream was replaced with a note saying this camera is offline due to infrastructure issues caused by local wildfires. The surf forecast did not mention anything about a fire. 0:00 /0:13 1 I walked out to the beach and could see the mountains on fire, the smoke plumes blowing both out to sea and right over me. The ocean was indeed firingmeaning the waves were goodand lots of people were surfing. A few people were milling around the beach taking photos and videos of the fire like I was. By the time the sun started setting, there were huge crowds of people watching the fire. It was around this time that I realized I was having trouble breathing, my eyes were watering, and my throat was scratchy. My family locked ourselves into our bedroom with an air purifier running. Last week, we realized that we desperately needed to replace the filter, but we did not. A friend told us the air was better near them, so we went to their house for dinner.While we were having dinner, the size of the fire doubled, and a second one broke out. Our phones blared emergency alerts. We downloaded Watch Duty, which is a nonprofit wildfire monitoring app. Most of the wildfire-monitoring cameras in the Pacific Palisades had been knocked offline; the ones in Santa Monica pointing towards the Palisades showed a raging fire.Every few minutes the app sent us push notifications that the fire was rapidly expanding, that firefighters were overwhelmed, that evacuation orders had expanded and were beginning to creep toward our neighborhood. I opened Instagram and learned that Malibus Reel Inn, one of our favorite restaurants, had burned to the ground.Apple Intelligence began summarizing all of the notifications I was getting from my various apps. Multiple wildfires in Los Angeles, causing destruction and injuries, from the neighborhood watch app Citizen, which I have only because of an article I did about the last time there was a fire in Pacific Palisades. Apple Intelligences summary of a group chat Im in: Saddened by situation; Instagram shared. From a friend: "Wants to chat about existential questions." A summary from the LA Times: Over 1,000 structures burned in LA Count wildfires; firefighter were overwhelmed. From Nextdoor: Restaurants destroyed.Earlier on Tuesday, I texted my mom yes we are fine, it is very far away from us. It is many miles from us. We have an air purifier. Its fine. I began to tell people who asked that the problem for us was "just" the oppressive smoke, and the fact that we could not breathe. By the time we were going to bed, it became increasingly clear that it was not necessarily fine, and that it might be best if we left. I opened Bluesky and saw an image of a Cybertruck sitting in front of a burnt out mansion. A few posts later, I saw the same image but a Parental Advisory sticker had been photoshopped onto it. I clicked over to X and saw that people were spamming AI generated images of the fire.We began wondering if we should drive toward cleaner air. We went home and tried to sleep. I woke up every hour because I was having trouble breathing. As the sun was supposed to be rising in the morning, it became clear that it was being hidden by thick clouds of smoke.Within minutes of waking up, we knew that we should leave. That we would be leaving. I opened Airbnb and booked something. We do not have a Go Bag, but we did have time to pack. I aimlessly wandered around my apartment throwing things into bags and boxes, packing things that I did not need and leaving things that I should have brought. In the closet, I pushed aside our boxes of COVID tests to get to our box of N-95 masks. I packed a whole microphone rig because I need to record a podcast Friday.I emailed the 404 Media customers who bought merch and told them it would be delayed because I had to leave my home and cannot mail them. I canceled meetings and calls with sources who I wanted to talk to.Our next-door neighbor texted us, saying that she would actually be able to make it to a meeting next week with our landlord with a shared beef were having with them. Originally she thought she would have to work during the time the meeting was scheduled. She works at a school in the Palisades. Her school burned down. So had her sisters house. I saw my neighbor right before we left. I told her I would be back on Friday. I had a flashback to my last day in the VICE office in March 2020, when they sent us home for COVID. I told everyone I would see them in a week or two. Some of those people I never saw again.Image: Jason KoeblerA friend texted me to tell me that the place we had been on a beautiful hike a few weeks ago was on fire: sad and glad we went, he said. A friend in Richmond, Virginia texted to ask if I was OK. I told him yes but that it was very scary. I asked him how he was doing. He responded, We had a bad ice storm this week and that caused a power outage at water treatment that then caused server crashes and electrical equipment to get flooded. The whole city has been without water since Monday. He told me he was supposed to come to Los Angeles for work this weekend. He was canceling his flight.A group chat asked me if I was OK. I told them that I did not want to be dramatic but that we were having a hard time but were ultimately safe. I explained some of what we had been doing and why. The chat responded saying that its insane how you start this by saying it sounds more dramatic than it is, only to then describe multiple horrors. I am mostly just glad you are safe.We got in the car. We started driving. I watched a driverless Waymo navigate streets in which the traffic lights were out because the power was out. My fianc took two work meetings on the road, tethered to her phone, our dog sitting on her lap. We stopped at a fast food drive through.Once we were out of Los Angeles, I stopped at a Best Buy to get an air purifier. On my phone, I searched the reviews for the one they had on sale. I picked one out. The employee tried to sell me an extended warranty plan. I said no thank you, got back in the car, and kept driving away from the fire. I do not know when we will be able to go back.

When Googles AI Overview search feature launched in May, it was generally regarded as a mess. It told people to eat glue and rocks, libeled newsworthy figures, plagiarized journalists work, and was so bad Google added a feature to turn it off entirely. In the nearly 10 months since AI Overview launched, its still getting things wrong, like telling people that vibrators can be used for childrens behavioral therapy.As discovered by Reddit user clist186, searching for magic wand pregnancy returns a bizarre answer about creativity with children as a fun and engaging activity alongside an image of a Magic Wand vibrator, one of the most popular and universally recognized sex toys in the world:The Magic Wand tool is a creative way for parents to identify behavioral changes they want to make, including those related to pregnancy. It can be used to make assessment fun and engaging, especially for long-time WIC clients. Here's how the Magic Wand tool works:Parents describe what parenting challenges they would change by waving a magic wand. The responses of both parents and older children can be used to start discussions. The Magic Wand tool can be purchased online or at a local store.Making this even weirder, I dont get the parenting-related AI Overview result when I search that term, but 404's Emanuel Maiberg (famously, a parent himself) does.AI Overview, which is powered by Googles Gemini model, provides links to where the information comes from as part of its results; In this case, its summarizing a document from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services about a thought exercise where a therapist passes clients a magic wand that helps them imagine an ideal scenario. This isnt referring to passing a Hitachi to a child, but the AI doesnt know that.In another result for the search term "what is a magic wand," AI Overview pairs a photo of a Magic Wand sex toy with a description of a magicians trick:A magic wand is a small stick used by magicians to perform tricks and make magic happen. It's often short, black, and has a white tip. Magicians use magic wands as part of their misdirection and to make things hap- pen like growing, vanishing, moving, or dis- playing a will of their own. For example, a classic magic trick involves making a bouquet of flowers appear from the wand's tip.This Overview result does eventually get around to describing the Magic Wand in question, though: Magic wand may also refer to a brand of massager: Hitachi Magic Wand. A massaging device that was first listed for business use in 1968 and became available to the public in the 1970s. It's designed to relieve pain and tension, soothe sore muscles and nerves, and aid in rehabilitation after sports injuries.In a company blog about AI Overview, Google said the feature uses multi-step reasoning capabilities to help with increasingly complex questions. The search term magic wand pregnancy isnt particularly complex; most people with basic reading comprehension skills would probably put it together that the term is looking for answers about using one of the worlds most popular sex toys while pregnant. But Gemini took the weirdest route possible instead, pulling from an obscure document about a talk therapy technique that happened to contain the phrases magic wand and pregnancy.Searching with a full, natural language query can you use a magic wand while pregnant returns a more nuanced AI-generated response that considers the searcher might have several different kinds of wands in mind:Last year, Reddit signed a $60 million per year contract with Google in exchange for licensing users content to train Googles AI models. Adult content, including sex education and conversations about sex toys, are still allowed on Reddit as one of the few platforms that hasnt banned sex entirely, and pregnancy-related questions are massively popular there. (There are dozens of questions specifically about using vibrators while pregnant.) It makes sense that phrasing the search term as a question rather than a set of keywords would turn up a better response from the AI: its what the AI was trained on.Thankfully, most people searching magic wand pregnancy are probably able to use their human brains to deduce that they shouldnt use a vibrator as a talking stick in group therapy with kids. But its yet another example of AI being shoved into every product and tool that adds more work, friction, and confusion to the experience of being online, instead of less as tech companies constantly promise.Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In early December I got the kind of tip weve been getting a lot over the past year. A reader had noticed a post from someone on Reddit complaining about a very graphic sexual ad appearing in their Instagram Reels. Ive seen a lot of ads for scams or shady dating sites recently, and some of them were pretty suggestive, to put it mildly, but the ad the person on Reddit complained about was straight up a close up image of a vagina.The reader who tipped 404 Media did exactly what I would have done, which is look up the advertiser in Facebooks Ad Library, and found that the same advertiser was running around 800 ads across all of Metas platforms in November, the vast majority of which are just different close-up images of vaginas. When clicked, the ad takes users to a variety of sites for "confidential dating or hot dates in your area. Facebook started to remove some of these ads on December 13, but at the time of writing, most of them were still undetected by its moderators according to the Ad Library.Like I said, we get a lot of tips like this these days. We get so many, in fact, that we dont write stories about them unless theres something novel or that our readers need to know about them. Facebook taking money to put explicit porn in its ads despite it being a clear violation of its own policies is not new, but definitely a new low for the company and a clear indicator of Facebooks fuck it approach to content moderation, and moderation of its ads specifically.

The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)2025-01-15T05:20:27Z When the Palisades Fire broke out in Los Angeles last Tuesday, Hollywoods awards season was in full swing. The Golden Globes had transpired less than 48 hours earlier and a series of splashy awards banquets followed in the days after.But the enormity of the destruction in Southern California has quickly snuffed out all festiveness in the movie industrys high season of celebration. At one point, the flames even encroached on the hillside above the Dolby Theatre, the home of the Academy Awards.The fires have struck at the very heart of a movie industry still trying to stabilize itself after years of pandemic, labor turmoil and technological upheaval. Not for the first time this decade, the Oscars are facing the question of: Should the show go on? And if it does, what do they mean now?With ALL due respect during Hollywoods season of celebration, I hope any of the networks televising the upcoming awards will seriously consider NOT televising them and donating the revenue they would have gathered to victims of the fires and the firefighters, Hacks star Jean Smart, a recent Globe winner, wrote on Instagram. The Oscars remain as scheduled, but its certain that they will be transformed due to the wildfires, and that most of the red-carpet pomp that typically stretches between now and then will be curtailed if not altogether canceled. With so many left without a home by the fires, theres scant appetite for the usual self-congratulatory parades of the season. Focus has turned, instead, to what the Oscars might symbolize for a traumatized Los Angeles. The Oscars have never meant less, but, at the same time, they might be more important than ever as a beacon of perseverance for the reeling movie capital. The film academy on Monday for the second time delayed its nominations announcement. Nominations will now be announced virtually on Feb. 23. The academy also canceled its annual nominees luncheon and said its planning to honor frontline workers and to support relief efforts. We will get through this together and bring a sense of healing to our global film community, vowed Bill Kramer, academy chief executive, and Janet Yang, academy president.The fires, one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, continue. The ongoing nature of the crisis, which has killed at least 25 people, has made remaking well-laid plans a moving target. The Critics Choice Awards have been postponed. Nominations to the Producers Guild Awards have been delayed twice with no new date set. On Tuesday, the guild established a fund to support producers affected by the fires. The 67th Grammy Awards, scheduled to be held Feb. 2 in downtown Los Angeles, are going forward, albeit with significant changes. Harvey Mason jr., Recording Academy chief executive and Board of Trustees chair Tammy Hurt said this years Grammys will carry a renewed sense of purpose: raising additional funds to support wildfire relief efforts and honoring the bravery and dedication of first responders who risk their lives to protect ours. Some telethon-like element also seems sure to accompany the Oscars. In recent days, many throughout the industry have voiced suggestions for how the broadcast could be reconsidered. A not dissimilar process happened during the 2021 Oscars, which were postponed to late April because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Oscars have been moved a few times throughout history, including in 1938, when the show was delayed a week due to historic flooding in Los Angeles.For the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the wildfires have been acutely personal. Four of the academys 55-person board of governors lost their homes, according to The Hollywood Reporter, including producer Lynette Howell Taylor, visual effects governor Brooke Breton, sound branch governor Mark P. Stoeckinger and animation branch governor Jinko Gotoh. The Pacific Palisades, which was largely destroyed by the fires, was home to many stars and executives.For potential nominees, this would normally be when theyd be at their most active, campaigning in Q&As and other events tied to the all-important nominations voting period. All of that has ground to a halt. Isabella Rossellini, whos favored to be nominated for best supporting actress for her performance in Conclave, on Instagram posted a photograph of an Oscar lying in ashes. The photo turned out to be fake, but it accurately captured Hollywoods current mood. Several high-profile TV series were forced to pause production because of the fires but notably few movie shoots were affected. That, in itself, is a reflection of a Hollywood that has seen the majority of film production seek tax incentives in other states. Work throughout the film and TV industry hasnt rebounded following the 2023 strikes, leaving large numbers of crew members unemployed. So quiet are studio lots that actress Natalie Morales (Greys Anatomy) has advocated for studios, in the wake of the fires, to turn empty soundstages into temporary classrooms, erected by out-of-work craftspeople, for children whose schools burned down. Its a reminder that many in the film business need all the work they can find, including all the jobs that accompany the Oscars. Not only are the Academy Awards a vital spotlight on a wide swath of movies that otherwise might struggle to find audiences, the awards provide a lot of jobs to an awards season industrial complex of workers, stylists and vendors.With so many out of work before the fires hit, Silvina Knight, an Emmy-winning makeup artist, calls this latest crisis another setback a big one. She is currently working on Suits LA, one of the series that stopped filming due to the fires.Im not sure how people are going to feel about getting dressed up and when they just lost everything, said Knight of the Oscars. But I dont know, it might be a show of force when we come back. Yeah, this is tragic, but we are all coming together. Even driving home the other night, motorists were being very considerate of each other, which is unusual for Los Angeles. JAKE COYLE Coyle has been a film critic and covered the movie industry for The Associated Press since 2013. He is based in New York City. twitter mailto LINDSEY BAHR Bahr has been a film writer and critic for The Associated Press since 2014. twitter instagram mailto

A California Department of Corrections hand crew works containment lines ahead of the Palisades Fire Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025 in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)2025-01-15T05:17:35Z LOS ANGELES (AP) Millions of Southern Californians were on edge as a final round of dangerous fire weather was forecast for the region on Wednesday, along with a rare warning of a Particularly Dangerous Situation for an area near where two massive blazes have killed at least 25 and destroyed thousands of homes.Firefighters got a reprieve Tuesday when winds were unexpectedly light and they were able to make progress battling the two huge Los Angeles area fires and quickly snuff out several new fires.The Eaton Fire burning just north of Los Angeles and the Palisades Fire that destroyed much of the seaside LA neighborhood of Pacific Palisades broke out Jan. 7 in conditions similar to whats expected Wednesday. High winds last week pushed flames at remarkable speed and carried fire-sparking embers sometimes miles away.The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings done when temperatures are warm, humidity is low and strong winds are expected from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. from the Central Coast 275 miles (443 kilometers) south to the border with Mexico. The Particularly Dangerous Situation was in effect for an area that includes parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Key message: We are not out of the woods yet, the weather service said in a post late Tuesday. The winds underperformed today, but one more enhancement could happen tonight-tomorrow.More than 77,000 households were without electricity as utilities shut off power to prevent their lines from sparking new blazes. A state of alert Video released Tuesday by the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office shows looting suspects in a home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Los Angeles and an arson suspect under arrest in Azusa. Weary and anxious residents were told to be ready to flee at a moments notice. They remained vigilant, keeping an eye on the skies and on each other: Police announced roughly 50 arrests, for looting, flying drones in fire zones, violating curfew and other crimes.Of those, three people were arrested on suspicion of arson after being seen setting small fires that were immediately extinguished, LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell said. One was using a barbecue lighter, another ignited brush and a third tried to light a trash can, he said. All were far outside the disaster zones. Authorities have not determined a cause for any of the major fires. Among nine people charged with looting was a group that stole an Emmy award from an evacuated house, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said.The biggest worry remained the threat from intense winds. Now backed by firefighters from other states, Canada and Mexico, crews were deployed to attack flareups or new blazes. The firefighting force was much bigger than a week ago, when the first wave of fires began destroying thousands of homes in what could become the nations costliest fire disaster.Kaylin Johnson and her family planned to spend the night at their home, one of the few left standing in Altadena, near Pasadena. They intended to keep watch to ward off looting and to hose down the house and her neighbors properties to prevent flareups.Our lives have been put on hold indefinitely, Johnson said via text message, adding that they cannot freely come and go because of restrictions on entering the burn areas. But I would rather be here and not leave than to not be allowed back at all. Packed and ready to goResidents said they were ready to make a hasty escape. Javier Vega, who said he feels like he has been sleeping with one eye open, and his girlfriend have planned out how they can quickly pack up their two cats, eight fish and leopard gecko if they get orders to evacuate.Typically on any other night, hearing helicopters flying overhead from midnight to 4:00 in the morning, that would drive anyone crazy, Vega said. But figuring they were helping firefighters to keep the flames from threatening their neighborhood, he explained, it was actually soothing for me to go to sleep. Preparing for another outbreakPlanes doused homes and hillsides with bright pink fire-retardant chemicals, while crews and fire engines deployed to particularly vulnerable spots with dry brush.Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other officials who were criticized over their initial response expressed confidence that the region is ready to face the new threat. The mayor said she was able to fly over the disaster areas, which she described as resembling the aftermath of a dry hurricane.Winds this time were not expected to reach the same fierce speeds seen last week but they could ground firefighting aircraft, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said. He urged homeless people to avoid starting fires for warmth and to seek shelter.Wildfires on the rise across LAWith almost no rain in more than eight months, the brush-filled region has had more than a dozen wildfires this year, mostly in the greater Los Angeles area.Firefighters have jumped on small blazes that popped up, quickly smothering several in Los Angeles county, including a blaze Tuesday evening in the Angeles National Forest.The four largest fires around the nations second-biggest city have scorched more than 63 square miles (163 square kilometers), roughly three times the size of Manhattan. Of these, the Eaton Fire near Pasadena was roughly one-third contained, while the largest blaze, in Pacific Palisades on the coast, was far less contained. Searching for victimsThe death toll is likely to rise, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. Nearly 30 people were still missing, he said Tuesday. Some people reported as missing earlier have been found.Just under 90,000 people in the county remained under evacuation orders, half the number from last week.Hollywood on holdHollywoods awards season has been put on hiatus because of the crisis. The Oscar nominations have been delayed twice, and some organizations postponed their awards shows and announcements without rescheduling.___Watson reported from San Diego, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press journalists Christopher Weber and Lindsey Bahr in Los Angeles, Lisa Baumann and Hallie Golden in Seattle and Julie Walker in New York contributed. JOHN SEEWER Seewer covers state and national news for The Associated Press and is based in Toledo, Ohio. twitter mailto

We're back! And holy moly what a start to the year. We just published a bunch of stories. First, Jason talks about blowback inside Meta to its new board member, and Meta's subsequent censoring of those views. We also chat about those mad Meta AI profiles. After the break, Sam explains why Pornhub is blocked in most of the U.S. south. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph talks about why the government is planning to name one of its most important (and at risk) witnesses.Listen to the weekly podcast onApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism.If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player. Facebook Deletes Internal Employee Criticism of New Board Member Dana WhiteMeta's AI Profiles Are Indistinguishable From Terrible Spam That Took Over FacebookPornhub Is Now Blocked In Almost All of the U.S. SouthGovernment to Name Key Witness Who Provided FBI With Backdoored Encrypted Chat App Anom

Firefighters work from a deck as the Palisades Fire burns a beachfront property Jan. 8, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)2025-01-15T05:11:18Z NEW YORK (AP) They seem endless, these sapping stories of loss. A grandfather starts over in his 90s. A family loses their dream home. People who were already struggling are dealt new, brutal blows.As Californias massive wildfires burn, a barrage of GoFundMe campaigns for victims have become an outlet for onlookers transfixed by the blazes and eager to do something to help. Those appeals for help plastered with photos of saffron flames or the charcoal aftermath or, most of all, the faces of the people at the center of the plea are personalizing a tragedy too big to comprehend.I feel connected in a strange way to all these people that I dont know, says Rachel Davies, a 27-year-old writer in New York, who went through hundreds of GoFundMes wildfire campaigns and felt drawn in to stories of strangers, donating to fundraisers for landscapers, housekeepers and a cook. Davies was moved by the little details of victims stories like the fact that someone lost their home just as they were bringing a baby home from the hospital and compiled and circulated a list of GoFundMe sites, thinking others would feel the same and be spurred to donate.Those stories, Davies says, will stick with me. Theyre offering glimpses into lives you might never seeThe pages feel intimate. They serve up glimpses into the lives of a compassionate nurse or a goofy driver, and into the things they lost be it a prized sneaker collection or the tools they counted on for work. Here, each is not some faraway, faceless victim. Theyre Todd or Ulli or Susan.People can look for someone they see as the ideal victim for them, says Amy Pason, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, who has studied social movements and teaches a class on persuasion.In an era of constant connection, on-demand expectations, pinpointed preferences and endless customization, browsability and tailoring are second nature. Why not for disaster relief, too? Plus, Pason says, it feels to many like a more authentic way to give.In a statement, GoFundMe says thousands of fundraisers have been launched in connection with the fires, including its own Wildfire Relief Fund, which has already garnered about 30,000 donations. All told, the campaigns have already raised more than $100 million for wildfire victims.Ella Marx, a 26-year-old social worker in Ypsilanti, Michigan, is among those who chipped in. She came across an appeal from a woman who said the houses of her grandmother and three aunts were all destroyed by the Eaton Fire. She quickly donated $20.Marx finds herself donating to GoFundMe campaigns every month or so. She likes them because she doesnt have faith in the government to help victims and doesnt like the constraints that nonprofits might put on recipients of aid. Plus, she likes the feeling of knowing who shes donating to.I think it does personalize it a little more, she says.Stories that can touch manyScrolling through GoFundMes pages, there is something to pull at nearly anyones heartstrings. It is a veritable catalog of grief.Runners might be drawn to a campaign organized by the Pasadena Pacers, which posted photos of members who lost homes on happier days, on a favorite trail or sporting a race-day medal. Rabbit lovers can flock to an appeal for The Bunny Museum, which paid tribute to the fluffy-tailed animal through its collection of tens of thousands of items, now all gone. A bar, a coffee shop, a mosque, a school all are among the places left in ashes by the fire and now the subject of campaigns to bring them back. Matthew Wade, a sociologist at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, who has researched GoFundMe, says donors are drawn to the immediate gratification of their gift and the ability to follow along as their beneficiaries recover from tragedy.A concrete action, he says, in these otherwise helpless moments.But while some crowdfunded fundraisers result in a massive response, Wade says many raise little or nothing. Only the most uniquely compelling stories manage to garner a fickle publics attention, he says, reinforcing existing inequalities. Social crowdfunding platforms are effectively markets for sympathy, where the crowd weighs claims to moral worthiness, Wade said in an email interview. But John Dent, who created a GoFundMe page for his cousins family, who lost their home in Altadena, remains in awe of the generosity his campaign elicited. His relatives had initially rebuffed the idea of the fundraiser but were left in tears by the response of more than $22,000 so far.Its just been so powerful, says Dent, a 52-year-old teacher from Goleta, California. These are often people that have no clue who they are. ___This story has been corrected to show that Eaton is the name of one of the fires, not the name of the town where the fire is burning.___HOW TO HELP: In addition to individual GoFundMe efforts, here are some ways to chip in.___Matt Sedensky can be reached at [emailprotected] and https://x.com/sedensky. MATT SEDENSKY Sedensky is a national writer for The Associated Press. twitter mailto

President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, July 24, 2024, about his decision to drop his Democratic presidential reelection bid. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool, File)2025-01-15T05:22:53Z WASHINGTON (AP) Joe Biden promised nothing short of a national exorcism when he took office. He wanted to restore the soul of the country and prove that Donald Trump was only a footnote in the American story, not its next chapter. The pitch was lets try to get things back to normal as best we can, said Sean Wilentz, a historian who met twice with Biden in the White House.It didnt work out that way. Despite exceeding expectations when it came to cutting bipartisan deals and rallying foreign allies, Biden was unable to turn the page on Trump. Four years after voters chose Biden over Trump, they picked Trump to replace Biden. Its an immutable and crushing outcome for an aging politician in the last act of his long career, one that will likely become the prism for how Biden is viewed through history.The fact is, the abnormality did not end, said Wilentz, a professor at Princeton University. He may not have appreciated what he was up against. Biden will offer his own perspective on how he wishes to be remembered in the Oval Office on Wednesday evening, when hell deliver a farewell address. But Trumps impending return underscores the limits of Bidens ability to reshape the countrys trajectory as his celebrated predecessors were able to do. With the end of his single term only days away, its unclear how Biden will reconcile his hopes for his presidency with the results. The country isnt waiting for his assessment. Only a quarter of Americans said Biden was a good or great president, according to the latest poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Thats lower than the views of the twice-impeached Trump when he left office soon after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and during the deadly depths of the coronavirus pandemic. Bidens friends and supporters insist that views will shift over time. We lost a close election under closely contested, hard fought issues, but that doesnt mean that what we did and how we did it hasnt helped change the country for the better, said Steve Ricchetti, a longtime adviser to Biden who served as White House counselor. Ricchetti argued that Biden provided a model for repairing damage caused by Trump, one that will help another president down the line. There is no question that this is a strategy that will enable a successful presidency into the future, he insisted. Trump will enter office Monday promising an even more aggressive effort to reshape the country than his turbulent first term. His comeback is calling into question even among Biden loyalists whether the outgoing president was only a fleeting reminder of a fading political era.Which one is the aberration, Biden or Trump? said Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Bidens home state of Delaware. Has the United States permanently moved in a populist and right-wing direction, and Biden was just a temporary interruption?Coons isnt sure yet.I think it is an open question, he said. Biden went from young upstart to aging leaderFor better and worse, the arc of Bidens political career is intertwined with his age. He became the youngest senator in U.S. history when he took office in 1973 at 30 years old, the bare constitutional minimum.He ran for president twice, falling short both times, before becoming Barack Obamas running mate in 2008. By this point, Biden was a Washington veteran. David Axelrod, a longtime adviser to Obama, said one of the benefits of choosing Biden was how old he was. Biden would be 74 when Obama left office too old to seek the presidency a third time, they presumed.You want your vice president to be concentrating on the task at hand, and not planning eight years ahead for their own candidacies, Axelrod said.What happened next is a central part of Bidens political mythos. Mourning the death of his elder son to cancer, Biden thought he was done with politics until Trumps comments in 2017 about very fine people, on both sides of racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, prompted him to run again. Biden overcame doubters who believed he was past his prime, seizing the Democratic nomination as the political moment aligned with his message. He showed empathy while Trump appeared callous about the COVID-19 pandemic, and he promised competence instead of chaos. When Biden took office, he hung a portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt above the fireplace in the Oval Office. It was an unmistakable signal that he wanted to be a transformational figure, not a transitional one.Biden signed legislation to provide massive investments in infrastructure, clean energy and computer chip manufacturing, as well as a massive economic stimulus to power the countrys recovery from the pandemic. He also limited the cost of prescription drugs and enacted tighter rules on gun purchases. There were these powerful entities that the Democratic Party had been unsuccessful in confronting, said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut. And Biden beat them all. But he fell short of his ambitions to expand social services, including lowering the cost of child care and sustaining programs to cut child poverty, while a generational surge in inflation sparked a political backlash and questions about the wisdom of some of his spending.More challenges came overseas. After fumbling the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden rallied Western support for Ukraine to prevent Russian domination. He also remained resolutely behind Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, disappointing some Democrats who wanted to see greater effort to protect Palestinian civilians. Bidens effort to hold on to the presidency unraveled, clearing a path for TrumpDespite Bidens accomplishments, voters were concerned about other matters. They were frustrated by rising costs that chipped away at their paychecks. And they worried about illegal migration at the southern border. As the problems festered, Trump gained momentum and Biden struggled. Biden was very interested in becoming a historic president, Axelrod said. That was sort of an obsession. So he had a hard time acknowledging mistakes or failure.After a lifetime of seeking the presidency, Biden had no interest in relinquishing it. He announced his reelection campaign even though he would be 86 at the end of his second term. The decision created another parallel to Roosevelt, although not one that Biden would have wanted. Roosevelt pursued a fourth term in 1944 despite his failing health, believing himself to be indispensable while World War II was still underway. He died months after winning his last election.Biden ran for reelection while brushing aside Americans fears that he was too old for the job. He had beaten Trump before, and Biden insisted he was singularly capable of doing so again.But he was forced to drop out of the race over the summer after stumbling through a debate against Trump. His performance sparked a crisis of confidence in a party unified by its shared desired to block Trumps return. The damage lingered even after Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. She lost.Two days after the election, Biden addressed the nation from the Rose Garden, where he talked up his historic presidency and shared an optimistic message about the future.The American experiment endures, and were going to be OK, but we need to stay engaged, he said. We need to keep going. And, above all, we need to keep the faith.Ben LaBolt, the White House communications director, compared Biden to former Presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, who were also unpopular when they left office.They governed during a very challenging time for the country and the world, but they did big things to set the country up on the path for the future and to tackle some significant challenges, he said.On Friday, a reporter asked Biden if he regretted running for reelection and whether his decision paved the way for Trumps resurgence.I dont think so, he said. In fact, Biden maintained, he could have won if he stayed in the race. CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto ZEKE MILLER Zeke is APs chief White House correspondent twitter mailto

This image taken from video released by Cal Fire shows a fire tornado over Lake Keswick Estates, on July 26, 2018, near Redding, Calif. (Cal Fire via AP, File)2025-01-15T05:08:04Z As if they arent already facing enough, firefighters in California also could encounter fire tornadoes a rare but dangerous phenomenon in which wildfires create their own weather.The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a particularly dangerous situation in which any new fire could explode in size. The advisory, which runs into Wednesday, didnt mention tornadoes, but meteorologist Todd Hall said theyre possible given the extreme conditions.A look at fire tornados: What is a fire tornado?Fire whirl, fire devil, fire tornado or even firenado scientists, firefighters and regular folks use multiple terms to describe similar phenomena, and they dont always agree on whats what. Some say fire whirls are formed only by heat, while fire tornados involve clouds generated by the fire itself.The National Wildfire Coordinating Groups glossary of wildland fire terms doesnt include an entry for fire tornado, but it defines a fire whirl as a spinning vortex column of ascending hot air and gases rising from a fire and carrying aloft smoke, debris and flame, and says large whirls have the intensity of a small tornado. Wildfires with turbulent plumes can produce clouds that in turn can produce lightning or a vortex of ash, smoke and flames, said Leila Carvalho, professor of meteorology and climatology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.There is a rotation caused by very strong wind shear and a very hot, localized low-pressure system, she said. What is a fire tornado capable of?Fire tornados can make fires stronger by sucking up air, Carvalho said. It creates a tornado track, and wherever this goes, the destruction is like any other tornado.In 2018, a fire tornado the size of three football fields killed a firefighter as it exploded in what already was a vast and devastating wildfire near near Redding, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of San Francisco in northern California. Scientists later described an ice-capped cloud that reached 7 miles (11 km) into the air and caused winds up to 143 mph (230 kph). Research also suggests fire tornadoes can carry airborne embers, also called firebrands, over long distances, said James Urban, an assistant professor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They also can change the fires behavior, he said.Thats also something that is dangerous and scary for first responders, or really anyone, he said. It can change and maybe go in a different direction.The interaction between wind, the fire plume and topography determines whether a tornado will develop, he said. For example, sometimes a certain topography will restrict airflow in such a way that a spiral pattern develops. Can you make one in a lab? Together with San Jos State University, Worcester Polytech is part of a Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center. In the lab in Worcester, researchers have created small fire tornadoes by putting up walls around a fire or arranging a bunch of little fires that together restrict airflow. But thats on a much smaller scale than whats happening with the wildfires. Weve got the biggest fire lab in the U.S. for a university, but we cannot get something the size of whats been reported at these fires, he said. You cant really bottle that and put it in a lab.

Neil Gaiman arrives at the Art of Elysium Heaven Gala on Jan. 6, 2024, at The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)2025-01-15T06:41:23Z MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Best-selling British author Neil Gaiman released a statement Wednesday denying he had ever engaged in non-consensual sex after a magazine this week published allegations from several women, accusing him of sexual assault.The 64-year-old author of The Sandman comic book series and novel American Gods was responding to a New York Magazine article that detailed allegations of assault, abuse and coercion leveled by eight women. The allegations of four of them had been broadcast in July in a Tortoise Media podcast.Gaiman said he had watched stories about him circulate on the Internet for months with horror and dismay.As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I dont, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. Im far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever, Gaiman posted on the social media platform Tumblr. Gaiman said he had read back message exchanges he had had with his accusers. They still read like two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships and wanting to see one another again, he said.And I also realise, looking through them, years later, that I could have and should have done so much better. I was emotionally unavailable while being sexually available, self-focused and not as thoughtful as I could or should have been. I was obviously careless with peoples hearts and feelings, and thats something that I really, deeply regret, Gaiman said. Most of the allegations relate to occasions when Gaiman was in his 40s or older and living in the United States, Britain and New Zealand.One of the accusers, Scarlett Pavlovich, told New York Magazine she met Gaiman through his then-wife, U.S. performer Amanda Palmer, on a New Zealand island where the couple lived with their son in 2022. Pavlovich alleges Gaiman abused her several times starting the night they met. The Associated Press doesnt identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they publicly identify themselves.Some of Pavlovichs allegations were first made public six months earlier in the podcast. She told the magazine she filed a police report in January 2023 accusing Gaiman of sexual assault.New Zealand Police this week would not say whether Gaiman was, or had been, under investigation.In general, Police cannot respond to queries which seek to establish whether specific individuals are, or have been, under Police investigation. Additionally, anyone who makes a complaint to Police has the right to privacy, New Zealand Police told AP in an email on Tuesday.The APs messages to Gaimans agent, his office and to Bloomsbury, publisher of several of his recent books, were not returned.Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, which both have Gaiman-related projects scheduled for this year, havent responded to the APs messages.Several of Gaimans works have been turned into movies and television programs.

Hanan Shaqoura embraces the body of her son, Mohammad, 7, who was killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, during his funeral in Deir al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-01-15T10:00:46Z The Palestinian prime minister says its unacceptable for any entity other than the Palestinian Authority to run the Gaza Strip in the future, as Israel and Hamas appear to be at the closest point yet to sealing a deal to end 15 months of war.While were waiting for the ceasefire, its important to stress that it will not be acceptable for any entity to govern Gaza Strip but the legitimate Palestinian leadership and the government of the State of Palestine, Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said Wednesday. He was visiting Norway, one of three European countries that formally recognized a Palestinian state in May.Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, confining the Western-backed Palestinian Authoritys limited self-rule to parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The U.S. has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza ahead of eventual statehood, which the Israeli government opposes. Mustafa said any attempt to consolidate the separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, or creating transitional entities, will be rejected. Israels war against Hamas in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people and abducted around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead. The Israel Hamas-war has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities there. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but says women and children make up more than half the fatalities. Heres the latest: Norway says a ceasefire for Gaza is only the beginning of a long recoveryOSLO, Norway Norways foreign minister says its important to look ahead to the longer-term future as hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza rise.Espen Barth Eide said at an event in Oslo Wednesday attended by Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa that that its really the moment to deep dive into what will then happen next.He cautioned that just the ceasefire can easily create the sense of vacuum, of unfulfilled hope. And the problems in Gaza would not be over. The divisions will not be over. The hatred would not be laid to rest if it was only a ceasefire.Barth Eide said the international community expects that Israel understands that its time to move on and to help solve the long outstanding issue of Palestine. And of course, that our friends in Palestine also work effectively together to build a strong government and a strong capacity that all the Palestinian territories are united, so that both sides have a good partner in building peace.Norway is one of three European countries that formally recognized a Palestinian state in May.

The FBI headquarters building is seen in Washington, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)2025-01-15T12:00:41Z WASHINGTON (AP) As President-elect Donald Trumps pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, prepares for questioning from senators on Wednesday, only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults are extremely or very confident that the Department of Justice will act in a fair and nonpartisan manner during his second term, a poll finds.Their faith in the neutrality of the FBI is similarly low, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted before the beginning of the confirmation hearings for Trumps Cabinet. Even some Republicans express uncertainty in the Justice Department and the FBI, suggesting that even once they take office, Trump and his allies may find it challenging to restore trust in the law enforcement agencies theyve heavily criticized. Adding to the doubts about the incoming Trump administration, the poll also finds that Americans views of several of his highest-profile nominees are more negative than positive, although many dont have an opinion about the people hes selected for his Cabinet. However, one of Trumps more controversial nominees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is still broadly popular with Republicans, according to the poll. Kennedy, the scion of a Democratic dynasty and a prominent vaccine skeptic, has been tapped as top health official. His confirmation hearings have not been scheduled. Doubts about law enforcement agencies fairnessTrump has selected loyalists to lead the Department of Justice and the FBI after threatening to retaliate against perceived adversaries. Relatively few Americans are confident that these agencies will act in a fair and impartial manner over the next four years, according to the poll. This combination photo of President-elect Donald Trumps nominees who will have confirmation hearings Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, shows Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, from top left, Transportation Secretary nominee Sean Duffy, Secretary of Homeland Security nominee South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and from bottom left, CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State nominee Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Russell Vought, nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget. (AP Photo) This combination photo of President-elect Donald Trumps nominees who will have confirmation hearings Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, shows Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, from top left, Transportation Secretary nominee Sean Duffy, Secretary of Homeland Security nominee South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and from bottom left, CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State nominee Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Russell Vought, nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget. (AP Photo) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More About half of Americans are not very or not at all confident that the Justice Department and the FBI will act in a fair and nonpartisan manner during Trumps second term, while about one-third are somewhat confident and about 2 in 10 are extremely or very confident. Even as a new GOP administration prepares to take control, Republicans are split on whether the DOJ and the FBI will remain neutral. Only about one-quarter of Republicans are at least very confident that the agencies will behave in a nonpartisan way, while about 4 in 10 are somewhat confident and roughly one-third are not very or not at all confident.Their uncertainty may reflect the fact that the nations law enforcement agencies have been heavily criticized over the last few years by Trump and his allies, including by Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, and Kash Patel, his choice to lead the FBI. In one radio appearance, Bondi described special counsel Jack Smith, who who charged Trump in two federal cases, and other prosecutors who have charged Trump as horrible people she said were trying to make names for themselves by going after Donald Trump and weaponizing our legal system.Patel, meanwhile, has called for dramatic changes to the FBI, including reducing its footprint and authority. Views of key nominees are more negative than positiveThe poll finds that only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Pete Hegseths nomination as secretary of defense. He faced contentious confirmation hearings on Tuesday. A similarly small share say they somewhat or strongly approve of Tulsi Gabbard being tapped to serve as intelligence chief and Patel being selected as FBI director. About one-third of Americans disapprove of each of the picks, while the rest either dont have an opinion or dont know enough to say. Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trumps choice to be Defense secretary, speaks before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trumps choice to be Defense secretary, speaks before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Many Republicans are on board with Trumps choice of Hegseth, Gabbard and Patel about 4 in 10 approve of their nominations although a significant chunk arent familiar with the nominees or dont have an opinion. The poll also indicates that many Americans may be skeptical of Trumps strategy in selecting some Cabinet nominees, like Hegseth, a former Fox News Channel weekend host, who does not have a traditional track record in government. Only about one-quarter say that it would be a good thing for the president to rely on people without government experience for advice about government policy, while about half say it would be a bad thing and the rest say it wouldnt be good or bad. Republicans are more likely than Democrats or independents to say its a good thing for the president to rely on people without government experience about 4 in 10 say this, compared with about 2 in 10 independents and about 1 in 10 Democrats while about 3 in 10 say its neither good nor bad and about one-quarter say its a bad thing.Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination is broadly popular among RepublicansBut not all of the nominees are unknown and at least one has many fans in Trumps base. Kennedy, who has promised to overhaul the Department of Health and Human Services staff, has broader name recognition than Hegseth, Gabbard or Patel, but Americans feelings toward him are still more cold than warm. About 3 in 10 U.S. adults somewhat or strongly approve of Kennedys nomination, while about 4 in 10 somewhat or strongly disapprove, and the rest are neutral or dont know enough to say.Republicans are largely fans of Kennedys nomination, however, with about 6 in 10 saying they approve of his selection as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. ___The AP-NORC poll of 1,147 adults was conducted Jan. 9-13, using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX Thomson-DeVeaux is the APs editor for polling and surveys.

An AI app for creating nonconsensual nude images of anyone is getting the vast majority of its traffic directly from Meta platforms, where the app is buying thousands of explicit ads featuring nonconsensual nudity of celebrities and influencers. The blatant and repeated violation of Metas policies over the course of months is making a mockery of the companys ability or willingness to moderate a known bad actor that at the moment appears to get the majority of its users by paying Meta directly for ads.The app, known as Crushmate or Crush AI, has been buying ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta platforms since at least early September. As first reported by Alexios Mantzarlis in his Faked Up newsletter, according to internet traffic analysis firm Similarweb, three of the domains Crush uses had around 240,000 visitors combined, with 90 percent of that traffic coming from Facebook or Instagram.Ive seen Meta remove some of these ads since September, but at the time of writing the same three domains that were advertised on Meta platforms and redirected to Crushmates services had around 350 active ads and more than 5,000 ads overall.Most of the recent ads use the same format. They take a video a woman posted to Instagram or TikTok and show how a user can pause the video on any frame and create a nude image of her. Many of the ads, which are still active, do this to videos of the extremely popular OnlyFans creator Sophie Rain, who made headlines recently for making $43 million in one year on OnlyFans. As Mantzarlis points out, one ad nudifies Mikayla Demaiter, a model with 3.2 million followers on Instagram. Rain and Demaiter did not respond to a request for comment.Two of the Crushmate adsOther ads feature other real women I wasnt able to identify and AI generated women with their clothes being erased by the app.In early September, a 404 Media reader also tipped me that Crushmate was advertising its services on Facebook Marketplace.A marketplace ad for CrushmateIve confirmed that all these ads lead to the same Crushmate service that will create nonconsensual nude images and offers some of its services via a subscription plan.Promotional copy from Crushmate's site.Ive recently reported about Meta running ads that feature explicit nudity, including dozens of ads that are just close up images of vaginas. Ive also reported repeatedly about nudify apps buying ads on Meta platforms. When weve flagged these ads to Meta in the past, they removed them. Meta has also removed associated Facebook pages that are buying the ads, but Crushmate has found an easy workaround that is clearly paying off: It creates multiple Facebook pages with AI-generated profile images that look like normal people, then buys ads promoting new, different URLs that redirect to to Crushmate.Two of the fake Facebook profiles buying Crushmate ads.Meta did not respond to specific questions about why its not detecting and removing the offending ads for featuring nonconsensual nudity. As I reported last week, extensive testing by AI Forensics, a European non-profit that investigates influential and opaque algorithms, found that nudity uploaded to Instagram and Facebook as a normal user was promptly removed for violating Metas Community Standards. The same exact visuals were not removed when they were uploaded as ads, showing that Meta has a different standard for enforcement when its getting paid to push images in front of users.Meta prohibits ads that promote adult sexual exploitation. We have removed the violating content, enforced against violating urls, and have taken action against the associated accounts and users, a Facebook spokesperson told me in a statement. This is a highly adversarial space and bad actors are constantly evolving their tactics to avoid enforcement, which is why we continue to invest in the best tools and technology to help identify and remove violating content.Do you know anything else about Crushmate? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at emanuel.404. Otherwise, send me an email at emanuel@404media.co.Meta removed the ads promoting the three Crushmate domains after Mantzarlis flagged them to the company. Around 230 of the same ads promoting a fourth Crushmate domain Mantzarlis found after reaching out for comment are still live on Metas platforms.As weve previously reported, these nudify apps are some of the most harmful applications of generative AI because they make it so easy to create nonconsensual images of anyone. In the last two years, weve seen several examples of these apps being used by minors to create images of other minors. Last year, a survey found that 1 in 10 minors reported that their friends or classmates have used AI tools to generate nudes of other kids. As the Crushmate ads show, minors dont need to go to the dark corners of the web in search of these tools. Meta is getting paid to popularize them.