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Texas AG Ken Paxton arrives for start of impeachment trial on charges of corruption, bribery

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton faced the most serious threat to his troubled career Tuesday with the start of an impeachment trial that could permanently oust the embattled Republican from office after years of alleged corruption and scandal. The fate of Paxton, a 60-year-old Republican, is in the hands of GOP senators with whom he served before winning a statewide race to take charge of the attorney general’s office in 2015.A handful of Paxton supporters in red shirts began lining up outside the Texas Capitol before sunrise, waiting for state police to open the doors so they could witness Texas’ first impeachment trial in nearly half a century. Shortly before the trial got underway, Paxton entered the Senate chamber and spoke with one of his defense attorneys.“It is the Austin swamp,” said Kaci Sisk, who heads a group of conservative activists near San Antonio who have been looking to line up primary opponents to Republicans who have supported Pa...

Stock market today: Wall Street is off to downbeat start following two weeks of gains

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are off to a weak start on Wall Street as traders return from a long holiday weekend. The S&P 500 was off 0.3% in the early going Tuesday. The index is coming off its second weekly gain. The Dow slipped 63 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.3%. Markets are looking ahead to a quieter week with company earnings reports winding down and just a trickle of government economic reports expected, including data on manufacturing, layoffs and trade. DocuSign, GameStop, Dave & Buster’s and Kroger are set to report their most recent quarterly financial results this week.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street pointed modestly lower Tuesday in a shortened trading week following the Labor Day holiday.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials were essentially flat andthe S&P 500 dipped a little more than 0.1%.Markets are looking ahead to a quieter week with earnings season winding down and just a trickle of government economic...

Fall Movie Preview: Hollywood readies for a season with stars on the sidelines

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Hollywood is at a standstill. Actors and screenwriters are months into a dual strike. Film sets are dark. But the movies are still coming — or, at least, most of them. Even if that means some potentially solitary red-carpet walks.“I’m hoping I’m not promoting the movie by myself,” says Nia DaCosta, director of the upcoming Marvel movie “The Marvels” (Nov. 10). “No one’s there to see me, either. They’re going to be like, ‘Where’s Brie Larson?’”Though the ongoing actors and screenwriters strikes are casting a pall over the fall movie season and prompting some films to postpone, a parade of awards contenders and autumn blockbusters are on the way, nevertheless.The fall has long been the preferred domain of filmmakers and auteurs, but this year that’s doubly so. With cast members largely prevented from promotion duties, directors — whether helming an Oscar shoo-in or superhero blockbuster — are carrying the load, albeit very reluctantly.“I think we’re now in a new ...

Saudi Arabia plans to extend 1 million barrel a day oil cut through the end of the year

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it will extend its voluntary production cut of 1 million barrels of oil a day through the end of the year. The announcement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, comes as the kingdom has been unilaterally cutting its output to try and boost sluggish crude oil prices. The announcement said Saudi Arabia still will monitor the market and could take further action if necessary. “This additional voluntary cut comes to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC+ countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets,” the Saudi Press Agency report said, citing an unnamed Energy Ministry official. Benchmark Brent crude traded Tuesday at $90 a barrel immediately after the announcement.The Associated Press

Pier collapses into lake on Wisconsin college campus, 1 hospitalized, 20 others slightly injured

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A pier filled with people celebrating Labor Day on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus partially collapsed into a lake, leaving one person hospitalized and slightly injuring about 20 others, officials said.Video shot from Lake Mendota’s shoreline shows that a part of the metal pier just east of the Union Terrace’s campus stage collapsed Monday afternoon, sending some people falling into the water.The Madison Fire Department said one person was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and five others were treated at the scene for minor injuries. UW-Madison Police Officer Jeff Kirchman told the Wisconsin State Journal that “20 or so” had minor injuries, in addition to the person who was hospitalized.“There were way too many kids on the piers. They were packed. There was no warning. All of a sudden it went down and people were in the water,” said Debra Drewek, a retired nurse who was taking pictures at the terrace when the col...

Nonprofits Candid and Council on Foundations make a rare deal the way corporations do

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s a transaction that would be commonplace for a corporation or a sports team, but it’s the kind of deal that is practically unheard of in the nonprofit sector.The philanthropy research organization Candid will send control of its CF Insights website and the staff that gathered information about community foundations to the Council on Foundations, the association of nearly 900 nonprofit members, on Friday.Candid CEO Ann Mei Chang says the shift will allow her nonprofit to focus more sharply on priority areas – including diversity, transparency and effectiveness in the sector – while providing its CF Insights information a larger audience and the potential to expand at the Council on Foundations.“That was our No. 1 criteria about whether to move forward with this,” Chang said. “We believe more community foundations would be able to benefit from this tool at the Council than from Candid.”Council on Foundations CEO Kathleen Enright said community foundations are uniqu...

14 migrants and the body of a man are found after their dinghy sank near a small Greek island

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s coast guard found a group of 14 migrants and the body of a man on the shore of a tiny island in the eastern Aegean Sea on Tuesday morning, authorities said. The five men, six women and three children were found on the remote island of Farmakonisi, along with the body of one man. It was not immediately clear how he died.The group had apparently arrived on the island from the Turkish coast in a dinghy that sank, the coast guard said. There were no reports of anyone missing. The migrants and the deceased man were taken to the nearby island of Leros, the coast guard added. There has been a rise in sea crossings to European Union member Greece by people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and seeking a better life in the wealthy 27-country bloc.Later Tuesday, the coast guard said another three boats carrying more than 100 people in all arrived on the islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios, which lie near the Turkish coast. One...

Egypt resumes commercial flights to war-torn Sudan for the first time in nearly five months

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Tuesday resumed direct commercial flights to Sudan for the first time since a devastating war broke out between Sudan’s rival general nearly five months ago.Flight MS865, operated by Egypt’s national carrier EgyptAir, departed from Cairo early Tuesday, and arrived in Sudan’s eastern city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, with 120 passengers on board, according to the carrier.Sudanese authorities welcomed the Egyptian plane by spraying it with water in a ceremonial “water salute” upon touchdown. Sameh Farouq, Egypt’s consul general in the city was also present.A return flight, carrying 115 passengers, landed in the Egyptian capital, Cairo on Tuesday afternoon, EgyptAir said.Farouq said EgyptAir would operate a weekly round trip to Port Sudan, according to the Egyptian state-run MENA news agency.They were the first commercial flights to and from Sudan since the African nation descended into war in mid-April. The conflict has pitted Sudan’s military, led b...

Austrian actor gets 2-year suspended prison sentence over possessing, producing child porn

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

VIENNA (AP) — An Austrian court on Tuesday found a famous actor guilty of possessing and producing tens of thousands of files of child pornography and sentenced him to a two-year suspended prison sentence.Florian Teichtmeister previously pleaded guilty to collecting and, in some cases, processing, files containing depictions of abuse, public broadcaster ORF reported.The Vienna state court also ruled that the 43-year-old must undergo therapy and regularly submit to drug tests. If he violates these conditions, he faces placement in a center for mentally ill offenders.“He said he will work intensively on himself, so that nothing is going to happen again,” his lawyer Rudolf Mayer said, adding that Teichtmeister would continue to go to weekly therapy sessions.Teichtmeister is a former member of Vienna’s famous Burgtheater. He also played Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph in the 2022 movie “Corsage.”The actor accepted the verdict and refrained from appealing, ORF reported.Judge Stefan Apostol...

24-year-old man critical after Lincoln Park shooting

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:23:44 GMT

CHICAGO — A man was critically wounded following a shooting in Lincoln Park late Monday Night.At around 11 p.m., officers responded to the 500 block of West Wrightwood on the report of a person shot.Chicago police said they found a 24-year-old man laying on the street yelling in pain. He sustained two gunshot wounds to the left leg and one to the right leg. 15-year-old boy dies after East Garfield Park shooting The man was transported to Masonic in critical condition.No one is in custody.