Moscow warns the US over allowing Ukraine to hit Russian soil with longer-range weapons
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - The Kremlin warned Monday that President Joe Biden´s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles adds "fuel to the fire" of the war and would escalate international tensions even higher.
Biden´s shift in policy added an uncertain, new factor to the conflict on the eve of the 1,000-day milestone since Russia began its full-scale invasion in 2022.
It also came as a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people and injuring 84 others. Another missile barrage sparked apartment fires in the southern port of Odesa, killing at least 10 people and injuring 43, Ukraine´s Interior Ministry said.
Washington is easing limits on what Ukraine can strike with its American-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Sunday, after months of ruling out such a move over fears of escalating the conflict and bringing about a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.
The Kremlin was swift in its condemnation.
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Israeli airstrike hits central Beirut near key government buildings and embassies
BEIRUT (AP) - An Israeli airstrike slammed into a densely populated residential area in Lebanon´s capital near key government and diplomatic buildings late Monday, killing at least five people as the U.S. pressed ahead with cease-fire efforts.
Lebanon´s state-run National News Agency said two missiles hit the area of Zoqaq al-Blat neighborhood - where local U.N. headquarters and Lebanon´s parliament and prime minister´s office are located.
Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, sensa138 vowing to severely weaken the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and end its barrages in Israel that the militants have said are in solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.
The U.S. has been working on a cease-fire proposal that would remove Israeli ground forces from Lebanon and push Hezbollah forces far from the Israeli border. Lebanon´s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who is mediating for the militants, is expected to meet with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. The White House has not confirmed Hochstein's visit.
Labor Minister Mostafa Bayram, who met with Berri on Monday, said Lebanon would convey its "positive position" to the latest U.S. proposal.
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45 sentenced to up to 10 years in prison in Hong Kong national security case
HONG KONG (AP) - Dozens of prominent activists were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison on Tuesday in Hong Kong´s biggest national security case under a sweeping law imposed by Beijing that crushed a once-thriving pro-democracy movement.
The defendants were prosecuted in 2021 for their roles in an unofficial primary election under the 2020 national security law. They were accused of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong´s government and force the city´s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.
The 45 convicted received prison terms ranging from four years and two months to 10 years. Legal scholar Benny Tai was given the longest sentence.
They either pleaded guilty to or were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion by three government-approved judges. The judges said in the verdict that the activists´ plans to effect change through the election would have undermined the government´s authority and created a constitutional crisis. Two of the 47 original defendants were acquitted.
Tai, who had written an article outlining "ten steps to mutual destruction" is widely seen as the organizer behind the unofficial primary. In a judgment uploaded online, the judges wrote that Tai essentially "advocated for a revolution" by publishing a series of articles over a period of months that traced his thinking, even though in his mitigation letter Tai said the steps were "never intended to be used as blueprint for any political action."
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35,000 crowd New Zealand's Parliament grounds in support of Maori rights
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - As tens of thousands of marchers crowded the streets in New Zealand´s capital Wellington on Tuesday, the throng of people, flags aloft, had the air of a festival or a parade rather than a protest. They arrived to oppose a law that would reshape the county´s founding treaty between Indigenous Maori and the British Crown. But for many, it was about something more: a celebration of a resurging Indigenous language and identity that colonization had once almost destroyed.
"Just fighting for the rights that our tupuna, our ancestors, fought for," Shanell Bob said as she waited for the march to begin. "We´re fighting for our tamariki, for our mokopuna, so they can have what we haven´t been able to have," she added, using the Maori words for children and grandchildren.
What was likely the country´s largest-ever protest in support of Maori rights - a subject that has preoccupied modern New Zealand for much of its young history - followed a long tradition of peaceful marches the length of the country that have marked turning points in the history of modern New Zealand.
"We´re going for a walk!" One organizer proclaimed from the stage as crowds gathered at the opposite end of the city from the nation´s Parliament. Some had traveled the length of the country over the past nine days.
For many, the turnout reflected growing solidarity on Indigenous rights from non-Maori. At bus stops during the usual morning commute, people of all ages and races waited with Maori sovereignty flags. Some local schools said they would not register students as absent. The city´s mayor joined the protest.
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Georgia appeals court cancels hearing in election interference case against Trump
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - A Georgia appeals court on Monday canceled oral arguments that were scheduled for next month on the appeal of a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump and other defendants had asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to hold oral arguments in the case, and the court had set those arguments for Dec. 5. But in a one-line order with no further explanation, the appeals court said that hearing "is hereby canceled until further order of this Court."
A Fulton County grand jury in August 2023 indicted Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a sprawling scheme to illegally try to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four defendants have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors, but Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
But with Trump set to return to the White House in January, the future of the case against the once and future president was already in question even if the Court of Appeals ultimately says Willis shouldn't be disqualified.
Trump and other defendants filed the appeal seeking to get Willis and her office removed from the case and to have the case dismissed. They argue that a romantic relationship Willis had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March found that no conflict of interest existed that should force Willis off the case, but he granted a request from Trump and the other defendants to seek an appeal of his ruling from the Court of Appeals.
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Speaker Johnson's 'epic' weekend with Trump shows strengths and limits of his power
WASHINGTON (AP) - There was House Speaker Mike Johnson walking behind President-elect Donald Trump's entourage into Saturday night's UFC fight at Madison Square Garden, his stature overcome by the enormity of the scene around him.
And Johnson mugging with musicians Kid Rock and Jelly Roll.
And there was Johnson on Trump's airplane, peering over the seat in front of him, a four-top table loaded with McDonald's meals for the president-elect, his son Donald Trump, Jr., Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. - the speaker grinning over the seatback.
"Epic," Johnson said about it all as he arrived back at the U.S. Capitol.
The images from Johnson's wild weekend with Trump provide a snapshot of his proximity to power, the former religious rights attorney just a year on the job as House speaker, now dining at Mar-a-Lago, flying on Trump Force One, appearing near-ringside in Manhattan - and riding shotgun to Trump's second term in the White House.
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Trump says he is naming former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy to be transportation secretary
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he is naming former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy as his nominee for transportation secretary, as he continues to roll out picks for his Cabinet.
Duffy is a former reality TV star who was one of Trump´s most visible defenders on cable news - a prime concern for the media-focused president-elect. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, was a member of the Financial Services Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019, and is co-host of "The Bottom Line" on Fox Business.
In his announcement, Trump noted that Duffy is married to a Fox News host, calling him "the husband of a wonderful woman, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a STAR on Fox News."
A spokesperson for Fox News Media wished Duffy "the best of luck in his return to Washington" and said he left the company Monday.
Duffy is so far the second Fox-affiliated television host that Trump has named to his Cabinet. Trump last week announced his choice of Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary.
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Brazil´s G20 summit produces a broad declaration that´s short on specifics
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - The summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in Rio de Janeiro produced a joint declaration Monday that, while not totally endorsed by one of the group's members, succeeded in addressing most topics host Brazil had prioritized addressing: both ongoing major wars, a global pact to fight hunger, taxation of the world´s wealthiest people and changes to global governance.
Experts had doubted Brazil 's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva could convince assembled leaders to hammer out agreement given uncertainty about the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and heightened global tensions amid the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Further dimming prospects of consensus, Argentina´s negotiators challenged some of the draft language - and ultimately refrained from endorsing the complete document.
"Although generic, it is a positive surprise for Brazil," said Thomas Traumann, an independent political consultant and former Brazilian minister. "There was a moment when there was risk of no declaration at all. Despite the caveats, it is a good result for Lula."
Militant group Hamas´ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel occurred one month after last year´s G20 summit. It was thus unclear how this year´s statement might address Israel´s campaign of retaliation, which has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials, and more than 3,500 people in Lebanon in Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
The G20 declaration referred to the "catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon," and stressed the urgent need to expand humanitarian assistance and reinforce protection of civilians.
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3 people are killed in random stabbings in New York City. A suspect is in custody
NEW YORK (AP) - A man fatally stabbed three people across a swath of Manhattan on Monday morning, carrying out a series of random attacks without uttering a word to his victims, officials said.
The 51-year-old suspect was in police custody after being found with blood on his clothes and the two kitchen knives he was carrying, authorities said. The suspect's and victims' names weren't immediately released.
"Three New Yorkers. Unprovoked attacks that left us searching for answers on how something like this could happen," Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference.
Investigators were working to understand what propelled the rampage, which happened within 2 1/2 hours.
"No words exchanged. No property taken. Just attacked, viciously," said Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department´s chief of detectives. "He just walked up to them and began to attack them with the knives."
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Arthur Frommer, travel guide innovator, has died at 95
NEW YORK (AP) - Arthur Frommer, whose "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" guidebooks revolutionized leisure travel by convincing average Americans to take budget vacations abroad, has died. He was 95.
Frommer died from complications of pneumonia, his daughter Pauline Frommer said Monday.
"My father opened up the world to so many people," she said. "He believed deeply that travel could be an enlightening activity and one that did not require a big budget."
Frommer began writing about travel while serving in the U.S. Army in Europe in the 1950s. When a guidebook he wrote for American soldiers overseas sold out, he launched what became one of the travel industry´s best-known brands, self-publishing "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" in 1957.
"It struck a chord and became an immediate best-seller," he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press in 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the book's debut.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - The Kremlin warned Monday that President Joe Biden´s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles adds "fuel to the fire" of the war and would escalate international tensions even higher.
Biden´s shift in policy added an uncertain, new factor to the conflict on the eve of the 1,000-day milestone since Russia began its full-scale invasion in 2022.
It also came as a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people and injuring 84 others. Another missile barrage sparked apartment fires in the southern port of Odesa, killing at least 10 people and injuring 43, Ukraine´s Interior Ministry said.
Washington is easing limits on what Ukraine can strike with its American-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Sunday, after months of ruling out such a move over fears of escalating the conflict and bringing about a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.
The Kremlin was swift in its condemnation.
___
Israeli airstrike hits central Beirut near key government buildings and embassies
BEIRUT (AP) - An Israeli airstrike slammed into a densely populated residential area in Lebanon´s capital near key government and diplomatic buildings late Monday, killing at least five people as the U.S. pressed ahead with cease-fire efforts.
Lebanon´s state-run National News Agency said two missiles hit the area of Zoqaq al-Blat neighborhood - where local U.N. headquarters and Lebanon´s parliament and prime minister´s office are located.
Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, sensa138 vowing to severely weaken the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and end its barrages in Israel that the militants have said are in solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.
The U.S. has been working on a cease-fire proposal that would remove Israeli ground forces from Lebanon and push Hezbollah forces far from the Israeli border. Lebanon´s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who is mediating for the militants, is expected to meet with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. The White House has not confirmed Hochstein's visit.
Labor Minister Mostafa Bayram, who met with Berri on Monday, said Lebanon would convey its "positive position" to the latest U.S. proposal.
___
45 sentenced to up to 10 years in prison in Hong Kong national security case
HONG KONG (AP) - Dozens of prominent activists were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison on Tuesday in Hong Kong´s biggest national security case under a sweeping law imposed by Beijing that crushed a once-thriving pro-democracy movement.
The defendants were prosecuted in 2021 for their roles in an unofficial primary election under the 2020 national security law. They were accused of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong´s government and force the city´s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.
The 45 convicted received prison terms ranging from four years and two months to 10 years. Legal scholar Benny Tai was given the longest sentence.
They either pleaded guilty to or were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion by three government-approved judges. The judges said in the verdict that the activists´ plans to effect change through the election would have undermined the government´s authority and created a constitutional crisis. Two of the 47 original defendants were acquitted.
Tai, who had written an article outlining "ten steps to mutual destruction" is widely seen as the organizer behind the unofficial primary. In a judgment uploaded online, the judges wrote that Tai essentially "advocated for a revolution" by publishing a series of articles over a period of months that traced his thinking, even though in his mitigation letter Tai said the steps were "never intended to be used as blueprint for any political action."
___
35,000 crowd New Zealand's Parliament grounds in support of Maori rights
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - As tens of thousands of marchers crowded the streets in New Zealand´s capital Wellington on Tuesday, the throng of people, flags aloft, had the air of a festival or a parade rather than a protest. They arrived to oppose a law that would reshape the county´s founding treaty between Indigenous Maori and the British Crown. But for many, it was about something more: a celebration of a resurging Indigenous language and identity that colonization had once almost destroyed.
"Just fighting for the rights that our tupuna, our ancestors, fought for," Shanell Bob said as she waited for the march to begin. "We´re fighting for our tamariki, for our mokopuna, so they can have what we haven´t been able to have," she added, using the Maori words for children and grandchildren.
What was likely the country´s largest-ever protest in support of Maori rights - a subject that has preoccupied modern New Zealand for much of its young history - followed a long tradition of peaceful marches the length of the country that have marked turning points in the history of modern New Zealand.
"We´re going for a walk!" One organizer proclaimed from the stage as crowds gathered at the opposite end of the city from the nation´s Parliament. Some had traveled the length of the country over the past nine days.
For many, the turnout reflected growing solidarity on Indigenous rights from non-Maori. At bus stops during the usual morning commute, people of all ages and races waited with Maori sovereignty flags. Some local schools said they would not register students as absent. The city´s mayor joined the protest.
___
Georgia appeals court cancels hearing in election interference case against Trump
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - A Georgia appeals court on Monday canceled oral arguments that were scheduled for next month on the appeal of a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump and other defendants had asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to hold oral arguments in the case, and the court had set those arguments for Dec. 5. But in a one-line order with no further explanation, the appeals court said that hearing "is hereby canceled until further order of this Court."
A Fulton County grand jury in August 2023 indicted Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a sprawling scheme to illegally try to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four defendants have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors, but Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
But with Trump set to return to the White House in January, the future of the case against the once and future president was already in question even if the Court of Appeals ultimately says Willis shouldn't be disqualified.
Trump and other defendants filed the appeal seeking to get Willis and her office removed from the case and to have the case dismissed. They argue that a romantic relationship Willis had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March found that no conflict of interest existed that should force Willis off the case, but he granted a request from Trump and the other defendants to seek an appeal of his ruling from the Court of Appeals.
___
Speaker Johnson's 'epic' weekend with Trump shows strengths and limits of his power
WASHINGTON (AP) - There was House Speaker Mike Johnson walking behind President-elect Donald Trump's entourage into Saturday night's UFC fight at Madison Square Garden, his stature overcome by the enormity of the scene around him.
And Johnson mugging with musicians Kid Rock and Jelly Roll.
And there was Johnson on Trump's airplane, peering over the seat in front of him, a four-top table loaded with McDonald's meals for the president-elect, his son Donald Trump, Jr., Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. - the speaker grinning over the seatback.
"Epic," Johnson said about it all as he arrived back at the U.S. Capitol.
The images from Johnson's wild weekend with Trump provide a snapshot of his proximity to power, the former religious rights attorney just a year on the job as House speaker, now dining at Mar-a-Lago, flying on Trump Force One, appearing near-ringside in Manhattan - and riding shotgun to Trump's second term in the White House.
___
Trump says he is naming former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy to be transportation secretary
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he is naming former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy as his nominee for transportation secretary, as he continues to roll out picks for his Cabinet.
Duffy is a former reality TV star who was one of Trump´s most visible defenders on cable news - a prime concern for the media-focused president-elect. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, was a member of the Financial Services Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019, and is co-host of "The Bottom Line" on Fox Business.
In his announcement, Trump noted that Duffy is married to a Fox News host, calling him "the husband of a wonderful woman, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a STAR on Fox News."
A spokesperson for Fox News Media wished Duffy "the best of luck in his return to Washington" and said he left the company Monday.
Duffy is so far the second Fox-affiliated television host that Trump has named to his Cabinet. Trump last week announced his choice of Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary.
___
Brazil´s G20 summit produces a broad declaration that´s short on specifics
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - The summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in Rio de Janeiro produced a joint declaration Monday that, while not totally endorsed by one of the group's members, succeeded in addressing most topics host Brazil had prioritized addressing: both ongoing major wars, a global pact to fight hunger, taxation of the world´s wealthiest people and changes to global governance.
Experts had doubted Brazil 's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva could convince assembled leaders to hammer out agreement given uncertainty about the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and heightened global tensions amid the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Further dimming prospects of consensus, Argentina´s negotiators challenged some of the draft language - and ultimately refrained from endorsing the complete document.
"Although generic, it is a positive surprise for Brazil," said Thomas Traumann, an independent political consultant and former Brazilian minister. "There was a moment when there was risk of no declaration at all. Despite the caveats, it is a good result for Lula."
Militant group Hamas´ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel occurred one month after last year´s G20 summit. It was thus unclear how this year´s statement might address Israel´s campaign of retaliation, which has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials, and more than 3,500 people in Lebanon in Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
The G20 declaration referred to the "catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon," and stressed the urgent need to expand humanitarian assistance and reinforce protection of civilians.
___
3 people are killed in random stabbings in New York City. A suspect is in custody
NEW YORK (AP) - A man fatally stabbed three people across a swath of Manhattan on Monday morning, carrying out a series of random attacks without uttering a word to his victims, officials said.
The 51-year-old suspect was in police custody after being found with blood on his clothes and the two kitchen knives he was carrying, authorities said. The suspect's and victims' names weren't immediately released.
"Three New Yorkers. Unprovoked attacks that left us searching for answers on how something like this could happen," Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference.
Investigators were working to understand what propelled the rampage, which happened within 2 1/2 hours.
"No words exchanged. No property taken. Just attacked, viciously," said Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department´s chief of detectives. "He just walked up to them and began to attack them with the knives."
___
Arthur Frommer, travel guide innovator, has died at 95
NEW YORK (AP) - Arthur Frommer, whose "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" guidebooks revolutionized leisure travel by convincing average Americans to take budget vacations abroad, has died. He was 95.
Frommer died from complications of pneumonia, his daughter Pauline Frommer said Monday.
"My father opened up the world to so many people," she said. "He believed deeply that travel could be an enlightening activity and one that did not require a big budget."
Frommer began writing about travel while serving in the U.S. Army in Europe in the 1950s. When a guidebook he wrote for American soldiers overseas sold out, he launched what became one of the travel industry´s best-known brands, self-publishing "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" in 1957.
"It struck a chord and became an immediate best-seller," he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press in 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the book's debut.
