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Prosecutors appealing length of prison sentences for Proud Boys leaders convicted of Jan. 6 plot

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is appealing the length of prison sentences for four Proud Boys leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy in the U.S. Capitol attack, challenging punishments that were significantly shorter than what prosecutors had recommended, according to court filings on Monday.U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio and three lieutenants to prison terms ranging from 15 to 22 years after a jury convicted them in May of plotting to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election. Tarrio’s 22-year sentence is the longest so far among hundreds of criminal cases stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, but prosecutors had sought 33 years behind bars for the Miami man. Prosecutors also had recommended sentences of 33 years for former Proud Boys organizer Joseph Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida; 30 years for Proud Boys chapt...

Republicans in Nevada are split in dueling contest over 2024 presidential nomination

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada’s dueling contests of presidential nominees have split the field of Republican contenders, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis opting to compete against former President Donald Trump in the caucus run by the state GOP while three major rivals face off instead in the early state-run primary.Though DeSantis’ supporters were among those warning that the Nevada Republican Party had created rules that tilted the process in favor of Trump, the Floridian announced Sunday he would run in the Feb. 8 caucus and try to win delegates that help a candidate become a nominee. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Monday filed as a candidate for the Feb. 6 primary, run by the state. The primary offers an opportunity to prove electability, at least symbolically, before crucial contests in South Carolina and a slate of primaries on Super Tuesday.Former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott on Friday also filed for the primary. Nevada hol...

Mexican official confirms cartel gunmen forced a dozen tanker trucks to dump gasoline at gunpoint

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

A Mexican official on Monday confirmed a shocking video that emerged over the weekend of cartel gunmen forcing the drivers of about a dozen tanker trucks to dump their entire loads of gasoline into a field.The official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said the incident occurred last week in the border city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, and was under investigation.The official said the gunmen had apparently forced the truck drivers to line their parked vehicles up on a dirt road to dump their cargo.Asked about the videos, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged “there is resistance from criminals” in the area, long known for cartel violence, adding that “We continue to confront them.”In the video, a presumed member of the cartel can be heard mentioning the Gulf cartel faction known as The Scorpions, and saying all trucks carrying gasoline would suffer the same fate unless “they get in line,” or pay protection money to the gang.In the video, ope...

Trump, campaigning in Iowa, vows to ban Gaza refugees from US if he wins a second term

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — Doubling down on the hard-line immigration policies that have long animated his base, former President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to bar refugees from Gaza and immediately expand his first-term Muslim travel ban if he wins a second term following the deadly attack on Israel last week.Speaking to supporters in Iowa, Trump said that if he returns to the Oval Office, he will immediately begin “ideological screening” for all immigrants and bar those who sympathize with Hamas and Muslim extremists. The war between Israel and Hamas has sparked what is now the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 dead.His proposals would mark a dramatic expansion of the controversial — and legally dubious — policies that drew alarm from immigrant rights and civil liberties activists, but helped him win the GOP primary in 2016. Trump has long railed against the U.S. taking immigrants from countries he has dubbed inferior, particularly in Africa and the Middle...

Waiting for news, families of Israeli hostages in Gaza tell stories of their loved ones

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

They range from babies to the elderly. Most are civilians. Israel says at least 199 people taken during the Hamas attack are being held captive in Gaza. Some of their families received frantic phone calls or texts during the attack. Others heard nothing and later saw video evidence their loved ones were taken. For now, they wait, desperate to find out whether the hostages are even alive. And they tell their stories. Here are some of them.YAFFA ADARYaffa Adar loved reading, writing and keeping connected. Even at 85 she often sent her family messages and GIFs on WhatsApp. She was active on Facebook, her granddaughter recalls.Keeping in close touch online became especially important in recent years as she found it harder to walk beyond her home in Nir Oz, a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip. Amid that physical struggle, she kept her mind busy and knew what she wanted, her granddaughter said.“She loved reading,” Adva Adar recalled. “So we were like, ”We’re going to get you a Kindle.” What did...

Soccer match between Belgium and Sweden suspended after a gunman kills 2 Swedes in Brussels

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Thousands of soccer fans were kept inside Belgium’s national stadium for about 2 1/2 hours Monday after a game between Belgium and Sweden was suspended at halftime following a gunman fatally shooting two Swedes in Brussels before kickoff.The European Championship qualifier was being played some 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the shooting in the center of the Belgian capital, and more than 35,000 fans attended the match. With the suspect still at large and going after Swedes, Belgian authorities kept fans inside the venue for security reasons before they started the evacuation around midnight local time.Fans chanted “All together, All together” inside the King Baudouin Stadium after the match was halted, with thousands of supporters from both sides also shouting “Sweden, Sweden!” Manu Leroy, the CEO of the Belgian soccer union, said he discovered 10 minutes before kickoff that “something serious” had happened in downtown Brussels.“It was decided in the first place ...

In Brazil’s Amazon, rivers fall to record low levels during drought

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The Negro River, the Amazon’s second largest tributary, on Monday reached its lowest level since official measurements began near Manaus 121 years ago. The record confirms that this part of the world´s largest rainforest is suffering its worst drought, just a little over two years after its most significant flooding.In the morning, the water level in the city´s port went as low as 13.5 meters (44.3 feet), down from 30.02 meters (98.5 feet) registered in June 2021 — its highest level on record. The Negro River drains about 10% of the Amazon basin and is the world’s sixth largest by water volume.Madeira River, another main tributary of the Amazon, has also recorded historically low levels, causing the halt of the Santo Antonio hydroelectric dam, Brazil´s fourth largest.Throughout Brazil´s Amazon, low river levels have left hundreds of riverine communities isolated and struggling to get access to drinkable water. The drought also has disrupted commercial n...

Feds, two Atlantic premiers agree to ‘modified’ Atlantic Loop project

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are scaling back plans for the Atlantic Loop electricity grid to expanding just one existing connection between their two provinces.What they are now calling a “modified Atlantic Loop” is part of a joint policy statement agreed to Monday in Ottawa during a meeting between federal Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and the premiers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says the smaller project will cost between $1 billion and $2 billion and can be finished by 2029. The joint policy statement has both provinces and the federal government agreeing to co-operate on planning to ensure both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick eliminate coal power from their electrical grids by 2030 and to a fully greenhouse-gas emission-free grid by 2035.Last week, Nova Scotia pulled back from the full Atlantic Loop citing ballooning costs and a lack of commitment from Quebec to share more power.The Atlantic Loop was intended to build...

Prayer vigil and solidarity rally for the victims in Israel underway

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

WHEELING, Ill. — Hundreds of people are expected to gather Monday evening for a prayer vigil and solidarity rally for the victims in Israel. Rabbi Sholom Notik is organizing the event, which will begin with a prayer vigil for those held hostage, murdered, wounded and displaced during the Israel-Hamas war. MORE STORIES: Israel and Hamas conflict "I like to say at the beginning of an event like this that it’s not about politics, it’s not about a demonstration, it’s about supporting each other, especially supporting the victims," Notik said. "Supporting really our brothers and sisters over in Isreal who are going through all of this. And about encouraging all of us that you can do better."At the local level, people will be thinking about the safe return of Evanston natives Judity Ra'anan and her 19-year-old daughter Natalie, who were visiting family in Israel when they were taken hostage by Hamas, according to the family's rabbi who is a colleague of Notik.

‘A light to everybody’: Student from Chicagoland killed in shooting at Jackson State University

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:00 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. — A shooting at an apartment complex on the Jackson State University campus in Mississippi left a student from Chicagoland dead over the weekend.Jaylen Burns, 21, graduated from Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills, before going on to JSU, where he was a senior majoring in industrial technology. Mayor Johnson reverses course on plans for southern border trip “We were all so proud of Jaylen,” La’Trice Wright, Burns’ mother, said.According to JSU officials, Burns was transported to the hospital Sunday night from campus after reports of shots fired at the University Pointe Apartment Complex. Few details on the shooting have been released and JSU said the Jackson Police Department and Capitol Police are working together on the investigation.“To whoever took my son, they didn’t just take him from me, they took him from the world,” Wright said.Wright said some of their family traveled to Jackson for homecoming weekend to celebrate everything her son had accomplishe...