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In Southeast Asia, Kamala Harris is at the center of White House efforts to counterbalance China

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — It took more than a day of flying, including two refueling stops, for Vice President Kamala Harris to reach this year’s summit of Southeast Asian countries. And once she arrived, she had less than eight minutes of public speaking time during two meetings. But in Jakarta’s cavernous convention center, adorned with billowing flowers and tropical plants for the occasion, Harris saw an opportunity to shape the future of United States foreign policy. In an interview with The Associated Press, the vice president said that Washington must “pay attention to 10, 20, 30 years down the line, and what we are developing now that will be to the benefit of our country then.”For her, that means working in Southeast Asia. Two-thirds of its population is under 35 years old. It’s the fourth-largest market for U.S. exports. One-third of global shipping travels through the South China Sea.“Think about it,” Harris said. This was her third trip to Southeast Asia since...

Convicted of embezzlement, former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is running again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — More than a decade after being convicted of embezzling donated gift cards, a former Baltimore mayor has announced she’s again running for office.Sheila Dixon, who resigned as part of a 2010 plea agreement in the corruption case, penned an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun on Thursday apologizing for her past digressions and announcing her candidacy in the city’s 2024 mayoral race. This marks her third bid for mayor following two unsuccessful attempts since her own tenure ended in scandal.Dixon will go up against current Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott in the city’s Democratic primary. Scott is running for a second term.In December 2009, a jury found Dixon guilty of embezzlement for misusing gift cards that had been donated to City Hall for charity. Instead of using them to serve the poor, Dixon spent about $500 at Target and Best Buy to purchase things for her family and staff.Additional perjury charges against her were later dropped. Dixon served four years probation and co...

‘There’s no one to fill his shoes’: Journalist and author Peter C. Newman dies at 94

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

Veteran journalist and author Peter C. Newman, who held a mirror up to Canada, has died at the age of 94. He died in hospital in Belleville, Ont., Thursday morning from complications related to a stroke he had last year, which caused him to develop Parkinson’s disease, his wife Alvy Newman said by phone. “It’s a big loss for Canada,” she said. “He has no peers. There’s no one to fill his shoes. Who is there that’s an author and a journalist that can show Canada to themselves?”In his decades-long career, Newman served as editor-in-chief of the Toronto Star and Maclean’s, covering Canadian politics and business.Often recognized by his trademark sailor’s cap, Newman also wrote two dozen books and earned the informal title of Canada’s “most cussed and discussed commentator,” said HarperCollins, one of his publishers, in an author note.Newman was born in Vienna in 1929 and came to Canada in 1940 as a Jewish ref...

Biden will nominate a former Obama official to run the Federal Aviation Administration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

President Joe Biden will nominate a former Obama administration official to lead the Federal Aviation Administration after his first choice withdrew March after running into opposition from Republican senators.The White House said Thursday that Biden will nominate Michael G. Whitaker, a former deputy administrator at the FAA, and currently the chief operating officer of a Hyundai affiliate working to develop an air taxi aircraft.Whitaker’s nomination had been expected for months, and Biden’s announcement was praised by several industry and labor groups.The FAA, which regulates airline safety and manages the nation’s airspace, has been run by back-to-back acting administrators since March 2022. The FAA faces a number of challenges including a shortage of air traffic controllers, aging technology, and alarm over close calls between planes at major airports. In addition, Congress is deliberating over legislation that will direct the agency’s operations for the n...

Donors pledge half a billion dollars to boost the struggling local news industry

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The MacArthur Foundation is leading a group of donors that have pledged $500 million to help the struggling local news industry, hoping to seed outlets that can make up for those that have closed or been hollowed out over the past two decades.While led by a $150 million donation by the journalism-focused Knight Foundation, the Press Forward initiative is focusing on the importance of news in communities and is bringing in funders whose primary mission hasn’t necessarily been journalism.“This is hugely important, both practically and symbolically,” said Tim Franklin, director of the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University’s Medill journalism school.The Carnegie Corp., the Democracy Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and MacArthur are among a group of 20 initial funders. (The Associated Press receives grant funding from several sources for some journalism coverage, as well.)Philanthropies that recognize the need to streng...

Ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to enter Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

Decorated ice dance duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and mixed martial arts star Georges St-Pierre were among the 2023 inductees named to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday.Randy Ferbey’s curling team, wheelchair basketball player Danielle Peers and softball player Phyllis Bomberry will also be inducted as athletes, with judo coach Hiroshi Nakamura and lacrosse pioneer Oren Lyons joining them as builders.This year’s inductees were announced at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., where the Hall’s artifact collection is now housed.At their induction ceremony Oct. 19, the class of 2023 will join over 700 people named to the Hall since it was established in 1955.Since 2019, inductees have received the Order of Sport from the Hall for their role in building Canada through sport.Ice dancers Virtue of London, Ont., and Moir of Ilderton, Ont., won two Olympic gold medals and one silver as well as three world titles during their career.The duo pushe...

Jury weighs case of Trump White House adviser Navarro’s failure to cooperate with Jan. 6 committee

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A jury began weighing contempt of Congress charges against Trump White House official Peter Navarro on Thursday over his failure to cooperate with a subpoena from the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.Prosecutors argued that Navarro “chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump” over obeying a subpoena from the House panel investigating after a mob of the Republican’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and interrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential vote for Joe Biden, a Democrat.Navarro, a former senior trade adviser, is charged with two counts of contempt of Congress. A defense attorney argued Navarro didn’t purposely ignore the House Jan. 6 Committee. Navarro instead told staffers to contact Trump about what might be protected by executive privilege, something that didn’t happen, defense attorney Stanley Woodward argued.A judge has ruled the executive privilege argument isn’t a defense against the charges...

Prince Harry to attend charity event in London — but meeting up with the family isn’t on the agenda

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry is attending a charity event Thursday night in London, though he isn’t expected to meet with King Charles III or Prince William as Britain prepares to mark the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.Harry’s relationship with his family has been strained since he and his wife, Meghan, moved to California in 2020. The rift deepened over the past year as Harry critiqued the family in a six-part Netflix series and his memoir, “Spare,” a title that alludes to his position as the spare royal son rather than William’s role as heir to the throne.The Daily Mail newspaper cited a palace insider as saying Charles had no time in his diary to see his younger son. The king is at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where the queen died on Sept. 8, 2022. William is 100 miles (160 kilometers) from London in Bournemouth. Harry traveled to Britain to take part in the annual awards ceremony sponsored by WellChild, which helps seriously ill children get the treatment they ne...

Changes to minimum tax to add $2.6 billion over five years for feds: PBO

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

OTTAWA — The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government’s proposed changes to the alternative minimum tax will generate an additional $2.6 billion in revenue over five years.The tax aims to ensure high-income earners and trusts don’t pay disproportionately less in taxes than other taxpayers. The Liberal government proposed in the 2023 budget changes to the alternative minimum tax so that the highest income earners pay the greatest share of the revenue generated from the tax.The changes, which come into effect in January 2024, would increase the minimum tax from 15 per cent to 20.5 per cent.At the same time, it would increase the amount that is excluded from the calculation from $40,000 to $173,000. While the budget watchdog finds the changes will lead to the highest-income earners paying the largest share, it does not find that to be the case with trusts.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 7, 2023. The Canadian Press<!– Phot...

Search for escaped Pennsylvania murderer enters eighth day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:30 GMT

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — A murderer who made a brazen escape from a suburban Philadelphia jail yard was still on the lam Thursday as the search entered its second week.Residents who were under siege as heavily armed police hunted for the fugitive roaming their neighborhood for several days described frustration with the search and anxiety at being locked down.Danilo Souza Cavalcante, a 34-year-old from Brazil, escaped from the Chester County prison on Aug. 31 by scaling a wall, climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof. The breakout wasn’t detected by guards for a full hour, authorities say. Considered extremely dangerous, Cavalcante has since been spotted at least six times. Authorities continue to move and expand their search perimeter — now a vast area filled with forests and thick brush — while residents remain on edge.Ryan Drummond, 42, had a harrowing encounter with the man believed to be the escapee when his home in Pocopson was broken into late Friday.After awaking to...