Los Angeles residents flee fire as potentially ‘life-threatening, destructive’ winds gain strength
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters are scrambling to corral flames churning along hillsides in Los Angeles as winds have gained strength across Southern California. Forecasters said “life-threatening, destructive” gusts could last for days while toppling trees and bringing extreme fire risk to areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months. Fire crews responded Tuesday morning to a blaze that prompted evacuation orders for neighborhoods of large homes in the foothills of the Pacific Palisades area in western Los Angeles. The actor James Woods posted footage of flames burning through trees on a hill above his Pacific Palisades home.
Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says he won’t rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland as he declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security. Speaking to reporters less than two weeks before he takes office on Jan. 20 and as a delegation of aides and advisers that includes his son Donald Trump Jr. is in Greenland, Trump left open the use of the American military to secure both territories. Trump has floated having Canada join the United States. The Republican said Tuesday he would not use military force to do that, saying, he would rely on “economic force.”
Judge temporarily blocks release of special counsel report on Trump cases as court fight simmers
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Florida has temporarily blocked the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on investigations into Donald Trump, who says it would be a “fake report” anyway. An appeals court is weighing a challenge to the disclosure of a much-anticipated document just days before the Republican president-elect reclaims office. Tuesday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon may represent a short-lived victory for Trump. But it’s the latest instance of the Trump-appointed jurist taking action in Trump’s favor. The halt came in response to an emergency request Monday by defense lawyers to block the release of a report they said would be one-sided and prejudicial. Smith’s team is expected to respond later Tuesday.
The polar vortex brings its bitter cold to the Southern US
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The plunging polar vortex is bringing subfreezing temperatures to some of the southernmost points of the U.S. A forming storm system is threatening to dump snow on parts of Texas and Oklahoma, while communities in Louisiana and Florida may see frigid cold. The arctic blast that descended on much of the U.S. east of the Rockies over the weekend has caused hundreds of car accidents, thousands of flight cancellations and delays, and forced school closures in some states. Crews in Arlington, Texas, were preparing the roads Tuesday ahead of an expected snowstorm Thursday that could make driving tricky ahead of Friday’s Cotton Bowl game between Ohio State and Texas.
Jimmy Carter’s casket arrives at the US Capitol, where he will lie in state
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jimmy Carter’s state funeral has moved to Washington after observances in his native Georgia. The 39th president’s remains left the Carter Presidential Center on Tuesday morning and flew to the Washington area aboard Special Air Mission 39. The Carter family and former president arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, with a motorcade following to the U.S. Navy Memorial. Carter’s flag-draped casket was transferred to a horse-drawn caisson for his final journey to the Capitol. Carter is the only U.S. Naval Academy graduate to become president. Members of Congress will honor Carter in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday afternoon. The ceremonies carry some irony for the one-term president who campaigned as an outsider in 1976 and never mastered the city.
Man who exploded Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI, police say
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Last Vegas police say the highly decorated soldier who exploded a Tesla outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI including ChatGPT to help plan the attack. The updates on Tuesday comes nearly a week after 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger fatally shot himself just before the truck blew up outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas. Livelsberger was an Army Green Beret who deployed twice to Afghanistan and lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Officials have said he left notes saying the explosion was a stunt meant to be a “wake up call” for the nation’s troubles. Law enforcement officials say Livelsberger left a note saying the country needed to “rally around” President-elect Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Biden administration asks court to block plea deal for alleged mastermind of 9/11 attacks
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has asked a federal appeals court to block a plea agreement for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It comes days before the accused 9/11 mastermind’s scheduled guilty plea in an agreement that would spare him the risk of the death penalty. The appeal comes after the military judge at Guantanamo Bay and a military appeals panel rejected Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s effort to throw out the plea deal, saying had no power to do so after the senior Pentagon official for Guantanamo approved it in July.
Immigration is a higher priority for Americans than it was a year ago, an AP-NORC poll shows
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans say immigration should be a top focus for the U.S. government in 2025, as the country heads toward a new Republican administration in which President-elect Donald Trump has promised the mass deportations of migrants and an end to birthright citizenship. A December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds about half of U.S. adults named immigration and border topics in an open-ended question that asked respondents to share up to five issues they want the government to work on this year. That’s up from about one-third who mentioned the topic in an AP-NORC poll the previous year. About three-quarters want the government to focus on addressing broad economic concerns.
Tibet earthquake kills at least 126 people and leaves many trapped
BEIJING (AP) — A strong earthquake has shaken a high-altitude region of western China and areas of Nepal. Tuesday’s quake damaged hundreds of houses, littered streets with rubble and killed at least 126 people in Tibet. Many others were trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook the remote region. State media reported that at least 188 people have been injured in Tibet. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said more than 1,000 homes were damaged in the barren and sparsely populated region. Nepalese authorities said people in the country’s northeast strongly felt the earthquake, but there were no initial reports of injuries or damage.
Meta eliminates fact-checking in latest bow to Trump
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta says it’s scrapping its third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with “community notes” written by users similar to the model used by Elon Musk’s social platform X. The company said Tuesday it is ending the program because expert fact checkers have their own biases and too much content gets fact checked. Incoming President Donald Trump said the changes at Meta “probably” came because of his threats against chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta announcement comes on the four-year anniversary of Zuckerberg banning Trump from his platforms after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.