January 13, 2025 5:17 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are far from contained, but they’re already expected to be the costliest in U.S. history and among the worst natural disasters. The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday. While California is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That’s far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties.
January 13, 2025 5:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office next week, he remains insistent that his one-term presidency has made strides in restoring American credibility on the world stage and has proved that the U.S. remains an indispensable partner around the globe. That’s the message that will be at the center of a capstone address he will deliver on Monday reflecting on his foreign policy legacy. Yet, Biden’s case for his foreign policy achievements will be shadowed and shaped, at least in the near term, by the messy counterfactual that American voters are returning the country’s stewardship to Donald Trump and his protectionist worldview.
January 13, 2025 4:48 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge says the Justice Department can release special counsel Jack Smith’s investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, is the latest in the back and forth in a court dispute over the report from the special counsel who prosecuted Trump in two cases the Justice Department abandoned in November. Cannon had earlier temporarily blocked the department from releasing the report. Cannon on Monday cleared the way for the release of the volume on Trump’s 2020 election interference case. A temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until Tuesday. (Photo: AP)
January 13, 2025 4:43 pm
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — U.S. flags at President-elect Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club are back to flying at full height. Flags are supposed to fly at half-staff through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29. Both President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have directed that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff for 30 days from the date of Carter’s death — or through Jan. 28. Trump has expressed annoyance that flags will be at half-staff when he takes office on Jan. 20. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday ordered flags on state buildings to be flown at full-staff on Inauguration Day.
January 13, 2025 5:16 am
HONG KONG (AP) — China’s exports in December grew at a faster pace than expected, as factories rushed to fill orders to beat higher tariffs that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose once he takes office. Exports rose 10.7% from a year earlier. Economists had forecast they would grow about 7%. Imports rose 1% year-on-year. Analysts had expected imports to shrink about 1.5%. Trump has pledged to raise tariffs on Chinese goods and close some loopholes that exporters now use to sell their products more cheaply in the U.S. If enacted, his plans would likely raise prices in America and squeeze sales and profit margins for Chinese exporters.
January 13, 2025 5:14 am
CAIRO (AP) — Officials say U.S. and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but a deal has not been reached yet. Three officials said Monday that progress has been made and that the coming days would be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilized the Middle East. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks. On several occasions over the past year, U.S. officials have said they were on the verge of reaching a deal, only to have the talks stall.
January 12, 2025 6:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department after submitting his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump. It was an expected move that comes amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead. The department disclosed Smith’s departure in a court filing Saturday, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation, 10 days before Trump is inaugurated, follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions against Trump that were withdrawn following Trump’s White House win in November. At issue now is the fate of a two-volume report that Smith and his team had prepared about their twin investigations on Trump.
January 12, 2025 6:07 am
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, many elected officials in Republican and Democratic states are preparing to either aid or oppose his policies. From immigration to education to transgender rights, a red-state blue-state divide has become common. For example, Republican state officials are pledging to aid Trump’s deportation efforts while many Democratic state officials remain wary or vocally resistant. Democratic attorneys general also are preparing to sue over a variety of other expected Trump administration policies. In most states, one party controls both the legislature and governor’s office.
January 12, 2025 6:03 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office says the confirmed death toll from the wildfires ravaging the area has risen to 16. The coroner’s office says Saturday evening in a statement that five of the deaths have been attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 are the result of the Eaton Fire. Firefighters are racing to cut off the spreading wildfires before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward the world famous J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles. New evacuation warnings are leaving homeowners on edge while a fierce battle against the flames is underway in Mandeville Canyon. Firefighters are using hoses to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blankets the hillside.
January 12, 2025 5:59 am
ATLANTA (AP) — Snow and ice across the U.S. South are expected to relinquish their grip only slowly as the weekend continues. Major airports including Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina continued to report disruptions Saturday,. Temperatures are expected to plunge after sundown Saturday, raising the risk that melting snow will refreeze, turning roadways treacherous. The storm that brought snow to the South was forecast to move out to sea off the East Coast on Saturday, leaving behind snow showers in the Appalachian Mountains and New England. Richmond, Virginia, lifted its boil-water advisory Saturday, nearly a week after an earlier snowstorm cut power and caused a malfunction to the city’s water system.
