Harris says she's ready to debate Trump and accuses him of 'backpedaling' from Sept. 10 faceoff

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters on Thursday that she’s “ready to debate Donald Trump.”

She accused him of “backpedaling” away from a previous agreement for a debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10.

“I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage,” she said after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a trip to Indiana and Texas.

The Sept. 10 debate was one of two debates that President Joe Biden and Trump had agreed on. The first one was hosted by CNN on June 27, but Biden has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris as his successor.

Trump has said he would prefer to shift the debate to Fox News, but he would be willing to face off with Harris more than once.

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Harris tells Netanyahu 'it is time' to end the war in Gaza and bring the hostages home

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday said she urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal soon with Hamas so that dozens of hostages held by the militants in Gaza since Oct. 7 can return home.

Harris said she had a “frank and constructive” conversation with Netanyahu in which she affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself but also expressed deep concern about the high death toll in Gaza over nine months of war and the “dire” humanitarian situation there.

With all eyes on the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Harris largely reiterated President Joe Biden's longstanding message that it's time to find an endgame to the brutal war in Gaza, where more than 39,000 Palestinians have died. Yet she offered a more forceful tone about the urgency of the moment just one day after Netanyahu gave a fiery speech to Congress in which he defended the war, vowed “total victory” against Hamas and made relatively scant mention of cease-fire negotiations.

“There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this deal,” Harris told reporters shortly after meeting with Netanyahu. “And as I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done.”

Netanyahu met separately earlier in the day with Biden, who has also been calling on Israel and Hamas to come to an agreement on a U.S.-backed, three-phase deal to bring home remaining hostages and establish an extended cease-fire.

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Prosecutors urge judge not to toss out Trump’s hush money conviction, pushing back on immunity claim

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are urging a judge to uphold Donald Trump’s historic hush money conviction, arguing in court papers made public Thursday that the verdict should stand despite the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a court filing that the high court’s opinion “has no bearing” on the hush money case because it involves unofficial acts for which the former president is not immune.

“This case involved evidence of defendant’s personal conduct, not his official acts," prosecutors wrote in a 66-page filing. They contend there is “no basis for disturbing the jury’s verdict.”

The Republican presidential nominee is trying to get the verdict — and even the indictment — tossed out because of the Supreme Court’s July 1 decision. The ruling curbs prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors from pointing to official acts as evidence that a commander in chief’s unofficial actions were illegal.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that prosecutors rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision, and that the trial was “tainted” by evidence that should not have been allowed under the high court’s ruling, such as testimony from some Trump White House staffers and tweets he sent while president in 2018.

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US arrests 2 leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel: ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and son of 'El Chapo'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department said.

A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada is one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the world and known for running the cartel’s smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile.

A Mexican federal official told The Associated Press that Zambada and Guzmán López arrived in the United States on a private plane and turned themselves in to authorities. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized discuss the matter.

The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the capture of Zambada, who eluded authorities for decades.

Zambada and Guzmán López oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said, adding that now they will "face justice in the United States.”

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Brazil apologizes for post-WWII persecution of Japanese immigrants

Sao Paulo (AP) — The Brazilian government on Thursday apologized for human rights violations in the persecution and internment of Japanese immigrants in the years after World War II.

“I want to apologize on behalf of the Brazilian state for the persecution your ancestors suffered, for all the barbarities, atrocities, cruelties, tortures, prejudice, ignorance, xenophobia and racism,” said Eneá de Stutz e Almeida, president of the Amnesty Commission, an advisory board of Brazil’s Ministry of Human Rights that analyzes amnesty and reparation requests to victims of political persecution in the country.

The board approved the apology plea in a session in Brasilia attended by members of the Brazilian government and prominent members of the Japanese community. Flags of both countries were displayed on the table where the speakers sat.

A report by the Amnesty Commission acknowledged that 172 immigrants were sent to a concentration camp off the coast of São Paulo, where they were mistreated and tortured from 1946 to 1948.

"The documents indisputably demonstrate the political persecution and justify the declaration of political amnesty for the Japanese community and their descendants,” said the commission's rapporteur, Vanda Davi Fernandes de Oliveira.

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Lightning and a burning car pushed into a gully are blamed for wildfires scorching the West

A burning car pushed into a gully sparked California’s largest wildfire of the year, authorities said Thursday as they announced the arrest of a suspect. Meanwhile other blazes scorched the Pacific Northwest.

Flames from the fire the man is accused of starting exploded into what is now the Park Fire, which has burned more than 195 square miles (505 square km) near the city of Chico. Evacuations were ordered in Butte and Tehama counties, with the blaze only 3% contained by Thursday evening.

California authorities did not immediately name the man they arrested.

Also in California near the Nevada line, about 1,000 people remained displaced from their homes Thursday after evacuations were ordered Monday night when lightning sparked the Gold Complex fires that have burned more than 4 square miles (10 square km) of brush and timber in the Plumas National Forest about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Reno, Forest Service spokeswoman Adrienne Freeman said.

There have been no reports of structure damage, deaths or serious injuries at the Gold Complex of fires southwest of Portola near the Nevada line. But they still had zero containment Thursday.

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Chinese and Russian bombers patrolling off Alaska raise concerns about growing military cooperation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian and Chinese bombers flew together for the first time in international airspace off the coast of Alaska, in a new show of expanding military cooperation that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday raises concerns.

The flights Wednesday were not seen as a threat, and the bombers were tracked and intercepted by U.S. and Canadian fighter jets. But it was the first time that Chinese bomber aircraft have flown within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. And it was the first time Chinese and Russian aircraft have taken off from the same base in northeast Russia.

“This is a relationship that we have been concerned about throughout — mostly because we’re concerned about China providing support to Russia’s illegal and unnecessary war in Ukraine," Austin told reporters.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, detected, tracked and intercepted the two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 long-range bombers and the two Chinese H-6 bombers. The aircraft, said Austin, didn't enter U.S. airspace and only got within about 200 miles (320 kilometers) of the coast.

They were, however, within the ADIZ, which begins where sovereign airspace ends, and aircraft must be easily identifiable and file flight plans for authorization in order to meet national security requirements.

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Venezuela's presidential candidates conclude their campaigns ahead of Sunday's election

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government and opposition closed the official presidential campaign season Thursday with demonstrations that drew thousands of people to the streets of the capital.

The events three days before the highly anticipated election on Sunday encapsulated the massive disparities between the top contenders, including their resources.

President Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking a third term, appeared before supporters on a massive stage set up on one of the city’s main roads and rallied attendees with musical intermissions and dances throughout his speech. He told the crowd, part of it transported to Caracas on state-owned buses, his opponents are promoters of violence and described himself as a man of peace.

“Who of the 10 candidates guarantees peace and stability?” Maduro asked the crowd. Yet it was he who in recent days spoke of a possible post-election “bloodbath.”

Meanwhile, former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, who is representing the Unitary Platform coalition, and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gathered far fewer supporters. González and Machado moved through the city standing atop a platform affixed to a truck until they reached a middle-class district of the capital.

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Video game performers will go on strike over artificial intelligence concerns

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood's video game performers announced they would go on strike Thursday, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections.

The strike — the second for video game voice actors and motion capture performers under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The move comes after nearly two years of negotiations with gaming giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co., over a new interactive media agreement.

SAG-AFTRA negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety in the video game contract, but that the two sides remained split over the regulation of generative AI. A spokesperson for the video game producers, Audrey Cooling, said the studios offered AI protections, but SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee said that the studios’ definition of who constitutes a “performer” is key to understanding the issue of who would be protected.

“The industry has told us point blank that they do not necessarily consider everyone who is rendering movement performance to be a performer that is covered by the collective bargaining agreement,” SAG-AFTRA Chief Contracts Officer Ray Rodriguez said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. He said some physical performances are being treated as “data.”

Without guardrails, game companies could train AI to replicate an actor’s voice, or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation, the union said.

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With big goals and gambles, Paris aims to reset the Olympics with audacious Games and a wow opening

PARIS (AP) — Paris has long been a city of dreamers: Just look at the Eiffel Tower, for decades the world's loftiest structure. Audacity also underpins the French capital's plans for its first Olympic Games in a century, which open Friday with an opening ceremony for the ages.

The most sprawling and elaborate Olympic opening ever — a gala spectacular Friday evening on the River Seine that even French President Emmanuel Macron says initially felt like “a crazy and not very serious idea” — kicks off 16 days of competition that promise to be ground-breaking, with nearly every corner of the city hosting some aspect of competition.

After two toned-down, pandemic-hampered Olympics, expect a bold celebration. The heady marriage of sports and France's world-renowned capital of fashion, gastronomy and culture could also help secure the Olympics' longer-term future.

Olympic organizers were struggling to find suitable host cities for their flagship Summer Games when they settled on Paris in 2017, enticed by its promise of innovations and the potential for the city of romance to rekindle love for the Olympics, especially with younger audiences that have so many other entertainment options.

But Paris' challenges are huge, too.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024