US-China talks start with warnings about misunderstandings and miscalculations

BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China butted heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and both men warned of the dangers of misunderstandings and miscalculations.

The meeting, on the final day of Blinken's second visit to China in the past year, came as talks between the countries have expanded in recent months even as differences have grown and become more serious, raising concerns about the potential for conflict between the world's two largest economies.

Blinken and Wang each underscored the importance of keeping lines of communication open but they also lamented persistent and deepening divisions that threaten global security. Those divisions were highlighted earlier this week when U.S. President Joe Biden signed a massive foreign aid bill that contains several elements that the Chinese see as problematic.

“Overall, the China-U.S. relationship is beginning to stabilize,” Wang told Blinken. “But at the same time, the negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building and the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions.”

“Should China and the United States keep to the right direction of moving forward with stability or return to a downward spiral?” he asked. “This is a major question before our two countries and tests our sincerity and ability.”

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Key moments from landmark Supreme Court arguments on Trump's immunity claims

WASHINGTON (AP) — There was talk of drone strikes and presidential bribes, of a potential ruling “for the ages” and of the Founding Fathers, too. The presidential race went unmentioned but was not far from mind.

The Supreme Court heard more than 2 1/2 hours worth of arguments on the landmark question of whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution in a case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Though the justices appeared likely to reject Trump's absolute immunity claim, it seemed possible he could still benefit from a lengthy trial delay, possibly beyond November’s election.

A look at some of the many notable moments:

Justice Neil Gorsuch conveyed concern that prosecutors, or political opponents, could have bad motives in pursuing political rivals. Michael Dreeben, a lawyer for special counsel Jack Smith's team, responded that this fear was inapplicable in this case.

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The National Enquirer was the go-to American tabloid for many years. Donald Trump helped change that

NEW YORK (AP) — Catch and kill. Checkbook journalism. Secret deals. Friends helping friends.

Even by National Enquirer standards, testimony by its former publisher David Pecker at Donald Trump's hush money trial this week has revealed an astonishing level of corruption at America's best-known tabloid and may one day be seen as the moment it effectively died.

“It just has zero credibility,” said Lachlan Cartwright, executive editor of the Enquirer from 2014 to 2017. “Whatever sort of credibility it had was totally damaged by what happened in court this week.”

On Thursday, Pecker was back on the witness stand to tell more about the arrangement he made to boost Trump's presidential candidacy in 2016, tear down his rivals and silence any revelations that may have damaged him.

However its stories danced on the edge of credulity, the Enquirer was a cultural fixture, in large part because of genius marketing. As many Americans moved to the suburbs in the 1960s, the tabloid staked its place on racks at supermarket checkout lines, where people could see headlines about UFO abductions or medical miracles while waiting for their milk and bread to be bagged.

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Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction is overturned by New York's top court

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s highest court on Thursday threw out Harvey Weinstein ’s 2020 rape conviction with a ruling that shocked and disappointed women who celebrated historic gains during the #MeToo era and left those who testified in the case bracing for a retrial against the ex-movie mogul.

The court found the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.

Weinstein, 72, will remain in prison because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape. But the New York ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein.

#MeToo advocates noted that Thursday's ruling was based on legal technicalities and not an exoneration of Weinstein's behavior, saying the original trial irrevocably moved the cultural needle on attitudes about sexual assault.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it intends to retry Weinstein, and at least one of his accusers said through her lawyer that she would testify again.

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17 states challenge federal rules entitling workers to accommodations for abortion

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Republican attorneys general from 17 states filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging new federal rules entitling workers to time off and other accommodations for abortions, calling the rules an illegal interpretation of a 2022 federal law.

The lawsuit led by Tennessee and Arkansas comes since finalized federal regulations were published April 15 to provide guidance for employers and workers on how to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The language means workers can ask for time off to obtain an abortion and recover from the procedure.

The rules, which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted on a 3-2 vote along party lines, will go into effect June 18. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Arkansas argues the regulations go beyond the scope of the 2022 law that passed with bipartisan support.

“This is yet another attempt by the Biden administration to force through administrative fiat what it cannot get passed through Congress,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement. “Under this radical interpretation of the PWFA, business owners will face federal lawsuits if they don’t accommodate employees’ abortions, even if those abortions are illegal under state law.”

An EEOC spokesperson referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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NFL Draft Latest: Caleb Williams to Bears, record six QBs taken in first 12 picks

DETROIT (AP) — The Latest on the first round of the NFL draft (all times local):

The Miami Dolphins, with a first-round pick for the first time in three years, selected the Penn State edge rusher.

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Pittsburgh took the Washington offensive tackle to help keep quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields upright.

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These people were charged with interfering in the 2020 election. Some are still in politics today

ATLANTA (AP) — As Donald Trump seeks a return to the White House, criminal charges are piling up for the people who tried to help him stay there in 2020 by promoting false theories of voter fraud.

At least five states won in 2020 by President Joe Biden have investigated efforts to install slates of electors who would cast Electoral College votes for Trump despite his loss. Those slates were to be used by Trump allies in the House and Senate to justify delaying or blocking the certification of the election during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, which was disrupted by pro-Trump rioters storming the Capitol.

Several of those charged or accused of involvement in election interference across the states are still involved in Republican politics today — including the lawyer overseeing “election integrity” for the Republican National Committee. And Trump, who faces federal charges in Washington and state charges in Georgia for his efforts to overturn Biden's win, frequently still claims the 2020 election was stolen, a falsehood echoed by many of his supporters.

Here's a look at the sprawling web of allegations, criminal charges and references to people in Trump’s orbit as unindicted co-conspirators.

The former president faces state charges in Georgia and federal charges in Washington over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and has been identified as an unindicted co-conspirator by investigators in Arizona and Michigan.

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USC cancels graduation ceremony and dozens are arrested on other campuses as anti-war protests grow

The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony and dozens more college students were arrested at other campuses nationwide Thursday as protests against the Israel-Hamas war continued to spread.

College officials across the U.S. are worried the ongoing protests could disrupt plans for commencement ceremonies next month. Some universities have called in police to break up the demonstrations, resulting in ugly scuffles and hundreds of arrests, while others appeared content to wait out student protests as the final days of the semester ticked down.

Schools such as Columbia University in New York continued to negotiate with protesters who first set up an encampment last week. At California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, faculty members met with students who have barricaded themselves inside a campus building since Monday, trying to negotiate a solution. The campus was shut down earlier this week with classes moved online.

Other universities are rewriting their rules to ban encampments and moving final exams to new locations.

But encampments and protests continued to spring up Thursday. At Indiana University Bloomington, a tent encampment popped up before police with shields and batons shoved into a line of protesters, arresting 33 people.

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Hamas again raises the possibility of a 2-state compromise. Israel and its allies aren't convinced

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has said for more than 15 years that it could accept a two-state compromise with Israel — at least, a temporary one. But Hamas has also refused to say that it would recognize Israel or renounce its armed fight against it.

For Israel and many others, especially in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that spurred the latest war in Gaza, that’s proof that Hamas is still irrevocably bent on destroying Israel. The United States and European countries have joined Israel in shunning the militant group they have labeled a terrorist organization.

For some observers, Hamas has signaled a potential pragmatism that could open a path to a solution. But the group’s vagueness as it tries to square the circle of its own positions has fueled suspicion.

Hamas offers long-term “truces” instead of outright peace. It has dropped open pledges to destroy Israel but endorses “armed resistance” — and says it will fight for liberation of all “the land of Palestine.”

In the latest iteration of its stance, senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday the group would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip along the pre-1967-borders.

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Ukraine pulls US-provided Abrams tanks from the front lines over Russian drone threats

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine has sidelined U.S.-provided Abrams M1A1 battle tanks for now in its fight against Russia, in part because Russian drone warfare has made it too difficult for them to operate without detection or coming under attack, two U.S. military officials told The Associated Press.

The U.S. agreed to send 31 Abrams to Ukraine in January 2023 after an aggressive monthslong campaign by Kyiv arguing that the tanks, which cost about $10 million apiece, were vital to its ability to breach Russian lines.

But the battlefield has changed substantially since then, notably by the ubiquitous use of Russian surveillance drones and hunter-killer drones. Those weapons have made it more difficult for Ukraine to protect the tanks when they are quickly detected and hunted by Russian drones or rounds.

Five of the 31 tanks have already been lost to Russian attacks.

The proliferation of drones on the Ukrainian battlefield means “there isn’t open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection,” a senior defense official told reporters Thursday.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024