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Mexico’s president calls charges against Trump political

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Wednesday he opposes the criminal charges filed against former U.S. President Donald Trump, suggesting they were brought for political reasons during an electoral campaign. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the charges filed in New York against Trump, who is campaigning to regain the presidency in the 2024 election, represented “the degradation of due respect for the law.”“I don’t agree with what they are doing to former President Trump,” López Obrador said at his morning news briefing. “I do not know if crimes were committed, it’s not my place.” “Supposedly legal, judicial issues should not be used for political, electoral purposes,” he said. “Don’t make up crimes to affect adversaries.”López Obrador had a strangely warm relationship with Trump in 2019 and 2020, despite the former U.S. president’s frequent criticisms of Mexico and migrants, and his plans to build a wall between the two countries.In fact, López Ob...

UK to house 500 asylum seekers on barge docked off Dorset

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Some 500 asylum-seekers in the U.K. will be housed on a barge docked off the south coast of England, the British government said Wednesday of its latest measure aimed at discouraging migrants from crossing the English Channel in small unseaworthy boats. The housing plan is part of a broader effort by the Conservative government to curb migration and cut hotel bills that cost taxpayers 2.3 billion-pounds ($2.9 billion) a year amid a backlog of hundreds of thousands of asylum cases. It could take months before the barge, currently in Italy, is anchored at Portland, off the Dorset coast. The government’s plan could face legal challenges along with other forms of opposition. Human rights groups said the barge would be a cruel place to house vulnerable people fleeing war and the idea should be scrapped along with a plan to move thousands of migrants to barracks at unused military bases.“Confining hundreds of people in isolation on a barge is just more of the political...

Podence of Wolves charged for allegedly spitting at opponent

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Wolverhampton forward Daniel Podence was charged by the English Football Association on Wednesday for allegedly spitting at Nottingham Forest striker Brennan Johnson during a Premier League game.The alleged incident took place in the 90th minute of the 1-1 draw on Saturday. It was not seen by the on-field match officials or picked up by the video assistant referee, so Podence played on until full time.He had come on as a substitute and scored Wolves’ equalizer.Johnson said in a post-match interview that he thought “some sort of spit came towards my face.”Podence has until April 12 to respond to the charge.___More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Hospital: Treatment, discharge of woman who died appropriate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A woman who died after being discharged from a Tennessee hospital and forced to leave despite her pleas for more help received appropriate medical treatment, the hospital said, but changes were being made to security procedures.The findings from an internal investigation by Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville over its treatment of 60-year-old Lisa Edwards were released Tuesday, news outlets reported. Security officers at the hospital called police Feb. 5 saying that Edwards had been evaluated and discharged, but was refusing to leave. Four responding police officers were investigated for repeatedly ignoring her pleas for help as they accused her of faking illness.The Knox County District Attorney’s office said it would not press criminal charges against the officers after an autopsy determined that Edwards died of a stroke and that “at no time did law enforcement interaction cause or contribute to Ms. Edwards’ death.”A video released by police s...

Former Vice President Mike Pence won’t appeal order to testify in Justice Department’s Jan. 6 probe, spokesman says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence won’t appeal order to testify in Justice Department’s Jan. 6 probe, spokesman says.Source

Whitmer strikes 1931 abortion ban from Michigan law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (AP) — A near-century old abortion ban that fueled one of the largest ballot drives in Michigan history was repealed Wednesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, just months after voters enshrined abortion rights in the state’s constitution.“Today, we’re going to take action to make sure that our statutes and our laws reflect our values and our constitution,” Whitmer said at a bill signing outside of Detroit. The 1931 abortion ban made it a four-year felony to assist in an abortion. Roe v. Wade had made the law null and void until the landmark decision was overturned in June by the U.S. Supreme Court.Courts blocked the ban from taking effect while a citizen-led initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution received more signatures than any other ballot proposal in state history to put the question before voters. Voters overwhelmingly approved the proposal in last November’s midterms, making the 1931 law unconstitutional and unenforceable.The 1931 ...

Hawaiian men imprisoned for hate crime beating to pay $25K

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Two Native Hawaiian men sentenced to prison for a hate crime in the brutal beating of a white man have agreed to pay more than $25,000 in restitution, according to court documents. A U.S. judge last month sentenced Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi to six and a half years in prison and Levi Aki Jr. to four years and two months in prison.In a case that laid bare multicultural Hawaii’s complicated and nuanced race relations, a jury in November found them guilty of a hate crime. Jurors found that they were motivated by Christopher Kunzelman’s race when they punched, kicked and used a shovel to beat him in 2014 when he tried to move into their remote fishing village on the island of Maui. His injuries included a concussion, two broken ribs and head trauma.Attorneys for Aki and Alo-Kaonohi say it wasn’t Kunzelman’s race that provoked them, but his entitled and disrespectful attitude. Kunzelman and his wife had purchased a dilapidated oceanfront home in Kahakuloa village on Maui a...

Max Homa: golf’s social media star-turned-Masters contender

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Max Homa has a Twitter feed that reads like a “Saturday Night Live” script. The world’s fifth-ranked player is quick-witted, cheeky and self-deprecating, and his one-liners zing hard and fast and with about as much destruction as a skulled 3-iron. Take the time Homa arrived for the Sony Open, and a lovely card was waiting to welcome him to Oahu’s south shore. It read: “Aloha Max Honma. Welcome to Hawaii.” He tweeted a picture of it and said simply: “Play better.”Indeed, given how well Homa’s playing these days, you’d think everyone would know how to spell his name. He’s won five times since holding off the equally affable Joel Dahman to win the Wells Fargo Championship in 2019, including another Wells Fargo title last year and a victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in January.Homa’s brilliant golf game has suddenly matched his social media savvy.With it comes heightened expectations of competing for a green jacket ...

Johnny Depp-starrer ‘Jeanne du Barry’ to open Cannes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The historical drama, “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Johnny Depp as King Louis XV, will open the 76th Cannes Film Festival. Organizers of the French festival announced Wednesday that this year’s edition will get underway with the period film directed by and starring Maïwenn, the French actress and filmmaker. She plays Louis XV’s favorite courtesan, Jeanne du Barry. “Jeanne du Barry” has been billed as Depp’s comeback film following his explosive trial last year with Amber Heard, his ex-wife. After both Depp and Heard accused each other of physical and verbal abuse, a civil jury awarded Depp $10 million in damages and $2 million to Heard. In December, they reached a settlement. “Jeanne du Barry” will premiere May 16 at Cannes and, sticking with tradition, it will be released the same day in French theaters. Netflix is connected with the film but only loosely. The streamer licensed the film for the first post-theatrical window 15 months after its debut, ...

LIV and let live: Masters still about who wins green jacket

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:05 GMT

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Masters Chairman Fred Ridley sat among 33 champions in green jackets at golf’s most exclusive dinner. It was a time to celebrate Scottie Scheffler as the most recent winner, to share laughs, memories and even a few tears.That’s how it is every year at Augusta National.“I would not have known that anything was going on in the world of professional golf other than the norm,” Ridley said on the eve of a Masters unlike any other. “So I think — and I’m hopeful — that this week might get people thinking in a little bit different direction and things will change.”There’s a full menu of activity at this Masters.Tiger Woods returns for his 25th appearance with hopes his course knowledge can compensate for battered legs as he pursues another green jacket. Rory McIlroy gets another crack at the one major that keeps him from the career Grand Slam. No one has won the Masters back-to-back since Woods in 2002, and with Scheffler the No. 1 player in the w...