AP News In Brief At 12:04 A.m. EST
Biden says he's decided on response to killing of 3 US troops, plans to attend dignified transfer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden on Tuesday indicated he had decided how to respond after the killing of three American service members Sunday in a drone attack in Jordan that his administration has pinned on Iran-backed militia groups, saying he does not want to expand the war in the Middle East but demurring on specifics.
U.S. officials said they are still determining which of several Iran-backed groups was responsible for the first killing of American troops in a wave of attacks against U.S. forces in the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel. Biden plans to attend the dignified transfer to mark the fallen troops' return to American soil on Friday and answered in the affirmative when asked by reporters if he'd decided on a response, as he indicated he was aiming to prevent further escalation.
"I don´t think we need a wider war in the Middle East," Biden said at the White House before departing for a fundraising trip to Florida. Should you beloved this information along with you wish to get more information about adult free movies xxx kindly stop by our web page. "That´s not what I´m looking for."
It was not immediately clear whether Biden meant he had decided on a specific retaliatory plan. A U.S. official told The Associated Press that the Pentagon is still assessing options to respond to the attack in Jordan.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters traveling with Biden aboard Air Force One that he would not preview the U.S. response, but indicated it would come in phases.
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Israeli forces dressed as civilian women and medics kill 3 militants in a West Bank hospital
JENIN, West Bank (AP) - Israeli forces disguised as civilian women and medics stormed a hospital Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants in a dramatic raid that underscored how deadly violence has spilled into the territory from the war in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile ruled out a military withdrawal from Gaza and the release of thousands of jailed militants - Hamas' main two demands for any cease-fire - casting doubt on the latest efforts to end a war that has destabilized the broader Middle East.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces opened fire inside the Ibn Sina Hospital in the West Bank town of Jenin. A hospital spokesperson said there was no exchange of fire, indicating it was a targeted killing.
Israel's military said the militants were using the hospital as a hideout, without providing evidence. It alleged that one of those targeted had transferred weapons and ammunition to others for a planned attack, purportedly inspired by Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Security camera footage from the hospital shows about a dozen undercover forces, most of them armed, wearing Muslim headscarves, hospital scrubs or white doctor´s coats. One carried a rifle in one arm and a folded wheelchair in the other.
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Elon Musk cannot keep Tesla pay package worth more than $55 billion, judge rules
DOVER, Del. (AP) - Elon Musk is not entitled to landmark compensation package awarded by Tesla´s board of directors that is potentially worth more than $55 billion, a Delaware judge ruled Tuesday.
The ruling by Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick comes more than five years after a shareholder lawsuit targeted Tesla CEO Musk and directors of the company. They were accused of breaching their duties to the maker of electric vehicles and solar panels, resulting in a waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment for Musk.
The shareholder's lawyers argued that the compensation package should be voided because it was dictated by Musk and was the product of sham negotiations with directors who were not independent of him. They also said it was approved by shareholders who were given misleading and incomplete disclosures in a proxy statement.
Defense attorneys countered that the pay plan was fairly negotiated by a compensation committee whose members were independent, contained performance milestones so lofty that they were ridiculed by some Wall Street investors, and blessed by a shareholder vote that was not even required under Delaware law. They also argued that Musk was not a controlling shareholder because he owned less than one-third of the company at the time.
An attorney for Musk and other Tesla defendants did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
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Trump stays on Illinois' ballot as the election board says it lacks power to remove him over Jan. 6
CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois´ election board on Tuesday kept former President Donald Trump on the state´s primary ballot, a week before the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on whether his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol disqualifies him from the presidency.
The board´s unanimous ruling comes after its hearing officer, a retired judge and Republican, found that a "preponderance of the evidence" shows Trump is ineligible to run for president because he violated a constitutional ban on those who "engaged in insurrection" from holding office. But the hearing officer recommended the board let the courts make the ultimate decision.
The eight-member board, composed of four Democrats and four Republicans, agreed with a recommendation from its lawyer to let Trump - the front-runner in the Republican primary - remain on the ballot by determining it didn't have the authority to determine whether he violated the U.S. Constitution.
Board member Catherine McCrory prefaced her vote with a statement: "I want it to be clear that this Republican believes that there was an insurrection on Jan. 6. There´s no doubt in my mind that he manipulated, instigated, aided and abetted an insurrection on Jan. 6."
But McCrory said she agreed the board doesn't have jurisdiction to enforce that conclusion.
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Utah is the latest state to ban diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campus and in government
Utah's governor signed a bill into law Tuesday that makes the state the latest to prohibit diversity training, hiring and inclusion programs at universities and in state government.
The measure signed by Spencer Cox, a Republican who previously said he supported the idea, had cleared the state House and Senate by wide, party-line majorities.
Headed into the final year of his first term, Cox has shifted to the right on "diversity, equity and inclusion." After vetoing a ban on transgender students playing in girls sports in 2022, Cox signed a bill in 2023 regulating discussion of race and religion in public schools to ban, for example, teaching that anybody can be racist merely because of their race.
He also signed a separate law Tuesday requiring people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools and government-owned buildings that match the sex they were assigned at birth.
Cox previously called requiring employees to sign statements in support of workplace and campus diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, "awful, bordering on evil."
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El Salvador VP acknowledges mistakes in war on gangs but says country is 'not a police state'
SAN SALVADOR (AP) - El Salvador´s government "made mistakes" in its war against the country´s gangs, but has never undermined the country´s democracy to consolidate power, according to the man likely to be reelected vice president.
Félix Ulloa, temporarily on leave as El Salvador´s vice president while he runs for reelection alongside Nayib Bukele, defended his government´s controversial crackdown in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, days before a presidential election they are expected to win easily. Such policies, he said, will continue until El Salvador´s gangs are defeated.
Ulloa acknowledged that in their administration's mass detention of citizens the government imprisoned thousands of people who had not committed any crime, something he said they are correcting, but justified the harsh actions as being widely popular and completely "legal."
Since declaring a state of emergency in March 2022 following a surge in gang violence, the government has detained 76,000 people - more than 1% of the population in the small Central American nation. The declaration, which suspended some fundamental rights like access to a lawyer and being told why you're being arrested, has been renewed by congress every month since.
"There is no perfect work by humans ... Look at the big picture," Ulloa said. "Understand what this country is doing when we have defended people and the human rights of millions of Salvadorans whose rights were being violated by criminal structures."
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NYPD officers will have to record race of people they question under new police transparency law
New York City police officers will be required to record the apparent race, gender and ages of most people they stop for questioning under a law passed Tuesday by the City Council, which overrode a veto by Mayor Eric Adams.
The issue was thrust into the national spotlight in recent days when NYPD officers pulled over a Black council member without giving him a reason.
The law gives police reform advocates a major win in requiring the nation´s largest police department and its 36,000 officers to document all investigative encounters in a city that once had officers routinely stop and frisk huge numbers of men for weapons - a strategy that took a heavy toll on communities of color.
Since 2001, NYPD officers have been required to document instances in which they have asked someone "accusatory" questions as part of an investigation, detain or search someone or arrest them.
But the new law requires officers to document basic information in low-level encounters, where police ask for information from people who aren´t necessarily suspected of a crime. Officers also will have to report the circumstances that led to stopping a particular person. The data would be made public on the police department's website.
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House Republicans debate a key vote toward impeaching Mayorkas as border becomes 2024 campaign issue
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republicans worked into the night Tuesday on a key vote toward impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over a "willful and systematic" refusal to enforce immigration laws as border security becomes a top 2024 election issue.
The Homeland Security Committee spent all day debating two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, a rare charge against a Cabinet official unseen in nearly 150 years, as Republicans make GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump´s hard-line deportation approach to immigration their own.
"The actions and decisions of Secretary Mayorkas have left us with no other option but to proceed with articles of impeachment," said Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn.
The articles charge that Mayorkas "refused to comply with Federal immigration laws" amid a record surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and that he has "breached the public trust" in his claims to Congress that the border is secure.
A committee vote, expected later in the night after lawmakers slog through amendments, would send the articles to the full House for a vote as soon as next week.
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David Rubenstein has a deal to buy the Baltimore Orioles for $1.725 billion, AP source says
Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein has reached an agreement to buy the Baltimore Orioles for $1.725 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday night because the agreement had not been announced. Rubenstein, a Baltimore native, adult xxx movies free would take over as the team's controlling owner, and he's assembled an investment team that includes Ares co-founder Michael Arougheti.
The Angelos family has been in control of the Orioles since 1993, when Peter Angelos purchased the team for $173 million. Angelos' son John is the team's current chairman. The team recently reached a deal on a new lease extension at Camden Yards. Maryland officials approved that long-term agreement after months of negotiations.
The deal extended the lease for 30 years, with an option to end it after 15 if the team does not receive approval from state officials for development plans next to the ballpark.
Prior to forming Carlyle in 1987, Rubenstein practiced law in Washington. From 1977-81, he was a deputy assistant for domestic policy to President Jimmy Carter. After graduating from Duke in 1970, he attended University of Chicago Law School.
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Chita Rivera, revered and pioneering Tony-winning dancer and singer, dies at 91
NEW YORK (AP) - Chita Rivera, the dynamic dancer, singer and actor who garnered 10 Tony nominations, winning twice, in a long Broadway career that forged a path for Latina artists and shrugged off a near-fatal car accident, died Tuesday. She was 91.
Rivera's death was announced by her daughter, Lisa Mordente, who said she died in New York after a brief illness.
Rivera first gained wide notice in 1957 as Anita in the original production of "West Side Story" and was still dancing on Broadway with her trademark energy a half-century later in 2015´s "The Visit."
"I wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't moving or telling a story to you or singing a song," she told The Associated Press then. "That's the spirit of my life, and I'm really so lucky to be able to do what I love, even at this time in my life."
In August 2009, Rivera was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the U.S. can give a civilian. Rivera put her hand over her heart and said she shook her head in wonderment as President Barack Obama presented the medal. In 2013, she was the marshal at the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.