Sorted by date Results 26 - 42 of 42
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats launched into marathon arguments in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial Wednesday, appealing to skeptical Republican senators to join them in voting to oust Trump from office to "protect our democracy." Trump's lawyers sat by, waiting their turn, as the president blasted the proceedings from afar, threatening jokingly to face off with the Democrats by coming to "sit right in the front row and stare at their corrupt faces." The challenge before the House managers is clear. Democrats have 24 hours over t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — So much for the Senate's quaint rules and tradition. Almost immediately after Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled in Wednesday's session of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, bored and weary senators started openly flouting some basic guidelines in a chamber that prizes decorum. A Democrat in the back row leaned on his right arm, covered his eyes and stayed that way for nearly a half-hour. Some openly snickered when lead prosecutor Adam Schiff said he'd only speak for 10 minutes. And when one of the freshman House p...
WASHINGTON (AP) — House prosecutors faced fidgeting senators as they rolled out their case against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, the trial's previous session having lasted a fatigue-inducing 13 hours. Trump was busy himself, returning from an international business conference but finding time to send 120-plus tweets that included trial commentary and criticism. Highlights of Wednesday's session and what's ahead as senators conduct just the third impeachment trial of a president: 'CORRUPT SCHEME' Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the lead p...
SAO PAULO (AP) — Days before Christmas, acclaimed pianist João Carlos Martins ran to a Sao Paulo bar to show off his new gloves to friends. They were seemingly magical, enabling the 79-year-old to play songs with both hands for the first time in 21 years. It sounds too good to be true, but the proof is in the playing. Sitting at his Petrof piano in his penthouse, Martins reels off Frédéric Chopin's nocturnes with aplomb. Before the gloves, he could only play songs slowly with his thumbs and, sometimes, his index fingers. The Brazilian clas...
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese city of more than 11 million people planned to shut down outbound flights and trains Thursday as the world's most populous country battled the spread of a new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and killed 17, state media reported. Everyone in the city of Wuhan was to be restricted to some degree. The state-owned People's Daily newspaper said no one would be allowed to leave. The official Xinhua News Agency said no one would be permitted to leave without a specific reason. Train stations and the airport were t...
The days of passengers bringing their pets on airplanes as emotional-support animals could be ending. The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday proposed that only specially trained dogs qualify as service animals, which must be allowed in the cabin at no charge. Airlines could ban emotional-support animals including untrained dogs, cats and more exotic companions such as pigs, pheasants, rabbits and snakes. Airlines say the number of support animals has grown dramatically in recent years. They lobbied the Transportation Department to...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump set a presidential record for activity on his favorite social media platform Wednesday, tweeting and retweeting at length about the Senate impeachment trial, the Democrats who want to replace him and much, much more. By 4:25 p.m. ET, Trump had barreled through his previous record of 123 Twitter postings in a day that he set a little over a month ago, according to Factba.se, a service that compiles and analyzes data on Trump's presidency. Trump's previous record for tweets on a single day during his t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is coming out Thursday with new visa restrictions aimed at restricting "birth tourism," in which women travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children can have a coveted U.S. passport. Visa applicants deemed by consular officers to be coming to the U.S. primarily to give birth will now be treated like other foreigners coming to the U.S. for medical treatment, according to State Department guidance sent Wednesday and viewed by The Associated Press. The applicants will have to prove they are coming f...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The cellphone of Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos was hacked in what appeared to be an attempt by Saudi Arabia's crown prince to "influence, if not silence" the newspaper's reporting on the kingdom, two U.N. human rights experts said Wednesday. The U.N. experts called for an "immediate investigation" by the United States into a report commissioned by Bezos that showed the billionaire technology mogul's phone was likely hacked after he received an MP4 video file sent from Crown Prince M...
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein went on trial Wednesday in a landmark moment for the # MeToo movement, with prosecutors painting him as a sexual predator who used his Hollywood clout to abuse women for decades, while his lawyers sought to portray his accusers as willing participants. Prosecutor Meghan Hast told the jury of seven men and five women that the former studio boss was "not just a titan in Hollywood — he was a rapist" who screamed at one victim that she "owed" him sex, used injections to induce an erection before an assault and pus...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are sharply divided along party lines about whether President Donald Trump should be removed from office, and they doubt the Senate impeachment trial will do anything to change their minds, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Overall, the public is slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45% to 40%. But a sizable percentage, 14%, say they don't know enough to have an opinion. Americans on both s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The four Democratic senators seeking the White House want to be out there campaigning, but they're pulled off the presidential campaign trail and into the Senate to serve as jurors in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial. That means forgoing raucous events and adoring crowds for hours of passively listening to a procedure designed to be solemn and rule-bound. The presidential hopefuls can't freely ask questions or even talk to their colleagues or use their cellphones. It amounts to a political muzzle for Sens. E...
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — What started as a joke on Twitter about an unwritten rule among country radio stations not to play two female artists in a row prompted outrage by country music stars, but also pledges to give women equal airtime. A now-deleted tweet by a Michigan radio station 98 WKCQ-FM last week claimed "we cannot play two females back to back" in response to a writer for Variety magazine. The station's parent company later denied that was ever a rule, but the fire that had been steadily smoldering for years over the perceived b...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The watchdog group Common Cause filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, alleging that Our Revolution, a political nonprofit organization founded by Bernie Sanders, violated campaign finance law by accepting donations in excess of federal limits while boosting his White House ambitions. The complaint comes after The Associated Press reported earlier this month about the donations. Our Revolution denies any wrongdoing. Spokesman Paco Fabian called the complaint "meritless" and "legally flawed." S...
BOSTON (AP) — A California woman pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge Wednesday after authorities said she paid a company $9,000 to take online classes for her son at Georgetown University and then demanded a discount when he received a C. Karen Littlefair, 57, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The resident of Newport Beach, California, previously agreed to the plea in a deal with prosecutors. She is to be sentenced May 13. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison, but prosecutors said they w...
BANGKOK (AP) — News that a new virus that has afflicted hundreds of people in central China can spread between humans has rattled financial markets and raised concern it might wallop the economy just as it might be regaining momentum. Health authorities across Asia have been stepping up surveillance and other precautions to prevent a repeat of the disruptions and deaths during the 2003 SARS crisis, which caused $40 billion to $50 billion in losses from reduced travel and spending. The first cases of what has been identified as a novel coronavir...
Health authorities are closely watching an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a new virus that originated in China. Governments are stepping up surveillance of airline passengers from central China and taking other steps to try to control the outbreak. Here's what you should know about the illness: WHAT IS THE NEW VIRUS? Scientists have identified it as a new coronavirus. The name comes from the Latin word for crowns or halos, which coronaviruses resemble under a microscope. The coronavirus family has many types that affect people. Some...
