South Korean investigators push to summon impeached president as court set to determine his fate
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean law enforcement authorities are pushing to summon impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning over his short-lived martial law decree as the Constitutional Court began its first meeting Monday on Yoon’s case to determine whether to remove him from office or reinstate him.
A joint investigative team involving police, an anti-corruption agency and the Defense Ministry said it plans to convey a request to Yoon’s office that he appear for questioning on Wednesday, as they expand a probe into whether his ill-conceived power grab amounted to rebellion.
Son Yeong-jo, an investigator with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, said the team plans to question Yoon on charges of rebellion and abuse of power. He declined to provide specifics when asked how investigators would respond if Yoon refuses to appear.
Son said the team tried to deliver the summons request to the presidential office but was rerouted to Yoon’s personal residence after presidential secretarial staff claimed they were unsure whether conveying the request to the impeached president was part of their duties.
Yoon was impeached by the opposition-controlled National Assembly on Saturday over his Dec. 3 martial law decree. His presidential powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him. If Yoon is dismissed, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.
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US agencies should use advanced technology to identify mysterious drones, Schumer says
BOSTON (AP) — After weeks of fear and bewilderment about the drones buzzing over parts of New York and New Jersey, elected officials are urging action to identify and stop the mysterious flights.
“There’s a lot of us who are pretty frustrated right now,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“'We don’t know’ is not a good enough answer,” he said.
National security officials have said the drones don’t appear to be a sign of foreign interference or a public safety threat. But because they can’t say with certainty who is responsible for the sudden swarms of drones over parts of New Jersey, New York and other eastern parts of the U.S. — or how they can be stopped — leaders of both political parties are demanding better technology and powers to deal with the drones.
Sen. Chuck Schumer called Sunday for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to deploy better drone-tracking technology to identify the drones and their operators.
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Biden, Harris thank major Democratic donors and urge them to stay engaged after tough loss to Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday thanked deep-pocketed Democratic donors who raised record sums in last month's election loss to President-elect Donald Trump and urged them not to lose hope and to remain politically engaged.
Biden and Harris, along with their spouses, in remarks at the Democratic National Committee holiday reception sought to buck up key donors who the Democratic Party needs to stay committed as it tries to pick up the pieces. Republicans scored a decisive victory taking the White House and Senate while maintaining control of the House in an election where donors of all political stripes spent about $4.7 billion.
“We all get knocked down. My dad would say when you get knocked down, you just got to get up,” Biden said. “The measure of a person or a party is how fast they get back up.”
Harris, who stepped in as the party's presidential nominee after Biden ended his campaign in July following his disastrous debate performance, praised donors for putting their time — and checkbooks — into backing her and Democrats that they believed in.
Democrats, their allied super PACs and other groups raised about $2.9 billion, compared to about $1.8 billion for the Republicans. Harris noted that Democrats raised a whopping $700 million over just 700 events organized by the Democratic finance committee.
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One week into a new Syria, rebels aim for normalcy and Syrians vow not to be silent again
DAMASCUS (AP) — At Damascus’ international airport, the new head of security — one of the rebels who marched across Syria to the capital — arrived with his team. The few maintenance workers who showed up for work huddled around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, eager to learn what will happen next.
They quickly unloaded all the complaints they had been too afraid to express during the rule of President Bashar Assad, which now, inconceivably, is over.
They told the bearded fighter they were denied promotions and perks in favor of pro-Assad favorites, and that bosses threatened them with prison for working too slowly. They warned of hardcore Assad supporters among airport staff, ready to return whenever the facility reopens.
As Al-Ahmed tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, announced: “This is the first time we talk.”
This was the first week of Syria’s transformation after Assad’s unexpected fall.
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Christians in Syria mark country's transformation with tears as UN envoy urges an end to sanctions
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In churches across long-stifled Syria, Christians marked the first Sunday services since the collapse of Bashar Assad 's government in an air of transformation. Some were in tears. Others clasped their hands in prayer.
“They are promising us that government will be formed soon and, God willing, things will become better because we got rid of the tyrant,” said one worshiper, Jihad Raffoul, as the small Christian population hoped that new messages of inclusion would ring true.
“Today, our prayers are for a new page in Syria’s future,” said another, Suzan Barakat.
To help those efforts, the U.N. envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called for a quick end to Western sanctions as the rebel alliance that ousted Assad and sent him into exile in Russia a week ago considers the way forward.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the United States, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
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The GOP stoked fears of noncitizens voting. Cases in Ohio show how rhetoric and reality diverge
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Before the November presidential election, Ohio's secretary of state and attorney general announced investigations into potential voter fraud that included people suspected of casting ballots even though they were not U.S. citizens.
It coincided with a national Republican messaging strategy warning that potentially thousands of ineligible voters would be voting.
“The right to vote is sacred,” Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, said in a statement at the time. “If you’re not a U.S. citizen, it’s illegal to vote -– whether you thought you were allowed to or not. You will be held accountable.”
In the end, their efforts led to just a handful of cases. Of the 621 criminal referrals for voter fraud that Secretary of State Frank LaRose sent to the attorney general, prosecutors have secured indictments against nine people for voting as noncitizens over the span of 10 years — and one was later found to have died. That total is a tiny fraction of Ohio's 8 million registered voters and the tens of millions of ballots cast during that period.
The outcome and the stories of some of those now facing charges illustrate the gap — both in Ohio and across the United States — between the rhetoric about noncitizen voting and the reality: It's rare, is caught and prosecuted when it does happen and does not occur as part of a coordinated scheme to throw elections.
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Storms across US bring heavy snow, dangerous ice and a tornado in California
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A tornado near a mall in central California swept up cars, uprooted trees and sent several people to the hospital. In San Francisco, authorities issued the first-ever tornado warning.
Elsewhere, inclement weather plagued areas of the U.S., with dangerous conditions including heavy snow in upstate New York, a major ice storm in Midwest states and severe weather warnings around Lake Tahoe.
The ice storm beginning Friday evening created treacherous driving conditions across Iowa and eastern Nebraska on Friday and into Saturday and prompted temporary closures of Interstate 80 after numerous cars and trucks slid off the road. In upstate New York, more than 33 inches (84 centimeters) was reported near Orchard Park, which is often a landing point for lake-effect snow.
On Saturday, a tornado touched down around 1:40 p.m. near a shopping mall in Scotts Valley, California, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of San Francisco. The tornado overturned cars and toppled trees and utility poles, the National Weather Service said. The Scotts Valley Police Department said several people were injured and taken to hospitals.
In San Francisco, some trees toppled onto cars and streets and damaged roofs. The damage was due to 80-mph (130-kph) straight-line winds, not a tornado, weather service meteorologist Dalton Behringer said Sunday.
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After a 15-year pause in executions, Indiana prepares to put to death a man who killed 4
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana officials are preparing to execute the state's first death row inmate in 15 years, who was convicted a quarter-century ago of killing his brother and three other men.
Joseph Corcoran, 49, has been on Indiana's death row since 1999. If he is put to death as scheduled Wednesday, it will be the state's first execution since 2009. In that time, 13 executions were carried out in Indiana but those were initiated and performed by federal officials in 2020 and 2021 at a federal prison.
Corcoran is scheduled to be executed before sunrise Wednesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Chicago.
Indiana's resumption of executions is refocusing attention on Corcoran's case and questions about how the state has been able to obtain a drug for lethal injections.
Corcoran was 22 on July 26, 1997, when he fatally shot his brother, 30-year-old James Corcoran, and three other men: Douglas A. Stillwell, 30, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Robert Scott Turner, 32.
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Israel will close its Ireland embassy over Gaza tensions as Palestinian death toll nears 45,000
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed over 46 people including several children.
The decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister has described as Ireland’s “extreme anti-Israel policies.” In May, Israel recalled its ambassador to Dublin after Ireland announced, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, it would recognize a Palestinian state.
The Irish Cabinet last week decided to formally intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies it.
“We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized,” said Ireland’s foreign affairs minister, Micheal Martin.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's statement on the embassy closure said “Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel.”
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Small businesses say cautious shoppers are seeking 'cozy' and 'festive' this holiday season
After the busy Black Friday holiday weekend, Kristen Tarnol, owner of Emerald City Gifts in Studio City, California, is already asking her supplier to send more more fuzzy alpaca scarves and warm slippers that were best sellers over the weekend.
“Even though it’s Los Angeles … I think people are looking for cozy items, really,” she said.
With a late Thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season is five days shorter than last year, and owners of small retail shops say people have been quick to snap up holiday décor early, along with gifts for others and themselves. Cozy items like sweaters are popular so far. But there’s little sense of the freewheeling spending that occurred during the pandemic.
Overall, The National Retail Federation predicts retail sales in November and December will rise between 2.5% and 3.5% compared with same period a year ago. Online shopping is expected to grow too. Adobe Digital Insights, a division of software company Adobe, predicts an 8.4% increase online for the full season.
Some owners say shopping has been erratic so far this holiday season. Nathan Waldon, who owns Nathan & Co., with two gift shops in Oakland, California, said he had his best Black Friday ever, with sales up 32%. But business slowed dramatically after that. He’s hoping it picks up again soon.
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