Trump questions acceptance of transgender people as he courts his base at Moms for Liberty gathering
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump lamented the growing acceptance of transgender Americans Friday in an appearance at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a national nonprofit that has spearheaded efforts to get mentions of LGBTQ+ identity and structural racism out of K-12 classrooms.
Trump said transgender women should not be allowed to play in women's sports and said access to gender-affirming health care should be restricted. He also lashed out at critics who have accused him of using Arlington National Cemetery for a campaign photo op.
But he largely stuck to his favorite topics during an hourlong “fireside chat” in Washington, where he lashed out at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, deplored illegal immigration and reminisced about his parents' marriage, his path to being the reality television star of “The Apprentice” and the debate that ended Biden's reelection campaign.
“Our country is being poisoned. And your schools and your children are suffering greatly because they’re going into the classrooms and taking disease, and they don’t even speak English," Trump said of immigrants crossing the border illegally. "It’s crazy.”
Trump said school boards have become “like dictatorships" hostile to the desires of parents, echoing conservative frustration that bubbled over in public meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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How Trump and Georgia's Republican governor made peace, helped by allies anxious about the election
ATLANTA (AP) — The effort to make the peace between Donald Trump and Georgia's powerful Republican governor began in a sprawling neo-Victorian mansion in the exclusive Atlanta enclave of Buckhead.
It was at an Aug. 7 fundraiser hosted by former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler that fellow Republican Lindsey Graham approached Gov. Brian Kemp. Graham, the South Carolina senator and longtime confidant of the former president, was already planning to attend the fundraiser.
Now, Graham had a renewed purpose: to try to ease years of tensions between Trump and Kemp that endangered the GOP's chances in a crucial 2024 battleground.
Graham and Kemp met privately at Loeffler's house. And over the coming weeks, say Graham and others familiar with the matter, allies of both men arranged the two-part détente that played out publicly last Thursday to the surprise of many political watchers.
First, Kemp did an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity — another Trump ally — in which he said, “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.” Moments later, Trump went on his social media site to praise Kemp for his “help and support.”
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When the US left Kabul, these Americans tried to help Afghans left behind. It still haunts them
The United States' longest war is over. But not for everyone.
Outside of San Francisco, surgeon Doug Chin has helped provide medical assistance to people in Afghanistan via video calls. He has helped Afghan families with their day-to-day living expenses. Yet he remains haunted by the people he could not save.
In Long Beach, California, Special Forces veteran Thomas Kasza has put aside medical school to help Afghans who used to search for land mines escape to America. That can mean testifying to Congress, writing newsletters and asking for donations.
In rural Virginia, Army veteran Mariah Smith housed an Afghan family of four that she'd never met who had fled Kabul and needed a place to stay as they navigated their new life in America.
Smith, Kasza and Chin have counterparts scattered across the country — likeminded people they may never have heard of.
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Ukrainian president fires air force commander after fatal F-16 crash
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the commander of the country’s air force Friday, four days after an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from its Western partners crashed during a Russian bombardment and killed the pilot.
The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk was published on the presidential website.
“We need to protect people. Protect personnel. Take care of all our soldiers,” Zelenskyy said in an address minutes after the order was published. He said Ukraine needs to strengthen its army on the command level.
Lt. Gen. Anatolii Kryvonozhko was appointed acting air force commander, the army's general staff said.
The dismissal came on the same day that Oleshchuk directed scathing criticism at a lawmaker who is deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament’s defense committee for her claims that the F-16 was downed by a Patriot air-defense system. Ukraine has received an unspecified number of the U.S.-made systems.
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Black students are still kicked out of school at higher rates despite reforms
Before he was suspended, Zaire Byrd was thriving. He acted in school plays, played on the football team and trained with other athletes. He had never been suspended before — he'd never even received detention.
But when Byrd got involved in a fight after school one day, none of that seemed to matter to administrators. Byrd said he was defending himself and two friends after three other students threatened to rob them. Administrators at Tri-Cities High School in Georgia called the altercation a “group fight” — an automatic 10-day suspension. After a disciplinary hearing, they sent him to an alternative school.
The experience nearly derailed his education.
“The last four years were a lot for me, from online school to getting suspended,” said Byrd, who started high school remotely during the pandemic. “I could have learned more, but between all that and changing schools, it was hard.”
In Georgia, Black students like Byrd make up slightly more than one-third of the population. But they account for the majority of students who receive punishments that remove them from the classroom, including suspension, expulsion and being transferred to an alternative school.
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US, Iraqi forces raid targeting Islamic State group militants kills 15 in western desert
BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military took part in an Iraqi raid in the country's western region that killed 15 people as forces targeted suspected militants from the Islamic State group, the American military said early Saturday.
For years after dislodging the militants from their self-declared caliphate across Iraq and Syria, U.S. forces have continued fighting the Islamic State group, though the casualties from Friday's raid were higher than others in the time since.
The U.S. military's Central Command alleged the militants were armed with “numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive ‘suicide’ belts” during the attack Thursday, which Iraqi forces said happened in the country's the Anbar Desert.
“This operation targeted ISIS leaders to disrupt and degrade ISIS’ ability to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against Iraqi civilians, as well as U.S. citizens, allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond,” Central Command said, using an acronym for the militant group. “Iraqi Security Forces continue to further exploit the locations raided.”
It added: “There is no indication of civilian casualties.”
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Top Brazilian judge orders suspension of X platform in Brazil amid feud with Musk
SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of his decision.
The move further escalates the monthslong feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month.
“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” de Moraes wrote in his decision.
The justice said the platform will stay suspended until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using VPNs to access it.
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NHL player Johnny Gaudreau and brother killed when bicycles hit by car on eve of sister's wedding
NHL player Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother were killed on the eve of their sister’s wedding when they were hit by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles in their home state of New Jersey, police said Friday.
New Jersey State Police said the Gaudreau brothers were cycling on a road in Oldmans Township on Thursday night when a man driving an SUV in the same direction attempted to pass two other vehicles and struck them from behind about 8 p.m., less than a half-hour after sunset. They were pronounced dead at the scene some 35 miles south of Philadelphia.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother, Matt, 29, are Carneys Point, New Jersey, natives and were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding that was scheduled for Friday in Philadelphia.
Police said the driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins, was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle.
Higgins told a responding officer he had five or six beers prior to the crash and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint obtained by The Associated Press. He failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said, though his blood-alcohol level was not immediately available.
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Adnan Syed's murder conviction still stands in ‘Serial’ case as court orders new hearing
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Adnan Syed’s murder conviction still stands after Maryland’s highest court Friday ordered a redo of the hearing that freed him. The court ruled that the earlier proceeding violated the rights of the victim’s family, marking the latest development in a legal saga that gained widespread attention through the hit podcast “Serial.”
The 4-3 ruling upheld an appellate court decision that reinstated Syed’s conviction last year. It comes about 11 months after the court heard arguments in a case that has been fraught with legal twists and divided court rulings since Syed was convicted in 2000 of killing his high school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.
The justices said that Syed, who was released from prison in 2022, can remain free as the case heads to a new lower court judge to again consider whether his conviction should be tossed.
The court weighed the extent to which victims can participate in hearings where a conviction could be vacated. The majority of judges concluded that, in an effort to remedy what they deemed an injustice to Syed, prosecutors and a lower court “worked an injustice” against Lee’s brother. The court ruled that Young Lee was not treated with “dignity, respect, and sensitivity,” as required under Maryland law, because he wasn’t given reasonable notice of the hearing that freed Syed.
The court said those shortfalls would be corrected leading up to the new hearing.
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US clears updated COVID shots from Novavax, adding a 3rd fall vaccine option
U.S. regulators have cleared a third updated COVID-19 vaccine for this fall, shots made by Novavax Inc.
Already, Pfizer and Moderna are shipping shots modified to better match more recent strains of the ever-evolving coronavirus. Those doses can be used in adults and children as young as 6 months.
Friday, the Food and Drug Administration gave the OK to the updated Novavax formula, too — and those shots are open to anyone 12 and older.
While most Americans have some degree of immunity from prior infections or vaccinations or both, that protection wanes. Despite this summer's wave, winter surges of COVID-19 tend to be worse and health officials are urging Americans to get one of the vaccine options this fall.
Novavax makes a protein-based vaccine mixed with an immune booster, a different technology than Pfizer and Moderna’s so-called mRNA vaccines.
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