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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UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Sunday called for a quick end to Western sanctions after the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the United States, 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 later spiraled into a civil war.
The conflict has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Rebuilding has been stymied to a large degree by sanctions that aimed to prevent rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and property in government-held areas in the absence of a political solution.
“We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria,” U.N. envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters during a visit to Damascus.
Pedersen came to the Syrian capital to meet with officials with the new interim government set up by the former opposition forces who toppled Assad, led by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS.
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South Korean leaders seek calm after Yoon is impeached
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s opposition leader offered Sunday to work with the government to ease the political tumult as officials sought to reassure allies and markets, a day after the opposition-controlled parliament voted to impeach conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol over a short-lived attempt to impose martial law.
Liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, whose party holds a majority in the National Assembly, urged the Constitutional Court to rule swiftly on Yoon’s impeachment and proposed a special council for policy cooperation between the government and parliament.
Yoon’s powers have been suspended until the court decides whether to remove him from office or reinstate him. If Yoon is dismissed, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.
Lee, who has led a fierce political offensive against Yoon’s embattled government, is seen as the frontrunner to replace him. He lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon by a razor-thin margin.
He told a televised news conference that a swift court ruling would be the only way to “minimize national confusion and the suffering of people.”
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Trump gets warm welcome as he watches Army-Navy game alongside key allies, nominees and Daniel Penny
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump huddled with allies and a Republican cause célèbre at Saturday’s Army-Navy football game, taking in one of the most storied rivalries in college sports while spotlighting his emerging national security team.
Trump was joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance, embattled Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, potential backup defense secretary option Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and others to watch Navy beat Army 31-13 in the 125th matchup between the service academies.
Daniel Penny, a military veteran who was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide this past week in the chokehold death of an agitated subway rider in New York, also was a guest in the president’s suite. Penny was invited by Vance, who accused prosecutors of trying to “ruin” Penny’s life by charging the Marine veteran in the death of Jordan Neely in 2023.
Trump arrived at Northwest Stadium just before kickoff and was greeted warmly by the crowd, which erupted in cheers when the president-elect, Vance and Elon Musk, who Trump has appointed to help lead a proposed Department of Government Efficiency, appeared on the scoreboard video screen.
The president, who was seated with his entourage in a stadium suite, mouthed “thank you” and the crowd erupted in a chant of “USA, USA!”
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Trump nominees should ‘steer clear’ of undermining polio vaccine, McConnell says
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, said any of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees seeking confirmation should “steer clear” of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous,” McConnell said in a Friday statement. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”
The 82-year-old lawmaker’s statement appeared to be directed at Trump’s nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after a report that one of his advisors filed a petition to revoke approval for the polio vaccine in 2022. It was a sign that Kennedy, who has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, could face resistance in the soon-to-be GOP-controlled Senate.
“Mr. Kennedy believes the Polio Vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied,” said Katie Miller, the transition spokeswoman for Kennedy, in response to questions.
The New York Times reported Friday that a lawyer who is helping Kennedy select candidates for health official positions filed a petition to get the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine — widely considered to have halted the disease in most parts of the world — and pause distribution of several other vaccines. The Washington Post also confirmed the petition. The AP has not independently confirmed the petition, which was filed in 2022, according to the Times.
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ABC agrees to give $15 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle defamation lawsuit
NEW YORK (AP) — ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million toward Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
As part of the settlement made public Saturday, ABC News posted an editor’s note to its website expressing regret over Stephanopoulos’ statements during a March 10 segment on his “This Week” program. The network will also pay $1 million in legal fees to the law firm of Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito.
The settlement agreement describes ABC’s presidential library payment as a “charitable contribution,” with the money earmarked for a non-profit organization that is being established in connection with the yet-to-be built library.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” ABC News spokesperson Jeannie Kedas said.
A Trump spokesperson declined comment.
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At least 11 dead in the French territory of Mayotte as Cyclone Chido causes devastating damage
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — At least 11 people have died after Cyclone Chido caused devastating damage in the French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, France’s Interior Ministry said Sunday.
The ministry said it was proving difficult to get a precise tally of the dead and injured amid fears the death toll will increase. A hospital in Mayotte reported that nine people were in critical condition in the hospital and 246 others were injured.
The tropical cyclone blew through the southeastern Indian Ocean, also affecting the nearby islands of Comoros and Madagascar. Mayotte was directly in the path of the cyclone and suffered extensive damage on Saturday, officials said. The prefect of Mayotte said it was the worst cyclone to hit Mayotte in 90 years.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Saturday night after an emergency meeting in Paris that there were fears that the death toll in Mayotte “will be high.”
Chido brought winds in excess of 220 kph (136 mph), according to the French weather service, ripping metal roofs off houses and destroying many small structures in Mayotte, which has a population of just over 300,000 spread over two main islands about 800 kilometers (500 miles) off Africa’s east coast.
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Storms across US bring heavy snow, dangerous ice and a tornado in California
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Inclement weather plagued areas of the U.S. in the first half of the weekend, with dangerous conditions including heavy snow in upstate New York, a major ice storm in Midwest states, severe weather warnings around Lake Tahoe and unsual tornado activity in Central California.
The ice storm beginning Friday evening created treacherous driving conditions across Iowa and eastern Nebraska 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 near a shopping mall in Scotts Valley, California, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of San Francisco, around 1:40 p.m. 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.
Some trees toppled onto cars and streets and damaged roofs in San Francisco. The damage was being assessed to determine if the city was indeed hit by a tornado, which had not occurred since 2005, according to the weather service.
Roger Gass, a meteorologist in the weather service’s office in Monterey, California, said the warning of a possible tornado in San Francisco was a first for the city, noting an advanced alert did not go out before the last tornado struck nearly 20 years ago.
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Pope Francis arrives on 1st papal visit to Corsica, with focus on regional crisis, popular piety
AJACCIO, Corsica (AP) — Pope Francis’ one-day visit to the French island of Corsica on Sunday, two days before his 88th birthday, puts a dual focus on the Mediterranean, highlighting local traditions of popular piety on the one hand and migrant deaths and wars on the other.
A brass band and children in traditional garb greeted Francis at the airport, and thousands lined the route of his motorcade waving flags and shouting greetings. The pope stopped along the way to listen to a choir of children singing.
The visit to Corsica’s capital Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon, is one of the briefest of his papacy beyond Italy’s borders, just about nine hours on the ground, including a 40-minute visit with French President Emmanuel Macron.
It is the first papal visit to the island, which Genoa ceded to France in 1768 and is located closer to the Italian mainland than France.
Corsica stands out from the rest of secularized France as a particularly devout region, with 92 confraternities, or lay associations dedicated to works of charity or piety, with over 4,000 members.
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Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter wins Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player
NEW YORK (AP) — Travis Hunter turned every play into prime time — on both sides of the ball — and ultimately took home the Heisman Trophy.
Now he’s got a leg up on his celebrity coach at Colorado.
The two-way star won college football’s most prestigious award Saturday night, punctuating a tireless performance all season by a dynamic player with a unique combination of skills.
“Never thought I would be in this position,” a tearful Hunter said as he thanked everyone from his fiancée to family members and former and current coaches. “It’s crazy. Belief takes you a long way.”
While posing for countless photos with the iconic statue over the past two days, Hunter made a point not to put his hands on the Heisman. He said he didn’t want to touch it unless it was his.
The Associated Press