Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.
The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.
It caps a long-running legal saga for the younger Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father’s 2020 victory — and casts a pall over the elder Biden's legacy.
Biden, who time and again pledged to Americans that he would restore norms and respect for the rule of law after Trump's first term in office, ultimately used his position to help his son, breaking his public pledge to Americans that he would do no such thing.
In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”
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Biden has pardoned his son Hunter. What does that mean?
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden had long pledged that he would not pardon his son, Hunter, who was set to be sentenced this month for gun and tax convictions. But on Sunday, the president did it anyway.
The sweeping pardon covers not only Hunter Biden's convictions in two cases in Delaware and California, but also any other “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
Biden is hardly the first president to deploy his pardon powers to benefit those close to him. But it was still a surprising reversal for a man who pledged to restore norms and respect for the rule of law.
The U.S. Constitution says that a president has the power to grant clemency, which includes both pardons and commutations. A pardon forgives federal criminal offenses; a commutation reduces penalties but isn't as sweeping. The power has its roots in English law — the king could grant mercy to anyone — and it made it over the ocean to the American colonies and stuck around. The U.S. Supreme Court has found the presidential pardon authority to be very broad. And presidents use the power a lot: Donald Trump granted 237 acts of clemency during his four years in office and Barack Obama granted clemency 1,927 times in his eight years. Presidents have forgiven drug offenses, fraud convictions and Vietnam-era draft dodgers, among many other things.
But a president can only grant pardons for federal offenses, not state ones. Impeachment convictions also aren't pardonable.
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UN halts aid shipments through Gaza's main crossing after looting. It blames the crisis on Israel
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Sunday it is halting aid deliveries through the main cargo crossing into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip because of the threat of armed gangs who have looted convoys. It blamed the breakdown of law and order in large part on Israeli policies.
In Israel, a former defense minister and fierce critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and a hard-liner on the Palestinians — accused the government of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, where a military offensive continues.
The U.N. agency's decision could worsen Gaza's humanitarian crisis as a second cold, rainy winter sets in, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in squalid tent camps and reliant on international aid. Experts already warned of famine in the north, which Israeli forces have almost completely isolated since early October.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main aid provider in Gaza, said the route leading to the Kerem Shalom crossing is too dangerous on the Gaza side. Armed men looted nearly 100 trucks on the route in mid-November.
Kerem Shalom is the only crossing between Israel and Gaza that is designed for cargo shipments and has been the main artery for aid since the Rafah crossing with Egypt was shut in May. Last month, nearly two-thirds of aid entering Gaza came through Kerem Shalom, and in previous months it accounted for even more, according to Israeli figures.
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Syria launches counterattacks in an attempt to halt insurgency, as Iran's top diplomat meets Assad
BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian military rushed reinforcements to the northwest and launched airstrikes Sunday in an attempt to push back insurgents who seized the country’s largest city of Aleppo, as Iran pledged to help the government counter the surprise offensive.
Iran has been a key political and military ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's civil war, but it was unclear how Tehran would support Damascus in the latest flareup. Insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo and the countryside around Idlib on Wednesday, before moving toward neighboring Hama province.
On Sunday, government troops created a “strong defensive line” in northern Hama, as they attempted to stall the insurgents’ momentum, according to Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Meanwhile, jets pounded the cities of Idlib and Aleppo, killing at least 25 people, according to the Syrian civil defense group that operates in opposition-held areas.
The surge in fighting has raised the prospect of another violent, destabilizing front reopening in the Middle East at a time when Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, conflicts that have repeatedly threatened to ignite an even wider regional war. It also risks drawing Russia and Turkey — each with its own interests to protect in Syria — into direct heavy fighting against each other.
The insurgents announced their offensive Wednesday, just as a ceasefire started between Hezbollah and Israel that raised some hope tensions in the region might be calming.
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Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon, but tense ceasefire holds
TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli jets Sunday launched an airstrike over a southern Lebanese border village, while troops shelled other border towns and villages still under Israeli control, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.
The attacks come days after a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike in the village of Yaroun, nor did the Hezbollah militant group. Israel continues to call on displaced Lebanese not to return to dozens of southern villages in this current stage of the ceasefire. It also continues to impose a daily curfew for people moving across the Litani River between 5 pm and 7 am.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the Lebanese military have been critical of Israeli strikes and overflights since the ceasefire went into effect, accusing Israel of violating the agreement. The military said it had filed complaints, but no clear military action has been taken by Hezbollah in response, meaning that the tense cessation of hostilities has not yet broken down.
When Israel has issued statements about these strikes, it says they were done to thwart possible Hezbollah attacks.
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Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares steps down as carmaker continues struggle with slumping sales
NEW YORK (AP) — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is stepping down after nearly four years in the top spot of the automaker, which owns car brands like Jeep, Citroën and Ram, amid an ongoing struggle with slumping sales.
The world’s fourth-largest carmaker announced that its board accepted Tavares' resignation Sunday, effective immediately.
Stellantis noted Sunday that the process of finding a new, permanent CEO is “well under way.” In the meantime, the company says a new interim executive committee, led by chairman John Elkann, will be established.
As head of PSA Peugeot, Tavares took control of the Netherlands-based company in January 2021 — when it merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, creating an automotive giant that is the parent to several well-known brands today. Beyond Jeep, Citroën and Ram, the company portfolio includes Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, Peugeot, Maserati and Opel.
Stellantis' North American operations had been the company’s main source of profits for some time, but struggles piled up this year, with the company citing rising competition and larger market changes. As a result of lofty sticker prices and fewer affordable options, many high-priced vehicles have been left unsold on dealers' lots.
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Lake-effect snow blankets the Great Lakes as Thanksgiving travelers head home
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Lake-effect snow blanketed swaths of the U.S. as Thanksgiving travelers journeyed home this holiday weekend, with more snow expected to fall over the Great Lakes region through the week.
While the weather event dumped dozens of inches of snow in upstate New York, including nearly 4 feet (1.22 meters) off Lake Ontario, as well as parts of Pennsylvania and Michigan, flinty fans scoffed at the flurries and numbing temperatures during Sunday's nighttime NFL game in Buffalo.
Lake-effect snow is caused when warm, moist air is blown across a body of water and mixes with colder, drier air, creating narrow bands of often heavy snow on land. The National Weather Service said additional snow was forecast to fall overnight Sunday into Monday — with more heavy lake-effect snow is expected to hit the Great Lakes area Wednesday and Thursday, along with gusty winds and freezing temperatures.
In Buffalo, officials with the NFL’s Bills had sought stadium snow shovelers for the season, including ahead of Sunday night’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. The team said it would pay $20 per hour and provide food and hot drinks.
The lake-effect storm began hitting the area Saturday near the Bills’ stadium in Orchard Park, New York. Though the storm shifted south of the stadium by noon Sunday, snow continued to fall off and on through the day. Flurries began to fall more heavily just before kickoff. The game was played in chilly conditions with the game-time temperature at 27 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-3 Celsius), with the wind chill making it feel like 17 F (minus-8 C). The Bills often play in such conditions at home late in the season.
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Canada's ambassador says Trudeau told Trump the Canadian border can't be compared to Mexico's
TORONTO (AP) — Canada's ambassador to the United States said Sunday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was successful in getting President-elect Donald Trump and key Cabinet nominees to understand that lumping Canada in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the U.S. is unfair.
Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador in Washington, told The Associated Press in an interview that Trudeau's dinner with Trump on Friday was a very important step in trying to get Trump to back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner.
Hillman was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and sat at an adjacent table to Trudeau and Trump.
Trump threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders. He said in a social media post last Monday he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.
Hillman said Trudeau asked to see Trump in person in a phone call Monday and Trump invited him to dinner on Friday.
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Shopping on Shein and Temu for holiday gifts? You're not the only one.
Shopping on Temu can feel like playing an arcade game. Instead of using a joystick-controlled claw to grab a toy, visitors to the online marketplace maneuver their computer mouses or cellphone screens to browse colorful gadgets, accessories and trinkets with prices that look too good to refuse.
A pop-up spinning wheel offers the chance to win a coupon. Rotating captions warn that a less than $2 camouflage print balaclava and a $1.23 skeleton hand back scratcher are “Almost sold out.” A flame symbol indicates a $9.69 plush cat print hoodie is selling fast. A timed-down selection of discounted items adds to the sense of urgency.
Welcome to the new online world of impulse buying, a place of guilty pleasures where the selection is vast, every day is Cyber Monday, and an instant dopamine hit that will have faded by the time your package arrives is always just a click away.
By all accounts, we’re living in an accelerating age for consumerism, one that Temu, which is owned by the Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings, and Shein, its fierce rival, supercharged with social media savvy and an interminable assortment of cheap goods, most shipped directly from merchants in China based on real-time demand.
The business models of the two platforms, coupled with avalanches of digital or influencer advertising, have enabled them to give Western retailers a run for their money this holiday shopping season.
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Josh Allen has TDs passing, rushing and receiving as Bills rout 49ers 35-10 in snow, clinch AFC East
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen scored a receiving touchdown on a pass he threw in his latest do-everything performance, and the Buffalo Bills clinched their fifth straight AFC East title with a 35-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on a snowy Sunday night.
Allen had touchdowns passing, rushing and receiving, becoming the first quarterback and seventh player in the Super Bowl era to do that and the first since the Niners’ Christian McCaffrey in 2022.
His receiving TD came on a play in which he threw to Amari Cooper, who was wrapped up short of the goal line and pitched the ball back to Allen. The QB sprinted to the left corner of the end zone and dived past for the pylon for the score. Allen was credited with a touchdown passing and receiving on the play, although it did not count as a reception.
His final numbers: 13 of 17 passing for 148 yards and two touchdowns, three rushes for 18 yards and a score, and zero catches for 7 yards and a TD.
Snow flew like confetti in celebration from the packed stands as the Bills (10-2) scored on four of five possessions spanning halftime to build a 28-3 lead, starting with Ray Davis’ 5-yard run. James Cook scored on a career-long 65-yard run and finished with 107 yards rushing.
The Associated Press
