AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST
Biden, Putin square off as tension grows on Ukraine border
WASHINGTON (AP) - Face to face for over two hours, President Joe Biden and Russia´s Vladimir Putin squared off in a secure video call Tuesday as the U.S. president put Moscow on notice that an invasion of Ukraine would bring sanctions and enormous harm to the Russian economy.
With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the Ukraine border, the highly anticipated call between the two leaders came amid growing worries by the U.S. and Western allies about Russia´s threat to its neighbor.
Putin, for his part, came into the meeting seeking guarantees from Biden that the NATO military alliance will never expand to include Ukraine, which has long sought membership. The Americans and their NATO allies said that request was a non-starter.
There appeared to be no immediate breakthroughs to ease tensions on the Ukraine question, as the U.S. emphasized a need for diplomacy and de-escalation, and issued stern threats to Russia on the consequences of an invasion.
Biden "told President Putin directly that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States and our European allies would respond with strong economic measures," U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said after the call.
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Major outage hits Amazon Web Services; many sites affected
Amazon´s cloud-service network suffered a major outage Tuesday, the company said, disrupting access to many popular sites. The service provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press.
Roughly five hours after numerous companies and other organizations began reporting issues with Amazon Web Services, the company said in a post on the AWS status page that it had "mitigated" the underlying problem responsible for the outage. Shortly thereafter, it reported that "many services have already recovered" but noted that others were still working toward full recovery.
The issue primarily affected Amazon web services in the eastern U.S., it said. Problems began midmorning on the U.S. East Coast, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik Inc, a network intelligence firm -- among them, Amazon´s own e-commerce operations.
In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha confirmed that Amazon´s warehouse and delivery operations had also experienced issues as a result of the AWS outage. Rocha added that the company is "working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible."
Customers trying to book or change trips with Delta Air Lines had trouble connecting to the airline. "Delta is working quickly to restore functionality to our AWS-supported phone lines," said spokesperson Morgan Durrant. The airline apologized and encouraged customers to use its website or mobile app instead.
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Judge blocks Biden vaccine mandate for federal contractors
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Joe Biden´s administration from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees of federal contractors, the latest in a string of victories for Republican-led states pushing back against Biden´s pandemic policies.
U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker, in Augusta, Georgia, issued a stay to bar enforcement of the mandate nationwide.
The order came in response to a lawsuit from several contractors and seven states -- Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia. It applies across the U.S. because one of those challenging the order is the trade group Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., whose members do business nationwide.
Baker found that the states are likely to succeed in their claim that Biden exceeded authorization from Congress when he issued the requirement in September.
"The Court acknowledges the tragic toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought throughout the nation and the globe," wrote the judge, an appointee of former President Donald Trump. "However, even in times of crisis this Court must preserve the rule of law and ensure that all branches of government act within the bounds of their constitutionally granted authorities."
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Myanmar democracy in new era as Suu Kyi sidelined by army
BANGKOK (AP) - In sentencing Myanmar´s iconic democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to prison, the country´s generals have effectively exiled her from electoral politics. But that doesn´t mean the Southeast Asian nation is back to square one in its stop-start efforts to move toward democracy.
In fact, a younger generation that came of age as the military began loosening its grip on politics and the economy and has tasted some freedoms is well positioned to carry on the struggle.
A de facto coup on Feb. 1 pushed Suu Kyi´s elected government from power, throwing the country into turmoil. But erasing the gains of a decade of opening up has proved more difficult.
People took to the streets en masse almost immediately and have continued sporadic protests since then. As a military crackdown on demonstrations grew increasingly violent, protesters moved to arm themselves.
Within days, a mix of old and new guard, including elected lawmakers who were prevented from taking their seats by the takeover, announced a shadow administration that declared itself the nation´s only legitimate government. It was very consciously assembled to be a diverse group, including representatives of ethnic minorities and one openly gay member, unusual in socially conservative Myanmar.
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Suspect in killing of Saudi journalist arrested in France
PARIS (AP) - A suspect in the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was arrested Tuesday in France, according to a French judicial official.
The official said the suspect was being held on the basis of a Turkish arrest warrant. He requested not being named in accordance with the French justice system´s customary practices.
French radio RTL said the Saudi national, Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi, was arrested at the Roissy airport near Paris as he was trying to board a flight to Riyadh.
Al-Otaibi was one of over a dozen Saudi officials sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2018 over Khashoggi´s killing and dismemberment at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
He was also mentioned in the declassified U.S. intelligence report that said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had "approved" the operation that killed Khashoggi. The report used an alternate English transliteration of his last name.
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China says US diplomatic boycott violates Olympic spirit
BEIJING (AP) - China accused the United States of violating the Olympic spirit on Tuesday after the Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Games over human rights concerns.
Rights groups have pushed for a full-blown boycott of the Games, accusing China of rights abuses against ethnic minorities. The U.S. decision falls short of those calls but comes at an exceptionally turbulent time for relations between the powerhouse nations and was met with a barrage of criticism from China.
The U.S. is attempting to interfere with the Beijing Games "out of ideological prejudice and based on lies and rumors," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters.
The boycott "seriously violates the principle of political neutrality of sports established by the Olympic Charter and runs counter to the Olympic motto `more united,'" Zhao said.
As he did the previous day, Zhao vowed that China would respond with "resolute countermeasures" but offered no details.
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Congressional leaders reach deal to hike debt limit
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional leaders reached an elaborate deal Tuesday that will allow Democrats to lift the nation´s debt limit without any votes from Republicans, likely averting another last-minute rush to avoid a federal default. Hours later, the House passed legislation overwhelmingly along party lines that kicked off a multi-step process.
Congress approved a $480 billion increase in the nation´s debt limit in October. That´s enough for the Treasury to finance the government´s operations through Dec. 15, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's projection.
But Republicans have warned they won't vote for any future debt ceiling increase to ensure the federal government can meet its financial obligations, and instead, the politically unpopular measure would have to be passed entirely by the Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress.
President Joe Biden had called on Republicans to "get out of the way" if they won´t help Democrats shoulder the debt responsibility. But rather than step aside and allow for a quick vote, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has helped engineer an unusual legislative process that will play out over the next several days. Donald Trump, the former president, ridiculed McConnell for allowing any action, showing just how politically toxic the routine act of paying the nation´s bills has become.
"I think this is in the best interest of the country," said McConnell, R-Ky. "I think it is also in the best interest of Republicans, who feel very strongly that the previous debt ceilings we agreed to when President Trump was here carried us through August. And this current debt ceiling is indeed about the future and not about the past."
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Defense rests after Jussie Smollett repeatedly denies 'hoax'
CHICAGO (AP) - Jussie Smollett on Tuesday repeatedly denied he staged a racist, anti-gay attack on himself for publicity, telling a prosecutor as the trial neared its end that "there was no hoax on my part" and that two brothers who testified against him are "liars."
Lawyers for the former "Empire" actor rested their case shortly after Smollett finished a second day of testimony at the Chicago courthouse on charges he lied to police about the January 2019 attack. Prosecutors said they had no other witnesses to call, and Judge James Linn scheduled closing arguments for Wednesday.
On Monday, Smollett called the Osundairo brothers´ testimony that he paid them $3,500 to carry out the fake attack "100% false," and described how he was the victim of a hate crime while walking in his downtown Chicago neighborhood. He also testified that the $3,500 check to Abimbola Osundairo was for meal and workout plans because he was trying to get toned for an upcoming music video.
Under cross-examination by special prosecutor Dan Webb, Smollett said Tuesday that a few days before the alleged attack he picked up Abimbola Osundairo in his car to go workout and that Osundairo´s brother, Olabingo Osundairo, came along. Smollett denied the brothers´ earlier testimony that they drove around together - circling the area where the alleged attack occurred three times - as part of a "dry run" for the fake assault. He said circling the area was not unusual behavior for him, and that he called off the plan to work out because he didn´t want to work out with Olabingo Osundairo, whom he hadn´t invited along.
Smollett, who was calm throughout hours of testimony with his defense attorney Monday, seemed to grow more irritated during his exchanges with Webb on Tuesday, at one point telling the veteran prosecutor he doesn´t understand the social media app Instagram. Webb´s cross-examination also revealed some inconsistencies in Smollett´s testimony, including about whether he sent private messages to confirm the timing of the alleged attack and whether his attackers were white, as police say Smollett told them.
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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes faces cross-examination
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes spent another five hours on the witness stand Tuesday sparring with a federal prosecutor aiming to prove criminal allegations that she misled investors, customers, and patients about a flawed blood-testing technology that she spent years touting as a medical breakthrough.
Much of Holmes´ second day of cross-examination by government lawyer Robert Leach mirrored what happened during the first day when she struggled to recall key events that triggered the fraud charges facing her.
As he did last week, Leach repeatedly tried to jog her memory by pulling up her own emails from six to nine years ago, as part of his efforts to persuade a jury that Holmes knew about serious problems with Theranos´ blood-testing equipment, even as she continued to hail it as a major step forward. That pitch helped Theranos raise more than $900 million from investors and strike a deal to roll out its technology in Walgreens pharmacies before its eventual collapse in 2018.
By 2014, Theranos was such a hot commodity in Silicon Valley that Holmes´ controlling stake in the Palo Alto, California, company was valued at $4.5 billion.
Holmes told Leach she couldn´t even remember emailing Theranos investors a glowing Fortune magazine cover story about her in June 2014 that catapulted her to Silicon Valley stardom or giving a July 2013 slide presentation to Walgreens executives that helped Theranos seal its pharmacy deal.
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Test feeding plan in works for starving Florida manatees
St. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Normally giving food to wild animals is considered off limits, but the dire situation in Florida with more than 1,000 manatees dying from starvation due to manmade pollution is leading officials to consider an unprecedented feeding plan.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state environmental officials intend to unveil a limited proposal this week to feed the beloved marine mammals in one specific Florida location to test how it works. This is not usually done with any wild animal, but the situation has become such an emergency that it has to be considered, said Save The Manatee Club Executive Director Patrick Rose.
The club was co-founded in 1981 by Florida troubadour Jimmy Buffet and former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham.
"It´s the entire ecosystem that is affected by this and will be affected for a decade to come," Rose said in an interview Tuesday. "This is a necessary stopgap measure. It is a problem created by man and man is going to have to solve it."
A Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said in an email that the agency "does have approval to move forward on a limited feeding trial" but that details are not yet finalized. A formal announcement is expected later this week.
