Elon Musk has another child, a boy
WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk, who is a close adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, has another child, his 14th.
His latest child, a son, is with Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk's Neuralink with whom he already has three other children.
"Discussed with Elon and, in light of beautiful Arcadia’s birthday, we felt it was better to also just share directly about our wonderful and incredible son Seldon Lycurgus," Zilis said in a post on X. She did not say when the child was born.
Musk responded with a heart.
Zilis' announcement comes two weeks after conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair said that she also recently had a child with Musk.
American R&B singer Angie Stone dies at 63
March 1 (Reuters) - American singer Angie Stone, who was nominated for three Grammy Awards, died at 63 early Saturday, a representative confirmed.
Deborah R. Champagne, Stone's representative who last spoke with her shortly after 9 p.m. ET (0200 GMT), said Stone died in a car accident in Montgomery, Alabama, following a performance.
Guy Todd Williams, better known as Rahiem from the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, which was the first rap group inducted into the Rock Hall, said nine other passengers were in a van with Stone during the accident. He said she was the only fatality.
"She left her indelible mark on the music industry initially as a member of the legendary rap group Sequence," said Williams, who was signed to the same record label as Stone early in her career.
Stone, a native of South Carolina, was a member of female hip-hop trio The Sequence. The group's most popular song, Funk You Up, peaked at 15 on Billboard's Hot Soul Singles. Rolling Stone described it as the first rap hit performed by women.
The group was signed to the now defunct Sugar Hill Records, a label under of Warner Music Group, which also represented Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, among other artists.
Stone released her debut solo album, Black Diamond, in 1999. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America the following year. Her highest charting album -"The Art of Love & War" released in 2007- peaked at 11 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number one on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
Outside of music, she acted in several films with her debut being "The Hot Chick" alongside Rob Schneider and Rachel McAdams. Stone also starred in "The Fighting Temptations" with Beyonce and Cuba Gooding Jr.
US now offering $25 million for Maduro’s arrest or conviction
CARACAS, Venezuela (CMC) — The United States (US) Department of State has increased to US$25 million, the reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro who has been charged in a federal indictment for narco-terrorism and drug trafficking-related offences.
Originally set at US$15 million, the reward was raised to US$25 million to underscore “the gravity of his crimes and the continued threat he poses to international stability,” according to a senior state department official.
The US government is urging individuals with relevant information to come forward. Individuals in the United States have been encouraged to reach out to their local Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office while those located outside the US are encouraged to contact the nearest US embassy or consulate.
Maduro, 62, has been under US indictment since 2020. Prosecutors allege he was a key figure in the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organisation comprising high-ranking officials.
He has been accused of leading a violent and corrupt narco-terrorism conspiracy in partnership with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated foreign terrorist organisation. US prosecutors claim that Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine, directed the cartel to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC, and sought the group’s assistance in training an unsanctioned militia that acted as an armed wing of the cartel.
The announcement of the increased reward for his arrest came on the same day he was sworn into office for a third term.
Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since 2013, was declared the winner of the July 2024 election by the country’s electoral authority and top court, despite what the US State Department said was “credible evidence of electoral fraud”.
Washington has not recognised him as the legitimate president of Venezuela since 2019.
Judge extends Megan Thee Stallion’s protection order against rapper Tory Lanez until 2030
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Megan Thee Stallion has been granted a restraining order from imprisoned rapper Tory Lanez until early 2030.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Bloom on Thursday granted Megan’s request for a protective order after the hip-hop star alleged that Lanez is harassing her from prison through surrogates as he serves a 10-year sentence for shooting her in the feet.
The order was granted after a hearing. Michael Hayden, Lanez’s attorney, wrote in an objection to the restraining order request that his client’s incarceration means there “is no longer any form of current or future threat” to Megan and there has been no direct contact between the two recently.
A summary of Thursday’s hearing said Bloom found that Megan’s lawyers had met the burden of proof to extend a temporary restraining order until Jan. 9, 2030.
Hayden did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.
Megan obtained the temporary order in November after alleging Lanez, a Canadian rapper whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, is using third parties to continue to harass her online.
The petition says call logs at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi show that Lanez is coordinating attacks on Megan’s credibility, including making false claims that the gun and bullet fragments in the case are missing.
In December 2022, Lanez was convicted of three felonies: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
A judge rejected a motion for a new trial from Lanez’s lawyers, who are appealing his conviction.
Megan testified during the trial that Lanez fired the gun at the back of her feet and shouted for her to dance as she walked away from an SUV they rode in leaving a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home.
Megan, 29, was already a major rising star at the time of the shooting, and her music’s popularity has soared since. She won a Grammy for best new artist in 2021, and she had No. 1 singles with “Savage,” featuring Beyoncé, and as a guest on Cardi B’s “WAP.”
Lanez, 32, began releasing mixtapes in 2009 and saw a steady rise in popularity, moving on to major label albums. His last two reached the top 10 on Billboard’s charts.
Supreme Court seems likely to uphold a law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. on Jan. 19
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.
Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company’s connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.
Early in arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concern: TikTok’s ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company’s requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government’s intelligence operations.
If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to “go dark” on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.
At the very least, Francisco urged, the justices should enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating. “We might be in a different world again” after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, also has called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a “political resolution.” Francisco served as Trump’s solicitor general in his first presidential term.
But it was not clear whether any justices would choose such a course. And only Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded like he would side with TikTok to find that the ban violates the Constitution.
Gorsuch labeled arguments advanced by the Biden administration’ in defense of the law a “paternalistic point of view.” TikTok, he said, has offered to post a warning that the content could be manipulated by the Chinese government.
“Don’t we normally assume that the best remedy for problematic speech is counter speech?” he asked Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who defended the law for the Biden administration
A warning wouldn’t be enough to counterbalance the spread of misinformation, Prelogar said.
Francisco and lawyer Jeffrey Fisher, representing content creators and TikTok users, repeatedly tried to focus the court on the First Amendment restrictions that would fall on TikTok and its users, imperiling the livelihood of content creators, if the law is allowed to take effect.
But compared to the mildly challenging questions directed to Prelogar, they faced skepticism from every justice other than Gorsuch.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised U.S. concerns about China accessing information on tens of millions of Americans, including especially teenagers and people in their 20s, with whom TikTok is extremely popular.
“That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” said Kavanaugh, whose daughters are in that age range.
Roberts downplayed Fisher’s argument that banning TikTok violates American users’ free speech rights. “Congress is fine with the expression,” Roberts said. “They’re not fine with a foreign adversary, as they’ve determined it is, gathering all this information about the 170 million people who use TikTok.”
The justices are expected to act within days, almost certainly ahead of the Jan. 19 deadline.
Content creators and small business owners who rely on the app are awaiting a decision with anxiety.
“There’s really no replacement for this app,” said Skip Chapman, co-owner of KAFX Body in Manasquan, N.J., a maker and seller of natural deodorants. Chapman said more than 80% of his sales come on TikTok and he has not found the same traction on Amazon or other platforms.
Lee Zavorskas, a TikTok creator and a licensed esthetician based in New Hampshire, said she makes nearly half of her income on the platform by promoting products for other businesses. Zavorskas said she found it too stressful to listen to Friday’s arguments. Instead, she spent her time building a YouTube channel.
ByteDance has said it won’t sell the short-form video platform, and Francisco said a sale might never be possible under the conditions set in the law.
But some investors have been eyeing TikTok, including Trump’s Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchi n and billionaire businessman Frank McCourt. On Thursday, McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative said it, along with its unnamed partners, presented a proposal to ByteDance to acquire TikTok’s U.S. assets. The consortium, which includes “Shark Tank” host Kevin O’Leary, did not disclose the financial terms of the offer.
If TikTok isn’t sold to an approved buyer, the federal law would prohibit app stores, such as those operated by Apple and Google, from offering the popular app. It would also bar internet hosting services from hosting TikTok.
TikTok users who already have the app on their phones will continue to have access to it. But new users won’t be able to download the app, and existing ones will no longer be able to receive updates. That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.
Prelogar said an eventual sale of the platform, even after the ban kicks in, would allow TikTok to resume operations. The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk, who renamed it X, shows that the sale of a social media platform can happen quickly, she said.
That high-profile transaction went through in about six months from offer to completion, she said.
TikTok, meanwhile, has been “on notice” since 2020, during Trump’s first term, that its sale could be required if it couldn’t satisfy the U.S. government’s national security concerns
The federal law was the culmination of a yearslong saga in Washington over TikTok, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China.
U.S. officials argue that the vast amounts of user data that TikTok collects, including sensitive information on viewing habits, could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. They also are concerned that the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who could pressure ByteDance to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.
T
ikTok, which sued the government last year over the law, has long denied it could be used as a tool of Beijing.
The company negotiated with the Biden administration between 2021 and 2022 to resolve the concerns around U.S. data privacy and potential algorithmic manipulation. In court documents, it has accused the administration of essentially walking away from those negotiations after it presented a draft agreement in August 2022. But the Justice Department has said the Biden administration concluded the proposal was “insufficient” because it would maintain TikTok’s ties to China. The agency said the Executive Branch also could “neither trust ByteDance to comply nor detect noncompliance before it was too late.”
A three-judge panel made up of two Republican appointees and a Democratic appointee unanimously upheld the law in December, prompting TikTok’s quick appeal to the Supreme Court.
LA area’s 2 biggest blazes burn at least 10,000 structures, while new fire leads to more evacuations
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The two biggest wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area have burned at least 10,000 homes, buildings and other structures, officials said Thursday as they urged more people to heed evacuation orders after a new blaze ignited and quickly grew.
The fast-moving Kenneth Fire started in the late afternoon in the San Fernando Valley just 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from a school serving as a shelter for fire evacuees and then moved into neighboring Ventura County by the evening.
Only hours earlier officials expressed encouragement after firefighters aided by calmer winds and help from crews from outside the state saw the first signs of successfully beating back the region’s devastating wildfires that have killed 10 people so far.
“We are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, echoing the forecast that called for winds to strengthen Thursday evening through Friday morning.
The orders came as Los Angeles County officials announced the Eaton Fire near Pasadena that started Tuesday night has burned more than 5,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. To the west in Pacific Palisades, the largest of the fires burning in the LA area has destroyed over 5,300 structures.
All of the large fires that have broken out this week in the Los Angeles area are located in a roughly 25-mile (40-kilometer) band north of downtown, spreading a sense of fear and sadness across the nation’s second-largest city.
Dozens of blocks were flattened to smoldering rubble in scenic Pacific Palisades. Only the outlines of homes and their chimneys remained. In Malibu, blackened palm strands were all that was left above debris where oceanfront homes once stood.
At least five churches, a synagogue, seven schools, two libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and groceries were lost. So too were the Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House and Topanga Ranch Motel, local landmarks dating to the 1920s. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage or specifics about how many structures burned.
AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impact, on Thursday increased its estimate of the damage and economic loss to $135-$150 billion.
Firefighters made significant gains Thursday at slowing the spread of the major fires, but containment remained far out of reach.
Crews also knocked down a blaze in the Hollywood Hills with the help of water drops from aircraft, allowing an evacuation to be lifted Thursday. The fire that sparked late Wednesday near the heart of the entertainment industry came perilously close to igniting the famed Hollywood Bowl outdoor concert venue.
Fire officials don’t yet know the cause of the fires but are actively investigating.
The enormity of the destruction emerges
Earlier in the week, hurricane-force winds blew embers, igniting the Southern California hillsides.
Right now, it’s impossible to quantify the extent of the destruction other than “total devastation and loss,” said Barbara Bruderlin, head of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce.
“There are areas where everything is gone, there isn’t even a stick of wood left, it’s just dirt,” Bruderlin said.
Of the 10 deaths so far, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley confirmed two were in the Palisades Fire. County officials said the Eaton Fire had killed five.
Cadaver dogs and crews are searching through rubble, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son, Justin, who had cerebral palsy, were waiting for an ambulance to come, but they did not make it out, Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White, told The Washington Post.
Shari Shaw told KTLA that she tried to get her 66-year-old brother, Victor Shaw, to evacuate Tuesday night but he wanted to stay and fight the fire. Crews found his body with a garden hose in his hand.
On Thursday, recovery crews pulled a body from rubble of what was a beachfront residence in Malibu on the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. A charred washer and dryer were among the few things that remained.
There have been evacuations, school closures and arrests
At least 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 45 square miles (117 square kilometers) — roughly the size of San Francisco. The Palisades Fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles’ history.
All schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, will be closed Friday because of the heavy smoke wafting over the city and ash raining down in parts, and classes will not resume until the conditions improve, officials said.
At least 20 arrests have been made for looting, and the city of Santa Monica declared a curfew because of the lawlessness, officials said. National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday evening. The county sheriff said to protect properties they’ll be stationed near the areas ravaged by fire and a curfew was expected to go into effect from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m.
Actors among those who lost homes
Flames destroyed the homes of several celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton.
Jamie Lee Curtis pledged $1 million to start a “fund of support” for those affected by the fires that touched all economic levels from the city’s wealthy to its working class.
State seeing a longer fire season
California’s wildfire season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data.
Dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has not seen more than 0.1 inches (2.5 millimeters) of rain since early May.
Some losses feel greater than others
Robert Lara sifted through the remains of his home in Altadena on Thursday with tears in his eyes, hoping to find a safe containing a set of earrings that once belonged to his great-great-grandmother.
“All our memories, all our sentimental attachments, things that were gifted from generation to generation to generation are now gone,” he said.
Venezuela opposition leader Machado free after brief detention, government denies involvement
CARACAS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was freed on Thursday, her Vente Venezuela movement said, shortly after she was detained amid gunshots while leaving a protest in eastern Caracas.
Opposition demonstrations took place throughout the country in an 11th-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro ahead of his third inauguration on Friday.
Machado was detained after making her first public appearance in months, prompting her ally, former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, to demand she be freed immediately. Several governments also condemned the incident.
During her detention, Machado was forced to record several videos, Vente Venezuela said in a statement on social media, adding it would give further details in the coming hours.
"I'm in a safe place now and with more determination than ever," Machado posted on the X platform after her release, saying she would explain further on Friday what had happened during the course of the protest.
Government officials, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, said her arrest was fabricated by the opposition in a bid to generate support for her movement.
"They end with the absurdity of absurdities, lying to say the government had captured Maria Corina," Cabello said during a ruling party march in Caracas, accusing Machado of filming the videos, which show her sitting on a curb and recounting losing her wallet during her detention.
Both the opposition and the ruling party claim to have won last year's presidential election.
The country's electoral authority and top court say Maduro, whose time in office has been marked by a deep economic and social crisis, won the July vote, though they have never published detailed tallies.
The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, has said it will arrest Gonzalez should he return to the country and has detained prominent opposition members and activists in the lead-up to the inauguration.
Gonzalez, 75, has been on a tour of the Americas this week, meeting U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump's national security adviser.
"We have and continue to condemn publicly Maduro and his representatives for attempting to intimidate Venezuela's democratic opposition," a White House National Security Council spokesperson said, adding Gonzalez is the "true winner" of the election.
Machado, 57, had urged protesters to peacefully flood the streets and repeatedly asked members of the police and military - who guarded polling stations during the election - to back Gonzalez's victory.
"Whatever they do, tomorrow they will finally bury themselves," Machado said before her detention. "Let no one be in doubt, what they do tomorrow marks the end of the regime."
Reuters witnesses estimated some 7,000 people had gathered in Caracas by around 2:20 p.m. (1820 GMT). In the days after the election, thousands also took to the streets.
"I'm not afraid, I lost my fear a long time ago," said 70-year-old Neglis Payares, a retired central bank worker, as she gathered with other opposition supporters in western Caracas in the morning.
Maduro, 62, has been in power since 2013. He has the vociferous support of leaders in the armed forces and the intelligence services, which are run by close allies of Cabello.
'WE HAVE NO WORK'
In the western oil city of Maracaibo, an opposition protest of dozens of people was quickly dispersed by motorcycle-mounted security forces by late morning. In central Valencia, protesters gathered at another location after initially being met with tear gas.
Opposition supporters also gathered in San Cristobal, near the border with Colombia, in the western city of Barquisimeto and in eastern Puerto Ordaz. In Maracay, security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters.
The ruling party held rival marches nationwide, images of which were broadcast on state television.
"We've come out to show that there is a democracy. On this side are the patriots who will be sworn in with Nicolas (Maduro), on the other side are fascists who want (foreign) intervention, war, to sell their country," said 50-year-old Caracas motorcycle taxi driver Manual Rincon.
Gonzalez has repeatedly pledged to return to Venezuela but given no details about how. An arrest warrant was issued for him for alleged conspiracy, prompting his September flight to Spain.
Machado is being investigated by the attorney general in at least two cases, but no warrant for her has been made public.
The government has detained several high-profile politicians and activists, including a former presidential candidate. This week, the attorney general's office said it had freed more than 1,500 of the 2,000 people, including teenagers, detained during post-election protests.
Sixteen people were detained during protests on Thursday, local advocacy group Foro Penal said.
Venezuelans living abroad also held protests, including in Madrid, where Gonzalez's daughter Carolina Gonzalez spoke to hundreds of demonstrators.
"My dad sends a hug to all of you, glory to the brave people of Venezuela," she said, her voice breaking.
Trump to be sentenced in hush money case, days before his inauguration
NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday for his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, a case that for a time overshadowed his bid to retake the White House.
The U.S. Supreme Court paved the way on Thursday for the 9:30 a.m. ET (1430 GMT) sentencing in New York state court in Manhattan, rejecting a last-minute request by Trump to halt it 10 days before his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw the six-week trial last year, has signaled he does not plan to send Trump to jail or to fine him. But by granting an unconditional discharge, he would place a judgment of guilt on Trump's permanent record.
Trump, 78, who pleaded not guilty, was expected to appear virtually at the hearing.
He fought tooth and nail to avoid the spectacle of being compelled to appear before a state-level judge days before returning to the public office he lost four years ago.
"He doesn't want to be sentenced because that is the official judgment of him being a convicted felon," said Cheryl Bader, a law professor at Fordham University in New York.
The trial played out against the extraordinary backdrop of Trump's successful campaign to retake the White House. The sentencing marks the culmination of the first-ever criminal case brought against a U.S. president, past or present.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, charged Trump, a Republican, in March 2023 with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump, who denied it.
Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in that election.
The Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of all 34 counts on May 30. Prosecutors argued that despite the tawdry nature of the allegations, the case was an attempt to corrupt the 2016 election.
Critics of the businessman-turned politician cited the charges and other legal entanglements he faced to bolster their contention that he was unfit for public office.
Trump flipped the script. He argued the case - along with three other criminal indictments and civil lawsuits accusing him of fraud, defamation and sexual abuse - was an effort by opponents to weaponize the justice system against him and harm his reelection campaign.
He frequently lashed out at prosecutors and witnesses, and Merchan ultimately fined Trump $10,000 for violating a gag order.
As recently as Jan. 3, Trump called the judge a "radical partisan" in a post on his Truth Social platform.
In a decision that day, Merchan said that setting aside the verdict would "undermine the Rule of Law in immeasurable ways" and wrote that Trump's behavior during the trial showed disrespect for the judiciary.
"Defendant has gone to great lengths to broadcast on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole," Merchan said.
Late on Thursday, hours before sentence was to be imposed, Trump wrote on his social media platform that he would be appealing the case and was confident that he would prevail.
A POLITICAL MIXED BAG
The hush money case was widely viewed as less serious than the three other criminal cases Trump faced, in which he was accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and retaining classified documents after leaving the White House. Trump pleaded not guilty in all the cases.
But Bragg's case was the only criminal case to reach trial in the face of an onslaught of challenges from Trump's lawyers. After Trump's Nov. 5 election victory, federal prosecutors backed off their two cases due to Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
The remaining state case, brought in Georgia over efforts to reverse the 2020 election results in that state, is in limbo after a court in December disqualified the lead prosecutor on the case.
The hush money case was a mixed bag politically. Contributions to Trump's campaign surged after he was indicted in March 2023, likely helping him vanquish his rivals for the Republican nomination. During the trial, polling showed a majority of voters took the charges seriously, and his standing among Republicans slipped after the guilty verdict.
But the case quickly faded from the headlines, especially after President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance led him to drop out with Vice President Kamala Harris replacing him on the Democratic ticket, and after a gunman's bullet came inches from killing Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Merchan initially scheduled the sentencing for July 11, but pushed it back multiple times at Trump's request. In agreeing in September to defer the sentencing until after the election, the judge wrote that he was wary of being perceived as placing his thumb on the scales.
Falsification of business records is punishable by up to four years in prison. While Trump would have been unlikely to get jail time due to his advanced age and lack of a criminal history, legal experts said it was not impossible, especially given his gag order violations.
Trump's victory and looming inauguration made a sentence of jail or probation even less practical.
Hurricane Oscar makes landfall in eastern Cuba after striking the Bahamas
MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Oscar has made landfall in eastern Cuba, an island beleaguered by a massive power outage, after striking the southeastern Bahamas earlier in the day Sunday, the US National Hurricane Center said.
The hurricane center in Miami said the storm's center arrived in the Cuban province of Guantanamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday evening.
Its maximum sustained winds were near 80 mph (130 kph).
The system is expected to move across eastern Cuba Sunday night and Monday.
Forecasters said 6 to 12 inches (15.2 to 30.5 centimetres) of rain are expected across eastern Cuba through early Wednesday, with some isolated locations getting up to 18 inches (45.72 centimetres). A storm surge of up to 3 feet (0.91 meters) in some areas of Cuba's north shore in the area was possible, the center said.
Oscar was expected to weaken over eastern Cuba before making a turn to the northeast and approaching the central Bahamas on Tuesday, the center said.
The storm's center was located about 5 miles (10 kilometres) east-southeast of Baracoa, or about 50 miles (80 kilometres) east-northeast of Guantanamo. It was heading west-southwest at 7 mph (11 kph).
Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua island in the Bahamas earlier Sunday. It was expected to produce a dangerous storm surge that could translate into significant coastal flooding there and in other areas of the southeastern Bahamas. Two to four inches (5.1 to 10.2 centimetres) of rainfall were expected, with isolated areas seeing up to 6 inches (15.2 centimetres).
The hurricane's arrival comes as Cuba tries to recover from its worst blackout in at least two years, which left millions without power for two days last week. Some electrical service was restored Saturday.
Philippe Papin of the National Hurricane Center said it was somewhat unexpected that Oscar became a hurricane Saturday.
“Unfortunately the system kind of snuck up a little bit on us,” Papin said.
Hours earlier Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico's southern Caribbean coast. It degenerated into a tropical depression as it moved over land.
James Earl Jones, renowned actor and voice of Darth Vader, dies at 93
LOS ANGELES, Sept 9 - American actor James Earl Jones, an imposing stage and screen presence who overcame a childhood stutter to develop a stentorian voice recognized the world over as intergalactic villain Darth Vader, died on Monday at the age of 93.
Jones, a longtime sufferer of diabetes, died at his home surrounded by family members, his agent, Barry McPherson, said.
No cause of death was provided.
Jones had a great physical presence on stage and television, as well as in movies, but he would have been a star even if his face was never seen because his voice had a career of its own. The resonating bass could instantly command respect - as with the sage father Mufasa in "The Lion King," and many Shakespeare roles - or instill fear as the rasping Vader in the "Star Wars" films.
Jones laughed when a BBC interviewer asked if he resented being so closely tied to Darth Vader, a role that required only his voice for a few lines while another actor did the on-screen work in costume.
"I love being part of that whole myth, of that whole cult," he said, adding that he was glad to oblige fans who asked for a command recital of his "I am your father" line to Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill.
"#RIP dad," Hamill wrote on X on Monday with a broken heart emoji above a story about the death of Jones.
Jones said he never made much money off the Darth Vader part - only $9,000 for the first film - and that he considered it merely a special effects job. He did not even ask to be in the credits of the first two "Star Wars" movies.
His long list of awards included Tonys for "The Great White Hope" in 1969 and "Fences" in 1987 on Broadway and Emmys in 1991 for "Gabriel's Fire" and "Heat Wave" on television. He also won a Grammy for best spoken word album, "Great American Documents" in 1977.
Although he never won a competitive Academy award, he was nominated for best actor for the film version of "The Great White Hope" and was given an honorary Oscar in 2011.
He began his movie career playing Lieutenant Luther Zogg in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 classic "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."
Later acclaimed movie roles included novelist Terence Mann in 1989's "Field of Dreams" and South African Reverend Stephen Kumalo in 1995's "Cry, the Beloved Country." He also starred in "Conan the Barbarian," "Coming to America," "The Sandlot," "Matewan," "The Hunt for Red October" and "Field of Dreams," among others.
Jones also was heard in dozens of television commercials and for several years CNN used his authoritative "This is CNN" to introduce its newscasts.
ESTRANGED FROM FATHER
James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931, in the tiny community of Arkabutla, Mississippi, to a family with a mixed ethnic background of Irish, African and Cherokee.
His father, prizefighter-turned-actor Robert Earl Jones, left the family shortly afterward. James was raised by his maternal grandparents, who forbade him to see his father, and the two did not get together until James moved to New York in the 1950s. Eventually they appeared in several plays together.
Jones was about 5 years old when his grandparents moved the family from Mississippi to a farm in Michigan and it was around that time that he quit speaking because of his stutter.
He was mostly silent for a decade until a ploy by his high school English teacher got him to speak up. The teacher made Jones recite to the class a poem that he said he had written to prove he was familiar enough with it to be the author.
Although after that he said he still had to choose his words carefully, Jones learned to control his stutter and became interested in acting.
After studying drama at the University of Michigan, he moved to New York, where his theater performances increasingly attracted critical attention and acclaim.
His breakthrough role on Broadway was "The Great White Hope," playing a character based on Black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. The play examined racism through the lens of the boxing world and critics raved about Jones' performance.
A popular theater draw for decades, his Shakespeare leading roles included Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Othello. He also had a notable portrayal of singer-actor-activist Paul Robeson on Broadway in 1977 and of author Alex Haley in the television mini-series "Roots: The Next Generation."
He was "capable of moving in seconds from boyish ingenuousness to near-biblical rage and somehow suggesting all the gradations in between," the Washington Post wrote in a 1987 review of "Fences."
Jones' first wife was Julienne Marie Hendricks, one of his "Othello" co-stars. Earl and his second wife, actress Cecilia Hart, who died in 2016, had one child, Flynn Earl Jones.
Jones was a trailblazing Black actor, winning big roles in racially charged movies and plays that broke ground for Black actors that came after him.
But Jones, who first found fame at the height of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s, largely kept himself out of direct action on matters of race.
In a 2013 interview with the Toronto Star, Jones said he imagined that a lot of people felt he was cowardly at the time for not using his fame and voice to more robustly support the cause. But the actor said he preferred to let his work do the talking for him.
"Don't get me wrong. I believe in the same things that all those people demonstrating believe in, but I just look for plays or movies that say the same thing and play characters in them," Jones told the Star.
Dominic Hawkins, a spokesperson for the NAACP in Washington, said Jones' winning of big roles even as the Jim Crow racial caste system still plagued the American South was hugely important for the Black community.
"That was his contribution to civil rights, his representation on screen and stage," Hawkins said. "Film and TV has the power to shape hearts and minds, and that's what he did."