Author: Grace Thompson

Donald Trump's presidential victory means some U.S. allies may have to reckon with prior scathing remarks as their countries prepare to build diplomatic ties with a president-elect whose return they may not have anticipated. “The most destructive president in history,” Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd said of Trump in 2020, who “drags America and democracy through the mud.” “A woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath” and a “profound threat to the international order,” David Lammy, the U.K.'s current foreign secretary, said in 2018. “A political pyromaniac who must be put before a criminal court,” Jean Asselborn, then-foreign minister for Luxembourg, said of Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. "Trump has ruined it all," Croatian Presid...

Over 130 homes have been destroyed in a wind-fueled wildfire in Southern California that has grown to over 20,000 acres, officials said Thursday as firefighters continued to try to control the blaze in Ventura County. Damage assessment teams were conducting inspections after the Mountain Fire, which is still burning, set homes ablaze in Camarillo Heights and other parts of the county. In 298 inspections of homes, 132 were found destroyed and 88 were damaged, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andy VanSciver said at a news conference. Video from NBC Los Angeles showed homes burned to the ground. "The devastation is absolutely heartbreaking," Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said. He said some residents escaped with nothing but their lives. The Mountain...

JACKSON, Miss. — The mayor of Mississippi’s capital said Thursday that “he will continue to handle the business of the city” after he pleaded not guilty to charges related to allegations of a bribery scheme that have also led to the indictments of a prominent district attorney and a former City Council president. Flanked by roughly two dozen supporters on the steps of a federal courthouse in downtown Jackson after his arraignment, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said he would remain in office. “I am not guilty, and so I will not proceed as a guilty man,” said Lumumba, a Democrat who is in his second term and last month announced plans to run for a third term. The allegations stem from what federal prosecutors have described in court documents as an effort also involving Hinds County Di...

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is expected to return for the team’s Week 10 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, head coach Kyle Shanahan said i n a weekly radio appearance Thursday. McCaffrey has not played yet this season because of Achilles tendinitis. In September, he went to Germany to meet with doctors about the injury, which has been an issue since training camp. McCaffrey, 28, was the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year. Last season, he led the NFL with 2,023 yards from scrimmage and 21 combined rushing and receiving touchdowns. He also led the league with 1,459 rushing yards, averaging a career best 5.4 yards per carry. More from Sports Inside the NBA arena that's trying to change how fans cheer Los Ange...

The Los Angeles Lakers will send guard Bronny James to their G-League affiliate beginning Saturday, according to ESPN. James will join the South Bay Lakers after he stays with the NBA’s Lakers through their game Friday, according to the report. Once he joins the G-League Lakers, the plan is for James to appear only in home games as he splits his time between the two teams. A second-round pick in July’s NBA draft, James — the son of superstar LeBron James — has appeared in only four games for the Lakers this season. In 13 minutes total, he has four points, two assists and one rebound. He has made only one of his six field-goal attempts. Bronny and LeBron played together during Los Angeles’ first game of the season, appearing alongside each other for three minutes in a win ov...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Mexican national who is in the U.S. illegally was sentenced Thursday to 39 years in a Michigan prison for killing his girlfriend, a crime that suddenly was thrust into the U.S. presidential race because of the man’s immigration status. “The actions I took on the night of March 22 do not define who my people are. I apologize with the utmost respect to all immigrants from all walks of life,” Brandon Ortiz Vite told a judge in Grand Rapids. Ortiz Vite, 26, pleaded guilty in September to murder and other crimes. Ruby Garcia was found shot to death on the side of a Grand Rapids highway. She and Ortiz Vite had been in a car on U.S. 131, arguing about their relationship, when he shot her in the head, removed her body from the car and drove aw...

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares a return to the White House, advisers thinking about how to staff his administration are weighing the merits of stacking Trump’s Cabinet with elected officials versus the mix of businesspeople, political outsiders and loyalists who fill up his Rolodex, three sources engaged in discussions about the transition said. Two sources involved in the transition process said Trump is expected to place a premium on Cabinet selections from outside of government service, as opposed to sitting lawmakers, for two reasons. He sees some of his first-term outside selections, including investor Steven Mnuchin, whom he appointed to lead the Treasury Department, and Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development,...

Rashida Jones is paying tribute to an icon, culture shifter, genius and, most importantly, her late father, Quincy Jones . Quincy Jones, who worked with a slew of iconic singers like Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, died Sunday at 91. Days after the legendary music producer’s death, his 48-year-old daughter penned an emotional and heartfelt message about life with her dad. “My dad was nocturnal his whole adult life. He kept ‘jazz hours’ starting in high school and never looked back,” “The Office” actor wrote alongside a throwback photo of her as a baby with her dad snuggling her to his face. “When I was little, I would wake up in the middle of the night to search for him. Undoubtedly, he would be somewhere in the house, composing (old school, with a pen and sheet mu...

On the wide-open roads of America, Yifei Xu has conducted an experiment in humanity. Far from his home in Shanghai, he cycled across the United States for more than four months — enduring rain, rugged terrain and uncertainty in a foreign land all to prove what he believes to be a universal truth. “I want to show that human nature is good!” Xu said. The 33-year-old relied solely on the kindness of strangers for every meal, approaching everyday Americans with the same pitch: “Hello, I am a cyclist come from China, can you offer me some food to eat?” Xu previously biked across Russia, England and France. And though not all of his U.S. encounters were positive, Xu said the vast majority of the responses he got — in places like Catawissa, Pennsylvania, and Bennington, Nebraska — pro...

Dozens of Black people across the country said they have received text messages telling them they had been “selected” to pick cotton “at the nearest plantation.” The messages came just hours after the polarized presidential election came to a close this week. On Wednesday morning, Monèt Miller, a publicist from Atlanta, was reeling over Donald Trump winning the White House when she received a text message from an unknown phone number. “Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van,” the message read, “be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter the plantation.” Miller, 29, was shocked. She wondered how the person got her phone number, and questioned whether she was being watched. In a panic, she responded, “Who is this?! I’m going to find who you are” and shared a...