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A federal appeals court upheld a judge's ruling mandating a three-day wait to allow for additional appeals, but said Thursday that the Justice Department may publish a report on President-elect Donald Trump's attempts to reverse his 2020 election defeat. According to the decision, Trump may request that the Supreme Court prevent the publication of the special counsel Jack Smith report. In a statement, a Trump spokesman criticized Smith without indicating whether the president-elect would appeal Thursday's decision. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on Thursday to allow sentencing in Trump's New York hush money case to proceed on Friday delivered him yet another setback. Trump was charged with four counts in 2023 and 2024, including conspiracy to defraud the United States in relation to his ...

In an attempt to fill a void that has existed for more than two years, Lebanon's parliament was scheduled to try to elect a president once more on Thursday. There are signs that Thursday's vote could result in a head of state, despite the fact that 12 prior attempts to select a successor to former President Michel Aoun, whose tenure ended in October 2022, have failed. Joseph Aoun, a Lebanese sea captain who has no connection to the former president, is the front-runner. He is generally seen as the preferred candidate of Saudi Arabia and the United States, whose support Lebanon will require as it attempts to recover from a 14-month conflict between Israel and the terrorist Lebanese group Hezbollah. Suleiman Frangieh, the head of a tiny Christian party in northern Lebanon with strong ties to...

Authorities said Thursday that thousands of pious Hindus gathered around one of India's most popular and wealthy temples to obtain free visitation passes, resulting in a stampede that left at least six people dead and 35 injured. Visits to the god at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, often called Tirupati, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, the scene of Wednesday's event, are said to be most fortunate between Friday and January 19. S. Venkateswar, the district collector, or top revenue officer, told reporters Thursday that the stampede started as the gate was unlocked. Approximately 2,500 individuals simply pushed through the fence. Some fell. He noted that investigators were still attempting to identify the reason of the rush. Admission to the almost 2,000-year-old temple is often...

In an interview, P.J. Lechleitner, acting director of immigration and customs enforcement, stated that President Joe Biden should have taken immediate action to strengthen border security in order to curb the influx of migrants into the United States. Lechleitner, who took over as acting director in July 2023 and is getting ready to step down this week before the next administration appoints a replacement, told NBC News on Wednesday that his agency had to provide personnel to assist Customs and Border Protection due to the volume of incoming migrants, which left ICE unable to effectively carry out its own primary mission. He said that he was not the only one who thought Biden ought to have acted more quickly. "I believe that the DHS career people would have appreciated that," he said. An...

WARSAW According to a top adviser on Thursday, Poland's president requested that the government guarantee that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can attend the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp without worrying about being arrested under an ICC warrant. For alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza battle between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu, his former defense minister, and Ibrahim Al-Masri, the leader of Hamas. Israel claims it fought in self-defense during its air and ground war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas' cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and has denounced the warrants for Netanyahu and former defense comma...

Washington In order to move on with a Republican-led plan that has received strong support from Democrats and aims to crack down on illegal immigration, the Senate voted Thursday to start debate on the Laken Riley Act. The bill comfortably passed the 60-vote barrier to move on in the Senate, which is controlled by the Republican Party, by a vote of 84-9. However, a lot of Democrats have indicated that they would like to change the law, so it's uncertain if it will have enough support to pass in its final form. This is a significant matter. Before voting to move on with the debate, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stated on the floor that we should have a debate and amendments. This is not a vote on the measure itself, but to remind my colleagues. We should have a debate and...

When a reporter questioned Mayor Karen Bass about why she was out of town on Wednesday as fires in her city were out of control, she refused to comment. As he questioned Bass about her presence in Ghana during the early hours of flames that have burned part of America's second-largest city, Sky News reporter David Blevins did not acknowledge her. Do you have to apologize to the people for not being there when their houses were on fire? Blevins inquired on a plane at the airport. Blevins continued to ask questions, but Bass did not respond. "Madam Mayor, do you regret slashing the fire department's budget by millions of dollars? The reporter asked. Bass was hushed and almost still once more. According to NBC Los Angeles, Blevins was alluding to a budget decrease Bass passed last year that ...

The Summary The Los Angeles-area fires are a worst-case scenario caused by powerful winds that struck after months without rain. Fire experts, past reports and risk assessments had all anticipated a wildfire catastrophe to some degree. The affected region s geography and weather, paired with climate change and suburban sprawl in fire-prone areas, created a vulnerable situation. After months without much precipitation, the recent spate of wildfires in the Los Angeles area is a worst-case scenario due to exceptionally strong and protracted Santa Ana winds. According to an NBC News analysis of wildfire risk maps, public meetings regarding wildfire risk, after-action reports from other fires, and interviews with fire specialists, however, the severe repercussions of the fires...

Disney announced on Wednesday that 157 million people worldwide view ad-supported content on its streaming services, Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, each month. This figure represents the average monthly usage over the previous six months and includes 112 million domestic users. There is currently no industry-standard methodology for determining the size of the global streaming advertising audience, despite the fact that traditional TV sources have a standard system for calculating ratings and viewership. According to the firm, the goal of its Disney Advertising unit is to provide a globally uniform technique and approach for estimating the size of the ad-supported audience. At the annual CES tech conference in Las Vegas, a premier gathering for the media and advertising industries, it is givin...

Two days after the enormous fire started, the extent of the wreckage caused by the catastrophic Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County is becoming clear as personnel continue to fight it. Drone footage reveals a community in ruins, with buildings and houses reduced to ash on block after street. Once dotted with mansions and inhabited by some of the nation's most affluent citizens, smoke looms over the area. The head of the U.S. Forest Service stated that although drones have given a useful overhead perspective of the situation in California, they have also presented risks to firefighting planes attempting to combat the fires. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore stated, "We have to be mindful of that because you also have drones in the air, which is a concern to our pilots and to the safety of t...