AP-Newswatch

Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to save his job as a new Congress convenes

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new Congress has opened with one major task at hand and that is the election of the House speaker. As newly-elected lawmakers assembled at the U.S. Capitol, current Speaker Mike Johnson’s weak grip on the gavel threatens not only his own survival but President-elect Donald Trump’s ambitious agenda. Tax cuts and mass deportations are all at stake as Republicans sweep to power in Washington. With opposition from his own GOP colleagues, Johnson was confident as he arrived with a fresh boost of support from Trump after working to sway the hardline holdouts. A flop by Johnson could throw Monday’s congressional certification of Trump’s 2024 election victory into turmoil without a House speaker.

Biden blocks Nippon Steel’s proposed deal to acquire US Steel

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has blocked the nearly $15 billion proposed deal for Nippon Steel of Japan to purchase Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. This affirms his earlier vow to block the acquisition. In a Friday statement, Biden said, “We need major U.S. companies representing the major share of US steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America’s national interests.” His decision comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States didn’t reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the deal last month. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel blasted the decision, saying Biden cited no credible evidence of a national security problem and suggested they’ll sue.

New Orleans inches toward normalcy while mourning victims of deadly New Year’s rampage

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Street performers and football fans returned to New Orleans streets as the city inched back toward normalcy. A deadly New Year’s truck attack along Bourbon Street killed 14 people, along with the driver. Shamsud-Din Jabbar was fatally shot in a firefight with police after steering his speeding truck around a barricade and plowing into a crowd of revelers. About 30 people were injured. The FBI says Jabbar was inspired by the Islamic State militant group. Authorities finished processing the scene Thursday morning and Bourbon Street reopened for business by early afternoon.

Israeli strikes kill at least 30 in Gaza as ceasefire talks set to resume in Qatar

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hospital staff say Israeli strikes have killed at least 30 people in Gaza including children. Often-stalled ceasefire talks meanwhile are set to resume in Qatar on Friday. And sirens sounded across Israel for missiles fired from Yemen. The Israeli army said in a statement Friday that during the past day it had struck dozens of Hamas gathering points and command centers throughout Gaza. It also issued a warning for people to leave an area of central Gaza immediately. The Israeli army said that it would attack following launches from there toward Israel.

Carter’s quest for Mideast peace didn’t end with Camp David

JERUSALEM (AP) — As president, Jimmy Carter brokered the peace agreement that removed Israel’s most powerful enemy from the battlefield. Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David peace accords in 1978. They remain the biggest achievement from decades of mostly failed U.S. peacemaking in the Middle East. But for Carter, who died on Sunday at the age of 100, they were clouded by what he saw as the continued oppression of the Palestinians and Israel’s expansion of settlements. Carter devoted much of his life during and after his presidency trying to broker a just solution to the wider conflict. But he incurred Israel’s when he said its military rule over the Palestinians amounted to apartheid.

South Korea’s impeached president defies warrant after hourslong standoff

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean investigators have left the president’s official residence after a nearly six-hour standoff during which he defied their attempt to detain him. It’s the latest confrontation in a political crisis that has paralyzed South Korean politics and seen two heads of state impeached in under a month. President Yoon Suk Yeol has resisted investigators’ attempts to question him for weeks. The last time he is known to have left the residence was on Dec. 12 when he went to the nearby presidential office to make a televised statement to the nation. Yoon made a defiant statement that he will fight efforts to oust him.

A double dose of nasty winter is about to smack much of the US with snow, ice and biting cold

Meteorologists forecast a strong snow and ice storm followed by brutally cold conditions will soon smack the eastern two-thirds of the United States. In Friday’s warnings, they say frigid air — the dreaded polar vortex — will escape and plunge as far south as Florida. Starting Saturday, millions of people are going to be hit by moderate to heavy snow from Kansas City to Washington, with dangerous likely just south of that. After that, temperatures are expected to be as much as 25 degrees below normal during a weeklong cold spell.

Surgeon General calls for new label on drinks to warn Americans of alcohol’s cancer risk

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer, a risk that should be clearly labeled on drinks Americans consume, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy proposed on Friday. Murthy’s advisory comes as research and evidence mounts about the bad effects that alcohol has on human health. Americans should be better informed about the link between alcohol and cancer, in particular, Murthy argues. About 20,000 people die every year from those alcohol-related cancer cases, according to his advisory. Bottles of beer, wine and liquor already carry warning labels about the risk of birth defects when a pregnant woman consumes alcohol. But Murthy’s proposed label would go even further, raising awareness about the risk for cancer, too.

Come home, Ghana told the African diaspora. Now some Black Americans take its citizenship

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Ghana recently granted citizenship to 524 people from the Black diaspora, and most were Black Americans. It was the largest group to be granted citizenship at one time since Ghana launched its “Year of the Return” initiative in 2019. The launch marked 400 years since the first African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619. The joy that people feel in finding connections that were broken long ago is palpable. Some at the citizenship ceremony cheered and waved Ghanaian flags or wept. Some say they feel a sense of peace and belonging that they didn’t have in the United States.

Why Apple TV+ is offering a free weekend of binge-watching

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple TV+ is hoping people will make a dent in the Strategic Popcorn Reserve by bingeing its streaming TV and movies for free this weekend. Experts are calling it a canny promotion as the eighth-place streamer looks to up its subscriber base. The two-day offer this Saturday and Sunday is intended to give viewers a taste of what’s behind the Apple paywall and get them hooked, ready to fork over $9.99 a month in the U.S. Michael D. Smith is a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He suspects that Apple will gain lots of data to sharpen its approach to new customers and returning ones.