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President Donald Trump is briefed on the effects of Hurricane Helene at Asheville Regional Airport in Fletcher, N.C., Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, as first lady Melania Trump looks on. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) President Donald Trump, along side first lady Melania Trump, speaks as he meets with homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, N.C., Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) ARCHIVO – Migrantes se forman para abordar botes y poder continuar con su viaje hacia el norte para llegar a la frontera de Estados Unidos tras atravesar la región del Darién desde Colombia, en Bajo Chiquito, Panamá, el 9…

LOS ANGELES — Never let anyone tell you that the Lakers-Celtics rivalry doesn’t still run white hot.Exhibit A: Some 2½ hours before game time Thursday night, two buses carrying Boston players, coaches and support personnel turned into the L.A. Convention Center complex, headed for the tunnel leading to the arena.On the street, a small but vocal number of Laker fans were waiting. As the buses approached, they started booing.And I am willing to bet that when the Lakers visit Boston in early March the favor will be returned, probably louder. Maybe even with projectiles.Fans on both sides have long memories…

Fresh evacuation orders for more than 30,000 Californians on Wednesday serve as a stark reminder to the rest of the country that local residents continue to face unimaginable danger. At the same time, this week also saw a new administration taking over in Washington. With the fires continuing to rage, threatening even more death and destruction than the nearly 30 lives and more than 10,000 buildings destroyed thus far, what is urgently needed is cooperation between local, state, and federal officials. Despite President Donald Trump’s visit to California this weekend, what we continue to see is the wholescale absence of cooperation, to the…

By JAMEY KEATEN and DAVID MCHUGH, Associated PressDAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The European Central Bank’s president responded Friday to U.S. President Donald Trump’s accusation of unfair trade treatment by the European Union by calling for negotiations and mutual respect rather than a focus purely on trans-Atlantic trade figures.The comments by Christine Lagarde alluding to a U.S.-EU rift offered a fitting final note at the World Economic Forum’s weeklong meeting: Trump’s return to the White House on Monday was on everyone’s lips, overshadowing traditional Davos talk about issues like climate change, free trade and economic development.Many business leaders, world-class academics, top…

Authorities issued evacuation orders and warnings to nearby areas early Friday morning for a wildfire in the Otay Wilderness Area that exploded to 4,250 acres in rugged terrain overnight. Crews were able to get 10 percent of it contained.The evacuation area for the Border 2 fire is a large swath stretching north of Otay Lakes Road, east to state Route 94 and Dulzura, and west to Lower Otay Lake. It includes the Otay Open Space Preserve.Officials issued an evacuation order and an evacuation warning early Friday. The warning area is in yellow and the evacuation order is in red. (Cal…

President Donald Trump has embarked on a trip to Los Angeles County, en route to survey the massive damage from recent fires in the county.Trump, newly sworn in this week as the nation’s 47th president, was set to get a first-hand look at the toll of the Palisades and Eaton fires, which broke out on Jan. 7 amid extreme winds in the region.As of Friday morning, the 14,021-acre Eaton Fire was 95% contained, and the 23,448-acre Palisades Fire 77%, according to Cal Fire. Together, they’ve claimed 28 lives — 11 in the Palisades Fire area and 17 in the Eaton…

By HALLIE GOLDENA nearly four-minute audio recording allegedly captured Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara impersonating the baseball star on a call with a bank as he attempted to transfer $200,000 for what he describes as a car loan, federal prosecutors said Thursday.The recording referenced in a court filing and obtained by The Associated Press is being used to back up prosecutors’ push for a nearly five-year sentence for Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing almost $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star.Prosecutors are also seeking restitution of the nearly $17 million to…

Did problematic, last-minute pardons by former President Joe Biden make us long for problematic, first-minute pardons by President Donald Trump?They did not.We’ve already lamented the sweeping pre-emptive Biden pardons for family members and politicians made on Inauguration Day. And applauded the moves by both presidents to provide merciful, proper pardons for some non-violent drug offenders and the welcome release of Leonard Peltier from federal prison.But, along with a large percentage of Americans asked for their opinions on the subject, we are appalled by the blanket nature of Trump’s pardons and full exonerations for essentially every one of some 1,500 rioters,…

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer Economic losses from hurricanes and other natural disasters soared in the U.S. last year and were above average globally, reflecting another year of costly severe storms, floods and droughts. Damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton helped push total economic losses from natural disasters in the U.S. to $217.8 billion last year, according to insurance broker Aon PLC. That figure represents an 85.3% increase from 2023, when losses totaled about $117.5 billion. It’s also the largest annual tally of economic losses from natural disasters since 2017. Insured losses, or the portion of economic losses…

Firefighters continued to gain control of fires burning near the Santa Clarita Valley and along the coast amid dry conditions — but Santa Ana winds were anticipated to subside on Friday, Jan. 24, making way for potentially wet weather over the weekend.Crews battling the Hughes fire in the Castaic area have upped containment to 56% and have held the fire’s destruction to 10,396 acres, according to Angeles National Forest and Cal Fire officials.Along the coast in Malibu and Pacific Palisades, the Palisades fire was 77% contained, Cal Fire officials said.LAFD helicopter pilots describe water drops, challenges of battling Palisades fire…