Ousted Syrian leader Assad flees to Moscow after fall of Damascus, Russian state media say
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad fled to Moscow and received asylum from his longtime ally, Russian media said Sunday, hours after a stunning rebel advance seized control of Damascus and ended his family’s 50 years of iron rule.
Thousands of Syrians poured into streets echoing with celebratory gunfire and waved the revolutionary flag in scenes that recalled the early days of the Arab Spring uprising, before a brutal crackdown and the rise of an insurgency plunged the country into a nearly 14-year civil war.
The swiftly moving events raised questions about the future of the country and the wider region.
“Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East," President Joe Biden said, crediting action by the U.S. and its allies for weakening Syria’s backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. He called the fall of Assad a “fundamental act of justice” but also a “moment of risk and uncertainty,” and said rebel groups are “saying the right things now” but the U.S. would assess their actions.
Russia requested an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Syria, according to Dmitry Polyansky, its deputy ambassador to the U.N., in a post on Telegram.
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Analysis: Collapse of Syria's Assad is a blow to Iran's 'Axis of Resistance'
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — For Iran’s theocratic government, it keeps getting worse.
Its decadeslong strategy of building an “Axis of Resistance” supporting militant groups and proxies around the region is falling apart. First came the crushing Israeli campaign in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Iranian-backed Hamas.
That war spawned another in Lebanon, where Israel has mauled Iran’s most powerful ally, Hezbollah, even as Israel has launched successful airstrikes openly inside of Iran for the first time.
And now Iran’s longtime stalwart ally and client in Syria, President Bashar Assad, is gone. As dawn broke Sunday, rebel forces completed a lightning offensive by seizing the ancient capital of Damascus and tearing down symbols of more than 50 years of Assad's rule over the Mideast crossroads.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a key adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, once called Assad and Syria “the golden ring of the resistance chain in the region.”
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Who is Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the insurgency that toppled Syria's Assad?
BEIRUT (AP) — Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose stunning insurgency toppled Syria’s President Bashar Assad, has spent years working to remake his public image, renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaida and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance. As he entered Damascus behind his victorious fighters Sunday, he even dropped his nom de guerre and referred to himself with his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The extent of that transformation from jihadi extremist to would-be state builder is now put to the test.
Insurgents control Damascus, Assad has fled into hiding, and for the first time after 50 years of his family’s iron hand, it is an open question how Syria will be governed.
Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, often pitted against each other by Assad’s state and years of war. Many of them fear the possibility that Sunni Islamist extremists will take over. The country is also fragmented among disparate armed factions, and foreign powers from Russia and Iran to the United States, Turkey and Israel all have their hands in the mix.
Hours after Damascus' capture, the 42-year-old al-Sharaa made his first appearance in the city's landmark Umayyad Mosque, declaring Assad's fall “a victory for the Islamic nation.” A senior rebel commander, Anas Salkhadi, appeared on state TV to declare, “Our message to all the sects of Syria, is that we tell them that Syria is for everyone,”
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South Korean police considering overseas travel ban on President Yoon over martial law
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Police are considering placing an overseas travel ban on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol as they investigate possible rebellion charges over his brief imposition of martial law last week, reports said Monday.
Yoon’s martial law decree last Tuesday, which brought armed special forces troops into Seoul streets, is plunging South Korea into huge political turmoil. On Sunday, he avoided an opposition-led bid to impeach him, with most ruling party lawmakers boycotting a floor vote. But the opposition parties vowed to submit a new impeachment motion against him this week.
On Monday, Yonhap news agency cited police as saying that they are considering banning Yoon from leaving the country as they investigate charges of rebellion. Other South Korean media carried similar reports.
Repeated calls to the National Police Agency weren’t immediately answered.
The main opposition Democratic Party called Yoon’s martial law imposition “unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or a coup.” It has filed complaints with police against at least nine people, including Yoon and the former defense minister, over the alleged rebellion.
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Juan Soto agrees to record $765 million, 15-year contract with Mets, AP source says
DALLAS (AP) — Star outfielder Juan Soto and the New York Mets have agreed to a record $765 million, 15-year contract, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press, believed to be the largest pact in team sports history.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement, first reported by the New York Post, was subject to a successful physical.
Soto's agreement is the largest and longest in Major League Baseball history, topping Shohei Ohtani's $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a deal signed last December. That agreement included $680 million in deferred payments and is valued at just under $46.1 million for baseball's luxury tax.
While there are no definitive records in sports beyond the United States, Soto's deal is thought to eclipse those in all other team sports. The deal was reached on the eve of the first full day of baseball's annual winter meetings.
Soto’s agreement does not include deferred money, the person said, leaving its average annual value at $51 million. Its length tops Fernando Tatis Jr.'s $340 million, 14-year contract with San Diego that runs through 2034.
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Second-warmest November on record means that 2024 is likely to be Earth's hottest year, report says
Earth just experienced its second-warmest November on record — second only to 2023 — making it all but certain that 2024 will end as the hottest year ever measured, according to a report Monday by European climate service Copernicus.
Last year was the hottest on record due to human-caused climate change coupled with the effects of an El Nino. But after this summer registered as the hottest on record — Phoenix sweltered through 113 consecutive days with a high temperature of at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius) — scientists were anticipating that 2024 would set a new annual record as well.
In November, global temperatures averaged 14.10C (57.38F). Last year's global average temperature was 14.98C (59F). Through November, this year's average global temperature is 0.14C (32F) above the same period last year.
Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Cape Cod, who wasn't involved in the report, said the big story about November is that “like 2023, it beat out previous Novembers by a large margin.”
This also likely will be the first calendar year in which the average temperature was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, the report said. The 2015 Paris Agreement said human-caused warming should be limited to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and ideally below 1.5. In the following years, the world's top scientist said limiting to 1.5 was crucial to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, such as increasing destructive and frequent extreme weather events. Scientists say the main cause of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.
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Trump says he can't guarantee tariffs won't raise US prices and won't rule out revenge prosecutions
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump said he can't guarantee that his promised tariffs on key U.S. foreign trade partners won't raise prices for American consumers and he suggested once more that some political rivals and federal officials who pursued legal cases against him should be imprisoned.
The president-elect, in a wide-ranging interview with NBC's “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, also touched on monetary policy, immigration, abortion and health care, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere.
Trump often mixed declarative statements with caveats, at one point cautioning “things do change.”
A look at some of the issues covered:
Trump has threatened broad trade penalties, but said he didn’t believe economists' predictions that added costs on those imported goods for American companies would lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers. He stopped short of a pledge that U.S. households won't be paying more as they shop.
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Lara Trump steps down as RNC co-chair and addresses speculation about Florida Senate seat
Lara Trump will step down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee as she considers a number of potential options with her father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump, set to return to the White House.
Among those possibilities is replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump tapped to be the next secretary of state. If Rubio is confirmed, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will choose who takes the seat through the remainder of Rubio’s term, which expires in 2026.
“It is something I would seriously consider,” she told The Associated Press in an interview. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.”
Elected as RNC co-chair in March, Lara Trump was a key player in the Republicans retaking the White House and control of the Senate while maintaining a narrow House majority. What she does next could shape Republican politics, given her elevated political profile and her ties to the incoming president.
The idea of placing a Trump family member in the Senate has been lauded in some Republican circles. Among the people pushing for her to replace Rubio is Maye Musk, mother of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
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Trump taps his attorney Alina Habba to serve as counselor to the president
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he is appointing one of his defense attorneys in the New York hush money case as counselor to the president.
Alina Habba, 40, defended Trump earlier this year, also serving as his legal spokesperson. Habba has been spending time with the president-elect since the election at his Florida club Mar-a-Lago.
“She has been unwavering in her loyalty and unmatched in her resolve — standing with me through numerous ‘trials,’ battles and countless days in Court," Trump posted on his social network Truth Social. “Few understand the Weaponization of the ‘Injustice’ System better than Alina.”
Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes when a New York jury in May found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
In Trump's first term, the position of counselor was held by Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway. Habba has Iraqi ancestry and is Chaldean, which is Iraq’s largest Christian denomination and one of the Catholic Church’s Eastern rites.
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A timeline of the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and search for his killer
NEW YORK (AP) — The search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson ’s killer since Thompson was ambushed Wednesday outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel has stretched beyond New York City. While still looking to identify the suspect, the FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. That’s on top of a $10,000 reward offered by the NYPD.
The gunman used a fake ID and paid cash during the 10 days he was in the city, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters Friday. He also kept his face covered except while checking in at a hostel. He was captured on some of the thousands of surveillance cameras blanketing Manhattan, allowing police to build a timeline of his movements.
Here's what we know so far about what the NYPD describes as a planned attack.
10:11 p.m. — The suspected shooter arrives in New York City on a Greyhound bus at the Port Authority terminal. The bus originated in Atlanta and made six or seven stops on the way to New York. Police could not immediately determine where he got on the bus.
The man then takes a taxi to the area of the New York Hilton Midtown and is there for about a half hour.
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