USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The downfall of Harvard’s president has elevated the threat of unearthing plagiarism, a cardinal sin in academia, as a possible new weapon in conservative attacks on higher education.

Claudine Gay’s resignation Tuesday followed weeks of mounting accusations that she lifted language from other scholars in her doctoral dissertation and journal articles. The allegations surfaced amid backlash over her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man was found dead inside an airplane engine Monday night at Salt Lake City International Airport after police say he breached an emergency exit door, walked onto the tarmac and climbed inside the jet’s engine.

Officers found 30-year-old Kyler Efinger, of Park City, unconscious inside an engine mounted to the wing of a commercial aircraft loaded with passengers, the Salt Lake City Police Department announced Tuesday. The plane had been sitting on a de-icing pad, and its engines were rotating.

WASHINGTON, January 2. /TASS/: The Israeli leadership rejected a new proposal from the radical Palestinian movement Hamas for a deal involving the release of hostages, the Axios portal reported citing sources.

According to them, on Sunday, Hamas through Qatari and Egyptian mediators gave Israel a new proposal for a deal that would involve the release of the hostages in three phases.

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Tuesday slammed recent statements from Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir that advocated for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza, calling the rhetoric "inflammatory and irresponsible."

Finance Minister Smotrich, one of the senior figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, had called on Sunday for Palestinian residents of Gaza to leave the besieged enclave, making way for Israelis who could "make the desert bloom."

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked it from destroying razor wire fencing that Texas placed along its border with Mexico to deter illegal border crossings.

The administration asked the justices to halt a December ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prohibited Border Patrol agents from cutting or moving the disputed fencing while litigation plays out.

DENVER (AP) — A man leaving the scene of a car wreck Tuesday shot his way into the Colorado Supreme Court building and inflicted “extensive damage” to the building before being arrested by police, authorities said, adding the incident seems unrelated to the court’s recent ruling banning former President Donald Trump from the ballot.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Mississippi Legislature begins its annual session Tuesday, with all members being sworn in for a four-year term and the House electing new leaders after the previous speaker chose not to seek reelection.

Rep. Jason White of West secured promises of support from his Republican colleagues weeks ago to become the next House speaker. He will succeed Republican Philip Gunn of Clinton, who held the leadership post for the past 12 years.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — To underscore how much Iowa means to Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor was unwilling to put his campaigning there on hold even in the waning hours of 2023.

At a New Year’s Eve event in a Sheraton Hotel ballroom in West Des Moines, jeans and cowboy boots outnumbered tuxedos and cocktail dresses, and Miller Lite seemed more popular than champagne.

Washington (AP) —Over the past three years, the world’s oldest democracy has been tested in ways not seen in decades.

A sitting president tried to overturn an election and his supporters stormed the Capitol to stop the winner from taking power. Supporters of that attack launched a campaign against local election offices, chasing out veteran administrators and pushing conservative states to pass new laws making it harder to vote.

At the same time, the past three years proved that American democracy was resilient.

LACONIA, N.H. (AP) — U.S. presidential elections have been rocked in recent years by economic disaster, stunning gaffes, secret video and a pandemic. But for all the tumult that defined those campaigns, the volatility surrounding this year’s presidential contest has few modern parallels, posing profound challenges to the future of American democracy.

Not since the Supreme Court effectively decided the 2000 campaign in favor of Republican George W. Bush has the judiciary been so intertwined with presidential politics.