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Trump’s lawyers rebuff DA’s idea for upholding his hush money conviction, calling it ‘absurd’
By Schuyler Dixon The Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic will be out about a month before being re-evaluated for a calf injury sustained in a Christmas Day loss to Minnesota, a person with knowledge of the injury said Friday. Doncic underwent an MRI on his strained left calf, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details of the injury haven’t been released. The absence is almost certain to be long enough to disqualify the five-time All-NBA player from consideration for that and other major awards, including MVP. Doncic had already missed eight games, including five because of a sprained right wrist, when he pulled up lame while running a play on offense late in the second quarter of a 105-99 loss to the Timberwolves on Wednesday. The 25-year-old never made it to the defensive end and limped to the locker room after the Mavericks called a timeout. The defending Western Conference champion Mavericks play 17 games over the next month, starting Friday night in Phoenix. Doncic entered Friday sixth in the NBA in scoring at 28.1 points per game while averaging 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists. A 25-game absence would be well beyond the maximum of 15 allowed for players to remain eligible for major awards. The most games Doncic has missed in a season is 17 in 2021-22, before the participation rule went into effect. The injury happened in Doncic’s second game back after missing two games with a left heel contusion. He also is developing a history of issues with his left calf. Doncic missed all or most of the past two preseasons while previously sitting the first three games of the 2022 playoffs. The Mavericks, who are in fourth place in the West, are 6-2 without Doncic this season. A large reason for that is fellow backcourt star Kyrie Irving, who is averaging 24 points when Doncic sits. Dallas also added four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson from Golden State in the offseason, and his 3-point threat makes it easier to survive without Doncic. Spencer Dinwiddie, who played an important role in the surprising 2022 run to the West finals that started without Doncic, returned to Dallas in the offseason and will see more minutes while the Slovenian star sits. Naji Marshall, another offseason addition, scored at least 20 points in each of the first four games Doncic missed with the sprained wrist. An illness recently sidelined Marshall four times in a stretch of five games, but he has played the past four games.Trump’s lawyers rebuff DA’s idea for upholding his hush money conviction, calling it ‘absurd’Minuteman Missile National Historic Site preserves South Dakota’s role in Cold War historyDown to the wire: Soo d-man Chase Reid made his OHL debut on Wednesday night against the Sudbury Wolves
Discord grips PTI after Islamabad protest rout
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.The shocking murder of UnitedHealth Group executive, Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangione, continues to shake the healthcare industry. Mangione, who was not a UnitedHealth customer, faces murder charges following the incident near a Manhattan hotel. While there's no clear link between Mangione's actions and his personal health struggles, the event has fueled widespread anger towards the complexities of the U.S. healthcare system. Public figures, including UnitedHealth Group's CEO Andrew Witty, have condemned the glorification of the accused on social media. As healthcare companies reassess their security measures, public demands for transparency and better communication of coverage decisions grow louder. Meanwhile, analysts suggest the incident could represent a pivotal moment for potential change in the industry. (With inputs from agencies.)
Freiburg survives late onslaught to beat Wolfsburg in Bundesliga thriller
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