Author: chicagoinquirer

by Mary Clare Jalonick WASHINGTON (AP) — The fate of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet is still unclear after Republican senators spent much of December carefully dodging questions about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’s views on vaccines, accusations of sexual misconduct against Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard’s 2017 meeting with then-President Bashar Assad of Syria. While some GOP senators have indicated they are all-in for Trump’s picks, others have withheld support, for now, especially on some of his more controversial nominees. The dynamic is injecting uncertainty into the process as Republicans prepare to take the Senate majority in January with a…

by Tim Reynolds LeBron James made his Christmas debut in 2003. Victor Wembanyama was born 10 days later. That’s right: James has been featured on the NBA’s big day for longer than Wembanyama has been alive. And on Wednesday — when the league celebrates Christmas with games for the 77th time — the league’s oldest player and brightest young star will be big parts of the holiday showcase. It’s another Christmas quintupleheader, with Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs visiting the New York Knicks, Minnesota going to Dallas for a Western Conference finals rematch, Philadelphia heading to Boston to renew…

by Farai Mutsaka HARARE, Zimbabwe — In Southern Africa, where democracy remains relatively stable, elections held in 2024 saw long-governing liberation parties struggling to survive. Across Africa, power struggles involving military governments, coup attempts and armed conflict are common, but the southern region has largely been more stable and elections in some countries brought joy and hopes of a better future. Not so much though for some long-governing parties. The decades-old goodwill of liberating their countries from colonial rule appears to be giving way to frustration over economic problems and limited opportunities for young people in the region. As voters…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton was discharged from a Washington hospital on Tuesday and will be home for Christmas after he was admitted the day before with a fever. Clinton is being treated for the flu, Angel Urena, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, said in a statement about his release. “He and his family are deeply grateful for the exceptional care provided by the team at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and are touched by the kind messages and well wishes he received,” Urena said. “He sends his warmest wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to all,”…

by Dyepkazah Shibayan ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The death toll from stampedes during two Christmas charity events in Nigeria has increased from 13 to 32, police said Sunday. The victims, including at least four children, collapsed during crowd surges as people grew desperate for food items while the country grapples with the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. The dead included 22 people in southeastern Anambra state’s Okija town, where a philanthropist on Saturday organized a food distribution, local police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said. Ten others died in the capital, Abuja, during a church-organized similar charity event. Police said they…

by Doug Ferguson ORLANDO, Fla. — Tiger Woods and 15-year-old son Charlie ran off five straight birdies on the back nine Saturday for a 13-under 59 in the scramble format, giving them a share of the lead in the PNC Championship in Woods’ first competition since back surgery in September. Woods said he scheduled that surgery — the sixth on his lower back in the last 10 years — to be sure he recovered in time to play with his son for the fifth straight year. This is the first time they have shared the lead after the opening round,…

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods isn’t the only member of his family that can produce big moments. His 15-year-old son Charlie made his first ace Sunday in the PNC Championship. Woods was more excited than if he had made the hole-in-one himself. Charlie Woods hit 7-iron from 175 yards on the par-3 fourth hole at the Ritz-Carlton Club Orlando during the final round of the tournament that pairs mostly major champions with family members. He didn’t even know it went in the hole. A large gallery by the green began wildly cheering, as did another group of fans on…

by Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri and Matt Brown WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed a bill into law Saturday that averts a government shutdown, bringing a final close to days of upheaval after Congress approved a temporary funding plan just past the deadline and refused President-elect Donald Trump’s core debt demands in the package. The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers. “This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a statement, adding that…

A debate over the debt ceiling is at the center of a dispute over funding that is pushing Washington to the brink of a federal government shutdown. President-elect Donald Trump has demanded that a provision raising or suspending the nation’s debt limit — something that his own party routinely resists — be included in legislation to avert a government shutdown. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday. Republicans quickly complied, including a provision in a revamped government funding proposal that would suspend the debt ceiling for two years, until Jan. 30, 2027. But…

WASHINGTON — A day before a potential government shutdown, the House resoundingly rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s new plan Thursday to fund operations and suspend the debt ceiling, as Democrats and dozens of Republicans refused to accommodate his sudden demands. In a hastily convened evening vote punctuated by angry outbursts over the self-made crisis, the lawmakers failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage — but House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared determined to reassess, before Friday’s midnight deadline. “We’re going to regroup and we will come up with another solution, so stay tuned,” Johnson said after the vote. The cobbled-together…