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Chris Rock isn’t pressing charges against Will Smith for Oscars slap

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Chris Rock isn’t pressing charges against Will Smith for Oscars slap

Smith appeared to strike Rock at Sunday night time’s ceremony after the comic made a joke about his spouse Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head as he offered the Academy Award for greatest documentary.

When Rock quipped: “Jada I really like you, ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ cannot wait to see it,” the digicam lower to Pinkett Smith, who rolled her eyes. The “Pink Desk Speak” host has been open about her battle with alopecia, an autoimmune dysfunction that results in hair loss.

Following the joke, Smith walked onto the stage and seemingly hit Rock, earlier than telling him to “depart my spouse’s title out of your f**king mouth.”

“The Pursuit of Happyness” star appeared remorseful when he returned to the stage shortly after, to just accept the Oscar for greatest actor for his position as Richard Williams, the daddy of Venus and Serena Williams, within the movie “King Richard.”

Throughout his emotional speech, Smith apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees for the incident however didn’t point out Rock by title.

Whereas Smith’s actions have been broadly condemned on social media, with many arguing he ought to be charged with assault, his 23-year-old son, Jaden Smith, shared a tweet shortly after the incident, which mentioned: “And That is How We Do It.”
Jada Pinkett Smith has been open about her struggle with alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that leads to hair loss.

The LAPD confirmed on Monday that Rock declined to file a police report.

“LAPD investigative entities are conscious of an incident between two people through the Academy Awards program,” the division advised CNN in a press release. “The incident concerned one particular person slapping one other. The person concerned has declined to file a police report. If the concerned occasion needs a police report at a later date, LAPD can be obtainable to finish an investigative report.”

CNN has contacted Rock’s representatives for additional remark.

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Smith appeared to foretell the mayhem of Oscars night time in an Instagram submit hours earlier. Sharing a video of himself and his spouse of their pink carpet apparel along with his 60 million followers, he wrote: “Me ‘n @jadapinkettsmith received all dressed up to decide on chaos.”

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German economy shrinks for second consecutive year

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German economy shrinks for second consecutive year

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Germany’s economy shrank for a second straight year in 2024, underlining the severity of the downturn facing Europe’s manufacturing powerhouse.

The Federal Statistics Office said on Wednesday that Europe’s largest economy contracted by 0.2 per cent last year, after shrinking by 0.3 per cent in 2023. Economists had expected a decline of 0.2 per cent.

“Germany is experiencing the longest stagnation of its postwar history by far,” said Timo Wollmershäuser, economist at Ifo, a Munich-based economic think-tank, adding that the country was also underperforming significantly in an international comparison.

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Confirmation that Germany is suffering one of the most protracted economic crises in decades comes six weeks ahead of a crucial snap election.

Campaigning has been dominated by the spectre of deindustrialisation, crumbling infrastructure and whether or not the country should abandon a debt brake that constrains public spending.

Friedrich Merz, head of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union who is likely to be Germany’s next chancellor, is campaigning on a reform agenda, promising to cut red tape and taxes and dial back welfare benefits for people who are not working.

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While private sector output contracted, government consumption rose sharply by 2.6 per cent compared with 2023.

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Ruth Brand, president of the Federal Statistics Office, blamed “cyclical and structural pressures” for the poor performance, pointing to “increasing competition for the German export industry, high energy costs, an interest rate level that remains high and an uncertain economic outlook.”

In the three months to December, output fell by 0.1 per cent compared with the third quarter.

Robin Winkler, chief economist for Germany at Deutsche Bank, said the contraction in the fourth quarter came as a “surprise” and was “concerning”.

“If this is confirmed, the economy would have lost further momentum by the end of the year,” he said, suggesting this was probably driven by “political uncertainty in Berlin and Washington”.

The Bundesbank said last month that stagnation was set to continue this year, predicting growth of just 0.1 per cent and warning that a trade war with the US would trigger another year of economic contraction.

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US president-elect Donald Trump has pledged to impose blanket tariffs of up to 20 per cent on all US imports.

Germany is struggling with a crisis in its automotive industry fuelled by Chinese competition and an expensive transition to electric cars, alongside high energy costs and tepid consumer demand.

Output in manufacturing contracted by 3 per cent, the statistics office said on Wednesday, while corporate investment fell by 2.8 per cent.

Germany has in effect seen no meaningful economic growth since the start of the pandemic, with industrial production hovering more than 10 per cent below its peak while unemployment has started to rise again after it fell to record lows.

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Trump’s attorney general pick to face scrutiny on first day of Senate hearing

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Trump’s attorney general pick to face scrutiny on first day of Senate hearing

Pam Bondi, Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, is expected to face scrutiny on Wednesday during the first day of her confirmation hearing about her ability to resist the White House from exerting political pressure on the justice department.

The hearing, before the Senate judiciary committee, comes at a crunch time for the department, which has faced unrelenting criticism from Trump after its prosecutors charged him in two federal criminal cases and is about to see Trump’s personal lawyers in those cases take over key leadership positions.

Bondi, the first female Florida attorney general and onetime lobbyist for Qatar, was not on the legal team defending Trump in those federal criminal cases. But she has been a longtime presence in his orbit, including when she worked to defend Trump at his first impeachment trial.

She also supported Trump’s fabricated claims of election fraud in 2020, which helped her become Trump’s nominee for attorney general almost immediately after Matt Gaetz, the initial pick, withdrew as he found himself dogged by a series of sexual misconduct allegations.

That loyalty to Trump has raised hackles at the justice department, which prides itself on its independence from White House pressure and recalls with a deep fear how Trump in his first term ousted top officials when they stopped acquiescing to his demands.

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Trump replaced his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, after he recused himself from the investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia and, later, soured on his last attorney general, Bill Barr, after he refused to endorse Trump’s false 2020 election claims.

Bondi is also expected to be questioned about her prosecutorial record as the Florida attorney general and possible conflicts of interest arising from her most recent work for the major corporate lobbying firm Ballard Partners.

During her tenure as Florida attorney general, in 2013, Bondi’s office received nearly two dozen complaints about Trump University and her aides have said she once considered joining a multi-state lawsuit brought on behalf of students who claimed they had been cheated.

As she was weighing the lawsuit, Bondi’s political action committee received a $25,000 contribution from a non-profit funded by Trump. While Trump and Bondi both deny a quid pro quo, Bondi never joined the lawsuit and Trump had to pay a $2,500 fine for violating tax laws to make the donation.

As the chair of Ballard’s corporate regulatory compliance practice, Bondi lobbied for major companies that have battled the justice department she will be tasked with leading, including in various antitrust and fraud lawsuits.

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Bondi was a county prosecutor in Florida before successfully running for Florida attorney general in 2010 in part due to regular appearances on Fox News.

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Video: Fires Continue to Burn One Week Later in California

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Video: Fires Continue to Burn One Week Later in California

new video loaded: Fires Continue to Burn One Week Later in California

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Fires Continue to Burn One Week Later in California

The Palisades and Eaton fires, ravaging Los Angeles for more than a week, remain mostly uncontained by firefighters.

“We just had — just had Christmas morning right over here, right in front of that chimney. And this is what’s left.” “I urge, and everybody here urges, you to remain alert as danger has not yet passed. Please follow all evacuation warnings and orders without delay and prioritize your safety.”

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