World
Judge knocks down Hunter Biden's bid to use Trump ruling to get his federal tax case dismissed
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday denied Hunter Biden’s latest bid to dismiss the tax charges against him, setting the stage for his trial to begin next month in California.
Citing a ruling in Florida that threw out a separate prosecution of former President Donald Trump, Hunter Biden’s lawyers had urged the judge to dismiss the case accusing him of a four-year scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon tossed Trump’s classified documents case last month because she said special counsel Jack Smith, who filed those charges, was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. The Justice Department is appealing that ruling.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers had argued the same logic should apply in his case, which was brought by a different Justice Department special counsel.
But U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi noted in his ruling that he had already rejected a previous challenge by Hunter Biden to the appointment of special counsel David Weiss. The judge said there is “no valid basis for reconsideration” of that decision.
Scarsi, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, had accused Hunter Biden’s lawyers of making “false statements” in their court filing urging the judge to dismiss the case. At issue was a defense comment that no charges were brought in the investigation until after Weiss was named special counsel in August 2023.
The judge noted that Weiss had not yet been named special counsel when he charged Hunter Biden with misdemeanor tax offenses as part of a plea deal that fell apart last year. Scarsi ordered Hunter Biden’s lawyers to explain why they should not be sanctioned.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers responded that they have “never tried to mislead” the court.
In his order Monday, the judge said he would not sanction defense lawyers after they amended their filing. But the judge wrote that the defense’s “conduct warrants an admonition: candor is paramount.”
A hearing in the case is set for Wednesday, when the judge is expected to hear arguments over what evidence the prosecution and defense can present to jurors.
It’s the second criminal trial in just months against the president’s son, who was convicted in June of three felony charges in a separate federal case stemming from the purchase of a gun in 2018.
World
CBS Sets Midseason Dates for NCIS: Sydney, Amazing Race and Hollywood Squares; Equalizer Moves Even Later
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World
Tourists stranded in Bali for days after Indonesia's volcanic eruption grounds international flights
- Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano has been spewing towering columns of hot ash into the air since its initial huge eruption on Nov. 4 killed nine people and injured dozens of others.
- As a result, media reports said that thousands of people were stranded at airports in Indonesia and Australia, but an exact number wasn’t given.
- The 5,197-foot volcano shot up ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at five and a half miles high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said.
Several international airlines canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali on Wednesday as an ongoing volcanic eruption left travelers stranded at airports.
Tourists told The Associated Press that they have been stuck at Bali’s airport since Tuesday after their flights were suddenly canceled.
“The airline did not provide accommodation, leaving us stranded at this airport,” said Charlie Austin from Perth, Australia, who was on vacation in Bali with his family.
SPIKE IN EARTHQUAKES AT WASHINGTON VOLCANO PROMPTS MORE MONITORING FROM SCIENTISTS
Another Australian tourist, Issabella Butler, opted to find another airline that could fly her home.
“The important thing is that we have to be able to get out of here,” she said.
Media reports said that thousands of people were stranded at airports in Indonesia and Australia, but an exact number wasn’t given.
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province spewed towering columns of hot ash high into the air since its initial huge eruption on Nov. 4 killed nine people and injured dozens of others.
The 5,197-foot volcano shot up ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at five and a half miles high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said in a statement.
Authorities on Tuesday expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again to five and a half miles as volcanic materials, including smoldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to five miles from the crater since Friday.
The activity at the volcano has disturbed flights at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai international airport since the eruption started, airport general manager Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said. Over the past four days, 84 flights, including 36 scheduled to depart and 48 due to arrive, were affected.
Shahab said that at least 26 domestic flights and 64 overseas ones were canceled on Wednesday alone, including airlines from Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, India and Malaysia. For these cancelations, the airlines were offering travelers a refund, or to reschedule or reroute, he said.
Three Australian airlines have also canceled or delayed a number of flights. Jetstar has paused its flights to Bali until at least Thursday, it said on its website, saying it was “currently not safe” to operate the route.
Virgin Australia’s website showed 10 services to and from Bali were canceled on Wednesday. Qantas said it has delayed three flights. Some airlines are offering fare refunds for upcoming Bali flights to passengers who don’t want to travel.
Air New Zealand canceled a flight to Denpasar scheduled for Wednesday and a return service to Auckland due to depart Bali on Thursday. Passengers would be rebooked and the airline would continue to monitor the movement of ash in the coming days, Chief Operating Officer Alex Marren said.
Korean Air said two of its flights headed to Bali were forced to turn back because of volcanic ash caused by the eruption.
The airline said Wednesday that the two flights — carrying about 400 passengers combined — that departed South Korea’s Incheon international airport on Tuesday turned back toward the origin departure a few hours later, following forecasts that said Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport could be affected by the volcanic ash. The two planes arrived in Incheon early Wednesday.
About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, spewing thick clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda Airport. No casualties or major damage were reported, but the airport has remained closed because of seismic activity.
Three other airports in neighboring districts of Ende, Larantuka and Bajawa have been closed since Monday after Indonesia’s Air Navigation issued a safety warning because of volcanic ash.
Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as the husband-and-wife mountains. “Laki laki” means man, while its mate is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman. It’s one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people.
The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
World
Azerbaijan leader accuses France of colonial ‘crimes’ in COP29 speech
French Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher says she will not take part in the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan after its leader’s ‘unacceptable’ attacks on France.
French Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher has pulled out of the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan after its President Ilham Aliyev accused France of carrying out colonialist “crimes” in New Caledonia, in the latest diplomatic spat between the two countries.
Aliyev, who is hosting the COP29 United Nations climate talks in Baku, drew loud applause from delegates of some Pacific island nations after a combative speech in which he lambasted Paris over the response to protests that in May rocked the Pacific archipelago ruled by France.
“The crimes of France in its so-called overseas territories would not be complete without mentioning the recent human rights violations,” said Aliyev.
“The regime of President [Emmanuel] Macron killed 13 people and wounded 169… during legitimate protests by the Kanak people in New Caledonia,” he added.
Pannier-Runacher quickly hit back, telling lawmakers in Paris that she was cancelling her trip to the talks in protest at Aliyev’s “deplorable” speech. She called his attack “unacceptable… and beneath the dignity of the presidency of the COP”.
It was also a “flagrant violation of the code of conduct” for running United Nations climate talks, she added.
The minister also criticised Aliyev for his “equally unacceptable comments on fossil fuels” after he described his country’s vast oil and gas reserves as a “gift of God”.
Despite her pullout, Pannier-Runacher said the team of French negotiators in Baku would not relent in their efforts to do a deal “to protect the planet and its populations” from climate change.
Relations between Paris and Baku are frosty over France’s longtime support for its archrival Armenia, which Azerbaijan defeated in a lightning military offensive last year when it retook the breakaway Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh – leading to the displacement of more than 100,000 Armenians.
Paris this year accused Azerbaijan of interfering in its domestic politics by stoking tensions in its overseas territories and dependencies, including New Caledonia.
Macron has also stayed away from COP29.
Azerbaijan denies interference, but Aliyev on Wednesday rounded on France for holding Corsica and its far-flung overseas island territories “under the colonial yoke”.
Aliyev has ruled his gas-rich country for more than two decades since the death of his father, Azerbaijan’s Soviet-era Communist leader and former KGB general Heydar Aliyev.
In the run-up to the climate summit, Azerbaijan was widely denounced for its human rights record and repression of political opposition.
Aliyev in his speech attacked the European Union and the Council of Europe human rights body, calling them “symbols of political corruption that share responsibility with the government of President Macron for the killings of innocent people”.
He also said that “all political prisoners of France must be liberated”.
Aliyev accused EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell of having compared the rest of the world to a jungle while Europe was a garden. “If we are the jungles,” he declared, “then stay away from us and don’t interfere in our affairs.”
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