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In the news today: Indiana's Republican-led Senate decisively rejects a redrawn congressional map that would have favored their party; torrential rain in Washington state causes historic flooding; and how the Chinese government is using powerful surveillance technology inside America. Also, how to watch one of the strongest meteor showers of the year. |
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith announces the results of a vote to redistrict the state's congressional map, Thursday, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) |
Indiana Republicans defy Trump and reject his House redistricting push in the state
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Indiana's Republican-led Senate decisively rejected a redrawn congressional map Thursday that would have favored their party, defying months of pressure from President Donald Trump and delivering a stark setback to the White House ahead of next year's midterm elections. Read more. |
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The vote was overwhelmingly against the proposed redistricting, with more Republicans opposing than supporting the measure, signaling the limits of Trump's influence even in one of the country's most conservative states.
Trump has been urging Republicans nationwide to redraw their congressional maps in an unusual campaign to help the party maintain its thin majority in the House of Representatives. Although Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina went along, Indiana did not. "The federal government should not dictate by threat or other means what should happen in our states," said Spencer Deery, one of the Republican senators who voted no.
District boundaries are usually adjusted once a decade after a new census. But Trump has described redistricting as an existential issue for the party as Democrats push to regain power in Washington.
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Washington state faces historic floods that have washed away homes and stranded families
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Days of torrential rain in Washington state has caused historic floods that have stranded families on rooftops, washed over bridges and ripped at least two homes from their foundations. Experts warn that even more flooding expected Friday could be catastrophic. Read more. |
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Washington is under a state of emergency and evacuation orders are in place for tens of thousands of residents. Gov. Bob Ferguson on Thursday urged everyone to follow evacuation instructions as yet another river neared record levels. About 78,000 residents of a major agricultural region north of Seattle were ordered to evacuate the floodplain of the Skagit River, which was expected to crest Friday morning.
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A Chinese whistleblower now living in the US is being hunted by Beijing with help from US tech
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The Chinese government is using an increasingly powerful tool to cement its power at home and vastly amplify it abroad: Surveillance technology, much of it originating in the U.S., an AP investigation has found. Read more. |
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After being accused of corruption, retired Chinese official Li Chuanliang fled to the U.S. seeking asylum, fearing persecution from the Chinese government. He was warned not to return to China. Li says he's being targeted for openly criticizing the Chinese government and denies criminal charges. More than 40 friends and relatives — including his pregnant daughter — were identified and detained, even by tracking down their cab drivers through facial recognition software. Three former associates died in detention, and for months, shadowy men Li believed to be Chinese operatives stalked him across continents, according to interviews and documents seen by The Associated Press.
Within China, surveillance technology helped identify and punish almost 900,000 officials last year alone, nearly five times more than in 2012, according to state numbers. Outside China, the same technology is being used to threaten wayward officials, along with dissidents and alleged criminals, under what authorities call Operations "Fox Hunt" and "Sky Net." Beijing says it is cracking down on corruption, but critics charge that such technology is used in China and elsewhere to stifle dissent and exact retribution on perceived enemies.
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Meteors from the Geminid meteor shower streak across the sky above the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Dec. 2023, southwest of Tucson in the Tohono O'odham Nation. (NSF/NOIRLab via AP, File) |
It's time for one of the strongest meteor showers of the year. Here's how to watch it
The Geminids peak this weekend and are visible through mid-December, according to the American Meteor Society. The meteors tend to be yellow in color and can be seen across the globe, but the best viewing happens in the Northern Hemisphere. Skygazers could see up to 120 meteors per hour under dark skies during the peak Saturday night into Sunday's predawn hours, according to NASA.
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