Last of pipeline opponents leave North Dakota protest camp
Last of pipeline opponents leave North Dakota protest camp
CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — The last of the Dakota Access pipeline opponents abandoned their protest camp Wednesday ahead of a government deadline to get off the federal land, and authorities arrested others who defied the order in a final show of dissent.
The camp has been home to demonstrators for most of a year as they tried to thwart construction of the pipeline. Some of the last remnants of it went up in flames when occupants set fire to makeshift wooden housing as part of a leaving ceremony.
Many of the protesters left peacefully, but police began making arrests more than an hour after the deadline passed. It was not immediately clear how many people had been arrested. Authorities brought five large vans to the scene.
Hours earlier, about 150 people marched arm-in-arm out of the soggy camp, singing and playing drums as they walked down a highway. It was not clear where they were headed. One man carried an American flag hung upside-down.
Authorities sent buses to take protesters to Bismarck, where they were offered fresh clothing, bus fare home and food and hotel vouchers.
Trump administration to lift transgender bathroom guidance
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is revoking U.S. transgender guidelines, stepping into an emotional national issue and stripping students of federal protections to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching gender identities that differ from their birth certificates.
The administration is coming down on the side of states’ rights, revoking federal guidelines that had been issued by the Obama administration. Without the Obama directive, it will be up to states and school districts to interpret federal anti-discrimination law and determine whether students should have access to restrooms in accordance with their expressed gender identity and not just their biological sex.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday the current directive, issued last August, is confusing and hard to implement. An official with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press that anti-bullying safeguards would not be affected by the change.
That official was not authorized to speak publicly about the plans and did so on condition of anonymity. Spicer did not say when the Trump administration action might actually come.
A federal judge in Texas put a temporary hold on the Obama guidance soon after it was issued — after 13 states sued.
Presidential election season to begin in France
PARIS (AP) — More and more people want to join France’s unpredictable presidential race — hopefuls who might never win but could garner enough votes to tilt the outcome.
Starting Saturday, would-be candidates have until March 17 to gather the signatures of 500 mayors (from the more than 35,000 mayors across France) to qualify for France’s two-round presidential election April 23 and May 7. There are two months before voting begins.
Mass slaughter in Brazil prison exposes gang war over drugs
MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Shortly after midnight on New Year’s Eve, hundreds of inmates watched from a Manaus prison yard as the sky lit up with fireworks, paid for by the gangs that dominate the jail system.
The revelry continued well into the next day, and inmates celebrated with their wives and girlfriends. But then the guards noticed something strange: The prisoners were asking their guests to go. “That is all for today, leave now,” guards heard prisoners say. The last family member left at 4:09 p.m. on New Year’s Day.
What happened next would go beyond any worst-case scenario imagined by guards or authorities, unleashing a brutality that would lay bare a failed prison system and a gruesome battle between gangs for influence in Latin America’s largest nation. The bloodshed would be the worst at any Brazilian prison in the past 25 years.
The Associated Press gained exclusive access to the Complexo Penitenciario Anisio Jobim. What follows is based on the facility visit, footage from inmates on their mobile phones, forensics reports obtained by the AP and more than a dozen interviews with families of victims, authorities, lawyers, prison guards, judges, the warden and investigators.
“This was unprecedented,” said Carlos Procopio dos Reis, in charge of the medical forensics unit in Manaus. “I still dream that I am in a truck throwing heads for people to catch.”
Oscars look to ‘La La Land,’ host Kimmel for ratings boost
LOS ANGELES (AP) — If the Oscars had doubled down on nominating films with actors named Ryan, the ceremony’s chances for a ratings bounce might be as likely as host Jimmy Kimmel’s Trump jokes.
Saluting a blockbuster like Ryan Reynolds’ “Deadpool” is the surest way to lure viewers. But there’s optimism afoot that the Ryan Gosling-Emma Stone charmer “La La Land,” combined with pop-star performances and Kimmel’s agile wit, will make Sunday’s ceremony on ABC (8 p.m. EST) a winner.
“The fact that ‘La La Land’ is a musical, it’s a feel-good movie, it’s a romantic movie, it does bode well for the ratings this year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst with media research firm comScore.
The modern reimagining of a classic Hollywood musical received a record-tying 14 nominations, including for best picture, its stars and writer-director Damien Chazelle. “La La Land” has dominated other awards, including the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild.
Among the eight other competitors are “Moonlight,” ”Manchester by the Sea” and “Fences.” Missing in action despite an unfilled 10th slot: superhero romp “Deadpool.” That means the ceremony, which last year posted its smallest audience in eight years (34 million), can’t ride the movie’s $363 million box-office coattails to ratings glory.