WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has seized a Boeing 747 cargo plane that officials say was previously sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a state-owned Venezuelan firm in violation of American export control laws.

The Justice Department said Monday that the American-built plane had arrived in Florida and would be disposed of.

The plane had earlier been transferred from Iranian airline Mahan Air — which officials have alleged provides support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force — to Emtrasur, a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of a state-owned firm that had previously been sanctioned by the United States. Officials said the sale, done without U.S. government authorization, violated export control laws and improperly benefited Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Mahan Air has for years been subject to U.S. government restrictions on its business.

“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that the full force of U.S. laws deny hostile state actors the means to engage in malign activities that threaten our national security,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the department’s national security division, said in a statement.

The plane was detained in June 2022 by Argentine law enforcement, and U.S. officials moved several weeks later to take possession of it. Argentina officially transferred custody of the plane to the U.S. on Sunday, officials said.

The Justice Department said the plane would now be “prepared for disposition,” though it did not elaborate.

The Justice Department has identified the registered captain of the plane as an ex-commander for the Revolutionary Guard. Officials also cited a flight log they say was recovered that shows additional flights after the transfer to Emtrasur to locations including Moscow, Caracas and Tehran — all without U.S. government approval.

Mahan Air has denied any ties to the aircraft, and Venezuela has demanded that Argentine authorities release the plane.

On Sunday, members of a Venezuelan-led, left-leaning alliance condemned Argentina for its role in the plane being seized by the U.S., characterizing the actions as “theft.” The Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America — Peoples’ Trade Treaty argued that the actions violate international law.

“This aggression is another consequence of the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the government of the United States that threaten the sovereignty of Venezuela and violate the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and International Law,” the group, commonly known as the Alba Alliance, said in a statement.

The alliance was created in 2004 by Venezuela and Cuba in a bid to counter U.S. influence in the region. Nicaragua, Bolivia and some Caribbean nations are among its current members.  
…

…

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Washington Monday and the two leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing effort to free hostages held in Gaza, and growing concern over an Israeli military operation in the port city of Rafah.

It is the first meeting between the allies since three American troops were killed last month in a drone strike against a U.S. base in Jordan. Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the fatalities, the first for the U.S. after months of strikes by such groups against American forces across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The meeting with King Abdullah II comes as Biden and his aides are working to broker another pause in Israel’s war against Hamas in order to send humanitarian aid and supplies into the region and get hostages out. The White House faces growing criticism from Arab-Americans over the administration’s continued support for Israel in the face of growing casualties in Gaza.

It appeared a deal for another pause in the fighting was getting close. A senior U.S. administration official said Sunday that after weeks of shuttle diplomacy and phone conversations, a framework was essentially in place for a deal that could see the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a halt to fighting.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations, acknowledged that gaps remained but declined to specify what they are. The official said Israeli military pressure on Hamas in Khan Younis over the last several weeks has helped bring the militant group closer to accepting an agreement. The potential for an agreement took up the majority of Biden’s call Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The official said the two leaders also had a significant back and forth about the potential expansion of Israeli military operations into Rafah and that Biden reiterated U.S. opposition to the idea under the “current conditions” while more than 1.3 million people are sheltering there.

It was the most forceful language yet from the president on the possible operation. Biden, who last week called Israel’s military response in Gaza “over the top,” also sought “urgent and specific” steps to strengthen humanitarian aid. Israel’s Channel 13 television said the conversation lasted 45 minutes.

The official said the Israelis “made clear they would not contemplate an operation” in Rafah without safeguarding the civilian population. The official said the U.S. is not sure there is a feasible or implementable plan to relocate civilians out of Rafah to allow military operations to take place.

Jordan and other Arab states have been highly critical of Israel’s actions and have eschewed public support for long-term planning over what happens next, arguing that the fighting must end before such discussions can begin. They have been demanding a cease-fire since mid-October as civilian casualties began to skyrocket.

Biden had planned to visit Jordan during his trip to Israel in October shortly after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, but the trip was scrapped. On his way home from Israel, Biden announced he’d helped broker the first deal to pause fighting temporarily and to open the crossing in Rafah to humanitarian aid.

In the months since, members of his administration have made repeated trips to the region to engage with leaders there.
…

New York — New York is expanding a curfew to additional migrant shelters after violent incidents attributed to migrant shelter residents gained national attention in recent weeks.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration will impose an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew at 20 migrant shelters starting Monday, after initially placing the restrictions at four other locations, spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said Sunday.

The curfew impacts about 3,600 migrants, with the largest of the emergency centers housing nearly 1,000 migrants in Long Island City, Queens, according to a listing provided by the mayor’s office.

City officials initially placed a curfew on four shelters last month in response to neighborhood complaints.

Mamelak said the curfews are in line with restrictions already in place at NYC’s traditional homeless shelters and allow for “more efficient capacity management” of migrants in the city’s care.

“New York City continues to lead the nation in managing this national humanitarian crisis, and that includes prioritizing the health and safety of both asylum seekers in our care and New Yorkers who live in the communities surrounding the emergency shelters we manage,” she said in an emailed statement.

The additional curfews come after a spate of migrant-related violence and crime has prompted increasingly dire rhetoric from city and police officials.

A 15-year-old teen from Venezuela was arrested Friday for opening fire in Times Square while fleeing from police after being stopped by security for suspected shoplifting. The shooting injured a tourist from Brazil.

A video showing a group of migrants brawling with police in Times Square last month also went viral and led to several arrests.

The total of 24 migrant shelters now subject to the restrictions represents a fraction of the more than 200 such facilities the city operates to house some 66,000 newly arrived asylum seekers.
…

The vibrant streets and towering skyscrapers of New York City are an imposing, yet promising allure for migrants around the globe. Nevertheless, conflicting messages from officials and stalled legislation in the U.S. Congress are helping to create a controversial election issue. Aron Ranen brings us the story from Manhattan.
…

…

Washington — The U.S. military said Sunday it had struck more devices and missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.

The strikes occurred Saturday between 4-5 p.m. (1300-1400 GMT) north of the city of Hodeida, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media. 

American “forces successfully conducted self-defense strikes against two unmanned surface vessels (USV) and three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM)… that were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” the statement said.

The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television on Saturday night reported three strikes on the Salif port area, while an AFP correspondent in the area heard loud blasts.

The strikes are part of a series of actions taken by the United States and its allies against the Houthis, aimed at halting the Iran-backed rebels’ repeated attacks on vital Red Sea shipping lanes.

On Saturday, the Houthis confirmed that 17 of their fighters had been killed in recent strikes, following a previous announcement Thursday by the United States that it had struck missile launchers.

The Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen including the port of Hodeida, began their attacks in November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war. 

U.S. and British forces have responded with strikes against the Houthis, who have since declared the two countries’ interests to be legitimate targets as well.

On Tuesday the Houthi rebels said they had struck U.S. and British ships in two attacks in the Red Sea, causing minor damage but no casualties.

The Red Sea attacks have raised insurance premiums for shipping companies, forcing many to avoid the Red Sea, a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.
…

…

WILMINGTON, Del. — President Joe Biden’s personal attorney said Sunday he went to both the special counsel and the attorney general to register concerns over what he viewed to be pejorative and unnecessary digs at the president’s memory. 

“This is a report that went off the rails,” Bob Bauer said on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday. “It’s a shabby work product.” 

The special counsel was investigating whether the president mishandled classified documents during his previous positions as vice president and senator, and found this week that no criminal charges were warranted. 

But in building his argument for why no charges were necessary, Special Counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, detailed in part that Biden’s defense of any potential charges could possibly be that: “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” 

And then he went on to cite examples where investigators said the president’s memory lapsed, including over when his older son Beau had died. In particular, the comments about Beau Biden enraged the president, who has been very open about his grief over his son’s death, speaking often of him. 

“How the hell dare he raise that,” Biden questioned angrily following the report’s release. “Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?” 

Biden’s age has already been a concern for voters. Democrats are now answering the widespread questions about the 81-year-old president’s age and readiness by affirming that Biden is capable of being commander in chief and trying to discredit people who portray him feeble. First lady Jill Biden wrote a letter to donors Saturday questioning whether those comments were politically motivated; it fetched the most money in donations of any email since Biden launched his campaign. 

Bauer, who is married to Biden’s top White House aide Anita Dunn, said he raised concerns over the inclusion of these details to both Hur and Garland, which he viewed to be a violation of the Justice Department norms that essentially work to avoid prejudicing the public against people who are not charged with a crime. But the appeal failed. 

“It’s evident that he had committed to make the report public the way that the special counsel had written it,” said Bauer. 

The president sat down with investigators over several hours just as the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas happened. He said he answered the questions truthfully and to the best of his knowledge. 

Bauer argued that what didn’t make it into the report were moments when the president deconstructed questions by investigators and when the special counsel notes that he’d be taking Biden through “events that are many years ago,” and notes that he should just give his best recollection. 

He said the special counsel made a decision “to cherry pick in a very misleading way” what references made it in and what didn’t. 

Bauer, too, suggested there was political pressure on the Justice Department, which is prosecuting former President Donald Trump for refusing to turn over a trove of classified documents as well as his role in the Jan. 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol and has been excoriated by Trump and others as biased and that his prosecution represents a “two-tiered system of justice.” 

Hur is a Republican, and a former U.S. attorney under Trump. 

“So you have to wonder with those pressures impinging on the investigation from the outside knowing the attacks that Republicans have levied on the law enforcement process, did he decide we would have to ask that we reach the only legal conclusion possible and then toss in the rest of it to placate a certain political constituency?” Bauer asked. 

The Justice Department has not commented on the criticism. 

 
…

KENNEBUNK, Maine — As long as they still have each other, they’re still going to go to every Super Bowl. 

That’s the sentiment shared by three friends who say they are the final fans who can claim membership in the exclusive “never missed a Super Bowl” club. And they’re back again for number 58 — Super Bowl 58 — this year. 

The three fans, all in their 80s, are Don Crisman of Maine, Gregory Eaton of Michigan and Tom Henschel, who splits time between Florida and Pennsylvania. The three are gathering this weekend in Las Vegas for the big game, and they’re hoping they can all make it to the sixtieth edition of the game two years from now. 

The fans have sat together at the Super Bowl before, and they were still trying to make last-minute arrangements to do that for this year’s game this week. At the very least, they will get together for brunch on Friday, as always. 

Eaton, 84, who runs a ground transportation company in Detroit, has been especially invested in this year’s football playoffs, as his beloved Detroit Lions won playoff games for the first time in more than three decades. The Lions fell just short of qualifying for their first Super Bowl, but Eaton said getting together with retirees Crisman, 87, and Henschel, 82, is the real draw of going to the big game year after year. 

“Yeah, I’m a Lions fan,” Eaton said. “But in two years, I just hope I’ll be in good shape to be there again.” 

The men have attended every game since the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, the forerunner to the modern Super Bowl, took place in Los Angeles in 1967. This year’s game is at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday. 

Crisman and Henschel first met at the 1983 Super Bowl, but they didn’t meet Eaton until the mid-2010s. The fans have said in the past that they might be getting ready to let the tradition go, but every year they make the decision to do it again. 

They’re part of an ever-dwindling group of people who have attended every Super Bowl that has also included media members, football executives, groundskeepers and others. Norma Hunt, wife of late football pioneer Lamar Hunt, was the sole woman to attend every Super Bowl until she died in June. 

The fans all said the one thing that could keep them from attending is if they or one of the other two was not healthy enough or mobile enough to do it. Health concerns have cropped up for all of them in recent years, but they all said they’re feeling well enough to go this year and planning on the next two. 

“I think that might be the factor that would definitely tip it,” Crisman said. “I’m not looking to be the survivor. I just go for the fun, and the guys. We’ll see what this year brings and address it in December ’24.” 

The three men have witnessed all of the most iconic moments in Super Bowl history, but some of their most cherished memories of the game are a little more personal than David Tyree’s “helmet catch” in Super Bowl 42 or Scott Norwood’s missed field goal in Super Bowl 25. Crisman’s home is adorned with Super Bowl ephemera, right down to a collectible hat commemorating the first Bud Bowl, a promotion about beer that ran during Super Bowl 23 in 1989. 

Eaton fondly remembers he got his tickets to the first Super Bowl from a friend from Michigan State University, Herb Adderley, who played for the Green Bay Packers. Henschel recalls being especially excited for Super Bowl 3 because New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath, like himself, was from the Pittsburgh area. 

Crisman hadn’t yet acquired tickets for this year’s game as of mid-January, when telecommunications giant Verizon surprised him with complementary passes for himself and his daughter, Susan Metevier. Getting to Las Vegas will be much easier than his trip to Super Bowl 2 in 1968, which involved a 24-hour train ride to Miami. 

The three men reminisce fondly about the era when it was possible to get a ticket to the big game for $8. Henschel recalls getting a face value ticket to Super Bowl 3 for $12 on the day of the game. This year, the cheapest tickets available are more than $7,000. 

Henschel, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, has a friendly rivalry with Crisman, a New England Patriots fan, as the two teams have met frequently in the playoffs over the years. 

This year, the Patriots failed to contend, and the Steelers made an early playoff exit. But old traditions die hard, Henschel said. 

“It’s funny because Don and I, he hates the Steelers and I hate the Patriots,” Henschel said. “Every time we see each other for the first time, we give each other the finger.” 

It’ll happen again this year. And they hope at least a couple more times after that. 
…

MEXICO CITY — As the Super Bowl approaches, there could be problems for guacamole, a favorite game-time food in America: A lack of rain and warmer temperatures has resulted in fewer avocados being shipped from Mexico.

The western state of Michoacan, which supplies almost 90% of the creamy textured fruit for the big game, has suffered a hotter, drier climate that has led to a lack of water in growing areas.

Lakes in the state are literally drying up: Desperate avocado growers send tanker trucks down to suck up the last water, or divert streams, to feed their thirsty orchards, sparking conflicts. The state received about half the rain it normally gets last year, and reservoirs are at about 40% of capacity, with no rain in sight for months.

Meanwhile, some growers are illegally cutting down pine forests that feed the water system to plant more avocados. To top it all off, another American obsession — tequila — is starting to cause problems too.

The whole situation is not good for avocados. Last year, avocado exports from Michoacan for the Super Bowl grew by 20% to 140,000 tons. This year, that number actually declined by 2,000 tons, despite increased planting; meaning fewer of the creamy textured fruit in U.S. produce departments. Alejandro Méndez, the state secretary of the environment, estimates 30% of avocado orchards in Michoacan are now water-stressed.

Something’s got to give, and with consumers demanding more environmentally conscious produce, state officials are finally putting together a sustainable certification program.

The certification program would presumably result in growers improving their water use, enabling them to offer consumers both greener avocados and more of them.

Coming soon to a grocery store near you: fruit with a sticker saying something like “this avocado wasn’t grown on deforested land,” or “this avocado used water responsibly.”

Officials are still working on a catchy slogan for the greener avocados. But given that it’s coming from the same people who brought you years of Super Bowl ads about avocados from Mexico, a catchy slogan is highly likely.

“The idea is that there is going to be a certification sticker with a QR code that you can scan with your telephone, and that link will take you to a page with a satellite photo of the orchard … and the forest associated with the orchard,” said Méndez.

Because they use more water than pine forests, growers will have to contribute to a fund that ensures several acres of forest are preserved for each acre of orchard.

“So with that orchard, you can be assured the dollar you paid for this avocado is going to preserve this piece of forest,” said Méndez, who estimates about 70% of the orchards in place before 2011 were planted on old farmland, not forests. But the remaining 30% give the rest a bad name, he complains.

The decision to act comes not a moment too soon. The Center for Biological Diversity said Thursday that more than 28,000 people have signed an online petition calling on grocery chains to adopt more sustainable avocado-sourcing policies.

“Many people in Mexico have lost their forests and water because of the 304 million pounds [138 kilograms] of avocados we’ll be eating on Super Bowl Sunday,” said Stephanie Feldstein, the center’s director for population and sustainability. “Our obsession with avocados has a horrific hidden cost. It’s time for grocery chains to take responsibility and make sure they’re not buying avocados grown in deforested areas.”

Up to now, there hasn’t been much consumers could do. There are few certified sustainable avocados available year-round on the market, and if you want guacamole, there’s not much else you can use. That’s despite all the news coverage about how avocado growers and packers have to pay protection money to drug cartels.

Julio Santoyo, a front-line anti-logging activist in Villa Madero, Michoacan, says he’s taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the new certification program. Until then, Super Bowl this year — like every year — was “a kick in the pants,” he said.

“The growth in illegal orchards continues unabated,” Santoyo said. “We assume that more than half of the avocados consumed around the Super Bowl are from illegal planting.

“Up to now, the Mexican government has not taken practical steps to certify environmentally sustainable avocado production,” he said.

The crisis is clear in the once heavily forested, lake-dotted state. Lake Cuitzeo, Mexico’s second largest, was once a vast sheet of water reflecting blue skies near the state capital; it is now about 60% dry, exposing kilometers of dry ground and grass.

And poor Michoacan faces new threats from U.S. consumers: Part of the state next to neighboring Jalisco is certified to grow the blue Weber agave, the only plant from which true tequila can be distilled.

While agave likes drier, hotter, poorer soils than avocados, growers are still cutting down native scrub and low, thorny woods to plant the spikey-leafed seedlings, whose barrel-like centers will later be cooked down and fermented.

It’s a relatively new problem, fed by rising demand for tequila.

“In the last two years, the price for a kilo of agave went up a lot, it went up to almost 35 or 40 pesos [about $2] per kilo,” Méndez said.

“We have 50 million agave plants,” he said. “It’s grown a lot, and we have started to see deforestation as well in that area.”
…

…

CONWAY, South carolina — With two weeks to go before the South Carolina Republican primary, Nikki Haley is trying to challenge Donald Trump on her home turf while the former president tries to quash his last major rival’s narrow path to the nomination. 

Trump, turning his campaign focus to the southern state days after an easy victory in Nevada, is expected to rev up his supporters at a Saturday afternoon rally in Conway, near Myrtle Beach. 

On his way in, Trump stopped and briefly spoke to an overflow crowd gathered outside and thanked South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who endorsed him early. McMaster became governor in 2017 when Trump appointed Haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations. 

“It was more important to get Henry McMaster to be governor than it was to have her in the United Nations,” Trump said, referring to Haley without mentioning her name. “And he did a much better job.” 

Trump, who has long been the front-runner in the GOP presidential race, won three states in a row and is looking to use South Carolina’s February 24 primary to close out Haley’s chances and turn his focus fully on an expected rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden in the general election. 

Haley skipped the Nevada caucuses, condemning the contest as rigged for Trump, and she has instead focused on South Carolina, kicking off a two-week bus tour across the state where she served as governor from 2011 to 2017. 

‘They’re grumpy old men!’

Speaking to about a couple hundred people gathered outside a historic opera house in Newberry, Haley on Saturday portrayed Trump as an erratic and self-absorbed figure not focused on the American people. 

She pointed to the way he flexed his influence over the Republican Party this past week, successfully pressuring GOP lawmakers in Washington to reject a bipartisan border security deal and publicly pressed Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel to consider leaving her job. 

“What is happening?” Haley said. “On that day of all those losses, he had his fingerprints all over it,” she added. 

Haley reprised her questions of Trump’s mental fitness, an attack she has sharpened since a January 19 speech in which he repeatedly confused her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Haley, 52, has called throughout her campaign for mental competency tests for politicians, a way to contrast with 77-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden. 

“Why do we have to have someone in their 80s run for office?” she asked. “Why can’t they let go of their power?” 

A person in the crowd shouted out: “Because they’re grumpy old men!” 

“They are grumpy old men,” Haley said. 

Haley continued the argument when speaking to reporters afterward, citing a report released Thursday by the special counsel investigating Biden’s possession of classified documents. The report described Biden’s memory as “poor.” 

“American can do better than two 80-year-olds for president,” Haley said. 

Harlie O’Connell, a longtime South Carolina resident who backs Haley, said she is excited to vote in the presidential primary for a woman from her home state. 

While O’Connell plans to support the eventual GOP nominee, she said she would prefer someone younger. 

“It’s just time for some fresh blood,” O’Connell said. 

Her husband, Mike O’Connell, credited Haley for bringing major manufacturers such as Volvo and Samsung to the state while she was governor, bringing jobs and investment. He drew a contrast between the candidates’ approach to foreign policy and said he wants the U.S. to continue assisting Ukraine in its war with Russia, as Haley has pledged. 

“We need to encourage friendships and not discourage them,” he said of international relations. 

Bob Pollard, a retired firefighter, said Haley showed “level-headedness” that Trump lacks in the way she responded to the 2015 shooting at a Charleston church in which a white supremacist killed nine Black members of the congregation. 

Pollard said he cannot support Trump because “he’s a maniac,” adding that Trump’s campaign, in which he speaks frequently of “retribution” and his personal grievances, has “turned into a personal vendetta.” 

Trump ‘here to help us’

In Conway, people began lining up to see Trump hours before the doors opened to the arena where he was set to take the stage later. 

Organizers expecting a capacity crowd set up screens outside where an overflow crowd would be able to watch Trump’s appearance. 

The city sits along the Grand Strand, a broad expanse of South Carolina’s northern coast that is home to Myrtle Beach and Horry County, one of the most reliably conservative spots in the state and a central area of Trump’s base of support in the state in his past campaigns. 

Tim Carter, from nearby Murrells Inlet, said he had backed Trump since 2016 and would do so again this year. 

“We’re here to stand for Trump, get our economy better, shut our border down, more jobs for our people,” said Carter, a pastor and military veteran who runs an addiction recovery ministry. 

Cheryl Savage from Conway, who was waiting on the bleachers to hear from Trump, said the former president is “here to help us.” Savage said she backed Haley during her first run for governor in 2010 but now feels she is hurting herself by staying in the race. 

“He deserves a second term,” Savage said, of Trump. “He did a fantastic job for four years.” 
…

NAPLES, FLORIDA — Federal authorities have launched an investigation to determine why a private jet tried to make an emergency landing on a Florida interstate, colliding with a vehicle and bringing traffic to a halt as a massive plume of black smoke rose into the air.

Two people died.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the Bombardier Challenger 600 jet had five people aboard when the crash happened around 3:15 p.m. near Naples, just north of where Interstate 75 heads east toward Fort Lauderdale along what is known as Alligator Alley.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with the NTSB leading the investigation. One NTSB investigator arrived at the crash site Friday afternoon, with several more expected to arrive on Saturday.

Brianna Walker saw the wing of the plane drag the car in front of hers and slam into the wall.

“It’s seconds that separated us from the car in front of us,” she said. “The wing pulverized this one car.”

Walker and her friend spotted the plane moments before it hit the highway, allowing her friend to pull over before the crash.

“The plane was over our heads by inches,” she said. “It took a hard right and skid across the highway.”

Walker said an explosion of flames then burst from the plane with a loud boom. Pieces of the plane littered the highway.

The plane had taken off from an airport at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, about 1 p.m. and was scheduled to land in Naples around the time of the crash, Naples Airport Authority spokesperson Robin King said. A pilot had contacted the tower requesting an emergency landing, saying they had lost both engines.

The pilot was cleared to land on a runway but replied, “We’re not going to make the runway. We’ve lost both engines,” according to a tape of the call cited by the Naples Daily News.

The tower lost contact, and then airport workers saw the smoke from the interstate just a few miles away, King said.

King said they sent fire trucks with special foam to the scene, and three of the five people on board were taken from the wreckage alive.

Collier County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Adam Fisher confirmed two deaths but said he didn’t yet know whether the victims had been passengers on the plane or were on the ground.

According to the FlightAware aircraft tracker, the plane was operated by Hop-a-Jet Worldwide Charter based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The aircraft had been scheduled to fly back to Fort Lauderdale Friday afternoon.

Hop-a-Jet said Friday night that it had “received confirmed reports of an accident involving one of our leased aircraft near Naples” and would send a team to the crash site, the Naples Daily News reported.

“Our immediate concern is for the well-being of our passengers, crew members and their families,” the statement said. It didn’t contain details of the crash.

A spokesperson for Ohio State University said that the aircraft is not affiliated with the university and that they had no further information about it.

Federal authorities said a preliminary report about the cause of the crash can be expected in 30 days.
…

TOKYO — Will she make it in time?

Taylor Swift’s last song was still ringing in the ears of thousands of fans at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night when the singer rushed to a private jet at Haneda airport, presumably embarking on an intensely scrutinized journey to see her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, play in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.

“We’re all going to go on a great adventure,” Swift earlier told the crowd. She was speaking of the music, but it might also describe her prospective race against time, which was to cross nine time zones and the international date line.

With a final bow at the end of her sold-out show, clad in in a blue sequined outfit, the crowd screaming, strobe lights pulsing, confetti falling, Swift disappeared beneath the stage — and her journey to the other side of the world began.

Her expected trip to see Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on Sunday, U.S. time, has fired imaginations and speculation for weeks.

“I hope she can return in time. It’s so romantic,” said office worker Hitomi Takahashi, 29, who bought matching Taylor Swift sweatshirts with her friend and was taking photos just outside of the Tokyo Dome.

At Saturday night’s concert, there was plenty of evidence of the unique cultural phenomenon that is the Swift-Kelce relationship, a nexus of professional football and the huge star power of Swift. In addition to people wearing sequined dresses celebrating Swift in the packed Tokyo Dome, there were Travis Kelce jerseys and hats and other gear celebrating the Chiefs. Some in Tokyo spent thousands of dollars to attend the pop superstar’s concerts this week.

“Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone,” Swift sang Saturday.

She won’t find that Sunday in Las Vegas when a sold-out crowd, not to mention millions around the world, will be watching her.

If she makes it, that is.

To call the worldwide scrutiny of Swift’s travels intense is an understatement.

Fans have tracked her jet. The planet-warming carbon emissions of her globe-trotting travels have been criticized. Officials have weighed in on her ability to park her jet in Las Vegas airports.

Even Japanese diplomats have gotten into the act. The Japanese Embassy in Washington posted on social media that she could make the Super Bowl in time, including in their statement three Swift song titles — “Speak Now,” “Fearless” and “Red.”

“If she departs Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should comfortably arrive in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl begins,” it said.

Takahashi, the fan at the Tokyo Dome, was aware of the criticism Swift has faced about her private jets but said the singer was being singled out unfairly.

“Many other people are flying on business, and she is here for her work. She faces a bashing because she is famous and stands out,” Takahashi said.

Swift has been crisscrossing the globe this week already.

Before coming to Asia, she attended the Grammys in Los Angeles, winning her 14th Grammy and a record-breaking fourth Album of the Year award for “Midnights.” The show was watched by nearly 17 million people. She also made a surprise announcement that her next album is ready to drop in April.

Then came the four concerts in Tokyo, and now apparently a rushed trip to try to make it to Las Vegas to watch Kelce, the tight end for the Chiefs, play in the Super Bowl. She has followed Kelce for much of the Chiefs’ season.

If it all goes as planned, she’s then expected to fly to Australia later this week to continue her tour.

“This week is truly the best kind of chaos,” Swift posted Wednesday on Instagram.
…

…

…

…

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A company’s plan to mine minerals near the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp and its federally protected wildlife refuge neared final approval Friday as regulators in the U.S. state of Georgia released draft permits for the project, which opponents say could irreparably harm a natural treasure.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division said it will take public comments on the draft permits for 30 days before working up final versions to send to the agency’s director for approval.

Twin Pines Minerals of Birmingham, Alabama, has worked since 2019 to obtain government permits to mine titanium dioxide less than 4.8 kilometers from the southeastern boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the largest U.S. refuge east of the Mississippi River.

Federal scientists have warned that mining near the Okefenokee’s bowl-like rim could damage the swamp’s ability to hold water. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2022 declared the proposed mine poses an “unacceptable risk” to the fragile ecosystem at the Georgia-Florida line.

“This is a dark day in Georgia’s history,” said Josh Marks, an Atlanta environmental attorney and leader of the group Georgians for the Okefenokee. “EPD may have signed a death warrant for the Okefenokee Swamp, our state’s greatest natural treasure.”

In documents released Friday, state regulators echoed past comments that their analysis shows the proposed 312-hectare mine won’t significantly harm the Okefenokee or lower its water levels.

“EPD’s models demonstrate that the mine should have a minimal impact” on the Okefenokee refuge, the agency said, “even during drought periods.”

Twin Pines President Steve Ingle applauded regulators’ decision to move forward after what he called a “thorough evaluation of our application.”

Ingle has insisted for years that his company can mine without hurting the Okefenokee.

“We expect stringent government oversight of our mining-to-reclamation project, which will be fully protective of the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge and the region’s environment,” Ingle said in a statement.

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge covers nearly 1,630 square kilometers in southeast Georgia and is home to alligators, bald eagles and other protected species. The swamp’s wildlife, cypress forests and flooded prairies draw roughly 600,000 visitors each year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge.

In February 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote that the proposed mine could pose “substantial risks” to the swamp, including its ability to hold water. Some impacts, it said, “may not be able to be reversed, repaired, or mitigated for.”

C. Rhett Jackson, a hydrology professor at the University of Georgia, warned state regulators in a written analysis that the mining pits planned by Twin Pines would siphon off enough groundwater to triple the frequency and duration of severe droughts in the swamp’s southeast corner.

Georgia regulators have an outsized role in deciding whether to approve the mine because the U.S. government, which normally considers environmental permits in tandem with state agencies, relinquished oversight of the Twin Pines project.

The Army Corps of Engineers was reviewing a federal permit for Twin Pines when the agency declared in 2020 that it no longer had jurisdiction authority because of regulatory rollbacks under then-President Donald Trump. Despite efforts by President Joe Biden to restore federal oversight, the Army Corps entered a legal agreement with Twin Pines to maintain its hands-off position.

The mining project is moving forward as the National Park Service seeks designation of the Okefenokee wildlife refuge as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Conservation groups say the rare distinction would boost the Okefenokee’s profile as one of the world’s last intact blackwater swamps and home to more than 400 animal species.

The draft permits were released barely two weeks after Twin Pines agreed to pay a $20,000 fine ordered by Georgia regulators, who said the company violated state laws while collecting soil samples for its permit application.

Twin Pines denied wrongdoing, but said it agreed to the fine to avoid further permitting delays.

“It is inconceivable to anyone who actually values Georgia’s environment to claim that this mine will not harm the critically important wetlands and wildlife of the Okefenokee ecosystem,” Ben Prater, southeast director for the group Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement. He added: EPD has one job. It must deny the permits.”

Some House lawmakers In the Georgia legislature are again pushing a bill that would ban future mining outside the Okefenokee. The proposal got a hearing last year, but has stalled in a House committee. While the measure wouldn’t stop Twin Pines from obtaining permits already pending, it would prohibit expansion of the company’s mining operation if it became law.
…

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Former U.S. President Donald Trump told thousands of members of the National Rifle Association that “no one will lay a finger on your firearms” if he returns to the White House, and he bragged that during his time as president he “did nothing” to curb guns.

“During my four years nothing happened. And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn’t yield,” he said as he addressed the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg on Friday evening.

Casting himself as “the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House,” Trump pledged to continue to protect gun owners’ rights, even as the country grapples with a crisis of gun violence and mass shootings that have left more than 3,000 dead since 2006.

“Your Second Amendment will always be safe with me as your president,” he said.

Fresh off another dominant win in the Nevada caucuses Thursday night, Trump used the NRA forum to highlight his support of gun rights, a major priority for GOP voters. The issue is also a major motivator for Democrats as well as younger voters who grew up participating in active shooter drills and have witnessed a spate of school shootings in recent years.

Next week will mark the sixth anniversary of one of those shootings, the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead.

Trump grappled with Parkland and other mass shootings as president, and at times pledged to strengthen gun laws, only to back away from those vows.

At a meeting with survivors and family members of the Parkland shooting in 2018, Trump promised to be “very strong on background checks” and later scolded a Republican senator for being “afraid of the NRA,” claiming he would stand up to the gun lobby and finally get results on quelling gun violence.

But he later retreated after a meeting with the group, expressing support for modest changes to the federal background check system and for arming teachers, while saying in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that there was “not much political support (to put it mildly).”

In December 2018, his administration banned bump stocks, the attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns and were used during the October 2017 shooting massacre in Las Vegas.

Trump’s appearance on Friday in the critical swing state came as the Republican nominating contest that he has been dominating turns toward South Carolina. The state’s February 24 primary may prove the last chance for Nikki Haley, Trump’s last remaining rival, to blunt the former president’s march toward the nomination. He and Haley will hold dueling campaign events there this weekend.

Trump hopes that a commanding win in the first-in-the-South race will deliver a devastating blow to Haley, who has yet to win a GOP contest. Haley, who was elected South Carolina’s governor twice, is betting that a home state advantage will lift her to a strong performance that could keep her in the race through Super Tuesday on March 5, when more than a dozen states will hold contests awarding a massive swath of the delegates needed to capture the GOP nomination.

“We’re leading everybody,” Trump said late Thursday following his Nevada victory. “Is there any way we can call the election for next Tuesday? That’s all I want.”

Trump had no competition in Nevada after Haley chose to skip Thursday’s caucuses to participate in an earlier primary that offered no delegates. But even without Trump on that ballot, Haley came in a distant second, swamped by GOP voters who picked a “none of these candidates” option.

Beyond Haley’s embarrassing Nevada defeat, Trump had an especially fortuitous week.

On Thursday morning, the Supreme Court seemed weary of attempts to kick him off the 2024 ballot under the Constitution’s Insurrection Clause. Both conservative and liberal justices voiced skepticism during a hearing over Colorado’s decision to disqualify Trump from its primary ballot because he refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election, which culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Hours later, special counsel Robert Hur released a long-awaited and bitingly critical report that concluded criminal charges against President Joe Biden were not warranted but said there was evidence Biden willfully retained and shared highly classified information when he was a private citizen, including documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan. The report repeatedly pointed to Biden’s hazy memory in language that has raised new concerns about the president’s competency and age — a top concern for voters.

The findings will almost certainly blunt Biden’s ability to criticize Trump over his handling of classified documents. Trump was charged by a different special counsel, Jack Smith, for illegally hoarding classified records at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida after he left office and then obstructing government efforts to get them back.

Despite abundant differences between the cases, Trump, who insists he did nothing wrong, on Friday cast the decision to charge him and not Biden as “nothing more than selective prosecution of Biden’s political opponent: Me.”

“Trump was peanuts by comparison,” he claimed.

Trump’s speech to the NRA — his eighth, according to the group — comes as the former political juggernaut has played a diminished role this election cycle amid financial troubles, dwindling membership and infighting.

The group’s longtime CEO, Wayne LaPierre, resigned last month ahead of a trial in New York over allegations that he treated himself to millions of dollars in private jet flights, yacht trips, African safaris and other extravagant perks at the powerful gun rights organization’s expense.

The New York attorney general sued LaPierre and three co-defendants in 2020, claiming widespread misspending and self-enrichment. The organization filed for bankruptcy and sought to incorporate in Texas instead of New York, but a judge rejected the move.
…

HONOLULU — A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the world’s largest active volcano on Friday — Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii — knocking items off shelves and cutting power in a nearby town but not immediately prompting reports of serious damage.

The earthquake, which didn’t cause a tsunami and which the U.S. Geological Survey initially reported as magnitude 6.3, was centered on Mauna Loa’s southern flank at a depth of 37 kilometers, 2 kilometers southwest of Pahala.

“It shook us bad to where it wobbled some knees a little bit,” said Derek Nelson, the manager of the Kona Canoe Club restaurant in the oceanside community of Kona, on the island’s western side. “It shook all the windows in the village.”

There was a power outage affecting about 300 customers in Naalehu that appeared to be related to the earthquake, said Darren Pai, spokesperson for Hawaiian Electric Company.

The earthquake struck after 10 a.m. local time, less than two hours before an unrelated quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.6 shook Southern California.

Mauna Loa last erupted in late 2022. It’s one of five volcanoes that make up the Big Island, which is the southernmost in the Hawaiian archipelago.

Earthquakes can occur in Hawaii for a variety of reasons, including magma moving under the surface. In Friday’s case, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the likely cause was the weight of the Hawaiian Islands bending and stressing the Earth’s crust and upper mantle.

That’s what caused a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck off Kiholo Bay on the Big Island’s northwest coast in 2006. That temblor damaged roads and buildings and knocked out power as far away as Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, about 322 kilometers to the north.

Helen Janiszewski, an assistant professor in the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Department of Earth Sciences, said the Hawaiian Islands lie on the Pacific oceanic tectonic plate and have some of the world’s biggest volcanoes.

“So, there’s a huge amount of mass of rock associated with the islands and because of that, it’s actually enough to slightly displace the Pacific oceanic plate beneath the islands,” she said. “And that force causes earthquakes sometimes.”

This type of earthquake tends to occur several tens of kilometers beneath the Earth’s surface in the mantle, Janiszewski said. Quakes caused by moving magma tend to hit more shallow depths.

The observatory said Friday’s earthquake didn’t affect either Mauna Loa or a neighboring volcano, Kilauea.

There were no immediate reports of damage to telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea, another nearby volcano that has some of the world’s most advanced observatories for studying the night sky.

Jessica Ferracane, a spokesperson at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, said there was no apparent damage to its roads or visitor centers. Earthquakes are not uncommon, she said, but this one was “much more intense” than usual.

The Hawaiian Islands have been built by successive volcanic eruptions over millions of years. The vast majority of earthquakes in Hawaii occur on and around the Big Island. About once every 1.5 years, there is an earthquake in the state that is magnitude 5 or greater, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

The Big Island is mostly rural and hosts cattle ranches, coffee farms and resort hotels. But it also has a few small cities, including the county seat of Hilo, population 45,000.

Friday’s earthquake could be felt in Honolulu. Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth was at a cardiologist appointment there and initially thought he was experiencing side effects from a procedure: “All of a sudden I felt like I was getting dizzy.”

He said he immediately got on the phone with his emergency management officials when he realized it was an earthquake, and that he was heading to the Honolulu airport to try to get an earlier flight back.

Grace Tabios, the owner of Will and Grace Filipino Variety Store in Naalehu, said the shaking knocked down her husband, who was working at their coffee farm in Pahala. At the store, jars of mayonnaise and medicine from the Philippines fell off the shelves.

“Some things fell down but didn’t break,” Tabios said.
…

Washington — Joe Biden’s Republican rivals are pouncing on questions about his mental acuity, following a verbal slip by the U.S. president that has exacerbated Democrats’ anxiety about his age.

“Biden’s not going to be any sharper in November,” said Jason Miller, senior adviser to the Trump campaign in a statement to VOA. The Make America Great Again Political Action Committee released a statement saying, “Joe Biden isn’t just senile, he put our national security at risk.”

Former President Donald Trump has a commanding lead in the Republican primaries and is likely to become the party’s nominee, despite facing 91 felony indictments in various federal and state criminal cases.

The campaign of Nikki Haley, who is trailing Trump, released a statement that Biden “should take a mental competency test immediately” and make it public.

“Joe Biden can’t remember major events in his life, like when he was vice president or when his son died,” Nikki Haley said. “That is sad, but it will be even sadder if we have a person in the White House who is not mentally up to the most important job in the world.”

Biden’s verbal slip

Republicans launched their renewed attacks after the president made a verbal slip Thursday evening, mistakenly referring to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi as “the president of Mexico” while he was highlighting efforts he made to secure aid for the people of Gaza.

The gaffe happened while Biden was pushing back against reporters’ questioning on a special counsel’s report about his mishandling of classified documents that noted his lapses in memory, citing examples of him being unable to recall defining moments in his own life, such as when he served as vice president or when his son Beau passed away.

“My memory is fine,” a visibly angry Biden shot back as he denied forgetting when his son died. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.

Three-quarters of voters, including half of Democrats, say they have concerns about Biden’s mental and physical health, according to an NBC News poll released this week.

Less than half of voters have concerns about Trump’s mental and physical health according to the same poll, despite his multiple flubs. During a campaign event earlier this month Trump appeared to mistakenly refer to his rival Haley as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when discussing the Jan. 6, 2021. He has previously mixed up Biden and former President Barack Obama.

No charges

Special Counsel Robert Hur has determined that Biden will not be charged for mishandling classified documents. However, Hur’s characterization of the president’s memory is likely to provide Biden’s Republican rivals ammunition in their messaging that he is unable to lead the country.

Trump, who is under federal indictment with 37 felony counts related to the mishandling of classified documents, obstructing justice and making false statements, sharpened his attack on Biden’s handling of the documents.

He called Biden’s case “100 times different and more severe than mine,” charging in a campaign statement Thursday that there is “a two-tiered system of justice and unconstitutional selective prosecution!” and “election interference.”

In his report, Hur pre-empted such assertions.

“Unlike the evidence involving Mr. Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if proven, would present serious aggravating facts,” the report noted. “Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite.”
…

The University of the People, a tuition-free online university, was founded in 2009 and accredited in 2014. The game-changing goal of the U.S. nonprofit is to make education accessible to some 140,000 students from 200 countries. Maxim Adams has the story. Video: Dana Preobrazhenskaya.
…

Fresh turmoil hit Haiti’s government on Wednesday as Prime Minister Ariel Henry replaced his justice minister and a senior official stepped down, saying he could not serve a premier under suspicion in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.Amid a brewing political crisis, Henry replaced Justice Minister Rockfeller Vincent with Interior Minister Liszt Quitel, who will take charge of both portfolios, according to a statement in Haiti’s official gazette.The resignation of Renald Luberice, who served more than four years as secretary general of Haiti’s Council of Ministers, came after new evidence emerged linking Henry to the former justice ministry official who investigators say is one of the main suspects behind Moise’s killing.Prosecutors say phone records show the two spoke twice around 4 a.m. on July 7, just hours after Moise, 53, was shot dead when heavily armed assassins stormed his private residence.Henry has denied any involvement in the murder but he has not directly addressed the phone calls and on Tuesday he replaced Haiti’s chief prosecutor who had been seeking to charge him as a suspect and ban him from leaving the country.The premier last week dismissed attempts to interview him over Moise’s killing as politicking designed to distract him from the work at hand in the poorest country in the Americas where power struggles have for decades hampered development.In a letter shared on social media Wednesday, Luberice said he cannot serve someone who “does not intend to cooperate with justice, seeking, on the contrary, by all means, to obstruct it.”Henry on Wednesday replaced Luberice with Josue Pierre-Louis, a veteran technocrat who has since 2017 held the rank of government minister in his role as the General Coordinator of the Office of Management and Human Resources (OMRH), according to the gazette statement.Killing and crisisMore than 40 people, including 18 Colombians, have been detained so far as part of the investigation into Moise’s killing. The investigation has made little apparent progress to solve the mystery and has been riddled with irregularities.Several judicial officials went into hiding after saying they received death threats while the original judge assigned to the case recused himself.Moise named Henry, a neurosurgeon and political moderate, to the position of prime minister just days before he was assassinated in a bid to placate the political tensions that plagued his mandate and led to a major constitutional and political crisis.The country has just a handful of elected officials after failing two years ago to hold legislative or municipal elections amid a political gridlock. Moise had ruled by decree. But there is no constitutional framework for a government in a situation like the current one.As such, Henry needs a broad consensus in order to govern. On the weekend he announced an agreement between Haiti’s main political forces on a transition government aiming to lead next year to elections and a new constitutional referendum.But any sign of weakness could lead to a fresh power struggle.Senate President Joseph Lambert, who tried to claim the presidency in the days following Moise’s killing as the most senior elected official remaining, made a fresh swipe at the post on Tuesday evening.He called local media to cover his swearing in at parliament but a gunfight interrupted proceedings. The Senate in a statement blamed the shootings on gangs that were “hired by dark forces in order to thwart the work of the Senators.”Lambert has called for a news conference on Wednesday evening.His likely claim to power will be “another quagmire to this extra-constitutional scenario we find ourselves in,” said a Western diplomat based in Port-au-Prince. 
…