Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, dies at 100
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.
With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. Decades later, his name still provoked impassioned debate over foreign policy landmarks long past.
Kissinger’s power grew during the turmoil of Watergate, when the politically attuned diplomat assumed a role akin to co-president to the weakened Nixon.
“No doubt my vanity was piqued,” Kissinger later wrote of his expanding influence. “But the dominant emotion was a premonition of catastrophe.”
A Jew who fled Nazi Germany with his family in his teens, Kissinger in his later years cultivated the reputation of respected statesman, giving speeches, offering advice to Republicans and Democrats alike and managing a global consulting business. He turned up in President Donald Trump’s White House on multiple occasions. But Nixon-era documents and tapes, as they trickled out over the years, brought revelations — many in Kissinger’s own words — that sometimes cast him in a harsh light.
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Death of Henry Kissinger met with polarized reaction around the world
TOKYO (AP) — World leaders and other people offered a polarized reaction Thursday to the death of the lionized and vilified former diplomat Henry Kissinger, who managed to hold global attention decades after his service as U.S. secretary of state.
Former President George W. Bush struck a tone that many high-level officials, past and present, tried to convey, saying "America has lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices" on foreign affairs.
“I have long admired the man who fled the Nazis as a young boy from a Jewish family, then fought them in the United States Army,” Bush said in a statement. “When he later became Secretary of State, his appointment as a former refugee said as much about his greatness as it did America’s greatness.”
Kissinger served two presidents, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China.
Another former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said Kissinger left an indelible mark on America’s history and the world.
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Israel releases more Palestinian prisoners on sixth day of Gaza truce after Hamas frees 16 hostages
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel released more Palestinian prisoners early Thursday after Hamas freed 16 hostages in the last such swap under the current Gaza truce as international mediators raced to strike a deal to allow further exchanges and prolong the halt of Israel’s air and ground offensive.
The Israeli military said a group of 10 Israeli women and children and four Thai nationals were returned to Israel late Wednesday and were taken to hospitals to be reunited with their families. Two Russian-Israeli women were freed by Hamas in a separate release.
Hours later, Israel freed more Palestinian prisoners, expected to number 30 under the terms of the truce deal.
Negotiators were working down to the wire to hammer out details for a further extension of the truce beyond its deadline of early Thursday. The talks appear to be growing tougher as most of the women and children held by Hamas are freed, as the militants are expected to seek greater releases in return for freeing men and soldiers.
International pressure has mounted for the cease-fire to continue as long as possible after nearly eight weeks of Israeli bombardment and a ground campaign in Gaza that has killed thousands of Palestinians, uprooted three quarters of the population of 2.3 million and led to a humanitarian crisis. Israel has welcomed the release of dozens of hostages in recent days and says it will maintain the truce if Hamas keeps freeing captives.
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Israel likens Hamas to the Islamic State group. But the comparison misses the mark in key ways
JERUSALEM (AP) — It has become an Israeli mantra throughout the latest war in Gaza: Hamas is ISIS.
Since the bloody Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the conflict, Israeli leaders and commanders have likened the Palestinian militant group to the Islamic State group in virtually every speech and public statement. They point to Hamas’ slaughter of hundreds of civilians and compare their mission to defeat Hamas to the U.S.-led campaign to defeat IS in Iraq and Syria.
“Hamas is ISIS,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared just after the attack. “And just as the forces of civilization united to defeat ISIS, the forces of civilization must support Israel in defeating Hamas.”
But in many ways, these comparisons miss the mark by ignoring the home-grown origins and base of support for Hamas in Palestinian society and by assuming that this deeply embedded movement can be stamped out like a brush fire.
These miscalculations may already have led to unrealistic expectations in Israel for victory. They also complicate fledgling efforts by the U.S. and other international mediators to end the war, which has devastated Gaza, displaced more than three-quarters of its population and killed over 13,300 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-ruled territory.
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Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a fatal US Air Force crash of the aircraft
TOKYO (AP) — Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. Tokyo has also asked the U.S. military to stop all Ospreys operating in Japan except for those searching for victims of crash.
A senior Defense Ministry official, Taro Yamato, told a parliamentary hearing that Japan plans to suspend flights of Ospreys for the time being, but there were few other immediate details.
A U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed during a training mission Wednesday off of the country’s southern coast, killing at least one of the eight crew members.
The cause of the crash and the status of the seven others on board were not immediately known, Japanese coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said. The coast guard planned to continue searching through the night.
The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but during flight it can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane.
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South Koreans want their own nukes. That could roil one of the world’s most dangerous regions
CHEORWON, South Korea (AP) — To the steady rat-tat-tat of machine guns and exploding bursts of smoke, amphibious tanks slice across a lake not far from the big green mountains that stand along the world’s most heavily armed border.
Dozens of South Korean and U.S. combat engineers build a pontoon bridge to ferry tanks and armored vehicles across the water, all within easy range of North Korean artillery.
For seven decades, the allies have staged annual drills like this recent one to deter aggression from North Korea, whose 1950 surprise invasion of South Korea started a war that has technically yet to end.
The alliance with the United States has allowed South Korea to build a powerful democracy, its citizens confident that Washington would protect them if Pyongyang ever acted on its dream of unifying the Korean Peninsula under its own rule.
Until now.
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Lawmakers can 'vote their conscience' on expelling Santos, House speaker says, but he has concerns
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Mike Johnson expressed reservations Wednesday about expelling Rep. George Santos from the House this week, but said he and other GOP leaders will not push colleagues to oppose removing the New York Republican from office. “We're going to allow people to vote their conscience,” Johnson said.
Santos has survived two previous expulsion efforts in his first year in Congress and has said he will not seek reelection, but the hands-off approach this time could tip the scales against him. Support for ousting Santos has grown after a monthslong investigation by the House Ethics Committee found that Santos “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit."
Johnson, R-La., said he has heard Republican lawmakers make forceful arguments on both sides. Some have argued that Santos should have his day in court before an expulsion vote occurs; that has been the precedent in the House so far. Others believe that some of the things Santos did are “infractions against the House itself” and deserving of expulsion.
“And so what we’ve said as the leadership team is we’re going to allow people to vote their conscience I think is the only appropriate thing we can do,” Johnson said. “We’ve not whipped the vote and we wouldn’t. I trust that people will make that decision thoughtfully and in good faith. I personally have real reservations about doing this. I’m concerned about a precedent that may be set.”
Lawmakers returned from their Thanksgiving break this week with competing expulsion resolutions brought to the floor — one from Democrats, the other from Republicans. The resolutions require leadership to bring them up for consideration within two days, though it is expected that Democrats would not seek a second vote if Johnson brings the Republican expulsion resolution to the floor first.
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Arizona officials who refused to canvass election results indicted by grand jury
PHOENIX (AP) — Officials in a rural Arizona county who delayed canvassing the 2022 general election results have been criminally charged, the state's top prosecutor said Wednesday.
A grand jury in Maricopa County Superior Court has indicted Cochise County supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby on one count each of conspiracy and interference of an election officer.
“The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said in a statement. “I took an oath to uphold the rule of law, and my office will continue to enforce Arizona’s elections laws and support our election officials as they carry out the duties and responsibilities of their offices.”
Dennis Wilenchik, an attorney for Crosby, called the indictment “nothing but political partisanship.” In a statement, he promised a vigorous defense for what he called baseless charges.
“The conspiracy is solely based on an alleged ‘agreement’ to interfere that is nonexistent, as there was none,” said Wilenchik, who also referred to the interference charge as “nonsensical."
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Indian official plotted to assassinate Sikh separatist leader in New York, US prosecutors say
NEW YORK (AP) — An Indian government official directed a plot to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York City, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday as they announced charges against a man they said was part of the thwarted murder conspiracy.
U.S. officials became aware last spring of the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who advocated for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state and is considered a terrorist by the Indian government.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration interceded and set up a sting, with an undercover agent posing as a hitman, after the conspirators recruited an international narcotics trafficker in the plot to murder the activist for $100,000.
The Indian government official was not charged or identified by name in an indictment unsealed Wednesday but was described as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence” said to have previously served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force.
The charges were aimed at a different person, Nikhil Gupta, 52, a citizen of India who was accused of murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. The charges carry a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
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Daryl Hall accuses John Oates of 'ultimate partnership betrayal' in plan to sell stake in business
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Daryl Hall has accused his longtime music partner John Oates of committing the “ultimate partnership betrayal” by planning to sell his share of the Hall & Oates duo's joint venture without the other's permission, Hall said in a court declaration supporting his lawsuit to keep the transaction paused.
In the declaration filed Wednesday in a Nashville chancery court, Hall also lamented the deterioration of his relationship with and trust in his musical partner of more than a half-century. The joint venture in question includes Hall & Oates trademarks, personal name and likeness rights, record royalty income and website and social media assets, the declaration states.
In his own court filing later Wednesday, Oates said that he was disappointed in Hall’s “inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate statements about me,” and argued that he had been trying for some time to enhance their business partnership.
A judge has issued a temporarily restraining order blocking the sale of Oates' share of Whole Oats Enterprises LLP to Primary Wave IP Investment Management LLC while legal proceedings and a previously initiated arbitration continue.
A court hearing is scheduled Thursday in the case. Hall is seeking further court action to keep the transaction on hold.
The Associated Press
