Here are 10 words taken from a round in the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals, along with their definitions.
Listen carefully: Can you spell any of them correctly? apnews.com/article/national-…
Day: May 30, 2023
The Associated Press retweeted:
Some social media users are connecting the Memorial Day shooting at a Florida beach to a bill signed in April allowing concealed carry of guns without a government permit. But the law does not go into effect until July. apne.ws/72ypCka
2023-05-30T23:35:16Z
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday moved to block former President Donald Trump’s attempt to persuade a federal court to take over a state criminal case in which he is charged with falsifying business records prior to the 2016 election.
In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Bragg argued that Trump is not entitled to the change in venue because he is not a federal officer. Lawyers for Trump have previously requested to move the case out of New York state court.
Bragg also argued that Trump was not a federal officer at the time of the accused crimes, which involve a hush money payment to a porn star before Trump, a Republican, was elected president in November 2016.
Trump pleaded not guilty in state court in Manhattan last month to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal reimbursements to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about an alleged sexual liaison, which Trump denies.
Prosecutors say Trump falsified records related to reimbursing Cohen in part to cover up the fact that the payment to Daniels exceeded federal campaign contribution limits.
“Defendant was charged by a New York county grand jury with New York crimes for falsifying the business records of private New York enterprises while reimbursing his personal lawyer for a pre-election expenditure,” Bragg said in the filing. “He does not plausibly meet the required elements to justify removal to federal court.”
Earlier this month, Trump’s lawyers argued that the federal court had jurisdiction because the charges had to do with conduct that took place while he was president, saying the case was based on checks allegedly written to Cohen by Trump in 2017, while Trump was president. They denied that the checks and related records were false records.
The high-profile case, in which Trump became the first sitting or former president to be charged criminally, comes as the Republican primary for the 2024 election heats up.
Trump’s criminal trial is scheduled for March 25, 2024, meaning he will be on trial as his campaign for president is in full swing.
Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Democratic President Joe Biden, is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for 2024.
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Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks after former U.S. President Donald Trump appeared at Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, after his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, in New York City, U.S., April 4, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
DETROIT (AP) — Thanks to a boost from the government, leasing — not buying — is becoming the most affordable way to get your hands on an electric vehicle.
Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act provided a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 to use toward an EV. Under the rules, a dealer can apply that credit to any leased electric vehicle, no matter where it’s made, to reduce a customer’s monthly payment.
Not so for people who buy an EV.
For buyers, only EVs made in North America qualify for the full tax credit. And only 10 of the 49 electric vehicles for sale in the United States this year meet that requirement. Even then, the EV must contain certain percentages of battery parts from the United States or countries with which it has a trade deal for the buyer to receive a full $7,500 credit.
Why the distinction between leased and purchases vehicles?
The Treasury Department says that in establishing the tax credit, Congress classified leased — but not purchased — EVs as “commercial” vehicles. Under the law, commercial vehicles are exempt from the North America manufacturing and battery-content requirements. The result is that people who lease enjoy a much wider selection of EVs that qualify for the $7,500 credit.
“Lease affordability has surpassed purchase affordability” in a J.D. Power index that includes total cost of ownership, said Elizabeth Krear, vice president of the EV practice at J.D. Power.
Many consumers have become aware of the difference and are capitalizing on it. In April, Krear said, leases accounted for 41% of all U.S. EV deliveries — four times the percentage in December, before the new rules took effect.
Geoff Pohanka, president of a 21-dealership group in Maryland, Virginia and Texas, said he is anticipating an increase in leasing. Buyers, he predicts, will increasingly recognize that the tax credit will help defray the typically substantial cost difference between an EV and a similar gas-powered vehicle.
“It definitely makes sense,” he said. “Incentives can move the market if that narrows the affordability issue between gas and electric cars.”
Pohanka, whose group sells vehicles from multiple automakers, said the tax credits have just begun to lower the cost of leasing. Still, the rules governing the credit are complex enough that some buyers appear unsure if they would qualify for it. The rules not only make distinctions between leased and purchased vehicles. They also include income thresholds that disqualify some buyers.
To qualify for the tax credit, a car cannot cost more than $55,000. SUVs, pickups and vans can’t exceed $80,000. And a buyer’s gross income must be no more $150,000 if single, $300,000 if filing jointly and $225,000 if head of a household.
Given the confusion he has noticed among customers about qualifying for the tax credit, Pohanka said some EVs are sitting longer on dealer lots than they otherwise would.
“This disruption, I think, is very damaging to the momentum on electric vehicles,” he said.
Critics, including some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, say they regard the Treasury rules that allow many leased, but not purchased, EVs to receive the full tax credit to be an unfair loophole. They argue that it benefits automakers that produce all their vehicles overseas and have yet to build EV and battery factories in the United States. These foreign manufacturers, they say, can devote themselves to leasing EVs in the United States at the expense of domestic automakers.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat and a key author of the tax-credit language, wanted the North American manufacturing requirement to help boost U.S. manufacturing jobs. He included the battery requirements to incentivize companies to build a domestic EV supply chain. But Manchin says the Biden administration is circumventing the law’s intent by allowing tax credits for vehicles manufactured overseas.
“The administration continues to ignore the purpose of the law, which is to bring manufacturing back to America and ensure we have reliable and secure supply chains,” he said in a statement.
Foreign automakers had complained that they were excluded from the tax credit for buyers despite doing what the bill intended — building U.S. battery and assembly plants.
The Treasury Department denies creating a loophole and says it was Congress that exempted commercial vehicles from the manufacturing and battery requirements. When a dealer buys a vehicle and leases it to someone, it amounts to a commercial transaction. The dealer or a finance company receives the tax credit and retains ownership of the vehicle.
“Eligibility for the commercial vehicle credit is a straightforward reading of the Inflation Reduction Act as written by Congress and application of longstanding tax law regarding leased assets,” Ashley Schapitl, a spokeswoman, wrote in a statement. “There was no room for Treasury interpretation.”
Hyundai, with three EV models made in South Korea and for sale in the United States, is among the beneficiaries of the leasing provision. A spokesman for the Korean automaker said that leases amounted to 30% of its U.S. EV deliveries in the United States from January through March. In 2022, that proportion was only 5%.
The average monthly ownership cost on an EV leased for three years has dropped $403 since December, largely because of the tax credits, J.D. Power found. By contrast, for an EV purchase financed over five years, the average monthly cost has declined by only $118.
Hyundai is offering to lease an Ioniq 5 SE rear-wheel-drive EV for $499 a month for three years, though the customer must put down nearly $4,000. Buying the same EV would cost $865 a month for five years at the average new-auto loan rate of 7%.
Though it may be cheaper, leasing won’t fit into everyone’s financial plans. Unlike with a purchase, monthly payments don’t end when a loan is paid off.
Experts note, too, that not everyone who leases an EV will receive the tax credit, even if they qualify for it. The automakers and dealers are allowed to decide whether to pass along the tax credit to their customers; they aren’t required to do so.
Krear said some companies are passing the entire $7,500 credit on to qualifying consumers, thereby reducing their monthly payments. Others are passing on only a portion of it.
Eventually, as automakers make adjustments to comply with the North American manufacturing and battery-composition requirements, buying an EV could cost less than leasing over the long run, Krear said, though there are too many variables to predict when that might happen.
“At that time, it will be a different playing field,” she said.
A Japanese court ruled Tuesday that the government’s policy against same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, in a closely watched decision that supporters say is a step toward marriage equality. apnews.com/article/japan-lgb…
2023-05-30T15:51:36Z
NATO’s peacekeeping Kosovo Force, or KFOR, were seen putting up barriers and guarding municipal buildings in the northern Kosovo town of Zvecan early on Tuesday (May 30). They also stood guard outside a town hall in nearby Leposavic, as local Serbs held a peaceful protest nearby. It comes a day after violent clashes erupted between troops and Serb protesters.
NATO troops secured a town hall in Kosovo’s Zvecan and the alliance said on Tuesday it would send more soldiers to the region, a day after 30 NATO soldiers and 52 protesters were hurt in clashes and the EU and U.S. urged a de-escalation of the violence.
Unrest in the region has intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo’s Serb-majority area after April elections that the Serbs boycotted, a move that led the U.S. and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday.
NATO said in a statement it would send additional forces to Kosovo to curb the violence, but provided no details of when this would happen or the number of soldiers involved.
Serbs refused to take part in local elections in April and ethnic Albanian candidates won the mayoralties in four Serb-majority municipalities with a 3.5% turnout.
Northern Kosovo’s majority Serbs have never accepted Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, and consider Belgrade their capital more than two decades after the Kosovo Albanian uprising against repressive Serbian rule.
Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90% of the population in Kosovo as a whole, but northern Serbs have long demanded the implementation of an EU-brokered 2013 deal for the creation of an association of autonomous municipalities in their area.
In the town of Zvecan, dozens of soldiers in anti-riot gear from the United States, Poland and Italy secured a municipal building as Serbs protested against an Albanian mayor coming to office.
The Serbian protestors dispersed around 4 p.m. (1400 GMT), and will return on Wednesday morning, the Serbian Tanjug news agency reported, citing Serbian officials in Zvecan.
A Reuters reporter saw four big NATO convoys heading to the north late on Tuesday afternoon.
Russia, which has long had close ties with Serbia and shares its Slavic and Orthodox Christian traditions, called on Tuesday for “decisive steps” to quell the unrest in Kosovo.
The Russian foreign ministry urged “the West to finally silence its false propaganda and stop blaming incidents in Kosovo on Serbs driven to despair, who are peaceful, unarmed, trying to defend their legitimate rights and freedoms.”
Moscow helped block Kosovo’s bid for U.N. membership at Belgrade’s request.
The United States ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier blamed Pristina for fuelling tensions in the north by moving Albanian mayors to their offices on Friday despite Serb opposition.
Washington, the most outspoken advocate and supporter of Kosovo independence, decided to cancel Kosovo’s participation in a military drill after Pristina refused to withdraw the mayors and its police forces from the north.
“We’re thinking through other implications as well,” he told reporters.
Masked men in the town of Leposavic close to Serbian border smashed the windshield of a car with an Albanian licence plate marked as “A2, CNN affiliate,” a Reuters reporter who witnessed the incident said. A separate car belonging to another media outlet was smashed as well. No one was injured.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged Kosovo and Serbian leaders to find a way to de-escalate tensions through dialogue.
“We have too much violence already in Europe today, we cannot afford another conflict,” Borrell told a news briefing in Brussels.
Kosovo authorities have blamed Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic for destabilising Kosovo. Vucic blames Kosovo authorities for causing problems by installing new mayors.
“In a democracy there is no place for fascist violence—no appeal from ballot to bullet,” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Twitter late on Monday.
After meeting ambassadors of the Quint group – comprising the United States, Italy, France, Germany and Britain – in Belgrade, Vucic said he had asked that Albanian mayors are removed from their offices in the north.
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said criminal gangs, supported by Vucic, aimed to destabilize Kosovo and the entire region.
On Monday, Serb protesters in Zvecan threw tear gas and stun grenades at NATO soldiers, leaving 30 NATO troops hurt, along with 52 Serbs.
“Violent acts against citizens, against media, against law enforcement and KFOR (NATO’s Kosovo) troops are absolutely unacceptable,” EU’s Borrell said.
For a TIMELINE on Serbian unrest in north Kosovo, click here.
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Polish Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers stand guard at a municipal office in Zvecan, Kosovo May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski
Polish Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers stand guard at a municipal office in Zvecan, Kosovo May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski
NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers clash with local Kosovo Serb protesters at the entrance of the municipality office, in the town of Zvecan, Kosovo, May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Laura Hasani
Local Kosovo Serb protesters sit on the ground in front of NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers in the town of Zvecan, Kosovo, May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Laura Hasani
A car burns after NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers clashed with local Kosovo Serb protesters at the entrance of the municipality office, in the town of Zvecan, Kosovo, May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Laura Hasani
NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers clash with local Kosovo Serb protesters at the entrance of the municipality office, in the town of Zvecan, Kosovo, May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Laura Hasani
2023-05-30T15:49:31Z
NATO countries are in the middle of Arctic military manoeuvres, vowing on Tuesday to defend their newest member, Finland, which is hosting its first joint NATO exercise since becoming the 31st member of the Western alliance in April.
The addition of Finland doubles the length of the border NATO shares with Russia, which launched a large-scale invasion of another neighbour, Ukraine, in February last year.
Nearly 1,000 allied forces from the United States, Britain and Norway, and also from neighbouring Sweden, joined some 6,500 Finnish troops and some 1,000 vehicles for the Northern Forest exercise, Finland’s biggest modern-time land force drill above the Arctic Circle.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine convinced Sweden and Finland last year to ditch long-held policies of military non-alignment and seek security of NATO’s collective defence commitment.
Finland formally joined on April 4, drawing a threat from Moscow of “counter-measures”. Sweden hopes to be a member by the time of the alliance’s summit in Vilnius in July.
Overseeing the exercise just a two-hour drive from the Russian border at one of Europe’s largest artillery training grounds in Rovajarvi, northern Finland, Major General Gregory Anderson from the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army said his country stood ready to defend Finland.
“We are here, we are committed. The U.S. Army is here training with our newest NATO ally to build that capability, to help defend Finland if anything happened,” Anderson said.
His troops practised on the ground with their Multiple Launch Rocket Systems shipped from Germany, while their Finnish counterparts fired their Leopard 2A6 tanks, the Swedes and the Norwegians fired from CV90 infantry fighting vehicles and the UK troops deployed Warrior tanks.
Sweden remains Finland’s closest military partner and is also both politically and tactically ready to defend its Nordic neighbour, the commander of the Swedish land forces said.
“It’s of no question at all. We have prepared plans on what to do if we are to be part of the defence of Finland,” Major General Karl Engelbrektson said.
Ilmari Laukkanen, a 20-year-old Finnish conscript who operated a field gun in the exercise but in his civilian life works at a family farm near the Russian border, said he would be ready to fight for Finland’s new allies if needs be.
“Of course I would. If we are given something good then we give in return,” Laukkanen told Reuters.
Thea Rimmereid, 21, from Norway’s northern Porsanger Battalion, when asked if she felt ready to defend Finland said she had only been in the military for 13 months.
“But we will do the best if we need to,” Rimmereid said.
Exercise leader Colonel Janne Makitalo said NATO allies should be cautious about drawing quick conclusions on their military procurement needs from the footage they see from Ukraine.
“Russia is currently able to destroy, on a monthly basis, about 10,000 Ukrainian UAVs (uncrewed aerial vehicles),” Makitalo said.
Expensive technological solutions might look good on YouTube, he said, but they can be easily detectable in a real war situation.
The exercises run from May 27 to June 2.
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A U.S. soldier instructs a Finnish soldier on the Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle during the Northern Forest land force exercise in Rovajarvi, Finland May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Janis Laizans
A view of a British Warrior infantry fighting vehicle during Northern Forest land force exercise in Rovajarvi, Finland May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Janis Laizans
A U.S. soldier looks on as a Finnish soldier trains with a Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle during the Northern Forest land force exercise in Rovajarvi, Finland May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Janis Laizans
Finnish soldiers walk during the Northern Forest land force exercise in Rovajarvi, Finland May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Janis Laizans
Norwegian soldiers stand together during the Northern Forest land force exercise in Rovajarvi, Finland May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Janis Laizans