An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors, a Kazakh official said.

Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev disclosed the figures while meeting with Azerbaijani officials, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

The Embraer 190 was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus when it was diverted and attempted an emergency landing 1.8 miles from Aktau, Azerbaijan Airlines said.

Speaking at a news conference, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, but added that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course.

The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing, he said.

Russias civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said preliminary information showed the pilots diverting to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.

According to Kazakh officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Azerbaijans prosecutor generals office previously said that 32 of the 67 people on board had survived the crash, but told journalists that the number wasnt final.

The Associated Press could not immediately reconcile the difference between the numbers of survivors given by Kazakhstan and Azerbaijani officials.

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Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft, lying upside in the grass. The footage corresponded to the planes colors and its registration number.

Some of the videos posted on social media showed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage.

Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed the aircraft making what appeared to be a figure eight once nearing the airport in Aktau and its altitude moving up and down substantially over the last minutes of the flight before impacting the ground.

FlightRadar24 separately said in an online post that the aircraft had faced strong GPS jamming, which made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data, referring to the information that allows flight-tracking websites to follow planes in flight. Russia has been blamed in the past for jamming GPS transmissions in the wider region.

Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public updated and changed its social media banners to solid black. It also said that it would suspend flights between Baku and Grozny, as well as between Baku and the city of Makhachkala in Russia's North Caucasus, until its investigation into the crash has been concluded.

Azerbaijans state news agency, Azertac, said that an official delegation of Azerbaijans emergency situations minister, the deputy general prosecutor and the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines were sent to Aktau to conduct an on-site investigation."

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Aliyev, who was traveling to Russia, returned to Azerbaijan on hearing news of the crash, the presidents press service said. He was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a bloc of former Soviet countries founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St. Petersburg.

Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media. It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured, he wrote.

He also signed a decree declaring Dec. 26 a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the phone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Speaking at the CIS meeting in St. Petersburg, Putin also said that Russia's Emergency Ministry sent a plane with equipment and medical workers to Kazakhstan to assist with the aftermath of the crash.

Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities said they were investigating the crash. Embraer told The Associated Press in a statement that the company is ready to assist all relevant authorities."

Persistent high surf and flooding threats along Californias coast have residents on high alert a day after a major storm was blamed for one mans death and the partial collapse of a pier, which propelled three people into the Pacific Ocean.

The National Weather Service on Christmas Eve warned of dangerous, large-breaking waves of up to 35 feet. Its latest high surf warning will be in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Large waves can sweep across the beach without warning, pulling people into the sea from rocks, jetties and beaches, the weather service said in a Christmas Eve bulletin.

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Some California cities ordered beachfront homes and hotels to evacuate early Monday afternoon as forecasters warned that storm swells would continue to increase throughout the day.

In Watsonville along the Monterey Bay, first responders were called to Sunset State Beach, a state park, around 11:30 a.m. Monday for a report of a man trapped under debris. The Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office believes a large wave pinned him there. The man was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The storms high surf also likely pulled another man into the Pacific Ocean around noon Monday at Marina State Beach, nearly 13 miles south of Watsonville, authorities said. Strong currents and high waves forced searchers to abandon their efforts roughly two hours later as conditions worsened. The man remained missing Monday evening.

In Santa Cruz, a municipal wharf under construction partially collapsed and fell into the ocean around 12:45 p.m., taking three people with it. Two people were rescued by lifeguards and a third swam to safety. No one was seriously injured.

We are anticipating that what is coming toward us is more serious than what was there this morning, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley said Monday.

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Keeley said that section of the wharf had been damaged over time. The structure was in the middle of a $4 million renovation following destructive storms last winter about 70 miles south of San Francisco.

Its a catastrophe for those down at the end of the wharf, said David Johnston, who was allowed onto the pier to check on his business, Venture Quest Kayaking.

Tony Elliot, the head of the Santa Cruz Parks & Recreation Department, estimated that about 150 feet of the end of the wharf fell into the water. It was immediately evacuated and will remain closed indefinitely.

Some of the wharfs pilings are still in the ocean and remain serious, serious hazards to boats, the mayor said. Each piling weighs hundreds of pounds and is being pushed by powerful waves.

You are risking your life, and those of the people that would need to try and save you by getting in or too close to the water, the National Weather Services Bay Area office said on the social platform X.

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The end of the Santa Cruz Wharf that broke off had been shut down during renovations. The portion, which included public restrooms and the closed Dolphin restaurant, floated about half a mile down the coast and wedged itself at the bottom of the San Lorenzo River.

Those who fell into the water were two engineers and a project manager who were inspecting the end of the wharf, officials said. No members of the public were in the area.

Building inspectors were looking at the rest of the piers structural integrity.

In a post on X, the National Weather Service office in Portland, Oregon, said, It will likely go down as some of the highest surf this winter.

Caitlin Clark raised the profile of women's basketball to unprecedented levels in both the college ranks and the WNBA, and Tuesday she was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year for her impact on and off the court.

After leading Iowa to the national championship game, Clark was the top pick in the WNBA draft as expected and went on to win rookie of the year honors in the league. Fans packed sold-out arenas and millions of television viewers tuned in to follow her journey. Clarks exploits were far reaching, casting a light on other womens sports leagues along the way.

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A group of 74 sports journalists from The Associated Press and its members voted on the award. Clark received 35 votes, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was second with 25 and boxer Imane Khelif was third, getting four votes.

Clark is only the fourth womens basketball player to be honored as the female athlete of the year since it was first presented in 1931, joining Sheryl Swoopes (1993), Rebecca Lobo (1995) and Candace Parker (2008, 2021).

I grew up a fan of Candace Parker and the people who came before me and to be honored in this way, is super special and Im thankful, Clark said in a phone interview. It was a great year for womens basketball and womens sports.

Shohei Ohtani won the AP Male Athlete of the Year on Monday for the third time.

Clark broke the NCAA Division I career scoring record for both men and women finishing her career with 3,951 points while guiding Iowa to its second consecutive national championship game. After her Hawkeyes lost t South Carolina for the title, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley took the mic during her teams celebration and said, I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport.

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For all the success Clark has had and the attention she has brought to womens basketball, she is often the centerpiece of debates and online toxicity towards her and other players in the league.

For her part, Clark has disavowed the toxic discourse.

Lobo also has been impressed with the way the 22-year-old Clark has handled the pressure and attention that has come her way.

I would say shes navigated it almost flawlessly. she hasnt had an big missteps or misspeaks at a time youre under constant scrutiny, Lobo said. Shes seemed to say and do all the right things. Thats just incredible at a time when its constant attention and scrutiny. She has not done anything to tarnish this sort of mild persona she has.

As Clark handled the praise and the backlash during the heat of competition, it was hard for her to appreciate just what she was able accomplish over the past year. But after having time to reflect on the whirlwind tour, she appreciates those who were there alongside her for the ride.

I'm thankful for the people I got to do it with, Clark said. A year ago I was still in the early part of my senior year in college. ... How fast things change, and now I can see how great a college season it was.

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Iowa sold out all of its games at home and on the road with Clark as the main attraction. That momentum continued into the pros. Her No. 22 jersey was prevalent wherever she played during her rookie season and will be retired at Iowa.

Youd be remiss not to acknowledge how crazy her fan base is and the eyes she gets with everything she does, said Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was often spotted courtside at Clark's Indiana Fever games. Its a different type of popularity, shes one of the most popular athletes in the world. Its not just womens sports anymore.

"Its really cool to see and she just handles it with such grace.

Clark said she enjoys spending time with fans at games, usually taking a few minutes before and after games to sign autographs.

For me it's still really fun, she said. Whether it's 15 seconds or 10 seconds or 5 seconds can be very impactful in a young girl and young boys life. Seeing the fans going crazy an hour before tipoff, I never take that for granted. That's super cool and I never want that to go away.

After a slow start to her WNBA career, Clark eventually found her stride there too. She set the single-game assist record with 19 and also had 337 assists on the season to break that mark as well. Clark, known for her logo-distance 3-pointers, was the fastest player to reach 100 3s when she did it in 34 games which helped Indiana reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

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Lobo, who won the AP female athlete of the year award after lifting UConn to its first national championship, was on the court for launch of the WNBA two years later. The ESPN analyst sees Clark's ascension as something different.

Shes brought unprecedented attention both in the building, but also viewership to the sport that was worthy of it but didnt have it yet," Lobo said. "Theres never been anything like this.

"That timeframe from 1995-97 was a baby step in the progression of it all. This is a giant leap forward. Ive never seen anything like this. There's more attention then the sports ever had."

The numbers have been record breaking when Clark is part of a broadcast:

TV viewership in the WNBA was up 300% thanks in large part to Clark with ABC, CBS, ION, ESPN, and ESPN2 all having record viewers when Fever games were on. The NCAA womens championship game outdrew the men on TV for the first time in the sports 42-year history with 18.9 million viewers tuning it to watch the event. It was the second most watched womens sporting event outside of the Olympics in the history of U.S. television. The 2024 WNBA draft was the most-watched in league history with 2.4 million viewers.

Clark credits the community of women athletes for the popularity increase of women's sports, saying we did this or we did that when asked about it.

It's fascinating, you dont always appreciate how many people 18 million is, Clark said. You see that number against a college football game or the Masters or whatever it is as far as the biggest sporting events in our country and it puts it in perspective. We outdrew the mens Final Four.

President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law a defense bill that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion despite his objections to language stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families.

Biden said his administration strongly opposes the provision because it targets a group based on gender identity and "interferes with parents roles to determine the best care for their children. He said it also undermines the all-volunteer military's ability to recruit and retain talent.

No service member should have to decide between their familys health care access and their call to serve our nation, the president said in a statement.

The Senate forwarded the bill to Biden after passing it last week by a vote of 85-14. In the House, a majority of Democrats voted against the bill after House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted on adding the provision to ban transgender medical care for children. The legislation easily passed by a vote of 281-140.

Biden also objected to other language in the bill prohibiting the use of money earmarked to transfer detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to some foreign countries and into the United States. He urged Congress to lift those restrictions.

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The annual defense authorization bill, which directs Pentagon policy, provides a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others.

The legislation also directs resources towards a more confrontational approach to China, including establishing a fund that could be used to send military resources to Taiwan in much the same way that the U.S. has backed Ukraine. It also invests in new military technologies, including artificial intelligence, and bolsters the U.S. production of ammunition.

The U.S. has also moved in recent years to ban the military from purchasing Chinese products, and the defense bill extended that with prohibitions on Chinese goods from garlic in military commissaries to drone technology.

The legislation still must be backed up with a spending package.

Changes are coming to the cold and cough aisle of your local pharmacy: U.S. officials are moving to phase out the leading decongestant found in hundreds of over-the-counter medicines, concluding that it doesnt actually relieve nasal congestion.

Phenylephrine is used in popular versions of Sudafed, Dayquil and other medications, but experts have long questioned its effectiveness. Last month the Food and Drug Administration formally proposed revoking its use in pills and liquid solutions, kicking off a process that's likely to force drugmakers to remove or reformulate products.

Its a win for skeptical academics, including researchers at the University of Florida who petitioned the FDA to revisit the drug's use in 2007 and again in 2015. For consumers it will likely mean switching to alternatives, including an older decongestant that was moved behind the pharmacy counter nearly 20 years ago.

Doctors say Americans will be better off without phenylephrine, which is often combined with other medicines to treat cold, flu, fever and allergies.

People walk into the drugstore today and see 55,000 medicines on the shelf and they pick one that is definitely not going to work, said Dr. Brian Schroer of the Cleveland Clinic. You take away that option and it will be easier for them to self-direct toward products that really will help them.

Why is the FDA doing this now?

The FDA decision was expected after federal advisers last year voted unanimously that oral phenylephrine medications haven't been shown to relieve congestion.

Experts reviewed several recent, large studies indicating that phenylephrine was no better than a placebo at clearing nasal passageways. They also revisited studies from the 1960s and 1970s that supported the drugs initial use, finding numerous flaws and questionable data.

The panels opinion only applied to phenylephrine in oral medications, which account for roughly $1.8 billion in annual U.S. sales. The drug is still considered effective in nasal sprays, though those are much less popular.

Phenylephrine wasnt always the top choice for cold and allergy products. Many were originally formulated with a different drug, pseudoephedrine.

But a 2006 law required pharmacies to move pseudoephedrine products behind the counter, citing their potential to be processed into methamphetamine. Companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Bayer decided to reformulate their products to keep them readily available on store shelves and labeled many of them as PE versions of familiar brand names.

What are some alternatives for congestion?

Consumers who still want to take pills or syrups for relief will probably need to head to the pharmacy counter where the pseudoephedrine-containing versions of Sudafed, Claritin D and other products remain available without a prescription. Purchasers need to provide a photo ID.

Beyond those products, most of the other options are over-the-counter nasal sprays or solutions.

Saline drops and rinses are a quick way to clear mucus from the nose. For long-term relief from seasonal stuffiness, itching and sneezing, many doctors recommend nasal steroids, sold as Flonase, Nasacort and Rhinocort.

These medicines are by far the most effective daily treatment for nasal congestion and stuffiness, Schroer said. The biggest issue is theyre not great when used on an as-needed basis.

Nasal steroids generally have to be used daily to be highly effective. For short-term relief, patients can try antihistamine sprays, such as Astepro, which are faster acting.

Phenylephrine-based sprays will also remain on pharmacy shelves.

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Why doesnt phenylephrine work when taken by mouth?

The experts who challenged the drugs effectiveness say it's quickly broken down and rendered ineffective when it hits the stomach.

This is a good drug, but not when its swallowed, said Leslie Hendeles, professor emeritus at the University of Florida's College of Pharmacy, where he co-authored several papers on the ingredient. Its inactivated in the gut and doesnt get into the bloodstream, so it cant get to the nose.

When Hendeles and his colleagues first petitioned the FDA on phenylephrine, they suggested a higher dose might be effective. But subsequent studies showed that even doses 400% higher than those currently recommended dont treat stuffiness.

The FDA and other researchers concluded that pushing the dosage even higher might carry safety risks.

If youre using very high doses, the risk is raising blood pressure so high that it could be hazardous to patients, said Randy Hatton, a University of Florida professor who co-led the research on phenylephrine.

Because of its cardiovascular effects, the drug is sometimes used to treat dangerously low blood pressure during surgery, Hatton noted.

What happens next?

Oral phenylephrine medicines will still be with us for a while.

Government regulators must follow a public, multistep process to remove the ingredient from FDAs list of drugs approved for over-the-counter decongestants.

For six months, the FDA must take comments on its proposal, including from consumers and companies. Then, the FDA must review the feedback before writing a final order. Even after that decision is finalized, companies will likely have a year or more to remove or reformulate products.

Drugmakers could further delay the process by requesting additional FDA hearings.

For now, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association which represents medicine makers wants the products to stay available, saying Americans deserve the option to choose the products they prefer for self-care.

Hatton says he and his colleagues disagree: Our position is that choosing from something that doesnt work isnt really a choice.

Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to work toward a merger that would form the worlds third-largest automaker by sales, as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels.

The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors Corp. also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses.

Automakers in Japan have lagged behind their big rivals in electric vehicles and are trying to cut costs and make up for lost time as newcomers like China's BYD and EV market leader Tesla devour market share.

Honda's president, Toshihiro Mibe, said Honda and Nissan will attempt to unify their operations under a joint holding company. Honda will lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company. They aim to have a formal merger agreement by June and to complete the deal and list the holding company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by August 2026, he said.

No dollar value was given and the formal talks are just starting, Mibe said.

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There are points that need to be studied and discussed, he said. Frankly speaking, the possibility of this not being implemented is not zero.

A merger could result in a behemoth worth more than $50 billion based on the market capitalization of all three automakers. Together, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi would gain scale to compete with Toyota Motor Corp. and with Germanys Volkswagen AG. Toyota has technology partnerships with Japans Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp.

News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month, with unconfirmed reports saying Taiwan iPhone maker Foxconn was seeking to tie up with Nissan by buying shares from the Japan's company's other alliance partner, Renault SA of France.

Nissan's CEO Makoto Uchida said Foxconn had not directly approach his company. He also acknowledged that Nissan's situation was severe.

Even after a merger Toyota, which rolled out 11.5 million vehicles in 2023, would remain the leading Japanese automaker. If they join, the three smaller companies would make about 8 million vehicles. In 2023, Honda made 4 million and Nissan produced 3.4 million. Mitsubishi Motors made just over 1 million.

We have come to the realization that in order for both parties to be leaders in this mobility transformation, it is necessary to make a more bold change than a collaboration in specific areas, Mibe said.

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Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi earlier agreed to share components for electric vehicles like batteries and to jointly research software for autonomous driving to adapt better to electrification.

Nissan has struggled following a scandal that began with the arrest of its former chairman Carlos Ghosn in late 2018 on charges of fraud and misuse of company assets, allegations that he denies. He eventually was released on bail and fled to Lebanon.

Speaking Monday to reporters in Tokyo via a video link, Ghosn derided the planned merger as a desperate move.

From Nissan, Honda could get truck-based body-on-frame large SUVs such as the Armada and Infiniti QX80 that Honda doesnt have, with large towing capacities and good off-road performance, Sam Fiorani, vice president of AutoForecast Solutions, told The Associated Press.

Nissan also has years of experience building batteries and electric vehicles, and gas-electric hybrid powertrains that could help Honda in developing its own EVs and next generation of hybrids, he said.

But the company said in November that it was slashing 9,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global work force, and reducing its global production capacity by 20% after reporting a quarterly loss of 9.3 billion yen ($61 million).

It recently reshuffled its management and Uchida, its chief executive, took a 50% pay cut while acknowledging responsibility for the financial woes, saying Nissan needed to become more efficient and respond better to market tastes, rising costs and other global changes.

We anticipate that if this integration comes to fruition, we will be able to deliver even greater value to a wider customer base, Uchida said.

Fitch Ratings recently downgraded Nissans credit outlook to negative, citing worsening profitability, partly due to price cuts in the North American market. But it noted that it has a strong financial structure and solid cash reserves that amounted to 1.44 trillion yen ($9.4 billion).

Nissans share price also had fallen to the point where it is considered something of a bargain. On Monday, its Tokyo-traded shares gained 1.6%. They jumped more than 20% after news of the possible merger broke last week.

Honda's shares surged 3.8%. Honda's net profit slipped nearly 20% in the first half of the April-March fiscal year from a year earlier, as its sales suffered in China.

The merger reflects an industry-wide trend toward consolidation.

At a routine briefing Monday, Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said he would not comment on details of the automakers' plans, but said Japanese companies need to stay competitive in the fast changing market.

As the business environment surrounding the automobile industry largely changes, with competitiveness in storage batteries and software is increasingly important, we expect measures needed to survive international competition will be taken," Hayashi said.

A man is facing murder charges in New York City for allegedly setting a woman on fire inside a subway train and then watching her die after she was engulfed in flames, police said Monday.

The suspect, identified by police as Sebastian Zapeta, was taken into custody hours after the woman died on Sunday morning.

Zapeta, 33, is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally after he had been previously removed in 2018, said Jeff Carter, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It is unclear when and where he reentered the U.S. Federal immigration officials will issue a detainer for him once he is charged to transfer him into federal custody, Carter said. Federal immigration officials will typically issue a detainer request to ask an agency to hold a person until he or she can be taken into immigration custody, rather than having the person released back into public.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the case as one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.

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Tisch said the woman and the suspect had been riding a subway train without any interaction between them to the end of the line in Brooklyn at around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.

After the train came to a stop, surveillance video from the subway car showed the man calmly walk up to the victim, who was seated motionless, possibly sleeping, and set her clothing on fire with what appeared to be a lighter. The womans clothing then became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds, Tisch said.

Police do not believe the two knew one another.

Officers on a routine patrol at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station smelled and saw smoke and discovered the woman on fire, standing in the middle of the subway car. After the fire was extinguished, emergency medical personnel declared the woman dead at the scene.

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Unbeknownst to the officers, the suspect had remained at the scene and was sitting on a bench on the subway platform, just outside the train car, Tisch said. Body cameras worn by the officers caught a very clear, detailed look at him and those images were publicly disseminated.

After later receiving a 911 call from three high schoolers who said they recognized the suspect in the photo, officers took a person of interest into custody who Tisch said was wearing the same gray hoodie, wool hat, paint-splatted pants and tan boots.

In a statement, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said The depravity of this horrific crime is beyond comprehension, and my office is committed to bringing the perpetrator to justice."

This gruesome and senseless act of violence against a vulnerable woman will be met with the most serious consequences, he said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this year has sent New York National Guard members to the citys subway system to help police conduct random searches of riders bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains. Hochul recently deployed additional members to help patrol during the holiday season.

About a year ago, Hochul supported funding to install video cameras on every train car in the New York subway system, said Michael Kemper, chief security officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He and other officials on Sunday credited the cameras with helping to track down the suspect so quickly.

The Container Store has filed for bankruptcy protection as the storage and organizational goods retailer with roots dating back to the 1970s grapples with mounting losses and cash flow shortages.

The Texas company has faced increasing competition from retailers like Target and Walmart at the same time that demand for its goods is under strain in a rough housing market, where soaring prices and elevated mortgage rates have stunted sales.

Under Chapter 11 protection, The Container Store will continue to operate while it restructures.

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The company said Sunday that it had filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas. The filing arrived two weeks after the trading of company shares was suspended by the New York Stock Exchange. The Container Store Group Inc. failed to maintain an average market capitalization of at least $15 million in accordance with NYSE rules.

Last month, The Container Store said that it was in advanced discussions with lenders to provide additional capital as it aimed to turn around sagging earnings and sales, according to a regulatory filing.

The company has struggled to raise cash, and last month an agreement with the owner of Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock and Zulily that would have come with a $40 million cash infusion fell apart. The Container Store said in a regulatory filing that it did not believe that it could match the financing requirements of the partnership with Beyond Inc.

The Container Store was founded in 1978 by Garrett Boone, Kip Tindell and investor John Mullen, who opened the doors of The Container Store's first location in Dallas, according to the company. Neither of the men, Boone with a master's degree in history and Tindell who was an English major, expected a career in retail. Yet both were driven by the idea of creating a store devoted entirely to storage.

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The chain had its skeptics when Boon and Tindell opened their first 1,600-square-foot location. Yet the chain expanded to more than 100 stores ranging from 12,000 to 20,000 square feet, according to the company.

In 1999, The Container Store purchased one of its vendors, Elfa International. In 2021, it acquired Chicago's Closet Works and launched its premium, wood-based line Preston shortly thereafter.

In its most recent quarter, the company reported losses of $16 million, and comparable store sales, a good barometer of a retailer's health, dropped 12.5%.

Blake Lively has accused her "It Ends With Us" director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to "destroy" her reputation in a legal complaint.

The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which The New York Times reported was filed Friday with the California Civil Rights Department, precedes a lawsuit. It names Baldoni, the studio behind the romantic drama "It Ends With Us" and Baldoni's publicists among the defendants.

In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a "multi-tiered plan" to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior" by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.

The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively.

Baldoni enlisted publicists and crisis managers in a "sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan" meant to "bury" and "destroy" Lively if she went public with her on-set concerns, the complaint alleges.

"To safeguard against the risk of Ms. Lively ever revealing the truth about Mr. Baldoni, the BaldoniWayfarer team created, planted, amplified, and boosted content designed to eviscerate Ms. Lively's credibility," the complaint states. "They engaged in the same techniques to bolster Mr. Baldoni's credibility and suppress any negative content about him."

The complaint also says Baldoni "abruptly pivoted away from" the movie's marketing plan and "used domestic violence 'survivor content' to protect his public image."

Bryan Freedman, an attorney representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, called the claims "completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious."

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He pushed back against Lively's allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio "proactively" hired a crisis manager "due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production."

Freedman also said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film "if her demands were not met."

Those demands were not specified in the statement, but Lively's complaint lists 30 demands that she said Baldoni and others agreed to after their tense sit-down over her hostile work environment concerns.

Among them: "no more showing of nude videos or images of women" to Lively and others on set and no more discussions about pornography, sexual experiences or genitalia.

She also said Baldoni should not ask her trainer about her weight without her consent, should not press her about her religious beliefs and should make "no further mention of her dead father."

An intimacy coordinator was also required to be on set whenever Lively shared a scene with Baldoni and he was barred from entering her trailer or the make-up trailer while she was undressed.

The demands also stipulated that there would be "no more improvising of kissing" scenes or adding of sex scenes to the film outside of the ones in the script Lively approved when she signed on.

"I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted," Lively said in a statement to the Times. A representative for Lively referred the AP to the Times report, in which Lively denied planting or spreading negative information about Baldoni or the studio.

"It Ends With Us," an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair. Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centerstage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for "Deadpool & Wolverine" at the same time.

Baldoni who starred in the telenovela send-up "Jane the Virgin," directed "Five Feet Apart" and wrote "Man Enough," a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity did respond to concerns that the film romanticized domestic violence, telling the AP at the time that critics were "absolutely entitled to that opinion."

"If anybody has had that real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience being in a romance novel," he said. "To them, I would just offer that we were very intentional in the making of this movie."

Approximately 1 million taxpayers will automatically receive special payments of up to $1,400 from the IRS in the coming weeks. The money will be directly deposited into eligible people's bank accounts or sent in the mail by a paper check.

The IRS said it's distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who failed to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns. People who missed one of the COVID stimulus payments or had received less than the full amount were able to claim the credit. But the IRS on Friday said it discovered many eligible taxpayers hadn't done so.

Looking at our internal data, we realized that one million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.

Here's more about the unexpected cash this group of taxpayers will soon receive:

What's the likelihood I'll receive a check?

Sorry, it's probably pretty low. The IRS said most taxpayers eligible for the federal stimulus payments, formally known as Economic Impact Payments, have already received them.

The special payments announced by the IRS are being sent to those taxpayers who filed a 2021 tax return but left the data field for the Recovery Rebate Credit blank or they filled it out as $0 when they were actually eligible for the credit.

How will this work?

Eligible taxpayers don't have to take any action. The payments will go out automatically this month and should arrive by direct deposit or check by late January 2025. They'll be sent to the bank account listed on the taxpayer's 2023 return or to the address IRS has on file.

Payments will vary but the maximum amount will be $1,400 per individual. The IRS has posted information online about eligibility and how the payment was calculated.

IRS plans to send separate letters to eligible taxpayers notifying them of the special payment.

What if I haven't filed my 2021 tax return yet?

You still might be able to receive the money. However, taxpayers need to file a tax return and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit by the April 15, 2025 deadline, even if any income from a job, business or other source was minimal or nonexistent, according to IRS.

How many rounds of COVID stimulus payments were there?

There were three rounds of payments to households impacted by the pandemic, totaling $814 billion. IRS based the amounts that taxpayers received on their income, tax filing status and number of children or qualifying dependents.

In March 2020, eligible individuals received up to $1,200 per income tax filer and $500 per child under the CARES Act. In December 2020, eligible individuals received up to $600 per income tax filer and $600 per child under the Consolidated Appropriations Act. In March 2021, eligible individuals received up to $1,400 per income tax filer and $1,400 per child under the American Rescue Plan Act.

President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.

The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities.

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It means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburghs Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

Ive dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system, Biden said in a statement. Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.

The Biden administration in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment to study the protocols used, which suspended executions during Biden's term. But Biden actually had promised to go further on the issue in the past, pledging to end federal executions without the caveats for terrorism and hate-motivated, mass killings.

While running for president in 2020, Biden's campaign website said he would work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal governments example.

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Similar language didn't appear on Biden's reelection website before he left the presidential race in July.

Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss, Biden's statement said. But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.

He took a political jab at Trump, saying, In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has spoken frequently of expanding executions. In a speech announcing his 2024 campaign, Trump called for those caught selling drugs to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts. He later promised to execute drug and human smugglers and even praised China's harsher treatment of drug peddlers. During his first term as president, Trump also advocated for the death penalty for drug dealers.

There were 13 federal executions during Trump's first term, more than under any president in modern history, and some may have happened fast enough to have contributed to the spread of the coronavirus at the federal death row facility in Indiana.

Those were the first federal executions since 2003. The final three occurred after Election Day in November 2020 but before Trump left office the following January, the first time federal prisoners were put to death by a lame-duck president since Grover Cleveland in 1889.

Biden faced recent pressure from advocacy groups urging him to act to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The president's announcement also comes less than two weeks after he commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and of 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes, the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

RELATED STORY | Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Biden's pardon of his son Hunter, an AP-NORC poll finds

The announcement also followed the post-election pardon that Biden granted his son Hunter on federal gun and tax charges after long saying he would not issue one, sparking an uproar in Washington. The pardon also raised questions about whether he would issue sweeping preemptive pardons for administration officials and other allies who the White House worries could be unjustly targeted by Trumps second administration.

Speculation that Biden could commute federal death sentences intensified last week after the White House announced he plans to visit Italy on the final foreign trip of his presidency next month. Biden, a practicing Catholic, will meet with Pope Francis, who recently called for prayers for U.S. death row inmates in hopes their sentences will be commuted.

Martin Luther King III, who publicly urged Biden to change the death sentences, said in a statement issued by the White House that the president "has done what no president before him was willing to do: take meaningful and lasting action not just to acknowledge the death penaltys racist roots but also to remedy its persistent unfairness.

Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the men whose death sentence was converted, said the execution of "the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace."

The president has done what is right here, Oliverio said in a statement also issued by the White House, and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.

German authorities said they received tipoffs last year about the suspect in a car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg as more details emerged on Sunday about the five people killed.

Authorities have identified the suspect as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency. Police havent publicly named the suspect, in line with privacy rules, but some German news outlets have identified him as Taleb A. and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

Authorities say he does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. He described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam and in many posts on social media expressed support for the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

He is being held in custody as authorities investigate him.

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"This perpetrator acted in an unbelievably cruel and brutal manner like an Islamist terrorist, although he was obviously ideologically an Islamophobe, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Sunday. The views and statements made by the perpetrator are being investigated, as are the tips and procedures that were given to various authorities and the judiciary. The right conclusions must then be drawn from this.

The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Mnch, said in an interview on the German broadcaster ZDF on Saturday that his office received a tipoff from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, which led authorities to launch appropriate investigative measures.

The man also published a huge number of posts on the internet. He also had contact with various authorities, made insults and even threats. However, he was not known to have committed acts of violence, said Mnch, whose office is the German equivalent of the FBI.

He said that the warnings, however, proved to be very unspecific.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also said Saturday on X that it received a tipoff about the suspect in the late summer of last year.

This was taken seriously, like every other of the numerous tips, the office said. But it also noted that it is not an investigative authority and that it referred the information to the responsible authorities. It gave no other details.

The Central Council of Ex-Muslims said in a statement that the suspect had terrorized them for years as it expressed shock at the attack.

He apparently shared beliefs from the far-right spectrum of the AfD and believed in a large-scale conspiracy aimed at Islamizing Germany. His delusional ideas went so far that he assumed that even organizations critical of Islamism were part of the Islamist conspiracy, said the statement.

The group's chairwoman, Mina Ahadi, said in the same statement: At first we suspected that he might be a mole in the Islamist movement. But now I think he is a psychopath who adheres to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies.

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Police in Magdeburg, the capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, said Sunday that those who died were four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy.

Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 in serious condition. They were being treated in multiple hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, and beyond.

The suspect was on Saturday evening brought before a judge, who behind closed doors ordered him to be kept in custody on allegations of murder and attempted murder. He is facing a possible indictment.

The horror triggered by yet another act of mass violence in Germany makes it likely that migration will remain a key issue as the country heads toward an early election on Feb. 23. A deadly knife attack by a suspected Islamic extremist from Syria in Solingen in August pushed the issue to the top of the agenda, and led the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to tighten border security measures.

Right-wing figures from across Europe have criticized German authorities for having allowed high levels of migration in the past and for what they see as security failures now.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, who is known for a strong anti-migration position going back years, used the attack in Germany to lash out at the European Unions migration policies and described it as a terrorist act.

At an annual press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Orbn insisted that there is no doubt that there is a link between the changed world in Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and terrorist acts.

Orbn vowed to fight back against the EU migration policies and alleged without evidence that Brussels wants Magdeburg to happen to Hungary, too.

Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent friendly fire incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemens Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. militarys Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18, Central Command said in a statement.

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From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the Red Rippers of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Incoming hostile fire from the Houthis has given sailors just seconds to make decisions in the past.

Since the Truman's arrival, the U.S. has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility, without elaborating.

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. The Houthis later acknowledged the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.

RELATED STORY | Yemen Houthi rebels fire missile at US warship in Red Sea

Israels grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesnt distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israels campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel itself with drones and missiles, resulting in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

A nearly two-year investigation by Democratic senators of Supreme Court ethics details more luxury travel by Justice Clarence Thomas and urges Congress to establish a way to enforce a new code of conduct.

Any movement on the issue appears unlikely as Republicans prepare to take control of the Senate in January, underscoring the hurdles in imposing restrictions on a separate branch of government even as public confidence in the court has fallen to record lows.

The 93-page report released Saturday by the Democratic majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee found additional travel taken in 2021 by Thomas but not reported on his annual financial disclosure form: a private jet flight to New York's Adirondacks in July and a jet and yacht trip to New York City sponsored by billionaire Harlan Crow in October, one of more than two dozen times detailed in the report that Thomas took luxury travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors.

The court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023, but it leaves compliance to each of the nine justices.

The highest court in the land cant have the lowest ethical standards, the committee chairman, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, said in a statement. He has long called for an enforceable code of ethics.

Republicans protested the subpoenas authorized for Crow and others as part of the investigation. No Republicans signed on to the final report, and no formal report from them was expected.

Attorney Mark Paoletta, a longtime friend of Thomas who has been tapped for the incoming Trump administration, said the report was aimed at conservatives whose rulings Democrats disagreed with.

This entire investigation was never about ethics but about trying to undermine the Supreme Court," Paoletta said in a statement posted on X.

The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thomas has said he was not required to disclose the trips that he and his wife, Ginni, took with Crow because the big donor is a close friend of the family and disclosure of that type of travel was not previously required. The new ethics code does explicitly require it, and Thomas has since gone back and reported some travel. Crow has maintained that he has never spoken with his friend about pending matters before the court.

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The report traces back to Justice Antonin Scalia, saying he established the practice of accepting undisclosed gifts and hundreds of trips over his decades on the bench. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and retired Justice Stephen Breyer also took subsided trips but disclosed them on their annual forms, it said.

The investigation found that Thomas has accepted gifts and travel from wealthy benefactors worth more than $4.75 million by some estimates since his 1991 confirmation and failed to disclose much of it. The number, value, and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history, according to the report.

It also detailed a 2008 luxury trip to Alaska taken by Justice Samuel Alito. He has said he was exempted from disclosing the trip under previous ethical rules.

Alito also declined calls to withdraw from cases involving Donald Trump or the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol after flags associated with the riot were seen flying at two of Alito's homes. Alito has said the flags were raised by this wife.

Thomas has ignored calls to step aside from cases involving Trump, too. Ginni Thomas supported Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that the Republican lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The report also pointed to scrutiny of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who, aided by her staff, has advanced sales of her books through college visits over the past decade. Justices have also heard cases involving their book publishers, or involving companies in which justices owned stock.

Biden has been the most prominent Democrat calling for a binding code of conduct. Justice Elena Kagan has publicly backed adopting an enforcement mechanism, though some ethics experts have said it could be legally tricky.

Justice Neil Gorsuch recently cited the code when he recused himself from an environmental case. He had been facing calls to step aside because the outcome could stand to benefit a Colorado billionaire whom Gorsuch represented before becoming a judge.

Pope Francis told Vatican bureaucrats on Saturday to stop speaking ill of one another, as he once again used his annual Christmas greetings to admonish the backstabbing and gossiping among his closest collaborators.

A wheezing and congested-sounding Francis, who just turned 88, urged the prelates instead to speak well of one another and undertake a humble examination of their own consciences in the Christmas holiday season.

A church community lives in joyful and fraternal harmony to the extent that its members walk in the life of humility, renouncing evil thinking and speaking ill of others, Francis said. Gossip is an evil that destroys social life, sickens peoples hearts and leads to nothing. The people say it very well: Gossip is zero.

Beware of this, he added.

By now, Francis annual Christmas address to the priests, bishops and cardinals who work in the Vatican Curia has become a lesson in humility - and humiliation -- as Francis offers a public dressing down of some of the sins in the workplace at the headquarters of the Catholic Church.

In the most biting edition, in 2014, Francis listed the 15 ailments of the Curia, in which he accused the prelates of using their Vatican careers to grab power and wealth. He accused them of living hypocritical double lives and forgetting due to spiritual Alzheimers that theyre supposed to be joyful men of God.

In 2022, Francis warned them that the devil lurks among them, saying it is an elegant demon that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith.

This year, Francis revisited a theme he has often warned about: gossiping and speaking ill of people behind their backs. It was a reference to the sometimes toxic atmosphere in closed environments such as the Vatican or workplaces where office gossip and criticism circulate but are rarely aired in public.

RELATED STORY | Inclusion in Catholicism: Pope Francis' efforts into LGBTQ+ acceptance

Francis has long welcomed frank and open debates and even has welcomed criticism of his own work. But he has urged critics to tell it to his face, and not behind his back.

Francis opened his address Saturday with a reminder of the devastation of the war in Gaza, where he said even his patriarch had been unable to enter due to Israeli bombing.

"Yesterday, children have been bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war," he said.

The annual appointment kicks off Francis busy Christmas schedule, this year made even more strenuous because of the start of the Vaticans Holy Year on Christmas Eve. The Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome in 2025, and Francis has a dizzying calendar of events to minister to them.

After addressing the Vatican prelates, Francis issued a less critical address to the Vaticans lay employees who gathered in the city state's main audience hall along with their families. Francis thanked them for their service and urged them to make sure they take time to play with their children and visit their grandparents.

If you have any particular problems, tell your bosses, we want to resolve them, he added at the end. You do this with dialogue, not by keeping quiet. Together well try to resolve the difficulties.

It was an apparent reference to reports of growing unease within the Vatican workforce that has been called out by the Association of Vatican Lay Employees, the closest thing the Vatican has to a labor union. The association has in recent months voiced alarm about the health of the Vatican pension system and fears of even more cost-cutting, and demanded the Vatican leadership listen to workers concerns.

Earlier this year 49 employees of the Vatican Museums the Holy See's main source of revenue filed a class-action lawsuit in the Vatican tribunal complaining about labor woes, overtime and working conditions.

Unlike Italy, which has robust labor laws protecting workers' rights, Vatican employees often find they have fewer legal recourses available to them when problems arise. Employment in the Vatican however is often sought-after by Italian Catholics: Aside from the sense of service to the church, Vatican employment offers tax-free benefits and access to below-market housing.

The man accused of gunning down United Healthcares CEO outside a Manhattan hotel is now jailed in New York, awaiting arraignment Monday on a state murder indictment after he was returned to the city in dramatic fashion to face charges in multiple courts.

Shackled and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was escorted Thursday by heavily armed police officers and whisked by air from Pennsylvania to Manhattan, where he appeared in a packed courtroom on federal charges that could bring the death penalty.

The Ivy League graduate, who prosecutors say inveighed against the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in his writings, was not required to enter a plea to federal charges of murder, stalking and firearms charges in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson. The state indictment charges Mangione with murder as a terrorist act.

Heres whats next in the cases:

Jailed in Brooklyn

Mangione is being held without bail at Metropolitan Detention Center, the same federal jail where hip-hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried are currently detained.

The notorious Brooklyn facility, the only federal lockup in the city, has been variously described as hell on earth and an ongoing tragedy because of deplorable conditions, rampant violence, dysfunction and multiple deaths.

The federal Bureau of Prisons has said it is increasing staffing to make up for staggering shortfalls, but conditions have been so stark at the jail, which houses about 1,100 inmates, that some judges have refused to send people there.

State charges pending

Besides the federal charges filed Thursday, Mangione must still answer to a state murder indictment.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office charged Mangione with murder as an act of terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. He is also charged with state weapons offenses and possession of a fake ID.

Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.

Mangiones lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, argued in court Thursday that the terrorism allegations in the state case and stalking charges in the federal complaint appear to be at odds.

Those are two completely different theories, she said. These seem like different cases.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 upheld a longstanding constitutional rule allowing state and federal governments to prosecute someone for the same crime.

RELATED STORY | Appearing in NY court, CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione doesn't seek bail

Next court appearance

Mangione is set to be arraigned Monday in Manhattan on the state indictment, according to Bragg's office.

The University of Pennsylvania alum, who hailed from a prominent Maryland family and had also lived in Hawaii, had been expected to be arraigned Thursday on the state charges before the federal charges preempted that appearance.

In the federal case, Mangione could next return to court for a bail hearing or for a preliminary hearing if prosecutors dont obtain a grand jury indictment by mid-January.

Death penalty looms

New York effectively effectively abolished its death penalty by 2007 and the last execution in the state was in 1963. But the federal death penalty remains in effect.

The federal complaint filed against Mangione includes a count of murder by firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted.

Federal prosecutors have not said if they will seek the death penalty. That decision will be made in coming months by Justice Department officials in Washington, likely after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.

President Joe Biden's administration put a moratorium on federal executions soon after he took office in 2021, but that hasn't stopped federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

In contrast, Trump's administration carried out 13 executions in the last six months of his first term.

Pennsylvania charges on standby

Mangione also faces forgery and firearms charges in Pennsylvania stemming from his arrest last week, but those will likely not be addressed until the New York charges are resolved.

He initially fought attempts to be returned to New York, but ultimately waived extradition and a preliminary hearing on the Pennsylvania charges on Thursday.

He is now in their custody, Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said after Mangione was extradited to New York. We intend to keep our case active and we intend to essentially revisit the case when the defendant is available for prosecution in Blair County.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade, according to a report released Thursday that illustrates some of the financial and operational challenges that President-elect Donald Trump will face to carry out his pledge of mass deportations.

ICE, the main government agency responsible for removing people in the country illegally, had 271,484 deportations in its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, nearly double from 142,580 in the same period a year earlier.

It was ICE's highest deportation count since 2014, when it removed 315,943 people. The highest it reached during Trump's first term in the White House was 267,258 in 2019.

Increased deportation flights, including on weekends, and streamlined travel procedures for people sent to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador fueled the increase, ICE said. The agency had its first large flight to China in six years and also had planes stop in Albania, Angola, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Mauritania, Romania, Senegal, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

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Also Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said authorities made 46,612 arrests for crossing the border illegally from Mexico in November, down 18% from 56,526 a month earlier and more than 80% from an all-time high of 250,000 in December 2023. Arrests fell by half when Mexican authorities increased enforcement within their own borders a year ago and by half again when President Joe Biden introduced severe asylum restrictions in June. The November numbers were the lowest since July 2020 and indicate that a widely anticipated spike after Trump was elected president didn't happen immediately.

Over the 12-month period ended Sept. 30, Mexico was the most common destination for deportees (87,298), followed by Guatemala (66,435) and Honduras (45,923), the ICE report said. Mexico and Central American countries are expected to continue to bear the brunt of deportations, partly because those governments more readily accept their respective citizens than some others and logistics are easier.

Still, ICE's detention space and staff limited its reach as the number of people it monitors through immigration courts continued to mushroom. The agency's enforcement and removals unit has remained steady at around 6,000 officers over the last decade while its caseload has roughly quadrupled to 7.6 million, up from 6.1 million in the last year alone.

ICE detained an average of 37,700 people a day over the recent 12-month period, a number determined by congressional funding. With detention space a potential hurdle for mass deportations, the state of Texas is offering rural land as a staging area.

ICE made 113,431 arrests during the latest period, down 34% from 170,590 a year earlier. The agency said a need to focus resources on the border with Mexico diverted attention from making arrests in the country's interior.

The military's tradition of tracking Santa Claus on his gravity-defying sweep across the globe will carry on this Christmas Eve, even if the U.S. government shuts down, officials said Friday.

Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santas location. Millions more follow online.

We fully expect for Santa to take flight on Dec. 24 and NORAD will track him," the U.S.-Canadian agency said in a statement.

On any other night, NORAD is scanning the heavens for potential threats, such as last year's Chinese spy balloon. But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, are fielding questions like, When is Santa coming to my house? and, Am I on the naughty or nice list?

The endeavor is supported by local and corporate sponsors, who also help shield the tradition from Washington dysfunction.

Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer, told The Associated Press that there are "screams and giggles and laughter when families call in, usually on speakerphone.

Sommers often says on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives, prompting parents to say, "Do you hear what he said? We got to go to bed early."

NORAD's annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War, predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics. Here's how it began and why the phones keep ringing.

The origin story is Hollywood-esque

It started with a child's accidental phone call in 1955. The Colorado Springs newspaper printed a Sears advertisement that encouraged children to call Santa, listing a phone number.

A boy called. But he reached the Continental Air Defense Command, now NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian effort to spot potential enemy attacks. Tensions were growing with the Soviet Union, along with anxieties about nuclear war.

Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup picked up an emergency-only red phone and was greeted by a tiny voice that began to recite a Christmas wish list.

He went on a little bit, and he takes a breath, then says, Hey, youre not Santa, Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999.

Realizing an explanation would be lost on the youngster, Shoup summoned a deep, jolly voice and replied, Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good boy?

Shoup said he learned from the boy's mother that Sears mistakenly printed the top-secret number. He hung up, but the phone soon rang again with a young girl reciting her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day followed, he said.

In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80-foot (18-by-24-meter) plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects. A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole.

The tradition was born.

Note to the kiddies, began an AP story from Colorado Springs on Dec. 23, 1955. Santa Claus Friday was assured safe passage into the United States by the Continental Air Defense Command.

In a likely reference to the Soviets, the article noted that Santa was guarded against possible attack from "those who do not believe in Christmas.

Is the origin story humbug?

Some grinchy journalists have nitpicked Shoup's story, questioning whether a misprint or a misdial prompted the boy's call.

In 2014, tech news site Gizmodo cited an International News Service story from Dec. 1, 1955, about a child's call to Shoup. Published in the Pasadena Independent, the article said the child reversed two digits in the Sears number.

"When a childish voice asked COC commander Col. Harry Shoup, if there was a Santa Claus at the North Pole, he answered much more roughly than he should considering the season:

There may be a guy called Santa Claus at the North Pole, but hes not the one I worry about coming from that direction,'" Shoup said in the brief piece.

In 2015, The Atlantic magazine doubted the flood of calls to the secret line, while noting that Shoup had a flair for public relations.

Phone calls aside, Shoup was indeed media savvy. In 1986, he told the Scripps Howard News Service that he recognized an opportunity when a staff member drew Santa on the glass map in 1955.

A lieutenant colonel promised to have it erased. But Shoup said, You leave it right there, and summoned public affairs. Shoup wanted to boost morale for the troops and public alike.

Why, it made the military look good like were not all a bunch of snobs who dont care about Santa Claus, he said.

Shoup died in 2009. His children told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014 that it was a misprinted Sears ad that prompted the phone calls.

And later in life he got letters from all over the world, said Terri Van Keuren, a daughter. "People saying Thank you, Colonel, for having, you know, this sense of humor.

A rare addition to Santa's story

NORAD's tradition is one of the few modern additions to the centuries-old Santa story that have endured, according to Gerry Bowler, a Canadian historian who spoke to the AP in 2010.

Ad campaigns or movies try to kidnap Santa for commercial purposes, said Bowler, who wrote Santa Claus: A Biography. NORAD, by contrast, takes an essential element of Santa's story and views it through a technological lens.

In a recent interview with the AP, Air Force Lt. Gen. Case Cunningham explained that NORAD radars in Alaska and Canada known as the northern warning system are the first to detect Santa.

He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. From there he moves west, following the night.

That's when the satellite systems we use to track and identify targets of interest every single day start to kick in, Cunningham said. A probably little-known fact is that Rudolphs nose that glows red emanates a lot of heat. And so those satellites track (Santa) through that heat source.

NORAD has an app and website, www.noradsanta.org, that will track Santa on Christmas Eve from 4 a.m. to midnight, mountain standard time. People can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask live operators about Santas location from 6 a.m. to midnight, mountain time.

A car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring at least 68 others in what authorities suspect was an attack.

The driver of the car was arrested, German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Saxony-Anhalts interior minister, Tamara Zieschang, told reporters that the suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who first came to Germany in 2006.

As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city," Saxony-Anhalt's governor, Reiner Haseloff, said at a news conference.

Fifteen of the injured were hurt very seriously, according to government officials and the city governments website. It said 37 people had injuries of medium severity and 16 were lightly injured.

Haseloff said the two people who were confirmed to have died were an adult and a small child, but that he couldnt rule out further deaths because so many people were seriously injured.

But that is speculation now. Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many, he said.

Magdeburgs University Hospital said it was taking care of 10 to 20 patients but was preparing for more, dpa reported.

The sounds of sirens from first responders clashed with the markets holiday decorations, including ornaments, stars and leafy garland festooning the vendors booths.

The car drove into the market at around 7 p.m. when it was busy with holiday shoppers looking forward to the weekend.

Its a terrible tragedy this is a catastrophe for the city of Magdeburg and for the state, and for German generally as well, Haseloff said. It is really one of the worst things one can imagine, particularly in connection with what a Christmas market should bring.

Chancellor OIaf Scholz posted on X: My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.

Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 residents.

The suspected attack came eight years after an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. On Dec. 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist plowed through a crowded Christmas with a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world. In Berlin alone, more than 100 markets opened late last month and brought the smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital. Other markets abound across the country.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.