Abu Dhabi wave pool added as new venue on World Surf League 2025 tour
League to stage an event in the Middle East for the first time at Hudayriyat Island in Abu Dhabi. The world’s biggest artificial wave in Abu Dhabi has been added to surfing’s 11-stop world tour for 2025, the World Surf League (WSL) says, with Fiji confirmed to host the finals to crown the world champions at the tour’s conclusion. The tour will again start at Hawaii’s dangerous Banzai Pipeline in late January before heading to the Surf Abu Dhabi wave pool in the United Arab Emirates for the first time. The 75,000sq-metre (807,300sq-foot) pool uses the same technology as California’s Surf Ranch, developed with 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, which has hosted several world tour surfing events to mixed reviews. “We’ve built this schedule to include more events and feature a variety of breaks,” Ryan Crosby, WSL CEO, said on Thursday. “We’ve brought back some of the tour’s most desirable locations while aligning dates with favourable swell windows to open up more opportunity for quality surf. “We’ll see a great mix of locations from heavy-water barrels to high-performance waves and pristine point breaks.” Back on the schedule are the reeling right-hand point breaks of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa, which was skipped to accommodate the Olympics last year, and Snapper Rocks in Australia, which returns to the championship tour after a five-year hiatus. The tour’s controversial mid-season cut, which reduces both the men’s and women’s fields by one-third, remains in place after stop number seven at Margaret River in Western Australia. The change in the season-ending WSL finals to the heaving barrels and long walls of Fiji’s Cloudbreak reef was widely praised by surfers and fans after championships were decided for the past four years at the fun but soft waves of Lower Trestles in California. 2025 WSL world championship tour schedule: Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii, United States: January 27 to February 8 Surf Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: February 14-16 Peniche, Portugal: March 15-25 Punta Roca, El Salvador: April 2-12 Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia: April 18-28 Snapper Rocks, Queensland, Australia: May 3-13 Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia: May 17-27 (mid-season cut) Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California, US: June 9-17 Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 21-29 Jeffreys Bay, South Africa: July 11-20 Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia: August 7-16 WSL finals – Cloudbreak, Fiji: August 27 to September 4 Adblock test (Why?)
Photos: 3 million lose power as Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida
Hurricane Milton is barreling into the Atlantic Ocean after ploughing across Florida. Milton caused at least five deaths and compounded the misery wrought by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, while sparing the city of Tampa a direct hit. The storm weakened in the final hours, making landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 storm in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (113km) south of Tampa. The storm knocked out power to more than three million customers and whipped up a barrage of tornadoes. While it caused a lot of damage and water levels may continue to rise for days, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said it was not “the worst-case scenario.” Jennifer Francis, senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Centre, told Al Jazeera that the powerful storms experienced by the US southeast in recent years are partly a result of man-made climate change. “By putting so many greenhouse gases, carbon-containing gases, into the atmosphere that trap more heat by the surface, most of that heat goes into the ocean,” said Francis. “And we know that heat in the ocean is the fuel that these storms feed off of. What this extra energy does to these storms is make them stronger, it makes them intensify more rapidly, [and] the evaporation from the extra warm water provides more moisture for them to use as rain – and we’ve seen the very heavy rain totals coming out of these storms,” she added. Adblock test (Why?)
TD Bank pleads guilty to US charges, faces business restrictions
Federal authorities began probing TD’s internal controls after agents discovered a Chinese criminal operation bribed employees and brought large bags of cash into branches to launder millions of dollars. Two TD Bank units have pleaded guilty to United States criminal charges and agreed to pay $3bn in combined penalties to resolve federal government probes into money laundering, US authorities have said. The plea deal includes imposition of an asset cap and other limitations to its business, authorities said on Thursday. The bank has pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and conspiring to fail to file accurate reports or maintain a compliant anti-money laundering programme, the US Department of Justice said. The cap on its asset expansion in the US, imposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is a rare step typically reserved for severe cases. It would deal a major blow to TD’s hopes to expand further in the US, which accounts for about a third of the bank’s income. TD also agreed to pay $3bn in combined penalties to US banking regulators, the Justice Department and the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The deal resolved investigations by the Justice Department, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. It also included the imposition of independent monitoring. An asset cap is “worst-case scenario” for TD, said Cormark Securities analyst Lemar Persaud, prior to the details of the plea deal being announced. The bank had already set aside $3bn for the fine. Persaud drew a parallel with Wells Fargo, which has a $1.95 trillion asset cap in place following a fake accounts scandal, which has constrained its earnings. An asset cap would also constrain TD’s profits, but to a lesser extent than it did for Wells Fargo, he said. The TD probe has led to “significant underperformance of the stock and, we believe, the retirement of the current CEO Bharat Masrani,” Persaud said. TD is Canada’s second-biggest bank and the 10th-largest in the US. The lender first revealed it was responding to inquiries from regulators and law enforcement last year, just months after it terminated a $13bn acquisition of regional lender First Horizon. Federal authorities began probing TD’s internal controls after agents discovered a Chinese criminal operation bribed employees and brought large bags of cash into branches to launder millions of dollars in fentanyl sales through TD branches in New York and New Jersey, a source confirmed. TD has spent millions to strengthen its compliance programmes, fired dozens of staff at its US branches and named its Canadian personal banking head Ray Chun as its new CEO, distancing its new chief from the money laundering scandal. CEO Masrani, who has been at the helm for nearly a decade and previously led its US operations, will retire next year. Masrani has said he takes full responsibility for the money laundering issues that have plagued the bank. Adblock test (Why?)
Immigrants brought to the U.S. as children ask judges to keep protections against deportation
Texas and other GOP-led states filed the lawsuit seeking to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gives protection to more than 500,000 immigrants.
“Should we be worried?”: Another well blowout in West Texas has a town smelling of rotten eggs
Experts warn that more blowouts should be expected unless oil and gas companies change their methods
Dem lawmaker reintroduces death row appeals bill allowing for introduction of newly discovered evidence
Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson re-introduced a death row appeals bill that would allow death row inmates the opportunity to introduce newly discovered evidence in their appeal. H.R. 9868, also called the Effective Death Penalty Act, was initially introduced in 2009 and later in 2020. The bill would amend a provision in the U.S. Code that currently governs circumstances under which a state prisoner can file a habeas corpus petition. “We’ve got innocent people on death row right now with no opportunity to show compelling new evidence of innocence,” Johnson said in a press statement released on Wednesday. “The status quo is inhumane and unconstitutional.” TEXAS DEATH ROW INMATE’S LAWYER SAYS ‘THERE WAS NO CRIME’ AS SHE MAKES LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE HIS LIFE Under current law, a federal court cannot grant a habeas corpus petition unless the petitioner has already exhausted all state court remedies. This requirement was explained by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999, with the Court stating that such a requirement “is designed to give the state courts a full and fair opportunity to resolve federal constitutional claims before those claims are presented to federal courts.” The bill would allow a death row inmate to not only introduce newly discovered evidence that “demonstrates that the applicant is probably not guilty of the underlying offense,” but to also raise an ineffective counsel claim on direct appeal. Some states do not currently allow for such a claim on direct appeal. The added provision comes as a result of the 2022 Supreme Court case, Shinn v. Ramirez, when the Court held that a habeas corpus court may not conduct an evidentiary hearing or consider evidence beyond the state-court record based on an ineffective counsel claim. OKLAHOMA AG SUPPORTS NEW TRIAL FOR DEATH ROW INMATE WHO HAS HAD 3 ‘LAST MEALS’ “I believe we should completely abolish the death penalty, but while 25 states – half of which are in the South – still have some form of capital punishment on their books and some states like Alabama, Texas and Georgia continue to hold state executions – America needs the Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act to help wrongly convicted people on death row present newly discovered evidence that they are innocent,” Johnson said in the statement. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-ME, Democratic House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., are co-sponsoring the bill. The Supreme Court, which kicked off its new term earlier this month, heard oral arguments Wednesday on an appeal from Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip, who has maintained his innocence in connection with a 1997 murder-for-hire of the owner of a motel he previously worked at. Glossip’s initial conviction was reversed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals after the court found he had received “constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel in numerous respects,” according to the brief filed. Glossip now argues before the Supreme Court that he did not receive a fair trial as a result of the prosecution suppressing evidence of a key prosecution witness’s testimony. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in hearing the appeal due to his prior involvement in the appeals process while serving on a lower court.
DHS Sec. Mayorkas says FEMA ‘will need additional funds’ after Hurricanes Helene, Milton
Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed on Thursday that FEMA “will need more funds” after responding to hurricanes Helene and Milton. Mayorkas made the statement while answering questions from reporters at the White House press briefing on Thursday. He said FEMA has enough funds to address the “immediate needs” of people affected by both hurricanes, but urged Congress to move quickly. “President Biden indicated that FEMA and the Department of Defense would have to get through their immediate needs in this recovery phase. I’m wondering, after your early assessments of damage from Hurricane Milton, coupled with the damage from Hurricane Helene, do you still believe that to be the case?” a reporter asked. “Yes, I do,” Mayorkas responded. “We have the resources to respond to the immediate needs of individuals impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, and the associated – it’s very important to remember – the tornadoes associated with the hurricane.” VIDEO RESURFACES SHOWING FEMA PRIORITIZING EQUITY OVER HELPING GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN DISASTER RELIEF “That being said, we will need additional funds, and we implore Congress when it returns to, in fact, fund FEMA as is needed,” he added. FEMA HEAD DENIES AGENCY IS SHORT ON MONEY FOR DISASTER RELIEF BECAUSE FUNDS WENT TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS Mayorkas appeared at the briefing remotely from North Carolina, where he is helping coordinate response efforts. Earlier this week, FEMA revealed that it had less than 10% of front-line staff available for deployment amid preparations for Milton. FEMA released a daily briefing on Wednesday revealing the agency had only 8%, or 1,115, FEMA staff members currently available as preparations continued. This number represents a significant drop in availability from a year prior, after an operations briefing from late September 2023 showed the agency had 20% of the same staff available for deployment. SPEAKER JOHNSON ADDRESSES CLAIMS FEMA DIVERTED FUNDS TO IMMIGRATION EFFORTS: ‘AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE DISGUSTED’ A FEMA spokesperson indicated to Fox News Digital that the availability numbers released by the agency are only in reference to the cadre of staffers who are part of FEMA’s incident management core capacity. They are the first line of FEMA staffers to deploy in any disaster. Meanwhile, the FEMA spokesperson pointed out the agency has a total workforce of 22,000 staffers it can call on, as well as resources from other agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has deployed 10,000 National Guard members in the response to Milton. Roughly 3,000 of those have been sent from other states to aid the recovery effort. Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
Walz silent on support for eliminating Electoral College after Harris camp says it doesn’t back ban
Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, remained silent Thursday on whether he still supports eliminating the Electoral College, after the Harris campaign insisted his position did not reflect that of the campaign’s. “I think all of us know, the Electoral College needs to go. We need a national popular vote,” Walz said during a campaign fundraiser Tuesday at the home of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Walz made similar comments at an earlier fundraiser in Seattle as well. While running for president in 2019, Harris said she was “open” to the idea of abolishing the Electoral College. However, according to campaign officials pressed on the issue following Walz’s remarks, eliminating the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote is not an official position of Harris’ current campaign. Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Walz repeatedly to inquire whether he still supports replacing the Electoral College with a national popular vote, particularly after his campaign came out against it. A response was never received, but the Harris-Walz campaign did release a statement to certain news outlets suggesting Walz’s remarks were intended to express support for the Electoral College process. IF 2024 POLLING ERRORS MIRROR THOSE IN 2020 ELECTION, TRUMP ‘WINS IN A BLOWOUT,’ CNN DATA GURU SAYS “Governor Walz believes that every vote matters in the Electoral College and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket,” a Harris campaign spokesperson said in a statement sent to select media outlets like CNN and USA Today. “He was commenting to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes. And, he was thanking them for their support that is helping fund those efforts.” Debate over whether a national popular vote should replace the Electoral College surged in 2016 when Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote, cementing his victory despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. “I think it needs to be eliminated,” Clinton told CNN after her 2016 loss to Trump. “I’d like to see us move beyond it, yes.” Clinton made similar calls earlier in her career as well. Just last month, Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin suggested there could be deadly consequences for Americans if the Electoral College was not done away with. Raskin said a national popular vote was a far better option than the current “convoluted, antique, obsolete system from the 18th century, which these days can get you killed as nearly it did on Jan. 6, 2021.” NEBRASKA GOP SENATOR OPPOSES ELECTORAL COLLEGE CHANGE THAT MAY HAVE HELPED TRUMP WIN RE-ELECTION The Electoral College has been something that both Republicans and Democrats have tried to do away with in the past, but contemporary calls for its abolition surged among Democrats after Clinton’s loss. The process was established by the nation’s Founding Fathers, seen as a compromise between the election of president by vote in Congress and election by a popular vote of qualified citizens. Electoral College votes, of which 270 are needed for any presidential candidate to win, are allocated based on the Census. The process effectively allows voters in states with lower populations to have a similar impact on the election as those voters living in higher population densities. The Electoral College is also thought to be a protective measure against super thin margins and excessive recounts. In May 2023, as governor, Walz signed a broad ranging election bill that included a provision to allocate the state’s electors based on who receives the most votes nationwide, even if it doesn’t match the outcome in their state. The measure, known as the “National Popular Vote Interstate Compact,” has been supported by 17 states and the District of Columbia, but will only take effect after all the states that have signed on have a total electoral vote count of 270. Right now, those supporting the reform only have 209, according to CBS News. Polling from the Pew Research Center released last month showed a majority of Americans favor moving away from the Electoral College. Since 2016, the sentiment has steadily increased, and, according to Pew, more than 6 in 10 Americans today prefer the national popular vote over the Electoral College. Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, a nonprofit that advocates in favor of retaining the Electoral College, argued Walz “said the quiet part out loud” when he insisted the Electoral College should be eliminated. “Democrat leaders don’t think they should have to campaign in places like Michigan and North Carolina, they want California and New York to decide every election,” Snead argued. “There is a pattern here. Democrats claim to love democracy, then set their sights on any institution that stands between them and political power: the Supreme Court, the Senate filibuster, and the Electoral College.”
Contentious exchanges over illegal immigration front and center in Arizona Senate debate
Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego faced off against Republican challenger Kari Lake on Wednesday night and wasted no time exchanging blows over the illegal immigration crisis plaguing the state’s southern border. Lake, trailing behind Gallego entering into the debate, appeared much more on the offensive. Meanwhile, Gallego – a five-term member in Congress – appeared more relaxed, given his comfortable lead in several recent polls. The two candidates sparred over border security and abortion in the first half of the debate night. Lake touted H.R. 2 – the House GOP-led bill that would tighten border security – while Gallego pointed to his support for the failed bipartisan border bill that Democrats, Republicans and White House officials negotiated earlier this year. BATTLEGROUND SENATE CANDIDATE UNLOADS ON ‘RADICAL’ DEM OPPONENT FOR DISPARAGING TRUMP VOTERS Gallego also accused Lake of wanting to deport Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, while Lake accused Gallego of not wanting to deport any of the illegal immigrants who have crossed the border over the last three and a half years. “Dealing with the people who’ve poured in during the Bidenvasion, the 20 million people who have come in unvetted into our country, we must deal with them in order to save our homeland,” Lake said during the debate. “We must send them back to their homeland. I’m talking about the people came in unvetted in the past three and a half years. I’m not talking about the dreamers.” “Do you want to deport any of the people who’ve invaded our country in the last three and a half years? Ruben, do want to deport any of them?” Lake probed. “Yes, actually we should have a proper deport deportation proceedings,” Gallego replied. “But I also think that we shouldn’t deport Dreamers.” ENIGMATIC VOTER GROUP COULD SPLIT TICKET FOR TRUMP, DEM SENATE CANDIDATE IN ARIZONA “She says she’s going to deport people. Will you deport those Dreamers? Just be honest, yes or no,” Gallego said. Lake responded that former President Donald Trump wanted to make a deal when it came to Dreamers, which Gallego did not support. “You said no. Unfortunately, the radical Democrats, like my opponent, would rather use people as political pawns. I want to secure the border,” Lake said. Though it was a debate for the Arizona Senate seat, the debate did not shy away from weighing into national waters. Other issues like reducing inflation and re-federalizing Roe v. Wade came up later in the debate. At one point during the night, Gallego took a swipe at Lake, accusing her of spending more time at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago than visiting the border. Lake also made sure to align herself as a strong Trump ally throughout the night who would restore a “strong Trump economy,” while painting Gallego as a supporter of “Kamala Harris, the border czar, and Joe Biden’s open border.” IN ARIZONA SPEECH, VANCE SAYS NEXT PRESIDENT MUST PUT AMERICANS FIRST, SLAMS FEMA MONEY FOR MIGRANTS When it came to abortion, which Democrats have selected as one of their winning platform issues this election cycle, Lake said she opposed a federal abortion ban, but Gallego pointed to her supporting the state’s 1864 near-total ban in 2022. Gallegho said “it is absolutely abhorrent” that his 15-month-old daughter “has less rights in control of her body than her mother and then her grandma.” State law currently bans abortion at 15 weeks gestation. “And the reason we need to codify [Roe v. Wade] because people like Kari Lake are the ones that make this a dangerous situation,” he said. Lake responded that abortion rights should be “left to the states.” The debate came on the first day of early voting for Arizona, as the state’s Senate race is one of the highly contested seats this election cycle.
DeSantis fires back at Harris over hurricane response: ‘She has no role in this process’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bashed Vice President Kamala Harris for attempting to insert herself into the response to hurricanes Helene and Milton on Thursday. DeSantis and Harris have clashed in recent days after the governor declined to take a call from Harris regarding the hurricane response. He said Thursday that Harris has “no role” in the process and added that she had never attempted to call him during previous storms in Florida. “I am working with the president of the United States. I’m working with the director of FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]. We’ve been doing this now nonstop for over two weeks,” DeSantis said Thursday. “Although I’ve worked well with the president, she has never called Florida. She has never offered any support,” he said of Harris. “I don’t have time for those games. I don’t care about her campaign. Obviously, I’m not a supporter of hers, but she’s not, she has no role in this process. And so I’m working with the people I need to be working with.” RON DESANTIS: 51 COUNTIES ARE UNDER A STATE OF EMERGENCY The spat between DeSantis and Harris made its way to the White House press office on Wednesday, with a reporter asking President Biden whether it was the governor’s responsibility to take the vice president’s calls. ROOF OF TROPICANA FIELD RIPPED OPEN BY HURRICANE MILTON “All I can tell you is I’ve talked to Governor DeSantis,” Biden answered. “He’s been very gracious. He thanked me for all we’ve done. He knows what we’re doing, and I think that’s important.” Biden has had multiple phone calls with DeSantis since Hurricane Helene began barreling down on the Southeast two weeks ago, followed by Hurricane Milton making landfall late Wednesday, and told both DeSantis and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to “call him directly” if any further support is needed. HURRICANE MILTON FORCES ST. PETERSBURG CRANE COLLAPSE DeSantis, meanwhile, noted Tuesday morning that all his federal requests for more support have been answered. Harris has accused DeSantis of “playing political games” amid the hurricanes. “People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment, in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris told reporters Monday. Biden, by contrast, had instead referred to the Florida governor as “cooperative.”