Justices spar in latest clash of religion and gay rights

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court 's conservative majority sounded sympathetic Monday to a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, the latest collision of religion and gay rights to land at the high court.

The designer and her supporters say that ruling against her would force artists - from painters and photographers to writers and musicians - to do work that is against their beliefs.

Her opponents, meanwhile, say that if she wins, a range of businesses will be able to discriminate, refusing to serve Black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or 안전한놀이터 interfaith couples or immigrants.

Over more than two hours of spirited arguments, the justices repeatedly tested out what ruling for the designer could mean, using detailed and sometimes colorful hypothetical scenarios.
Those included a Black Santa asked to take a picture with a child dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit, a photographer asked to take pictures for the marital infidelity website Ashley Madison, and an invented food business called "Grandma Helen's Protestant Provisions."

The case comes at a time when the court is dominated 6-3 by conservatives and follows a series of cases in which the justices have sided with religious plaintiffs.

Across the street from the court, meanwhile, lawmakers in Congress are finalizing what would be a landmark bill protecting same-sex marriage, legislation prompted by a different high court case from earlier this year.

During arguments Monday the court's three liberal justices expressed concerns about ruling for website designer and graphic artist Lorie Smith while conservatives suggested support for her.

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North Carolina blackouts caused by shootings could last days

CARTHAGE, N.C.

(AP) - Tens of thousands of people braced Monday for days without electricity in a North Carolina county where authorities say two power substations were shot up by one or more people with apparent criminal intent.

Across Moore County, many businesses and restaurants displayed "Closed" signs in windows and had empty parking lots at a time of year when they are normally full of tourists and holiday shoppers.

Others handed out free food or coffee, or were able to open by conducting transactions in cash.

The county, located about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of the state capital of Raleigh, announced schools would be closed Tuesday for a second day.

Duke Energy has restored power to roughly 9,000 customers after a peak of about 45,000 customers were without electricity in the county of about 100,000 inhabitants.

Jeff Brooks, a Duke spokesman, said recovery will be gradual, noting "a pretty sophisticated repair with some fairly large equipment" will continue into Thursday.

Gov. Roy Cooper said state and federal investigators "are leaving no stone unturned in this investigation to find those who are responsible.

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Russia claims Kyiv hit its air bases, fires more missiles

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukrainian drones struck two air bases deep inside Russian territory, the Kremlin said Monday, shortly before Russian forces unleashed a massive missile barrage in Ukraine that struck homes and buildings and killed civilians.

The unprecedented attack in Russia threatened a major escalation of the nine-month war because it hit an airfield housing bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons. President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use all available means to defend his land, a remark many have interpreted to include nuclear weapons.

Russia has been launching almost weekly bombardments of Ukraine in retaliation for another bold attack - the Oct. 8 truck bombing of a vital bridge linking its mainland to the Crimean Peninsula.

On Monday, Putin tried to show his country could bounce back from that embarrassment by driving a car across the partially repaired bridge. Putin personally opened the 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge in 2018 as part of an expensive effort to solidify his claim on Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

In Monday's retaliatory barrage, missiles knocked out basic services in several Ukrainian regions in Moscow's strategy to inflict more pain just as winter approaches. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said four people were killed in Monday's barrage.

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Kirstie Alley, Emmy-winning `Cheers´ star, dies at 71

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Kirstie Alley, a two-time Emmy winner whose roles on the TV megahit "Cheers" and in the "Look Who's Talking" films made her one of the biggest stars in American comedy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, died Monday. She was 71.

Alley died of cancer that was only recently discovered, her children True and Lillie Parker said in a post on Twitter. Alley's manager Donovan Daughtry confirmed the death in an email to The Associated Press.

"As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother," her children's statement said.

She starred opposite Ted Danson as Rebecca Howe on "Cheers," the beloved NBC sitcom about a Boston bar, from 1987 to 1993. She joined the show at the height of its popularity after the departure of original star Shelley Long.

Alley would win an Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy series for the role in 1991.

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World Cup Viewer's Guide: 2 quarterfinals places left

DOHA, Qatar (AP) - The final day of the round of 16 concludes Tuesday at the World Cup when Morocco faces Spain, and Portugal goes head-to-head with Switzerland for the final two spots in the quarterfinals.

The results will be decided on the field, but for Spain and Morocco, the game will be played against the backdrop of the long and complex relationship between two border nations separated by the Strait of Gibraltar.

As neighboring nations, there are ties between the two teams, and many of Morocco´s players speak Spanish and the team´s medical staff is Spanish.

Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and striker Youssef En-Nesyri both play in Spain for Sevilla, right back Achraf Hakimi, a Paris Saint-Germain player, was born in Madrid, and coach Walid Regragui played in Spain with Racing Santander.

The team's also met in the World Cup just four years ago in the final group game in 2018, a 2-2 draw.

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Trump faces peril in docs probe after decades of scrutiny

WASHINGTON (AP) - As a businessman and president, Donald Trump faced a litany of lawsuits and criminal investigations yet emerged from the legal scrutiny time and again with his public and political standing largely intact.

But he's perhaps never confronted a probe as perilous as the Mar-a-Lago investigation, an inquiry focused on the potential mishandling of top-secret documents. The sense of vulnerability has been heightened in recent weeks not only by the Justice Department's appointment of a special counsel with a reputation for aggressiveness but also by the removal of a Trump-requested independent arbiter in the case and by judges' unequivocal rejection of his lawyers' arguments.

It's impossible to predict how much longer the investigation will last or whether the Justice Department will take the unprecedented step of indicting a former president and current candidate. But Trump is no longer shielded from prosecution the way he was as president, and some legal experts regard the Mar-a-Lago investigation as centered on more straightforward factual and legal questions than the prior probes he has dealt with.

"Unlike many of these past investigations which involved these complex financial frauds where prosecutors have to explain to a jury why the conduct is even a crime to begin with, here prosecutors won´t have that difficulty, won´t have that challenge to explain what the crime is about" if charges are ultimately filed, said former Justice Department prosecutor Robert Mintz.

One investigative hurdle for the Justice Department was lifted last week when an appeals court panel that included two Trump-appointed judges ended the work of a special master who´d been tasked with an independent review of the thousands of documents seized in the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago. The decision enables prosecutors to use the entire cache of records for their investigation.

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Arizona certifies 2022 election despite GOP complaints

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona's top officials certified the midterm election results Monday, formalizing victories for Democrats over Republicans who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged.

The certification opens a five-day window for formal election challenges. Republican Kari Lake, who lost the race for governor, is expected to file a lawsuit in the coming days after she's spent weeks of criticizing the administration of the election.

Election results have largely been certified without issue around the country, but Arizona was an exception. Several Republican-controlled counties delayed their certification despite no evidence of problems with the vote count. Cochise County in southeastern Arizona blew past the deadline last week, forcing a judge to intervene on Thursday and order the county supervisors to certify the election by the end of the day.

"Arizona had a successful election," Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who beat Lake in the race for governor, said before signing the certification. "But too often throughout the process, powerful voices proliferated misinformation that threatened to disenfranchise voters."

The statewide certification, known as a canvass, was signed by Hobbs, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, a Ducey appointee.

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Adultery a punishable offense in Indonesia's criminal code

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia´s Parliament has passed a long-awaited and controversial revision of its penal code that criminalizes extramarital sex and applies to citizens and visiting foreigners alike. A parliamentary taskforce finalized the bill in November and lawmakers unanimously approved it Tuesday.

After ratification, the new criminal code must be signed by the president, according to Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights Edward Hiraeij. The criminal code will not apply immediately, but takes a maximum of three years to transition from the old code to the new one.

"That (the new Criminal Code) has a lot of implementing regulations that must be worked out, so it´s impossible in one year, but remember the maximum (transition period) is three years," Hiraeij said.

A copy of the amended criminal code obtained by The Associated Press includes several revised articles that make sex outside marriage punishable by a year in jail and cohabitation by six months, but adultery charges must be based on police reports lodged by their spouse, parents or children.

It also says the promotion of contraception and religious blasphemy are illegal, and it restores a ban on insulting a sitting president and vice president, state institutions and national ideology. Insults to a sitting president must be reported by the president and can lead to up to three years in jail.

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Sale jumpstarts floating, offshore wind power in US waters

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Tuesday marks the first-ever U.S. auction of leases to develop commercial-scale floating wind farms, in the deep waters off the West Coast.

The live, online auction for the five leases - three off California´s central coast and two off its northern coast - has attracted strong interest and 43 companies from around the world are approved to bid. The wind turbines will float roughly 25 miles offshore.

The growth of offshore wind comes as climate change intensifies and need for clean energy grows. It also is getting cheaper. The cost of developing offshore wind has dropped 60% since 2010 according to a July report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. It declined 13% in 2021 alone.

Offshore wind is well established in the U.K. and some other countries but is just beginning to ramp up off America´s coasts, and this is the nation's first foray into floating wind turbines. Auctions so far have been for those anchored to the seafloor.

Europe has some floating offshore wind - a project in the North Sea has been operating since 2017 - but the potential for the technology is huge in areas of strong wind off America's coasts, said Josh Kaplowitz, vice president of offshore wind at the American Clean Power Association.

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Jazzy 'Charlie Brown Christmas' swings on after 57 years

NEW YORK (AP) - The Mendelson family would love to find the envelope where their father, Lee, scribbled some lyrics to jazz musician Vince Guaraldi's composition "Christmas Time is Here" for an animated TV special featuring the "Peanuts" gang in 1965.

The producer always said it had taken less than half an hour to write, and he likely tossed the scrap of paper away. He was in a rush. Everything was rushed. No one even knew, once the special aired, whether it would ever be seen again.

Instead, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" became an indelible holiday tradition and so, too, has Guaraldi's music - perhaps even more so.

"Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas without hearing that album in the background," said Derrick Bang, author of the biography "Vince Guaraldi at the Piano."

The special itself was a bit of an oddity: a cartoon story of the meaning of Christmas soundtracked by a sophisticated, mostly instrumental jazz trio of piano, bass and drum.