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Too much moose meat and a set of antlers strapped to a wing brought a small plane down in Alaska, killing its pilot, according to a crash report published this week.Eugene Peltola died hours after his aircraft — carrying over 500 pounds (225 kilograms) of moose meat — plunged into mountains near St Mary’s in southwest Alaska in September 2023.A report released Tuesday by the US National Transportation Safety Board found the hefty meat cargo meant the plane was more than 100 pounds over its takeoff weight when it left a remote airstrip in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The presence of a pair of moose antlers on the right wing strut of the plane — a common practice in Alaska — would likely have made flight even trickier, the report said, because of their effect on aerodynamics.Clint Johnson, the Alaska Region Chief for NTSB, was cited by local media as saying there were three main factors that contributed to the crash of the Piper PA 18-150 Super Cub.”Number one was, obviously, the overweight condition — no ifs, ands, or buts there,” he said, according to the website Alaskanewssource.com.”The parasitic drag from the antlers that were attached to the right wing, and then also the last thing would be the wind, the mechanical wind turbulence at the end of the takeoff area, which unfortunately, led to this accident.”If you would have been able to take one of those items out, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. But those things all in combination led to this tragic accident.”Peltola was the husband of former US Representative Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native to sit in Congress.The Democrat beat former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in a 2022 special election, but lost her re-election bid in November last year.

A Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported and then returned to the United States to face human smuggling charges should be released pending trial and not be immediately taken into immigration custody, federal judges said Wednesday.Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was summarily deported in March along with more than 200 other people to a prison in El Salvador as part of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on migrants.His case has become a key test of Trump’s hardline immigration policies.Most of those sent to El Salvador were alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization.Justice Department lawyers later admitted that Abrego Garcia — a resident of Maryland who is married to a US citizen — was wrongly deported due to an “administrative error.”Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country.He was returned to the United States in June and immediately arrested on human smuggling charges in the southern state of Tennessee.Abrego Garcia’s release pending trial has been repeatedly delayed at the request of his lawyers amid fears he would be picked up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported again.District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee ordered Abrego Garcia’s release on bail on Wednesday ahead of his January 27 trial date, and a district judge in Maryland simultaneously blocked ICE from immediately taking him into custody.District Judge Paula Xinis said Abrego Garcia should be brought back to Maryland and ordered the administration to provide at least three days notice before attempting to deport him again.Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the ruling.”The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can’t arrest (Abrego Garcia)… under federal law is LAWLESS AND INSANE,” McLaughlin said on X.It was not immediately clear when Abrego Garcia would be released.Federal prosecutors have opposed his release and warned that he may be deported once again if he is released from custody.Abrego Garcia is charged in Nashville, Tennessee, with smuggling undocumented migrants around the United States between 2016 and 2025. He has pleaded not guilty.

Tesla reported another drop in quarterly profits Wednesday on lower auto sales amid intensifying electric vehicle competition and lingering backlash over CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in US politics.Tesla reported second-quarter profits of $1.2 billion, down 16 percent from the year-ago level. The company in a press release emphasized ongoing efforts to lead in artificial intelligence and robotics.Revenues fell 12 percent to $22.5 billion.Lower profits had been expected after Tesla earlier this month disclosed a decline in auto deliveries. Results were also impacted by a fall in average vehicle selling prices and higher operating expenses driven by AI and other research and development projects.Tesla did not offer an outlook on full-year vehicle production, citing shifting global trade and fiscal policies.”While we are making prudent investments that will set up both our vehicle and energy businesses for growth, the actual results will depend on a variety of factors, including the broader macroeconomic environment, the rate of acceleration of our autonomy efforts and production ramp at our factories,” Tesla said.The results come on the heels of Tesla’s launch last month of a robotaxi service in the Texas capital Austin, Musk’s first fully autonomous offering after pushing back the timeframe many times.Musk has heavily touted Tesla’s autonomous driving program, as well as the company’s “Optimus” humanoid robot, which employs artificial intelligence technology.But analysts have criticized Tesla’s sluggishness in unveiling new autos, while questioning Musk’s commitment to an earlier goal of launching a state-of-the-art electric vehicle priced at around $25,000 to bolster the odds of mass deployment.In Wednesday’s press release, Tesla said “we continue to expand our vehicle offering, including first builds of a more affordable model in June, with volume production planned for the second half of 2025.”Tesla has revamped its Model Y auto. That vehicle currently starts at $37,490, although the price will rise after a $7,500 federal tax credit goes away following passage of President Donald Trump’s massive tax and fiscal package earlier this month.The worsening near-term outlook for EV sales is one reason analysts at JPMorgan Chase call Tesla’s stock price “completely divorced from increasingly deteriorating fundamentals.”But analysts at Morgan Stanley rate the company a “top pick” in light of its leadership in robotics and artificial intelligence, although a recent note warned Musk’s political activity “may add further near-term pressure” to shares.- Political controversies -Disagreements over Trump’s fiscal package has been a factor in Musk’s recurring feud with the president.The billionaire donated huge sums to Trump’s successful 2024 presidential campaign and then joined the administration to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which cut thousands of government jobs, sparking boycotts and vandalism that tarnished the Tesla brand.After their bitter falling out, Musk warned Trump’s legislation would bankrupt the country. On July 5 the tech mogul announced he was launching a new political party in the United States, the “America Party.”Trump dismissed the launch as “ridiculous,” and has also threatened to look at deporting Musk and to revoking his government contracts.Shares of Tesla dipped 0.4 percent in after-hours trading.

United States and European officials signaled progress in tariff talks Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump announced a pact with Japan and China said its vice premier would attend bilateral negotiations next week.In an attempt to slash his country’s trade deficits, Trump has vowed to hit dozens of countries with punitive tariff hikes if they do not hammer out a pact with Washington by August 1.While the Trump administration earlier promised “90 deals in 90 days” as it delayed the imposition of higher duties in April, Washington has so far unveiled just five agreements including with Japan and the Philippines.The others are with Britain, Vietnam and Indonesia, the latter of which the White House noted would ease critical mineral export restrictions.Negotiations remain ongoing with major US trading partners China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.Washington and Brussels signaled negotiations were moving along, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz voicing optimism that “decisions” may be coming soon.Several EU diplomats added that the bloc was examining a US proposal involving a 15 percent tariff — and sectoral carve-outs still to be decided.EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic was expected to speak with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, told Bloomberg Television: “I think that we are making good progress with the EU.”Separately, representatives from China and the United States will meet next week in Swedish capital Stockholm to further negotiations before an August 12 deadline agreed in May.Beijing and Washington imposed tit-for-tat levies on each other’s exports this year, reaching triple-digit levels, before agreeing to lower these temporarily until mid-August.As the clock ticks down, China said Wednesday it would seek to “strengthen cooperation” with Washington, and confirmed vice premier He Lifeng would attend the talks.- ‘Massive deal’ -For now, Trump was touting Washington’s agreement with Japan as “a massive deal.”He said on his Truth Social platform Tuesday that under the deal, “Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits.”Bessent told Bloomberg Television that Japan received a 15 percent tariff rate, down from the 25 percent threatened, as “they were willing to provide this innovative financing mechanism.””They are going to provide equity credit guarantees and funding for major projects in the US,” Bessent said.Japanese exports to the United States were already subject to a 10 percent tariff, and this would have spiked to 25 percent come August 1 without a deal.Duties of 25 percent on Japanese autos — an industry accounting for eight percent of Japanese jobs — were also already in place, plus 50 percent on steel and aluminum.Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the autos levy had now been cut to 15 percent, sending Japanese car stocks soaring, with Toyota and Mitsubishi up around 14 percent each. The Nikkei rose 3.5 percent.”We are the first (country) in the world to reduce tariffs on automobiles and auto parts, with no limits on volume,” he told reporters.Japan’s trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa, who secured the deal on his eighth visit to Washington, said the 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum would remain. Akazawa also said increased defense spending by Japan — something Trump has pressed for — was not part of the agreement.Trump added Tuesday that Japan agreed as well to “open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things.”Rice imports are a sensitive issue in Japan, and Ishiba’s government — which lost its upper house majority in elections on Sunday — had previously ruled out any concessions. Japan currently imports 770,000 tons of rice tariff-free under its World Trade Organization commitments, and Ishiba said it would import more US grain within this.Ishiba said Wednesday that the deal does not “sacrifice” Japan’s agricultural sector.Tatsuo Yasunaga, the chair of the Japan Foreign Trade Council, welcomed the trade deal but said the business community needed to see details to assess its impact.Other US trading partners are watching closely as the August 1 deadline approaches.The Philippines’ deal announced Tuesday only saw levies cut by one percentage point, to 19 percent, after Trump hosted President Ferdinand Marcos.China on Wednesday said it supported “equal dialogue” following the announcement of the Japan-US deal.burs-raz-bys/acb

A doctor charged in connection with the drug overdose death of actor Matthew Perry pleaded guilty Wednesday to supplying the “Friends” star with ketamine.Salvador Plasencia, 43, one of five people charged over Perry’s death, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Los Angeles to four counts of distribution of ketamine.Plasencia is to be sentenced on December 3 and faces up to 40 years in prison.He will also surrender his medical license.Plasencia’s attorney, Karen Goldstein, said after the hearing that her client regretted his actions.”Dr. Plasencia is profoundly remorseful for the treatment decisions he made while providing ketamine to Matthew Perry,” Goldstein said in a statement.”He is fully accepting responsibility… acknowledging his failure to protect Mr. Perry, a patient who was especially vulnerable due to addiction.”Plasencia did not provide Perry with the fatal dose of ketamine but supplied the actor with the drug in the weeks before he was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home.Another doctor, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry.Plasencia allegedly bought ketamine off Chavez and sold it to the American-Canadian actor at hugely inflated prices.”I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia wrote in one text message presented by prosecutors.Jasveen Sangha, the alleged “Ketamine Queen” who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, is charged with selling Perry the dose that killed him. She has pleaded not guilty.Perry’s live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty in August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.- Addiction struggles -The actor’s lengthy struggles with substance addiction were well-documented, but his death at age 54 sent shockwaves through the global legions of “Friends” fans.A criminal investigation was launched soon after an autopsy discovered he had high levels of ketamine — an anesthetic — in his system.In his plea deal with prosecutors, Plasencia said he went to Perry’s home to administer ketamine by injection and distributed 20 vials of the drug over a roughly two-week period in autumn 2023.Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.But prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.”Friends,” which followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers, drew a massive following and made megastars of previously unknown actors.Perry’s role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries.In his 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry described going through detox dozens of times.”I have mostly been sober since 2001,” he wrote, “save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps.”

A criminology student who crept into a shared house and murdered four young people in their beds as they slept was told Wednesday he would die in prison, in a case that has gripped and baffled the United States.Bryan Kohberger has never explained his motive for carrying out the murders and sat passively in an Idaho court as he heard heart-wrenching statements from families of the four students he stabbed to death in 2022 in the small town of Moscow.But in a deal that took the death penalty off the table earlier this month, he agreed to plead guilty to the horrific killings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.At an emotional sentencing hearing in Boise, Kohberger again refused to offer any justification when offered the chance to speak, telling Judge Steven Hippler: “I respectfully decline.”Handing down four life sentences without the possibility of parole, Hippler said the heartbroken families may never know why Kohberger killed their loved ones.”The need to know what is inherently not understandable makes us dependent upon the defendant to provide us with a reason, and that gives him the spotlight, the attention and the power he appears to crave,” he said.”In my view, the time has now come to end Mr Kohberger’s 15 minutes of fame.”It’s time that he been consigned to the ignominy and isolation of perpetual incarceration.Kohberger was studying for a doctorate degree in criminology at Washington State University in 2022 when he drove to the small town of Moscow in the neighboring northwestern US state of Idaho.There, he broke into a shared student house and went from room to room stabbing four of the six occupants to death.The investigation that followed was a national and international sensation, attracting lurid speculation from all corners of the internet, fuelled by a police policy of refusing to release details on the probe.Then, on December 30, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania thousands of miles (kilometers) away, after DNA found on a knife sheath was traced to him.He continued to deny the charges, despite mounting evidence, and appeared set to go to trial until this month when a shock plea deal was announced.Not all families were happy with the agreement, with the Goncalves family saying it was “shocking and cruel” that he would not face a firing squad.”After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families on the plea’s details,” the family wrote in a statement when the deal was announced.”Bryan Kohberger facing life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world. Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever,” they said.Friends and family of the victims attending the sentencing on Wednesday paid tribute to their loved ones, while many dismissed Kohberger as a “failure” or said they hoped fellow prisoners would mete out justice.Others said they had faith that God would punish him.”Man, you’re going to go to hell,” Kernodle’s stepfather Randy Davis told Kohberger, shaking with rage.”You’re evil. There’s no place for you in heaven. You took our children. You are going to suffer, man.”

The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives on Wednesday sent lawmakers home early for a six-week summer break to avoid being forced into awkward votes on the probe into the late, politically connected sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The furor around the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking minors, is still roiling Donald Trump’s administration two weeks after his Justice Department effectively closed the case, announcing there was no more information to share.Democrats in the House — keen to capitalize on the simmering controversy — have been trying to force a vote that would compel the publication of the full Epstein case files.Desperate to avert the effort, the Republican leadership canceled votes scheduled for Thursday, sending lawmakers home for the August recess a day early.House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump loyalist, sought to frame the early finish as business-as-usual, insisting that many lawmakers would be continuing committee work rather than heading back to their districts, and denying claims of a cover-up.  “Democrats said nothing and did nothing — absolutely nothing — about bringing transparency for the entire four years of the Biden presidency,” Johnson told reporters at the US Capitol.”Now, all of a sudden, they want the American people to believe that they actually care. Their actions belie their words.”But Democrats accused the majority Republicans of running scared of their own voters, many of whom have been demanding more transparency.”As it relates to releasing the Epstein files that every single one of the top leaders of the Trump Justice Department — and the Trump FBI and the vice president and the president himself — promised to release, Republicans are on the run,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.In a July 7 memo, the Justice Department said the Epstein “client list” that Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have been reviewing did not in fact exist, and reaffirmed that he died by suicide in his prison cell. It sparked a furious backlash from Trump’s “MAGA” support base, who have for years been told by their leaders that a “deep state” cover-up was protecting figures in the Democratic Party whom they accuse of being Epstein’s clients.- ‘Dirtbags’ -Trump’s MAGA lieutenants — including two allies who have since been hired to run the FBI — made careers of fanning the conspiracy theories, including that Epstein’s suicide was actually a murder ordered by his powerful clients.Prominent online influencers and media figures in the movement — as well as ordinary voters — have spoken of feeling betrayed after Trump began publicly castigating them for wanting answers. Further complicating the issue for Republicans, Trump’s own ties to Epstein are extensive.The pair were frequently pictured partying together during a 15-year friendship before they fell out in 2004 over a property deal.The White House has been furiously pushing back against a Wall Street Journal report that said Trump had contributed a “bawdy” letter with his signature for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. Under the biggest political pressure in the first six months of his second presidential term, Trump has authorized Bondi to release “credible” Epstein information and has asked courts to unseal grand jury transcripts in the case. Bondi’s deputy Todd Blanche said this week he was seeking a meeting with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes.With a Republican rebellion in the House gathering pace, the Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee had already voted to subpoena Maxwell to talk with lawmakers at her Florida prison.”We’ve got to send a message to these dirtbags that do this, that this is not acceptable behavior,” said Republican Tim Burchett, who introduced the motion.Epstein admitted two state felony prostitution charges in 2008 as part of a plea deal — arranged by a prosecutor who would go on to serve in Trump’s cabinet — that was widely criticized as being too lenient. 

President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled an aggressive, low-regulation strategy on Wednesday boosting big tech’s race to stay ahead of China on artificial intelligence and cement US dominance in the fast-expanding field.The 25-page “America’s AI Action Plan” outlines three aims: accelerating innovation, building infrastructure, and leading internationally on AI. Overall, the administration frames AI advancement as critical to maintaining economic and military supremacy. Environmental consequences in the planning document are sidelined.”We believe we’re in an AI race…and we want the United States to win that race,” said the White House’s AI point person David Sacks in a call with reporters.Trump was expected to formally announce the plan at an event later Wednesday and sign a series of executive orders to give key components of the strategy additional legal weight.In its collection of more than 90 government proposals, the plan calls for sweeping deregulation, with the administration promising to “remove red tape and onerous regulation” that could hinder private sector AI development.Much of that work has already been carried out through a Trump executive order repealing the AI policies of the Biden administration. The plan also asked the Federal Communications Commission to find ways to legally stop US states from implementing their own AI regulations and threatened to rescind federal aid to states that did so.The American Civil Liberties Union warned this would thwart “initiatives to uphold civil rights and shield communities from biased AI systems in areas like employment, education, health care, and policing.” The Trump action plan also calls for AI systems to be “free from ideological bias” and designed to pursue objective truth rather than what the administration calls “social engineering agendas.”This criterion would apply to AI companies wanting to do business with the US government.A senior White House official said the main target was AI models that gave attention to diversity and inclusion concerns in programming their model output — reflecting the Trump administration’s anti-“woke” agenda.A major focus in the plan involves building AI infrastructure, including streamlined permitting for data centers and energy facilities that would overlook environmental concerns to build as swiftly as possible.AI “challenges America to build vastly greater energy generation than we have today,” the plan said.The administration, which largely rejects international science showing a growing climate crisis, proposes creating new environmental review exemptions for data center construction and expanding access to federal lands for AI infrastructure development.- Job replacement -Addressing fears that AI will replace humans and create mass job losses across entire sectors, the administration’s plan says instead that “AI will improve the lives of Americans by complementing their work — not replacing it.”The strategy calls for efforts to “counter Chinese influence in international governance bodies” and strengthen export controls on advanced AI computing technology.The plan also proposes evaluating Chinese AI models “for alignment with Chinese Communist Party talking points and censorship.”At the same time, the strategy calls on the government to champion US technology in conquering overseas markets.These plans will help “ensure America sets the technological gold standard worldwide, and that the world continues to run on American technology,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.Critics of the plan said the policies were a gift to US tech giants that were scaling back their goals for zero carbon emissions in order to meet the acute computing needs for AI.”The AI Action Plan is yet another gift to Big Tech that clearly shows the Trump administration is again placing corporate interests ahead of the needs of everyday Americans,” said Alan Butler of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.  

The US health department said Wednesday it would end the use of a vaccine ingredient long targeted by conspiracy theorists over debunked claims it causes autism.Thimerosal, a preservative that prevents bacterial and fungal contamination in multidose vials, has been extensively studied, with authorities including the World Health Organization finding no evidence of harm.The move follows a vote by a panel of outside experts convened by Kennedy last month that voted to end the use of thimerosal in influenza vaccines for adults, pregnant people and children.Although the substance is now rarely used in US vaccines, the recommendations by the influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices alarmed experts, who said the move has effectively embedded talking points championed by the anti-vaccine movement into national policy.While 96 percent of US flu vaccines in the 2024-2025 season did not contain thimerosal, the preservative remains important in lower-income countries because they are more likely to use lower-cost multidose vials that must be punctured repeatedly, raising the risk of contamination.Thimerosal contains an artificial form of mercury called ethylmercury that is cleared from the body far more quickly than the form of the chemical found in nature. A large body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the United States and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines, but US manufacturers voluntarily removed it from most pediatric vaccines in 2001 on a precautionary basis.”After more than two decades of delay, this action fulfills a long-overdue promise to protect our most vulnerable populations from unnecessary mercury exposure,” Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. “Injecting any amount of mercury into children when safe, mercury-free alternatives exist defies common sense and public health responsibility. Today, we put safety first.”Vaccine manufacturers have confirmed they have the capacity to replace multi-dose vials containing thimerosal, ensuring supplies will remain uninterrupted, the statement added.”There is no evidence of harm from the use of thimerosal,” WHO vaccine chief Kate O’Brien told reporters last month after the US panel made its recommendations.”For some of the vaccine supply, this is a very important ingredient in order to assure that we have the doses that are needed to protect children from serious and life-threatening diseases,” she added.

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday launched an investigation into Harvard University’s ability to sponsor visiting students and academics, part of a continuing crackdown on the elite institution.Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly accused Harvard and other top US universities of having a “liberal” bias, accusing some of “antisemitism” to cut federal funding and demand greater oversight.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the latest investigation would examine whether the university was complying with regulations in the Exchange Visitor Program.That included probing whether the university was “conducting their programs in a manner that does not undermine the foreign policy objectives or compromise the national security interests of the United States.””The American people have the right to expect their universities to uphold national security, comply with the law, and provide safe environments for all students,” he said in a statement.Harvard has so far defied Trump’s calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.”Trump has cut federal grants for Harvard and tried a host of different tactics to block the institution from hosting international students.The administration has sought to remove Harvard from an electronic student immigration registry and instructed embassies to deny visas to international students hoping to attend the Massachusetts-based university.The administration insists its moves are legally justified over Harvard’s failure to protect Jewish students, particularly amid campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.Harvard has sued the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to block the efforts, arguing they are illegal and unconstitutional.The Ivy League institution has also sued to restore more than $2 billion in frozen funds. A Harvard spokesman did not immediately respond to a request from AFP for its response to the State Department investigation.