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A South Carolina man who pleaded guilty to three murders was put to death by firing squad on Friday, the third such execution in the southern US state this year.Stephen Bryant, 44, was convicted of killing three people during a 2004 crime spree, writing the message “catch me if u can” on a wall in the blood of one of his victims.Bryant was shot by a three-person firing squad at a prison in the state capital Columbia and pronounced dead at 6:05 pm (2305 GMT), the South Carolina Department of Corrections said.South Carolina has now executed three convicted murderers by firing squad this year, the first such executions in the United States in 15 years.Since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the vast majority of executions in the country have been conducted by lethal injection.A man convicted of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl was executed by lethal injection in Florida on Thursday. It was that state’s 16th execution in 2025, the most in the nation.There have been five each in Alabama and Texas.The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) said before the execution that Bryant was to be restrained in a metal chair with a hood over his head 15 feet (five meters) away from a wall with a rectangular opening.The firing squad of SCDC volunteers was to shoot through the opening.All three rifles were to have live ammunition, and an “aim point” will be placed over the condemned man’s heart.There have been 43 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2012, when the same number of inmates were put to death.Thirty-five of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection, three by firing squad and five by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and, on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

The US National Archives published a batch of newly declassified government records on Friday about Amelia Earhart, the American aviator who vanished over the Pacific in 1937, officials said.Earhart went missing while on a pioneering round-the-world flight with navigator Fred Noonan, and her disappearance is one of the most tantalizing mysteries in aviation lore.President Donald Trump ordered the declassification and release in September of all US government records related to Earhart’s ill-fated final flight.Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the documents released on Friday included “newly declassified files from the National Security Agency, information on Earhart’s last known communications, weather and plane conditions at the time, and potential search locations.”Further documents would be publicly released on the National Archives website on a “rolling basis” as they are declassified, Gabbard said in a statement. Many of the thousands of documents published online on Friday have been released previously by the National Archives or made available to researchers, and aviation experts consider it unlikely that the latest material will shed any new light on Earhart’s disappearance.Earhart’s final flight has fascinated historians for decades and spawned books, movies and theories galore.The prevailing belief is that Earhart, 39, and Noonan, 44, ran out of fuel and ditched their twin-engine Lockheed Electra in the Pacific near Howland Island while on one of the final legs of their epic journey.Earhart, who won fame in 1932 as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, took off on May 20, 1937 from Oakland, California, hoping to become the first woman to fly around the world.She and Noonan vanished on July 2, 1937 after taking off from Lae, Papua New Guinea, on a challenging 2,500-mile (4,000-kilometer) flight to refuel on Howland Island, a speck of a US territory between Australia and Hawaii.They never made it.

Elon Musk’s Grokipedia carries thousands of citations to “questionable” and “problematic” sources, US researchers said Friday, raising doubts about the reliability of the AI-powered encyclopedia as an information tool.Musk’s company xAI launched Grokipedia last month to compete with Wikipedia — a crowdsourced information repository authored by humans that the billionaire and others on the American right have repeatedly accused of ideological bias.”It is clear that sourcing guardrails have largely been lifted on Grokipedia,” Cornell Tech researchers Harold Triedman and Alexios Mantzarlis wrote in a report seen by AFP.”This results in the inclusion of questionable sources, and an overall higher prevalence of potentially problematic sources.”The study, which scraped hundreds of thousands of Grokipedia articles, said the trend was particularly notable in topics pertaining to elected officials and controversial political topics.Grokipedia’s entry for “Clinton body count” — a widely debunked conspiracy theory that links the deaths of multiple people to former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary — cites InfoWars, a far-right website notorious for peddling misinformation.Other Grokipedia articles cite American and Indian right-wing media outlets, Chinese and Iranian state media, anti-immigration, antisemitic or anti-Muslim sites, and portals accused of promoting pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, the report said.”Grokipedia cites these sources without qualifying their reliability,” it said.The study found that Grokipedia articles often “contain exactly identical copies of text” from Wikipedia, a site it has intended to outshine.It said Grokipedia articles not attributed to Wikipedia are 3.2 times more likely than those on the rival platform to cite sources deemed “generally unreliable” by the English Wikipedia community.They are also 13 times more likely to include a “blacklisted” source which is blocked by Wikipedia, it added.- ‘Trustworthiness’ -AFP’s request to xAI for comment generated this auto response: “Legacy Media Lies.”Musk — the world’s richest person and owner of social media platform X who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into US President Donald Trump’s election campaign — has said that Grokipedia’s goal is “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”On Thursday, Musk said he plans to rebrand Grokipedia as “Encyclopedia Galactica” when it is “good enough (long way to go).””Join @xAI to help build the sci-fi version of the Library of Alexandria!” Musk wrote on X.Musk and the US Republican Party have frequently accused Wikipedia of being biased against right-wing ideas. Last year, Musk urged his more than 200 million followers on X to stop donating to Wikipedia, dubbing the site “Wokepedia.”In a recent interview with the BBC Science Focus podcast, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales rejected claims it has a left-wing bias as “factually incorrect,” while acknowledging there were areas for improvement among its volunteer community. “Unlike Grokipedia, which relies on rapid AI-generated content with limited transparency and oversight, Wikipedia’s processes are open to public review and rigorously document the sources behind every article,” Selena Deckelmann, chief product and technology officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, told AFP.”It is precisely this deliberate openness and community model that upholds the neutrality and trustworthiness essential for a global encyclopedia: no single individual, company, or agenda can exert influence over the work.”

An American football coach featured in the hit Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U” has died after being shot in the head on campus, police said Friday.John Beam, a coach and father figure who guided generations of athletes at Laney College in Oakland, California, was targeted on Thursday by a gunman who apparently knew him.Beam, 66, was rushed to a hospital where he died of his injuries on Friday morning, Oakland Police said.The shooting had sparked police appeals for help, as former players and public officials heaped praise on the coach.Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee called him “a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator, and a lifeline for thousands of young people.””For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field.”Oakland Police arrested Cedric Irving Jr after a huge manhunt over what they said was a targeted attack.Irving, whom the San Francisco Chronicle said had confessed to the crime, was taken into custody at a train station near Oakland before dawn Friday.”Last Chance U” ran for five seasons on Netflix, chronicling the lives and struggles of young men playing on the football teams at US community colleges.The first two seasons were set in Mississippi, the next two in Kansas, with the final season — which debuted in 2020 — set in Oakland, a city in the San Francisco Bay Area.The show looks at the role that such programs play in offering discipline and opportunity to young men who often lack both.Some of those who participate in these teams are hoping to move from their community college — publicly funded institutions that offer associate degrees — to larger universities with more developed football programs that feed into the professional NFL.Collegiate-level sport in the United States has a huge following, and can make stars of very young athletes well before they turn professional.Some colleges have football stadiums that hold more than 100,000 fans, which are fully packed for every game.Many football fans avidly follow these theoretically amateur teams, despite the ever-changing cast of players.

Nick Adams couldn’t help but smile as he showed his son the planes hanging in Washington’s Air and Space Museum, which reopened Friday after a month closed due to the US government shutdown. “We had been planning this trip for a little while and were nervous with everything shut down, but were excited to see everything open up again,” said the 37-year-old visiting from Texas. Washington is not only the US political capital but also a cultural hub with over a dozen free museums, many of which are renowned for their quality. Some 16 million people visited them last year.But those institutions were forced to close after October 1 due to a budget deadlock among lawmakers that ended most federal funding for a record 43 days. President Donald Trump signed a bill late Wednesday to reopen the government after some Democrats sided with his Republicans on a temporary spending bill. German tourist Johanna Tennigkeit, 30, told AFP she was “so happy” to see the museums open again as she visited with her partner. “I couldn’t imagine that this is closed. This is so sad for every tourist but also for the people working here because they didn’t get money,” she said. – ‘Meant to be’ -Mitzi Sobash, a retired 66-year-old who lives in Washington, was thrilled to be able to guide her cousin Dorita Vargas on her first trip to Washington. “It’s been almost six weeks since we’ve been able to go to the museums, and they’re really wonderful here,” Sobash said.Vargas, a nurse, agreed: “This is my first time in DC, and I’m super excited. It was just meant to be.”More than 100 people were waiting to enter the Air and Space Museum around 30 minutes before it opened on Friday. “We were so lucky that we were able to book a pass because there was so much traffic on the website and on my phone it actually worked,” Tennigkeit, the German tourist, said in the entry hall.She added that she wanted to visit as many Smithsonian Institution museums — run by the US government — as she could and was most excited about the Museum of Natural History. Staff will also be pleased to see the institutions back open as many were furloughed during the shutdown, while other federal personnel like air traffic controllers had to work without pay. “Honestly, I’m just glad to see it reopened,” said Adams, the Texas father. “Glad to see everybody come to the table and come to an agreement that could get it opened back up and get paychecks back in people’s pockets and get stuff like this open for these kids to come see.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday that US air travel is recovering after the disruptions caused by the more than month-long government funding shutdown.”Yesterday was one of the best days our airspace had in a while with just a few air traffic controllers calling out from work,” he said on his X account on Friday.”We are reviewing the data provided and working hard for a return to normal airspace operations,” he added.Flight traffic limits had been set in place as a consequence of the record-long US budget shutdown, which began on October 1 and ended on Wednesday.Hundreds of thousands of federal employees were furloughed while others, considered essential, were called to work without pay.Among the latter were thousands of air traffic controllers, but absenteeism increased among a workforce that was already suffering from staff shortages before the shutdown.Still, as traffic returns to normal, the six percent reduction in domestic flights at twelve high-traffic airports, implemented on November 13 by the US aviation regulator (FAA), remained in place until further notice.But according to Cirium, an aviation data provider, only two percent of scheduled flights on Friday morning in the US had been canceled.The airports in Atlanta, Chicago-O’Hare, Newark, Dallas Fort Worth, and Denver were the most affected with about twenty cancellations each.

The United States and Switzerland said Friday that they have reached an agreement to sharply lower tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, with the Alpine nation vowing to invest $200 billion in the US to win over the White House.The deal was announced a day after talks in Washington, where Swiss economy minister Guy Parmelin visited in hopes of easing steep duties the Trump administration rolled out this year.Trump shocked Switzerland in August when he slapped an added 39-percent duty on imports of goods from the country, among the highest in his global tariff blitz.The latest framework agreement brings this tariff down to 15 percent for Switzerland and Liechtenstein products, the White House said.The new rate will serve as a ceiling for goods previously tariffed at lower levels, while goods already facing tariffs above 15 percent will not be additionally hit — similar to US deals with other key partners.”We’ve essentially reached a deal with Switzerland,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC in an interview.He added that the Swiss would send manufacturing, such as pharmaceuticals, gold smelting and railway equipment, to US shores.A White House statement said the countries hope to conclude their full pact by the first quarter of 2026.As part of the deal, “Swiss companies intend to make $200 billion in direct investments in the United States by the end of 2028,” a Swiss government statement said. This would also include efforts to strengthen vocational education and training.- Cautious relief -The high tariff rate had jeopardized entire sectors of the export-heavy Swiss economy, notably watchmaking and industrial machinery, but also chocolate and cheese.While the pharmaceutical industry, Switzerland’s largest export sector, enjoys exemptions from these sweeping tariffs, it faced regular threats that Trump would soon target them too.The Trump administration has excluded specific sectors from its countrywide tariff rates, but has been pursuing investigations that lead to industry-specific duties.The latest deal brings some relief by committing that pharmaceutical goods and semiconductors of Switzerland and Liechtenstein face a maximum tariff of 15 percent if Washington were to impose fresh duties on these sectors.In turn, both countries intend to remove some tariffs across agriculture and industrial sectors, including on various nuts, fish and seafood, the White House added.They also plan to refrain from imposing digital services taxes, the US statement said.Parmelin said Friday that discussions will continue for key products like industrial machinery, steel, aluminum, coffee and cheese.Swissmem, the association of the mechanical and electrical engineering industry, expressed relief at Friday’s announcement.Swiss businesses have been worried that their competitors in other wealthy economies will have an edge over them, given that the European Union and Japan had negotiated lower tariff levels of 15 percent.While Swissmem noted that the deal brings “temporary relief,” its president Martin Hirzel warned that “we must not let our guard down. New tariffs could be introduced.”Last week, the heads of six top Swiss firms, including watchmaker Rolex and luxury goods giant Richemont, met with Trump to plead for relief from the tariffs.Yves Bugmann, president of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, said the announced tariff reduction was good news for an industry facing challenges including an unpredictable Chinese market.He added that the high rate had been “unjustified and caused a great deal of uncertainty” in the sector.Trump has imposed sweeping duties on trading partners around the world since returning to the presidency, with separate levies on specific sectors like steel, aluminum and autos.

Police in California investigating the shooting of an American football coach from the hit Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U” said Friday they have made an arrest.John Beam, a coach and father figure who has tutored generations of athletes at Oakland’s Laney College, was shot in the head on campus on Thursday.Beam, 66, was rushed to the hospital after the attack by a person wearing a dark hoodie, where he was said to be in  critical condition.The shooting sparked police appeals for help, as former players and public officials heaped praise on Beam.Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee called him “a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator, and a lifeline for thousands of young people.””For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field.”The suspect, whom the San Francisco Chronicle named as Cedric Irving Jr, was taken into custody at a train station near Oakland before dawn Friday.The paper cited a source close to the investigation saying Irving had confessed to the shooting.Oakland Police confirmed on social media that a suspect had been arrested, but did not  identify him.”Last Chance U” ran for five seasons on Netflix, chronicling the lives and struggles of young men playing on the football teams at US community colleges.The first two seasons were set in Mississippi, the next two in Kansas, with the final season — which debuted in 2020 — set in Oakland, a city in the San Francisco Bay Area.The show looks at the role that such programs play in offering discipline and opportunity to young men who often lack both.Some of those who participate in these teams are hoping to move from their community college — publicly funded institutions that offer associate degrees — to larger universities with more developed football programs that feed into the professional NFL.Collegiate-level sport in the United States has a huge following, and can make stars of very young athletes well before they turn professional.Some colleges have football stadiums that hold more than 100,000 fans, which are fully packed for every game.Many football fans avidly follow these theoretically amateur teams, despite the ever-changing cast of players.

A South Carolina man who pleaded guilty to three murders is to be put to death by firing squad on Friday, the third such execution in the southern US state this year.Stephen Bryant, 44, was convicted of killing three people during a 2004 crime spree, writing the message “catch me if u can” in the blood of one of his victims.Bryant is to be executed at 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) at a prison in the state capital Columbia.South Carolina has executed two convicted murderers by firing squad this year, the first such executions in the United States in 15 years.Since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the vast majority of executions in the country have been conducted by lethal injection.A man convicted of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl was executed by lethal injection in Florida on Thursday. It was state’s 16th execution in 2025, the most in the nation.There have been five each in Alabama and Texas.According to the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC), Bryant will be restrained in a metal chair with a hood over his head 15 feet (five meters) away from a wall with a rectangular opening.A three-person firing squad of SCDC volunteers will shoot through the opening.All three rifles will have live ammunition, and an “aim point” will be placed over the condemned man’s heart.There have been 42 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2012, when 43 inmates were put to death.Thirty-five of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and five by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and, on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

The United States and Switzerland reached an agreement Friday to sharply lower tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, officials said, with the Alpine nation vowing to invest $200 billion in the US to win over the White House.The deal was announced a day after talks in Washington, where Swiss economy minister Guy Parmelin visited in hopes of easing steep duties the Trump administration rolled out this year.Trump shocked Switzerland in August when he imposed a 39-percent duty on imports of goods from the country, among the highest in his global tariff blitz.”We’ve essentially reached a deal with Switzerland. So we’ll post details of that today on the White House website,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC in an interview.Switzerland’s government said it and the United States have reached an agreement where US tariffs will be slashed from their current 39-percent level to 15 percent.As part of the deal, “Swiss companies intend to make $200 billion in direct investments in the United States by the end of 2028,” a government statement said. This would also include efforts to strengthen vocational education and training.Greer said the Swiss would send manufacturing, such as pharmaceuticals, gold smelting and railway equipment to US shores.- Cautious relief -The high tariff rate had jeopardized entire sectors of the export-heavy Swiss economy, notably watchmaking and industrial machinery, but also chocolate and cheese.While the pharmaceutical industry, Switzerland’s largest export sector, had enjoyed an exemption from tariffs on medications, it faced regular threats that Trump would soon target them too.Swissmem, the association of the mechanical and electrical engineering industry, expressed relief at Friday’s announcement.Swiss businesses have been worried that their competitors in other wealthy economies will have an edge over them, given that the European Union and Japan had negotiated lower tariff levels of 15 percent.While Swissmem noted that the deal brings “temporary relief,” its president Martin Hirzel warned that “we must not let our guard down. New tariffs could be introduced.”Last week, the heads of six top Swiss firms, including watchmaker Rolex and luxury goods giant Richemont, met with Trump to plead for relief from the tariffs.Yves Bugmann, president of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, said that the announced tariff reduction was good news for an industry facing challenges including an unpredictable Chinese market.He added that the high rate had been “unjustified and caused a great deal of uncertainty” in the sector.Trump has imposed sweeping duties on trading partners around the world since returning to the presidency, with separate levies on specific sectors like steel, aluminum and autos.nl-noo-bys-arp/mlm