SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California could offer rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration eliminates a federal tax credit for people who buy electric cars, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. Newsom, a Democrat, proposed creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program , which was phased out in 2023 after funding 594,000 cars and saving 456 million gallons of fuel, Newsom’s office said. “Consumers continue to prove the skeptics wrong – zero-emission vehicles are here to stay," Newsom said in a statement. "We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future — we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute.” Newsom’s proposal is part of his plan to protect California's progressive policies ahead of Republican President-elect Donald Trump's second term. He called the state Legislature to convene in a special session to help “Trump-proof” state laws by giving the attorney general’s office more funding to fight federal challenges. But a budget shortfall could complicate California’s resistance efforts. Early budget projections show the state could face a $2 billion deficit next year, according to a report released last week by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. That’s an improvement from an estimated $46.8 billion deficit the state faced last year, but the shortfall could still curtail the state’s ability to expand new programs and fight federal legal challenges. Legislative leaders in both chambers have said the state needs to stay prudent in anticipation of future budget deficits. Money for the new rebate system could come from the state's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is funded by polluters under the state’s cap-and-trade program, the governor's office said. Officials didn’t say how much the program would cost or how the rebates would work. Newsom is expected to offer more details of the possible rebate program during an appearance in Kern County later Monday. California has surpassed 2 million zero-emission vehicles sold, according to Newsom's office. The state has passed policies in recent years to transition away from fossil fuel-powered, cars , trucks , trains and lawn mowers . Trump previously vowed to end federal electric vehicle tax credits , which are worth up to $7,500 for new zero-emission vehicles. There’s also a $4,000 credit for used ones. But Trump later softened his stance as Tesla CEO Elon Musk became a supporter and adviser. Newsom's proposed rebates could exclude Tesla and other automakers in an effort to promote more market competition and innovation, according to the governor's office. But that is subject to negotiation with the state Legislature. Trump criticized Newsom on social media after the governor called for a special session, calling out the high cost of living in California and the state’s homelessness crisis. Trump said Newsom was “stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again.’” Newsom said on his podcast earlier this month that he reached out to Trump after the election. He said at a news conference last week that he still hadn’t heard back from the president-elect. California's defunct Clean Vehicle Rebate Program offered rebates on electric cars as high as $2,500. The Associated Press
Federal officials warned Tuesday that a massive Chinese hacking operation against American telecommunications companies hasn’t yet been fully expelled and that the best way to hide communications from Beijing’s spies is to use encryption. Encryption is a technology that scrambles a message and requires a “key” to be able to see or hear it. Different app makers and platforms have used the technology in various forms for more than a decade so governments and hackers that intercept them as they pass through telecommunications infrastructure will see only gibberish. While adopting the technology has historically prompted complaints from law enforcement agencies — including the FBI — it’s also a way people can communicate more privately. Telecommunications companies tend to temporarily store call and SMS records — which phone number called or texted which, and when — and they briefly store the contents of SMS texts. Audio, however, is generally not recorded. That means it’s easier for hackers like those in the Chinese campaign, which Microsoft has nicknamed Salt Typhoon, to get massive amounts of data on phone records and some stored text messages, but they have to be targeted in listening to specific phone calls as they happen. For everyday consumers, the simplest way to send encrypted messages or make encrypted calls is to use communications apps like Signal or WhatsApp that have implemented end-to-end encryption between other Signal and WhatsApp users. With end-to-end encryption, every user of an encrypted chat app holds the unique code to unscramble a message sent to that account. Importantly, the corporate owner and the operator of the app don’t have access to that key, so they won’t be able to unscramble an encrypted message even if a court demands it or it is hacked. Signal and WhatsApp automatically protect all their messages that way with Signal’s encryption, which cryptographers find among the best that are commercially available. Both apps also allow users to make encrypted phone calls with other users through the internet. But even without apps like Signal and WhatsApp, many Americans frequently text with end-to-end encryption turned on, even if they don’t know it. If iMessage users text other iMessage users or Google Messages users text other Google Messages users, those chats are automatically encrypted with the Signal protocol. But when Google and iMessage users text users who use different texting applications, such as when an iMessage user texts a Google Messages user, the messages are encrypted only with Rich Communications Services, which in the U.S. are all decrypted by Google. While that means they’re in theory hidden from telecommunications companies, they’re not encrypted end to end, and they can be seen under court orders to Google or by hackers who might break into companies. For phone calls, Google and Apple offer encryption if the calls are made through their internet-connected calling apps — Google Fi and FaceTime. While the controversial app Telegram does offer what it claims is an option to message users with end-to-end encryption, some leading cryptographers are wary of endorsing it, noting that some of its code isn’t open to the public to test and that it doesn’t encrypt conversations by default . The FBI began investigating Salt Typhoon in late spring or early summer. The U.S. believes Chinese intelligence hacked into AT&T, Verizon and Lumen Technologies and gained significant access, including records of phone calls and text messages for many people, particularly in the Washington, D.C., area. In some circumstances, affecting members of both the Trump and Harris campaigns, as well as the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer D-N.Y., they were able to listen to phone calls. China denied the accusation, as it routinely does when a Western company or government accuses it of deploying its vast cyberespionage capabilities. A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington said in an emailed statement that “China firmly opposes the US’s smear attacks against China without any factual basis.”
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Syria's new authorities say they've secured the release of an American pilgrim imprisoned by Assad DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An American citizen who disappeared seven months ago into former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system was suddenly discovered Thursday outside Damascus after being released and handed over to rebel forces, Sy Canadian Press Dec 12, 2024 2:24 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message In this photo provided by the Syrian Emergency Task Force, American Travis Timmerman, right, sits with Mosaed al-Rifai, center, who found him in the Syrian desert, and the owner of the house where he took refuge, left, name not available, in Damascus, Syria on Thursday Dec. 12, 2024. (Syrian Emergency Task Force via AP) DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An American citizen who disappeared seven months ago into former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system was suddenly discovered Thursday outside Damascus after being released and handed over to rebel forces, Syria’s new authorities said. The political affairs office of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that led the lightning offensive to topple Assad’s government, said the group had secured the release of U.S. citizen Travis Timmerman. In interviews with media in Syria, Timmerman said he was imprisoned after crossing from Lebanon into Syria on a Christian pilgrimage. He appeared to be among the thousands of people released from Syria's sprawling military prisons this week after rebels reached Damascus, overthrowing Assad and ending his family’s 54-year rule. “We affirm our readiness to cooperate directly with the U.S. administration to complete the search for American citizens disappeared by the former Assad regime,” the group said, adding that a search was underway for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago. As footage emerged online Thursday of Timmerman, looking disheveled and disoriented as rebels led him out of a family's home near Damascus, some initially mistook him for Tice. In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket. A group of men in the video said that he was being treated well and would be safely returned home. A Syrian family told The Associated Press they found Timmerman barefoot on a main road in the countryside of Damascus early on Thursday. He appeared cold and hungry so they brought him back to their home. “I fed him and called a doctor,” said Mosaed al-Rifai, the 68-year-old waste collector who first found Timmerman. Al-Rifai said it was hard to communicate because of the language barrier but it seemed Timmerman had been held by an internal security agency. A few hours after al-Rifai discovered him, rebels arrived at the family’s house to pick him up, he said. Mouaz Mostafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a U.S.-based nonprofit group, said he met Timmerman at the house and arranged for a car to take him to Damascus, where the new authorities gave the ex-detainee food and water and brought him clothes and shoes. Timmerman had lice in his long, unkempt hair, Mostafa said, and reported walking for 13 miles barefoot before being discovered. Timmerman — now recovering until the rebels can figure out how to hand him to U.S. authorities — was planning to get to Jordan after his release to obtain a new passport, Mostafa said. Earlier this year, a Missouri State Highway Patrol bulletin identified him as “Pete Travis Timmerman,” 29, and said he had gone missing in Hungary in early June. In late August, Hungarian police put out a missing persons announcement for “Travis Pete Timmerman,” saying he was last seen at a church in Hungary’s capital, Budapest. Authorities in Missouri and Hungary had shared photos of a young man who strongly resembles the ex-prisoner who identified himself as “Travis Timmerman" in interviews with international news outlets on Thursday. Missouri court records indicate Timmerman is from Urbana, Missouri, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Springfield in the southwestern part of the state. A graduation list from Missouri State University shows he earned his bachelor’s degree in finance in the spring of 2017. Timmerman’s mother, Stacey Collins Gardiner, told National Public Radio that he returned home to Urbana after working in Chicago for a couple of years. He then left for Budapest with the goal of writing about his Christian faith and helping people, she said. Timmerman had warned her, she added, that his travels might make communication difficult. After losing contact with him during his stay in Hungary, Gardiner later learned that her son had gone to Lebanon. On Thursday, she heard that he was found through the media. “I will hug him. ... And then I probably won’t let him go,” she said, laughing. “I’ll say, well, thank God you’re still alive. And I’m so happy. Our prayers came true." U.S. officials said they were working to confirm Timmerman's identity and provide the support. From Aqaba, Jordan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that the White House was “working to bring him home, to bring him out of Syria” but declined further comment for privacy reasons. Timmerman, with a scraggly beard and grey sweatshirt, later spoke with the Al-Arabiya TV network, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago before being detained and held in a cell alone. He said that he was treated well in detention, but could hear other young men being tortured. “It was OK. I was fed. I was watered. The one difficulty was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to,” he said. He said he was only allowed to go three times a day. “I was not beaten and the guards treated me decently,” he added. Washington's top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, traveled to Lebanon earlier this week in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Tice. President Joe Biden has said his administration believed Tice was alive and was committed to bringing him home, though he also acknowledged on Sunday that “we have no direct evidence” of his status. The case has frustrated U.S. intelligence officials for years. On Thursday, Blinken emphasized the administration’s work on Tice's case. “Every single day we are working to find him and to bring him home” Blinken said. "This is a priority for the United States.” Tice, who has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus in August 2012 as the Syrian civil war intensified. A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men. He hasn't been heard from since. Assad's government had denied that it was holding him. ___ Follow the AP's Syria coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/syria The Associated Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? 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I had a visit on Sunday this week from a secondary school teacher who was asking how he can help his students who are all underage and who have sports betting apps and accounts. He is distressed that they have absorbed the gambling ad message and that their passion for sport is expressed through gambling. I assured him that given Labor and the Coalition would legislate a ban on social media for 16-year-olds they cannot enforce, it was surely a fait accompli that we would see a gambling ad ban which they can enforce. Exactly the same anxiety that parents feel about social media, they feel about gambling ads grooming their kids. Just a few hours later I saw the news that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese , seems to have squibbed any gambling ad reform at all. I was profoundly shocked. A year ago, I had witnessed the emotion of the PM when he spoke at Peta Murphy’s funeral and I had been assured that Labor would honour her groundbreaking legacy on gambling reform. I honestly believed that. She showed us the pathway to address one of our biggest health issues, in the country with the world’s highest per-capita gambling losses. The only question, I believed, was whether they would adopt her recommendation for a full ad ban or legislate just a partial ban. Would they move gambling out of racing and sport to address it in our health departments? Would they implement a national gambling regulator or continue to allow the Northern Territory to continue as the de facto regulator of these ads? Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email But to squib any reform at all, and dishonour her legacy so totally, never entered my mind. What has just happened? Well, it was not public opinion that defeated any reform. More than 70% of the public wanted a full ad ban and everyone wanted some limits placed on the ubiquity of these predatory ads normalising gambling in children’s minds with the AFL and NRL. The AFL supporters’ survey showed that 76% wanted a gambling ad ban from TV and radio. With more than a million ads a year on free-to-air television, the Australian public has had enough. There is a collective psychic vomit every time an ad appears, as well as parental incomprehension about why, 18 months after the Murphy inquiry, our children are still being subjected to this. Peter Dutton knew this. Months before the Murphy recommendations were handed down, he promised in his 2023 budget reply to limit gambling ads and received an overwhelmingly positive response. The Coalition has not responded to Murphy and was waiting to react to the government’s response. Now that the government has squibbed any reform, Dutton has a big opportunity. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion What happened is pretty simple in my view. The vested interests cowed the PM into dishonouring Murphy’s legacy. Those vested interests start with the obscenely rich foreign-owned sports betting companies. The British online gambling company Bet365 is well connected through their peak body Responsible Wagering Australia, which had former Labor senator Stephen Conroy as CEO followed by former Liberal chief of staff Kai Cantwell. Sporting bodies are often associated with gambling companies. The former CEO of the AFL is now CEO of Tabcorp. The AFL have been lobbying the PM not to implement the Murphy recommendations. Peter V’Landys is the chair of the NRL as well as chief executive and board member with NSW Racing. Media companies Seven, Nine and Foxtel have also been lobbying against the Murphy recommendations. In the same week that the federal government squibbed reform, the gambling industry achieved other successes. The Tasmanian government backflipped on its pokies reforms even though public opinion supports a cashless card. Tasmania Labor supported the Liberals signing the death warrant for promised reform. In New South Wales, the pokies industry sitting at the table of the premier Chris Minns’ expert panel has slowed down any cashless card reform to way beyond the next election. To have them at the table is a bit like having tobacco at the table to get smoking reform. In the US, despite overwhelming public desire to get gun reform, guns remain entrenched and it remains the US’s blind spot. In Australia, despite overwhelming desire to get gambling reform, gambling remains entrenched. What now seems clear is that, a year after her death, the recommendations of the brave Peta Murphy with multi-partisan support showed us a path forward, but our government caved in to vested interests. Tim Costello is chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform
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