AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST

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This article was published 15/01/2019 (2613 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

UK’s May faces no-confidence vote after Brexit plan crushed

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal with the European Union on Tuesday, plunging the Brexit process into chaos and triggering a no-confidence vote that could topple her government.

The defeat was widely expected, but the scale of the House of Commons’ vote — 432 votes against the government and 202 in support — was devastating for May’s fragile leadership.

It followed more than two years of political upheaval in which May has staked her political reputation on getting a Brexit deal and was the biggest defeat for a government in the House of Commons in modern history.

Moments after the result was announced — with Speaker John Bercow bellowing “the noes have it” to a packed Commons chamber — May said it was only right to test whether the government still had lawmakers’ support to carry on. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn quickly obliged, saying May’s government had lost the confidence of Parliament.

Lawmakers will vote Wednesday on his motion of no-confidence. If the government loses, it will have 14 days to overturn the result or face a national election.

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Al-Shabab extremists claim deadly attack on Nairobi hotel

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Extremists stormed a luxury hotel in Kenya’s capital on Tuesday, setting off thunderous explosions and gunning down people at cafe tables in an attack claimed by Africa’s deadliest Islamic militant group. Witnesses reported seeing several bodies.

“It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible,” said Charles Njenga, who ran from a scene of blood, broken glass, burning vehicles and pillars of black smoke.

Al-Shabab — the Somalia-based group that carried out the 2013 attack at the nearby Westgate Mall in Nairobi that left 67 people dead — claimed responsibility for the carnage at the DusitD2 hotel complex, which includes bars, restaurants, offices and banks and is in a well-to-do neighbourhood with many American, European and Indian expatriates.

Authorities sent special forces into the hotel to flush out the gunmen. Late Tuesday night, about eight hours after the siege began, Interior Minister Fred Matian’i said that all of the buildings affected by the attack had been secured and that security forces were mopping up.

“I would like to reiterate that the situation is under control and the country is safe,” he said.

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Trump’s attorney general nominee: ‘I will not be bullied’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vowing “I will not be bullied,” President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general asserted independence from the White House on Tuesday, saying he believed that Russia had tried to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, that the special counsel investigation shadowing Trump is not a witch hunt and that his predecessor was right to recuse himself from the probe.

The comments by William Barr at his Senate confirmation hearing pointedly departed from Trump’s own views and underscored Barr’s efforts to reassure Democrats that he will not be a loyalist to a president who has appeared to demand it from law enforcement. He also repeatedly sought to assuage concerns that he might disturb or upend special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as it reaches its final stages.

Some Democrats are concerned about that very possibility, citing a memo Barr wrote to the Justice Department before his nomination in which he criticized Mueller’s investigation for the way it was presumably looking into whether Trump had obstructed justice.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Barr the memo showed “a determined effort, I thought, to undermine Bob Mueller.” The nominee told senators he was merely trying to advised Justice Department officials against “stretching the statute” to conclude that the president had obstructed justice.

Though Barr said an attorney general should work in concert with an administration’s policy goals, he broke from some Trump talking points, including the mantra that the Russia probe is a witch hunt. Trump has equivocated on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and assailed and pushed out his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing because of his work with the Trump campaign.

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House rebukes GOP’s Steve King over racist remarks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic measure rebuking Republican Rep. Steve King for his comments about white supremacy won easy approval Tuesday in the House.

In a twist, the nine-term Iowa congressman was among those supporting the measure of disapproval, which was adopted, 416-1.

King said he agreed with Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, the resolution’s sponsor, that white supremacy is an evil that cannot be ignored. King’s racist comments have been widely condemned by members of both parties in recent days.

The ideology of white supremacy “never shows up in my head,” King said in a speech from the House floor. “I do not know how it could possibly come out of my mouth.”

Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois was the sole lawmaker to oppose the measure, saying the House should take the more serious step of censuring King for his “repugnant and racist behaviour.”

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Former major leaguer Wetteland charged with child sex abuse

DENTON, Texas (AP) — Former major league pitcher John Wetteland has been charged in Texas with continuous sex abuse of a child under age 14.

Denton County jail records show the 52-year-old Wetteland was arrested Monday and freed on $25,000 bond.

Authorities have not released details of the investigation into Wetteland, who is in the Texas Rangers team Hall of Fame.

The Associated Press was not able to contact Wetteland or his attorney to ask for comment. The Denton County district attorney’s office hasn’t returned a phone message requesting details.

Wetteland was MVP of the 1996 World Series with the New York Yankees. The All-Star closer was 48-45 with 330 saves and a 2.93 ERA from 1989-2000, also playing for Montreal and the Dodgers.

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Drug trafficker tells of bribe to ex-president of Mexico

NEW YORK (AP) — A Colombian drug trafficker testified Tuesday that Mexican cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman once boasted about paying a $100 million bribe to the former president of Mexico.

Alex Cifuentes spoke about the alleged bribe to President Enrique Pena Nieto during his testimony Tuesday in Guzman’s trial in New York.

The Colombian, who has been testifying for days about things he learned about Guzman’s gang while he was living at one of the kingpin’s hideaways in Mexico, didn’t provide many details about the bribery claim. He said the money was delivered by a woman named Maria in Mexico City.

A spokesman for Nieto called the bribery claim “false and defamatory” when it first came up earlier in the trial. Nieto left office last year.

Cifuentes first spoke with prosecutors about the bribery allegation when he began co-operating with U.S. authorities in 2016. Under questioning from Guzman’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, Cifuentes said he wasn’t sure exactly when the bribe was delivered.

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APNewsBreak: Feds say ‘star’ DEA agent abroad stole millions

MIAMI (AP) — A U.S. federal narcotics agent known for his expensive tastes and high-profile drug seizures has been implicated in a multimillion-dollar money-laundering conspiracy that involved the very cartel criminals he was charged with fighting in Colombia.

A once standout Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Jose Irizarry is accused of conspiring with a longtime DEA informant to launder more than $7 million in illicit drug proceeds, sometimes using an underground network known as the black-market peso exchange, according to five current and former law enforcement officials.

The officials described the case as one of the biggest black eyes in the history of the DEA, an agency that has seen repeated scandals in recent years, and one they fear could have compromised undercover operations in the U.S. and South America.

The conspiracy not only allegedly enriched Irizarry but is believed to have benefited one of South America’s top money launderers, who is a relative of Irizarry’s Colombian wife, said the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the federal investigation.

The allegations have sent shockwaves through the DEA and drawn new scrutiny to the agency’s Colombia field office, a critical outpost that has been steeped in turmoil in recent years. The division has seen internal strife and turnover in leadership even as it grapples with record-high levels of cocaine production.

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Federal workers take on odd jobs to make ends meet

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — When her paychecks dried up because of the partial government shutdown, Cheryl Inzunza Blum sought out a side job that has become a popular option in the current economy: She rented out a room on Airbnb.

Other government workers are driving for Uber, relying on word-of-mouth and social networks to find handyman work and looking for traditional temp gigs to help pay the bills during the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The hundreds of thousands of out-of-work government employees have more options than in past shutdowns given the rise of the so-called “gig economy” that has made an entire workforce out of people doing home vacation rentals and driving for companies like Uber, Lyft and Postmates.

Blum decided to capitalize on the busy winter travel season in Arizona to help make ends meet after she stopped getting paid for her government contract work as a lawyer in immigration court in Tucson. She says she has no choice but to continue to work unpaid because she has clients who are depending on her, some of whom are detained or have court hearings.

But she also has bills: her Arizona state bar dues, malpractice insurance and a more than $500 phone bill for the past two months because she uses her phone so heavily for work. Blum bills the government for her work, but the office that pays her hasn’t processed any paychecks to her since before the shutdown began. So she’s been tapping every source she can to keep herself afloat — even her high school- and college-aged children — and is even thinking about driving for Uber and Lyft as well.

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China criticizes Trudeau comments on death penalty case

BEIJING (AP) — China expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday over his criticism of a death sentence given to a Canadian accused of drug smuggling at a retrial that followed a chilling of relations over the arrest of a senior Chinese technology executive.

Trudeau should “respect the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty, correct mistakes and stop making irresponsible remarks,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

“We express our strong dissatisfaction with this,” Hua told reporters at a daily briefing.

Her comments are the latest sign of a sharp cooling of China-Canada ties since Canada detained Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States.

The U.S. wants Meng extradited to face charges that she committed fraud by misleading banks about the company’s business dealings in Iran.

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Razor burn: Gillette ad stirs online uproar

NEW YORK (AP) — A Gillette ad for men invoking the #MeToo movement is sparking intense online backlash, with accusations that it talks down to men and groups calling for a boycott. But Gillette says it doesn’t mind sparking a discussion. Since it debuted Monday, the Internet-only ad has garnered nearly 19 million views on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter — a level of buzz that any brand would covet.

The two-minute ad from Procter & Gamble’s razor brand shows men and boys engaging in bullying and sexual harassment and encourages men to “say the right thing” and “act the right way.” Taking on bullying, sexual harassment and toxic masculinity is a big task for a razor brand. Many critics took to social media saying it was insulting to men and laden with stereotypes.

The uproar comes as Gillette battles upstarts like Harry’s, Dollar Shave Club and others for millennial dollars. Gillette controlled about 70 per cent of the U.S. market a decade ago. Last year, its market share dropped to below 50 per cent, according to Euromonitor

Allen Adamson, co-founder of branding firm Metaforce, called the ad a “hail Mary” pass from the 117-year-old company. But he added that online buzz, whether positive or negative, rarely makes a long-term difference for a marketer since memory fades quickly.

“Getting noticed and getting buzz is no easy task, and they’ve managed to break through,” Adamson said. “Most advertisers advertise, and no one notices because there is so much noise in the marketplace, so just getting noticed Is a big win, especially for low-interest category like a razor.”