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NEW YORK (AP) — He's making threats, traveling abroad and negotiating with world leaders. Donald Trump has more than a month and a half to go before he's sworn in for a second term. But the Republican president-elect is already moving aggressively not just to fill his Cabinet and outline policy goals, but to achieve those priorities . Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, prompting emergency calls and a visit from Canada's prime minister that resulted in what Trump claimed were commitments from both U.S. allies on new border security measures. The incoming president has warned there will be “ALL HELL TO PAY" if, before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, Hamas does not release the hostages being held in Gaza . He has threatened to block the purchase of U.S. Steel by a Japanese company, warning "Buyer Beware!!!” And this weekend, Trump was returning to the global stage, joining a host of other foreign leaders for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral five years after it was ravaged by a fire. On Saturday, he met with French President Emmanuel Macron — joined at the last minute by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and had plans to see Britain's Prince William also in Paris. Absent in Paris: lame duck President Joe Biden, who has largely disappeared from headlines, except when he issued a pardon of his son , Hunter, who was facing sentencing for gun crimes and tax evasion. First lady Jill Biden is attending in his place. “I think you have seen more happen in the last two weeks than you’ve seen in the last four years. And we’re not even there yet,” Trump said in an over-the-top boast at an awards ceremony Thursday night . For all of Trump's bold talk, though, it is unclear how many of his efforts will bear fruit. The pre-inauguration threats and deal-making are highly unusual, like so much of what Trump does, said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University. “Transitions are always a little complicated in this way. Even though we talk about one president at a time," he said, “the reality is one president plus. And that plus can act assertively sometimes." Zelizer said that is particularly true of Trump, who was president previously and already has relationships with many foreign leaders such as Macron, who invited both Trump and Biden to Paris this weekend as part of the Notre Dame celebration. “Right now he’s sort of governing even though he’s not the president yet. He’s having these public meetings with foreign leaders, which aren't simply introductions. He's staking out policy and negotiating things from drug trafficking to tariffs," Zelizer said. Trump already has met with several foreign leaders, in addition to a long list of calls. He hosted Argentinian President Javier Milei in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago club in November. After the tariff threat, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago for a three-hour dinner meeting. Canadian officials later said the country is ready to make new investments in border security, with plans for more helicopters, drones and law enforcement officers. Last Sunday, Trump dined with Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli prime minister. Incoming Trump aides have also been meeting with their future foreign counterparts. On Wednesday, several members of Trump's team, including incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz, met with Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelenskyy, in Washington, as Ukraine tries to win support for its ongoing efforts to defend itself from Russian invasion, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Yermak also met with Trump officials in Florida, he wrote on X . That comes after Trump's incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Qatar and Israel for high-level talks about a cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza, according to a U.S familiar with the efforts, meeting with the prime ministers of both countries. There is no prohibition on incoming officials or nominees meeting with foreign officials, and it is common and fine for them to do so — unless those meetings are designed to subvert or otherwise impact current U.S. policy. Trump aides were said to be especially cognizant of potential conflicts given their experience in 2016, when interactions between Trump allies and Russian officials came under scrutiny. That included a phone call in which Trump's incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, discussed new sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, suggesting things would improve after Trump became president. Flynn was later charged with lying to the FBI about the conversation. Trump’s incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that, “All transition officials have followed applicable laws in their interactions with foreign nationals.” She added: “World leaders recognize that President Trump is returning to power and will lead with strength to put the best interests of the United States of America first again. That is why many foreign leaders and officials have reached out to correspond with President Trump and his incoming team.” Such efforts can nonetheless cause complications. If, say, Biden is having productive conversations on a thorny foreign policy issue and Trump weighs in, that could make it harder for Biden “because people are hearing two different voices” that may be in conflict, Zelizer said. Leaders like Russia's Vladimir Putin and Netanyahu may also anticipate a more favorable incoming administration and wait Biden out, hoping for more a better deal. It also remains unclear how extensively the Biden administration has been kept apprised of Trump transition efforts. Although there is no requirement that an incoming administration coordinate calls and meetings with foreign officials with the State Department or National Security Council, that has long been considered standard practice. That is, in part, because transition teams, particularly in their early days and weeks, do not always have the latest information about the state of relations with foreign nations and may not have the resources, including interpretation and logistical ability, to handle such meetings efficiently. Still, the Biden and Trump teams have been talking, particularly on the Middle East, with the incoming and outgoing administrations having agreed to work together on efforts to free hostages who remain in held in Gaza, according to a U.S. official, who, like others, was not authorized to comment publicly about the sensitive talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. That includes conversations between Witkoff and Biden’s foreign policy team as well as Waltz and Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Last month, Biden administration officials said they had kept Trump’s team closely apprised of efforts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon border. “I just want to be clear to all of our adversaries, they can’t play the incoming Trump administration off of the Biden administration. I’m regularly talking to the Biden people. And so, this is not a moment of opportunity or wedges for them," Waltz said Friday in a Fox Business interview. But when it comes to immigration, Biden administration officials haven’t been entirely in the loop on discussions around how to execute on Trump’s pledge to deport millions of migrants, according to four administration officials with knowledge of the transition who spoke on condition of anonymity. That’s not terribly surprising given how differently the teams view migration. Trump’s team, meanwhile, is already claiming credit for everything from gains in the stock and cryptocurrency markets to a decision by Walmart to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion policies Trump opposes. “Promises Kept — And President Trump Hasn’t Even Been Inaugurated Yet,” read one press release that claimed, in part, that both Canada and Mexico have already pledged "immediate action” to help “stem the flow of illegal immigration, human trafficking, and deadly drugs entering the United States." Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has stopped short of saying Trump mischaracterized their call in late November. But she said Friday that Trump “has his own way of communicating, like when we had the phone call and he wrote that we were going to close the border. That was never talked about in the phone call.” Earlier this week, Mexico carried out what it claimed was its largest seizure of fentanyl pills ever. Seizures over the summer had been as little as 50 grams per week, and after the Trump call, they seized more than a ton. Security analyst David Saucedo said that "under the pressure by Donald Trump, it appears President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration is willing to increase the capture of drug traffickers and drug seizures that Washington is demanding.” Biden, too, tried to take credit for the seizure in a statement Friday night. ___ Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani, Colleen Long and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.Who was Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare fatally shot in Manhattan?Dylan Hernández: MLS deal with Apple TV could be hurting league's efforts to grow its fan base)zrb|R ��[8y�p�9� l�uJl�PY�%$ab��&WB^�ثJ�/�����c�W�a�AY&'���;�g__�y��R�/U�}}i�ЛV-�6����=7Qs�je-VW&�_�V`+�h�VE�@?��TGtˢ-�#6�rYs��8%O�cJ-! �w�¡�������1�4Z��J��n��^ Ր҃!�g�d��u9�hL�͛�̒vZ��I�Yg�3Nc)���4� ��[�h�~���O��pҥQ��E;��iV�ĎS�+��T�
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Across the Middle East and beyond, the fall of Syria’s authoritarian government at the hands of jihadi militants set off waves of jubilation, trepidation and alarm. Expatriate Syrians and many residents across the Middle East exulted at the overthrow of a leader who led his country through 14 years of civil strife that left half a million Syrians dead and displaced millions to countries around the world. While others are worried about further instability rocking a region already in turmoil. Governments — whether allies or opponents of Bashar Assad — scrambled to absorb the sudden, stunning development and assess the implications for the Middle East and the world. Mr Biden credited action by the US and its allies for weakening Syria’s backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. He said “for the first time” that they could no longer defend Mr Assad’s grip on power. “Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East,” Mr Biden said. The US has about 900 troops in Syria, including US forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held north east to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group. In Lebanon, thousands of Syrians headed for the Masnaa border crossing to return to their home country, despite the uncertainty. “Anything is better than Bashar,” said Sami Abdel-Latif, a refugee from Hama who was heading back to join his wife and four children. “This is a feeling we’ve been waiting 14 years for,” said Malak Matar, who was preparing to return to the capital of Damascus. Now, he said, “Syrians have to create a state that is well organised and take care of their country.” Many citizens in Syria’s neighbouring countries reacted with joy to the news Mr Assad was gone. “I believe that the future is beautiful and prosperous for the Syrians,” he said. Syria’s neighbours stepped up security along their borders. Lebanon said it was closing all but one of its land border crossings with Syria. Jordan also closed a border crossing. Iran, a key ally of Mr Assad, said the Syrian people should decide their country’s future “without destructive, coercive foreign intervention”. The Foreign Ministry in Tehran said Iran supports Syria’s unity and national sovereignty and hopes to see “the end of military conflicts, the prevention of terrorist activities and the start of a national dialogue” with the participation of all groups. Egypt’s foreign ministry urged a “comprehensive political process” to establish a new era of peace in the war-torn country. The head of Yemen’s internationally recognised government welcomed the fall of Mr Assad as “a historic moment”. Turkey has backed anti-Assad militant groups in Syria and could play a key role in what happens next. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the fall of Assad brought “hope” and he called on the world to help “unite and reconstruct” Syria. In Europe, many governments welcomed Mr Assad’s departure while urging a rapid return to stability. France’s foreign ministry welcomed the fall of Mr Assad, saying “the Syrian people have suffered too much”. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also welcomed the end of Mr Assad’s “barbaric regime”. “We call on all sides to protect civilians and minorities and ensure essential aid can reach the most vulnerable in the coming hours and days,” he said. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for calm and urged work to ensure an “orderly political transition to renewed institutions”. State media later reported that Mr Assad was in Moscow with his family and they had been granted asylum. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha of Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, wrote on X that the ousted Syrian leader had suffered the fate of “all dictators who bet on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. He always betrays those who rely on him”.Witcher 3 modders Moonknight, Ferroxius, Crygreg, and Glassfish (who contributed to the Brothers in Arms cut content restoration mod) have released the first volume of What Lies Unseen , a planned series chronicling the development history and evolution of The Witcher 3. RPG YouTuber xLetalis has put out a three-hour video going over the first volume, which covers a prototype version of The Witcher 3's story that would have been upwards of three times as long as the game we got. Some of the biggest changes and surprises in this version of The Witcher 3 include: The game was subtitled "A Time of Sword and Axe" instead of "The Wild Hunt." The Witcher 3 had a VATS-like focus system that let you target weak points on monsters. There was a lot more travel back and forth between Velen, Skellige, and Novigrad, and plotlines and characters that were more contained in the final game would extend across multiple acts. Your choice between Yennefer or Triss would mean that the other sorceress would be absent from the final third of the game. The Witcher 2's Iorveth appeared and had a major role. There was a multipart heist quest in Novigrad that required allies like the Kaer Morhen siege. The Bloody Baron's story was very different, and continued late into the game. The endings were much more ambiguous and melancholy. Geralt and Avallac'h would teleport to Cyberpunk 2077's Night City in one quest. The game didn't have Gwent , and instead saw the return of arm wrestling and dice poker from TW1 and 2. This project came about thanks to the release of CD Projekt 's REDKit modding tools, with the authors writing that prior to these tools becoming available, community knowledge of The Witcher 3's development "stemmed from interviews with the company as well as leaked material that was incomplete." "The big breakthrough occurred in 2024 when CD Projekt RED released REDkit for The Witcher 3 ," the modders wrote in the introduction to volume one. "Included with this development kit was a string database, containing almost every single line of text that was written between the earliest and latest point in Witcher 3's development. From this database, we collectively worked to translate the data into a tangible synopsis that makes up the bulk of these documents." And boy is there some bulk to these documents: Volume one, covering this circa-2012 stage of development, weighs in at a doorstopper 584 pages. It contains area descriptions, scene directions, rough drafts of dialogue, concept art, and some prototype models and assets still accessible in REDKit. The overarching story was still the same: Find Ciri, fight the Wild Hunt, explore Velen, Novigrad, and Skellige, but there just would have been way more of it. The maps and areas seem to have been decided on very early in development, and this longer game would have had a lot more backtracking between zones as the story went on. A lot of stuff that's side content in the final game would have been integral to the main quest here, and there were also a lot more new or returning characters to fill things out. "Unlike the 2013 and 2014 builds of the game, we cannot be certain as to what the 2012 build looked like at this point in development," the team wrote. "Most characters, locations, and other entities would have been using placeholders and the environments were still being sculpted. As such most of the images we included are concept arts or early assets and locations. However, a few work-in-progress models from this time period did make it into the game files." As for why the game was rescoped, that doesn't take a lot of expertise or imagination: The Witcher 3 is already a massive game with a reputation for being difficult to stick with and complete, despite its quality. Nobody would have been able to beat this damn game if it was 150 hours (an estimate quoted by the modders several times in volume one) just to finish the main quest. It also would have been an incredibly taxing game to ship in any kind of reasonable timeframe. The Novigrad plotline in particular just seems like a mess in this iteration of The Witcher 3, with way more characters and complicating elements. With that said, there are more than a few scenarios laid out in volume one that made me go "Wow, that would have been rad as hell." The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. The serial killer quest in Novigrad would have uncovered a hidden vampire society in the city, like something out of Vampire: The Masquerade. The killer would have been a rogue member of this group, with the other vampires helping your investigation while the Witcher 1's Shani would have made an appearance. Both of these ideas would be revisited in The Witcher 3's DLC. The Witcher 2's Iorveth was also meant to have a major role in this version of Novigrad, and I've always really missed the character in The Witcher 3. The game's endings were also much darker no matter what choices you made. Stopping the White Frost would require Ciri and Avallac'h's deaths, and keeping Ciri alive would mean allowing the world-eating force to continue unabated, as well as an emotional final boss fight with an emotional, betrayed Avallac'h who, in this version of the game, had a more developed and friendly relationship with Geralt. The empress of Nilfgaard ending was very different but tonally similar to the final game, but Ciri's Witcher ending would have seen her quickly become disillusioned with the monster hunting lifestyle, while she also felt guilty about Avallac'h's death and the White Frost's continuation. Ciri would then resolve to travel the planes searching for another way to stop it. The downscoping of The Witcher 3 reminds me of all the areas and ideas Larian has talked about having cut from Baldur's Gate 3 : More is not always better, and these incredible games required some disciplined, difficult decision making to ensure that they were well paced and able to be delivered on-time and on-budget. More than anything else, I appreciate the historical value of what Glassfish, Ferroxius, Moonknight, Crygreg, and xLetalis are doing: Shedding light on the creative process behind one of the best games ever made. I'll be eager to see what's revealed by the later volumes of What Lies Unseen. Early mockup's of The Witcher 3's user interface shared by the What Lies Unseen team.

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ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Alex Chaikin's 20 points off of the bench helped Lafayette to a 77-73 victory against Mercyhurst on Saturday. Chaikin went 7 of 8 from the field (6 for 7 from 3-point range) for the Leopards (5-5). Justin Vander Baan added 13 points while shooting 3 of 5 from the field and 7 for 9 from the line while he also had six rebounds and five blocks. Andrew Phillips had 10 points and shot 4 of 6 from the field and 1 for 3 from the line. Shemar Rathan-Mayes finished with 21 points and four assists for the Lakers (5-6). Aidan Reichert added 18 points, six rebounds and three steals for Mercyhurst. Jeff Planutis also recorded 13 points. Chaikin scored nine points in the first half and Lafayette went into the break trailing 38-31. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

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