The man accused of “maliciously” starting the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history last year is set to face a jury over arson charges.
Prosecutors allege Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, hiked around midnight on New Year’s Eve to a hillside in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood filled with multimillion-dollar homes and set a brush fire with a barbecue lighter later found in his car.
by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times,
Democratic voters in Maine on Tuesday nominated oysterman and military veteran Graham Platner as their candidate to take on incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), locking in the nominees for one of the most critical Senate elections of the 2026 cycle.
At 9:23 p.m, The Associated Press formally declared that Platner would be the Democratic nominee. When the race was called, Platner led Gov. Janet Mills - who withdrew her candidacy after polls showed her trailing the dark horse Platner - by tens of percent, though only around 8 percent of the votes were in when the race was called.
Platner's campaign recently come under scrutiny after several media reports about his past treatment of women and other controversies.
Platner's victory formalizes the 2026 Senate lineup, locking in the final picks for a race that has been characterized as the political fight of Collins's life by many observers.
The five-term Collins was first elected in 1996 and has held on long beyond any other New England Republican at the federal level.
This year, she faced no Republican challenger for the nomination.
Though she regularly breaks with President Donald Trump and her party in the upper chamber, the political odds for a Republican in statewide matches have grown increasingly grim in recent years.
Aside from Collins, the last Republican to win a statewide federal race in New England was Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican who won a single term to the Senate in 2010 before being unseated by Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) in 2016.
Maine has never voted for Trump on a statewide level, with Vice President Kamala Harris winning by around 7 percent in 2024.
But Collins's brand of moderate, old-school Republicanism has kept her well ahead of most other Republicans in the state.
In 2020, Collins outran Trump by around 17 percent in Maine, defeating her Democratic rival by around eight points in an election former President Joe Biden won by around nine points.
Still, polls have painted a tough picture for Collins, who has fallen behind Platner in most polls conducted since March.
Platner has campaigned as a progressive candidate, winning the endorsement of key figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
However, his campaign has faced some controversies.
The New York Times has run various stories against Platner, which include claims made by Lyndsey Fifield, a Republican political strategist who previously dated him.
Fifield claimed that on one occasion, while they were dating between 2013 and 2015, Platner twisted her arm. The New York Times stated in the article that it was unable to independently corroborate the allegation, which Platner has denied.
A report by The Wall Street Journal also relayed a story involving Platner exchanging sexually explicit text messages with other women during his marriage.
His wife, who knew about the infidelity, had shared the information with a campaign staffer, who later brought the story to The Wall Street Journal. Platner's wife has described the public reporting on the topic as "shameful" gossip.
Less-than-truckload freight stocks fell in premarket trading in New York after Amazon roiled the industry yet again - this time by announcing expanded LTL services to cover all U.S. destinations, including third-party warehouses, distribution centers, and retail partners.
"Businesses now have the flexibility to ship by pallet, choosing LTL to share trailer space for partial loads instead of reserving and paying for a full truckload," Amazon wrote in a press release, adding, "Since 2019, Amazon LTL has served tens of thousands of Amazon selling partners and vendors, moving millions of pallets across its U.S. network last year. The company is now expanding the service based on strong positive feedback and growing customer demand."
Among the movers in premarket trading, FedEx Freight fell 2%, Old Dominion declined 6%, Saia sank 7%, and ArcBest dropped nearly 8%.
LTL services are part of Amazon Supply Chain Services, whose launch last month roiled trucking stocks at the time.
Amazon noted, "Businesses of all sizes can now use LTL to move freight, typically ranging from one to six pallets, or between 150 and 15,000 pounds."
UBS senior analyst Tom Wadewitz, who covers freight transportation, told clients last month that the selloff in transport names, including UPS, FedEx, and C.H. Robinson, sparked by Amazon’s push into the supply chain network, was "overdone."
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/amazon-freight-expansion-sparks-selloff-across-trucking-stocks
Airbus is increasingly looking to Sweden's Saab as a preferred future partner as the collapse of a Franco-German fighter programme reshapes European defence alliances, three people familiar with the matter said.
Teaming up on warfare with the maker of Gripen combat jets is not the only option for Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain in the fighter market. There have also been high-level contacts on a separate project involving Britain, Italy and Japan.
But Airbus and Saab have been in broad exploratory talks for at least six months, buoyed by improving defence relations between Germany and Sweden, the people said.
Saab said any cooperation would be a political decision. "That said, we have an open-door policy and are open to collaboration with many defence industry players," a spokesperson said.
Airbus had no immediate comment.
Until now, talks have been largely conceptual to avoid pre-empting the breakdown of the FCAS fighter project, sources said.
But this week's divorce between Airbus and Dassault Aviation - expected to be made official at the Berlin Airshow - could allow Airbus to pursue a Nordic partnership more openly.
Speaking to Reuters in Berlin, Airbus Defence & Space CEO Michael Schoellhorn confirmed Saab was among potential partners but said it was too early to rule out other options.
"There are potential partners, e.g. Saab. It will also be up to the (German) air force ... to restate what they actually need."
On Tuesday, Leonardo opened the door to Airbus and its defence paymaster Germany joining the separate GCAP project between Britain, Italy and Japan.
Berlin would be a "particularly valid partner," CEO Lorenzo Mariani told Reuters.
Analysts say the collapse of FCAS after nine years deals a blow to European defence cooperation. Decisions over what comes next will shape European air power for decades.
"It demonstrates how difficult it is to align military, political and industrial priorities," said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at IISS.
POTENTIAL HURDLES
Sweden remained independent during the last round of fighter development, building the Gripen while France produced the Rafale and Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy co-developed the Eurofighter.
For the next generation it has yet to show its hand, having initially partnered with Britain and now conducting research on a Gripen successor, with political decisions due in 2030.
People familiar with the matter said Sweden has both the will and technology to team up with Airbus if requested.
The two sides have been inching closer for months.
Visiting Germany last September, Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson said industrial co-operation was "blossoming".
In December, Reuters reported Saab and Airbus had begun discussing co-operation on unmanned technology.
Those talks focused on supporting existing crewed fighters such as the Eurofighter and Gripen E, but sources said they could become a springboard for deeper cooperation.
Still, hurdles remain whichever path Berlin takes.
Just as France and Germany have historically differed over the role of their fighters - an issue that led France to leave the Eurofighter in the 1980s to build the Rafale - it remains unclear how far German and Swedish requirements align.
Insiders say GCAP is constrained by a tight 2035 deadline agreed with Japan, making it difficult to offer Germany more than a junior role.
Questions also remain whether any country can go it alone.
Dassault, the only European firm to have developed a fighter from scratch using domestic engines, says it is ready to do so again, though French public finances are strained.
At the air show, an Airbus-led alliance is set to make a lobbying push for German firms, though sources denied this marked the start of a new project.
Schoellhorn played down the prospect of going solo. "Germany has been clear on numerous occasions, also on the political side, that we continue to think European," he said.
With limited domestic demand to keep costs down and fiscal pressures across the continent, analysts say European fighter-producing nations other than France will keep pursuing alliances, potentially extending to the Middle East.
"It doesn't make the product cheap but it makes it affordable. Some of this stuff is really difficult to do on your own, except for the Americans or Chinese," Barrie said.
