Month: November 2023

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek police have arrested six individuals who they say are members of a large human trafficking gang that violently extorted money from migrants to assist them in crossing into neighboring Albania and travel to European Union countries to the north. Police said Sunday that a Syrian, a Palestinian and four Iraqis

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime TV producer Marty Krofft has died at age 86. He was known for imaginative children’s shows such as “H.R. Pufnstuf” and primetime hits including “Donny & Marie” in the 1970s. Publicist Harlan Boll says Krofft died Saturday in Los Angeles. Krofft and his brother Sid

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Oregon all moved up a spot in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, giving the Pac-12 two top-five teams for the first time since the final ranking of the 2016 season. Georgia remained No. 1 as

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press Police say three young men of Palestinian descent who were attending a Thanksgiving holiday gathering were shot and injured near the University of Vermont campus. Police are searching for the suspect after the three were shot Saturday night in Burlington. One of the men has suffered serious injuries; the others

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska woman bagged a marriage proposal along with a big buck during a recent deer hunting trip. Samantha Camenzind’s boyfriend not only gave her the first shot at the giant buck they first spotted on a trail camera south of Lincoln. But then he surprised her by popping the question

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media say an Israeli airstrike has hit the international airport in the Syrian capital and put it out of commission. SANA, citing an unnamed military official, said Sunday that Israel fired missiles from the direction of the Golan Heights, striking Damascus International Airport and other areas in the Damascus countryside

By SEUNG MIN KIM and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — President Joe Biden has confirmed that Abigail Edan, a 4-year-old American girl held hostage by Hamas after her parents were killed, has been released as part of the cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war. The president says Abigail is “safely in Israel.”

AUTRYVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Deputies responding to a call about shots fired in North Carolina on Sunday found four people shot to death in what they say appears to be a campsite for homeless people. Sampson County Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Pope told WRAL-TV that an initial review of the crime scene indicated someone killed three

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — An alliance of armed ethnic minority groups that launched a surprise offensive last month against Myanmar’s military has seized a major trading gate on the country’s northeastern border with China. A spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army said Sunday that it had captured a major

By The Associated Press Russia’s interior ministry has added the spokesman of U.S. tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to a wanted list, according to its online database. Russian state and independent media first reported on Stone’s inclusion on the list on Sunday, weeks after Russia classed Meta as “extremist,” opening the way

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Walt Disney Co.’s “Wish” had been expected to rule the Thanksgiving weekend box office, but moviegoers instead feasted on leftovers, as “The Hunger Games: Songbirds and Snakes” led ticket sales for the second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Neither of the weekend’s top

By MAE ANDERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Among the many challenges small businesses face as they try to grow these days, getting a loan is right near the top. Banks big and small have tightened lending standards as the Federal Reserve hiked up interest rates the past two years. The collapse of

By BILL BARROW Associated Press PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter could not remember their first meeting. She was a newborn. He wasn’t long out of diapers himself, a would-be U.S. president peering down at the future first lady his mother had delivered a few days earlier. What flourished in the near-century to

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Foreign Ministry says it will summon the Irish ambassador over a tweet celebrating the release of a 9-year-old girl from Hamas captivity. The ministry alleged that the post didn’t adequately condemn the militant group. The Irish prime minister on Sunday lauded the release of Emily Hand.

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of people including former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have gathered in London for a march against antisemitism, a day after large crowds turned out for a pro-Palestinian rally. Johnson was joined by the U.K.‘s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and other officials to express solidarity with the Jewish community. Organizers billed

ROME (AP) — A lawyer for the Italian man extradited from Germany for the kidnapping and slaying and his former girlfriend says he hasn’t yet had the opportunity to speak with his client about the “merits” of the case that has gripped Italy. Lawyer Giovanni Caruso told reporters in Verona on Saturday evening after visiting

LONDON (AP) — Former England, Tottenham and Barcelona manager Terry Venables has died. He was 80. He was a former England soccer player who led the national team to the semifinals of the European Championship in 1996 as a coach. The death of Venables was announced in a statement by his family to British media.

By BILL BARROW Associated Press PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are known for being a global power couple. But they were also best friends and life mates for nearly 80 years. The former first lady died Nov. 19 at age 96. Now the former president must adjust to life without the woman

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An unknown force has seized an oil tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Aden, Yemen, according to a private security firm. Private intelligence firm Ambrey said the Central Park, managed and owned by Zodiac Maritime, was seized in the Gulf of Aden.

By DEMETRIS NELLAS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say an operation is underway to find 13 members of a cargo ship that sank off the island of Lesbos in stormy seas. The Raptor, registered in the Comoros, was on its way to Istanbul from Alexandria, Egypt, carrying 6,000 tons of salt when

LONDON (AP) — The winner of the Booker Prize for fiction will be announced on Sunday. If bookmakers are right, the victorious writer will be named Paul. Three of the six books competing for the 50,000 pound ($63,000) prize are by authors of that name: American Paul Harding’s historical novel “This Other Eden,” Irish writer Paul

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The 2024 presidential election is drawing a robust field of independent, third party and long shot candidates. They’re hoping to capitalize on Americans’ ambivalence over a likely rematch between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump. Jill Stein was the Green Party nominee in 2012 and

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress return to work this week after the holiday break, and Senate Republicans have made clear they won’t support additional war aid for Ukraine unless they can pair it with border security measures. That demand has injected one of the most contentious issues

BEIJING (AP) — China’s health ministry says a surge in respiratory illnesses across the country that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus. The ministry called on local authorities to open more fever clinics and promote vaccinations among

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Heavy snowfall and strong blizzards in Romania and Moldova have left one person dead and scores of localities without electricity as well as forcing the closure of some national roads. A 40-year-old man in Moldova died on Sunday after the vehicle he was in skidded off the road and crashed into

BERLIN (AP) — A German government official says Taliban authorities in Afghanistan arrested four local employees of Germany’s main government-owned aid agency. “I can confirm that the local employees of GIZ are in custody although we have not received any official information on why they are detained,” a spokeswoman for the Ministry for Economic Cooperation

By SHONAL GANGULY Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — More than 2,000 people took part in a gay pride event in New Delhi, waving rainbow flags and multicolored balloons as they celebrated sexual diversity in India but also raised concerns over the country’s restrictive laws. Dancing to drums and music, the participants walked for more

Russian authorities on Sunday claimed that Ukraine tried to attack Moscow with dozens of drones overnight, just a day after Russia launched its most intense drone attack on Kyiv since the beginning of its full-scale war in 2022, according to Ukrainian officials. Russian air defenses brought down at least 24 drones over the Moscow region

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday was skipping his weekly appearance at a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, a day after the Vatican said he had come down with a mild flu. In a brief statement, the Holy See’s press office said Francis would still recite the noon prayer, which is followed by

BY KEMO CHAM and CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) (AP) — Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has declared a nationwide curfew after gunmen attacked military barracks in the West African nation’s capital, raising fears of a breakdown of order amid a surge of coups in the region. Bio said Sunday, in

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank killed at least eight Palestinians in a 24-hour period, Palestinian health officials said Sunday, as a fragile pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip entered its third day. Violence in the West Bank

By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The tense cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appeared to be back on track early Sunday after the release of a second group of militant-held hostages and Palestinians from Israeli prisons, but the swap followed an hourslong delay that underscored the truce’s

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The top diplomats from South Korea, Japan and China met Sunday to discuss when to resume their leaders’ trilateral summit after a four-year hiatus and how to strengthen cooperation among the three Northeast Asian neighbors. Closely linked economically and culturally with one another, the three

By ERIKA KINETZ Associated Press In audio intercepts from the front lines in Ukraine, Russian soldiers speak in shorthand of 200s to mean dead, 300s to mean wounded. The urge to flee has become common enough that they also talk of 500s — people who refuse to fight. As the war grinds into its second

By ERIKA KINETZ Associated Press Secretly recorded calls of Russian soldiers speaking from the front lines in Ukraine with loved ones back home offer a rare glimpse of the war through Russian eyes. As the war in Ukraine grinds into its second winter, a growing number of Russian soldiers want out, audio intercepts obtained and

By JAMEY KEATEN and LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — As he sits in Geneva, Michel Dreifuss does not feel all that far away from the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza. The ripples are rolling through Europe and upending assumptions both global and intimate — including

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai has a long history of finding economic success amid the war-ravaged woes of the wider Middle East. The United Arab Emirates hub rose rapidly from a creek-bound pearling village to a city associated with international glamor. Its ruling family likely views the upcoming

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai has a long history of finding economic success amid the war-ravaged woes of the wider Middle East. The United Arab Emirates hub rose rapidly from a creek-bound pearling village to a city associated with international glamor. Its ruling family likely views the upcoming