Month: December 2023

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Members of a union representing German train drivers have voted overwhelmingly to stage open-ended strikes in a bitter dispute with the main national railway operator over working hours and pay. The GDL union said Tuesday that 97% of members who voted in a ballot authorized fully fledged

By BOUBACAR DIALLO Associated Press CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Residents in Guinea’s capital on Tuesday struggled with rising costs of transportation after authorities closed gas stations in the aftermath of a major explosion that left several dead, hundreds injured and could disrupt the supply of gas across the West African nation. The fire on Monday

NEW YORK (AP) — Hackers accessed Xfinity customers’ personal information by exploiting a vulnerability in software used by the company, the Comcast-owned telecommunications business announced this week. In a Monday notice to customers, Xfinity said there was unauthorized access to internal systems as a result of this vulnerability — which was previously announced by software

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Security Council members are in intense negotiations on an Arab-sponsored resolution to spur desperately needed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza during some kind of a halt in the fighting, trying to avoid another veto by the United States. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told

By MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state will create a commission tasked with considering reparations to address the persistent, harmful effects of slavery in the state under a bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday. The bill signing comes at a time when various places

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Authorities in Kentucky have identified the remains of a man found wrapped in heavy chains and sunk to the bottom of a lake over two decades ago. Kentucky State Police say the man was found by fishermen in 1999. Efforts to identify the body were unsuccessful until state police sought help

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s government is defending a decision to remove a piece of artwork on display at its consulate in New York. The pink-and-white quilt in the design of the Greek flag was part of a campaign against domestic violence. The piece was put on display at the consulate Friday. A Greek government

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) — Residents in a western Pennsylvania county are calling for the resignation of an official who is facing felony animal cruelty charges after authorities say her dog starved to death. Washington County Controller April Sloane was arrested last week at her county office. North Strabane police filed the charges after a necropsy

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The physicians’ group behind Ohio’s new reproductive rights amendment is urging a local prosecutor to drop criminal charges against a woman who miscarried in the restroom at her home. The felony abuse-of-corpse charge against 33-year-old Brittany Watts, of Warren, has touched off a national firestorm

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An open records lawsuit against former Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack has been dismissed after Roggensack turned over all records she had related to her work investigating possible impeachment of a sitting justice. None of the records Roggensack produced earlier this month shed any

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government says it’ll give Northern Ireland 3.3 billion pounds, or about $4.2 billion, to ease a budget crisis if stubborn lawmakers stop boycotting the suspended power-sharing Belfast government. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said on Tuesday that the financial package was a final offer and

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina voting-rights advocates have sued to overturn redistricting plans drawn by Republicans for the 2024 elections, saying legislative leaders unlawfully weakened the electoral influence of Black voters. The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, Common Cause North Carolina and eight Black residents filed a

BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities continue to investigate the cause of a house fire in northwestern Arizona that left five people dead, including three young children. Bullhead City police say the fire broke out about 5 p.m. Saturday and was extinguished in nine minutes but there were no survivors. There also wasn’t an adult

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ authorization for Catholic priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples is in many ways a recognition of what has been going on in some European parishes for years. But LGBTQ+ advocates say Francis’ decision to officially spell out his approval could send a message of

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Scientists anticipated the eruption of a volcano in southwestern Iceland for weeks, so when it happened on Monday night, it was no surprise. The region had been active for more than two years and thousands of small earthquakes rattled the area in recent weeks. Here is a

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus says it has disrupted an alleged Iranian plot to target Israeli businessmen with the arrest of two Iranian asylum-seekers who were in contact with another Iranian associated with the Revolutionary Guard. A Cypriot official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the two Iranian men

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s deadly conflict between a powerful paramilitary force and the army has reached a strategic city that had been a haven for hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Key humanitarian groups say they have been forced to suspend work there or flee. The leader of the Rapid Support Forces claims that they

By YVONNE GONZALEZ Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — “The Nutcracker” is a holiday staple, and for Ballet Arizona and many other productions around the world, a pit full of musicians is part of the tradition. Shows can turn to recordings as they weather costs or crises like recessions. But fans, musicians and the unions that

By LEANNE ITALIE AP Lifestyles Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Power, ambition, luxury. Purple, the color, symbolizes them all. It also expresses creativity, dignity, independence, pride, peace, mystery and magic. Now, with the Christmas Day opening of the new film “The Color Purple,” the range of hues between red and blue takes a seat at

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Russian claiming to be a former officer with the Wagner Group has arrived in the Netherlands and says he wants to provide evidence to the International Criminal Court, which is investigating atrocities in the war in Ukraine. Dutch news program EenVandaag reported Monday that

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — At least 100 elephants have died in Zimbabwe’s largest national park in recent weeks because of drought. Their carcasses are a grisly sign of what wildlife authorities and conservation groups say is the impact of climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon. Authorities warn that more

BY ALEXA ST. JOHN Associated Press The White House is lending its support to an auto industry effort to standardize Tesla’s electric vehicle charging plugs for all EVs in the United States, part of a broad effort to stimulate their sales to help combat climate change. Purchases of EVs in the U.S. have lagged behind

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that the military has seized the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine after repelling Kyiv’s counteroffensive and is well positioned to achieve Moscow’s goals. Putin made the remarks in a speech at Tuesday’s meeting with top military brass. It came a day after he presented documents

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Book publishers are facing so much government pressure worldwide that one trade group was unable to find anyone willing to accept its annual International Freedom to Publish Award this year. Instead, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) is honoring “all publishing houses in multiple countries

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, has a book coming out next year on the legacy of a GOP hero — former President Ronald Reagan. Threshold Editions, a conservative imprint at Simon & Schuster, announced Tuesday that it will publish “What Would Reagan

By PATRICK WHITTLE and LISA RATHKE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Utility crews worked Tuesday to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Maine and some rivers continued to rise in New England following a powerful storm that hit the northeastern U.S., drenching communities and bringing windspeeds over 60 mph (96 kph)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian court has recorded the first conviction under the nation’s foreign interference laws with a jury finding a Vietnamese refugee guilty of covertly working for the Chinese Communist Party. A Victoria State County Court jury convicted Melbourne businessman and local community leader Di Sanh Duong on Tuesday on a charge

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is linking ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership by Turkey’s parliament to U.S. approval of Turkey’s request to purchase F-16 fighter jets. He also calls on Canada to lift an arms embargo on Turkey. Erdogan spoke while returning from a visit to Hungary, the only other country

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s ruling populists are insisting that weekend snap elections were free and fair despite criticism from international observers who noted multiple irregularities and unjust conditions during the vote. Political tensions in Serbia soared over the snap parliamentary and local election on Sunday. Several thousand people rallied

CHANELLE BESSETTE of NerdWallet In preparation for 2024, you can shore up your finances by creating some financial New Year’s resolutions for yourself. Some ways you might do this include getting a bank account with a higher interest rate; focusing on student loan repayment by investigating ways to reduce your payment amount; building your financial

By RISDEL KASASIRA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s military says at least 10 people have been killed by militants with ties to the Islamic State Group during an attack in the country’s western region. A military spokesperson says the Allied Democratic Forces militants who attacked Kamwenge district on Tuesday had crossed from the

PARIS (AP) — Britain and France are reiterating their determination that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must end in failure. The two nations’ insistence was expressed Tuesday by their foreign ministers. They said that Russia shouldn’t be rewarded for its aggression in Ukraine. It comes as U.S. wartime aid for the Ukrainian defense is faltering. U.K.

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — A quasi-independent review board is recommending that Facebook parent company Meta overturn two decisions it made this fall to remove posts “informing the world about human suffering on both sides” of the Israel-Hamas war. In both cases, Meta ended up reinstating the posts — one showing Palestinian casualties and the

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s main national railway operator Deutsche Bahn has launched an effort to sell logistics unit DB Schenker as the company seeks to concentrate on its core business at home. Schenker has about 76,600 employees in more than 130 countries. The state-owned parent company describes it as one of the world’s top four