Month: December 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — Six jerseys worn by soccer superstar Lionel Messi during Argentina’s winning run at last year’s World Cup have sold for $7.8 million. The auction house Sotheby’s says Thursday’s final price for the shirts is the highest price for an item of sports memorabilia this year, Sotheby’s said. Argentina defeated France in

BURLINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Former NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones reached a plea agreement on a disorderly conduct charge Thursday after he was removed from a plane before takeoff at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport in September. Jones, who played most of his career as a defensive back for the Cincinnati Bengals, was sentenced to 30

By SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON Associated Press/Report For America CANTON, Ohio (AP) — A 13-year-old boy has been charged with allegedly planning a mass shooting at an Ohio synagogue. Court documents say the boy, who has not been publicly named because he is a minor, faces misdemeanor charges of inducing panic and disorderly conduct. He’s accused of

ROME (AP) — A European human rights expert says violence and discrimination against women in Italy is a “prevailing and urgent concern.” The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights faulted Italy across multiple areas: She lamented that Italian courts and police sometimes revictimize victims of gender-based violence. She also said women have diminishing access

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — Finland’s government has decided to seal again, effective Friday, the Nordic country’s entire eastern frontier due to a continuing influx of migrants at the two crossing points on the border with Russia that were reopened on a temporary basis early Thursday. Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said a

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Female soccer fans in Iran have claimed a small win in their long campaign to be allowed into stadiums to watch men’s games after decades of exclusion. A photograph was posted on social media by the campaign group Open Stadiums of three female fans inside the Azadi Stadium in Tehran on

By LAURA UNGAR AP Science Writer New gene therapies promise a cure for sickle cell disease but experts say they are out of reach in places that need them the most. Vast inequities cut much of the world off from gene therapy in general, a whole new class of treatments that aims to eradicate inherited

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of older Americans could pay less for outpatient drug treatments beginning early next year. The White House has unveiled a list of 48 drugs — some of them injectables used to treat cancer — that drugmakers will have to pay rebates to the federal

LONDON (AP) — Rebecca Welch will become the first female referee in the Premier League when she takes charge of the match between Fulham and Burnley on Dec. 23. Welch has already worked as the fourth official in the Premier League for the match between Fulham and Manchester United. She was the first woman to

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — Raja the elephant has been one of the biggest attractions — literally and figuratively — at the St. Louis Zoo for decades. Now, he’s moving away. The zoo announced Thursday that the male Asian elephant born at the zoo nearly 31 years ago will be relocated

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Top Polish leaders have joined members of the Jewish community for a Hanukkah celebration in parliament. The ceremony on Tuesday comes two days after a far-right lawmaker used a fire extinguisher to put out burning candles on a menorah in the halls of parliament. The attendance

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An attorney for two former Georgia election workers suing Rudy Giuliani for defamation says the former New York City mayor has continued to embrace the false conspiracy theory that the women meddled in the 2020 presidential election. Closing arguments began Thursday in the

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court has again upheld a gag order that bars Donald Trump from commenting about court personnel in his civil fraud trial. A four-judge panel in the state’s mid-level appellate court ruled Thursday that the former president’s lawyers used the wrong legal

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government’s controversial effort to look for people falsely listed as missing has turned up 16,681 who had returned to their homes but not notified the authorities. The massive effort was widely viewed as a government attempt to pare down the country’s horrifying total of

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A loose bull on the tracks at a New Jersey train station has snarled rail traffic. New Jersey Transit released a photo of the horned bovine apparently standing on the tracks at Newark Penn Station. It’s unclear how the creature got there or if it’s yet been captured. Newark police said

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo exchanged heated words with members of the Indiana staff and raced toward the Pacers’ locker room Wednesday night as the teams squared off in a hallway in a dispute over the game ball following the Milwaukee star’s franchise-record 64-point performance. After the Bucks’ 140-126 victory, Antetokounmpo had an animated discussion

ATLANTA (AP) — A Republican congressman says he won’t seek reelection to his Georgia seat in 2024. Rep. Drew Ferguson said Thursday that he plans to leave office after finishing his term next year, saying he looks forward to spending more time with his family. His announcement comes just two months after Ferguson said his

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case in Washington once appeared likely to be the first of the former president’s criminal trials to begin, with the judge having scheduled a March 4 start date. But appeals of issues central to the case are threatening

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The first indication that you’re not seeing a run-of-the-mill production of Alice in Wonderland is when the White Rabbit appears suspended 30 feet over the stage and does a somersault through a hoop. So begins one of the most innovative and thrilling retellings of Lewis

LONDON (AP) — A judge says a former British soldier will stand trial in the killing of two civil rights protesters half a century ago on Bloody Sunday, one of the deadliest days of the decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland. The former paratrooper is charged with murder in the killings of James Wray and William

By LAURA UNGAR AP Science Writer Gautam Dongre’s two children in India and Pascazia Mazeze’s son in Tanzania live with an inherited blood disorder that turns blood cells into instruments of pain. Now that new gene therapies promise a cure for their sickle cell disease, Dongre says he’s “praying the treatment should come to us.”

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A federal grand jury in Montana has indicted two men accused of killing about 3,600 birds, including bald eagles and golden eagles, and selling them on the black market. The indictment returned in U.S. District Court last week charges Simon Paul and Travis John Branson with 13 counts of unlawful trafficking

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been a great year for stock markets around the world. Wall Street’s rally has been front and center, with the U.S. stock market the world’s largest and its clear leader in performance in recent years. But stocks have powered higher across developed and emerging

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press A federal judge is set to consider on Thursday a request by Colorado’s cattle industry to block the impending reintroduction of gray wolves to the state under a voter-approved initiative. State wildlife officials plan to capture up to 10 wolves from Oregon and begin releasing them in Colorado by Dec.

By BRIAN INGANGA Associated Press MANDERA, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s military continued efforts Thursday to evacuate hundreds of people trapped by raging floods that have hit many parts of the East African country. Floods have killed at least 170 and displaced more than 600,000 since the onset of heavy rains in November, according to the

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The painful economic steps that Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, announced this week sound draconian: Slashing the currency’s value in half. Reducing aid to provincial governments. Suspending public works. Cutting subsidies for gas and electricity. Raising some taxes. Yet the South American country’s economy is such

By ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Hundreds of protesters angered by what they view as wasteful municipal spending by Kyiv officials have gathered outside the Ukrainian capital’s city hall. The demonstrators at Thursday’s protest demanded that money should go to Ukraine’s war against Russia instead of local projects. The protesters, who appeared

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two-time ABA champion and three-time NBA All-Star George McGinnis has died. He was 73. McGinnis was considered one of the best prep players to play in the basketball-rich state of Indiana. He spent two seasons with the Indiana Hoosiers, earning third team All-American honors in the

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — NATO’s newest member and Russia’s neighbor Finland is to sign a bilateral defense cooperation agreement next week with the United States in a deal that allows Washington to send troops into the Nordic country and to store weapons and equipment there.  Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The climate negotiations that just finished in Dubai hit upon the essence of compromise, finding common language that everyone accepted, at times grudgingly. But for an agreement so steeped in compromise, what experts thought of it was as polarizing as can be. More

CHICAGO (AP) — The family of a Chicago woman who died after she became locked in a hotel freezer has agreed to a $10 million settlement. The Chicago Tribune reports that Kenneka Jenkins’ mother, Tereasa Martin, will receive more than $3.7 million from the settlement. Jenkins was found dead in a walk-in freezer at the

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — An academic who entered Norway as a Brazilian citizen and was arrested last year on suspicion of spying for Russia has confessed his real, Russian name. The man was detained in the Arctic city of Tromsoe, where he worked as a lecturer at the Arctic University of Norway. Norwegian media have

By STEPHEN WADE and YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A former member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has appeared in district court and pleaded not guilty to taking $1.4 million in bribes in exchange for contracts for the Games. Haruyuki Takahashi was arrested more than a year ago and it is unclear

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers are ready to welcome Shohei Ohtani to Hollywood. The biggest star in baseball is to be formally introduced by the team at a news conference Thursday. A unique two-way star as both a hitter and pitcher, Ohtani left the Los Angeles

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned the International Olympic Committee rules mandating Russian athletes compete at the Paris Olympics as neutral athletes. He has also indicated Russia has yet to take a final decision on on whether its competitors will take part next year. The IOC rejected a blanket ban last week

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A top official says a Turkish opposition lawmaker has died days after he suffered a heart attack and collapsed just after delivering a speech critical of Israel and of the ruling party’s relationship with the country. Turkey’s health minister said 53-year-old Hasan Bitmez died in a hospital on Thursday. The member

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy officer jailed in Japan over a car crash that killed two Japanese citizens has been transferred into U.S. custody and is being returned to the United States. That’s according to a statement Thursday from the family of Lt. Ridge Alkonis. Alkonis had been serving a

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying. Retail sales rose 0.3%,  in November from October, when sales were down a revised 0.2% according to the Commerce Department.

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police are offering rewards for information leading to the arrests of five activists based overseas, whom it accuses of breaching a harsh national security law imposed by Beijing. The arrest warrants and the bounties of over $128,000 each were issued for three activists and

LONDON (AP) — Amazon won’t have to pay about $273 million in back taxes after European Union judges ruled in favor of the U.S. e-commerce giant. It has dealed a defeat to the 27-nation bloc in its efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance. The ruling Thursday by the EU’s top court is final, ending the

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits fell last week as the labor market continues to thrive amid high interest rates and still-elevated inflation. Applications for unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to 202,000 for the week ending Dec. 9, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Analysts were expecting around

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has replaced four of his Cabinet ministers in an effort to contain the damage from a widening slush funds scandal that has shaken his governing party. The shakeup is Kidhida’s third of his Cabinet, whose support ratings have continued to drop. The