Month: December 2024

AP Science Writer The last meteor shower of the year — the Ursids — peaks Sunday, a few days before Christmas. While usually not as bright as the Geminids, the Ursid meteor shower can yield surprises. “The Ursids are generally a sparse meteor shower,” producing about 5 to 10 visible meteors per hour under ideal

The killing of a senior Russian general in a bombing outside his apartment building in Moscow was the boldest assassination yet of a top military officer and it again brought the war in Ukraine to the streets of the capital. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter

Associated Press KIRYAT GAT, Israel (AP) — Ilana Gritzewsky is fighting a battle against time to save her boyfriend from Hamas captivity. While there appears to be progress toward a deal to free the remaining captives in phases, Matan Zangauker would likely not be released in the first stage since he is a young man.

NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian navy speedboat has crashed into a ferry carrying over 100 people to a popular tourist destination off Mumbai, killing at least 13 people. A navy statement says 99 ferry passengers were rescued. They were on their way to Elephanta Island when the speedboat circled and collided with the ferry

Associated Press MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — They clustered around water taps, rare sources of electricity and each other. Four days after the strongest cyclone in nearly a century ripped through the French island territory of Mayotte off the coast of Africa, survivors recalled the horror of the storm that caught many by surprise. Associated Press

Associated Press Writers ST. LOUIS (AP) — Capybaras are having a big moment. The world’s largest rodent is the latest in a long line of “it” animals to get star treatment during the holiday season. Shoppers can find plush capybaras, capybara slippers, capybara bath bombs and capybara phone cases. Tiny versions of the semi-aquatic South

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — France’s highest court has upheld an appeal court decision which had found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country’s head of state. Sarkozy, 69, faces a year in prison, but is expected to ask to be detained at home with an electronic

Associated Press The past year has been both a glass half empty and half full for the world’s democracies. From Asia to Africa to the Americas, it produced examples of democracy working and citizens standing up against attempted coups or authoritarians. At the same time, some of the new regimes ushered in by all those

AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A new novel from Kiran Desai, her first fiction since the Booker Prize-winning “The Inheritance of Loss” came out nearly 20 years ago, will be published next fall. Desai’s “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” is scheduled for release in September by Hogarth, an imprint of the Random

Associated Press MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The parliament building in Liberia caught fire Wednesday and the country’s president condemned the “wanton destruction,” even as no link was immediately confirmed to anti-government protests in the capital. The protests in the West African nation began with anger Tuesday over the decision to remove the parliament speaker, an

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The kids seen by Dolores Mejia around suburban Phoenix have been growing heavier in recent years. Their parents, too, she says. Mejia, a 75-year-old retiree, says she’s also had her own weight struggles on the scale. That’s why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” as he

Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona’s subway system is using regenerative braking to help power both its convoys but also recharge electric cars at street level. Sixteen subway stations in the Spanish city are equipped so that the energy from the regenerative braking system on the train can also help power chargers for electric

Associated Press XIAMEN, China (AP) — The world’s largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles said Wednesday it will get into battery swapping in China in a big way starting next year. The idea behind battery swapping is to refuel quickly, similar to filling a conventional car with gas. Instead of waiting for the batteries

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — As women’s sports set new records for attendance and viewership this year, longtime fans have watched with both optimism and unease. The meteoric rise in popularity propelled by stars like the WNBA’s Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has also revealed strong backlash to this success. It’s a cycle female

The Israeli military on Wednesday ordered Palestinians to evacuate another section of central Gaza ahead of an offensive in the built-up Bureij refugee camp, even as Israel and the Hamas appeared to inch closer to a ceasefire in the 14-month war. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he will meet Wednesday with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s

Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Officials in Fiji say a toxicology report shows seven foreign tourists who were hospitalized after drinking cocktails at a resort bar were not poisoned by alcohol or illicit drugs. Fiji’s Tourism Minister Viliame R. Gavoka said on Wednesday the cause of the tourists’ illness over the weekend remains under

Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Georgia’s outgoing president wants the European Union to press her country’s pro-Russia government to hold a new election. The call by President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday came amid a police crackdown on peaceful opposition protesters. Tens of thousands of people have filled the streets regularly since the governing Georgian Dream

Associated Press TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A Jersey Shore environmental group says damage from decades of toxic waste dumping at one of America’s most notorious pollution sites caused $1 billion worth of damages. Save Barnegat Bay is trying to overturn a settlement between the state of New Jersey and the corporate successor to the

MILAN (AP) — An injured cave explorer in northern Italy has been carried to safety 75 hours after she fell while attempting to map an unexplored branch of the cave complex. The last leg of the rescue operation Wednesday proceeded more smoothly than expected. Workers carrying 32-year-old Ottavia Piana strapped into a stretcher reached the

Russia’s security service said Wednesday it detained a citizen from Uzbekistan in the bombing that killed a senior general as he left his southeastern Moscow apartment — a bold assassination that was claimed by Ukraine’s security service. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment

Associated Press MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana man convicted of killing four people including his brother and his sister’s fiancé decades ago was put to death early Wednesday, marking the state’s first execution in 15 years. Joseph Corcoran, 49, was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. CST at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan

Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino woman who spent years on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, and who was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, said Wednesday she’s happy to be back in the Philippines but still counting on its president to get out of jail. Mary Jane Veloso spent

Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — For decades, they have scrounged for food on streets across the country — undesired, abandoned and overlooked. But today, the caramel-colored mutts of Brazil are having a major moment. The “vira-lata caramelo” (literally: caramel trashcan-tipper) is being exalted in memes, videos, petitions, an upcoming Netflix film, a Carnival parade

Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Community members in Wisconsin continued to wrestle with grief and called for change in the aftermath of a school shooting that killed a teacher and a student and wounded six others. Several hundred people gathered outside the Wisconsin State Capitol for a vigil Tuesday night to honor those slain

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk’s attachment to President-elect Donald Trump has created an unprecedented alliance between America’s most powerful politician and its richest businessman. Roughly the same percentages of Americans have favorable views of both of them, according to a new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Experts are split

AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday by a quarter-point — its third cut this year — but also signaled that it expects to reduce rates more slowly next year than it previously envisioned, mostly because of still-elevated inflation. The Fed’s 19 policymakers projected that they will

Associated Press AVIGNON, France (AP) — French judges plan to deliver hugely anticipated verdicts this week in a historic drugging-and-rape trial that has turned the victim, Gisèle Pelicot, into a feminist hero. Everything about the trial in the southern French city of Avignon has been exceptional, most of all Pelicot herself. She has been the

Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, entered Syrian territory Tuesday and said Israeli troops would remain in the area indefinitely, blurring the border with its northern neighbor. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has never had fully recognized borders. Throughout its history, the frontiers with its Arab neighbors have shifted as

AP Basketball Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Everyone has a lucky number in Las Vegas. For the Milwaukee Bucks, it was 3. And the NBA Cup was their prize. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 26 points to go along with 19 rebounds and 10 assists, Damian Lillard added 23 points and the Bucks connected on 17 3-pointers