Month: December 2024

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the U.S. government believes missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital, is alive and Washington is committed to bringing him home after Bashar Assad’s ouster from power. Biden said Sunday that “we think we can get him back.” Tice

Associated Press DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza killed at least 14 people including children Sunday, Palestinian health officials said, while the bombing of a hospital in northern Gaza wounded a half-dozen patients. Israel’s military continues its latest offensive against Hamas militants in northern Gaza, whose remaining Palestinians have

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad is a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but that it’s “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Mideast. Speaking at the White House on Sunday, Biden credited action by the U.S. and

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump said he can’t guarantee that his promised tariffs on key U.S. foreign trade partners won’t raise prices for American consumers and he suggested once more that some political rivals and federal officials who pursued legal cases against him should be imprisoned. The president-elect, in a wide-ranging interview with

AP Sports Writer ROME (AP) — A promise is a promise. Danilo Cataldi texted hospitalized Fiorentina teammate Edoardo Bove to say that he would score for him and then did just that in a 1-0 win over Cagliari. It was Fiorentina’s first Serie A soccer match since Bove collapsed on the field during a game

AP Film Writer The Walt Disney Co.’s animated film “Moana 2” remained at the top of the box office in its second weekend in theaters as it brought in another record haul. The film added $52 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. That brings its domestic total to $300 million, surpassing the original, and its

The fall of Syria’s authoritarian government at the hands of jihadi militants has set off waves of jubilation, trepidation and alarm around the world. Expatriate Syrians and many residents across the Middle East exulted at the overthrow of a leader who led his country through 14 years of civil strife that left half a million

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Police don’t know who he is, where he is, or why he did it. As the frustrating search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer got underway for a fifth day Sunday, investigators reckoned with a tantalizing contradiction: They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma. One

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A short-lived martial law decree by South Korea’s leader last week raised worries about budding authoritarianism around the world. In the end, though, democracy prevailed. President Yoon Suk Yeol announced that he was declaring martial law and giving his government sweeping powers to crack down on protesters, ban

AP College Football Writer Georgia moved up to No. 2 behind Oregon in The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday, Texas and Penn State remained in the top five after losing conference championship games, and Arizona State appeared in the top 10 for the first time in a decade. Unbeaten Oregon, with its win over

Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Adam Pemble, an Associated Press journalist who covered some of the biggest global news of the past two decades, from earthquakes and conflicts to political summits and elections, has died. He was 52. Pemble died Thursday in Minneapolis surrounded by friends and family after a long battle with cancer. Known

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Half a century of rule by the Assad family in Syria has crumbled with astonishing speed. It has been less than two weeks since insurgents burst out of a rebel-held enclave and converged on the capital, Damascus, taking city after city in a matter of days. Opposition forces led by

Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt did in 1906 what Congress was unwilling to do through legislation: He used his new authority under the Antiquities Act to designate Devils Tower in Wyoming as the first national monument. Then came Antiquities Act protections for the Petrified Forest in Arizona, Chaco Canyon and

Associated Press FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Just off a state highway in New Jersey, one of the largest statues of the Buddha in the United States appears unexpectedly in the middle of a backyard. It rises 30 feet high from the woods in Franklin Township, near Princeton, where it was built a decade ago

Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of members of associate bodies of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have marched toward the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh’s capital to denounce attacks on a diplomatic mission and alleged desecration of Bangladeshi flags in India. The protests on Sunday came a day before India’s foreign secretary is due

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump on Sunday pushed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to act to reach an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine, describing it as part of his active efforts as president-elect to end the war despite being weeks from taking office. “Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the

AP National Writer The new, 12-team College Football Playoff brings with it a promise to be bigger, more exciting, more lucrative. Perfect or 100% fair? Well, nobody ever believed that. The first expanded playoff bracket unveiled Sunday left a presumably deserving Alabama team on the sideline in favor of an SMU squad that finished with

Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s far-right presidential candidate Calin Georgescu has protested outside a closed polling station against a top court’s unprecedented decision to annul the first round of the vote in which he emerged as the frontrunner. The Constitutional Court on Friday canceled the election after a trove of declassified intelligence alleged

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta has appointed a new prime minister, a day after dissolving the government without providing any reason. Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, until now communications minister and spokesperson of the government, will be the West African country’s new prime minister, junta leader Ibrahim Traore said in a

Associated Press ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Ghana’s former President John Dramani Mahama is set to return to office in the West African nation’s presidential election after the ruling party candidate conceded defeat. Voters apparently vented their anger at the government’s handling of the economy. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia was running as the flagbearer of the

Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Milan’s Pinacoteca di Brera museum, conceived under Napoleon as a “little Louvre,” is finally getting a modern art addition first envisioned more than 50 years ago with the opening Sunday of Palazzo Citterio. Completing the project long beset by shifting priorities, neglect and an ill-fated architectural vision was a priority

Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad fled to Moscow and received asylum from his longtime ally, Russian media said Sunday, hours after a stunning rebel advance seized control of Damascus and ended his family’s 50 years of iron rule. Thousands of Syrians poured into streets echoing with celebratory gunfire and

Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe’s economy has enough difficulties, from tepid growth to trade tensions with the U.S. Dealing with those woes is only getting harder due to the political chaos in the two biggest European countries, France and Germany. Neither has a government backed by a functioning majority, and France could take a

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Notre Dame Cathedral has hosted its first Mass since the catastrophic fire of 2019. The moment transcended religious significance to become a powerful symbol of Paris’ resilience. For Catholics, it marks the revival of the city’s spiritual heart. For the world, it signals the rebirth of one of humanity’s most

Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Shortly after Donald Trump’s win in last month’s U.S. election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushed to congratulate the president-elect: “History’s greatest comeback!” he gushed. If Trump’s staunchly pro-Israel first term and his nominations for top administration positions are any indication, Netanyahu’s glee is justified. But much has

Associated Press IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — Hopes for victory, a swift end to the war and prayers for their loved ones’ survival or return from Russian captivity are among the wishes scattered throughout letters sent to a volunteer group by Ukrainian children living in frontline areas. While the volunteers, who are named reindeer after the

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad fled the country on Sunday, bringing to a dramatic close his nearly 14-year struggle to hold onto control as his country fragmented in a brutal civil war that became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers. The exit of the 59-year-old Assad stood in stark

HAVANA (AP) — Ernest Hemingway has returned to Cuba… in a way. Eighteen white-bearded men who resemble the late U.S. author arrived in Havana to visit some of his favorite places when he lived on the island decades ago. The members of the Hemingway Look-alike Society on Saturday visited the author’s favorite bar in Havana,

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean prosecutors on Sunday detained a former defense minister who allegedly recommended last week’s brief but stunning martial law imposition to President Yoon Suk Yeol, making him the first figure detained over the case. The development came a day after Yoon avoided an opposition-led bid to impeach

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — They have seen him smiling on a hostel security camera, but don’t know his name. They found the backpack he discarded while fleeing, but don’t know where he’s gone. As the search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer goes on, investigators are reckoning with a tantalizing dichotomy: They have

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The nuclear submarine USS Arkansas has been christened, almost a decade since the U.S. Navy announced that a Virginia-class submarine would bear the state’s name. Carlotta Walls LaNier, one the nine Black students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957, on Saturday launched a bottle of sparkling wine