AP National

AVIGNON, France (AP) — Hundreds of people have gathered in the southern French town of Avignon ahead of the verdict in a mass-rape trial in which dozens of men stand accused. Gisèle Pelicot is alleged to have been drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband over a decade. The court is expected to deliver its

Associated Press DAMASCUS (AP) — Palestinian refugees, whose homes in the Yarmouk camp near Damascus were destroyed during Syria’s civil war, have started to return to the neighborhood since the fall of President Bashar Assad. Yarmouk was once considered the capital of the Palestinian diaspora, but it was bombed and looted and has been all

Associated Press DEVENTER, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch city of Deventer transformed Saturday into a pocket of 19th-century England, with 950 people in costumes bringing characters from Charles Dickens’ books to life. Oliver Twist, Ebenezer Scrooge and Miss Havisham were among the characters at hand, mingling with chimney sweepers, livestock and Christmas carol singers in

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has added a prominent defense lawyer to his legal team as Manhattan prosecutors work to return him from Pennsylvania to face a murder charge. Luigi Mangione will be represented by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who was a high-ranking deputy in the Manhattan

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in Iran has sentenced Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh to 10 years on prison after finding him guilty of collaborating with a hostile government. Reza Valizadeh is a former journalist for the U.S.-government-funded Voice of America’s Farsi language service and also has worked for Radio Farda, an outlet

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police say two suspects are in custody as authorities investigate a bombing in the north that killed at least three people and injured 48 others. An explosive device was thrown into a crowd during an outdoor performance at an annual festival in Umphang town in Tak province, which borders Myanmar, on

Associated Press Last year, when Lauren Haydel began her first sober holiday season, she wondered how difficult it would be to avoid alcohol at family parties and celebrations with friends. She owns a boutique, Fleurty Girl, in New Orleans’ French Quarter, a neighborhood synonymous with drinking. But few people questioned her choice. “Instead of them

Associated Press DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Nizam Abazid is gleefully planning his first trip in decades to Syria, where he grew up. Rama Alhoussaini was only 6 years old when her family moved to the U.S., but she’s excited about the prospect of introducing her three kids to relatives they’ve never met in person. They

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — A severely hobbled Hezbollah was in no position to help defend former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime ally, from the lightning-fast insurgency that toppled him. With Assad gone, the militant group based in Lebanon is even weaker. Hezbollah was dealt a major blow during 14 months of war with

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s parliament on Saturday impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his stunning and short-lived martial law decree, a move that ended days of political paralysis but set up an intense debate over Yoon’s fate, as jubilant crowds roared to celebrate another defiant moment in the country’s resilient

AP Business Writer A federal appeals court on Friday left in place a mid-January deadline in a federal law requiring TikTok to be sold or face a ban in the United States, rejecting a request made by the company to halt enforcement until the Supreme Court reviews its challenge of the statute. Attorneys for TikTok

WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif. ___ NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Debra Tice, the mother of Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for more than a decade. ___ CNN’s “State of the Union” — Sen.

Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Googly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend. It has delighted many residents and sparked a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets and featured on a popular late-night talk show. On social media, the city has shared photos of googly eyes on

Associated Press JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — “My Driver and I” was supposed to be made in 2016, but was scuttled amid Saudi Arabia’s decades-long cinema ban. Eight years later, the landscape for film in the kingdom looks much different. And the star of “My Driver and I” now has an award. Roula Dakheelallah was

AP Media Writer Donald Trump got something this year that no other person designated Time magazine’s Person of the Year had ever received. He got a fact-check of claims that the president-elect made in the interview accompanying the magazine’s piece. Trump earned the recognition of the year’s biggest newsmaker for the second time, also winning

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (AP) — A report from the Department of Justice finds that the police department in a New York City suburb grossly violated residents’ rights, documenting illegal strip searches of people who weren’t under arrest, and arrests of people for verbally criticizing officers. The report on the approximately 160-officer department blames financial mismanagement

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for inciting violence at California political rallies in 2017. The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement Friday that 34-year-old Robert Paul Rundo pleaded guilty in September to one count

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time. In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office. He called daylight saving time “inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

Associated Press CHATHAM, N.J. (AP) — It’s unclear if that buzzing sound coming out of New Jersey is drones or something else, but for sure the nighttime sightings are producing tons of talk, a raft of conspiracy theories and craned necks looking skyward. Cropping up on local news and social media sites around Thanksgiving, the

WEST BABYLON, N.Y. (AP) — The owner of a New York thermometer factory has been sentenced to three years of probation for failing to protect workers who were exposed to hazardous levels of mercury. Owner Robert Peyser was sentenced Friday. He and his company, Kessler Thermometer Corp., had earlier pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment for

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urged a judge again Friday to throw out his hush money conviction, balking at the prosecution’s suggestion of preserving the verdict by treating the case the way some courts do when a defendant dies. They called the idea “absurd.” The Manhattan district attorney’s office is

Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Prosecutors in Texas will seek the death penalty for two Venezuelan men who are accused of killing a 12-year-old Houston girl after they entered the U.S. illegally. The death of Jocelyn Nungaray was among several cases this year that became flashpoints in the debate over the nation’s immigration policies. Nungaray’s mother

Religion News Service (RNS) — When Patita Pavana Das was a sophomore at Indiana State University, he considered his life pretty typical: geoscience student by day, partaker in the school’s party culture by night. But as he learned more about the Earth’s billion-year history, Das, now 28, felt a nagging sense of dissatisfaction — a

Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court has ruled over some insurance claims filed by businesses that were harmed financially by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting 2020 government orders limiting commerce and public movement. The state Supreme Court on Friday ruled unanimously in favor of some restaurants and bars in their

AP Technology Writer A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and prevent an artificial intelligence “dictatorship” is now heading to a federal judge as Musk seeks to halt the ChatGPT maker’s ongoing shift into a for-profit company. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued

Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has expressed “deep concern” at the recent decision by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to ban women from medical education. That could leave millions of women and girls without health care in the future. The council on Friday criticized “the increasing erosion” of human rights under the Taliban,

Associated Press TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Phil Murphy has asked the Biden administration to put more resources into an investigation of mysterious drone sightings that have been reported in New Jersey and nearby states. Murphy, a Democrat, made the request in a letter Thursday, noting that state and local law enforcement remain “hamstrung”

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — The largest seafood distributor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and two of its managers have been sentenced on federal charges of mislabeling inexpensive imported seafood as local premium fish. This comes weeks after Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant and its co-owner were sentenced in the same scheme. On Wednesday, Quality

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities say they have arrested a suspected British drug trafficker they characterized as “invisible” due to the low-key lifestyle that they said allowed him to remain anonymous while working for a cartel. Authorities on Friday announced the arrest a day earlier of Christopher Neil, whom they accused of working for

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a new religious rights case over whether a Catholic charitable organization must pay Wisconsin’s employment tax. The justices on Friday said they will review a divided state Supreme Court ruling that refused to grant an exemption to the Catholic Charities Bureau, based

AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paula Abdul and former “American Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe have agreed to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged he sexually assaulted her in the early 2000s when she was a judge on the show. Abdul filed a notice of settlement of the case in Los Angeles Superior

Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump has rejected an attempt by former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to invalidate his guilty plea. Chesebro reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count a few months after he, Trump and 17 others

Associated Press Texas has sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas, launching one of the first challenges in the U.S. to shield laws that Democrat-controlled states passed to protect physicians after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Collin

AP Entertainment Writer Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek are reuniting for a new four-episode run of “Malcolm in the Middle” for Disney+ — 25 years after the beloved sitcom first launched. The show ran for seven seasons starting in 2000 and was hailed for looking at ordinary life through the eyes of an

AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — How many roads must a man walk down to play Bob Dylan? Quite a few, at least, if you’re Timothée Chalamet. Off and on for some six years, Chalamet has been obsessively working toward his performance in “A Complete Unknown.” He has visited Dylan’s childhood home, learned how

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — An Atlanta man has been arrested and charged with fraud after George Mason University’s men’s basketball team was forced to cancel a trip to the Bahamas earlier this year after it paid for travel that was never actually booked. Charges against 44-year-old Maurice Smith, CEO of the Eugene Toriko travel agency,

Associated Press CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — When the elected prosecutor in Missouri’s largest county leaves his job for a seat in Congress next month, an appointed replacement will take his spot. The question is: Which one? Democratic St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and Republican Gov. Mike Parson have each named an appointee for the

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Two weeks of historic and closely-watched hearings on the threat of climate change have wrapped up at the UN’s top court. Now the wait begins for the verdict that can take up to a year. The International Court of Justice has taken up the largest case in its

Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man who lived in a makeshift camp with a homeless 5-year-old Kansas girl and her father has pleaded guilty to rape and first-degree murder in connection with the child’s death. Prosecutors said Friday that Mickel Cherry, 26, admitted suffocating Zoey Felix in October 2023 with a pillow in

Associated Press Writing a Christmas made-for-TV movie may seem formulaic, but there’s no real checklist to follow. Successful writers in the genre say there are some standard practices to keep in mind. Be prepared to devote time beyond the actual holiday season to brainstorming, pitching and writing. These movies never have a true villain and

AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Home shoppers hoping for more attractive mortgage rates next year may be disappointed. That’s the takeaway from several economists’ 2025 housing forecasts. The majority of the eight forecasts call for the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain above 6% next year, with some including an upper

AP Technology Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning to make a $1 million personal donation to President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships the incoming administration. A spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed the move on Friday. The announcement

Associated Press Have you ever watched a holiday rom-com on Hallmark Channel or Lifetime — or any of the other many networks and streaming services that now air them — and thought, “I could write that”? It’s harder than you may think — but just as fun. Regular writers in the genre say there’s not

The griping Vatican-based movie thriller “Conclave” about picking a new pope and Stephanie Hsu starring in the dark comedy series “Laid” as a woman whose former lovers keep unexpectedly dying are some of this week’s new streaming entertainment releases. There’s a Little Big Town Christmas special on NBC, the video game Squid Game: Unleashed offers

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — After insurgents toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad this month, many senior officials and members of his dreaded intelligence and security services appear to have melted away. Activists say some of them have managed to flee the country while others went to hide in their hometowns. For more than five decades,

AP Business Writer DETROIT (AP) — Elon Musk says the Securities and Exchange Commission wants him to pay a penalty or face charges involving what he disclosed — or failed to disclose — about his purchases of Twitter stock before he bought the social media platform in 2022. In a letter, Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro

Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The woman who in 2006 falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her — making national headlines that stirred tensions about race, class and the privilege of college athletes — has admitted publicly for the first time that she made up the story. Crystal Mangum, who is

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The day after a masked gunman killed the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in New York City, police in San Francisco gave the FBI a potentially valuable tip about the identity of the suspect. He looked like a man who had been reported missing to them the previous month, Luigi Mangione.

NEW YORK (AP) — Books-in-progress on subjects ranging from Edgar Allan Poe to subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz are among this year’s 10 recipients of $40,000 Whiting grants for nonfiction creative writing. Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grants, established in 2016, have previously gone to such acclaimed authors as George Packer, Ilyon Woo and Meghan O’Rourke. Recipients announced

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Associated Press writer Lou Kesten has chosen his top 10 video games of 2024. The list is capped by Metaphor: ReFantazio, an ambitious political role-playing fantasy game. Indie developers make a strong showing, with Animal Well, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Balatro and UFO 50. And larger

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has rejected a bid from human rights groups to block weapons exports to Israel and trading with the occupied territories. It found there were sufficient checks already in place to comply with international law. The ten organizations argued the Netherlands was in violation of the

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The U.N. office on human rights in Venezuela has partially resumed operations in recent weeks. That’s according to the agency’s chief. Volker Türk made the announcement on Friday, several months after the government of President Nicolás Maduro expelled the office’s staff, accusing them, without providing evidence, of assisting alleged coup plotters and

AP Sports Writer BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP) — Lindsey Vonn now has a firm target for her return to World Cup ski racing at age 40: next weekend for a pair of super-G events in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She has a goal, too, and it’s not showing up at the starting gate simply to show