AP National

NEW YORK (AP) — The most expensive dinosaur fossil ever discovered will be on view in New York starting this weekend, American Museum of Natural History officials announced Wednesday. The giant stegosaurus fossil, dubbed “Apex,” is 11 feet (3.3 meters) tall and 27 feet (8.2 meters) nose to tail. The display will start in a

AP Business Writer Chi-Chi’s is making a comeback. The Mexican chain said this week that it plans to open some new restaurants next year. The locations would be the first since Chi-Chi’s filed for bankruptcy protection in 2003. Michael McDermott, the son of Chi-Chi’s founder, said he struck an agreement with Hormel Foods to open

Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal in Bangladesh has banned the publication of any speeches by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is in exile in India after being ousted in August after mass protests. The decision came a day after Hasina made her first public speech in a virtual address to

Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The powerful earthquake that struck in Northern California on Thursday prompted a brief tsunami warning affecting about 5 million people along a stretch of the West Coast — from Northern California to Oregon — before being canceled. The National Weather Service says most tsunamis happen when there is a

Associated Press GREENVALE, N.Y. (AP) — Not yet even in office, Donald Trump said Thursday he’s already accomplished more than President Joe Biden did in his entire term, an outsized claim by the president-elect just a month out from the election. Trump, who has been largely ensconced at his Mar-a-Lago club in recent weeks as

AP Sports Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Stadium Authority approved the lease, non-relocation and development documents Thursday to clear the last major hurdles for the Athletics to construct a stadium on the Strip and bring Major League Baseball to the expanding sports market. Other details would still need to be worked out,

AP Film Writer Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche became friends while playing lovers in “Wuthering Heights.” A few years later, they would share the screen again in Anthony Minghella’s “The English Patient,” that historical epic that would take them all the way to the Oscars. They’ve kept in touch in the years since, but they

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Plans for hotels and pickleball courts at Florida state parks could be squashed before they get started — unlike earlier this year when Gov. Ron DeSantis faced bipartisan backlash over park development plans. Sen. Gayle Harrell filed a bill Wednesday that would focus recreation at state parks on trails rather than

Associated Press PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, is reemerging with a campaign to back President-elect Donald Trump’s imperiled cabinet selections. The group’s president Kevin Roberts said it will be spending $1 million to put pressure on senators unwilling to support Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to

Associated Presss WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy recently visited Israel and Qatar for high-level talks on landing a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. Steve Witkoff met separately in recent weeks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. That’s according to

Associated Press ISTANBUL (AP) — A Hamas official said Thursday that international mediators have resumed negotiating with the militant group and Israel over a ceasefire in Gaza, and that he was hopeful a deal to end the 14-month war was within reach. Ceasefire negotiations were halted last month when Qatar suspended talks with mediators from

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — California will appeal a judge’s decision to reject a lawsuit over a measure allowing the city of Huntington Beach to require voter identification at the polls. State officials said Thursday they plan to continue to fight over the measure in the court of appeal. An Orange County Superior Court judge

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s soccer federation leader has urged fans to keep the country on a pro-European path before a state presidential election between a far-right populist and a reformist opponent. Razvan Burleanu, a member of FIFA’s ruling council, spoke in a video message. Burleanu said “through European values, we are building not only

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president will ask President-elect Donald Trump that, if he deports migrants, to deport non-Mexicans directly to their home countries, rather than dumping them at the Mexican border. President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she hopes to reach an agreement with Trump so that “they send people who come from other countries

Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Fans in Missouri will be able to bet on sports next year under a ballot measure that narrowly won approval. State election officials on Thursday certified that the sports betting initiative passed with 50.05% support in the November election. Because the margin was so close, there is a

WASHINGTON (AP) — An African subsidiary of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company Inc. will pay a criminal penalty of more than $122 million to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into a yearslong scheme to bribe South African government officials. The Justice Department says the scheme involved bribes to officials with South Africa’s state-owned

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says it concluded more than 1,850 civil cases this year, a 3.4% increase over 2023, and charged 121 criminal defendants, a 17.6% increase over the previous year. The agency also issued $1.7 billion in financial penalties, more than double last year’s total. Thursday’s report was the

AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA announced more delays Thursday in sending astronauts back to the moon more than 50 years after Apollo. Administrator Bill Nelson said the next mission in the Artemis program — flying four astronauts around the moon and back – is now targeted for April 2026. It had

Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — After a nationwide blackout left millions without electricity for several hours in Cuba, the power grid has been restored, authorities said, adding that scheduled power outages will now resume. The latest blackout, the third one of this severity in less than two months, occurred in the early hours of Wednesday,

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli court has rejected a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit the number of days each week that he’ll have to testify when he finally takes the the stand in his years-long corruption trial. Netanyahu’s lawyers have made numerous requests to delay his testimony, which is now expected to

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay has accused a Chinese diplomat of interfering in its domestic affairs and given him 24 hours to leave the country, escalating tensions over the South American nation’s long friendship with Taiwan. Paraguay’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a brief statement on Thursday that it had revoked the visa of

AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Bitcoin burst on the scene after trust had withered in the financial system and Washington’s ability to protect people from it. Now, it’s Washington’s embrace of bitcoin that’s sending it to records. Bitcoin briefly surged above $103,000 after President-elect Donald Trump said he will nominate Paul Atkins, who’s

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The first Black mayor of North Carolina’s third largest city has died. Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan announced that Yvonne Johnson died Wednesday at age 82. Johnson served on the city council for nearly 30 years in two stints, the last of which ended at her death. She was elected mayor in

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth has spent the week on Capitol Hill trying to reassure Republican senators that he is fit to lead President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Defense in the wake of high-profile allegations about excessive drinking and sexual assault. But senators in both parties have also expressed concern about another issue

Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A protester who suffered eye damage when a rubber bullet fired by Fort Lauderdale police struck her in the face during a 2020 protest over George Floyd’s murder has received $2 million from the city to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the officer and the department of violating

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House shut down Democrats’ efforts Thursday to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, pushing the fate of any resolution to the yearslong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into further uncertainty. The nearly party-line votes came after Democrats had been pressing for the findings to be

AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The inspiration for Kate Hamill’s latest play came from across centuries and the planet. The actor-playwright was honeymooning in Italy in 2020 when she walked into the Uffizi museum in Florence and spotted a painting by pioneering Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi created around 1620. The art immediately stirred

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Looking to tweak some traditional cocktails to make them more festive for the holidays? Here are some suggestions from the pros. For a Christmas-y version of an Old-Fashioned, the London speakeasy Archive and Myth switches out the sugar for a chestnut liqueur. Instead of standard bitters they use walnut bitters

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that the federal Bureau of Prisons is permanently closing its “rape club” women’s prison in California and will idle six facilities in a sweeping realignment after years of abuse, decay and mismanagement. The agency informed employees and Congress on Thursday that it plans to shutter

AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — When SmileDirectClub shut down a year ago, scores of existing customers of the teeth-straightening company were left in limbo. Now, tens of thousands are set to get some relief. New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced that her office recovered $4.8 million to distribute nationwide to more

AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — IOC president Thomas Bach says Olympic leaders are “very confident and relaxed” about working with the incoming Trump administration ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has talked up his own role helping get the games for LA in 2017 but a White House

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s parliament speaker has ejected several lawmakers of the ethnic Serb minority from the chamber because of their several recent absences. The move could spark new frictions in the tense relations with neighboring Serbia. Speaker Glauk Konjufca on Thursday accused the nine Srpska List party lawmakers of being provocative and misusing

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — About half of working women reported feeling stressed “a lot of the day,” compared to about 4 in 10 men, according to a Gallup report published Wednesday. The report suggests that competing demands of work and home comprise part of the problem: working women who are parents or guardians

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s top military officer called his U.S. counterpart to give advance warning of Russia’s drills in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s rare contact amid high tensions between Moscow and Washington. The Russian Defense Ministry says Gen. Valery Gerasimov reached out to Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — More than two dozen historic prints that depict Native American life and culture on the Upper Missouri River nearly 200 years ago will soon be more accessible to the public, thanks to a donation. The State Historical Society of North Dakota recently acquired 26 aquatints produced from 1839 to

Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, VA. (AP) — The sprawling, windowless warehouses that hold rows of high-speed servers powering almost everything the world does on phones and computers are increasingly becoming fixtures of the American landscape, popping up in towns, cities and suburbs across the United States. Demand for data centers ballooned in recent years due to

AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ten of the best songs of the year, as determined by Associated Press Music Writer Maria Sherman, in no particular order. “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey It is not only the biggest song of the year, but one of the longest-reigning No. 1s of all time, as far

AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Associated Press Music Writer Maria Sherman has chosen 10 of the best albums of 2024. They’re not in any particular order but they include Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” Charli XCX’s “BRAT,” Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX,” Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Doechii’s “Alligator Bites Never Heal,” MJ Lenderman’s “Manning

AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Known across the globe as the stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hit the six-month mark in space Thursday with two more to go. The pair rocketed into orbit on June 5, the first to ride Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on what was supposed to

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The police commissioner of the Bahamas has resigned after two officers and a sergeant were recently indicted in a U.S. drug trafficking case that federal authorities describe as “massive.” Bahamas’s prime minister announced on Wednesday that Clayton Fernander was stepping down, noting that he faces no charges in the

AP Technology Writer Waymo is gearing up to bring its robotaxi service to Miami which will accelerate an expansion that’s been happening while its hobbled rivals remain in its rearview mirror. As part of road map unfurled Thursday, Waymo plans to begin testing its driverless Jaguars in Miami next year before the robotaxis start charging

AP Science Writer Efforts to reduce the nation’s persistently high maternal mortality rates involve state panels of experts that investigate and learn from each mother’s death. The panels — called maternal mortality review committees — usually do their work quietly and out of the public eye. But that’s not been the case recently in three

AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The reliability of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids has dramatically improved, narrowing a wide gap with gas-powered automobiles, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports. But vehicles with internal combustion engines and gas-electric hybrids are still far more dependable, the survey found. Consumer Reports subscribers, who filled out

Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Officials say a Pakistani court has indicted imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and dozens of his associates on charges of inciting people to attack military and government installations last year. Khan’s party say he pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out to him in court. Khan and the

Associated Press FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone has started a nationwide rollout of the single-dose Ebola vaccine. The campaign, which started on Thursday, makes Sierra Leone the first country to begin a nationwide vaccination program in West Africa where a deadly outbreak 10 years ago killed thousands of people. The 2014 Ebola outbreak

AP Business Writer The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remains at historically healthy levels. Jobless claim applications rose by 9,000 to 224,000 for the week of Nov. 30, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s more than the 214,000 analysts were forecasting. Continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Judges of a European Union-backed court have ordered the arrest of Kosovo’s three other war veterans on alleged offenses against the administration of justice. A statement on Thursday from the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, based in The Hague, Netherlands confirmed ongoing operations in Kosovo. Kosovar media reported three arrests. The court in

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia is spreading disinformation to American audiences in an effort to erode U.S. support for Ukraine as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House. Since the U.S. election on Nov. 5, groups linked to the Kremlin have spread fake videos supposedly showing Ukrainian soldiers shooting and burning effigies

AP Airlines Writer The Biden administration has only seven weeks left in office, but officials are still trying to enact consumer-protection regulations on airlines. The Transportation Department said Thursday that it will begin taking steps toward requiring airlines to pay cash compensation starting at $200 to passengers who are stranded when airlines cause flights to

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to stay in office until the end of his term in 2027 and said he will name a new prime minister within days. In a televised address to the nation on Thursday, Macron came out fighting, laying blame at the door of his opponents

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Three-time Olympic equestrian gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin has been suspended from all competition for one year following a horse-whipping scandal that saw her withdraw from the Paris Games in July. Dujardin was provisionally suspended by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports on July 23 as the governing body launched an investigation

Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Public health officials in Africa urged caution Thursday as Congo’s health minister said the government was on alert over a mystery flu-like disease that in recent weeks killed dozens of people. Jean Kaseya, the head of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters that more details about

BERLIN (AP) — Officials say an employee at a hospital in central Germany died in an attack by a man wielding a crossbow. Police and prosecutors said the man entered the hospital in Bad Zwesten on Wednesday afternoon and attacked the 50-year-old employee, who died at the scene. Investigators quickly identified a suspect and arrested

AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The S&P 500 is on track to close 2024 with a gain of nearly 27%, after setting 50 record highs this year. That’s on top of its 24.2% spurt the year before, a spectacular two-year run unmatched since the dot-com boom. This time around, it’s not dot-com stocks

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The acting director of the Secret Service says the agency is “reorganizing and reimagining” its culture and how it operates following an assassination attempt against Donald Trump on the campaign trail in July. Members of a bipartisan House task force investigating the attempt on Trump’s life pushed Ronald Rowe on

Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s state-run airline says it is preparing to resume direct flights to European countries early next month. European Union’s aviation safety agency has lifted a ban on Pakistan International Airlines flying to Europe over compliance with its safety standards. The ban on PIA by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency

AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A pair of European satellites rocketed into orbit Thursday on the first mission to create artificial solar eclipses through fancy formation flying in space. Each fake eclipse should last six hours once operations begin next year. That’s considerably longer than the few minutes of totality offered by

Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Chinese online retailer Temu has been told to suspend operations in Vietnam after it failed to meet an end-of-November deadline to register with the country’s Ministry of Industry and Trade. It’s unclear if Temu, a unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo Holdings, will be allowed to resume its business

Associated Press THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Crime-solving techniques applied to a medieval illuminated manuscript in Paris may have solved a centuries-old puzzle — the true identity of a leading Byzantine painter who injected humanity into the rigid sanctity of Orthodox religious art. A contemporary of Giotto, considered the father of Western painting, the artist conventionally

Associated Press KOVACICA, Serbia (AP) — UNESCO has inscribed ethnic Slovak naïve paintings from a village in Serbia on its list of intangible cultural heritage. The tradition was started nearly a century ago by two farmers in the village of Kovacica, northeast of Belgrade, who started painting to pass the time during the long winter

The World Bank says Afghanistan’s economy is showing modest signs of growth after two years of severe contraction. In its latest development update issued late Wednesday, the financial institution said the modest growth was driven by private consumption. The partial recovery, coupled with falling food prices, has helped to improve household welfare. Afghanistan’s economy relied

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — London’s Royal Albert Hall, the gilded concert venue known for an annual “Rule Britannia” singalong, is preparing to host a different kind of spectacle: Sumo wrestling. Camera shutters clicked furiously and reporters “ahhhed” in delight Wednesday as wrestlers Daisuke Kitanowaka and Akira Fukutsuumi demonstrated a sideways stamp and put on

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president replaced his defense minister Thursday as opposition parties moved to impeach both men over the stunning-but-brief imposition of martial law that brought armed troops into Seoul streets. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties submitted a joint motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol