Skip to Content

National-World

Murder and terrorism charges brought against Iranian officer in 2022 killing of American in Iraq

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An Iranian officer blamed for the 2022 killing of an American in Iraq has been charged in New York with federal murder and terrorism crimes. Federal authorities in New York City announced the charges on Friday against Mohammad Reza Nouri, an officer in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Acting U.S.

Continue Reading

Venezuelan opposition politician met with prosecutors after leaving Argentine diplomatic compound

Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Venezuela’s attorney general says an opposition politician met with prosecutors after leaving the Argentine diplomatic compound in the capital, Caracas, where he had sheltered for nine months to avoid arrest. Attorney General Tarek William Saab said in a statement that Fernando Martínez “voluntarily presented himself” before authorities and gave

Continue Reading

A paraplegic man in Brazil is lifted into the clouds on one of Rio de Janeiro’s hardest trails

Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It’s perhaps Rio de Janeiro’s hardest trail. It features one particularly daunting section requiring a perilous scramble that can cause hikers to freeze up with fright. But 40-year-old paraplegic Ezequiel da Luz traversed jungle and surmounted rocks this week to reach Pedra da Gavea’s peak that towers over

Continue Reading

Italy’s privacy watchdog fines OpenAI for ChatGPT’s violations in collecting users personal data

ROME (AP) — Italy’s data protection authority says it has fined OpenAI $15.6 million after wrapping up a probe into the collection of personal data by its generative artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The country’s privacy watchdog, known as Garante, said its investigation showed that OpenAI processed users’ personal data to train ChatGPT “without having an

Continue Reading

Government funding bill clears Congress and heads to President Biden, averting a shutdown

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our

Continue Reading

What to stream: ‘Squid Game’ returns, the movie ‘Bird’ and Mariah Carey teams up with the NFL

The long-awaited second season of “Squid Game” on Netflix and singing superstar Andrea Bocelli’s Christmas TV special are some of this week’s new streaming entertainment releases. British filmmaker Andrea Arnold offers perhaps her most divisive movie yet with “Bird,” a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old who meets a stranger named Bird, while on Wednesday, there’s

Continue Reading

Warring tribes in Pakistan’s northwest ordered to hand over weapons after weeks of deadly clashes

Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities in the northwest want warring tribes to hand over their weapons after weeks of deadly clashes. Sectarian clashes flared last month in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after gunmen ambushed a convoy and killed 52 people. Most of them were Shiite Muslims. It triggered retaliatory

Continue Reading

Canada’s Trudeau reshuffles his Cabinet as resignation calls mount and new election threat looms

Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chances of staying on in power have become more tenuous after the opposition party that backed his government for years announced it will vote no confidence in the government when Parliament resumes. An embattled Trudeau reshuffled his Cabinet on Friday — but whether he will

Continue Reading

Nuna Baby Essentials is recalling over 600,000 child car seats because harness may not hold children

DETROIT (AP) — Nuna Baby Essentials is recalling nearly 609,000 child car seats because the harness adjuster can loosen and the seats may not restrain children. The company says in documents posted Friday by U.S. safety reguators that the recall affects certain Rava seats with a plastic harness adjuster button. Debris can get into the

Continue Reading

Takeaways from AP’s story on the Miccosukee’s fight to protect the Everglades

Associated Press EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) — For centuries, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida has called the Everglades home. But decades of engineering projects have devastated their ancestral lands and an ecosystem that’s sustained them. Water mismanagement has contributed to fires, floods and water pollution in their communities and cultural sites. Climate change, and

Continue Reading

Hungary’s Orbán says European leaders must change strategy on Ukraine

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that European leaders must acknowledge the need to change their strategy regarding Ukraine. In comments to Hungary’s state broadcaster on Friday, Orbán argued that the current strategy was not working and Russia was advancing on the frontlines. He added that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s

Continue Reading

Scholz dismisses Musk’s assertion that only a far-right party can ‘save’ Germany

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has dismissed an assertion by Elon Musk that only a far-right party can “save Germany.” But the German leader said Friday that freedom of opinion “also goes for multibillionaires.” Germany is expected to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last

Continue Reading

He fought to save jungles in Honduras. Now his killing haunts environmental defenders

Associated Press TOCOA, Honduras (AP) — Seven bullets pounded into Juan López outside a small white church on a sunny September afternoon. Another environmental champion in Honduras was dead after leading the fight to protect dense jungle and crystalline waters in a region rife with corruption and drug trafficking. López’s killing in the most deadly

Continue Reading

George Mason University student charged with plotting mass casualty attack on Israeli consulate in New York

By Karina Tsui, CNN (CNN) — The FBI has arrested a student at George Mason University in Virginia for allegedly plotting a mass casualty attack on the Israeli consulate in New York, according to a federal court filing. Egyptian national Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan faces a slew of federal charges tied to distributing information

Continue Reading

Student protests continue to challenge Serbia’s populist government after a deadly canopy collapse

Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Hundreds of Serbian students and others again blocked traffic for 15 minutes throughout the country as political tensions continue to simmer following last month’s collapse of a concrete canopy that killed 15 people. Friday’s traffic blockades have been held every week at exactly 11:52 a.m., the exact time on

Continue Reading

Crowds in Mayotte vent frustration with cyclone response as Macron tours devastation

Associated Press MIRERENI, Mayotte (AP) — Crowds in Mayotte have vented their frustration at French President Emmanuel Macron, with some booing. Particularly tense scenes unfolded Thursday as he toured destruction wrought by the strongest cyclone to hit the French territory in nearly a century. They underscored the discontent that many residents of the archipelago in

Continue Reading

Seven-year-old girl killed and several injured in stabbing attack at Croatia elementary school

By Christian Edwards and Marcelo Medeiros, CNN (CNN) — A seven-year-old girl has been killed and eight others have been injured in a knife attack at an elementary school in the Croatian capital Zagreb. The 19-year-old attacker, believed to be a former student, entered a first-grade classroom at the Prečko Elementary School early Friday morning

Continue Reading

Tesla recalling almost 700,000 vehicles due to tire pressure monitoring system issue

AP Business Writer Tesla is recalling almost 700,000 vehicles because of an issue with the warning light on the tire pressure monitoring system. According to a letter Thursday from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall includes certain 2024 Cybertruck, 2017-2025 Model 3, and 2020-2025 Model Y vehicles. The issue is that the tire

Continue Reading

Trump was poised to inherit a strong economy. Then things got rocky and he added to the uncertainty

Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The smooth economy that Donald Trump was poised to inherit suddenly looks a bit rockier — with critics saying the president-elect is contributing to the uncertainty. The Dow Jones stock index essentially ended Thursday flat after having posted 10 days of losses. The Federal Reserve now sees

Continue Reading

Diplomatic spat erupts after Hungary gives asylum to Polish politician suspected of corruption

Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Hungary has given political asylum to a Polish opposition politician who is wanted on suspicions of corruption. The move has triggered a diplomatic spat that worsened on Friday. Poland’s government decried Hungary’s decision as a “hostile act” and Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was dismayed by Hungarian Prime

Continue Reading

5 things to know for Dec. 20: Government shutdown, CEO murder suspect, Deportations, Amazon strike, Lay’s chips recall

By Alexandra Banner, CNN (CNN) — The FDA has finalized new standards that foods must meet before they can be labeled as “healthy.” Some foods that could previously carry the healthy label — such as white bread and heavily sweetened cereal and yogurt — will no longer qualify. Here’s what else you need to know

Continue Reading

Russia’s central bank holds off on interest rate hike amid friction between inflation, war spending

Associated Press Russia’s central bank has left its benchmark interest rate at a record 21%, holding off on further increases despite high consumer inflation fueled by the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine. The decision Friday comes amid criticism from influential business figures, including tycoons close to the Kremlin, that high rates are putting the brakes on

Continue Reading

At least one killed and several embassies damaged in ‘barbaric’ Russian missile barrage on Kyiv, Ukraine says

By Maria Kostenko and Sophie Tanno, CNN (CNN) — At least one person has been killed and several embassies have been damaged in an early morning Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. The Kyiv City Military Administration confirmed the death in a post on Telegram, adding that 12 others have been injured. Of those

Continue Reading

Internal divisions doom Michigan Democrats in their final days of legislative control

Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Democrats are ending their final days in control of the state government bogged down with disunity and inaction. Tensions boiled over Thursday when a Democratic lawmaker joined the entire Republican caucus in skipping the session. The chamber was left without the necessary votes needed to hold business. House

Continue Reading

A teenager stabs a 7-year-old to death and wounds a teacher and 3 more children in a Croatian school

Associated Press ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A knife-wielding teenager walked into a school in Croatia’s capital on Friday, stabbed a 7-year-old girl to death and wounded three more children and their teacher, authorities said. The attack took place around 9:50 a.m. on the last day of school before Christmas at the Precko Elementary School in

Continue Reading

Congo replaces top military chief and other senior officers as fighting in the east rages on

Associated Press GOMA, Congo (AP) — Congolese state media says President Felix Tshisekedi has replaced the armed forces chief and several other top military officers in a major reshuffle amid the ongoing fight against rebels in the country’s eastern region. The Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Gen. Christian Tshiwewe, was replaced by

Continue Reading

France’s anti-terrorism court convicts 8 people of involvement in the 2020 beheading of a teacher

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — France’s anti-terrorism court on Friday convicted eight people of involvement in the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty outside his school near Paris four years ago, a horrific death that shocked the country. Paty, 47, was killed by an Islamic extremist outside his school on Oct. 16, 2020, days after showing

Continue Reading

White House starts scrapping pending regulations on transgender athletes and student debt

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is abandoning his efforts to provide some protections for transgender student athletes and cancel student loans for more than 38 million Americans, the first steps in an administration-wide plan to jettison pending regulations to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from retooling them to achieve his own aims. The

Continue Reading

Taiwan lawmakers clash after one party breaks into legislature to occupy speaker’s chair

Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Lawmakers have clashed in Taiwan’s legislature after members of a leading political party broke into the building overnight to occupy the speaker’s chair. The clash occurred when members of another major party forced their way in Friday morning to evict them. Taiwan media reports said some lawmakers were injured

Continue Reading

Private schools, like in Wisconsin shooting, are responsible for their security. Here’s how they try to protect students

By Nicole Chavez, CNN (CNN) — When a student carried out a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School this week, there was no school resource officer on site. And when six people were killed last year at another private Christian school in Nashville, there wasn’t one either. While school resource officers are not the only

Continue Reading

How Luigi Mangione’s notebook helped federal prosecutors build their case and what’s next as he faces mounting charges

CNN By Emma Tucker, CNN (CNN) — It was writings laid bare in a notebook found in Luigi Mangione’s possession, authorities say, that would help investigators build the federal case against him – a well-planned homicide that involved stalking the movements of his alleged victim, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. An entry dated August 15, reads:

Continue Reading

How Luigi Mangione’s notebook helped federal prosecutors build their case and what’s next as he faces mounting charges

By Emma Tucker, CNN (CNN) — It was writings laid bare in a notebook found in Luigi Mangione’s possession, authorities say, that would help investigators build the federal case against him – a well-planned homicide that involved stalking the movements of his alleged victim, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. An entry dated August 15, reads: “the

Continue Reading

Giant sloths and mastodons lived with humans for millennia in the Americas, new discoveries suggest

AP Science Writer SAO PAULO (AP) — Sloths weren’t always slow-moving, furry tree-dwellers. Their prehistoric ancestors were huge — up to 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) — and when startled, they brandished immense claws. For a long time, scientists believed the first humans to arrive in the Americas soon killed off these giant ground sloths

Continue Reading

For thousands of Jews, Israel still doesn’t feel safe after the Oct. 7 attacks. So they’re leaving

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Israelis are increasingly moving out of the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack shattered any sense of safety. Government statistics estimate that 40,600 people departed long-term during the first seven months of the year, a 59% increase over the same period in 2023. Some 33,000 people have moved

Continue Reading

For thousands of Jews, Israel still doesn’t feel safe after the Oct. 7 attacks. So they’re leaving

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Israelis are increasingly moving out of the country since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack shattered any sense of safety. Government statistics estimate that 40,600 people departed long-term during the first seven months of the year, a 59% increase over the same period in 2023. Some 33,000 people have moved

Continue Reading

Gisèle Pelicot’s Australian supporters are moved that their French heroine wore an Aboriginal scarf

Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A group of Gisèle Pelicot’s Australian admirers say they’re moved that the victim in France’s notorious drugging-and-rape case has acknowledged her distant supporters Down Under by wearing a scarf adorned with Aboriginal art. The 72-year-old who refused to remain an anonymous victim wore the silk scarf several times during

Continue Reading

What to know about Vanuatu, the Pacific island nation struggling to recover from a massive quake

Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Efforts to recover bodies of people trapped in collapsed buildings continues in the earthquake-hit Pacific nation of Vanuatu. Hopes faded on Friday that more would be found alive three days after the magnitude 7.3 quake, with the official death toll of 12 likely to rise. The U.N. humanitarian

Continue Reading

International students urged to return to US campuses before Trump inauguration

Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A growing number of U.S. colleges and universities are advising international students to return to campus before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, over concerns that he might impose travel bans like he did during his first administration. More than a dozen schools have issued advisories, even though Trump’s plans

Continue Reading

A beginner’s guide to Kwanzaa

Associated Press Founded during the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s, Kwanzaa is a non-religious holiday that is observed by millions of Americans. It has become a nationally recognized celebration of African culture and community in the United States that also is celebrated in countries with large African descendant populations. It serves as a nationwide

Continue Reading

Turkey and Russia engage in delicate maneuvers over Syria after Assad’s downfall

The rapid downfall of Syrian leader Bashar Assad has touched off a new round of delicate geopolitical maneuvering between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan. With the dust still settling from the stunning events in Damascus, the outcome for now seems be favoring Ankara, which backed the victorious rebels, while Moscow suffered a

Continue Reading

Democratic governors hammered Trump before the election. Now they’re hoping to work with him

Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — They warned about him. Now they’ll have to work with him. A handful of prominent Democratic governors are quickly adjusting their approach to President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office, hoping to avoid antagonizing him to ensure they’ll have a working relationship with his new administration. They’re in a

Continue Reading

South Korean investigators seek to question reluctant president over martial law

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean investigators are pressing ahead with their probe into impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his Dec. 3 martial law declaration. On Friday, they issued another summons demanding that he appear for questioning on Christmas Day, despite his continued refusal to cooperate. The Corruption Investigation Office for

Continue Reading

Venezuelan opposition member leaves Argentine diplomatic compound after sheltering for 9 months

Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — One of the six members of Venezuela’s political opposition who have been sheltering for nine months in the Argentine diplomatic compound in the capital, Caracas, has abandoned the premises. Two people familiar with the situation at the facility confirmed to The Associated Press that Fernando Martinez left the ambassador’s

Continue Reading

For some, the pope’s big Holy Year only aggravates housing crisis as overtourism pushes out Romans

When Pope Francis left the Vatican earlier this month for his traditional Christmastime outing downtown, he acknowledged what many Romans have been complaining about for months: That his big plans for a Holy Year had turned their city into a giant construction pit, with traffic-clogging roadworks tearing up major thoroughfares, scaffolding covering prized monuments and

Continue Reading

Australia announces $118 million deal to enhance policing in Solomon Islands

Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia has announced it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation’s capital Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with Beijing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday Australia

Continue Reading

Activists sue federal government for images of dead orcas entangled by fishing boats

Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Activists have sued the federal government to release images of dead orca whales and other marine mammals entangled by commercial fishing boats off the U.S. West Coast. The complaints filed in Alaska and California on Thursday come after the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration failed to fulfill multiple Freedom

Continue Reading

Alaska governor asks Trump to roll back restrictions on oil and gas drilling

Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s wish list for the incoming Trump administration includes oil and gas exploration in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reversing restrictions on logging and road-building in a temperate rainforest that provides habitat for wolves, bears and salmon. Dunleavy has asked President-elect Donald Trump to

Continue Reading

Arizona secretary of state overstepped his authority on elections manual, judge rules

Associated Press/Report for America PHOENIX (AP) — A Maricopa County judge’s decision has invalidated a provision of Arizona’s elections manual that said the secretary of state must canvass election results even if a county has not certified its ballots. Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes exceeded his authority.

Continue Reading

Immigration agency deports highest numbers since 2014, aided by more flights

Associated Press McALLEN, Texas (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade, according to a report released Thursday that illustrates some of the financial and operational challenges that President-elect Donald Trump will face to carry out

Continue Reading