Skip to Content

National-World

Mexico to eliminate 7 independent regulatory, oversight agencies. What does it mean for the future?

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Senate has voted to eliminate seven independent regulatory and oversight agencies. Critics say it is a massive move to cement the ruling party’s power and avoid outside scrutiny. President Claudia Sheinbaum calls it a money-saving measure. She says the agencies’ functions — which include freedom of information requests, anti-monopoly enforcement

Continue Reading

Wisconsin election chair certifies Trump’s victory in back-to-the-routine teleconference

Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s election commission leader has quietly certified Donald Trump’s victory in the battleground state, a departure from the chaos that surrounded the 2020 election results. Commission Chairperson Ann Jacobs certified results during a Zoom meeting on Friday that show Trump won the state with 1,697,626 votes compared to Democrat

Continue Reading

Israelis are wary of returning to the north because they don’t trust the ceasefire with Hezbollah

Associated Press KIBBUTZ MALKIYA, Israel (AP) — Even after a tenuous Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire took hold this week, the mood among residents of northern Israel is far from celebratory. Few are returning immediately to homes near the border with Lebanon. They say they don’t trust that Hezbollah’s fire is really over. Many do not trust that

Continue Reading

Libraries are offering free health and wellness classes across the US

AP Health Writer MILWAUKEE (AP) — Libraries around across the U.S. are helping people get healthier. They offer fitness classes, food pantries, cooking classes, conversations about loneliness and mental health, and even blood pressure monitors that can be checked out just like books. The programs leverage libraries’ reputation as sources of reliable information and their

Continue Reading

Namibia’s decision to extend election voting due to technical issues draws opposition complaints

WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) — Namibia’s elections agency has extended voting by several days due to technical issues and ballot paper shortages. One of the southern Africa country’s biggest opposition parties claimed the extension to the vote, which should have ended on Wednesday, is unlawful. Polls will now close on Saturday night, according to the Electoral

Continue Reading

Armed men in speedboats make off with women and children when a migrants’ dinghy deflates off Libya

Associated Press MILAN (AP) — A humanitarian aid group says armed men in two speedboats took off with women and children after a rubber dinghy carrying some 112 migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea started deflating off Libya’s coast. Doctors Without Borders says dozens of men and boys who were aboard the overcrowded dinghy

Continue Reading

Head of Ohio’s teacher pension fund retires Sunday, saying fund is strong despite staff vacancies

Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The outgoing head of Ohio’s troubled teacher retirement system said she’s leaving the fund in strong fiscal condition despite turmoil at the top that her successor will inherit. Lynn Hoover retires as acting executive director and CFO of the $94 billion State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio said Sunday.

Continue Reading

The world gets its first glimpse inside Notre Dame Cathedral after 5 years under wraps

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Five years after a catastrophic fire reduced Notre Dame Cathedral to a smoldering shell, journalists entered the Gothic masterpiece for a first glimpse of its fully restored interiors during a visit with French President Emmanuel Macron. The transformation is nothing short of breathtaking: light dances across brilliant stone, gilded accents

Continue Reading

More than 100 arrested in Georgia protests after government puts EU hopes on ice

By Christian Edwards and Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Georgia’s interior ministry has said that 107 people were arrested during Friday’s protests in the capital Tbilisi sparked by the government’s decision to delay the former Soviet country’s bid to join the European Union. The Black Sea nation has been rocked by demonstrations since Thursday, when

Continue Reading

A woman bypassed multiple security checkpoints to get on a Delta flight to Paris. Here’s what we know

By Rebekah Riess, Amanda Jackson and Holmes Lybrand, CNN (CNN) — Investigators are trying to determine how a woman got past multiple security checkpoints this week at New York’s JFK International Airport and boarded a plane to Paris, apparently hiding in the aircraft’s bathrooms during the flight. The stowaway didn’t have a boarding pass but

Continue Reading

Syrian rebels enter Aleppo for first time in eight years during shock offensive

By Eyad Kourdi, Mostafa Salem, Allegra Goodwin, Christian Edwards, Annoa Abekah-Mensah, Lauren Kent and Avery Schmitz, CNN (CNN) — Syrian armed opposition forces have entered Aleppo just three days into their surprise offensive, marking the first time they have set foot in the country’s second-largest city since government forces recaptured the city in 2016. Rebel

Continue Reading

The Supreme Court will hear arguments over Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the constitutionality of Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The case being heard Wednesday will have a national impact because at least 25 other states have adopted similar laws in recent years. The fight over whether transgender adolescents can

Continue Reading

Thousands of workers march across Italy in general strike demanding better pay and services

Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Thousands of teachers, health care workers, trash collectors and others walked off their jobs across Italy on Friday to protest a decline in spending power, persistently low salaries and government policies they say have weakened public services. Italy’s most powerful trade unions called the eight-hour strike and mobilized marches in

Continue Reading

UK intelligence chief accuses Russia of ‘staggeringly reckless’ sabotage campaign

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service says Russia is conducting a “staggeringly reckless” sabotage campaign against Ukraine’s allies that risks dangerously escalating the conflict. MI6 chief Richard Moore said Friday that Moscow wants to deter Western countries from supporting Ukraine. In a speech in Paris, he said his agency

Continue Reading

Okonjo-Iweala given 2nd term as WTO chief as Trump’s return looms over trade body’s future

Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization chief says she’s “eager” to work with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his trade team, while taking a wait-and-see stance about Trump’s plans to impose new tariffs on goods from other countries including China, Mexico and Canada. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made the comments to reporters

Continue Reading

Jailed Kremlin critic convicted again and handed new prison term for opposing the war in Ukraine

Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Gorinov has been convicted again for opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine and handed a three-year prison term. A swift, three-day trial against Gorinov, once a low-profile activist, underscored Moscow’s intolerance of any dissenting voices. Gorinov, a 63-year-old former member of a Moscow municipal council, is

Continue Reading

Senior figure with Scholz’s ex-allies quits over ‘D-Day’ paper on German government collapse

Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A senior figure in the party whose departure from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition three weeks ago put Germany on the road to an early election has resigned in a furor over an internal document whose title referred to “D-Day.” Bijan Djir-Sarai of the pro-business Free Democrats said he was quitting

Continue Reading

Iran to begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges, UN watchdog says

Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran will begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its two main nuclear facilities at Fordo and Natanz. That’s according to a statement Friday from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. It further raises tensions over Tehran’s program as it enriches

Continue Reading

British lawmakers give initial approval to a bill to allow terminally ill adults to end their lives

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers have given initial approval to a bill that would help terminally ill adults end their lives in England and Wales. The assisted dying bill was approved on Friday by a vote of 330 to 275 after an impassioned Parliamentary debate. The vote signals lawmakers’ approval in principle for the

Continue Reading

Notre Dame Cathedral unveils its new interior 5 years after devastating fire

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — After more than five years of frenetic, but sometimes interrupted, reconstruction work, Notre Dame Cathedral showed itself anew to the world Friday, with rebuilt soaring ceilings and creamy good-as-new stonework erasing somber memories of its devastating fire in 2019. Images broadcast live of a site visit by French President Emmanuel

Continue Reading

Georgian protesters clash with police for a second night after EU talks are suspended

Associated Press TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators protesting the Georgian government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union rallied outside the parliament and clashed with police for a second straight night on Friday. The night before, police used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse protesters who took to

Continue Reading

Chad ends a defense cooperation agreement with France, its former colonial ruler

Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Chad’s government says it is ending a defense cooperation agreement with France, its former colonial ruler, to redefine the nation’s sovereignty. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson says the decision is a turning point after the Central African nation gained independence more than six decades ago and that it will allow

Continue Reading

Ireland headed for coalition government following parliamentary election, exit poll suggests

Associated Press DUBLIN (AP) — An exit poll in Ireland’s general election suggests the three biggest parties have won roughly equal shares and the country is headed for another coalition government. A poll released as voting ended said center-right party Fine Gael was the first choice of 21% of voters, with its center-right coalition partner

Continue Reading

Embattled Japan leader vows to cooperate with long-ignored opposition in bid to save his government

Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who survived as leader after a major election loss by his governing coalition, is promising to work closely with the long-ignored opposition that is now the only way his minority government can stay in power. Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito

Continue Reading

Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday for talks with North Korean military and political leaders as the countries deepen their cooperation over Russia’s war in Ukraine. In announcing the visit, Russia’s Defense Ministry didn’t say whom Belousov would meet or the purpose of

Continue Reading

Don’t drink local ‘Tiger’ vodka and whisky in Laos, Australia warns after tourist deaths

By Helen Regan, CNN (CNN) — Australia has warned travelers against drinking spirits made by a Laos distiller, following the deaths of six foreign tourists from suspected methanol poisoning in the Southeast Asian country. The updated travel advice published Friday cited “serious safety concerns” over Laos’ Tiger-branded vodka and whisky in the wake of a

Continue Reading

3 dead and over 90,000 displaced as Malaysia prepares for its worst floods in a decade

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia is preparing for its worst floods in a decade after heavier-than-expected monsoon rains caused severe flooding that killed three people and displaced more than 90,000. The northeastern states of Kelantan, bordering Thailand, and neighboring Terengganu were the worst hit. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says floods this year

Continue Reading

Paraguay, one of Taiwan’s 12 remaining allies, says it won’t break ties in favor of China

Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Paraguay’s foreign minister says his country is committed to its relationship with Taiwan and has no plans to break off their diplomatic relationship in favor of China as he visited the increasingly isolated island. Paraguay is the only country in South America and one of 12 worldwide that recognizes

Continue Reading

Stripped of citizenship, these Nicaraguans live in limbo scattered across the world

Associated Press GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Sergio Mena’s life dissolved in hours. After years resisting President Daniel Ortega, the rural activist fled Nicaragua in 2018, joining thousands of protesters fleeing a yearslong crackdown on dissent. Mena returned from exile in neighboring Costa Rica in 2021 to continue protesting, only to be thrown in a prison

Continue Reading

Philippine president says impeaching the vice president, his rival, would be a waste of time

Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos says impeaching the vice president, who is facing a legal storm after publicly threatening to have him killed, would be a waste of time for Congress. It is unclear whether Marcos’ remark on Friday would stop plans by several groups to file impeachment complaints against

Continue Reading

From yuck to profits: Some Zimbabwe farmers turn to maggots to survive drought and thrive

Associated Press NYANGAMBE, Zimbabwe (AP) — It was an alarming, even sickening, suggestion: Farmers in Zimbabwe hit hard by drought should farm maggots to feed their animals and boost their household incomes. But the smelly solution has been embraced after some convincing in a country where people have traditionally associated flies with diseases such as

Continue Reading

South Korean politician calls for investigation of biomass energy material imported from Indonesia

Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A South Korean National Assembly member has called for a moratorium on wood pellet imports from Indonesia and an investigation into South Korea’s biomass use after government data and satellite analysis linked the country’s biomass imports to deforestation in Indonesia. In South Korea, biomass has grown to become the

Continue Reading

For the first time, France’s Macron calls 1944 killings of West African troops by French a massacre

Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — France’s President Emmanuel Macron has for the first time recognized the killing of West African soldiers by the French Army in 1944 as a massacre. The recognition came Thursday in a letter addressed to Senegalese authorities. Between 35 and 400 West African soldiers who fought in the World War

Continue Reading

James Comey Fast Facts

CNN Editorial Research (CNN) — Here’s a look at the life of James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Personal Birth date: December 14, 1960 Birth place: Yonkers, New York Birth name: James Brien Comey Jr. Father: James Brien Comey, real estate professional Mother: Joan (Herald) Comey Marriage: Patrice (Failor) Comey (1987-present)

Continue Reading

Jon Batiste, Ledisi, Trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle to perform during Super Bowl pregame

AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Super Bowl pregame will have some Louisiana flavor: Multi-talented performer Jon Batiste will hit the stage to sing the national anthem, while Trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle are slated to perform “America the Beautiful.” The performances will take place Feb. 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans

Continue Reading

Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv plays soccer game without incident in Hungary after Amsterdam violence

DEBRECEN, Hungary (AP) — Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv’s game against Besiktas in the Europa League has been played without incident before empty stands in Hungary, with the stadium closed to fans over security concerns following attacks on Israeli supporters in Amsterdam this month. Maccabi won the game 3-1 on a cold and rainy evening

Continue Reading

San Jose State is disappointed Boise State forfeited but looks forward to volleyball final

AP Sports Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — San Jose State said Thursday it was disappointed Boise State forfeited its semifinal match in the Mountain West women’s volleyball tournament but that the Spartans were focused on the future. Boise State, which twice boycotted regular-season matches with San Jose State, pulled out of the conference tournament Wednesday

Continue Reading

Venezuela targets opposition with bill that codifies economic sanctions as crimes against humanity

Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan lawmakers have approved a bill that codifies economic sanctions, like those imposed by the United States, as a crime against humanity and allows the prosecution of anyone who expresses support for the measures. Thursday’s move follows the White House’s decision to impose sanctions on dozens of individuals it

Continue Reading

Florida authorities recover 37 gold coins that were stolen from a nearly 310-year-old shipwreck

Authorities have recovered 37 gold coins that were stolen by salvagers from a nearly 310-year-old shipwreck off of Florida’s coast. The state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced the recovery on Tuesday. The coins have an estimated combined value of more than $1 million. They were salvaged from the 1715 Fleet. The fleet is a

Continue Reading

Female racing pioneer ‘Motorcycle Mary’ McGee dies a day before documentary on her is released

GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) — Mary McGee, a female racing pioneer and subject profiled in an Oscar-contending documentary “Motorcycle Mary,” has died, her family said. She was 87. “McGee’s unparalleled achievements in off-road racing and motorcycle racing have inspired generations of athletes that followed in her footsteps,” her family said in a statement. The family said

Continue Reading

Putin says ‘intelligent and experienced’ Trump capable of finding ‘solutions’

By Christian Edwards, Darya Tarasova and Lauren Kent, CNN (CNN) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised US President-elect Donald Trump as an “intelligent and experienced” politician capable of finding “solutions,” as tensions between Moscow and the West ramp up over the war in Ukraine. Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan, Putin also castigated President

Continue Reading

‘Narco sub’ bound for Australia seized in massive international operation that netted 1,400 metric tons of drugs

CNN By Mauricio Torres and James Legge, CNN (CNN) — Six so-called “narco subs” stuffed with cocaine were captured in a Colombian-led international anti-drug operation, authorities in the Latin American nation said Wednesday, as part of a huge global bust. The mission, involving 62 countries, seized more than 1,400 metric tons of drugs – mostly

Continue Reading

Avocados, tequila and other iconic Mexican products are jeopardized by Trump’s tariff threats

Associated Press URUAPAN, Mexico (AP) — Mexicans are worried that threats by Donald Trump to impose 25% tariffs could affect a wide range of iconic Mexican products and threaten entire regional economies. In western Mexico, no crop supplies an income for so many small growers as avocados. But avocado growers, pickers and packers worry that

Continue Reading