National-World

Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A program that incentivizes West Virginia families to pull their children out of K-12 public schools by offering them government-funded scholarships to pay for private school or homeschooling is expanding to cover military families that temporarily relocate out of state. The Hope Scholarship Board has to approve a policy

Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil has launched what it calls a social summit ahead of next week’s Group of 20 meeting of the top economies. It’s the first such event focused on drawing civil society input ahead of annual summit. Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira says 40,000 people from G20 countries are expected

BOSTON (AP) — Video has been released of a near miss at New England’s busiest train station. Strong wind sent a large scaffolding plank crashing to the ground outside Boston’s South Station last Friday. The plank narrowly missed pedestrians streaming into and out of the building. No one was hurt. The station serves as a

Associated Press Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is preparing to lead the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Paul said Thursday that when he becomes the committee’s chair in January, he intends to immediately take up President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to reinstate a policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S.

AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A year after the release of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Martin Scorsese is still looking for his next feature. For now, he’s debuting “The Saints,” a new docudrama series he’s releasing on Fox Nation. In an interview, Scorsese tells The Associated Press about the role faith plays

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report from the Pentagon has revealed hundreds of new reports of unidentified aircraft and aerial phenomena, but no indications of extraterrestrial life. The review was completed by a Defense Department office tasked with investigating unidentified aerial encounters and reports. In many cases, investigators determined that witnesses misidentified birds,

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that operators of four nursing homes in New York will pay $45 million to settle claims that they neglected and mistreated residents. James filed a civil lawsuit last year that accused the owners and operators of Centers Health Care of using Medicaid and Medicare

AP Sports Writer GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The world’s tallest teenager might have to wait a year to become the world’s tallest college basketball player. Florida coach Todd Golden said Thursday that Olivier Rioux, a 7-foot-9 freshman who owns a spot in the Guinness record book, is planning to redshirt. Had the popular Canadian played

LONDON (AP) — Four men have been arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest outside a speech being given by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Queen’s University in Belfast. Clinton, who is the chancellor at the school, was speaking on the final day of the Global Innovation Summit 2024. Protesters with Palestine flags carried

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is considering recess appointments to skip over Senate confirmations for some of the most powerful positions in the U.S. government. Trump over the weekend demanded that Republican leaders in the Senate agree to allow recess appointments as he fills out his administration. It would be a significant

AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that the Federal Reserve will likely cut its key interest rate slowly and deliberately in the coming months, in part because inflation has shown signs of persistence and the Fed’s officials want to see where it heads next. Powell, speaking in Dallas, said that

Associated Press The Onion’s winning bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars platform is under review by a federal bankruptcy judge after Jones and his lawyers raised concerns about how an auction was conducted. The satirical news outlet was announced Thursday as the winning bidder of Infowars at a bankruptcy auction. Hours later, Infowars headquarters in Austin,

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) — Homicide detectives are investigating how a bodyless head washed ashore on a South Florida beach. The man’s head was found Tuesday by a beach worker in Key Biscayne, the barrier island just off Miami. Miami-Dade Police Department Detective Andre Martin said Thursday that there was no body attached to the

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man accused in lawsuits of drugging and sexually assaulting dozens of women while police deliberately botched investigations into him has been convicted of producing images of child sexual abuse. Jurors found Sean Williams guilty Thursday on three federal counts related to the images of a 9-month-old, a 4-year-old and

Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Supreme Court has decided the state should take a break from executions for the holidays. Justices issued an order on Thursday saying they would wait to sign the next death warrant until at least Jan. 3. Two inmates have been executed since South Carolina restarted its

A European regulatory committee now recommends approval of the Alzheimer’s treatment lecanemab a few months after rejecting the drug. Biogen said Thursday that the drug, known in the U.S. as Leqembi, received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use as a treatment for early Alzheimer’s disease. The

Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Ulrich Renz, a former head of The Associated Press German-language service who also covered the trials of leaders of the Auschwitz death camp in World War II, has died at the age of 90. Renz died Monday, according to Peter Gehrig, a close friend for 50 years and a former

Associated Press ROME (AP) — A delegation of former hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and their relatives met Thursday with Pope Francis and expressed hope that the incoming and outgoing U.S. administrations would work together to bring the remaining hostages home. The freed hostages included Yelena Troufanov, who was released last November but whose

Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Masses of residents fled a running battle Thursday between gang members and police in one of the few neighborhoods of Haiti’s capital that hadn’t already been fully taken over by gangs, as violence flared amid political turmoil. Families frantically packed mattresses and furniture into cars and carried their belongings

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A statue of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis has been added to Legacy Plaza in Alabama’s capital city. AL.com reports that the likeness of Lewis was unveiled Tuesday in Montgomery. It joins statues of Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Lewis was a native of Pike County,

AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A year after the release of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Martin Scorsese is still looking for his next feature. For now, he’s debuting “The Saints,” a new docudrama series he’s releasing on Fox Nation. In an interview, Scorsese tells The Associated Press about the role faith plays

Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Two of the three striking teacher unions in Massachusetts face fines for refusing to return to the classroom. Judges have imposed fines of $50,000 a day for the unions in Beverly and Gloucester if they don’t end their strikes by Wednesday. That amount will rise by $10,000 a day as

Associated Press SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) — Belize issued tropical storm warnings for coastal areas on Friday as Tropical Storm Sara moved through the Caribbean, dousing Honduras’ northern coast with heavy rain. Sustained rain fell in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, though there were no signs of serious flooding. Sara was expected

Democrat Janelle Bynum won election to a U.S. House seat representing Oregon on Thursday, defeating Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. The district, which includes the Portland suburbs and stretches through Bend, was a top target for Democrats hoping to recapture the House majority. Democrats lost this seat in 2022, when Jamie McLeod-Skinner defeated seven-term Democratic Rep.

Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A nonprofit dedicated to opposing diversity initiatives in medicine has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the requirements surrounding the racial makeup of key medical boards in Tennessee. The Virginia-based Do No Harm filed the lawsuit earlier this month, marking the second legal battle the group has launched in the

Associated Press Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general is being met with a variety of reactions from Republicans, including cautious reservation, praise and pointed criticism. Some Senate Republicans are questioning whether the nomination of Gaetz, who had faced a House ethics investigation, would survive a confirmation while others, including incoming Senate Judiciary

HELSINKI (AP) — Latvian police say that criminal proceedings have been initiated against two Lithuanian citizens suspected of counterfeiting Ariel laundry detergent products and distributing them in significant quantities across Europe. The suspects are believed to be part of an organized crime group responsible for producing and distributing counterfeit Ariel products across Europe. If convicted,

Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities have completed the demolition of a village at the heart of a yearslong struggle by the members of its Arab Bedouin minority against relocation plans. Israel says the hundreds of villagers are squatting on state-owned land and has offered them plots in a nearby Bedouin township. Residents of

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has released guidelines for using artificial intelligence in the power grid, water system, air travel network and other pieces of critical infrastructure. Private industry would have to adopt and implement the guidelines announced by the Homeland Security Department on Thursday, which was developed in consultation with the

Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The state that gave much of America the right to offer legal sports betting may decide that certain bets on college athletes are out of bounds. New Jersey is considering banning bets on the statistical performance of student athletes, such as how many touchdowns a quarterback will throw or

Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays will play their 2025 home games at the New York Yankees’ nearby spring training ballpark amid uncertainty about the future of hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field, Rays executives told The Associated Press. Stuart Sternberg, the Rays’ principal owner, said in an interview that Steinbrenner Field in

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Business owners at the struggling corner where George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 are suing the city to demand it take over their properties and compensate them. The owners argue that the city’s failure to address deterioration and crime in the neighborhood has ruined their businesses and

Associated Press AACHEN, Germany (AP) — Hundreds of curious shoppers, many equipped with rain gear and folding camping stools, lined up for hours in the western German city of Aachen Thursday to get a first taste of a trendy new confection known as “Dubai chocolate.” Swiss chocolate giant Lindt has drawn the crowds with a

Associated Press A FRENCH MILITARY BASE, France (AP) — A French military task force with the festive name “Champagne” is wrapping up a mission that’s no party. It has been training a new brigade of several thousand Ukrainian troops who will soon be joining the fight against Russia’s invasion. They will be equipped with France-supplied

Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania between Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick is headed for a statewide recount, as counties continued Wednesday to sort through outstanding ballots and the campaigns jousted over which ones should count. A noon deadline passed Wednesday for Casey to waive

Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Doris Kearns Goodwin is kicking off the $2 million capital campaign for an Ohio monument to women’s suffrage. Megan Wood, CEO and executive director of the Ohio History Connection, will lead a discussion and Q&A with the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian at the Ohio Statehouse on Thursday. Kearns Goodwin will

WASHINGTON (AP) — The papers of composer and songwriter Burt Bacharach are being donated to the Library of Congress. Bacharach, an Grammy, Tony and Oscar winner, is among the most important and popular figures of 20th century music, with his film scores and hit songs including “Close to You,” “Walk on By,” and “Raindrops Keep

Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — After losing the White House and both houses of Congress, Democrats are grappling with how to handle transgender politics and policy following a campaign that featured withering and often misleading GOP attacks on the issue. There is plenty of second-guessing after President-elect Donald Trump anchored his victory over Vice President

AP Film Writer Richard Curtis is known for his contributions to romantic comedies with “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill” and “Love, Actually.” But writing and directing some of modern cinema’s most quotable scenes only occupy a portion of his professional life. Since a trip to Ethiopia in 1985 during the famine, Curtis has

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike killed at least 12 Lebanese rescue workers on Thursday inside a civil defense center in the eastern city of Baalbek, according to health and rescue officials, hours after state media in Syria said Israeli strikes in and around the capital killed at least 15 people. Lebanese emergency

Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO and the European Union are ramping up pressure on China. They want Beijing to persuade North Korea to stop sending troops to Russia in support of its war on Ukraine. Up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia’s Kursk border region to help beat back Ukrainian

Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Democrat looking to unseat an incumbent Republican in a close Iowa congressional race has asked for a recount. Democrat Christina Bohannan is requesting the recount in her bid against incumbent Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks to represent Iowa’s 1st District. The race is one of a handful yet

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Zookeepers have blamed fireworks on the annual Bonfire Night celebrations for the death of a baby red panda named Roxie. Edinburgh Zoo said the three-month old died after choking on vomit that was believed to be caused by stress from explosions that could be heard on Guy Fawkes Day. The

YEMASSEE, S.C. (AP) — Just eight monkeys remain free from the group who more than a week ago broke out of a South Carolina compound that breeds the primates for medical research, authorities said. Three more Rhesus macaques were recaptured Wednesday outside the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee, police said in a statement. Forty-three monkeys

AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The giant balloons may be flying at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but the stars will be on street. Organizers revealed Thursday that actor-singer Jennifer Hudson, dance music icon Kylie Minogue and Broadway and “Pose” star Billy Porter will all perform, an upping of the star wattage over

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Veteran NBC host and news anchor Craig Melvin has been tapped to replace Hoda Kotb as co-host of the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. hours of “Today.” Melvin is a familiar face to “Today” show viewers. He currently hosts the show’s third hour and is the news anchor during

Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — In a Cypriot National Guard camp, Ukrainians are being trained on how to identify, locate and dispose of landmines and other unexploded munitions that litter huge swaths of their country, killing and maiming hundreds of people, including children. Analysts say Ukraine is among the countries worst affected by landmines

Associated Press The satirical news publication The Onion was named the winning bidder for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction Thursday, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax. The purchase would turn over Jones’ company,

NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion company Tapestry says it’s terminating its proposed merger with Capri because the two luxury groups don’t expect to overcome an antitrust challenge within an acceptable time frame. The companies agreed in August 2023 to a $8.5 billion deal that would have united them. Capri makes Versace, Jimmy Choo and Michael

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian authorities say a former journalist with the Voice of America’s Farsi service jumped to his death from a building in Iran’s capital in protest of the country’s supreme leader and an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the Islamic Republic. An official in Iran’s presidency acknowledged the death Wednesday

AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — After ripping higher for much of this year, the price of gold has suddenly become not so golden since Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election. Gold fell more than 4% in the four days after Election Day, while the broad U.S. stock market climbed nearly 4%. That’s

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The refugee organization, the International Rescue Committee, is testing some artificial intelligence tools to try to increase the number of displaced people they can reach with critical information. The number of refugees has dramatically increased in the past decade, and at the same time, humanitarian organizations are facing enormous

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Suicides in the U.S. military increased in 2023, continuing a long-term trend that the Pentagon has struggled to abate, according to a Defense Department report released on Thursday. The increase is a bit of a setback after the deaths dipped slightly the previous year. The number of suicides and the

OSLO, Norway (AP) — A Norwegian government report says that men earn an average of 13% more than women in egalitarian Norway. The report stressed that the pay gap persists. The conclusion of the report commissioned by the Norwegian government was on par with the figures in the European Union of which Norway isn’t a