Associated Press

Associated Press

Developing nations push for climate action and debt relief at G20 summit in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Poorer nations attending the Group of 20 summit in South Africa have used the meeting to push leaders on climate action and high levels of debt, issues directly affecting the developing world. They have also sought to position themselves as economic partners with much to offer in sectors including mining, technology and […]
10 months ago

Christmas tree retailers find lots to like at a Pennsylvania wholesale auction

MIFFLINBURG, Pa. (AP) — Christmas went on the auction block this week in Pennsylvania farm country, and there was no shortage of bidders. About 50,000 Christmas trees and enough wreaths, crafts and other seasonal items to fill an airplane hangar were bought and sold by lots and on consignment at the annual two-day event put […]
10 months ago

Big changes to the agency charged with securing elections lead to midterm worries

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Since it was created in 2018, the federal government’s cybersecurity agency has helped warn state and local election officials about potential threats from foreign governments, showed officials how to protect polling places from attacks and gamed out how to respond to the unexpected, such as an Election Day bomb threat or sudden […]
10 months ago

An ancient Maya myth finds new life in a Mexican circus company’s performance

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican artistic director Jorge Díaz used to have a unique selection of bedtime stories for his son. Setting aside well-known books like “Pinocchio,” they read tales closer to home. Among their favorites was the Popol Vuh, a compendium of sacred Maya myths. “Recalling those stories is important,” said Díaz, whose grandmother […]
10 months ago

US signals broader efforts to protect Nigeria’s Christians following Trump’s military threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is promoting efforts to work with Nigeria’s government to counter violence against Christians, signaling a broader strategy since he ordered preparations for possible military action and warned that the United States could go in “guns-a-blazing” to wipe out Islamic militants. A State Department official said this past week […]
10 months ago

Plan for $20 million firefighter training center near the site of Ohio derailment revived

Norfolk Southern railroad worked with the state of Ohio and Youngstown State University to revive plans for a $20 million first responder training center near the site of the worst derailment in a decade in East Palestine, Ohio. Building a training center to help prepare firefighters to deal with a railroad disaster was quickly part […]
10 months ago

JFK’s granddaughter reveals terminal cancer diagnosis, criticizes cousin RFK, Jr.

John F. Kennedy’s granddaughter disclosed Saturday that she has terminal cancer, writing in an essay in “The New Yorker” that one of her doctors said she might live for about another year. Tatiana Schlossberg, the daughter of Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and Edwin Schlossberg, wrote that she was diagnosed in May 2024 at 34 when, […]
10 months ago

Trump teaming up with Jack Nicklaus to revamp ‘president’s golf course’ at Joint Base Andrews

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’s enlisting the help of legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus to spruce up the courses at Joint Base Andrews — adding a site long known as the “president’s golf course” to his long and still- growing list of construction projects. The president took an aerial tour of the Courses […]
10 months ago

US senators say they spoke with Rubio about Trump’s Ukraine peace plan who denied it is a US plan

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — U.S. senators critical of President Donald Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said Saturday they spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told them that the peace plan Trump is pushing Kyiv to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual U.S. plan. […]
10 months ago

Trump pledge to ‘immediately’ end protections for Minnesota Somalis sparks fear and legal questions

President Donald Trump’s pledge to terminate temporary legal protections for Somalis living in Minnesota is triggering fear in the state’s deeply-rooted immigrant community, along with doubts about whether the White House has the legal authority to enact the directive as described. In a Truth Social post late Friday, Trump said he would “immediately” strip Somali […]
10 months ago

Texas A&M committee rules professor’s firing over gender identity lesson was unjustified

A Texas A&M committee agreed that the university was wrong to fire a professor earlier this year after a controversy over a classroom video that showed a student objecting to a children’s literature lesson about gender identity. The internal committee ruled that the university didn’t follow proper procedures and didn’t prove there was good cause […]
10 months ago

Potential presidential candidates are less coy about 2028 plans: ‘Of course I’m thinking about it’

NEW YORK (AP) — There was a time when presidential hopefuls played coy about their ambitions, crisscrossing the country under the guise of helping other candidates and deflecting when pushed on their obvious plans. Not so for some Democrats considering running in 2028. With no clear party leader and Democratic voters raring for a fight, […]
10 months ago

Comic books once stoked fears of crime, but a California city wants to confront that history

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — On a recent day at Sacramento native Lecho Lopez’s comic shop in the city, his 5-year-old nephew read his first word aloud: “bad.” It was from a graphic novel. There was irony in that being his first word, because Lopez credits comic books with many positive things in his life. That’s […]
10 months ago

Alaska Native villages have few options and little US help as climate change devours their land

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Storms that battered Alaska’s western coast this fall have brought renewed attention to low-lying Indigenous villages left increasingly vulnerable by climate change — and revived questions about their sustainability in a region being reshaped by frequent flooding, thawing permafrost and landscape-devouring erosion. The onset of winter has slowed emergency repair and […]
10 months ago

Brazil’s former President Bolsonaro arrested days before starting his 27-year prison sentence

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s federal police arrested former President Jair Bolsonaro preemptively on Saturday, days before he was set to begin his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, officials said. A close aide said the embattled former leader was taken to the police force headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, from his house […]
10 months ago

Dozens of firefighters battle blaze on container ship docked at LA port

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of firefighters were battling a blaze on a container ship docked at a Los Angeles port on Friday night, according to officials. All of the 23 crew members were accounted for and there were no injuries from the electrical fire, which appears to have started below deck, according to the […]
10 months ago

Trump paints Zelenskyy into a corner with his new plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — With his new 28-point plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump is resurfacing his argument that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn’t “have the cards” to continue on the battlefield and must come to a settlement that heavily tilts in Moscow’s favor. Trump, who has demonstrated low regard for Zelenskyy […]
10 months ago

Republicans hyped the Epstein files for years. Now Trump is under pressure to deliver

WASHINGTON (AP) — What began as a campaign-trail promise to release the Jeffrey Epstein files has become one of the most fraught tests of President Donald Trump’s second term — opening a rift in his political coalition and raising the stakes for an administration now under intense pressure to produce documents that may fall far […]
10 months ago

Epstein’s accusers grapple with complex emotions about promised release of Justice Department files

For Marina Lacerda, the upcoming publication of U.S. government files on Jeffrey Epstein represent more than an opportunity for justice: Lacerda says she was just 14 when Epstein started sexually abusing her at his New York mansion, but she struggles to recall much of what happened because it is such a dark period in her […]
10 months ago

Marjorie Taylor Greene is resigning. Here’s what to know about her five years in Congress

ATLANTA (AP) — It all happened so fast. Less than a week after President Donald Trump denounced Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican announced that she would resign from Congress on Jan. 5. Greene’s departure will cap five tumultuous years in Congress. She was first an outsider, then briefly at the center of power […]
10 months ago

Federal prosecutors say Bondi’s comments shouldn’t affect Luigi Mangione’s death penalty case

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors said Friday that Luigi Mangione’s death penalty case in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson should carry on unimpeded, urging a judge to reject a defense push to dismiss charges and rule out capital punishment over Attorney General Pam Bondi’s public statements suggesting Mangione deserves execution. The U.S. attorney’s […]
10 months ago

4 shot during North Carolina city’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Four people were shot Friday evening at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in North Carolina, according to officials. Three people were in critical condition and one in stable condition following the shooting in Concord, which is about 19 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of Charlotte, according to a statement from the city. […]
10 months ago

Washington state man believed to be the first to die from a rare strain of bird flu

GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state man is believed to be the first person to die from a rare strain of bird flu, but state health officials said Friday the risk to the public is low. The man, an older adult with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu […]
10 months ago

Trump says he’s terminating legal protections for Somali migrants in Minnesota

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday night that he’s “immediately” terminating temporary legal protections for Somali migrants living in Minnesota, further targeting a program seeking to limit deportations that his administration has already repeatedly sought to weaken. Minnesota has the nation’s largest Somali community. Many fled the long civil war in their east […]
10 months ago