US/World

By Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An American schoolteacher arrested in Russia on drug charges more than three years ago has been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained, the State Department said Friday. Marc Fogel, a history teacher from Pennsylvania, is serving a 14-year prison sentence after being arrested in August 2021 at

By EDITH M. LEDERER – Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s main airport as a civilian Airbus 320 with hundreds of passengers on board was landing and a U.N. delegation was waiting to leave, the U.N.’s top humanitarian official in Yemen said Friday. Julien Harneis told U.N. reporters that the most

By HALELUYA HADERO and MICHELLE L. PRICE – Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court,

By LARRY NEUMEISTER – Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge is signaling that Rudy Giuliani’s contempt hearing next Friday might not end so well for the former New York City mayor and onetime personal lawyer for President-elect Donald Trump as two Georgia election poll workers try to collect a $148 million defamation

By The Associated Press Russian air defense systems may have brought down an Azerbaijani airliner this week, a U.S. official said Friday after an Azerbaijani minister also suggested the plane was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor accounts. Friday’s assessments by Rashan Nabiyev and White House national security spokesman John Kirby echoed

By DAMIAN J. TROISE – AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell broadly on Friday as Wall Street closed out a holiday-shortened week on a down note. The losses were made worse by sharp declines for the Big Tech stocks known as the “Magnificent 7”, which can heavily influence the direction of the

By WAFAA SHURAFA, FATMA KHALED and LEE KEATH – Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops stormed one of the last hospitals operating in northern Gaza on Friday, forcing many staff and patients outside to strip in winter weather, the territory’s health ministry said. The army denied claims it had entered or

By FATIMA HUSSEIN – Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her agency will need to start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling, as early as January 14, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon. “Treasury expects to hit

By MICHELLE L. PRICE – Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift

By The Associated Press Dec. 20 – 26, 2024 This photo gallery, curated by photo editor Anita Baca, highlights some of the most compelling images worldwide made or published by The Associated Press in the past week.

By LORNE COOK – Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Friday that the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea region as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week. Finnish authorities seized control of the ship, the Eagle

By MICHAEL R. SISAK – Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Years before Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Malcolm Koonce was born, his father spent time in prison for an armed robbery conviction that prosecutors now say was tainted by questionable police tactics and a witness identification that was later recanted. On Friday, a suburban

By The Associated Press Former Syrian rebels who now serve as part of the new Syrian government’s armed forces posed for photo portraits with their weapons Friday. The soldiers, who took part in the overthrow of former president Bashar Assad’s government, were gathered together to wait for a military parade to begin in the central

By HYUNG-JIN KIM – Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly voted Friday to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo despite vehement protests by governing party lawmakers, further deepening the country’s political crisis set off by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment. Han’s impeachment means

By Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on the founder of Georgia’s ruling political party, which has steered the country away from a pro-Western stance and towards Russia, U.S. officials said Friday. The State and Treasury departments said they hit Georgian Dream party founder and honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili with

By Margaret Giles of Morningstar 529 college savings plans  are powerful tools to help pay for the mounting costs of an education. Why are some people hesitant to use them? One common concern is oversaving. You can use 529 funds to cover only  qualified education expenses  without incurring a tax penalty, but it can be

By CORA LEWIS and ADRIANA MORGA – Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — With the end of 2024 around the corner, you might be reflecting on financial goals for 2025. Whether you’re saving to move out of your parents’ house or pay off student loan debt, financial resolutions can help you stay motivated, said Courtney

By AP This is a collection of photos chosen by AP photo editors.

By MIKE SCHNEIDER – Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A theme park resort and a huge hotel in central Florida either have stopped using drones or canceled their drone-based shows after several drones collided and fell from the sky during a separate holiday celebration in downtown Orlando. The accident injured a boy who required

By LAURA UNGAR and KIMBERLEE KRUESI – Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Taylor Cagnacci moved from California to Tennessee with hopes of starting a new chapter in a state that touts a low cost of living and natural beauty. But she’s infuriated by Tennessee’s meager social services, which leave her and many other moms

By AP MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is developing a cellphone app that will allow migrants to warn relatives and local consulates if they think they are about to be detained by the U.S. immigration department, a senior official said Friday. The move is in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to carry out mass

By AP This is a collection of photos chosen by AP photo editors.

By KEN MORITSUGU – Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — A court in China has sentenced a man to death for killing 35 people last month by driving into a crowd, in an attack that raised national concern about mass killings. Fan Weiqiu was venting his anger because he was unhappy with his divorce settlement, the

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN – AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) — NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has successfully made the closest approach to the sun, the space agency confirmed Friday. Earlier this week, the spacecraft passed within a record-breaking 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers) of the scorching star. NASA received an all-clear message from Parker

By ALEXA ST. JOHN and MARY KATHERINE WILDEMAN – Associated Press 2024 was another banner year for a source of electricity that is better for people’s lungs, better for climate change and may be reaching your home when you turn on the lights or turn up the thermostat — large banks of batteries. This ability

By HYUNG-JIN KIM – Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The impeachment of South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo Friday has plunged the country into further political turmoil, coming less than two weeks after lawmakers impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. The successive impeachments that suspended the country’s top two officials are unprecedented, and the

By The Associated Press The news can be tough in a world often marked by suffering, disaster and war. Sometimes you need to stop and remember that good things happen all the time, all across the world, and 2024 was no different. Take a look at some of the stories that made us smile. Moo