Month: December 2023

Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s minimum-wage workers had more than just the new year to celebrate Monday, with a pay bump kicking in as the clock ticked over to 2024. In the first of a series of annual increases slated for the Empire State, the minimum wage increased to $16 in New

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — A survey of factory managers in China shows manufacturing contracted in December in the latest sign the world’s second-largest economy remains sluggish. The official purchasing managers index, or PMI, fell to 49 last month in what officials said was evidence of weak demand. It was the

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ron DeSantis is underscoring how much Iowa means to him, campaigning there into the waning hours of 2023. The Florida governor held a New Year’s Eve event in a Sheraton Hotel ballroom in West Des Moines, where jeans and cowboy boots outnumbered tuxedos and

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge will allow Mississippi officials to move forward with creating a state-run court in part of the majority-Black capital city of Jackson. Attorneys for NAACP say the new court undermines democracy because local voters or local elected officials won’t choose its judge or

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his military should “thoroughly annihilate” the United States and South Korea if provoked, state media reported Monday, after he vowed to boost national defense to cope with what he called an unprecedented U.S.-led confrontation. North Korea has increased

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America A Colorado mother suspected of killing two of her young children and injuring a third was arrested Saturday in the United Kingdom, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department. Kimberlee Singler’s 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were found dead on Dec. 19 when police responded to a report

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts on Sunday turned his focus to the promise, and shortcomings, of artificial intelligence in the federal courts, in an annual report that made no mention of Supreme Court ethics or legal controversies involving Donald Trump. Describing artificial intelligence as the “latest technological frontier,”

DALLAS, Texas (AP) — Trailblazing longtime U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a nurse from Texas who helped bring hundreds of millions of federal dollars to the Dallas area as the region’s most powerful Democrat, died Sunday. She was 89. President Joe Biden, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and many other leaders issued statements about her death

ELDORET, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya say they are investigating the slaying of three-time Ugandan Olympian Benjamin Kiplagat. A local police official says Kiplagat’s body was found with stab wounds inside his brother’s car on Sunday morning. He says the athlete had been driving the car before his body was discovered in the vehicle

Associated Press PAIA, Hawaii (AP) — A surfer in Hawaii has died after being injured in a shark encounter off Maui’s northern shore, according to the Maui Police Department. Authorities stopped short of calling the event an attack and didn’t describe the man’s injuries. Ocean Safety Officers grabbed and transported the man by jet ski

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Hollywood closed out an up and down 2023 with “Wonka” regaining No. 1 at the box office, strong sales for “The Color Purple” and an overall $9 billion in ticket sales that improved on 2022’s grosses but fell about $2 billion shy of pre-pandemic norms.

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Former world champion cyclist Rohan Dennis is reported to have been charged in connection with the death of his wife, Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins, who died after being struck by a vehicle while riding in Adelaide. Australian media reports said Dennis has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, endangering

JERUSALEM (AP) — A member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political party has offered one of the party’s first public apologies for the internal strife that preceded Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Knesset member Galit Distel Atbaryan gave a searingly personal mea culpa in an interview with Israel’s Channel 13 on Sunday. She said: “I’m here

BEIRUT (AP) — A U.N. spokesperson says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has closed an international tribunal that was created to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Over the years, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon held in absentia proceedings and found three members of the militant Hezbollah group guilty in connection with

Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a lithium-ion battery fire on a cargo ship is out after days of burning off the coast of Alaska. That is according to a statement late Saturday. The 19 crew members of the ship, Genius Star XI, were uninjured and technicians from the Salvage

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shecky Greene, the gifted comic and master improviser who became the consummate Las Vegas lounge headliner and was revered by his peers and live audiences as one of the greatest standup acts of his generation, has died. He was 97. His widow, Marie Musso Green,

By DAVID KEYTON Associated Press STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II announced Sunday that she plans to abdicate after 52 years and hand over the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik. The queen, who is Europe’s longest-reigning living monarch, announced during her New Year’s speech that she would step down on Jan.

By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sportsbook director Jay Kornegay is anticipating massive crowds at Westgate’s Las Vegas location this weekend and Monday to bet on the two College Football Playoff semifinal games. Part of it is timing. Last season’s games were on New Year’s Eve; this season’s are on New

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have detained three more people in connection with a reported threat of an attack on the Cologne Cathedral over the holiday period. The detentions Sunday morning come only days after a 30-year-old Tajik man was taken into custody in relation to an alleged

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California law that bans people from carrying firearms in most public places will take effect on New Year’s Day, even as a court case continues to challenge the law. A U.S. district judge issued a ruling Dec. 20 to block the law from taking effect, saying it violates the Second

LONDON (AP) — John Pilger, an Australia-born journalist and documentary filmmaker known for his coverage of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, has died, his family said Sunday. He was 84. A statement from his family, posted on X, formerly Twitter, said Pilger died on Saturday in London. “His journalism and documentaries were celebrated around the

By SAM MEDNICK and JEAN-YVES KAMALE Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has won reelection with more than 70% of the vote, the country’s election commission said Sunday as opposition candidates and their supporters questioned the validity of the results. The preliminary results of the Dec. 20 election were announced in

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Police in Greensboro, North Carolina, say an off-duty police officer was shot and killed over the weekend after he witnessed a crime at a gas station and approached the suspects. Sgt. Philip Dale Nix was a 23-year veteran of the Greensboro Police Department. Three men are under arrest in the case.

By The Associated Press Two of college football’s most storied programs will meet on New Year’s Day in a playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl. No. 1 seed Michigan and fourth-seeded Alabama face off at 5 p.m. Eastern in Pasadena, California. The game will be carried on ESPN’s television, streaming and digital platforms. Nick Saban