Month: December 2023

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is heading to Mexico this week to promote her agency’s new strike force to help combat illicit fentanyl trafficking as the U.S. and China step up efforts to stop the movement of the powerful opioid and drug-making materials into the United States. In

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s defense minister says a Madrid judge has opened an investigation into several agents of Spain’s National Intelligence Center for an alleged leak of secret information to the United States. Confirming a report in Spanish digital newspaper El Confidencial, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said the intelligence center itself had filed a

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The U.N. World Food Program says it will end in January its main assistance program across war-torn Syria, where over 12 million people lack regular access to sufficient food. WFP in recent years has scaled down its support in Syria and neighboring countries that host millions of

LIDECKO, Czech Republic (AP) — In an eastern corner of the Czech Republic, St. Nicholas leads a procession of followers dressed in grim reaper and devil costumes on a journey through the village of Lidecko. The old pre-Christmas tradition has survived for centuries in just a few villages in the region known as Wallachia. Several

PARIS (AP) — The French parliament is considering a ban on single-use, disposable electronic cigarettes that are popular with teenagers for their sweet flavors and are under scrutiny as a new source of trash. The legislation aims to protect the health of youths and mitigate the environmental impacts of the increasingly popular disposable products known

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “The Holdovers” marks the long-in-coming reunion of Paul Giamatti and director Alexander Payne, 20 years after “Sideways.” And just as in “Sideways,” their alchemy produces something wry and moving. This time, it may also lead to Giamatti’s first best actor Academy Award nomination. Giamatti has

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Jonathan Majors listened silently, head-cocked and eyes down, as a Manhattan prosecutor and his defense attorney offered competing accounts of a violent confrontation in the backseat of a car that led to assault charges against the film star and put his rapid Hollywood ascent on pause.

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Court officials in Rome have set a new trial date for four high-level Egyptian security officials in the 2016 abduction, torture and slaying of an Italian doctoral student in Cairo. Lawyers and the parents of Giulio Regeni said on Monday that the trial would begin at a

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A former career American diplomat was charged with serving as a secret agent for communist Cuba going back decades in what prosecutors portrayed as one of the most brazen and long-running betrayals in the history of the U.S. foreign service. Manuel Rocha wept as

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s former top utility regulator has surrendered in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme. Former Ohio public utilities chair Sam Randazzo was indicted in federal court in Cincinnati. The charges announced Monday include 11 counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions in

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The death toll from a mining tragedy last week in South Africa that involved an elevator at a mine has risen to 13 after a worker died at a hospital. The mine operator said Monday that the worker died Sunday from injuries sustained when the elevator plummeted on Nov. 27. It was

BERLIN (AP) — Police in Berlin have been alerted to an overnight fire at the office of an Iranian opposition group in the German capital, and are investigating the incident as a suspected arson attempt. Police say that members of the group noticed flames at a window of the building in Berlin’s Schmargendorf district at

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Police in Greece have arrested a rap artist accused of using explosives to rob cash machines and finance his music videos. Authorities say the 28-year-old Greek singer was arrested at the with two other suspects after police raided a property near Athens and searched several vehicles. The rap artist was not

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke of a “strengthened political mutual trust and international coordination” with Belarus after he met with the European country’s president in Beijing on Monday, according to official media. China has sought to make Belarus a core member of its “Belt and Road Initiative” to build infrastructure with nations

By CIARÁN GILES Associated Press MADRID (AP) — A Spanish association representing more than 80 newspapers has filed a lawsuit against Facebook parent Meta accusing it of unfair competition in online advertising by allegedly ignoring European Union rules on data protection.The Information Media Association says it is demanding 550 million euros ($600 million) from the

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency has raised the alarm for an estimated 400 Rohingya Muslims believed to be aboard two boats reported to be out of supplies and adrift in the Andaman Sea. The agency is worried that all those aboard could die without efforts to rescue them.