Year: 2024

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two consultants hired to analyze new state legislative boundary lines in Wisconsin after the state’s high court tossed the current Republican-drawn maps will be paid up to $100,000 each. Under the terms of the contracts made public Thursday, each consultant will be paid an hourly rate

By FADI TAWIL and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Beirut for the funeral of Saleh Arouri, top commander of militant Palestinian group Hamas, who was killed earlier this week in an apparent Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital. Draped in Palestinian and Hamas flags,

By TERRY TANG Associated Press Sam Song Li only got his SAG-AFTRA card two years ago. Now, he is acting opposite Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh in an all-Asian cast in the new Netflix series, “The Brothers Sun.” Dropping Thursday, the crime drama and comedy hybrid follows the scions of a Taiwanese triad leader. The show

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press PERRY, Iowa (AP) — A 17-year-old opened fire at a small-town Iowa high school before classes resumed on the first day after the winter break, killing a sixth-grader and wounding five others Thursday as students barricaded in offices, ducked into classrooms and fled in panic. The suspect,

By JON GAMBRELL and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Thursday for two suicide bombings targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 U.S. drone strike, the worst militant attack to strike Iran in decades as the wider Middle East remains on

PRAGUE (AP) — Hundreds of students and others have marched in silence in the Czech capital to honor the victims of the country’s worst mass killing two weeks ago that left 14 dead. They gathered at an impromptu memorial in front of Prague’s Charles University headquarters where thousands came to light candles after the Dec 21 shooting.

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The politician favored to become Britain’s next prime minister has kicked off an election year by accusing the governing Conservatives of leading the country into decline and despair. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said Thursday that a Labour government would deliver “Project Hope” after 14 years of

By GIADA ZAMPANO and PAOLO SANTALUCIA Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has told her European Union partners that curbing migration flows from African countries has less to do with offers of charity than strong partnerships coupled with strategic investments in those nations. Meloni told reporters at a year-end news conference that

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — The new year on the PGA Tour feels a lot like the old one. There are questions about a fractured landscape and more money than ever. LIV Golf is gearing up for another season while fans wonder who will be the next player to get

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — After pushback by some bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere, the Vatican on Thursday defended the recent move by Pope Francis to allow blessings for same-sex couples, insisting there is nothing “heretical” involved. In a five-page statement, the Holy See’s office to safeguard doctrinal orthodoxy expressed understanding

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week as the labor market continues to show resilience despite elevated interest rates. Jobless claims fell to 202,000 for the week ending Dec. 30, down by 18,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average

By KRYSTA FAURIA Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Jessica Chastain first read the script for “Memory,” she was struck by the unanswered questions left swirling around her head about issues pertaining to love, sex and consent. That might be antithetical to what some audiences expect from a movie. But it was writer and

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A hotel owner and 10 other people are standing trial accused of negligence over the deaths of 72 people, including players from a school volleyball team in breakaway northern Cyprus, who perished when their hotel crumbled during a powerful earthquake that struck Turkey last year. The trial is the first relating

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — With the cooperation of the Anne Frank House, a novel based on Frank’s life immediately before she began keeping a diary will be released in September by the children’s publisher Scholastic. “When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary” is written

BERLIN (AP) — A German man who served prison time for a high-profile 1996 kidnapping has been convicted of robbery and attempted murder on Thursday for his alleged role in a string of armed robberies in Germany in 2018 and 2019. The Cologne state court on Thursday sentenced Thomas Drach to 15 years in prison.

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The longest planned strike in the history of Britain’s state-funded National Health Service has entered its second day of six with doctors in England at loggerheads with hospitals over requests for some to return to work to cover urgent needs. The British Medical Association said Thursday that

BERLIN (AP) — There’s a bit of post-Christmas cheer on the menu for elephants and other tenants at the Berlin Zoo: they can chomp on Christmas trees that didn’t find a home. The tree treats were unwrapped Thursday in what has become an annual event. Elephants tore off branches with their trunks and either gobbled

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s military wants to reintroduce obligatory military service as tensions continue to rise in the Balkans. The army command said in a statement Thursday that the proposal for compulsory service of up to four months is made “to increase the defense capabilities of the Serbian Armed

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press HSINCHU, Taiwan (AP) — With Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections less than two weeks away, the island’s alternative party candidate and chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party, Ko Wen-je, is promoting a policy of patience toward China, which has been upping its threat to annex the island by force. Ko,