AP National News

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A CIA employee accused of leaking classified information assessing Israel’s earlier plans to attack Iran has been ordered by a federal judge to face felony charges in Virginia. The FBI arrested Asif William Rahman this week in Cambodia, and he made his first court appearance Thursday in Guam. A judge

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British actor Timothy West, who played the classic Shakespeare roles of King Lear and Macbeth and who in recent years along with his wife, Prunella Scales, enchanted millions of people with their boating exploits on Britain’s waterways, has died, He was 90. In a statement Wednesday, his children said that

Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Global sales of personal luxury goods are forecast to shrink next year for the first time since the Great Recession in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to a new study by the Bain consultancy. It forecasts a 2% slowdown next year due to global turmoil and steep price

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Hard-right Dutch political leader Geert Wilders has blamed “Moroccans” for attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam last week and recommended the deportation of people convicted of involvement if they have dual nationality. While lawmakers condemned antisemitism and agreed that perpetrators of the violence should be prosecuted and

Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that he will ask for a vote of confidence on Dec. 16, paving the way for early parliamentary elections in February. He declared his plans during a speech in parliament, a week after his three-party coalition government collapsed. Germany has been governed since 2021

Edmunds The end of the year is often the best time to buy a car.  To help get the best deal, Edmunds editors analyzed thousands of new-car transactions to find five of the vehicles most likely to produce great deals at the end of 2024. They include the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ford Edge, GMC Terrain,

Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italy’s president has sharply rebuked Elon Musk. President Sergio Mattarella issued an unusually piqued statement on Wednesday following Musk’s weighing in on Italian court rulings that have stymied the government’s plans to process some asylum-seekers in Albania. Musk wrote earlier that the court rulings were unacceptable and that “these judges

BONNYRIGG, Scotland (AP) — A lowly Scottish soccer club which once had “James Bond” actor Sean Connery on its books has been given a six-point deduction for having a sloping field. Now Bonnyrigg Rose is calling on its fans to help raise more than $127,000 to level out the playing surface and ensure the team

Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan, who helped bring the first-ever FIFA World Cup tournament to Africa in 2010, has been arrested on fraud and theft charges. Jordaan is accused of using about R1.3 million ($72,372) of SAFA funds to hire a PR firm and a private security company

Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Neighbors of a factory in Louisville, Kentucky, where two workers were killed in an explosion say they complained for years about odors coming from the plant. The explosion happened Tuesday at Givaudan Sense Colour. The factory produces colorings for food and drinks. The blast caused a partial collapse of

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Song Jae-lim, a South Korean actor known for his roles in K-dramas “Moon Embracing the Sun” and “Queen Woo,” was found dead at his home in capital Seoul. He was 39. Officials at Seoul’s Seongdong district police station didn’t immediately comment Wednesday on the cause of death. South Korea’s Yonhap

Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Artifacts and human remains taken by a Norwegian explorer and anthropologist in the late 1940s are being returned by a museum in Oslo to Chile’s remote territory of Easter Island in the mid-Pacific, the Kon-Tiki Museum said Wednesday. In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log raft named

Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s nuclear watchdog has formally disqualified a reactor in the country’s north-central region from starting. It’s the first rejection under safety standards that were reinforced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and a setback as Japan seeks to accelerate reactor restarts to maximize nuclear power. The Nuclear Regulation Authority said Wednesday

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration intends to bolster its military support to Ukraine. Blinken was at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday for planned meetings with allied envoys and Ukrainian officials. He said that the U.S. will “continue to shore up everything we’re doing for Ukraine to

Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration is determined in its final months to help Ukraine keep fighting its war with Russia next year. Blinken said Wednesday in Brussels that the U.S. is sending Ukraine as much aid as possible so that it might hold Russian

AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Donald Trump’s election win is clouding the outlook for mortgage rates even before he gets back to the White House. The president-elect campaigned on a promise to make homeownership more affordable by lowering mortgage rates through policies aimed at knocking out inflation. But his proposed economic agenda could

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A prosecutor says a Minnesota man has been released from prison after serving 16 years for a murder he did not commit. Jurors in 2009 found Edgar Barrientos-Quintana guilty of killing 18-year-old Jesse Mickelson in a drive-by shooting. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. But Minnesota Attorney General Keith

BEIJING (AP) — China has held sea and air combat drills at disputed Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited area of reefs and rocks it had seized from the Philippines in the South China Sea. China on Sunday published new baselines for the shoal including geographic coordinates. A nation’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are typically

Associated Press DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Several international airlines have canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali because of an ongoing volcanic eruption. Travelers were left stranded at airports on Wednesday. Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province has spewed hot ash high into

SOUTHPORT, Conn. (AP) — The nation’s largest owner of regional sports networks will offer single-game pricing for NBA and NHL games beginning next month. Diamond Sports Group, which owns 16 RSNs, announced Tuesday that the option will be available on its direct-to-consumer streaming package starting Dec. 5. Viewers will have the option for single games

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s state media say authorities have executed in public a man convicted of raping dozens of women over two decades. Wednesday’s report by the state-owned IRAN newspaper said Mohammad Ali Salamat was hanged after the country’s Supreme Court confirmed his death sentence. The execution took place on Tuesday at dawn at

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen has thrown in recent weeks all her energy at a Paris trial into fighting what she calls unfair accusations that her party embezzled European Parliament funds. She is now facing a crucial moment where her eligibility to run for president in 2027 is at

Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Voting is underway in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland in a key presidential election that was delayed for two years. Local media on Wednesday showed voters waiting in line to cast their ballots, with many saying they want a stronger economy and more jobs, among other local priorities. More