AP National News

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s nearly 14-year-old civil war fragmented the country, crumbled the economy and created fertile ground for the production of the highly addictive drug Captagon. Militias, warlords and the government of Bashar Assad transformed the production of Captagon from a small-scale operation run by criminal groups into a billion-dollar industrial revenue

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a defense bill that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion. It also strips coverage of transgender medical treatments for children of military members. The annual defense authorization bill usually gains strong bipartisan support and hasn’t

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has granted two requests from California to enforce strict standards for vehicle emissions, including a rule aimed at banning sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035. The incoming Trump administration is likely to try to reverse the approval. The California rule is stricter

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon report says China is expanding its nuclear force, has increased military pressure against Taiwan and has strengthened its ties with Russia over the past year. Those actions are accelerating key areas of conflict with the United States. The report also notes that the recent rash of corruption allegations

Associated Press WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden is remembering his first wife and baby daughter 52 years after they were killed in a car crash in Delaware. Biden, his current wife, Jill, son Hunter and other family members attended a private memorial Mass at a Delaware church on Wednesdays. Biden was in Washington

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A teen charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England this summer has had not guilty pleas entered for him in court. Axel Rudakubana, 18, who has refused to speak in court was read the charges Wednesday

AP Science Writer The last meteor shower of the year — the Ursids — peaks Sunday, a few days before Christmas. While usually not as bright as the Geminids, the Ursid meteor shower can yield surprises. “The Ursids are generally a sparse meteor shower,” producing about 5 to 10 visible meteors per hour under ideal

The killing of a senior Russian general in a bombing outside his apartment building in Moscow was the boldest assassination yet of a top military officer and it again brought the war in Ukraine to the streets of the capital. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter

Associated Press KIRYAT GAT, Israel (AP) — Ilana Gritzewsky is fighting a battle against time to save her boyfriend from Hamas captivity. While there appears to be progress toward a deal to free the remaining captives in phases, Matan Zangauker would likely not be released in the first stage since he is a young man.

NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian navy speedboat has crashed into a ferry carrying over 100 people to a popular tourist destination off Mumbai, killing at least 13 people. A navy statement says 99 ferry passengers were rescued. They were on their way to Elephanta Island when the speedboat circled and collided with the ferry

Associated Press MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — They clustered around water taps, rare sources of electricity and each other. Four days after the strongest cyclone in nearly a century ripped through the French island territory of Mayotte off the coast of Africa, survivors recalled the horror of the storm that caught many by surprise. Associated Press

Associated Press Writers ST. LOUIS (AP) — Capybaras are having a big moment. The world’s largest rodent is the latest in a long line of “it” animals to get star treatment during the holiday season. Shoppers can find plush capybaras, capybara slippers, capybara bath bombs and capybara phone cases. Tiny versions of the semi-aquatic South

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — France’s highest court has upheld an appeal court decision which had found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country’s head of state. Sarkozy, 69, faces a year in prison, but is expected to ask to be detained at home with an electronic

Associated Press The past year has been both a glass half empty and half full for the world’s democracies. From Asia to Africa to the Americas, it produced examples of democracy working and citizens standing up against attempted coups or authoritarians. At the same time, some of the new regimes ushered in by all those

AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A new novel from Kiran Desai, her first fiction since the Booker Prize-winning “The Inheritance of Loss” came out nearly 20 years ago, will be published next fall. Desai’s “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” is scheduled for release in September by Hogarth, an imprint of the Random

Associated Press MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The parliament building in Liberia caught fire Wednesday and the country’s president condemned the “wanton destruction,” even as no link was immediately confirmed to anti-government protests in the capital. The protests in the West African nation began with anger Tuesday over the decision to remove the parliament speaker, an

Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is defending her friendship with U.S. tech billionaire and Trump advisor Elon Musk. She told Italian lawmakers Wednesday that she would not be influenced in areas where he has economic interests. Meloni added that she has good relationships “with many people” but doesn’t “take orders from

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The kids seen by Dolores Mejia around suburban Phoenix have been growing heavier in recent years. Their parents, too, she says. Mejia, a 75-year-old retiree, says she’s also had her own weight struggles on the scale. That’s why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” as he

Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona’s subway system is using regenerative braking to help power both its convoys but also recharge electric cars at street level. Sixteen subway stations in the Spanish city are equipped so that the energy from the regenerative braking system on the train can also help power chargers for electric

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The owner of Britain’s Guardian newspaper has confirmed that it has sold the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper to Tortoise Media for an undisclosed fee. In a statement Wednesday, the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian Media Group, said Tortoise Media is purchasing the Observer through a combination of

Edmunds Full-size trucks are hugely popular thanks to their versatility and ability to get tough jobs done. This characteristic applies equally to when paved roads end and off-road hardware becomes essential. The automotive experts at Edmunds have brought together four full-size pickups that won’t wilt over rugged terrain. They’ve also kept in mind that all-terrain

Associated Press Sitting alone in her car, Jen Dold was crying too hard to drive. She had just received a manila envelope with her brother’s autopsy report. There it was, one devastating word: “accident.” The papers trembled in her hands. Their mother had called 911 for help getting Dold’s 29-year-old brother, Alex, to the hospital

Associated Press XIAMEN, China (AP) — The world’s largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles said Wednesday it will get into battery swapping in China in a big way starting next year. The idea behind battery swapping is to refuel quickly, similar to filling a conventional car with gas. Instead of waiting for the batteries

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — As women’s sports set new records for attendance and viewership this year, longtime fans have watched with both optimism and unease. The meteoric rise in popularity propelled by stars like the WNBA’s Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has also revealed strong backlash to this success. It’s a cycle female

Associated Press MACAO (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has begun a three-day visit to Macao to mark the 25th anniversary of the casino city’s return to Chinese rule. Xi and his wife were welcomed at the airport Wednesday by a lavish ceremony. Xi told reporters that Macao, a former Portuguese colony of 687,000 people,