AP National News

Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has expressed “deep concern” at the recent decision by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to ban women from medical education. That could leave millions of women and girls without health care in the future. The council on Friday criticized “the increasing erosion” of human rights under the Taliban,

Associated Press TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Phil Murphy has asked the Biden administration to put more resources into an investigation of mysterious drone sightings that have been reported in New Jersey and nearby states. Murphy, a Democrat, made the request in a letter Thursday, noting that state and local law enforcement remain “hamstrung”

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — The largest seafood distributor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and two of its managers have been sentenced on federal charges of mislabeling inexpensive imported seafood as local premium fish. This comes weeks after Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant and its co-owner were sentenced in the same scheme. On Wednesday, Quality

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities say they have arrested a suspected British drug trafficker they characterized as “invisible” due to the low-key lifestyle that they said allowed him to remain anonymous while working for a cartel. Authorities on Friday announced the arrest a day earlier of Christopher Neil, whom they accused of working for

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a new religious rights case over whether a Catholic charitable organization must pay Wisconsin’s employment tax. The justices on Friday said they will review a divided state Supreme Court ruling that refused to grant an exemption to the Catholic Charities Bureau, based

Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump has rejected an attempt by former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to invalidate his guilty plea. Chesebro reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count a few months after he, Trump and 17 others

Associated Press Texas has sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas, launching one of the first challenges in the U.S. to shield laws that Democrat-controlled states passed to protect physicians after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Collin

AP Entertainment Writer Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek are reuniting for a new four-episode run of “Malcolm in the Middle” for Disney+ — 25 years after the beloved sitcom first launched. The show ran for seven seasons starting in 2000 and was hailed for looking at ordinary life through the eyes of an

AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — How many roads must a man walk down to play Bob Dylan? Quite a few, at least, if you’re Timothée Chalamet. Off and on for some six years, Chalamet has been obsessively working toward his performance in “A Complete Unknown.” He has visited Dylan’s childhood home, learned how

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — An Atlanta man has been arrested and charged with fraud after George Mason University’s men’s basketball team was forced to cancel a trip to the Bahamas earlier this year after it paid for travel that was never actually booked. Charges against 44-year-old Maurice Smith, CEO of the Eugene Toriko travel agency,

Associated Press CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — When the elected prosecutor in Missouri’s largest county leaves his job for a seat in Congress next month, an appointed replacement will take his spot. The question is: Which one? Democratic St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and Republican Gov. Mike Parson have each named an appointee for the

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Two weeks of historic and closely-watched hearings on the threat of climate change have wrapped up at the UN’s top court. Now the wait begins for the verdict that can take up to a year. The International Court of Justice has taken up the largest case in its

Associated Press Writing a Christmas made-for-TV movie may seem formulaic, but there’s no real checklist to follow. Successful writers in the genre say there are some standard practices to keep in mind. Be prepared to devote time beyond the actual holiday season to brainstorming, pitching and writing. These movies never have a true villain and

AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Home shoppers hoping for more attractive mortgage rates next year may be disappointed. That’s the takeaway from several economists’ 2025 housing forecasts. The majority of the eight forecasts call for the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain above 6% next year, with some including an upper

AP Technology Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning to make a $1 million personal donation to President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships the incoming administration. A spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed the move on Friday. The announcement

Associated Press Have you ever watched a holiday rom-com on Hallmark Channel or Lifetime — or any of the other many networks and streaming services that now air them — and thought, “I could write that”? It’s harder than you may think — but just as fun. Regular writers in the genre say there’s not

Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge has ordered that a prominent real estate broker be held without bond on sexual assault and trafficking charges. The judge says Tal Alexander is a flight risk as she rejected his family’s pledge of $115 million in real estate holdings to secure his release. Magistrate Judge Lisette

The griping Vatican-based movie thriller “Conclave” about picking a new pope and Stephanie Hsu starring in the dark comedy series “Laid” as a woman whose former lovers keep unexpectedly dying are some of this week’s new streaming entertainment releases. There’s a Little Big Town Christmas special on NBC, the video game Squid Game: Unleashed offers

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — After insurgents toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad this month, many senior officials and members of his dreaded intelligence and security services appear to have melted away. Activists say some of them have managed to flee the country while others went to hide in their hometowns. For more than five decades,

AP Business Writer DETROIT (AP) — Elon Musk says the Securities and Exchange Commission wants him to pay a penalty or face charges involving what he disclosed — or failed to disclose — about his purchases of Twitter stock before he bought the social media platform in 2022. In a letter, Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro