AP National News

PARIS (AP) — Notre Dame is reopening its doors for the first time since a fire five years ago nearly destroyed the beloved 12th-century cathedral. World leaders, dignitaries, and worshippers are gathering Saturday in Paris to celebrate the restoration of the landmark widely considered a pinnacle of French architectural heritage. Saturday’s events began with Archbishop

Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Milan’s famed Teatro alla Scala presents Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” for its gala season premiere Saturday for the first time in 59 years, seeking to shake the opera’s reputation for bringing bad luck. The premiere is a highlight of the Milan cultural calendar, attracting top figures from the

Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian prosecutors have conducted raids linked to an man suspected of illegally financing a campaign to promote Calin Georgescu’s presidential run. It comes after the country’s top court annulled the elections in which the far-right candidate had won the first round. The raids at three properties in the central

LONDON (AP) — A man died and hundreds of thousands of people in Britain and Ireland were left without power Saturday as high winds and heavy rain battered the region. Gusts of up to 93 miles per hour were recorded as officials sent a rare emergency alert by phone to about 3 million households in

Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani official says armed men killed six security personnel and wounded seven in a checkpoint attack in the northwest. The assault happened in Kurram district, where fierce sectarian fighting has killed at least 130 people during the past few weeks. A ceasefire between the area’s Sunni and Shiite

Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The far-right Alternative for Germany party has presented its candidate for chancellor in the country’s upcoming election. In practice, Alice Weidel has no chance of taking the chancellery as other parties refuse to work with the populist party. But Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which was founded in 2013, has

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days. Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of men saying that President Bashar

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Denmark has delivered a second batch of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. In a message on Telegram, Zelenskyy praised Denmark and lamented a lack of dedication from other allies. The announcement comes as Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region marks a day of mourning for 10 people killed in a

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An explosion and fire rocked a neighborhood in the Dutch city of The Hague on Saturday, killing three people and injuring other people and destroying several apartments, according to authorities. The cause of the disaster was unclear. Mayor Jan van Zanen said investigators were looking into “all possibilities.”

Associated Press ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Voting has officially closed in most polling centres throughout Ghana, bringing to an end the presidential and legislative elections poised to be a litmus test for democracy in a region shaken by extremist violence and coups. The capital, Accra, was almost a ghost town for much of the day

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Howling winds couldn’t stop Notre Dame Cathedral ’s heart from beating again. With three resounding knocks on its doors by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, wielding a specially designed crosier carved from fire-scorched beams, the monument roared back to life Saturday evening. For the first time since a devastating blaze nearly

Associated Press MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan high school choir performs its annual holiday concert not near a Christmas tree, but rather in it. The Mona Shores Singing Christmas Tree is set to wrap up its 40th year with two shows on Saturday at the Frauenthal Center in Muskegon. The 67-foot-tall, tree-shaped structure features

Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday installed 21 new cardinals, many of whom are key figures in his reform agenda: A Dominican preacher who acted as the spiritual father for Francis’ recent gathering of bishops, a Neapolitan “street priest” like himself, and a Peruvian bishop who has strongly backed his crackdown on

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer likely left New York City on a bus soon after the brazen ambush that has shaken corporate America, police officials said. But he left something behind: a backpack that was discovered in Central Park. Nearly four days

AP Health Writers For years, patients in the U.S. health care system have grown frustrated with a bureaucracy they don’t understand. Doctors are included in an insurer’s network one year but not the next. Getting someone on the phone to help can be next to impossible. Coverage of care and prescriptions is often unceremoniously denied.

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in some parts of the country are discovering that having their say at the ballot box is not necessarily the final word, even though this year’s election was over a month ago. Lawmakers in several states have already initiated or indicated plans to alter or nullify certain results. Republican

Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago sold for a winning bid of $28 million at auction Saturday. Heritage Auctions had estimated that they would fetch $3 million or more, but

Associated Press PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Ira “Ike” Schab, a 104-year-old Pearl Harbor attack survivor, was so determined to stand and salute during a remembrance ceremony honoring those killed in the Japanese bombing that thrust the U.S. into World War II some 83 years ago that he spent six weeks in physical therapy to

Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Donald Trump to Paris on Saturday with a full dose of presidential pomp as the two held a hastily arranged meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy before celebrating the grand reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. On a day that mixed pageantry with attention to pressing

Associated Press ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Voters in the west African nation of Ghana willl cast their ballots in a general election poised to be a litmus test for democracy in a region shaken by extremist violence and coups. Some 18.7 million people are registered to vote in presidential and legislative elections Saturday but the

Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Four people are running to be the next Democratic National Committee chair, looking to take on the task of reinvigorating a party demoralized by a second loss to President-elect Donald Trump. Others may still get into the race as the party reckons with the 2024 election, which saw Trump

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The last time Syrian President Bashar Assad was in serious trouble was 10 years ago. That was at the height of the country’s civil war, when his forces lost control over parts of the largest city, Aleppo, and his opponents were closing in on the capital, Damascus. Back then, he

Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Hospital de Jesus in Mexico City’s bustling historic center covers most of a city block. Its faded unassuming yellow facade, characteristic of the middle of the last century, obscures a medical center founded 500 years ago by Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés. Entering between street-level shoe stores, visitors find

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A legal settlement in the wake of rampant staff-on-inmate sexual abuse will force the federal Bureau of Prisons to open its doors to a court-appointed monitor and publicly acknowledge pervasive misconduct at its now-shuttered women’s prison in California. The Bureau of Prisons and lawyers for women suing it over abuse

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 22-year-old Kansas City man accused of illegally purchasing a gun found after the February mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade has been sentenced to probation. The Kansas City Star reports U.S. District Court Judge Howard Sachs sentenced Ronnel Williams Jr. to 5 years probation Thursday.

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol avoided an opposition-led attempt to impeach him over his short-lived imposition of martial law, as most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a parliamentary vote Saturday to deny a two-thirds majority needed to suspend his presidential powers. The scrapping of the motion is

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — The federal government has approved a scaled-down wind farm in Idaho over local opposition, including from groups concerned about its proximity to a historic site where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II. The Bureau of Land Management on Friday approved the Lava Ridge Wind Project, northeast of Twin

Associated Press The man on trial in the killing of University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee gave conflicting information to police about how well he and Lee knew each other. That is according testimony Friday by Shane Fortner, one of the officers who did the interview. Fortner says Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr. told officers

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor says a woman who evaded security to be a stowaway on a New York-to-Paris flight last month claims she had tried to sneak into secure areas of other U.S. airports. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke Theodora said Friday that Svetlana Dali told investigators she had tried to travel