AP National News

AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The inspiration for Kate Hamill’s latest play came from across centuries and the planet. The actor-playwright was honeymooning in Italy in 2020 when she walked into the Uffizi museum in Florence and spotted a painting by pioneering Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi created around 1620. The art immediately stirred

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Looking to tweak some traditional cocktails to make them more festive for the holidays? Here are some suggestions from the pros. For a Christmas-y version of an Old-Fashioned, the London speakeasy Archive and Myth switches out the sugar for a chestnut liqueur. Instead of standard bitters they use walnut bitters

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal Bureau of Prisons is permanently closing its “rape club” women’s prison in California and will idle six facilities in a sweeping realignment after years of abuse, decay and mismanagement, The Associated Press has learned. The agency informed employees and Congress on Thursday that it plans to shutter the

AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — When SmileDirectClub shut down a year ago, scores of existing customers of the teeth-straightening company were left in limbo. Now, tens of thousands are set to get some relief. New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced that her office recovered $4.8 million to distribute nationwide to more

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — About half of working women reported feeling stressed “a lot of the day,” compared to about 4 in 10 men, according to a Gallup report published Wednesday. The report suggests that competing demands of work and home comprise part of the problem: working women who are parents or guardians

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s top military officer called his U.S. counterpart to give advance warning of Russia’s drills in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s rare contact amid high tensions between Moscow and Washington. The Russian Defense Ministry says Gen. Valery Gerasimov reached out to Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — More than two dozen historic prints that depict Native American life and culture on the Upper Missouri River nearly 200 years ago will soon be more accessible to the public, thanks to a donation. The State Historical Society of North Dakota recently acquired 26 aquatints produced from 1839 to

Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, VA. (AP) — The sprawling, windowless warehouses that hold rows of high-speed servers powering almost everything the world does on phones and computers are increasingly becoming fixtures of the American landscape, popping up in towns, cities and suburbs across the United States. Demand for data centers ballooned in recent years due to

AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Associated Press Music Writer Maria Sherman has chosen 10 of the best albums of 2024. They’re not in any particular order but they include Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” Charli XCX’s “BRAT,” Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX,” Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Doechii’s “Alligator Bites Never Heal,” MJ Lenderman’s “Manning

AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Known across the globe as the stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hit the six-month mark in space Thursday with two more to go. The pair rocketed into orbit on June 5, the first to ride Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on what was supposed to

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The police commissioner of the Bahamas has resigned after two officers and a sergeant were recently indicted in a U.S. drug trafficking case that federal authorities describe as “massive.” Bahamas’s prime minister announced on Wednesday that Clayton Fernander was stepping down, noting that he faces no charges in the

AP Technology Writer Waymo is gearing up to bring its robotaxi service to Miami which will accelerate an expansion that’s been happening while its hobbled rivals remain in its rearview mirror. As part of the road map unfurled Thursday, Waymo plans to begin testing its driverless Jaguars in Miami next year, giving the robotaxis time

AP Science Writer Efforts to reduce the nation’s persistently high maternal mortality rates involve state panels of experts that investigate and learn from each mother’s death. The panels — called maternal mortality review committees — usually do their work quietly and out of the public eye. But that’s not been the case recently in three

AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The reliability of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids has dramatically improved, narrowing a wide gap with gas-powered automobiles, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports. But vehicles with internal combustion engines and gas-electric hybrids are still far more dependable, the survey found. Consumer Reports subscribers, who filled out

Associated Press FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone has started a nationwide rollout of the single-dose Ebola vaccine. The campaign, which started on Thursday, makes Sierra Leone the first country to begin a nationwide vaccination program in West Africa where a deadly outbreak 10 years ago killed thousands of people. The 2014 Ebola outbreak

Associated Press ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Jill Biden has used a tour of the United Arab Emirates’ capital to praise efforts to fight cancer and call for more attention on women’s health issues as part of her final solo foreign tour as first lady. Biden, 73, arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia is spreading disinformation to American audiences in an effort to erode U.S. support for Ukraine as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House. Since the U.S. election on Nov. 5, groups linked to the Kremlin have spread fake videos supposedly showing Ukrainian soldiers shooting and burning effigies