New Year’s Eve sweeps across Mideast and Europe, but wars cast a shadow on 2024
Revelers counted down to midnight on New Year’s Eve across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, where fireworks and festive lights offered a hopeful start to 2024 for some, even as the globe’s ongoing conflicts have subdued celebrations and raised security concerns. In Australia, more than 1 million people watched...
U.S. shoots down 2 anti-ship missiles launched by Houthi targeting Maersk vessel
The U.S. shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles launched by Houthi rebels, responding to a call by a merchant vessel in the Southern Red Sea. The Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned container ship, Maersk Hangzhou, had reported being struck by a missile at 8:30 p.m. Sanaa time, the U.S. Central Command said in...
North Korea’s Kim says he’ll launch 3 more spy satellites, build more nuclear weapons in 2024
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will launch three additional military spy satellites, build more nuclear weapons and introduce modern unmanned combat equipment in 2024, as he called for “overwhelming” war readiness to cope with U.S.-led confrontational moves, state media reported Sunday. Kim’s...
Family of 4 found dead in apparent murder-suicide by New York police sergeant
NEW YORK — A husband and wife and their two sons, ages 10 and 12, were found dead in a suburban New York home Saturday in what authorities described as a murder-suicide by a police sergeant. Police officials said Watson Morgan, a sergeant with the Bronxville Police Department, fatally shot...
‘Devastating’ discovery in Massachusetts: 3 dead inside $6.8M mansion
BOSTON — Authorities investigating the deaths of a husband and wife and their teenage daughter at a Dover home found a firearm close to the husband’s body in what the Norfolk District Attorney says appears to be a “deadly incident of domestic violence.” DA Michael Morrissey has identified the deceased...
Retirements could tip control of the House majority. It’s Republicans who have the early edge
WASHINGTON — A chaotic year for the House is coming to a close with more Democrats than Republicans deciding to leave the chamber, a disparity that could have major ramifications in next year’s elections. About two dozen Democrats have indicated they won’t seek reelection, with half running for another elected...
Air raids over eastern Syria near Iraqi border kill 6 Iran-backed militants
BAGHDAD — Three overnight airstrikes on eastern Syria near a strategic border crossing with Iraq killed six Iran-backed militants Saturday, two members of Iraqi militia groups told The Associated Press. The strikes on the border region of Boukamal came hours after an umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militants known as...
Revelers set to pack into Times Square for annual New Year’s Eve ball drop
NEW YORK — The confetti has been tested for airiness. The giant numerals — 2 0 2 4 — are in place. And the luminous ball, bedazzled in 2,688 crystal triangles, is fixed to the pole from which it make its 60-second descent at 11:59 p.m. With throngs of revelers...
Airstrikes hit camps in central Gaza as Biden administration approves new weapons sales to Israel
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes struck two urban refugee camps in central Gaza on Saturday, as the Biden administration approved a new emergency weapons sale to Israel despite persistent international cease-fire calls over mounting civilian deaths, hunger and mass displacement in the enclave. Even a brief halt in...
Dozens of schools facing federal probe of alleged civil rights violations
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The U.S. Department of Education is investigating if nearly 90 elementary, secondary and higher education campuses across the nation — including at UC Davis and other University of California campuses — violated a federal civil rights law after an “alarming” rise in reports of antisemitism, anti-Muslim and...
Trump’s lawyers say he might testify at trial over how much he owes in defamation case
NEW YORK — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump say he might testify at a mid-January civil trial set to decide how much he owes a columnist for defaming her after she said he sexually abused her three decades ago in a Manhattan luxury department store. The lawyers filed papers...
NYPD ‘prepared’ for large pro-Palestine protests during New Year’s Eve bash at Times Square
NEW YORK — There are no known security threats related to this weekend’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, but the New York Police Department is gearing up for the possibility that thousands of pro-Palestine protesters will be demonstrating nearby, Mayor Eric Adams and police officials said Friday. In...
Times Square confetti, ball get test runs ahead of New Year’s Eve
NEW YORK — Visitors to Times Square got a small preview of New York City’s famed New Year’s Eve party on Friday, as the event’s organizers heaved handfuls of colored paper skyward in a promotional event to test their confetti. With crowds of celebrants expected to pack into Times Square...
Police searching for Colorado mother suspected of killing her 2 children, wounding third
DENVER — Police were still searching Friday for a Colorado woman suspected of killing her two young children and wounding a third after police initially responded to a report of a burglary in their home. Kimberlee Singler, 35, was cooperative at first with police investigating the Dec. 19 deaths but...
Judge blocks most of an Iowa law banning some school library books and discussion of LGBTQ+ issues
DES MOINES, Iowa — A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked key parts of an Iowa law that bans some books from school libraries and forbids teachers from raising LGBTQ+ issues. Judge Stephen Locher’s preliminary injunction halts enforcement of the law, which was set to take effect Jan. 1 but...
Florida lawmakers want to end 3-day waiting periods for rifles, shotguns
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Southwest Florida state senator wants to eliminate a statewide three-day waiting period to buy a rifle or a shotgun, undoing one of the changes enacted after the Parkland mass shooting. State Sen. Jonathan Martin’s bill would keep the waiting period in place for handgun purchases while...
West Virginia starts distributing funds from the settlement of opioid lawsuits
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia is issuing the first checks from a fund established by the settlement of opioid lawsuits in the state, which has by far the nation’s highest drug overdose death rate. The Kanawha County Commission said Thursday it received a $2.9 million check and plans to discuss...
In Pennsylvania, any challenge to Trump being on the ballot must go through the courts
Pennsylvania’s secretary of state said Friday he does not have the authority to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot and any such challenge here must be done through the courts. “Pennsylvania’s Election Code does not give me, as secretary of the commonwealth, the authority to reject a nomination...
Civil rights leader removed from movie theater for using his own chair
A civil rights leader was escorted by police out of a North Carolina movie theater after he insisted on using his own chair for medical reasons, prompting an apology from the nation’s largest movie theater chain. The incident occurred Tuesday in Greenville during a showing of “The Color Purple.” The...
Associate of Russian opposition leader Navalny sentenced to 9 years in prison
MOSCOW — An associate of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison on Friday, the latest move in a relentless Kremlin crackdown on dissent. Ksenia Fadeyeva, a regional legislator who headed a local branch of Navalny’s organization in the Siberian city of Tomsk, was...
Woman sues Hershey’s Co. over Reese’s pumpkins without faces
A Florida woman filed a federal lawsuit against The Hershey Company over claims some of its seasonal shaped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were advertised deceptively. Cynthia Kelly, of the Tampa area, is suing the company for $5 million in Florida’s Middle District Court. In the lawsuit, Kelly claims the company...
2 dead after truck hits several people in city in southern Germany, police say
BERLIN — Two people have died after a truck struck several people in southern Germany on Friday morning, police said. The 63-year old truck driver struck a group of five people close to the railway station in downtown Passau, police said in a statement. A 37-year-old woman died of her...
Ohio’s GOP governor vetoes ban on gender-affirming care, transgender athletes in girls sports
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a measure Friday that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors and transgender athletes’ participation in girls and women’s sports, in a break from members of his party who championed the legislation. GOP lawmakers hold enough seats to override DeWine’s veto, but...
Poland says ‘everything indicates’ a Russian missile briefly entered its airspace and left
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s defense forces said an unknown object entered the country’s airspace Friday morning from the direction of Ukraine and then vanished off radars, and that all indications pointed to it being a Russian missile. “Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace. It was monitored...
Slippery Rock University’s marching band set to perform in London’s New Year’s Day Parade
The tubas – five in all – went first. They and other large brass and percussion instruments, plus enough band gear to fill a 26-foot box truck, had to be packed up and shipped overseas weeks before members of the Slippery Rock University Marching Pride band boarded flights for London....
