US/World

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN – AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) — There’s a chance solar storms may bring northern lights to several northern U.S states just in time for the new year. The sun expelled two bursts of plasma that are hurtling toward Earth and are expected to arrive early this week, according to the

By MIKE SCHNEIDER – Associated Press The world population increased by more than 71 million people in 2024 and will be 8.09 billion people on New Year’s Day, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Monday. The 0.9% increase in 2024 was a slight slowdown from 2023, when the world population grew by 75 million

By AP KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates, officials said Monday. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and

By ELLIOT SPAGAT – Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — Arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico in December are little changed from a month earlier, a U.S. official said Monday, hovering near the lowest levels since July 2020 and indicating that an anticipated surge ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president hasn’t happened.

By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA – Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine judge confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction, and ordered preventive prison for two of them for having supplied him with drugs. A judicial officer confirmed Monday the

By BILL BARROW – Associated Press PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Jimmy Carter already had drawn months of media scrutiny as a devout Southern Baptist running for president. Then the 1976 Democratic nominee brought up sex and sin as he explained his religious faith to Playboy magazine. Carter was not misquoted. But he was certainly misunderstood,

By NICOLE WINFIELD – Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis kicked off the 2025 Holy Year on Tuesday, inaugurating a celebration of the Catholic Church that is expected to draw some 32 million pilgrims to Rome in a test of the pope’s stamina and the ability of the Eternal City to welcome them.

By JOHN LEICESTER – Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The ex-husband of Gisèle Pelicot won’t appeal his 20-year prison sentence for drugging and raping her and allowing dozens of other men to rape her while she was unconscious, in a case that revolted France, his lawyer said Monday. Dominique Pelicot wants to spare his ex-wife

By MARIA CHENG – AP Medical Writer LONDON (AP) — As the new year dawns, so too does the opportunity for change. Experts say January can be a good time to reflect on self-improvement, but acknowledge it takes work to make resolutions stick. Studies have shown that up to 70% of people who make New

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY – Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans plan to move quickly in their effort to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures, seeing an opportunity with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress to push through long-sought changes that include voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements. They say the measures are

By MAKIYA SEMINERA and JAMIE STENGLE – Associated Press Officials assessed the damage on Sunday after a strong storm system moved across the southern U.S. over the weekend, spawning tornadoes and killing at least four people. There were at least 45 reports of tornado damage across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, said Brian Hurley,

By AP HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Finnish investigators probing the damage to a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables said they found an anchor drag mark on the seabed, apparently from a Russia-linked vessel that has already been seized. The discovery heightened concerns about suspected sabotage by Russia’s “shadow fleet” of fuel tankers

By SAHATTHAYA KRAIKHUNTHOT – Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — A fire broke out at a hotel near Bangkok’s Khao San Road, a popular tourist destination, killing three foreigners and injuring several other people, Thai police said Monday. The three who died in the fire on Sunday night were all foreign tourists, Police Colonel Sanong Saengmanee

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO and DEE-ANN DURBIN – AP Business Writers Value was in vogue in 2024. Shoppers and restaurant patrons in the U.S. were choosy about where and how to spend their money as they wrestled with high housing and food prices. Well-heeled customers traded down to Walmart and Aldi. Diners opted for fast food

By MATT O’BRIEN and SARAH PARVINI – AP Technology Writers If 2023 was a year of wonder about artificial intelligence, 2024 was the year to try to get that wonder to do something useful without breaking the bank. There was a “shift from putting out models to actually building products,” said Arvind Narayanan, a Princeton

By TIM REYNOLDS – AP Basketball Writer When LeBron James broke another NBA record earlier this month, the one for most regular-season minutes played in a career, his Los Angeles Lakers teammates handled the moment in typical locker room fashion. They made fun of him. “They told me I’m old as hell,” James quipped. By

By JILL LAWLESS – Associated Press LONDON (AP) — When voters around the globe had their say in 2024, their message was often: “You’re fired.” Some 70 countries that are home to half the world’s population held elections this year, and in many incumbents were punished. From India and the United States to Japan, France

By GARY FIELDS – Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The players in this year’s Army-Navy football game kept up a long tradition, with each side honoring the other’s school song when the contest ended. It was an acknowledgment that the future could bring moments when the opponents that day are teammates on deadlier fields. That

By MAGDALENE MWANIKI – Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — What began as a childhood hobby more than six decades ago has led to what might be Africa’s largest butterfly collection in a suburb of Kenya’s capital. Steve Collins, 74, was born and raised in western Kenya. By the age of 5, he was fascinated

By BILL BARROW and ALEX SANZ – Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100

By SOPHIKO MEGRELIDZE – Associated Press TBILISI, Goergia (AP) — Former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of Georgia on Sunday, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. Outgoing pro-Western Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili

By KIM TONG-HYUNG – Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean law enforcement officials requested a court warrant on Monday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as they investigate whether his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3 amounted to rebellion. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which leads a joint

By BASSEM MROUE – Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A few days after insurgents in Syria overthrew President Bashar Assad, his ruling Baath party announced it was freezing its activities, marking a stunning change in fortunes for the political group that had ruled for more than six decades. Many members of the party’s leadership

By WAFAA SHURAFA and JULIA FRANKEL – Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City (AP) — For Gaza’s women, the hardships of life in the territory’s sprawling tent camps are compounded by the daily humiliation of never having privacy. Women struggle to dress modestly while crowded into tents with extended family members, including men, and with

By GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA – Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian-made dramas rarely last long in local cinemas. But, nearly two months after its release, “I’m Still Here,” a film about a family torn apart by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for more than two decades, has drawn millions of moviegoers across the