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By The Associated Press Hang onto those stocking-stuffer lottery tickets. The Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $1 billion after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Christmas Eve. That means the estimated jackpot for Friday’s drawing is $1.15 billion, potentially the fifth-largest jackpot in the game’s history. “We know that many people will likely

By MIKE SCHNEIDER – Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A man accused of attempting to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump in South Florida won’t be tried until September 2025, a federal judge ruled this week. Ryan Routh’s trial will begin Sept. 8 instead of the previously scheduled Feb. 10, 2025 start date, U.S. District Judge

By RIAZ KHAN and MUNIR AHMED – Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s airstrikes on eastern Afghanistan killed 46 people, mostly women and children, a Taliban government official said Wednesday, raising fears of further straining relations between the two neighbors. Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Afghan government, said those killed in the

By MARI YAMAGUCHI – Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A government-commissioned panel of experts on Wednesday largely supported Japan’s new energy policy for the next few years that calls for bolstering renewables up to half of electricity needs by 2040 while maximizing the use of nuclear power as the country seeks to accommodate the growing

By AP MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan officials say 38 people have died after an Azerbaijani airliner crashed near the city of Aktau.

By KEN MORITSUGU and MARI YAMAGUCHI – Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China and Japan agreed Wednesday to set up talks on often contentious security issues as they seek to improve a relationship riven in recent years by a range of issues, from territorial disputes to the discharge of water from Japan’s tsunami-wrecked nuclear power

By AP MEXICO CITY (AP) — The organizer of a Christmas fair in southern Mexico was assassinated at his city’s holiday event, authorities said late Tuesday. The governor of the southern state of Guerrero said gunmen killed the organizer of the annual Christmas and New Year’s fair in the state capital of Chilpancingo. Gov. Evelyn

By AP PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) — Desi Bouterse, a dictator convicted of murder who twice ruled Suriname, has died at 79.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK – Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The fate of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet is still unclear after Republican senators spent much of December carefully dodging questions about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’s views on vaccines, accusations of sexual misconduct against Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard’s 2017 meeting with then-President Bashar Assad

By ILLIA NOVIKOV – Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a massive missile and drone barrage targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Wednesday, striking a thermal power plant and prompting Ukrainians to take shelter in metro stations on Christmas morning. The strikes on Ukrainian fuel and energy sources included 78 air, ground, and sea-launched

By AP PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Taliban say Pakistani airstrikes have killed 46 people in eastern Afghanistan, mostly women and children.

By SAM MCNEIL – Associated Press MODIIN, Israel (AP) — For more than 400 days after being critically wounded during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, Yona Brief tried to recover. But after losing both legs and enduring medically induced comas, the combat medic died in late November. The dual Israeli-American citizen has

By MAJDI MOHAMMED and TIA GOLDENBERG – Associated Press JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Gunfire has rung out for days from the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp. But this time, it’s not Israeli forces that are facing off against armed groups. It is the forces of the Palestinian Authority clashing with Palestinian gunmen.

By AP MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan’s emergency ministry says 42 people likely dead in Azerbaijan Airlines’ plane crash.

By AP MOSCOW (AP) — An Azerbaijan Airliner has crashed in the Kazakhstani city of Aktau.