AP Film Writers ‘Tis the season for spirited and winless debates about what the best Christmas movie is. No one needs us to remind you about the obvious holiday movies playing on repeat on cable, whether it’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Home Alone” or “Love, Actually,” or even those holiday adjacent classics like “Eyes Wide
Continue Reading AP Business Writer The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell markedly last week following a big increase the week before. Jobless claim applications declined by 22,000 to 220,000 for the week of Dec. 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 229,000 analysts were forecasting. Continuing claims, the total number of
Continue Reading AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The American economy grew at a healthy 3.1% annual clip from July through September, propelled by vigorous consumer spending and an uptick in exports, the government said in an upgrade to its previous estimate. Third-quarter growth in U.S. gross domestic product — the economy’s output of goods and services
Continue Reading Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City mayor’s former chief adviser, her son and two real estate investors have been indicted on bribery and conspiracy charges. They come as the mayor himself fights a separate corruption case and a series of criminal investigations roils City Hall. Ingrid Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn D.
Continue Reading BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers have approved legislation designed to protect the country’s highest court against possible future manipulation or obstruction by authoritarian or extremist politicians. Officials have cited experiences in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere as illustrating the need to bolster the Federal Constitutional Court. The measure was drawn up by the three parties in
Continue Reading Associated Press EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) — For decades, largescale engineering projects for development and agriculture drained and partitioned south Florida’s Everglades, a vast wetlands landscape home to endangered and threatened species and a vital source of drinking water for millions of Floridians. A plan approved by Congress in 2000 has aimed to undo some of
Continue Reading Associated Press EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) — In a region of Florida known as the River of Grass, John Kominoski plops into hip-deep waters. Blobs of brown periphyton – a mishmash of algae, bacteria and other organisms – carpet the surface. The air is thick and sticky as Kominoski, a Florida International University professor, pushes a
Continue Reading TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Nine people have died in a massive fire in central Taiwan at a huge food-processing building that was under construction. Video posted on social media showed a wall of smoke and flames billowing out of one end of the five-story building in the city of Taichung. The cause of the fire
Continue Reading AP Technology Writer CLONDALKIN, Ireland (AP) — Dozens of massive data centers humming at the outskirts of Dublin are consuming more electricity than all of the urban homes in Ireland and starting to wear out the warm welcome that brought them here. Now, a country that made itself a computing factory for Amazon, Google, Meta,
Continue Reading STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish police say they will participate as observers as Chinese authorities conduct investigations aboard a China-flagged ship in the Baltic Sea that was seen in an area where two undersea data cables were damaged last month. Sweden’s prime minister said at the end of November that his country had formally asked China
Continue Reading Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders insist no decisions can be taken about the future of Ukraine without its consent or behind their backs. Demonstrations of solidarity with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are mounting barely a month before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Zelenskyy attended an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. Ukraine’s position
Continue Reading Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Italy’s deputy premier, Matteo Salvini, is sounding defiant as he awaits a verdict in Sicily for preventing some 100 migrants from disembarking a rescue boat in 2019 when he was interior minister. Salvini, who leads the Euroskeptic, anti-migrant League, told a rally last week that “defending the borders, the dignity,
Continue Reading BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s leftist Social Democratic Party has withdrawn from negotiations to form a pro-European coalition government, extending political turmoil that has gripped the European Union country after a top court annulled a presidential election. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the PSD, said Thursday that his party was abandoning negotiations with three traditional
Continue Reading Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Two days of meetings on Myanmar’s violent political crisis are being held in the Thai capital Bangkok. The talks are the latest in a long series of regional discussions that have made no headway in restoring peace to the war-torn Southeast Asian nation. Thursday’s discussions were attended by foreign ministers
Continue Reading Associated Press Writers SEATAC, Washington (AP) — Background music is no longer an afterthought at many airports, which are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help lighten travelers’ moods. London’s Heathrow Airport built a stage to showcase emerging British performers for the first time this summer. The program was so successful the airport
Continue Reading LONDON (AP) — The future of the Northern Ireland-based Harland and Wolff shipbuilder, which famously built the Titanic, appears to have been safeguarded after the Spanish state-owned business Navantia stepped in to buy it. The purchase of the company is subject to regulatory approval. The company was placed into a type of bankruptcy in September
Continue Reading AP Technology Writer CLONDALKIN, Ireland (AP) — Dozens of massive data centers are consuming more electricity than all of the urban homes in Ireland and starting to wear out the warm welcome that brought them here. Now, a country that made itself a computing factory for Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok is wondering whether
Continue Reading Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce about $230 million in new assistance for conflict-torn Sudan during his likely final trip to the United Nations while in office. That’s according to U.S. officials who said $200 million would be for humanitarian aid and $30 million to help
Continue Reading Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of causing the deaths of thousands of Palestinians by systematically restricting and targeting Gaza’s water supply in a campaign that amounted to “acts of genocide.” The group alleged that countless infants, children and adults have died from malnutrition, dehydration and illness as a
Continue Reading OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Four French nationals detained for more than a year in Burkina Faso were released this week after negotiations between the two countries and Morocco. France’s Elysee Palace said in a statement on Thursday that President Emmanuel Macron had thanked Morocco’s King Mohamed VI for mediating discussions that led to their
Continue Reading