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Bulgaria and Romania ‘one step closer’ to full membership in Schengen zone, Hungary says

Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian officials say Bulgaria and Romania could become full members of Europe’s Schengen travel zone starting at the beginning of 2025. The two Balkan countries joined the European Union in 2007 but were not integrated into the borderless Schengen zone until March, when border checks were lifted from maritime

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Beyond evangelicals, Trump and his allies courted smaller faith groups, from the Amish to Chabad

Associated Press A social-media tribute to Coptic Christians. A billboard in Amish country. A visit to a revered Jewish gravesite. While Donald Trump’s lock on the white evangelical vote is legendary, he and his campaign allies also wooed smaller religious groups, far from the mainstream. As it turned out, Trump won by decisive margins, but

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Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill a hospital director in Lebanon and wound 9 medics in Gaza

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes have killed the director of the largest hospital in the country’s northeast. Six others were killed in Friday’s strike on the director’s home. The Health Ministry reported at least five paramedics were killed by Israeli strikes in the country’s south. The United Nations has reported heavy clashes between Israeli

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German ex-leader Merkel says she felt sorrow at Trump’s comeback and recalls awkward non-handshake

BERLIN (AP) — Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she felt “sorrow” at Donald Trump’s return to power and recalls that every meeting with him was “a competition: you or me.” In an interview published Friday, Merkel said that Trump “is a challenge for the world, particularly for multilateralism.” She said that “what awaits us

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London’s Gatwick Airport re-opens its South Terminal after a suspicious package triggers an alert

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — London’s Gatwick Airport said it is reopening its South Terminal after police resolved a security alert triggered when a suspicious item was found in a passenger’s luggage. The terminal was closed for more than six hours after police were called to investigate a “suspected prohibited item” at about 8:20 a.m.

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Pakistani city mourns 42 Shiite Muslims who were ambushed and killed in a gun attack

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Funeral prayers were held for 42 Shiite Muslims who were ambushed and killed by gunmen a day earlier in Pakistan’s restive northwest. The attack was one of the region’s deadliest such assaults in recent years. Protesters chanted anti-governments and demanded action against the perpetrators. The victims were traveling in a convoy

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US budget airlines are struggling. Will pursuing premium passengers solve their problems?

AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Delta and United have become the most profitable U.S. airlines by targeting premium customers while also winning back a significant share of travelers on a tight budget. That is squeezing smaller low-fare carriers like Spirit Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. Some travel-industry experts think Spirit’s troubles

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Rental home investors poised to benefit as mortgage rates, high home prices sideline buyers in 2025

AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elevated mortgage rates, rising home prices and other U.S. housing market trends that have kept many would-be homebuyers on the sidelines are likely to remain hurdles next year, driving solid demand for single-family rental houses, analysts say. Research notes from analysts at Mizuho Securities USA and Raymond James

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NATO and Ukraine to hold emergency talks after Russia’s attack with new hypersonic missile

Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.” Ukraine’s parliament canceled

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Japan passes $250B economic package meant to lift wages and spur growth

Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan has approved a $250 billion economic stimulus package centered around initiatives intended to boost incomes. The broad plan passed by the Cabinet on Friday is the centerpiece of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s recently installed administration. It provides support for digital innovation in the world’s fourth largest economy, subsidies to

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Indigenous leaders travel to UK from Peru to draw attention to oil damage and banking

Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Indigenous leaders from the Wampis Nation in Peru are urging lawmakers at the House of Commons in London to ban international banks’ support for Amazon oil activities they say harm their ancestral rainforests. HSBC bank, JPMorgan Chase and Santander helped finance the Peruvian state-owned oil company Petroperu as it sought

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