Month: December 2024

AP Technology Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — For nearly 40 years, customers flocked to Party City for Halloween costumes, favors for children’s birthday parties and decorations for New Year’s Eve celebrations. Now, the go-to shop for everything from cartoon-themed balloons to Super Bowl decor is closing stores. Party City announced Saturday that it would start

AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — In the holiday season battle of big-budget family movies, Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” sped past the Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to take the top spot at the box office ahead of the lucrative Christmas corridor in theaters. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” debuted with

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods isn’t the only member of his family who can produce big moments. His 15-year-old son Charlie made his first ace Sunday in the PNC Championship. Woods was more excited than if he had made the hole-in-one himself. “That was the thrill of a lifetime to be able to have

Brazil’s Civil Defense Agency says a small plane has crashed into a Brazilian town that’s popular with tourists and killed all 10 passengers and crew on board. More than a dozen people who were on the ground Sunday have been taken to hospitals with injuries including smoke inhalation, and two are said to be in

Associated Press FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — For centuries, Florence’s 16th-century Vasari Corridor was only accessible to dukes and lords. Now, the raised passageway that connects the city’s Uffizi Galleries to the former residence of the powerful Medici family, has reopened to the public after an eight-year restoration project. The corridor, named after the Renaissance architect and biographer Giorgio Vasari, who

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday hosted Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to the Kremlin by an EU leader since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met with Putin one-on-one on Sunday evening, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s RIA

Associated Press Approximately 1 million taxpayers will automatically receive special payments of up to $1,400 from the IRS in the coming weeks. The money will be directly deposited into eligible people’s bank accounts or sent in the mail by a paper check. The IRS said it’s distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who failed to

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s largest remaining rebel group has announced a unilateral truce to last until Jan. 3, the first since the previous ceasefire broke down in August. In a statement posted on X, the National Liberation Army said that it will halt attacks on the military as the nation celebrates Christmas and New

Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Stampedes during three Christmas charity events across Nigeria have left at least 67 people dead in the past week, many of them children. Families are struggling during the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. At least 35 children were killed in southwestern Oyo state on Wednesday. And on

Cleanup continues in the Kerch Strait near Russian-occupied Crimea, a week after at least 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil spilled out of two storm-stricken Russian tankers. Russia’s state Tass news agency says that by Sunday afternoon, more than 12,000 tons of contaminated soil had been removed along 34 kilometers (21 miles) of shoreline. Russia’s

AP National Writer The average final score over the first week of the College Football Playoffs: Winners 36, Losers 17. This bold, new experiment was supposed to bring more programs from more parts of the country into the loop of a largely regional sport that had been dominated by about a half-dozen teams for the

The Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tens of thousands streamed into a central square in Serbia’s capital on Sunday for a big rally against populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government. Their tight grip on power has been challenged by weeks of street protests led by university students. The rally Sunday at Belgrade’s Slavija