AP National News

Associated Press It’s holiday season, but that doesn’t have to mean waiting in long lines for big sales to buy the hottest toy or newest game system for the kids in your life. Gift hours of reading pleasure with books. In “I Like Your Chutzpah,” Suzy Ultman teaches young readers 12 Yiddish words. “Bog Myrtle”

AP Film Writer The Associated Press has gathered up some of the best items out there to keep any movie lover stylish and informed. This year, you could treat them to a collector’s edition set of Christopher Nolan’s space odyssey “Interstellar,” a limited edition “Matrix” hoodie from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures or a

AP Music Writer Music fans should be easy to shop for this holiday season, right? Wrong! What do you pick up for the friend who knew about that rapper months before the rest of the world? Your sister loves Taylor Swift, but surely she already owns everything the pop star has ever released, right? Never

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. decision to provide Ukraine with antipersonnel land mines expands the use of a weapon that the international community has long condemned because of its danger to innocent civilians. U.S. officials say the mines are needed to help Ukraine stall Russian progress on the battlefield, where Moscow’s forces are

LONDON (AP) — The office of the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, says he will wrap up his official duties in early January amid an abuse scandal in the Church of England. Welby resigned last week after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about serial

Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Ohio on Wednesday. Kaptur, who was first sworn in to the House in 1983, is the longest-serving woman in congressional history. The Ohio Legislature under Republican control redrew the Toledo-based district’s boundaries in decennial redistricting to include more rural communities, turning it from

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams has appointed sanitation chief Jessica Tisch as police commissioner. A city government stalwart and ex-NYPD official, she’ll be just the second woman in the high-profile, high-pressure post. The move announced Wednesday comes at a critical time for the nation’s largest police department, shoring

MACON, Ga. (AP) — One Georgia city will welcome 2025 with a larger-than-average bang. The Macon-Bibb County Commission on Tuesday approved a plan to implode a vacant 16-story hotel at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Macon-Bibb County spent $4.5 million last year to buy the hotel in a federal bankruptcy proceeding. Media outlets report that

TUSKEGEE, Ala. (AP) — The parents of an 18-year-old who was killed in a hail of gunfire at Tuskegee University are suing the school in a wrongful death lawsuit. Tamika and Larry Johnson’s son, La’Tavion Johnson, was shot and killed while attending a party on campus Nov. 10. At least 16 others were injured. The

NEW YORK (AP) — A piece of conceptual art consisting of a simple banana, duct-taped to a wall, sold for $6.2 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday, with the winning bid coming from a prominent cryptocurrency entrepreneur. “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a phenomenon when it debuted in 2019 at

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Finnish authorities say they have opened an investigation into the rupture of a data cable under the Baltic Sea, adding to a Swedish probe into the possible sabotage of that link and another cable. The C-Lion1 cable, which runs between Finland and Germany, and a cable that crosses the Baltic between

Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A human rights report says hundreds of people in Belarus who have shown solidarity with Ukraine have been arrested in a sweeping crackdown under authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Viasna human rights center says 1,671 Belarusians were detained for their anti-war stance or for expressing solidarity with Ukraine, with

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An apologetic FTX co-founder has been sentenced to no time in prison after a prosecutor and a judge praised his cooperation against Sam Bankman-Fried and his efforts to recover money for victims of the cryptocurrency fraud. Gary Wang testified for parts of three days at Bankman-Fried’s trial last year,

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek police say they have seized explosives and weapons in a search of a storage area in an apartment building in Athens. The search comes about two weeks after raids on five locations in Athens uncovered large quantities of explosives and firearms. Authorities said that earlier operation was aimed at dismantling