Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ energy minister says ExxonMobil could partner up with a consortium composed of Eni of Italy and Total of France to jointly develop gas deposits they’ve discovered close to each other off the island nation’s southern coast. Minister George Papanastasiou says ExxonMobil is in talks with the Eni-Total consortium
Continue ReadingAssociated Press HEALDSBURG, Calif. (AP) — Heavy downpours fell over much of Northern California on Friday, causing small landslides, overflowing a river and flooding some streets, including in parts of San Francisco. Meanwhile tens of thousands of people were still without power in the Seattle area after several days in the dark. The storm arrived
Continue ReadingLONDON (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in London has returned to normal operations after police carried out the controlled explosion of a suspicious package that was found in the area. London Metropolitan police said later Friday it was a “hoax device.″ Police say some cordons will remain in place for the time being but the
Continue ReadingLONDON (AP) — A special tribunal has rejected a legal claim against Britain’s domestic intelligence agency by more than 300 survivors of a bombing that killed 22 people at a 2017 Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. Judges on the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal on Friday said the claimants waited too long to bring their case.
Continue ReadingVIENNA (AP) — Police say the body of a newborn baby who was reported missing from a neonatal ward at a hospital in Vienna has been found in a garbage container near the building. The infant’s mother was arrested on Friday as a suspect. Staff noticed that the baby had disappeared from the ward at
Continue ReadingAssociated 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
Continue ReadingAssociated 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
Continue ReadingBELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Residents in several cities and towns across Serbia blocked traffic and stood in silence for 15 minutes on Friday to commemorate the 15 victims of a roof collapse in the country’s north three weeks ago. Hundreds of people came out into the streets eight minutes before noon, at the exact same
Continue ReadingLebanon’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
Continue ReadingBERLIN (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
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in central Mississippi and the Delta and Gulf Coast areas will return to the polls Tuesday for a runoff election to resolve two state judicial races in which no candidate received the required vote majority in the Nov. 5 general election. At stake are seats on Mississippi’s two highest
Continue ReadingAssociated 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.
Continue ReadingPESHAWAR, 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
Continue ReadingAP 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
Continue ReadingAP 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
Continue ReadingGENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says more aid workers, health care staffers, delivery personnel and other humanitarians have been killed in 2024 than in any other single year. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says bloodshed in the Middle East has been the single-biggest cause of the 281 deaths among humanitarians
Continue ReadingAssociated 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
Continue ReadingAssociated 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
Continue ReadingBEIJING (AP) — China is going to expand visa-free entry to citizens of nine more countries as it seeks to boost tourism and business travel to help revive a sluggish economy. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday that travelers from Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan will be able to
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Two Australian teenagers and a British woman have died from suspected methanol poisoning after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos. An American man and two Danes also died, though their exact causes of death have not been released. A New Zealander also has been sickened. The U.S. State Department issued a
Continue Reading