AP Airlines Writer The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, who has led a tougher enforcement policy against Boeing since a panel blew off a jetliner in January, said Thursday that he will step down next month, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump to name his choice to lead the agency. Mike Whitaker announced
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and could come after other parts of Europe next. Rutte told the Carnegie Europe think-tank in Brussels it is “time to shift to a wartime mindset” and that people should gird
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday it’s capping overdraft fees at $5 with a rule set to take effect in October 2025, if it isn’t overturned by Congress or altered under a Trump administration. President Joe Biden had called the fees, which can be as high as $35,
Continue ReadingAssociated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The global chemical weapons watchdog has opened an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Syria over concerns about the country’s stockpile of toxic chemicals in the wake of the overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons told Syria on Monday the
Continue ReadingAP Medical Writer Some early breast cancer patients can safely avoid specific surgeries, according to two studies exploring ways to lessen treatment burdens. One new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, examines whether removing lymph nodes is always necessary in early breast cancer. Another in the Journal of the American Medical Association
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is planning to donate $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, a move that comes as major tech companies seek to improve their relationship with the incoming president. A company spokesperson confirmed Thursday evening that the e-commerce giant will also stream Trump’s inauguration on its Prime Video service, a
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI informant accused of fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges. Alexander Smirnov’s deal with Justice Department special counsel David Weiss to plead guilty comes just weeks after prosecutors filed new tax evasion charges against him. Attorneys
Continue ReadingWARSAW, Poland (AP) — France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Ukraine must have a pivotal role in any potential negotiations over Russia’s war in the country. Both leaders met in Warsaw. Macron insisted Europeans must be involved in security talks in “very close” coordination with the United States to ensure
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders to his inauguration next month — an unorthodox move that would fold U.S. allies and adversaries into a very American political tradition. Trump said Thursday during an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange,
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland has sworn in its new president after last month’s election that gave a boost for its push for international recognition. Thursday’s inauguration ceremony came a day after Somalia and Ethiopia agreed in Turkey to hold “technical talks” over a dispute sparked by a controversial
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer An appeals court in Louisiana has ruled that Nasdaq can’t require diversity on the boards of companies that list on the exchange. The decision comes more than three years after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq’s proposal to boost the number of women, racial minorities and LGBTQ people on U.S. corporate
Continue ReadingAssociated Press STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish prosecutors say they have dropped a rape investigation that was launched in connection with soccer star Kylian Mbappé’s visit to Stockholm in October. In a statement, lead investigator Marina Chirakova says there is not enough evidence to continue the investigation into the allegation at a hotel. Prosecutors never publicly
Continue ReadingSelena Gomez is having quite a year, and it’s being capped with an engagement to music producer and songwriter Benny Blanco. The Grammy- and Emmy-nominated performer announced she was off the market in an Instagram post Wednesday of her ring and an embrace with her fiancé, with the caption “Forever begins now.” Celebrity fans sent
Continue ReadingSAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has undergone a second procedure to stop a brain bleed. The 79-year-old Lula had surgery at the hospital on Tuesday for a kind of slow bleeding that resulted from a fall at home in October. Thursday’s procedure was to plug an artery that continued
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MILAN (AP) — A humanitarian rescue group says its sailboat plucked from the central Mediterranean an 11-year-old girl believed to be the only survivor of a shipwreck in stormy seas. The Compass Collective said the crew aboard their German-flagged sailboat heard a voice over the motors off the Italian island of Lampedusa early
Continue ReadingAssociated Press When the African Methodist Episcopal Church, arguably the world’s largest independent Black Protestant denomination, held its quadrennial General Conference in Ohio in August, among the agenda items was an issue that the Rev. Jennifer S. Leath had labored over for two decades: same-sex marriage. Leath, 43, self-identifies as “quare” — terminology designed to
Continue ReadingAP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale costs in the United States picked up sharply last month, signaling that price pressures are still evident in the economy even though inflation has tumbled from the peak levels it hit more than two years ago. The producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The town of Asheville, North Carolina, is known for its artists and restaurants. In September, it was devastated by flooding from Hurricane Helene. Even businesses not physically harmed suffered weeks without power and water. And Asheville was essentially closed to tourists during its busiest season. So local artists and
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Civic engagement nonprofits believe democracy is an exercise in need of constant support — not just extra money around major major campaigns. A relatively small network of philanthropists are pledging to reverse boom-and-bust cycles where money floods politically engaged nonprofits late into election years only to dry up afterward.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Some European Union countries are doubling down on their decision to rapidly halt asylum procedures for Syrian migrants in Europe. But they said Thursday that it’s too early to consider sending any of the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled since 2011 back home. Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece,
Continue Reading