AP National News

Associated Press MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — As weather improved in Southern California, firefighters found some success Wednesday battling a wind-driven blaze burning in steep, nearly inaccessible areas that forced thousands, including celebrities, from their homes in Malibu, fire officials said. With much of the coastal city under evacuation orders and warnings, residents waited anxiously to

Associated Press Sexual abuse and harassment by coaches and others who held positions of power over women on the U.S. Biathlon team have been dismissed, ignored or excused over decades by officials more concerned with winning medals than holding offenders accountable, according to a half-dozen former Olympians and other biathletes. And while the men involved

Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The U.S. East Coast began a whiplash-inducing stretch of weather Wednesday with a deluge of rain, rapid snowmelt and powerful gusts, creating dangerous conditions, due in part to an atmospheric river and developing bomb cyclone. Ski resort operators in the Northeast watched their snow turn to mush with a

Associated Press ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The gun found on the suspect in the killing of United Healthcare’s CEO matched shell casings found at the site of the shooting, New York City’s police commissioner said Wednesday. Suspect Luigi Mangione ’s fingerprints also matched a water bottle and a snack bar wrapper that police found near

Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Amnesty International has called for an investigation into a former governor and two top army officials in Congo for “possible crimes against humanity” during a deadly protest crackdown last year. The human rights group said in a report Wednesday that Congo’s security forces killed at least 56 people and

Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Dozens of Palestinians are receiving help from an Israeli legal group in their search for family members who went missing after being separated by Israeli soldiers during raids and arrests in the Gaza Strip. The legal group, Hamoked, says these cases are a fraction of the estimated

Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Reem Ajour says she last saw her husband and then 4-year-old daughter in March, when Israeli soldiers raided a family home in northern Gaza. She is haunted by those chaotic last moments, when the soldiers ordered her to go – to leave behind Talal and Masaa, both

AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Fueled by pricier used cars, hotel rooms and groceries, inflation in the United States moved slightly higher last month in the latest sign that some price pressures remain elevated. Consumer prices rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier, up from a yearly figure of 2.6% in October. Excluding

AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street got back to climbing after the latest update on inflation appeared to clear the way for more help for the economy from the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 gained 0.8% Wednesday to break a two-day losing streak and finished just short of its all-time high. Big

Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The daily struggle to pay often unpredictable and unregulated school fees is a crushing issue for many across sub-Saharan Africa, where the lack of a few hundred dollars can determine a child’s future. The region has long had the world’s highest dropout rates. Reasons vary, but financial pain is

AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — While surveying a room packed with Hollywood’s most influential figures, “Emilia Pérez” star Selena Gomez took center stage to spotlight a critical issue: Prioritizing mental health and supporting underserved communities often left behind in the conversation. “It’s about taking action to ensure that underserved communities have access to

Associated Press GREEN LAKE, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man who faked his own drowning and left his wife and three children for Eastern Europe willingly returned to the U.S. after four months and was charged Wednesday with obstructing an intense lake search for his body. The criminal complaint charging Ryan Borgwardt with misdemeanor obstruction

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An 11-year-old girl who fell through the ice while trying to help a 12-year-old boy who plunged in before her over the weekend has also died. Police in Albany, New York say the two children were at Washington Park Lake in Albany at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday when the boy tried

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man who was captured on video attacking a judge in a Las Vegas courtroom after vaulting over her bench and desk has been sentenced to decades in prison. Deobra Redden was ordered on Tuesday to serve between 26 and 65 years in a Nevada prison for the attack on Clark

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Humanitarian aid to n orth Gaza, where Israel launched a ground offensive on Oct. 6, has largely been blocked for the past 66 days, the United Nations said Tuesday. That has left between 65,000 and 75,000 Palestinians without access to food, water, electricity or health care, according to the world body.

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — After being acquitted of homicide, the military veteran who choked a volatile, mentally ill man on a New York subway told an interviewer he put himself in a “very vulnerable position” but felt compelled to act. “I’ll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people

Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week’s martial law declaration, officials said Wednesday, as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound. The main liberal opposition Democratic Party is pushing for a new motion

Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — The sheriff of the nation’s fifth-largest county on Tuesday defied a new policy to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, setting up a showdown over a new obstacle to President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans. Earlier Tuesday, San Diego County supervisors voted to prohibit its sheriff’s department from working

Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal authorities say that two Department of Homeland Security agents in Utah illegally sold drugs through an informant in a scheme that brought in up to $300,000. Court documents say that the informant told officials the drugs came from evidence seized in a prior investigation. Homeland Security Investigations