AP Business Writer Workers at Starbucks stores began a five-day strike Friday to protest lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company. The strikes by baristas and other workers were scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle and could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve. Starbucks
Continue ReadingBy Kara Fox, Catherine Nicholls and Lex Harvey, CNN (CNN) — French President Emmanuel Macron has faced jeers from locals on the cyclone-battered French overseas territory of Mayotte, telling them they should be “happy to be in France, because if it wasn’t France you’d be 10,000 times even more in the s***.” Macron has come
Continue ReadingSOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s mountain rescue service says one person has died in an avalanche on Pirin Mountain, in the south of the country, rescue efforts are underway to find several others buried under the snow. According to initial information, the slide of a huge snow mass was caused by skiers who were descending
Continue ReadingAssociated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It’s perhaps Rio de Janeiro’s hardest trail. It features one particularly daunting section requiring a perilous scramble that can cause hikers to freeze up with fright. But 40-year-old paraplegic Ezequiel da Luz traversed jungle and surmounted rocks this week to reach Pedra da Gavea’s peak that towers over
Continue ReadingROME (AP) — Italy’s data protection authority says it has fined OpenAI $15.6 million after wrapping up a probe into the collection of personal data by its generative artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The country’s privacy watchdog, known as Garante, said its investigation showed that OpenAI processed users’ personal data to train ChatGPT “without having an
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our
Continue ReadingCOLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — People seeking copies of police and jail videos in Ohio may have to pay up to $750 per department if Gov. Mike DeWine signs a measure approved by the state Legislature. The amendment to the state’s sunshine laws was quietly introduced and passed early Thursday by the GOP-controlled Legislature. It’s not
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful ethnic armed group in western Myanmar is claiming to have scored a major victory in the war against the ruling military, even as neighboring nations at a meeting in Thailand were discussing efforts to end the conflict peacefully. The capture by the Arakan Army of a strategically important
Continue ReadingThe long-awaited second season of “Squid Game” on Netflix and singing superstar Andrea Bocelli’s Christmas TV special are some of this week’s new streaming entertainment releases. British filmmaker Andrea Arnold offers perhaps her most divisive movie yet with “Bird,” a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old who meets a stranger named Bird, while on Wednesday, there’s
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities in the northwest want warring tribes to hand over their weapons after weeks of deadly clashes. Sectarian clashes flared last month in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after gunmen ambushed a convoy and killed 52 people. Most of them were Shiite Muslims. It triggered retaliatory
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The military has ordered new safety guidelines for a key part in all Osprey aircraft after a recent accident revealed the same problem that had caused a fatal crash in Japan last year. During a Nov. 20 flight involving a CV-22B Osprey in New Mexico, the crew received warnings that
Continue ReadingAP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Robbie Williams heard in “Better Man” is Williams, himself. But the Williams seen in the movie is a computer-generated chimpanzee. Michael Gracey, who directed the 2017 musical hit “The Greatest Showman,” had the novel idea that the British pop star should get the big-screen biopic treatment, but
Continue ReadingAP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — As The Associated Press’ music writer, Maria Sherman has seen more than 80 concerts in 2024. Here are some of her picks for the best and biggest shows of the year. Most shows on this list were seen in the New York metropolitan area — unless otherwise noted
Continue ReadingAP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — As The Associated Press’ music writer, Maria Sherman has seen more than 80 concerts in 2024. Here are some of her picks for the best and biggest shows of the year. Most shows on this list were seen in the New York metropolitan area — unless otherwise noted
Continue ReadingAssociated Press EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) — For centuries, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida has called the Everglades home. But decades of engineering projects have devastated their ancestral lands and an ecosystem that’s sustained them. Water mismanagement has contributed to fires, floods and water pollution in their communities and cultural sites. Climate change, and
Continue ReadingAP Basketball Writer LeBron James set a record, which was good. Stephen Curry set a personal record, which was not good. Detroit faced the biggest early deficit of any team this season. Golden State faced the biggest overall deficit of any game this season. And Victor Wembanyama showed, yet again, that the unusual is his
Continue ReadingAP Basketball Writer LeBron James set a record, which was good. Stephen Curry set a personal record, which was not good. Detroit faced the biggest early deficit of any team this season. Golden State faced the biggest overall deficit of any game this season. And Victor Wembanyama showed, yet again, that the unusual is his
Continue ReadingAssociated Press EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) — As a boy, when the water was low Talbert Cypress from the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida rummaged through the Everglades’ forests, swam in its swampy ponds and fished in its canals. But the vast wetlands near Miami have radically changed since Cypress was younger. Now 42 and
Continue ReadingWUSA, FAIRFAX COUNTY POLICE, CNN By Karina Tsui, CNN (CNN) — The FBI has arrested a student at George Mason University in Virginia for allegedly plotting a mass casualty attack on the Israeli consulate in New York, according to a federal court filing. Egyptian national Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan faces a slew of federal
Continue ReadingBUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that European leaders must acknowledge the need to change their strategy regarding Ukraine. In comments to Hungary’s state broadcaster on Friday, Orbán argued that the current strategy was not working and Russia was advancing on the frontlines. He added that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s
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