NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Britain will provide intelligence to a newly formed unit in Cyprus tasked with preventing Russia evade international sanctions. That’s according to an agreement on Tuesday following talks between visiting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides. Starmer was the first U.K. prime minister to visit the former
Continue ReadingCalMatters Standing in his front yard in Wilmington, Jose Ulloa can’t get a sentence out without coughing. Heavy-duty trucks, headed to and from the Port of Los Angeles, pass in front of his home all day, their engines roaring and their exhaust spewing into the air. Ulloa, who was diagnosed with asthma a few years
Continue ReadingBUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine court has dropped aggravated sexual assault charges against two professional French rugby players accused of raping a woman after a match in the country earlier this year. On Tuesday the judge in Mendoza, some 1,000 kilometers west of the capital of Buenos Aires, dismissed the case against the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BERLIN (AP) — Nearly a decade after hundreds of thousands of Syrians arrived in Germany, many are now well-integrated and settled in jobs — and tens of thousands have gained German citizenship. Many are concerned about some German politicians’ reactions to the fall of Bashar Assad. Soon after his removal from power, a
Continue ReadingAP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ang Lee, the protean filmmaker of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Brokeback Mountain,” will receive the Directors Guild of America’s lifetime achievement award. The guild announced Tuesday that Lee, 70, will be given the award at the 77th DGA Awards on Feb. 8. The DGA, which considers the
Continue ReadingBy Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — The Biden administration’s challenge to Idaho’s strict abortion ban divided a federal appeals court that heard arguments Tuesday in an emergency abortion care case that has already reached the Supreme Court once. Multiple judges on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals raised the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump’s
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. consumers who were tricked into purchases they didn’t want from Fortnite maker Epic Games are now starting to receive refund checks, the Federal Trade Commission said this week. Back in 2022, Epic agreed to pay a total of $520 million to settle complaints revolving around children’s privacy
Continue ReadingAP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Former congressman Matt Gaetz, who withdrew last month as President-elect Trump’s nominee to be U.S. attorney general, has landed a job with the One America News Network. He’ll host a weeknight political talk show and co-host a weekly podcast. His one-hour television show will start in January, given
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ defense minister says that bolstering the defense capacity of the east Mediterranean island nation by getting new armaments is critical for a country so close to the war-wracked Middle East. Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas spoke on Tuesday about defense plans, though he wouldn’t go into specifics about Cyprus’
Continue ReadingAP Medical Writer Women should have the option of taking their own test samples for cervical cancer screening, an influential health panel said Tuesday. Draft recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are aimed at getting more people screened and spreading the word that women can take their own vaginal samples to check for
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says the United States will recognize and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Tuesday that the U.S. would work with groups in Syria and
Continue ReadingMOSCOW (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko says his country is hosting dozens of Russian nuclear weapons and will prepare facilities for the planned deployment of Moscow’s newest hypersonic ballistic missile. His remarks came after he and President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty last week that gave security guarantees to Belarus, including the possible
Continue ReadingCNN By Robert Shackelford, Chris Boyette, Lauren Mascarenhas, Mary Gilbert and Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN (CNN) — The beaches are empty in Malibu as a wildfire tears through swaths of the iconic Southern California coastline, consuming homes and vehicles and forcing residents – including legendary actor Dick Van Dyke – to flee their coveted hillside properties.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official says the Biden administration is opening an investigation into labor and human rights abuses in Nicaragua. The move affects relations with a country the U.S. has a free trade deal with amid growing concerns over President Daniel Ortega’s increasingly authoritarian rule. The investigation being opened by the
Continue ReadingMEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in Mexico say a total of 17 children have died in central Mexico from suspected contamination of IV feeding bags, after four more deaths were confirmed. The country’s public health secretary said 16 of the victims were underweight, premature babies; the other victim was 14 years old. Two bacteria, including
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors sidestepped some Justice Department rules when they seized the phone records of reporters as part of media leak investigations during the Trump administration, according to a new watchdog report being released as the aggressive practice of hunting for journalists’ sources could again be resurrected. The report Tuesday from
Continue ReadingDALLAS (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers finalized a $17 million, one-year contract to add outfielder Michael Conforto on Tuesday along with a $22 million, two-year agreement to retain right-hander Blake Treinen. Conforto, a former first-round draft pick who turns 32 on March 1, hit .237 with 20 homers and 66 RBIs this year for
Continue ReadingSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI has publicly released its new artificial intelligence video generator Sora but the company won’t let most users depict people as it monitors for patterns of misuse. Users of a premium version of OpenAI’s flagship product ChatGPT can now use Sora to instantly create AI-generated videos based on written commands. Among
Continue ReadingBy Hannah Rabinowitz, Evan Perez and Katelyn Polantz, CNN (CNN) — The Justice Department secretly obtained phone records from two members of Congress and 43 staffers – including Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI – during sweeping leak investigations during Trump’s first term, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday. The
Continue ReadingAssociated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The organization spearheading installation of a monument to women’s suffrage at the Ohio Statehouse has received an anonymous $1 million donation. The Capitol Square Foundation announced the gift Monday. It was made in tribute to the late Jo Ann Davidson, the trailblazing first female speaker of the Ohio House,
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