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By Jennifer Hansler, CNN Aqaba, Jordan (CNN) — The United States has had direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Syrian rebel group now in de-facto control of the country, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday. The first public confirmation of direct interaction with the US-designated terrorist group, known as HTS, came at the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso knelt to pray when officers came to take her to an execution site in May 2015, just feet from her isolation cell on an Indonesian prison island, where a 13-member firing squad was waiting. While she prayed, the Philippines government was
Continue ReadingOAKLAND, Wis. (AP) — Officials say roughly 70,000 gallons of oil from a pipeline spilled into the ground in Wisconsin. The problem was discovered Nov. 11 in Jefferson County, 60 miles west of Milwaukee, by an Enbridge Energy technician. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel cited a federal accident report. Enbridge says the spill on the company’s
Continue ReadingBy AJ Willingham, CNN (CNN) — Editor’s Note: Get 5 Good Things in your inbox each week by subscribing to 5 Things right here. I’m not much of a hugger. Sure, I’ll bust out the warm fuzzies for relatives around the holidays but I’m not like, say, my best friend, who prefers her hugs to
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has added a prominent defense lawyer to his legal team as Manhattan prosecutors work to return him from Pennsylvania to face a murder charge. Luigi Mangione will be represented by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who was a high-ranking deputy in the Manhattan
Continue ReadingBy Alaa Elassar and Allison Chinchar, CNN (CNN) — For the first time in recorded history, downtown San Francisco was included in a tornado warning on Saturday as severe storms swept through the city, just one week after a tsunami warning triggered widespread panic in the region. The National Weather Service in the San Francisco
Continue ReadingAUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A U.S. Army installation in Georgia was locked down after a person was shot and killed in what base authorities described as an isolated incident. The shooter was apprehended and taken into custody Saturday, and an “all-clear” was given about two hours after Fort Eisenhower went into lockdown. The shooting took
Continue ReadingAP Diplomatic Writer AQABA, Jordan (AP) — American officials have been in direct contact with the terrorist-designated rebel group that led the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday. Blinken, speaking at a news conference in Jordan, was the first U.S. official to publicly confirm contacts between the
Continue ReadingAP Diplomatic Writer AQABA, Jordan (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up perhaps his last Middle East mission as America’s top diplomat. His aim has been preventing Syria from spiraling out of control after the sudden ouster of President Bashar Assad. Blinken was one of several senior U.S. officials traveling across the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MORONI, Comoros (AP) — Officials say the French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean has suffered extensive damage from Cyclone Chido. They say several people have died. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau says “We’re afraid the toll will be high” following an emergency meeting in Paris. France’s new Prime Minister François Bayrou
Continue ReadingAssociated Press LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump huddled with allies and a Republican cause célèbre at Saturday’s Army-Navy football game, taking in one of the most storied rivalries in college sports while spotlighting his emerging national security team. Trump was joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance, embattled Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, potential backup
Continue ReadingKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian drone strikes on southern Russia killed a 9-year-old boy and set fire to a major oil terminal, officials said Saturday, the day after Moscow launched a massive aerial attack on its neighbor that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said was one of the heaviest bombardments of the country’s energy sector in
Continue ReadingDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in Iran has sentenced Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh to 10 years on prison after finding him guilty of collaborating with a hostile government. Reza Valizadeh is a former journalist for the U.S.-government-funded Voice of America’s Farsi language service and also has worked for Radio Farda, an outlet
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s federal police have arrested Gen. Walter Braga Netto, a member of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s Cabinet, in connection with an alleged coup plot, the Supreme Court said in a statement. Braga Netto was formally accused by police in November, along with Bolsonaro and 35 other people, of a
Continue ReadingBy Chris Boyette, CNN (CNN) — Dick Van Dyke had to evacuate. So did Mark Hammill and Cher. But some 3,000 students at Pepperdine University were told to stay put, even as wildfire flames raged toward their campus. With some 20,000 Malibu residents ordered, or at least warned, to evacuate the looming Franklin Fire, some
Continue ReadingBELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s president says the United States plans to introduce sanctions against Serbia’s main gas supplier that is controlled by Russia. President Aleksandar Vucic told state RTS broadcaster on Saturday that Serbia has been officially informed that the decision on sanctions will come into force on Jan. 1 but that he has
Continue ReadingAssociated Press TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Marines have begun a partial transfer from Okinawa to Guam, 12 years after Japan and the United States agreed on their realignment to reduce the heavy burden of American troop presence on the southern Japanese island. The relocation began Saturday with 100 members of III Marine Expeditionary Force stationed
Continue ReadingBy Christian Edwards and Sophie Tanno, CNN (CNN) — Georgian lawmakers voted in a far-right former soccer star as the country’s next president on Saturday, deepening tensions between the pro-Russian government and pro-Western opposition amid mounting popular anger over the former’s decision to halt European Union accession talks. Mikheil Kavelashvili, 53, is a former MP
Continue ReadingBy Fredreka Schouten, David Wright and Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN (CNN) — Nearly three dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to serve in his incoming administration donated to his campaign or to the deep-pocketed outside groups that worked to elect him, a CNN analysis of federal campaign records shows. They range from tech multibillionaire Elon
Continue ReadingDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — PEN America has condemned the arrest of Reza Khandan, Iranian activist and husband of leading human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. Karin Deutsch Karlekar, Director of Writers at Risk at the literary and human rights organization demanded Khandan’s immediate release. The pro-reform Shagh Daily cited Mahmoud Behzadi Rad, an Iranian
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