By Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN (CNN) — Israel expects its “Iron Beam” laser defense system to be operational within one year, saying it will bring “a new era of warfare” as it engages in a war of drones and missiles with Iran and its regional partners. The Jewish state spent more than $500 million on deals
Continue ReadingAP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Jodi Picoult’s “Nineteen Minutes” has topped a list compiled by PEN America of the books most often pulled from school shelves. Other works include John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and several novels by
Continue ReadingAssociated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Thieves blew open the door of an art gallery in the southern Netherlands and stole two works from a famous series of screen prints by American pop artist Andy Warhol and left two more badly damaged in the street as they fled the scene of the botched heist,
Continue ReadingAP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A eclectic group of stars — including reality TV’s Ariana Madix, Broadway belter Idina Menzel, hip-hop’s T-Pain, members of the WNBA champions New York Liberty and country duo Dan + Shay — will feature in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Music performers The War and Treaty, Lea
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tried to explain this week that he doesn’t really think Donald Trump’s supporters are “garbage,” but that doesn’t mean that other people don’t believe the label occasionally fits. “I would say that some of them are garbage,” said Samantha Leister, 32, who went to see Kamala Harris
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Israel launched dozens of intense airstrikes across Lebanon’s northeastern farming villages on Friday, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores more, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported. In central Gaza, Palestinians recovered the bodies of 25 people killed in a barrage of Israeli aerial attacks that began Thursday, hospital officials
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump hosted rallies within 7 miles of each other Friday night in the Milwaukee area as part of a fevered final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin’s largest county. Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative
Continue ReadingAssociated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A bus carrying university students on a field trip has skidded off a road and tipped over in central Sri Lanka, killing two people and injuring 39 others. Police say the accident occurred Friday when the driver lost control of the vehicle on a curve in the country’s
Continue ReadingLONDON (AP) — Collins Dictionary has declared “brat” – the album title that became a summer-living ideal – its 2024 word of the year. The word, used by singer Charli XCX as the title of her sixth studio album, has been defined as “characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.” Collins lexicographers said on
Continue ReadingRussia’s top diplomat on Friday met his North Korean counterpart for talks amid reports that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its military in the war in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui’s visit to Moscow and her meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came on the heels of the
Continue ReadingORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A gunman who opened fire during a Halloween street celebration that drew thousands of costumed revelers to downtown Orlando killed two people and wounded seven others early Friday, authorities said. Officers quickly arrested a 17-year-old male suspect, police Chief Eric Smith said during a briefing. Authorities have not yet determined a
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Christians in many countries around the world are celebrating All Saints’ Day, a somber and spiritual day in the church’s liturgical calendar that shares pagan roots with Halloween. Believers and non-believers alike will gather on Friday with family, sweep fallen leaves off the graves of their loved ones and
Continue ReadingBy Paradise Afshar, Andy Rose and Ashley R. Williams, CNN (CNN) — Two people were killed and six others wounded after a teenage shooter opened fire in two locations in downtown Orlando where large crowds had gathered to celebrate Halloween, the city’s police chief said early Friday. A 17-year-old suspect has been charged with two
Continue ReadingAssociated Press CHIVA, Spain. (AP) — Mud cakes her boots, splatters her leggings and the gloves holding her broom. Brown specks freckle her cheeks. The mire covering Alicia Montero is the signature uniform of the impromptu army of volunteers who, for a third day Friday, shoveled and swept out the muck and debris that filled
Continue ReadingATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek police say that an explosion in an Athens apartment that killed a man and severely wounded a woman appears to have been caused by an improvised bomb. Authorities said on Friday that police searching the wrecked apartment seized two handguns and ammunition, as well as mobile phones and other “digital
Continue ReadingBy Betsy Klein, Lauren Fox, Ella Nilsen and Kayla Tausche, CNN (CNN) — On the day President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection, he convened his senior team at the White House, asking for a plan to “run through the tape” in his final six months in office, implementing key laws and cementing foreign policy, chief of
Continue ReadingBy Karina Tsui and Jeff Winter, CNN (CNN) — A Republican-led investigation into antisemitism on college campuses found that administrators “overwhelmingly failed” to clamp down on students and faculty who engaged in antisemitic behavior following Hamas’ attack on Israel last year. The 325-page report released by the US House Education Committee Thursday states college officials
Continue ReadingAssociated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Colm McLoughlin, an Irishman who landed in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates and helped lead Dubai Duty Free into becoming an airport retail behemoth generating billions of dollars a year, has died. He was 81. McLoughlin ran Dubai Duty Free from 1983 until he retired
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s new deputy president has been sworn into office, two weeks after his predecessor was overwhelmingly voted out in an impeachment motion in parliament over allegations of corruption and inciting ethnic division. Kindiki Kithure took office on Friday after a colorful event in the capital, Nairobi attended by government
Continue ReadingALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria has pardoned a journalist who emerged as a key voice during the country’s 2019 pro-democracy protests and was later imprisoned for taking foreign funding for his media outlets and threatening state security. Ihsane El Kadi was released from prison on Thursday evening along with eight others who were imprisoned after
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