By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Americans stepped up their spending in December more than expected, closing out the holiday season and the year on an upbeat tone. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that retail sales rose 0.6% in December compared with a November’s 0.3% increase. Economists had expected consumers to
Continue ReadingBy YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer Wall Street pointed lower early Wednesday following market declines in Asia and Europe. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and for the S&P 500 each fell 0.4% before the bell. Investors were anticipating upcoming earnings reports, as well as potential moves by the world’s central banks, to gauge
Continue ReadingBy MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan Airlines has named Mitsuko Tottori as its first woman president following a collision between one of its planes and a coast guard aircraft during Japanese New Year holidays that left five dead. Tottori — currently senior managing executive officer of JAL and the first woman to
Continue ReadingBy MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Steely Dan, R.E.M., Timbaland, Hillary Lindsey and Dean Pitchford will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an incoming class of musicians who have scaled the heights of country, classic rock, pop, hip-hop and alt-rock. Steely Dan — co-founded by Donald Fagan and the
Continue ReadingCNN By Zachary Cohen and Kristin Wilson, CNN US Capitol Police are investigating comments allegedly made by pro-Trump political operative Roger Stone in the weeks before the 2020 election in which he appears to discuss assassinating two well-known House Democrats, two sources familiar with the probe confirmed to CNN. The FBI is also involved in
Continue ReadingLONDON (AP) — Two British brothers who broke into a Geneva museum and stole millions of pounds (dollars) worth of Chinese Ming Dynasty artifacts have been sentenced to prison in Switzerland. The Metropolitan Police say Louis and Stewart Ahearne were each sentenced Tuesday to 3 1/2 years in a Swiss prison following an investigation by
Continue ReadingCNN By Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — An aide who called 911 requesting an ambulance to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s house on New Year’s Day asked that the ambulance be discreet and “not show up with lights and sirens” due to a desire by Austin’s camp to be “subtle.” It’s the latest revelation in what has been a damaging episode for the
Continue ReadingBy JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer Amazon will partner with Diamond Sports as part of a restructuring agreement as the largest owner of regional sports networks looks to emerge from bankruptcy. Diamond owns 18 networks under the Bally Sports banner. Those networks have the rights to 37 professional teams — 11 baseball, 15 NBA and
Continue ReadingBy JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer Amazon will partner with Diamond Sports as part of a restructuring agreement as the largest owner of regional sports networks looks to emerge from bankruptcy. Diamond owns 18 networks under the Bally Sports banner. Those networks have the rights to 37 professional teams — 11 baseball, 15 NBA and
Continue ReadingBy MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Delicate talks to create a new Dutch government around anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders suffered a setback when a lingering immigration issue divided the parties involved in brokering a coalition. People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy senators threw their support behind legislation that could force municipalities
Continue ReadingBy DEEPA BHARATH Associated Press KOTAGIRI, India (AP) — Sacred forests and groves are primeval woodlands that different faith communities around the world have safeguarded for centuries as abodes of the spiritual or the divine. Thousands of sacred forests have survived. They’re the church forests in Ethiopia’s highlands, hillside groves considered holy by Catholics in
Continue ReadingBy CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Residents of the Pacific Northwest suffered through more misery as an ice storm bore down on the region Wednesday, threatening to turn mountain highways treacherous and zap power in bitterly cold temperatures. Much of the region was under an ice storm warning through the morning, promising
Continue ReadingBy DEEPA BHARATH Associated Press SHILLONG, India (AP) — Tambor Lyngdoh made his way through the fern-covered woodland — naming plants, trees, flowers, even stones — as if he were paying older family members a visit. The community leader and entrepreneur was a little boy when his uncle brought him here and said these words:
Continue ReadingBy TOM ODULA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A doomsday cult leader and 30 of his followers have been presented in a Kenyan court to face charges of murdering 191 children. Leader Paul Mackenzie and the other suspects did not enter pleas because the judge granted a request from prosecutors that they undergo mental
Continue ReadingBy JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel cannot achieve “genuine security” without a pathway to a Palestinian state, insisting such a move could help unify the Middle East and isolate Israel’s top rival: Iran. Speaking at World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss ski
Continue ReadingBy MUNIR AHMED and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan recalled its ambassador to Tehran on Wednesday, a day after Iran launched airstrikes on Pakistan that it claimed targeted bases for a militant Sunni separatist group. Islamabad angrily denounced the attack as a “blatant violation” of its airspace and said it killed two
Continue ReadingBy PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British oil giant BP says its interim chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, will be given the job on a permanent basis to replace Bernard Looney. Looney quit after it emerged that he had failed to disclose to the board past relationships with company colleagues. Auchincloss is a 53-year-old
Continue ReadingBy JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — An explosion at a fireworks factory in central Thailand killed at least 23 people on Wednesday, according to provincial officials. The death toll was announced by authorities with Suphan Buri province, where the blast occurred in mid-afternoon. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said officials were
Continue ReadingCNN, WOIO By Sara Smart and Dave Alsup, CNN (CNN) — Police in Elyria, Ohio, deployed exploding flash-bangs while raiding a home last week while a toddler on a ventilator was inside, newly released body-worn camera footage shows, and the mother says her child was harmed during the incident. Footage from eight officers’ body-worn cameras
Continue ReadingCNN, WABC, WCBS, WPIX By John Miller, Nicki Brown and Dakin Andone, CNN New York (CNN) — Authorities across the US are working to ensure New Year’s revelers’ security this weekend, particularly in New York, where law enforcement officials say the war in Gaza has contributed to the concern of lone-wolf attacks, though they stress
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