By The Associated Press Sydney and Auckland have become the world’s first major cities to ring in 2024, with more than a million revelers cheering spectacular fireworks displays that lit up the skies over Sydney Harbor and New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower. As the clock struck midnight in Australia’s largest city, tons of explosives
Continue ReadingBEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping said China would “surely be reunified” with Taiwan during his televised New Year’s address, renewing Beijing’s threats to take over the self-ruled island, which it considers its own. Taiwan split from China amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing continues to regard the island of 23 million with
Continue ReadingBy NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press Over the past three years, the world’s oldest democracy has been tested in ways not seen in decades. A sitting president tried to overturn an election and his supporters stormed the Capitol to stop the winner from taking power. Supporters of that attack launched a campaign against local election offices,
Continue ReadingDETROIT (AP) — Four people died and two others were injured Saturday in a Michigan house explosion that could be heard miles away, police said. The explosion happened before 4 p.m. in Northfield Township, about 45 miles (72.4 kilometers) west of Detroit. The structure was destroyed, leaving only the basement, Northfield Township Police Lt. David
Continue ReadingBy KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has taken a helicopter flight to check the flooded regions in the northwest of the country, where rivers have swelled and overflowed homes, roads and fields after weeks of heavy rain. In recent days, hundreds of people have been evacuated from affected areas
Continue ReadingBy LUIGI NAVARRA and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Tributes are being paid on the first anniversary of the death of Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis has praised Benedict’s love and wisdom in guiding the church, and Benedict’s private secretary expressed hope he might one day be declared a saint. Benedict was
Continue ReadingBy WAFAA SHURAFA, BASSEM MROUE and TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed at least 35 people Sunday, hospital officials said, as fighting raged across the tiny enclave a day after Israel’s prime minister said the war will continue for “many more months,” resisting international calls
Continue ReadingBy Sophie Tanno, CNN (CNN) — Russia said it launched retaliatory strikes on military sites and “foreign mercenaries” in Kharkiv after Ukraine’s bombardment of the Russian border city of Belgorod killed at least 24 people. At least three people were killed and 28 others were injured after Kharkiv was struck with waves of missiles and
Continue ReadingBy The Associated Press Auckland has become the first major city to ring in 2024, with thousands cheering a fireworks display sprouting from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, and a downtown light show. This year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are overshadowed by the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, which have cast a pall
Continue ReadingBy The Associated Press Auckland has become the first major city to ring in 2024, with thousands cheering a fireworks display sprouting from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, and a downtown light show. This year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are overshadowed by the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, which have cast a pall
Continue ReadingISLAMABAD (AP) — Security forces in Afghanistan killed a number of Tajik and Pakistani nationals and arrested scores others involved in attacks against religious clerics, the public, and mosques, a senior Taliban official said Sunday. Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, Taliban’s appointed defense minister, during a press conference in the capital, Kabul, said dozens of Tajiks and
Continue ReadingBy BINSAR BAKKARA Associated Press MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — Nearly 150 Rohingya refugees, mostly hungry and weak women and children, have reached a beach in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province after weeks at sea, officials said Sunday. The group of 53 men, 39 women and 55 children arrived on Karang Gadih beach in Langkat district late
Continue ReadingBy Zoe Sottile and Kendall Trammell, CNN (CNN) — When the ball drops in New York City’s Times Square to ring in the start of 2024, it’ll actually be late -– in dozens of countries around the world already welcoming the new year. Christmas Island in Kiribati, an island country in the central Pacific Ocean,
Continue ReadingBy AJ Willingham, CNN (CNN) — Hope springs eternal, and for many of us, 2024 is a new dawn. We may have limited time before the bloom of the new year fades and we’re left to confront our untended bad habits and the horrors of the world, so let’s make the most of this fleeting
Continue ReadingBEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. military said Sunday it shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired toward a container ship by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. Hours later, four boats tried to attack the same ship, but U.S. forces opened fire, killing several of the armed crews, the U.S. Central Command said. No
Continue ReadingIstanbul (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed opposition parties for “exploiting” a dispute between two Turkish football clubs and Saudi officials. The Turkish Super Cup final to be played in Saudi Arabia on Friday was postponed indefinitely after Istanbul rivals, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, refused to take to the pitch and returned home.
Continue ReadingBy Chandelis Duster, CNN (CNN) — Adrienne Keeler remembers struggling to stay awake in church on New Year’s Eve as a child while her family praised God for carrying them through another year. Back then, Keeler said she couldn’t wait to get to the part of the church service where everyone said, “Happy New Year!” “I just
Continue ReadingBEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. military says it shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired toward a container ship by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. Hours later, four boats tried to attack the same ship, but U.S. forces opened fire, killing several of the armed crews, the U.S. Central Command said. No one
Continue ReadingTAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China has slammed Taiwan presidential front-runner William Lai as a “destroyer of peace” following a televised debate on Saturday in which he defended Taiwan’s right to rule itself as a democracy. Chen Binhua, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Lai’s discourse at the debate was “full of confrontational thinking.” He
Continue ReadingSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean capital, Seoul, received the biggest single-day snowfall recorded in December for more than 40 years on Saturday but there have been no reports of any weather-related deaths or injuries. The country’s weather agency said Sunday that 12.2 centimeters (4.8 inches) of snow fell on Seoul the previous
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