By KIMBERLY PALMER of NerdWallet Making returns will be more difficult this holiday season because more retailers are charging return fees, but there are ways to avoid them. Reviewing stores’ return policies before buying can mean fewer unpleasant surprises later. In some cases, joining a loyalty program can allow shoppers to avoid return fees while
Continue ReadingBy MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer U.S. Steel, the Pittsburgh steel producer that played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, is being acquired by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $14.1 billion. The transaction is worth about $14.9 billion when including the assumption of debt. The combined company will be among
Continue ReadingBy LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Supporters of Albania’s opposition Democratic Party have protested outside Parliament as a parliamentary commission discussed whether to lift the immunity from prosecution of the party leader. Prosecutors asked lawmakers last week to strip former Prime Minister Sali Berisha of his parliamentary immunity because he didn’t comply
Continue ReadingBy PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government has announced plans to charge a carbon levy on imported raw materials such as aluminum, iron, steel and cement from 2027, in an attempt to prevent firms being undercut by overseas producers. However, the plan has come under criticism from the body representing British
Continue ReadingBy QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Baghdad’s streets are nearly empty on Monday, the main day of polling in the country’s first provincial elections in a decade. The vote has been boycotted by an influential political bloc and marred by scattered and allegations of election violations. The vote to select new provincial council
Continue ReadingBy EMMA BURROWS Associated Press Allies of the imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny say they are searching for him for a 13th day after he failed to appear in court. Navalny’s spokesperson wrote on social media that that Navalny had multiple hearings scheduled Monday. She says some of which were suspended after the politician
Continue ReadingBy Haley Britzky, CNN (CNN) — The USS Carney responded Monday to a distress call from a commercial vessel after it was attacked by “multiple projectiles” in the southern Red Sea, a US military official said. The merchant vessel Swan Atlantic was attacked at roughly 9 a.m. Sanaa time, the official said. US Central Command
Continue ReadingBy Jackie Wattles and Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The first launch in more than a year of Blue Origin’s New Shepard tourism rocket, designed to vault paying customers on brief trips to the edge of space, was scrubbed Monday morning. The Jeff Bezos-founded company said the scrub of the uncrewed science mission was “due
Continue ReadingJason Kravarik, CNN Malibu, California (CNN) — Bridget Thompson says she should be dead. If not for a late cheer team meeting on a Tuesday night in October, the Pepperdine University senior would have been with her four best friends — three were her roommates — heading to an off-campus mixer. “I should have been
Continue ReadingBy BOUBACAR DIALLO Associated Press CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — An explosion and inferno at Guinea’s main fuel depot in the capital of Conakry has left several people dead or injured. Guinea’s presidency says the fire broke out at the Guinean Petroleum Company depot shortly after a massive explosion past midnight Sunday. The area in the
Continue ReadingBERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he has tested positive for COVID-19. The government says a visit by Slovakia’s prime minister had to be canceled as a result. Scholz wrote on the social media platform X that he was experiencing few symptoms on Monday and “counting on a mild case.” His spokesperson says
Continue ReadingBy Katie Lobosco, CNN Washington (CNN) — There’s one form prospective and current college students must submit in order to receive federal financial aid, and it looks a lot different than in prior years. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as the FAFSA, has long been due for an update. On December
Continue ReadingBy TARA COPP, MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was expected to press Israel to wind down major combat operations in Gaza on a visit Monday, aiming to leverage Washington’s strong support for the war against Hamas militants for action to blunt its devastating
Continue ReadingBy JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — An early official vote count of Serbia’s weekend election on Monday confirmed victory for the ruling populist party in a parliamentary vote in the Balkan country, but political tensions rose over reported irregularities in the capital, Belgrade. An opposition group said it was robbed of victory
Continue ReadingBy DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines is paying a $35 million fine as part of a $140 million settlement with the government over a meltdown last holiday season. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday the settlement shows his department will hold airlines accountable if they fail to treat customers properly.
Continue ReadingBy TARA COPP, MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was expected to press Israel to wind down major combat operations in Gaza on a visit Monday, in the latest test of whether the U.S. can leverage its unwavering support for the offensive to blunt
Continue ReadingBy Melissa Alonso and Jessica Flynn, CNN (CNN) — Chance Comanche, a former player with the NBA G League’s Stockton Kings, and his girlfriend have been arrested and charged in connection with the kidnapping and killing of a missing woman whose remains were found in a desert near Las Vegas, police announced Sunday. Comanche, 27,
Continue ReadingBERLIN (AP) — The Berlin Zoo has sent the first giant pandas born in Germany to China, dispatching the 4-year-olds on a journey that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Pit and Paule, who also are known by the Chinese names Meng Xiang und Meng Yuan, departed from Berlin on Saturday aboard an Air China
Continue ReadingPar RENATA BRITO et FELIPE DANA Associated Press FASS BOYE, Senegal (AP) — Le voyage de Fass Boye, petit village de pêche sénégalaise, jusqu’aux îles Canaries en Espagne, porte d’entrée de l’Union européenne, était censé durer une semaine. Mais plus d’un mois plus tard, le bateau en bois transportant 101 hommes et garçons s’éloignait de
Continue ReadingBy RENATA BRITO and FELIPE DANA Associated Press FASS BOYE, Senegal (AP) — The voyage from the struggling Senegalese fishing town of Fass Boye to Spain’s Canary Islands, a gateway to the European Union where they hoped to find work, was supposed to take a week. But the wooden boat carrying 101 men and boys
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