By Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — The National Park Service is warning that it will close most US national parks if Congress fails to come to an agreement to avoid a government shutdown this weekend, and a popular social media campaign celebrating fat bears will be canceled. The parks will close as the agency applies
Continue ReadingBy ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Entrances to national parks will be blocked and thousands of park rangers will be furloughed if Congress doesn’t reach a budget agreement this weekend, the Department of Interior said Friday. The stance is a reversal from five years ago, when the Trump administration kept some parks open
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By Amy O’Kruk and Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — The Senate on Wednesday passed a stopgap bill to keep the government open, averting a shutdown for now. The bill was approved by the House on Tuesday and will now be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Here’s a guide to what
Continue ReadingBy Christopher Hickey, CNN Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson may have averted a government shutdown this week, but Congress has teed up another shutdown threat in the new year with funding deadlines looming on January 19 and February 2 in 2024. The last government shutdown, from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019, lasted 35 days
Continue ReadingBy Elizabeth Wolfe, Sara Smart and Omar Jimenez, CNN (CNN) — Just moments before police believe Baltimore tech executive Pava LaPere was killed, surveillance footage captured her alleged attacker following her into the elevator of her apartment building where her body would be discovered on the roof days later, court documents say. The documents shed
Continue ReadingMADRID (AP) — A new animal welfare law in Spain outlaws the use of animals for recreational activities that cause them pain and suffering but allows bullfights and hunting with dogs. Spain’s first specific animal rights legislation took effect on Friday. The law particularly targets the mistreatment of domestic animals,. It bans the buying of
Continue ReadingBy ABDUL SATTAR Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of people celebrating the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 52 people and wounding nearly 70 others, authorities said, in one of the country’s deadliest attacks targeting civilians in months. An
Continue ReadingBy MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami has hosted a ghost story reading event in Tokyo amid growing attention before the announcement of this year’s Nobel Prize in literature. Murakami said at Thursday’s reading that he enjoys scary stories and wants to write more of them. The event featured one
Continue ReadingBy KEVIN SCHEMBRI ORLAND Associated Press VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — The leaders of nine southern European Union countries are meeting in Malta on Friday to discuss common challenges such as migration. The nations represented at Friday’s huddle included host Malta, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Slovenia and Croatia, which have a
Continue ReadingBy JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Swiss federal prosecutors say they have indicted the daughter of a former president of Uzbekistan on charges including money laundering, bribery and participation in a criminal network that used “violence and intimidation.” Authorities have already frozen or confiscated hundreds of millions of Swiss francs (dollars) in the
Continue ReadingBy DAVID RISING Associated Press HANGZHOU, China (AP) — China’s League of Legends team hung on to take bronze in the Asian Games esports event by overcoming a strong challenge from Vietnam. China’s team was blanked Thursday by South Korea. The South Korean team was powered by 27-year-old Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. He is known to
Continue ReadingBy ABDUL SATTAR Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A powerful bomb exploded near a mosque at a rally celebrating the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 35 people and injuring nearly 70 others, police and a government official said. The bombing occurred in Mastung, a district in
Continue ReadingBy DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation has sharply dropped in Europe. The official figure released Friday by the European Union’s statistics agency was 4.3% in September for the 20 countries that use the euro, down from 5.2% in August. That raises hopes consumers will eventually get relief from costlier groceries,
Continue ReadingBy AVET DEMOURIAN Associated Press YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — More than 70% of Nagorno-Karabakh’s original population has fled to Armenia as the region’s separatist government said it will dissolve itself and the unrecognized republic inside Azerbaijan will cease to exist by year’s end after a three-decade bid for independence. By Friday morning 84,770 people had
Continue ReadingBy ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares advanced in Europe on Friday after a day of mixed and sparse trading in Asia, where many markets were closed for public holidays. Oil prices edged higher and U.S. futures advanced. Crude oil prices are hovering near their highest levels this year, adding to the
Continue ReadingBy JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday is expected to release a playbook on best practices for training workers as the low 3.8% unemployment rate and years of underinvestment have left manufacturers, construction firms and other employers with unfilled jobs. Worker shortages have been a frustration for some employers,
Continue ReadingBy Clare Foran, Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson, CNN (CNN) — Congress remained on track Friday to trigger a government shutdown, as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suffered another high-profile defeat when the chamber failed to advance a last-ditch stopgap bill to extend government funding past a critical deadline. McCarthy is under intense pressure as House
Continue ReadingBy JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has cast doubt on the prospect of the European Union beginning negotiations any time soon for Ukraine to join the bloc. Speaking to state radio on Friday, Orbán said the EU will have to answer “very long and difficult questions until
Continue ReadingBy ABDUL SATTAR Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A powerful bomb exploded near a mosque at a rally celebrating the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 35 people and injuring nearly 70 others, police and a government official said. The bombing occurred in Mastung, a district in
Continue ReadingBy LEFTERIS PITARAKIS and PETROS GIANNAKOURIS Associated Press VOLOS, Greece (AP) — Bad weather has eased in central Greece, leaving widespread flooding and infrastructure damage across the farming region that has been battered by two powerful storms in less than a month. On Friday, municipal workers were handing out bottled water in the storm-hit city
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