Top General News
Government funding bill clears Congress and heads to President Biden, averting a shutdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump's demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. ...
Senate passes Social Security benefits boost for many public service retirees
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation early Saturday to boost Social Security payments for millions of people, pushing a longtime priority for former public employees through Congress in one of its last acts for the year. The bipartisan bill, which next heads to President...
Government funding difficulties create gloom for federal workers before Christmas
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Johnny Zuagar says he’s tried to hide his worries about a potential government shutdown from his three boys as he weighs how much to spend on Christmas presents. “I’ve got to keep a poker face,” Zuagar, a statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau, said...
Musk helped kill a congressional spending bill. But much of what he spread was misinformation
President-elect Donald Trump's billionaire ally Elon Musk played a key role this week in killing a bipartisan funding proposal that would have prevented a government shutdown, railing against the plan in a torrent of more than 100 X posts that included multiple false claims. The X...
Death toll in attack on Christmas market in Germany rises to 5, with more than 200 injured
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans on Saturday mourned both the victims and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor intentionally drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people, including a small child, and injuring at least 200 others. ...
Sectarian violence in Syria has been less intense than feared since Assad's ouster
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The toppling of Bashar Assad has raised tentative hopes that Syrians might live peacefully and as equals after a half century of authoritarian rule. While there have been bursts of deadly sectarian violence in the days since Assad was ousted, it’s nothing...
What will Syria's future look like? The answer could lie in other Arab countries' recent pasts
CAIRO (AP) — Even with hopes running high, so much can go wrong when a country ousts a longtime dictator and tries to start anew. The Middle Eastern and North African nations that attempted to transition to democracy in recent years can attest to that. Now it's Syria's turn to try...
Amazon and Starbucks workers are on strike. Trump might have something to do with it
Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract. The strikes that started Thursday and...
Indonesians mark 2 decades since the tragic tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Two decades after a catastrophic tsunami destroyed her village, Tria Asnani still cries when she recalls how she lost her mother while trying to escape the giant waves. Asnani, now a school teacher, was only 17 at the time. Her father, who was a...
NORAD's Santa tracker was a Cold War morale boost. Now it attracts millions of kids
The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time. Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about...
Latest General News
What we know about the suspect behind the German Christmas market attack
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany on Saturday was still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg. Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has been living in...
France's Mayotte struggles to recover as cyclone overwhelms hospitals
MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — A week after its worst cyclone in nearly a century, France’s impoverished Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte is still grappling to count the dead, restore essential services and aid a beleaguered population. Already stretched thin, hospitals are overwhelmed with...
Death toll in attack on Christmas market in Germany rises to 5, with more than 200 injured
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans on Saturday mourned both the victims and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor intentionally drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people, including a small child, and injuring at least 200 others. ...
German chancellor: Nearly 40 people 'are so seriously injured we must be very worried about them' after market attack
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — German chancellor: Nearly 40 people 'are so seriously injured we must be very worried about them' after market attack.State governor says the death toll in the Magdeburg Christmas market attack has risen to 5
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — State governor says the death toll in the Magdeburg Christmas market attack has risen to 5.Cyprus can help rid Syria of chemical weapons and search for its missing, Cypriot top diplomat says
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday. Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos...
Farmers are still reeling months after Hurricane Helene ravaged crops across the South
LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Twisted equipment and snapped tree limbs still litter Chris Hopkins’ Georgia farm more than two months after Hurricane Helene made its deadly march across the South. An irrigation sprinkler system about 300 feet (92 meters) long lay overturned in a field, its...
A rocket fired from Yemen strikes an area of Tel Aviv overnight, lightly injuring 16 people
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people slightly injured by shattered glass from nearby windows, the Israeli military said Saturday. A further 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid...
Government funding bill clears Congress and heads to President Biden, averting a shutdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump's demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. ...
Ukrainian drones strike deep into Russian territory, hundreds of miles from the front line
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine brought the war into the heart of Russia Saturday morning with drone attacks that local authorities said damaged residential buildings in the city of Kazan in the Tatarstan region, over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the front line. The press...
