Top General News

Mediators look to extend truce in Gaza on its final day, with one more hostage swap planned
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — International mediators appeared to make progress Wednesday on extending the truce in Gaza, encouraging the territory's Hamas rulers to keep freeing hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further respite from Israel's air and ground offensive. It...

US military Osprey aircraft with 6 aboard crashes off southern Japan, at least 1 dead
TOKYO (AP) — A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying six people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan has been pronounced dead, coast guard officials said. The cause of the crash and the status of the five others on board were...

Rosalynn Carter set for funeral and burial in the town where she and her husband were born
PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Rosalynn Carter will receive her final farewells Wednesday in the same tiny town where she was born and that served as a home base as she and her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, climbed to the White House and spent four decades thereafter as global humanitarians. ...

Trump embraces the Jan. 6 rioters on the trail. In court, his lawyers hope to distance him from them
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has embraced the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as patriots, vowed to pardon a large portion of them if he wins a second term and even collaborated on a song with a group of jailed defendants. In his election interference case...

Climate contradictions key at UN talks. Less future warming projected, yet there's more current pain
The world is heading for considerably less warming than projected a decade ago, but that good news is overwhelmed by much more pain from current climate change than scientists anticipated, experts said. That’s just one of a set of seemingly contradictory conditions facing climate...

Was the Vermont shooting of 3 men of Palestinian descent a hate crime? Under state law it might be
BOSTON (AP) — As authorities in Vermont push forward with their investigation of the weekend shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent, they are weighing whether to treat the violence as a hate crime. The three young men were shot and seriously injured Saturday...

US life expectancy rose last year, but it remains below its pre-pandemic level
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy rose last year — by more than a year — but still isn't close to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 rise was mainly due to the waning pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said Wednesday. But even...

Wolverines threatened with extinction as climate change melts their snowy mountain refuges, US says
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The North American wolverine will receive long-delayed federal protections under a Biden administration proposal released Wednesday in response to scientists warning that climate change will likely melt away the rare species’ snowy mountain refuges. Across...

Sports Illustrated is the latest media company damaged by an AI experiment gone wrong
NEW YORK (AP) — Computer-generated writers ... writing computer-generated stories? Sports Illustrated is the latest media company to see its reputation damaged by being less than forthcoming — if not outright dishonest — about who or what is writing its stories at the dawn of...

In the US, Black survivors are nearly invisible in the Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis
BALTIMORE (AP) — As Charles Richardson gradually lost his eyesight to complications from diabetes, certain childhood memories haunted him even more. The Catholic priest appeared vividly in his mind’s eye — the one who promised him a spot on a travel basketball team, took him...
Latest General News

Wolverines threatened with extinction as climate change melts their snowy mountain refuges, US says
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The North American wolverine will receive long-delayed federal protections under a Biden administration proposal released Wednesday in response to scientists warning that climate change will likely melt away the rare species’ snowy mountain refuges. Across...

LGBTQ+ rights group sues over Iowa law banning school library books, gender identity discussion
Several families are suing to stop Iowa's new law that bans books from school libraries, forbids teachers from raising LGBTQ+ issues and forces educators in some cases to out the gender identity of students to their parents. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and Lambda Legal...
Sri Lanka says it struck a deal with creditors on debt restructuring to clear way for IMF funds
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka said Wednesday that it has reached an agreement in principle with a group of creditors including India and Japan on debt restructuring, a crucial move toward unlocking a second installment of a $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund....

US military Osprey aircraft with 6 aboard crashes off southern Japan, at least 1 dead
TOKYO (AP) — A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying six people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan has been pronounced dead, coast guard officials said. The cause of the crash and the status of the five others on board were...

US economic growth for last quarter is revised up to a 5.2% annual rate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shrugging off higher interest rates, America's consumers spent enough to help drive the economy to a brisk 5.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported Wednesday in an upgrade from its previous estimate. The government had previously...

Emirati-designated COP28 leader forcefully denies report UAE wanted to seek oil deals in summit
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Emirati president-designate for the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate talks forcefully denied Wednesday a report alleging his nation planned to use the summit to strike oil and gas deals. Sultan al-Jaber, who also leads the massive...

Argentina's president-elect announces his pick for economy minister
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei announced Wednesday he has chosen Luis Caputo, a former finance minister and Central Bank chief known as an expert in markets, to lead the Economy Ministry when the right-wing leader takes office on Dec. 10. ...
US says wolverines are threatened with extinction as climate change melts their snowy refuges in the Rocky Mountains

Italian migration odyssey 'Io Capitano' hopes to connect with viewers regardless of politics
MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — Italian director Matteo Garrone hopes that the way his film “Io Capitano” frames the journey taken by Senegalese teenagers to Europe as an adventure, albeit a harrowing one, will make it more compelling to audiences regardless of politics. The film,...

Biden targets GOP Rep. Boebert in her district in a fresh political attack on Republicans
DENVER (AP) — President Joe Biden will try to turn Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado into the embodiment of Republican opposition to his agenda as he visits her congressional district on Wednesday. The trip comes as Biden struggles with low approval ratings while he prepares for a...
