2 days Ago By AP
The world welcomes 2025 with light shows, embraces and ice plunges WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — From Sydney to Mumbai to Nairobi, communities around the world are welcoming 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges. Auckland became the first major city to celebrate. Countries in the South Pacific Ocean were the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball drop in Times Square in New York.
Conflict muted acknowledgements of 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine. American Samoa will be among the last to welcome the New Year, a full 24 hours after New Zealand. A new year dawns on a Middle East torn by conflict and change DAMASCUS (AP) — The streets were buzzing with excitement in Damascus as Syrians welcomed in a new year that seemed to many to bring a promise of a brighter future after the unexpected fall of Bashar Assad’s government weeks earlier.
While Syrians in the capital looked forward to a new beginning after the ousting of Assad, the mood was more somber along Beirut’s Mediterranean promenade. That's where residents shared cautious hopes for the new year, reflecting on a country still reeling from war and ongoing crises. The last year was a dramatic one in the Middle East, bringing calamity to some and hope to others.
US imposes sanctions on Russian and Iranian groups over disinformation targeting American voters WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has imposed sanctions on two groups linked to Russian and Iranian disinformation campaigns targeting this year's election.
Treasury officials announced the actions Tuesday, saying the two groups sought to spread false claims designed to stoke political tension and undermine the candidates ahead of November's vote. Officials say the Russian organization worked with Russian military intelligence and used artificial intelligence to create fake videos about American candidates. The Iranian group is accused of working at the direction of Iran's military to spread disinformation aimed at inciting voters.
Both countries have rejected accusations that they sought to meddle with the election. Trump calls it the 'center of the universe.' Mar-a-Lago is a magnet for those seeking influence PALM BEACH, Fla.
(AP) — President-elect Donald Trump calls his Mar-a-Lago resort the "center of the universe.” Famous figures such as Elon Musk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pop up at events held daily at the opulent club. Over the weekend, Mike Love of the Beach Boys performed the band’s hits under a tent at Mar-a-Lago as Trump wandered through the crowd and swung his fists to the music.
Sightings of those passing through offer a glimpse into the workings of Trump’s incoming White House, how he is setting priorities for his administration and what some VIPs are doing to curry favor. US and Boeing investigators examine the site of a deadly South Korean plane crash SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A team of U.S.
investigators including representatives from Boeing have examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea. Authorities meanwhile are conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash.
The plane was seen having an engine trouble and preliminary examinations also say the pilots received a bird strike warning from the ground control center and issued a distress signal as well. But many experts say the landing gear issue was likely the main cause of the crash. Jimmy Carter sought to expand democracy worldwide long after he left the White House HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Jimmy Carter helped expand democracy around the world long after he left the White House.
His efforts gave rise to the Carter Center, which promotes fair elections as a vehicle for peace. It has monitored 125 elections in 40 countries and three tribal nations since it first started the work in 1989. David Carroll is head of the center’s democracy program.
He says the former president had moral authority and credibility as someone who had both won and lost elections. That was essential to the trust people placed in him. Carter died Sunday at 100.
Woman burned to death in New York subway is identified as 57-year-old from New Jersey NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police say they’ve identified the woman who died earlier this month after being set on fire while asleep in a New York subway train. The victim is 57-year-old Debrina Kawam of New Jersey. She had worked at the pharmaceutical giant Merck from 2000 until 2002, but New York's social services department said she recently had briefly been in a city homeless shelter.
Thirty-three-year-old Sebastian Zapeta has been indicted on murder and arson charges in her Dec. 22 death. He hasn't entered a plea.
Police identified The Pentagon chief loses bid to reject 9/11 plea deals WASHINGTON (AP) — A military appeals court has ruled against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's effort to throw out the plea deals reached for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants in the 9/11 attacks. The decision Monday night puts back on track the agreements that would have the three men plead guilty in exchange for being spared the possibility of the death penalty. The Sept.
11, 2001, attacks by al-Qaida killed nearly 3,000 people. The military judge hearing the 9/11 case said Austin lacked standing to throw out the plea deals after they were underway. That had set up the Defense Department’s appeal to the military appeals court.
The killing of an 18-year-old Ohio woman was solved with DNA technology after 43 years COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A man fatally shot last month as authorities attempted to serve him an indictment on federal gun charges has been identified as the killer of an 18-year-old Ohio woman whose beating death had gone unsolved for 43 years. Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann said Debra Lee Miller's case was reopened in 2021. New DNA technology produced “staggering” evidence that James Vanest, Miller's then-neighbor, killed her in her apartment on April 29, 1981.
County prosecutors were preparing a case against him when Vanest was shot dead in a Canton-area motel standoff with federal marshals and local SWAT officers on Nov. 18. The dill of a lifetime? In a nation that’s enduring its own sour patch, the pickle dominated 2024 SHARPSBURG, Pa.
(AP) — When did we know for sure? Was it April, when Nature Made introduced its pickle-flavored gummy vitamins? Was it November, when Petco’s “Pickle Mania” promotion offered 26 different pickle-themed toys for dogs and cats? Maybe it was the day last month that a food scholar was heard to utter, “Everyone can kind of see their needs met by pickles.” Tangy Pickle Doritos. Grill Mates Dill Pickle Seasoning for your steak.
Pickle mayonnaise, pickle hummus, pickle cookies, pickle gummies. Spicy pickle challenges. Pickleback shots at the bar.
Pickle juice and Dr. Pepper, heaven help us. Prepared Foods, an industry newsletter, said it outright in September: “The pickle obsession is at an all-time high.
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