Author: Associated Press

By  MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER NEW YORK (AP) — As the Justice Department gets ready to release its files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, a court battle over sealed documents in Maxwell’s criminal case is offering clues about what could…

REEDS SPRING, Mo. (AP) — The first year Shirley Mease cooked up a free Thanksgiving feast in the Reeds Spring High School cafeteria, icy weather kept most people away. But when her family knocked on doors to offer the meals, the gratefulness…

By  CHAN HO-HIM and KEN MORITSUGU HONG KONG (AP) — Police in Hong Kong arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter, several local news media reported, in connection with a blaze that has killed at least 36 people and left another 279 missing…

By  NICOLE WINFIELD VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip, a pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon that would be delicate under any circumstances but is even more fraught given Mideast tensions and the media glare that…

BIG STONE GAP, Va. (AP) — A Virginia high school football coach who disappeared days before his undefeated team’s playoff game is being sought on charges of possessing child sexual abuse material and using a computer to solicit a minor,…

By  CHRISTOPHER RUGABER WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits declined last week in a sign that overall layoffs remain low, even as several high-profile companies have announced job cuts. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending…

By  CHRISTOPHER RUGABER WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales at U.S. retailers and restaurants increased modestly in September as resilient consumers moderated their spending after splurging over the summer. Sales rose 0.2% in September from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, in a report…

By  STAN CHOE NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market climbed again Tuesday on hopes for a coming cut to interest rates. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% after breaking out of a morning lull and is back within 1.8% of its all-time…

By  ALEX VEIGA The Federal Housing Finance Agency is increasing the size of home loans that the government can guarantee against default as it takes into account rising housing prices. Beginning next year, mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will…

By  KATE PAYNE and JEFF MARTIN The death of a Florida teenager on a Carnival cruise ship earlier this month has been ruled a homicide, the latest development in a case that has drawn international attention and sparked intense speculation on social media.…

By  JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a social media video urging U.S. troops to defy “illegal orders” say the FBI has contacted them to begin scheduling interviews, signaling a possible inquiry into the matter. It…

By  TODD RICHMOND MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin woman who won release from a mental institution after almost killing her sixth grade classmate in the name of horror villain Slender Man only to flee the state weeks later won’t fight extradition from Illinois. Morgan…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been released from a Chicago hospital where he was treated for a rare neurological disorder, his son said Tuesday. The 84-year-old civil rights leader was discharged Monday from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, his son…

By  R.J. RICO Landlords could no longer rely on rent-pricing software to quietly track each other’s moves and push rents higher using confidential data, under a settlement between RealPage Inc. and federal prosecutors to end what critics said was illegal “algorithmic…

By  JONEL ALECCIA Tests of ByHeart infant formula tied to a botulism outbreak that has sickened dozens of babies showed that all of the company’s products may have been contaminated. Laboratory tests of 36 samples of formula from three different lots showed that…

By  SEUNG MIN KIM WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is circulating a proposal that would extend subsidies to help consumers pay for coverage under the Affordable Care Act for two more years, as millions of Americans face spiking health care costs when the current…

HOUSTON (AP) — A tornado that raced through residential areas north of Houston damaged more than 100 homes, tearing off roofs, moving garages off their foundations and smashing windows, authorities in Texas said. No injuries were reported in the storm Monday that…

By  JOHN LEICESTER PARIS (AP) — The Paris prosecutor announced four more arrests Tuesday in connection with the stunning heist at the Louvre Museum in October by a gang that made off with $102 million worth of jewels. The two men and two women…

By  CHRISTOPHER RUGABER WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers were much less confident in the economy in November in the aftermath of the government shutdown and amid weak hiring and stubborn inflation. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dropped to 88.7 in…

By  STAN CHOE NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market rallied on Monday, at the start of a week with shortened trading because of the Thanksgiving holiday. The S&P 500 climbed 1.5% for one of its best days since the summer and…

By  CHRISTOPHER WEBER LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police have blocked the county coroner’s office from releasing details about the death of a teen girl whose body was found in the trunk of a car registered to the singer d4vd, the…

By  COLLIN BINKLEY and JOHN SEEWER WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of nursing and other health care organizations are angry over a Trump administration plan that could limit access to student loans in some cases. Students pursuing graduate degrees in nursing, physical therapy,…

By  KIM CHANDLER MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, whose 2017 election renewed hope for Alabama Democrats, announced Monday that he is running for governor of Alabama in 2026. Jones announced his campaign Monday afternoon, hours after filing campaign paperwork…

By  PHILIP MARCELO NEW YORK (AP) — Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he profited from rigged poker games involving several Mafia figures and at least one other ex-NBA player.…

By  JAMIE STENGLE DALLAS (AP) — Viola Ford Fletcher, who as one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma spent her later years seeking justice for the deadly attack by a white mob on the thriving Black community…

By  SOPHIA PAFFENROTH/Mississippi Today Cantrell Keyes is working 90-hour weeks and losing $15,000 a month at the child care center she directs in Jackson, Mississippi. Nearly half of the 46 families attending Agape Christian Academy World last spring lost access to…

By  MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER NEW YORK (AP) — The Justice Department renewed its request Monday to unseal Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking grand jury materials, saying Congress made clear in approving the release of investigative materials related to the prosecution of…

By  THE ASSOCIATED PRESS John F. Kennedy’s granddaughter disclosed Saturday that she has terminal cancer, writing in an essay in “The New Yorker” that one of her doctors said she might live for about another year and criticizing policies pushed by…

By  KONSTANTIN TOROPIN WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says it is investigating Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona for possible breaches of military law after Kelly joined a handful of other lawmakers in a video that called for U.S. troops to…

By  KATHY McCORMACK and TODD RICHMOND MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin woman who admitted to nearly stabbing a classmate to death at age 12 to please the online horror character Slender Man has been found in Illinois after she cut off an electronic monitoring device and…

By  RIO YAMAT, AP Airlines and Travel Writer The turbulence caused by the longest government shutdown on record may still be fresh on travelers’ minds this Thanksgiving, but experts say preparing for the usual holiday crush of winter weather, heavy traffic and crowded airports can help ease…

By  ROD MCGUIRK MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A prisoner is challenging an Australian state’s ban on inmates eating Vegemite, claiming in a lawsuit that withholding the polarizing yeast-based spread breaches his human right to “enjoy his culture as an Australian.” Andre McKechnie,…

By  CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-MCLAY WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — On the frozen edge of the world, staying in practice as a professional musician takes ingenuity, grit and a plastic instrument for schoolchildren that’s guaranteed not to freeze to your fingers or face.…

By  TODD RICHMOND MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Archaeologists have identified more than a dozen ancient canoes that Indigenous people apparently left behind in a sort of prehistoric parking lot along a Wisconsin lakeshore. The Wisconsin Historical Society announced Wednesday that archaeologists…

By  TORSHETA JACKSON and ROGER D. AMOS/Mississippi Free Press The United States government removed Jason Lewis’ ancestors from Choctaw tribal land twice. The family had left Mississippi more than 200 years ago, when the federal government forced most of the Choctaw Nation to…

By  HILARY FOX LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Royal Mint is celebrating Freddie Mercury with a new coin design that marks 40 years since his iconic Live Aid concert performance. The coin features an image of the Queen front man, head thrown back and holding the…

By  THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK (AP) — A 1940 self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo of her asleep in a bed could make history Thursday when it goes on sale by Sotheby’s in New York. With an estimated price of $40 million to…

By  JUAN A. LOZANO HOUSTON (AP) — A group of Buddhist monks in the middle of a 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) walk across the U.S. to promote peace planned to resume their journey after two of them were injured during a traffic accident…

By  THOMAS ADAMSON and OLEG CETINIC PARIS (AP) — Princess Diana returned to Paris in wax Thursday as one of Europe’s oldest wax museums unveiled a new figure of the British royal in the so-called “revenge dress,” decades after her tragic death in the city.…

By  SEJAL GOVINDARAO An owl found partially encased in concrete after it got inside a cement mixer in southwestern Utah is expected to fly free again after it was painstakingly cleaned by animal sanctuary workers who described the bird as a…

By  DAVID FISCHER A historic ocean liner will become the world’s largest artificial reef after it’s sunk off Florida’s Gulf Coast early next year. Okaloosa County officials announced Tuesday that they expect to sink the SS United States in early 2026 about 22…

By  BARBARA ORTUTAY and MATT O’BRIEN They’re cute, even cuddly, and promise learning and companionship — but artificial intelligence toys are not safe for kids, according to children’s and consumer advocacy groups urging parents not to buy them during the holiday season. These…

By  MARCIA DUNN CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA unveiled close-up pictures on Wednesday of the interstellar comet that’s making a quick one-and-done tour of the solar system. Discovered over the summer, the comet known as 3I/Atlas is only the third confirmed object…

By  SHELBY LUM and LAURAN NEERGAARD A doctor advising ... sleepaway camp? That’s how a 12-year-old diagnosed with lupus found himself laughing on a high-ropes course as fellow campers hoisted him into the air. “It’s really fun,” said Dylan Aristy Mota, thrilled that he got…

By  DARLENE SUPERVILLE WASHINGTON (AP) — When the nonprofit organization planning America’s 250th birthday celebrations decided it wanted an ornament to commemorate that milestone in history, its leadership knew just where to turn for guidance. America250.org worked with the White House Historical Association,…

By  STAN CHOE NEW YORK (AP) — Jarring swings keep rocking Wall Street, and U.S. stocks erased a big morning gain to drop on Thursday as the market remains skittish following weeks of doubts and erratic moves. After initially soaring toward what…

By  ANNE D’INNOCENZIO NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart delivered another standout quarter, posting strong sales and profits that blew past Wall Street expectations as it wins over a broad base of shoppers including cash-strapped Americans and the well-heeled, who have grown…