AP-National

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has baptized 16 babies in the Sistine Chapel. The ceremony, under the ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo, has become an annual tradition near the end of the Christmas holiday period at the Vatican. In Sunday’s ceremony, the pope baptized 16 babies, including a boy and girl who are twins. Francis

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Rafael Nadal’s comeback from hip surgery is on hold after he withdrew from the Australian Open with an injury a week before the start of the season’s first Grand Slam tournament. The 22-time major champion said Sunday on social media that medical tests he took in Melbourne revealed a small tear

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has again fired artillery shells near its tense sea boundary with the South. Seoul said some 90 rounds of artillery were fired on Sunday. Meanwhile, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un mocked the South’s ability to detect its weapons

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer DOHA, Qatar (AP) — On another urgent diplomatic mission to the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Sunday with Arab partners to press for their help in tamping down resurgent fears that Israel’s three-month war against Hamas in Gaza could spread. In discussions with Qatar’s emir

By JULIA FRANKEL, SAMY MAGDY and NAJIB JOBAIN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Hezbollah has struck an air traffic control base in northern Israel, the Israeli military said Sunday, and warned of “another war” with the Iran-backed militant group. The increase in fighting across the border with Lebanon as Israel battles Hamas militants in Gaza

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — A devastating fire has raced through a crammed refugee camp in Bangladesh’s southern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar. It destroyed more than 1,000 shelters and left thousands of Rohingya refugees homeless. A fire official says the fire broke out around midnight on Saturday at Kutupalong camp in Ukhiya and spread

By OMID HAQJO ZINDA JAN, Afghanistan (AP) — A 6.3 magnitude quake on Oct. 7 killed and injured thousands of people in Afghanistan’s west. Three months on, survivors are struggling to rebuild their lives. Some families are living in canvas-colored tents in Zinda Jan district, the quake’s epicenter in the province of Herat, where every

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a minibus explosion in the Afghan capital that killed at least 5 people. The Sunni militant group said its members detonated an explosive device on the bus carrying Shiite Muslims late Saturday. Police spokesperson Khalid Zadran says 15 others were wounded in the attack

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese prosecutors have made their first arrest in connection with a major political slush fund scandal that has rocked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s already unpopular government. Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Sunday apprehended former vice-education minister Yoshitaka Ikeda on suspicion of failing to report fundraising proceeds

By MARK LEWIS Associated Press STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Anders Behring Breivik, who slayed 77 people in an anti-Islamic bomb and gun rampage in 2011, is trying to sue the Norwegian state for breaching his human rights. Norway’s worst peacetime killer says his solitary confinement since being jailed in 2012 amounts to inhumane treatment under

By VALERIE GONZALEZ AND ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Daniel Bermudez’s family had fled Venezuela and was headed to the U.S. to seek asylum when the freight train they were riding through Mexico was stopped by immigration officials. His wife tried to explain that her family had permission to go to

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The first person to spot it was a shovel operator working the overnight shift, eyeing a glint of white as he scooped up a giant mound of dirt and dropped it into a dump truck. Later, after the truck driver dumped the load, a dozer driver

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov.-elect Jeff Landry has been inaugurated. The inauguration Sunday marks a political shift of leadership in a state that has had a Democratic governor for the last eight years. The Republican is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and is known for his conservative

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ State of the State address on Tuesday is supposed to be about Florida’s future. Iowa, though, is more likely at the front of his mind. The speech kicking off Florida’s annual legislative session comes exactly a week before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses,

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Thamsanqa Mothobi was going about his life in Johannesburg when he was carjacked and taken to an informal settlement where robbers accessed his mobile banking apps. “They had guns and demanded the PIN codes for my apps. They increased the withdrawal limits in my accounts and emptied

By SHARON JOHNSON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A core mission of Florida A&M University from its founding over a century ago has been to educate African Americans. It was written into the law that established the school along with another college, in Gainesville, reserved for white students. At Florida’s only public historically Black

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic “Oppenheimer” dominated the 81st Golden Globes, winning five awards including best drama, while Yorgos Lanthimos’ Frankenstein riff “Poor Things” pulled off an upset victory over “Barbie” to triumph in the best comedy or musical category. If awards season has been building toward a second match-up

By HIRO KOMAE, AYAKA MCGILL and YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — Rescue teams are working through snow to deliver supplies to isolated hamlets after a powerful earthquake hit western Japan, killing at least 161 people. Heavy snowfall falling in Ishikawa Prefecture over the weekend and through the new week is adding to

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new California law that bans people from carrying firearms in most public places was once again blocked from taking effect Saturday as a court case challenging it continues. A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel dissolved a temporary hold on a lower court injunction blocking the law. The hold was

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities say an attack in a remote community in the southern state of Guerrero killed at least five people. A human rights groups says at least six others were wounded, but officials say they have not been able to confirm anyone being wounded. The Guerrero state prosecutor’s office said late