AP-National

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria and Romania have received permission to join Europe’s passport- and visa-free Schengen Area, starting in March, the governments of the two countries said. The move initially will apply only to travelers arriving by air and sea, while Austria has committed to continuing negotiations over the need for border checks when

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but not enough to raise concern about the labor market or broader economy. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims rose to 218,000 for the week ending Dec. 23, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week. The four-week average

By The Associated Press The nightlife of Russia’s elite has long been famously rakish but a recent party crossed an invisible line and provoked a public scandal. One pop star ended up in jail while several others issued public apologies. A lawsuit was launched, demanding a fortune in reparations. The scandal erupted after a TV

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Thursday opened a new chapter in how it investigates and prosecutes cases of sexual assault and other major crimes, putting independent lawyers in charge of those decisions and sidelining commanders after years of pressure from Congress. The change, long resisted by Pentagon

BERLIN (AP) — Parts of northern and central Europe continued to grapple with flooding as rivers remain swollen after heavy rain. A barrier near the German city of Magdeburg was opened for the first time in a decade to ease pressure from the Elbe River. Some animals were evacuated from their enclosures at a safari

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has held a funeral for a high-ranking general of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria. Hundreds of mourners accompanied the flag-draped casket of Gen. Razi Mousavi from a central square of Tehran to a shrine where he was buried on Thursday. The

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A civilian cargo ship struck a Russian mine in the Black Sea near Ukraine’s Danube ports Thursday, injuring two sailors, officials and analysts said, in an incident that underscored the dangers faced by those exporting Ukrainian grain during the war. The Panama-flagged vessel struck the floating

By JOHN WAWROW AP Hockey Writer Kendall Coyne Schofield is relishing her return to hockey, and doing so as a first-time mother. She will be bringing her six-month-old son Drew along for the journey while playing for Minnesota in the newly established Professional Women’s Hockey League. Schofield is a three-time Olympian and former U.S. captain.

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Weeks before Taiwan holds elections for its president and legislature, China has renewed its threat to use military force to annex the self-governing island democracy it claims as its own territory. A Defense Ministry spokesperson told reporters Thursday that China’s armed forces would “as always take

By NINIEK KARMINI and EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s navy says it forcibly pushed a boat packed with refugees back to international waters after the vessel approached the shores of Aceh province. The province that forms part of Sumatra island has seen an increasing number of arriving boats, most carrying Rohingya

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s foreign ministry says Qatar’s Court of Appeal reduced the death sentence handed in October to eight retired Indian navy officers on spy charges. Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said Thursday in a statement that the detailed verdict has not been received yet. “We are in close

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer DENVER (AP) — Flag football’s inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles only enhances the profile of a sport that’s growing by leaps and bounds on the women’s side. Flag football is already sanctioned as a varsity sport for girls in eight states, with more seemingly on

LONDON (AP) — A storm that battered the U.K. with high winds and heavy snow has damaged houses, canceled trains and left thousands of people without electricity across Scotland and parts of northern England. Workers dealt with wind speeds of 80 miles per hour in some coastal areas of Scotland as they tried to restore

By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and JACK JEFFERY Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces bombarded cities, towns and refugee camps across Gaza on Thursday, killing dozens of people in a widening air and ground offensive against Hamas that has forced thousands more to flee from homes and shelters in recent days.

By JIWON SONG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s top court has ordered a third Japanese company to compensate some of its former wartime Korean employees for forced labor. Thursday’s ruling by the Supreme Court is the second such ruling in a week. The Supreme Court says Hitachi Zosen Corp. and Mitsubishi

By The Associated Press A judge in New York has ruled that Alibaba must face a lawsuit by a U.S. toymaker alleging that the Chinese ecommerce giant’s online platforms were used to sell counterfeit Squishmallows. Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District Court of New York refused Alibaba’s request to dismiss the case filed by

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The family of renowned South African playwright, producer and composer Mbongeni Ngema says he has died in a car crash at the age of 68. The family says he was killed in a head-on accident while returning from a funeral in the town of Lusikisiki in Eastern

By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MATT OTT AP Business Writers Premarket trading is mixed in a low-volume trading holiday week on Wall Street. Futures for the S&P 500 were virtually unchanged before the bell Thursday, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose nearly 0.3%. Trading has been subdued in

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A chain-reaction crash Thursday involving seven vehicles on a motorway in northwest Turkey killed at least 10 people and injured 57 others, officials said. The pileup occurred in dense fog and low visibility on the Northern Marmara Highway in Sakarya province, some 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Istanbul. An investigation has

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong man has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a terrorism charge under a Beijing-imposed national security law. The case deals with his involvement in a foiled plot to bomb court buildings following the 2019 anti-government protests in the