AP National News

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — There was no tolling of the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica, no solemn announcement by a Vatican monsignor to the faithful in the square. A fisherman’s ring did not get smashed and the diplomatic corps were not mobilized to send official delegations to Rome. The death

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer SANTOS, Brazil (AP) — Pelé. Santos, Brazil. Over decades, adoring fans around the world mailed thousands of letters, postcards and packages to the sports legend without his address or full name. Almost without fail, they reached the office of Edson Arantes do Nascimento in the port city he made

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is rightly credited with having been one of the 20th century’s most prolific Catholic theologians, a teacher-pope who preached the faith via volumes of books, sermons and speeches. But he rarely got credit for another important aspect of his legacy: having done

By RENATA BRITO Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians woke up to a grim 2023 Sunday, reeling from more sirens and fresh missile attacks as the death toll from Russia’s massive New Year’s Eve assault across the country climbed to at least three. Shortly after midnight, air raid alerts sounded in the capital, followed

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Eva Guzman’s expenses have swelled, but she feels comfortable financially thanks to the savings she and her late husband stockpiled for a rainy day. Nevertheless, the 80-year-old retired library clerk in San Antonio limits trips to the grocery store, adjusts the thermostat to save on utilities and

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump began 2022 on a high. Primary candidates were flocking to Florida to court the former president for a coveted endorsement. His rallies were drawing thousands. A bevy of investigations remained largely under the radar. One year later, Trump is facing a very different reality. He

By RISDEL KASASIRA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Police say a stampede during New Year’s celebrations at a popular mall in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has left at least nine people dead, including children. The stampede happened at the Freedom City Mall in Namasuba suburb as revelers rushed to watch fireworks. The Kampala Metropolitan deputy

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A bomb exploded near a checkpoint at Kabul’s military airport Sunday morning killing and wounding “several” people, a Taliban official said, the first deadly blast of 2023 in Afghanistan. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan and India say they have exchanged lists of their nuclear facilities as part of a 1988 agreement that bans them from attacking each other’s installations. They also exchanged lists of prisoners in each other’s custody. Pakistan and India have had strained relations since their independence from colonial British rule in 1947

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Anita Pointer, one of four sibling singers who earned pop success and critical acclaim as The Pointer Sisters, died Saturday at the age of 74, her publicist announced. The Grammy winner passed away while she was with family members, publicist Roger Neal said in a statement. A cause of death

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI leaves his homeland with a complicated legacy: pride in a German pontiff but a church deeply divided over the need for reforms in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal in which his own actions of decades ago were faulted. Benedict has long drawn

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has marked the new year by presiding over Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and praying for his late retired predecessor. Francis looked tired at the start of the New Year’s Day Mass, an occasion the Catholic Church dedicates to the theme of peace. He

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The army says a military operation in Pakistan’s northwest targeting militants triggered a firefight that left a soldier and four fighters dead. Sunday’s development comes weeks after Pakistani Taliban detainees overpowered their guards at a counter-terrorism center in the area, snatching police weapons, taking hostages and seizing control of the facility. The

CAIRO (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a militant attack on a police checkpoint in Egypt’s Suez Canal city of Ismailia that killed at least four people, including three police. The extremist group claimed the attack in a statement Saturday carried by its Amaq news agency. The attack took place Friday

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Veteran reporter Giovanna Chirri was starting to doze off in the Vatican press room on a slow holiday when all of a sudden the Latin she learned in high school made her perk up — and gave her the scoop of a lifetime. It was Feb.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A member of an airline ground crew working at an Alabama airport died Saturday afternoon in an accident at the facility. The American Airlines/Piedmont Airlines employee died in an “industrial accident” around 3 p.m., Montgomery Regional Airport said in a statement. “We are saddened to hear about the tragic loss of

NEW YORK (AP) — A man wielding a machete attacked three police officers at the New Year’s Eve celebration in New York City, authorities said, striking two of them in the head before an officer shot the man in the shoulder. The attack happened a little after 10 p.m. about eight blocks from Times Square,

BEIJING (AP) — Australia and Canada have joined a growing list of countries requiring travelers from China to take a COVID-19 test prior to boarding their flight, as China battles a nationwide outbreak of the coronavirus after abruptly easing restrictions that were in place for much of the pandemic. Both countries said that from Jan