AP National News

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press ALTOETTING, Germany (AP) — Mourners lined up quietly in the Collegiate Church of Altoetting in Pope Benedict XVI’s Bavarian homeland to pay condolences to one of the region’s most famous sons. The former pope died at age 95 in Rome, but many Catholic Bavarians have always felt especially close to

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Fifteen people are dead and 47 are being treated for their injuries after a bus carrying holiday season tourists flipped on a highway in Mexico’s Pacific coast state of Nayarit, authorities said Saturday. Officials in the nearby state of Guanajuato said all the passengers were from the same city, Leon, in

By FRANCES D’EMILIO and GIADA ZAMPANO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has expressed gratitude to his late predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, hours after his death. Francis at a New Year’s Eve prayer service Saturday in St. Peter’s Basilica made his first comments about the late churchman whom he hailed as “noble”

By RENATA BRITO and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Multiple blasts rocked Kyiv and other areas of Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding 14 others, in a sign that the pace of Russia attacks had picked up before New Year’s. Some Ukrainians defied the danger, however, to return

By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — In the United States, admirers of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI remembered him warmly for his theological prowess and devotion to traditional doctrine. However, some U.S. Catholics, on learning of his death Saturday, recalled him as an obstacle to progress in combating clergy sex abuse and

By JONATHAN MATTISE and TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal utility’s decision to resort to rolling blackouts after coal and natural gas units went offline during dangerously cold conditions has intensified questions about the Tennessee Valley Authority’s recent decision to double down on fossil fuels. TVA experienced its highest ever winter

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have thronged a Gaza City park to mark the 58th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah party. It was a rare show of popularity in the heartland of the militant Hamas group, Fatah’s main rival. The crowds Saturday turned Katiba Park into a

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s address to the nation usually is rather anodyne and backed with a soothing view of a snowy Kremlin. This year, with soldiers in the background, he lashed out at the West and Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine cast a long shadow

By MARTHA MENDOZA, CLAIRE GALOFARO and JULIET LINDERMAN The Afghan woman ran down the street towards her friend’s apartment as soon as she heard the news: the White House had publicly weighed in on her family’s case. Surely her child, who she says was abducted by a U.S. Marine more than a year ago, would

GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Since he began volunteering two months ago for weekend shifts at a clinic in one of this border city’s largest shelters, Dr. Brian Elmore has treated about 100 migrants for respiratory viruses and a handful of more serious emergencies. But it’s a problem he hasn’t yet

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A provision in the recently signed defense spending bill mandates that the United States work to ease Ukraine’s debt burden at the International Monetary Fund, which could create tensions at the world’s lender-of-last-resort over one of its biggest borrowers. The National Defense Authorization Act requires American representatives

By MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Howard Fischer, a 63-year old investor living north of New York City, has a wish for when he dies. He wants his remains to be placed in a vessel, broken down by tiny microbes and composted into rich, fertile soil. Maybe his composted remains

By DAVID A. LIEB and GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Taxes will fall and minimum wages rise for residents in numerous states as a variety of new laws take effect Sunday that could impact people’s finances and, in some cases, their personal liberties. Some new laws could affect access to abortion. Others will ease restrictions on

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has used his New Year’s address to the nation to accuse Western countries of aggression and trying to use the conflict in Ukraine to undermine Moscow. Putin made the video address that was shown on state television on Saturday in each of Russia’s 11

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — He was the reluctant pope, a shy bookworm who preferred solitary walks in the Alps and Mozart piano concertos to the public glare and majesty of Vatican pageantry. When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI and was thrust into the footsteps of his beloved and

By MARK PRATT Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A simple plan to get more people enjoying the outdoors on New Year’s Day has become a nationwide movement after a hike at a Massachusetts park more than three decades ago. Just 380 people participated in the initial First Day Hike in 1992 at the nearly 7,000-acre

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey beamed as an excavator’s heavy claw smashed through the windows of an old state office building and began tearing off the façade. In one of his last public appearances in mid-December, the outgoing Republican governor watched the physical manifestation of a project

By FRANCES D’EMILIO and GIADA ZAMPANO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — A wealth of tributes poured in from around the world within minutes of the Vatican’s announcement of the death of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. The Holy See revealed on Saturday that the late pontiff wanted a simple funeral. A Vatican spokesman said that

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar have announced a suspension of the normal four-hour curfew to allow New Year’s celebrations in three biggest cities. However opponents of army rule urge people to stay away and claimed security forces might stage an attack and blame it on them. A leaked