AP National News

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in Dubai has approved the extradition to Denmark of a British financier accused of orchestrating a $1.7 billion tax scheme. Hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah is accused of masterminding a scheme that ran from 2012 to 2015 in which foreign businesses pretended to own shares in Danish

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press MARKTL AM INN, Germany (AP) — People in Pope Benedict XVI’s Bavarian homeland prayed Thursday for the retired pontiff, a favorite son of the region even 40 years after he left Germany for the Vatican and nearly a decade after his resignation stunned the world. At the

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press Almost 1,000 cities, towns and villages in the U.S. lost their status as urban areas on Thursday as the U.S. Census Bureau released a new list of places considered urban based on revised criteria. Around 3.5 million residents living in the small cities, hamlets, towns and villages that lost their

By RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Aid agencies are warning that Afghans will die because of the Taliban order banning women from working at nongovernmental groups. The order was issued last week by the Economy Ministry in the capital, Kabul, allegedly because women aren’t wearing the Islamic headscarf, or hijab, correctly. Since

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — After five elections that have paralyzed Israeli politics for nearly four years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has finally returned to power with the government he has long coveted: a parliamentary majority of religious and far-right lawmakers who share his hard-line views toward the Palestinians and hostility toward

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is assessing Beijing’s rollback of its strict anti-infection controls but has refrained from immediately following EU member Italy in requiring coronavirus tests for airline passengers coming from China. The EU’s executive arm says the BF7 omicron variant prevalent in China was already circulating in

By ILAN BEN ZION Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn into office Thursday, taking the helm of the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in Israel’s history and vowing to implement policies that could cause domestic and regional turmoil and alienate the country’s closest allies. Netanyahu took the oath of office moments

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street Thursday in a broad rally led by the IT and communications sectors. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up over 1% shortly after the open in New York, but remain on track for a losing month with one day

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil´s President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Thursday that Amazon activist Marina Silva will be the country´s next minister of environment. The announcement indicates the new administration will prioritize cracking down on illegal deforestation even if it means running afoul of powerful agribusiness interests.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s foreign ministry has summoned Russia’s ambassador to explain why Moscow has placed a Bulgarian journalist working for an international investigative website on a wanted list. Christo Grozev, the leading Bellingcat researcher on Russia, has focused this year on alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Bulgarian Prime Minister Galab Donev said

Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines continued to extract itself from sustained scheduling chaos Thursday, cancelling another 2,350 flights after a winter storm overwhelmed its operations days ago. The Dallas carrier acknowledged it has inadequate and outdated operations technology that can leave flight crews out of position when adverse weather strikes. Southwest was the

By HOLLY MEYER The Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Jerry Lamb could not maneuver his wheelchair into the rows of pews at his church. It wouldn’t fit. Nor could he sit in the aisles without awkwardly blocking the way. So he adapted. It’s a regular part of his new life with limited mobility that

By JOHN RABY Associated Press Taking down the Christmas tree is only one task after the holiday season. For those with a real tree, figuring out what to do with it can be as easy as placing it by the curb. In most states, it can be the gift that keeps on giving. Discarded Christmas

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose only slightly last week with the labor market remaining strong despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and hiring. Applications for unemployment aid for the week ending Dec. 24 climbed 9,000 to 225,000, the Labor Department

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is lucid, conscious and stable but his condition remains serious, the Vatican said Thursday, a day after it revealed that the 95-year-old’s health had deteriorated recently. A statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis asked for continued prayers “to accompany him in these difficult hours.”

By HILARY FOX Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The weather outside may be frightful, but the myriad viewing options inside can be nothing short of delightful. During press junkets in recent weeks, The Associated Press asked celebrities promoting their own projects in Europe what they planned to watch this winter season. Darren Star and Lucas

By KRYSTA FAURIA Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — When it comes to acting, Maria Bakalova considers herself to be a person of extremes. “Cinema is supposed to be provoking. It’s not supposed to be, I think, something that is somewhere in the middle,” the Oscar-nominated actor said in a recent interview with The Associated

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian police say they have detained two people sought on international warrants during a raid to locate migrants and people smugglers near the border with Hungary. Police said in a statement on Thursday that the two are wanted for “various criminal acts.” They say a total of 109 migrants were found