AP National News

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was expected to make his initial U.S. court appearance Thursday on charges that he swindled investors and looted customer deposits on his FTX trading platform. Bankman-Fried, arrested in the Bahamas last week, was flown to New York late Wednesday after deciding

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — A Trump-era ban on asylum that was granted a brief extension by Supreme Court Chief Justic John Roberts on Wednesday was one of the U.S. policies affecting migrants’ decisions to leave their homes. The last eight years show how an extraordinary convergence of inequality, civil strife

By CIARÁN GILES Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Spain has sealed final approval for controversial reforms to the crimes of sedition and embezzlement. It’s a move by the ruling center-left coalition to retain the support of a pro-independence Catalan party and ease tensions in the northeastern region. The package passed by a Senate majority scraps

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Forest carbon credits are promises that companies, individuals and governments can buy to counteract their emissions by paying to plant or protect trees. Trees store carbon in their tissue, which means that the taller and healthier a tree grows, the more carbon it can store. Soils and

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Shrugging off rampant inflation and rising interest rates, the U.S. economy grew at an unexpectedly strong 3.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported Thursday in a slight upgrade from its earlier estimate of third-quarter growth. The rise in gross domestic product — the

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Lawyers for the former European Parliament vice-president suspected of being at the center of one of the European Union’s biggest corruption scandals are seeking her release from prison. Andre Risopoulos says lawyers want Eva Kaili to “be put under a system of electronic surveillance, with a bracelet.”

By ED DAVEY SAN MARTIN, Peru (AP) — Rolando Zumba, a gentle 59-year-old, wept, though the moment he described took place many years ago. Nothing has been the same since that day, when a park ranger took away his hunting rifles. Now where there was once self-sufficiency, hunger has stalked his village. Zumba’s story has

By SUZAN FRASER and KARL RITTER Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister says his country appreciates steps Sweden has taken to win its approval for NATO membership but still has commitments to fulfill. Mevlut Cavusoglu made the comments Thursday during a joint news conference with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström. Cavusoglu also

By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MATT OTT AP Business Writers Markets on Wall Street trended modestly lower before the bell early Thursday as the last economic reports of the year trickle in, including a final reading on inflation, which has dogged the the U.S. economy for nearly two years. Futures for the S&P 500 and the

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan has adopted a plan to extend the lifespan of nuclear reactors, replace the old and even build new ones. That’s a major shift in a country scarred by the Fukushima disaster that once planned to phase out atomic power. In the face of global fuel shortages,

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Court of Justice says online retail giant Amazon may be in breach of luxury shoemaker Christian Louboutin’s trademark rights over the sale of counterfeit red-soled high-heeled shoes on its platform. Third-party sellers on Amazon regularly advertise red-soled shoes, and Louboutin brought cases against Amazon in Belgium and Luxembourg arguing that

By SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India has begun randomly testing international passengers arriving at its airports for COVID-19 after an increase in cases in neighboring China. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced the new rule Thursday and urged state governments to increase surveillance for any new coronavirus variants and send samples of

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. economy contracted by more than earlier estimates between July and September, according to revised figures from the Office for National Statistics. Gross domestic product fell by a revised 0.3% in the third quarter of 2022 against the estimated 0.2% decline, while growth figures for the first half of 2022 were

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has praised the Hong Kong government’s efforts in revitalizing the economy as it rolls back COVID-19 restrictions, in a meeting with the territory’s leader in Beijing. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee was on his first trip to the capital on Thursday

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Last year, Lucila Gomez and her husband started their holiday shopping around Thanksgiving and wrapped it up a week before Christmas, spending $750 on tablets and clothing for their three children and relatives. This year? Gomez is waiting until she gets her annual bonus on

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mixed Thursday after a rally on Wall Street as investors welcomed a report showing U.S. consumer confidence is holding up despite the Federal Reserve’s campaign to fight inflation by raising interest rates. Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% lower to 14,081.26. The CAC 40 in

By SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The idea of a daring wartime trip by Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington had percolated for some time before the surprise visit was revealed just hours ahead of the Ukrainian president’s arrival. During an October summit in Zagreb, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed with her counterpart in

By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer Superintendent Torie Gibson felt she had no choice but to make the unpopular decision. When learning Amador High’s football team had a group chat titled, “Kill the Blacks,” filled with derogatory language and racial slurs, she ended the Northern California school’s varsity season. That meant the 100-year anniversary game

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis warned Vatican bureaucrats on Thursday to beware the devil that lurks among them, saying it is an “elegant demon” that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith. Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Virginia state Sen. Jennifer McClellan has overwhelmingly won the Democratic nomination to succeed the late A. Donald McEachin in Congress, party officials said. McClellan won the nomination with 23,661 votes in Tuesday’s firehouse primary over Sen. Joe Morrissey, who netted just 3,782, and two other