AP National News

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has put a well-known Russian paramilitary organization on a list of religious freedom violators alongside a number of notorious terrorist organizations. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Friday that he had designated the Wagner Group as an “entity of particular concern” for its

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The most controversial goal of the World Cup so far was scored by Japan and it eliminated Germany. The Japanese came from behind to beat Spain 2-1 on Thursday and advance to the round of 16 on a goal that many felt went out of

By RAF CASERT, FATIMA HUSSEIN and DAVID McHUGH Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union reached a deal Friday for a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil, a key step as Western sanctions aim to reorder the global oil market to prevent price spikes and starve President Vladimir Putin of funding for his war

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three weeks ago has riled up thousands of would-be armchair sleuths, many of whom are posting speculation and unfounded rumors about the fatal stabbings online. Relatively few details have been released in the horrific case that has

By SAM McNEIL and FARES AKRAM Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s paramilitary border police says an officer killed a Palestinian assailant in the occupied West Bank after they wrestled over a weapon. Dramatic amateur video captured the moments Friday when the officer fired the fatal shots. The video was widely shared on social media.

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Julia Reichert, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker behind “American Factory” whose films explored themes of race, class and gender, often in the Midwest, has died. She was 76. She died Thursday night in Ohio from cancer, her family said Friday through a representative. She was diagnosed with stage four urothelial

By TRISHA THOMAS Associated Press ROME (AP) — A Ukrainian official says Ukrainian embassies and consulates in six European countries have received packages containing animals’ eyes in recent days. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the “bloody parcels” were received by the Ukrainian embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, as well as by

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Police say a teenager campaigning in a neighborhood for Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia was shot at the front door of a Savannah home. Savannah police said in a statement Friday that investigators don’t believe the shooting was politically motivated. They say the 15-year-old boy was wounded in the leg Thursday

By RAF CASERT, FATIMA HUSSEIN and DAVID McHUGH Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has tentatively agreed to a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil. It’s a key step as Western sanctions aim to reorder the global oil market to prevent price spikes and starve President Vladimir Putin of funding for his war

By BHUMIKA SARASWATI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — About 150 Tibetan exiles holding blank pieces of paper have rallied in India’s capital to express solidarity with people in China protesting its “zero COVID” policy. The blank paper is a symbol of defiance used by protesters in China against the ruling Communist Party’s widespread censorship.

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.S. and Ukrainian chapters of the international writers’ organization PEN have claimed that Russian troops in Ukraine are deliberately attacking the country’s museums, libraries and other cultural institutions. They said in a report issued on Friday that “culture is not collateral damage in the war

By JOHN CARUCCI Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Cameron Crowe believes the spirit of a place lingers long after the moment has passed. That’s what makes recording the Broadway “Almost Famous” cast album at New York’s iconic Power Station studio so special for him. Some of the most prominent rock and pop albums were

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister says the United States and Russia have failed to meet promises to clear Syria’s border with Turkey of Kurdish militants, forcing Ankara to intervene. Mevlut Cavusoglu also said Friday that Turkey was seeking reconciliation with Syria’s government to facilitate the return of refugees, cooperate in fighting extremists and

By JOSH BOAK and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed a bill Friday to avert a freight rail strike that he said could have plunged the U.S. into a catastrophic recession. At the White House, Biden signed a measure passed Thursday by the Senate and Wednesday by the House. It

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s employers kept hiring briskly in November despite high inflation and a slow-growing economy — a sign of resilience in the face of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes. The economy added 263,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate stayed 3.7%, still near a 53-year

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Eight years into a U.S. program to control damage from feral pigs, the invasive animals with big appetites and snouts that uproot anything that smells good are still a multibillion-dollar plague on farmers, wildlife and the environment. These prolific hogs gone wild have been wiped out

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The family of Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia for espionage, says that he has resumed contact after unexpectedly becoming unreachable in November. Along with WNBA star Brittney Griner, Whelan is the focus of efforts by the United States to arrange a prisoner swap with Russia.

KUALA LUMPUR. Malaysia (AP) — New Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says he will also serve as finance minister as he unveiled a leaner Cabinet with many new faces in his unity government. In a move that appears to contradict his anti-corruption platform, Anwar also named the graft-tainted head of a smaller bloc as one

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press LODZ, Poland (AP) — A security organization born in the Cold War to maintain peace in Europe has ended a high-level meeting without a final resolution. The outcome on Friday underlined the existential crisis the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is facing amid Russia’s war against Ukraine. The