AP National News

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An iconic sign of Christmas arrived in New York City on Saturday as a crane hoisted an 82-foot (25-meter) Norway spruce into place at Rockefeller Plaza, where the 14-ton tree will be festooned with thousands of lights and topped with a star encrusted with millions of crystals. The Christmas

KIRCHSCHLAG IN DER BUCKLIGEN WELT, Austria (AP) — A hot air balloon crashed twice Saturday on the eastern edge of the Alps in Austria, injuring nine people as a hard landing apparently bounced the pilot and the co-pilot out of the basket and sent several passengers back into the sky on their own, authorities said.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has brought back from England and ceremoniously reburied the remains of three presidents-in-exile whose service during World War II and the Cold War preserved the nation’s democratic tradition while the country was under oppression. Poland’s leaders presided over the ceremonies in Warsaw on Saturday. The London-based government-in-exile was Poland’s political

By KEN MILLER Associated Press A second body of a possible victim of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has been found to have a gunshot wound, according to the city. “Forensic anthropologist Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield discovered that one of the three sets of remains exhumed last week contained one victim with a gunshot wound,” according

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press BATABANO, Cuba (AP) — Yordán Díaz Gonzales pulled weeds from his fields with a tractor until Cuba’s summer rainy season turned them into foot-deep red mud. Now it takes five farmhands to tend to Díaz’s crop. That shrinks Diaz’s profit margin and lowers Cuba‘s agricultural productivity, already burdened by a

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Republicans have claimed key victories in state Supreme Court races that will give them an advantage in major redistricting fights, while Democrats notched similarly significant wins with help from groups focused on defending abortion access. The expensive fights over court control in several states in

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press LOCKWOOD, Mont. (AP) — Republicans emboldened by a string of electoral victories in Montana this midterm election are quickly turning their attention to a prize that has repeatedly eluded them: the U.S. Senate seat held by three-term Democrat Jon Tester that is up for grabs in 2024. That sets up

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Democrats’ decision to back an independent rather than nominate a member of their own party to take on Republican Mike Lee transformed the state’s U.S. Senate race from foregone conclusion to closely watched slugfest. Independent Evan McMullin, an anti-Trump former Republican best known for

PARIS (AP) — A four-story building collapsed Saturday morning in northern French city of Lille but no deaths were reported so far thanks to a resident’s advance warning, French authorities said. Lille firefighters said they rescued one person from the rubble with only light injuries. The search for any others possibly trapped in the rubble

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Whoops of excitement are echoing through Haiti’s capital as gas stations open for the first time in two months after a powerful gang lifted a crippling fuel blockade. The gang federation known as G9 had seized control of an area surrounding a key fuel terminal in

Associated Press SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Hundreds of activists called on industrialized nations to pay for the impact of climate change and to speed up the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy on Saturday in the largest protest yet at the U.N. climate summit in Egypt. Protests have mostly been muted at the

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Two high schools in Alabama’s capital, a hub of the civil rights movement, will no longer bear the names of Confederate leaders. The Montgomery County Board of Education on Thursday voted for new names for Jefferson Davis High School and Robert E Lee High School, news outlets reported. Lee will become

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian police officers returned Saturday, along with TV and radio services, to the southern city of Kherson following the withdrawal of Russian troops, part of fast but cautious efforts to make the only regional capital captured by Russia livable after months of occupation. Yet one official

PARIS (AP) — French authorities said a building collapsed Saturday morning in northern France’s city of Lille and the human toll was limited thanks to a local resident’s advance warning. Lille firefighters said they rescued one person from the rubble with only light injuries. The building in the center of the city was evacuated during

By PETER PRENGAMAN Associated Press SHARM el-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Marina Silva, a former environmental minister, has a message for the U.N. climate summit: Brazil is back when it comes to protecting the Amazon, the largest rainforest in the world that is crucial to staving off the worst effects of climate change. The recent election

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The leader of Cyprus’ Orthodox Church Chrysostomos II has been laid to rest with all the ceremony of centuries of ecclesiastical tradition. He was eulogized as his church’s greatest reformer and an outspoken fighter for his people. The spiritual head of the world’s 300 million Orthodox,

By PETER SMITH Associated Press The United Methodist Church moved toward becoming more progressive and LGBTQ-affirming during U.S. regional meetings this month that included the election of its second openly gay bishop. Conservatives say the developments will only accelerate their exit from one of the nation’s largest Protestant denominations. Each of the UMC’s five U.S.

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian police officers and TV and radio services returned Saturday to the southern city of Kherson following the withdrawal of Russian troops, part of fast but cautious efforts to make the only regional capital captured by Moscow’s forces livable after more than eight months under occupation.