AP National News

Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed over 46 people including several children. The decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Authorities in Ohio are investigating after the bodies of three women were found inside a Columbus home. Officers were called to a home on the city’s south side just before 4 p.m. Saturday for what a 911 caller described as a medical event. Police found three women who were pronounced dead

Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been discharged from the hospital after undergoing surgery to stop a brain bleed. The 79-year-old president spoke alongside doctors in a press conference on Sunday morning in a show that he was doing well following the head surgery. Lula’s medical team

In a story published Dec. 15, 2024, about holiday shopping at small businesses, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of a gift shop. It is Emerald Forest Gifts, not Emerald City Gifts.

Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian drone has struck a campus belonging to Russia’s National Guard in the Russian region of Chechnya, as Kyiv continues to strike back after a mass air attack from Moscow. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed that the drone had hit a site belonging to the Akhmat Grozny riot

Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS approved Sunday an exit timeline for three coup-hit nations after a nearly yearlong process of mediation to avert the unprecedented disintegration of the grouping. In a first in the 15-nation bloc’s nearly 50 years of existence, the military juntas of Niger, Mali and Burkina

Associated Press Right now chestnut enthusiasts are cozying up next to their open fires (or toaster ovens) to roast a holiday snack that has long roots in North America. But the chestnuts they’re roasting aren’t native, because the American variety has been mostly wiped out by an invasive fungal blight since the 1930s. Researchers are

Associated Press GOMA, Congo (AP) — Much anticipated peace talks between Congo and Rwanda have been unexpectedly canceled. Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame were set to meet Sunday in Angola, which has been mediating the conflict to put an end to a decades long conflict in eastern Congo between the Congolese

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Personal photos of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad have surfaced from his abandoned residences, sparking ridicule among Syrians who until days ago were persecuted for criticizing his carefully crafted public image. The intimate and candid photos were reportedly discovered in albums from Assad’s mansions in the hills of Damascus and

Associated Press AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Before the November presidential election, Ohio’s secretary of state and attorney general announced investigations into potential voter fraud that included people suspected of casting ballots even though they were not U.S. citizens. It coincided with a national Republican messaging strategy warning that potentially thousands of ineligible voters would be

MOSCOW (AP) — At least one person has died after two Russian oil tankers took heavy storm damage in the Kerch Strait, spilling oil and sparking an emergency rescue operation, Russian officials told state news outlets. The Volgoneft-212 tanker, with a crew of 13 and a cargo of fuel oil, ran aground Sunday and had

Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The death toll in the French territory of Mayotte from Cyclone Chido is “several hundred” and may run into the thousands, the island’s top government official told a local broadcaster Sunday. France rushed rescue teams and supplies to its largely poor overseas department in the Indian Ocean

Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In churches across long-stifled Syria, Christians have marked the first Sunday services since Bashar Assad’s ouster in an air of transformation. Some were in tears, others clasped their hands in prayer. The U.N. envoy for Syria is calling for a quick end to Western sanctions as the country’s new

Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Libyan officials say clashes have broken out between armed groups in a western city, trapping residents in their homes and causing fires in the country’s second largest oil refinery. Local media say the fighting in the coastal city of Zawiya on Sunday pitted gunmen loyal to the Shurafaa tribe against

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister is warning anyone involved in atrocities for the ousted Syrian government against seeking refuge in her country and says they would face “the full force of the law.” Germany has been a major destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade and several hundred thousand Syrian nationals live there.

The Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister says five Australians who have spent almost 20 years in Indonesian prisons for heroin trafficking have returned to Australia under a deal struck between the two governments. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the men had returned to Australia on Sunday as free citizens. Albanese

Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A tornado near a mall in central California swept up cars, uprooted trees and sent several people to the hospital. In San Francisco, authorities issued the first-ever tornado warning. Elsewhere, inclement weather plagued areas of the U.S., with dangerous conditions including heavy snow in upstate New York, a major