AP National News

Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and could come after other parts of Europe next. Rutte told the Carnegie Europe think-tank in Brussels it is “time to shift to a wartime mindset” and that people should gird

AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The story of RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys,” laced with the cruelties of the Jim Crow-era South, has commonalities with films made before. But the grammar of “Nickel Boys” is entirely its own. Ross shot the Colson Whitehead adaptation almost entirely from the point of view of its two

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The global chemical weapons watchdog has opened an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Syria over concerns about the country’s stockpile of toxic chemicals in the wake of the overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons told Syria on Monday the

AP Medical Writer Some early breast cancer patients can safely avoid specific surgeries, according to two studies exploring ways to lessen treatment burdens. One new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, examines whether removing lymph nodes is always necessary in early breast cancer. Another in the Journal of the American Medical Association

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Ukraine must have a pivotal role in any potential negotiations over Russia’s war in the country. Both leaders met in Warsaw. Macron insisted Europeans must be involved in security talks in “very close” coordination with the United States to ensure

Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland has sworn in its new president after last month’s election that gave a boost for its push for international recognition. Thursday’s inauguration ceremony came a day after Somalia and Ethiopia agreed in Turkey to hold “technical talks” over a dispute sparked by a controversial

AP Business Writer An appeals court in Louisiana has ruled that Nasdaq can’t require diversity on the boards of companies that list on the exchange. The decision comes more than three years after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq’s proposal to boost the number of women, racial minorities and LGBTQ people on U.S. corporate

Associated Press STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish prosecutors say they have dropped a rape investigation that was launched in connection with soccer star Kylian Mbappé’s visit to Stockholm in October. In a statement, lead investigator Marina Chirakova says there is not enough evidence to continue the investigation into the allegation at a hotel. Prosecutors never publicly

Selena Gomez is having quite a year, and it’s being capped with an engagement to music producer and songwriter Benny Blanco. The Grammy- and Emmy-nominated performer announced she was off the market in an Instagram post Wednesday of her ring, with the caption “Forever begins now.” Celebrity fans sent their congratulations, with rapper Lil Nas

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has undergone a second procedure to stop a brain bleed. The 79-year-old Lula had surgery at the hospital on Tuesday for a kind of slow bleeding that resulted from a fall at home in October. Thursday’s procedure was to plug an artery that continued

Associated Press When the African Methodist Episcopal Church, arguably the world’s largest independent Black Protestant denomination, held its quadrennial General Conference in Ohio in August, among the agenda items was an issue that the Rev. Jennifer S. Leath had labored over for two decades: same-sex marriage. Leath, 43, self-identifies as “quare” — terminology designed to

Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The town of Asheville, North Carolina, is known for its artists and restaurants. In September, it was devastated by flooding from Hurricane Helene. Even businesses not physically harmed suffered weeks without power and water. And Asheville was essentially closed to tourists during its busiest season. So local artists and

Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Some European Union countries are doubling down on their decision to rapidly halt asylum procedures for Syrian migrants in Europe. But they said Thursday that it’s too early to consider sending any of the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled since 2011 back home. Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece,