By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A truck carrying liquified petroleum gas has exploded in the South African town of Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, killing at least 8 people and injuring 50 others on Saturday. Emergency services officials said that the top of the truck scraped a low-lying bridge, sparking flames that caused
Continue ReadingBy Tina Burnside and Harmeet Kaur, CNN Three people, including two minors, have been charged in connection with the Friday shooting at Minnesota’s Mall of America, the largest shopping center in the US, that left a 19-year-old dead, Hennepin County District Court spokesperson Matt Lehman said. Taeshawn Adams-Wright is charged with second-degree murder with intent
Continue ReadingKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian shells pummeled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55 in the city that Moscow’s troops were forced to abandon last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just back from his quick trip to Washington, posted photos of the wreckage on his social
Continue ReadingBy Zachary Cohen, Tierney Sneed, Hannah Rabinowitz and Marshall Cohen, CNN The story of January 6 has largely focused on a cast of very prominent characters, including former President Donald Trump and members of his inner circle who have become household names, like his former attorney Rudy Giuliani and his White House chief of staff
Continue ReadingHONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader says China has agreed to a reopening of the city’s border with the mainland, which has been largely closed by pandemic restrictions. Chief Executive John Lee told reporters at the Hong Kong airport on Saturday that the two sides would develop a plan to reopen the border in
Continue ReadingHALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — The world junior hockey championship will be held in Canada the next two weeks. The event will be held amid fallout from Hockey Canada’s handling of explosive sexual assault allegations tied to its world junior team in 2003 and 2018. No charges have been filed but investigations may not be
Continue ReadingBy MAYA ALLERUZZO, JALAL BWAITEL and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — The biblical town of Bethlehem marked a merry Christmas on Saturday, with thousands of visitors descending upon the traditional birthplace of Jesus as it rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism is the economic lifeblood of this town in the occupied
Continue ReadingBy JEFFREY SCHAEFFER and ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Members of France’s Kurdish community and anti-racism activists joined together in mourning and anger on Saturday in Paris after three people were killed at a Kurdish cultural center in an attack that prosecutors say was racially motivated. The shooting in a bustling neighborhood of
Continue ReadingISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani president’s office has announced that the country’s criminal law has been amended to repeal a colonial-era legislation against suicide. The development came in the form of an amendment, signed late Friday by President Arif Alvi and announced by his office on Twitter. The amendment was initially approved by the parliament’s
Continue ReadingBy MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ Orthodox Church has elected Paphos Bishop Georgios as its new leader. The 73-year-old cleric on Saturday received nine votes from the 16-member Holy Synod, the church’s highest decision-making body, against four for runner-up Limassol Bishop Athanasios. The Holy Synod’s decision followed a Dec. 18 lay
Continue ReadingBy BARBARA SURK Associated Press NICE, France (AP) — Tunisia’s increasingly authoritarian president appears determined to upend the country’s political system. The strategy is not only threatening a democracy once seen as a model for the Arab world, experts say it is also sending the economy toward a tailspin. The International Monetary Fund has frozen
Continue ReadingBy BARBARA SURK Associated Press NICE, France (AP) — Tunisia’s increasingly authoritarian president appears determined to upend the country’s political system. The strategy is not only threatening a democracy once seen as a model for the Arab world, experts say it is also sending the economy toward a tailspin. The International Monetary Fund has frozen
Continue ReadingBy SHEIKH SAALIQ and AIJAZ HUSSAIN Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Members of India’s main opposition Congress party and thousands of supporters have walked into New Delhi as part of a cross-country “unity march” seeking to challenge what they say is a “hate-filled” version of the country under the Hindu nationalist government. The march
Continue ReadingBy Jacob Lev, CNN A pair of goals from Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin on Friday secured yet another feat in his surefire Hall of Fame career, passing hockey legend Gordie Howe for the second-most goals scored in NHL history. In front of a friendly home crowd against the Winnipeg Jets, Ovechkin scored on a
Continue ReadingBy HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Just a year ago, Sophia Square in Kyiv was all about the big Christmas tree and thousands of lights spreading over the plaza. These final days of 2022, in the middle of a war that has ravaged the country for 10 months, a more modest tree
Continue ReadingMOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials say 22 people died in a fire at a private shelter in the Siberian city of Kemerovo that was operating illegally. Initial reports Saturday described the wooden building in the city 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow as a nursing home, but the country’s Investigative Committee, which probes major
Continue ReadingBy Marcia Reverdosa, Maija-Liisa Ehlinger and Heather Chen, CNN The son and daughter of Brazilian football legend Pelé have taken to Instagram to post moving tributes and pictures of their father as they spend Christmas at his side at the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital in São Paulo. “We continue to be here, in fight and
Continue ReadingHONOLULU (AP) — Samuta Avea scored 19 points and tournament host Hawaii advanced to the final of the Diamond Head Classic for the first time with a 62-51 victory over Washington State on Friday night. Hawaii, which has hosted the event 11 times since 2009, will play SMU in the championship game on Sunday. The
Continue ReadingBy SEBABATSO MOSAMO and ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Christmas lights twinkle, holiday music plays and Johannesburg’s popular Rosebank mall bustles with shoppers. Then the lights go out. The shops are pitch dark. “Hold on to your wallets,” calls out a customer to rueful chuckles. A long minute later the distant hum of
Continue ReadingBy SEBABATSO MOSAMO and ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Christmas lights twinkle, holiday music plays and Johannesburg’s popular Rosebank mall bustles with shoppers. Then the lights go out. The shops are pitch dark. “Hold on to your wallets,” calls out a customer to rueful chuckles. A long minute later the distant hum of
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