AP National News

Associated Press Finding the perfect gift can be daunting. Especially if you’re looking for something this year that’s truly innovative, practical, fun, even game-changing. The AP has done some of the legwork. Consider the rainproof block “Pull Start Fire,” which will light a fire quickly without matches, lighters or kindling. Or FujiFilm’s Instax Mini Link

Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s plan to make all public school classrooms in the state post the Ten Commandments remains on hold under a federal appeals court ruling in New Orleans. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to pause an order by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles in Baton Rouge. DeGravelles

Russia has sent a gift of more than 70 animals to North Korea for the Pyongyang Zoo, including bears, yaks, ducks and cockatoos. A Russian government statement says the animals were flown to Pyongyang aboard a government plane, and escorted by a group of officials and experts from the Moscow Zoo. Russia’s Natural Resources Minister

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. decision to provide Ukraine with antipersonnel land mines expands the use of a weapon that the international community has long condemned because of its danger to innocent civilians. And it reflects another in a long line of American policy shifts on the controversial issue in the past 30

Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur has won another term in the U.S. House after defeating a Republican state lawmaker endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump. Kaptur’s winning margin in final results certified Wednesday averted an automatic recount in her northwest Ohio race. Fourth-term state Rep. Derek Merrin had been endorsed by

Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Leaders of the main opposition parties in Congo have called for nationwide protests against President Felix Tshisekedi’s plans to draft a new constitution. Last month,  he announced that a national commission will be set up next year to draft a new constitution for the Central African country, raising concern

LONDON (AP) — The office of the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, says he will wrap up his official duties in early January amid an abuse scandal in the Church of England. Welby resigned last week after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about serial

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Defense Ministry says it’s planning to buy 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks from Germany in a deal worth about $167 million. The ministry said on Wednesday it hopes to sign a deal with Germany’s Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH by the end of the year, with the tanks to be delivered by the

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president says the government is investigating an alleged ransomware hack of her administration’s legal affairs office after what appeared to be samples of personal information from a database of government employees were posted online. The website Cybernews said a group called Ransomhub had posted a sampling of apparently hacked government

Associated Press Two former Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment against Rudy Giuliani have asked a judge to penalize him even more. They say the former attorney for Donald Trump continues to spread lies about their actions during the 2020 presidential election. Attorneys for Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye”

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams has appointed sanitation chief Jessica Tisch as police commissioner. A city government stalwart and ex-NYPD official, she’ll be just the second woman in the high-profile, high-pressure post. The move announced Wednesday comes at a critical time for the nation’s largest police department, shoring

NEW YORK (AP) — A promotional video for a rebrand of British luxury car brand Jaguar is being criticized online for showing models in brightly colored outfits — and no car. The rebrand, which includes a new logo, is slated to launch Dec. 2 during the Miami Art Week, when the company will unveil a

TUSKEGEE, Ala. (AP) — The parents of an 18-year-old who was killed in a hail of gunfire at Tuskegee University are suing the school in a wrongful death lawsuit. Tamika and Larry Johnson’s son, La’Tavion Johnson, was shot and killed while attending a party on campus Nov. 10. At least 16 others were injured. The

NEW YORK (AP) — A piece of conceptual art consisting of a simple banana, duct-taped to a wall, sold for $6.2 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday, with the winning bid coming from a prominent cryptocurrency entrepreneur. “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a phenomenon when it debuted in 2019 at

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Finnish authorities say they have opened an investigation into the rupture of a data cable under the Baltic Sea, adding to a Swedish probe into the possible sabotage of that link and another cable. The C-Lion1 cable, which runs between Finland and Germany, and a cable that crosses the Baltic between

Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A human rights report says hundreds of people in Belarus who have shown solidarity with Ukraine have been arrested in a sweeping crackdown under authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Viasna human rights center says 1,671 Belarusians were detained for their anti-war stance or for expressing solidarity with Ukraine, with

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A day after New York prosecutors said they will fight efforts to dismiss Donald Trump’s hush money conviction, the president-elect’s lawyers urged a judge to ignore them and dispose of the case before he takes office in January. Echoing their arguments since Trump’s win, his lawyers said in a

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An apologetic FTX co-founder has been sentenced to no time in prison after a prosecutor and a judge praised his cooperation against Sam Bankman-Fried and his efforts to recover money for victims of the cryptocurrency fraud. Gary Wang testified for parts of three days at Bankman-Fried’s trial last year,

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek police say they have seized explosives and weapons in a search of a storage area in an apartment building in Athens. The search comes about two weeks after raids on five locations in Athens uncovered large quantities of explosives and firearms. Authorities said that earlier operation was aimed at dismantling