WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate passed legislation early Saturday to boost Social Security payments for millions of people, pushing a longtime priority for former public employees through Congress in one of its last acts for the year. The bipartisan bill, which next heads to President Joe Biden, will eliminate longtime re...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A judge ruled Friday that Missouri's near-total abortion ban is unenforceable under a new constitutional amendment, ensuring abortion will be legal in the state. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jerri Zhang issued an order blocking the state's strict abortion law after a new abortion-rights co...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A judge ruled Friday that Missouri's near-total abortion ban is unenforceable under a new constitutional amendment, ensuring abortion will be legal in the state. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jerri Zhang issued an order blocking the state's strict abortion law after a new abortion-rights co...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri's governor commuted the sentence of a white Kansas City police officer who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man whose death fueled racial justice protests. Gov. Mike Parson commuted Eric DeValkenaere's sentence to time served on Friday, weeks...

PARIS (AP) - France's anti-terrorism court on Friday convicted eight people of involvement in the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty four years ago. Paty was killed outside his school near Paris on Oct. 16, 2020, days after showing his class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a debate on free expression. The assaila...

ROME (AP) - A court in Sicily Friday found Italian Vice Premier Matteo Salvini not guilty of illegally detaining 100 migrants aboard a humanitarian rescue ship in 2019, when he was interior minister. The court in the city of Palermo dropped all the charges against Salvini in relation an incident in 2019, when he refuse...

BERLIN (AP) - A car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, German news agency dpa reported. The driver of the car was arrested, the agency said, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. There was no immediate information on wh...

ROME (AP) - A court in Sicily Friday found Vice Premier Matteo Salvini not guilty of illegally detaining 100 migrants aboard a humanitarian rescue ship when he was interior minister. The court dropped all the charges against Salvini in relation an incident in 2019, when he refused to allow the migrants to leave the Ope...

NEW YORK (AP) - An Iranian officer blamed for the 2022 killing of an American in Iraq has been charged in New York with federal murder and terrorism crimes, authorities announced on Friday. Federal authorities in New York City said Mohammad Reza Nouri, a captain in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, has been char...

DELPHI, Ind. (AP) - An Indiana man convicted in the 2017 killings of two teenage girls who vanished during a winter hike was sentenced to a maximum of 130 years in prison Friday in the case that's long cast a shadow over the teens' small hometown of Delphi. A special judge sentenced Richard Allen during a hearing that ...

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - A 7-year-old girl died and a teacher and five other students were wounded in a knife attack at a school in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, on Friday, police said. They said the attack happened at 9:50 a.m. at the Precko Elementary School in the neighborhood of the same name. They described the atta...

ATHENS, Greeece (AP) - A speedboat carrying migrants capsized Friday morning off the eastern Greek island of Rhodes, leaving eight dead, Greek authorities said. The coast guard said the incident occurred while the speedboat was carrying out "dangerous maneuvers" to try and evade a patrol vessel, causing migra...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The first U.S. diplomats to visit Syria since President Bashar Assad's ouster earlier this month are now in Damascus to hold talks with the country's new leaders and seek information on the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ba...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The first U.S. diplomats to visit Syria since President Bashar Assad's ouster earlier this month are now in Damascus to hold talks with the country's new leaders and seek information on the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ba...

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - Australian breaker Rachael "Raygun" Gunn has tried to be a good sport about the jokes and criticism that poured in from around the globe after her controversial performance at the Paris Olympics. But maybe "Raygun: the Musical" was a bridge too far. Comedian Stephanie Broa...

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - Australian breaker Rachael "Raygun" Gunn has tried to be a good sport about the jokes and criticism that poured in from around the globe after her controversial performance at the Paris Olympics. But maybe "Raygun: the Musical" was a bridge too far. Comedian Stephanie Broa...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States doubled the number of its forces in Syria to fight the Islamic State group before the overthrow of President Bashar Assad's government, the Pentagon said Thursday. The U.S. had previously said 900 troops were in Syria, but Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, announced ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States doubled the number of forces in Syria to fight the Islamic State group before the overthrow of President Bashar Assad's government, the Pentagon said Thursday. The U.S. has previously said 900 troops were in Syria, but Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, announced that...

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal indictment released Thursday charges the mayor's former chief adviser, her son and two real estate investors in a bribery conspiracy. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., on Thursday announced the indictment of Ingrid Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn D. Martin II and real estate investo...

UVALDE, Texas (AP) - A Texas judge on Thursday refused to throw out criminal charges accusing the former Uvalde schools police chief of putting children at risk during a slow response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting. Pete Arredondo said he was improperly charged and that the shooter was responsible for putt...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma man who killed a 10-year-old girl in a cannibalistic fantasy died by lethal injection Thursday in the nation's 25th and final execution of the year. Kevin Ray Underwood was pronounced dead at 10:14 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, state Department of Corrections spo...

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO will return to New York to face murder charges after agreeing to be extradited Thursday during a court appearance in Pennsylvania where he was arrested last week after five days on the run. Luigi Mangione waived a preliminary hearing on the ...

ATLANTA (AP) - A state appeals court on Thursday removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others but did not dismiss the indictment, leaving the future of the prosecution uncertain. The case against Trump and more than a dozen others had al...

ATLANTA (AP) - A state appeals court on Thursday removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others but did not dismiss the indictment, leaving the future of the prosecution uncertain. The case against Trump and more than a dozen others had al...

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held his marathon news conference and call-in show, an annual event he has used to reinforce his authority and demonstrate sweeping control of the country's political scene. Putin began by boasting about Russia's economic performance, saying that it's on track ...

AVIGNON, France (AP) - A French court on Thursday declared the ex-husband of Gisèle Pelicot guilty of aggravated rapes and all other charges against him. The verdict for 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot was read by the lead judge of the court in Avignon, Roger Arata. He hasn't yet delivered the sentence, which can ...

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Thursday to the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte to survey the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Chido. Marcon will overfly the area for an aerial appraisal of the damage before visiting the hospital. He will then visit a destroyed neighborhood. French ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A California judge has ordered a man to surrender his guns and ammunition after police learned he messaged the teen who carried out a school shooting in Wisconsin about his own plans to target a government building with a gun or explosives. Judge Laura Duffy issued a restraining order Wednesday und...