NEW YORK (AP) — A massive Norway spruce has been lit up in a tradition that ushers in Christmastime in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio flipped the switch Wednesday night to light the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree following a televised extravaganza that featured performances by Diana Ross and Tony Bennett.The 72-foot-tall tree is…
By MARY CLARE JALONICK and SUSANNAH GEORGE , Associated Press Trump, senators sent a strong signal Wednesday they want to punish Saudi Arabia for its role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. By a bipartisan 63-37, the Senate voted to move forward with legislation calling for an end to U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led…
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE , AP Chief Medical Writer HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese researcher who claims to have helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies says a second pregnancy may be underway. The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, revealed the pregnancy Wednesday while making his first public comments about his controversial work at an international conference…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ivanka Trump defended her use of a private email account as she was moving into an adviser’s position in her father’s administration, saying that it cannot be compared to the flap over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server and that “Lock her up!” doesn’t apply to her. “All of…
By ZEKE MILLER , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kremlin said Wednesday it still expects a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump to go ahead as planned despite a suggestion from Trump that it could be canceled. Trump, in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, said he may cancel…
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS , Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith won a divisive Mississippi runoff Tuesday, surviving a video-recorded remark decried as racist and defeating a former federal official who hoped to become the state’s first African-American senator since Reconstruction. The runoff was rocked by the video, in which Hyde-Smith…
WASHINGTON (AP) — A British newspaper alleges that Paul Manafort secretly met WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London within days or weeks of being brought aboard Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. If confirmed, the report Tuesday suggests a direct connection between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which released tens of thousands of…
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the U.S. military said. The military said that three other service members were wounded when the bomb went off near the city of Ghazni. An American contractor was also wounded, it said. The military did not immediately identify any…
By AYA BATRAWY , Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s first trip abroad since the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi will offer an early indication of the repercussions he faces from the gruesome slaying. The prince is visiting close allies in the Middle East before attending the…
By TOM KRISHER , AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — General Motors will cut up to 14,000 workers in North America and put five plants up for possible closure as it abandons many of its car models and restructures to focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles, the automaker announced Monday. The reductions could amount…