Syrian prime minister says he is ready to hand over the government to the opposition
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said early Sunday that the government is ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.
“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.
He did not address reports that President Bashar Assad had left the country.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BEIRUT (AP) — The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said early Sunday that President Bashar Assad left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus after a stunning advance across the country.
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Search for UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer yields evidence, but few answers
NEW YORK (AP) — They have seen him smiling on a hostel security camera, but don’t know his name. They found the backpack he discarded while fleeing, but don’t know where he’s gone.
As the search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer goes on, investigators are reckoning with a tantalizing dichotomy: They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma.
Police don’t know who he is, where he is, or why he did it — though they are confident that it was a targeted attac k instead of a random act.
“The net is tightening,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Saturday.
Hours after he spoke, police divers were seen searching a pond in Central Park, where the killer fled after the shooting. Officers have been scouring the park for days for any possible clues and found his bag there Friday.
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An archbishop’s knock formally restores Notre Dame to life as winds howl and heads of state look on
PARIS (AP) — Howling winds couldn’t stop Notre Dame Cathedral ’s heart from beating again.
With three resounding knocks on its doors by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, wielding a specially designed crosier carved from fire-scorched beams, the monument roared back to life Saturday evening. For the first time since a devastating blaze nearly destroyed it in 2019, the towering Gothic masterpiece reopened for worship, its rebirth marked by song, prayer, and awe beneath its soaring arches.
The ceremony, initially planned to begin on the forecourt, was moved entirely inside due to unusually fierce December winds sweeping across the Île de la Cité, flanked by the River Seine. Yet the occasion lost none of its splendor. Inside the luminous nave, choirs sang psalms, and the cathedral’s mighty organ, silent for nearly five years, thundered to life in a triumphant interplay of melodies.
The restoration, a spectacular achievement in just five years for a structure that took nearly two centuries to build, is seen as a moment of triumph for French President Emmanuel Macron, who championed the ambitious timeline — and a welcome respite from his domestic political woes.
The evening’s celebration, attended by 1,500 dignitaries, including President-elect Donald Trump, US first lady Jill Biden, Britain’s Prince William, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, underscored Notre Dame’s enduring role as both a spiritual and cultural beacon. Observers see the event as Macron’s, and his intention to pivot it into a fully fledged diplomatic gathering, while highlighting France’s ability to unite on the global stage despite internal political crises.
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Trump is welcomed by Macron to Paris with presidential pomp and joined by Zelenskyy for their talks
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Donald Trump to Paris on Saturday with a full dose of presidential pomp as the two held a hastily arranged meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy before celebrating the grand reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
On a day that mixed pageantry with attention to pressing global problems, the once and future American president was warmly embraced by Macron upon arriving at the Elysee Palace.
“It’s a great honor for French people to welcome you five years later,” Macron told Trump. “Welcome back again.”
Trump said it was a “very great honor” to be there, while hinting at challenges ahead.
“It certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now. And we’ll be talking about that,” Trump said.
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Trump isn’t back in office but he’s already pushing his agenda and negotiating with world leaders
NEW YORK (AP) — He’s making threats, traveling abroad and negotiating with world leaders.
Donald Trump has more than a month and a half to go before he’s sworn in for a second term. But the Republican president-elect is already moving aggressively not just to fill his Cabinet and outline policy goals, but to achieve them.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, prompting emergency calls and a visit from Canada’s prime minister that resulted in what Trump claimed were commitments from both U.S. allies on new border security measures.
The incoming president has warned there will be “ALL HELL TO PAY” if Hamas does not release the hostages being held in Gaza before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.
And this weekend, Trump returned to the global stage, joining a host of other foreign leaders for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral five years after it was ravaged by a fire. There, he was welcomed like a sitting dignitary, with a prime seat next to French President Emmanuel Macron.
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South Korea’s president avoids an impeachment attempt over short-lived martial law
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol avoided an opposition-led attempt to impeach him over his short-lived imposition of martial law, as most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a parliamentary vote Saturday to deny a two-thirds majority needed to suspend his presidential powers.
The scrapping of the motion is expected to intensify protests calling for Yoon’s ouster and deepen political chaos in South Korea, with a survey suggesting a majority of South Koreans support the president’s impeachment. Yoon’s martial law declaration drew criticism from his own ruling conservative People Power Party, but the party is also determined to oppose Yoon’s impeachment apparently because it fears losing the presidency to liberals.
After the motion fell through, members of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party rallied inside the National Assembly, chanting slogans calling for Yoon’s impeachment or resignation.
The party’s floor leader, Park Chan-dae, said it will soon prepare for a new impeachment motion. Opposition parties could submit a new impeachment motion after a new parliamentary session opens next Wednesday.
“We’ll surely impeach Yoon Suk Yeol, who is the greatest risk to Republic of Korea,” party leader Lee Jae-myung said. “We’ll surely bring back this country to normal before Christmas Day or year’s end.”
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UnitedHealthcare CEO’s shooting opens a door for many to vent frustrations over insurance
For years, patients in the U.S. health care system have grown frustrated with a bureaucracy they don’t understand.
Doctors are included in an insurer’s network one year but not the next. Getting someone on the phone to help can be next to impossible. Coverage of care and prescriptions is often unceremoniously denied.
This week’s fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has unleashed a wave of public feeling — exasperation, anger, resentment, helplessness — from Americans sharing personal stories of interactions with insurance companies, often seen as faceless corporate giants.
In particular, the words written on ammunition found at the shooting scene — “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” echoing a phrase used to describe how insurers dodge claim payouts — amplified voices that have long been critical of the industry.
“All of a sudden, I am fired up again,” said Tim Anderson, describing how his wife, Mary, had to deal with UnitedHealthcare coverage denials before she died from Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in 2022.
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2 Pearl Harbor survivors, ages 104 and 102, return to Hawaii to honor those killed in 1941 attack
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Ira “Ike” Schab, a 104-year-old Pearl Harbor attack survivor, was so determined to stand and salute during a remembrance ceremony honoring those killed in the Japanese bombing that thrust the U.S. into World War II some 83 years ago that he spent six weeks in physical therapy to build the strength to do so.
On Saturday, Schab gingerly rose from his wheelchair and raised his right hand, returning a salute delivered by sailors on a destroyer and a submarine passing by in the harbor. His son and a daughter supported him from either side.
“I was honored to do it. I’m glad I was capable of standing up,” he said afterward. “I’m getting old, you know.”
Schab is one of only two servicemen who lived through the attack who made it to an annual observance hosted by the U.S. Navy and National Park Service on a grass field overlooking the harbor. A third survivor had been planning to join them but had to cancel because of health issues.
The Dec. 7, 1941, bombing killed more than 2,300 U.S. servicemen. Nearly half, or 1,177, were sailors and Marines on board the USS Arizona, which sank during the battle. The remains of more than 900 Arizona crew members are still entombed on the submerged vessel.
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An explosion destroys an apartment block in a Dutch city, killing at least 3 and injuring others
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An explosion and fire rocked a neighborhood in the Dutch city of The Hague on Saturday, killing three people and injuring other people and destroying several apartments, according to authorities.
The cause of the disaster was unclear. Mayor Jan van Zanen said investigators were looking into “all possibilities.” Police said they are looking for a car seen leaving the scene in case that helps with the investigation.
Van Zanen said three bodies were pulled from the rubble. Emergency authorities said four people were rescued and taken to the hospital. The mayor said rescuers were no longer looking for survivors but for eventual bodies, given that the ‘’slim chance of survival” under what’s left of the apartments. He could not specify how many people might still be unaccounted for.
Residents of the northeastern neighborhood of Mariahoeve in The Hague heard a huge bang and screams before dawn. One woman told local media that she thought an earthquake had happened.
Dutch authorities deployed a specialized urban search and rescue team to the scene, with four dogs trained to find victims. The team was previously used during the devastating earthquake in Turkey in 2023.
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How ‘Mufasa’ rose with Aaron Pierre and Blue Ivy’s voices along with new Lin-Manuel Miranda music
SAN DIEGO (AP) — When Aaron Pierre was cast as Mufasa, the weight of following in the late James Earl Jones’ legendary footsteps was enough to rattle any actor. But instead of letting the pressure roar too loudly, he harnessed his nerves to breathe fresh life into his young lion character.
“I had a lot of nerves and I actually think those nerves served me because that is what the adolescent version of that lion is,” Pierre said in an interview Friday at the San Diego Safari Park about his leading role in “Mufasa: The Lion King.” He took the reins as the new voice of Mufasa after Jones played the iconic King Mufasa in both the 1994 and 2019 versions of Disney’s “The Lion King.”
Here are some details and insights about “Mufasa” ahead of its release in theaters on Dec. 20.
Jones’ voice isn’t heard in the movie, but it opens with a brief tribute to the beloved actor, who died in September.
Pierre had hoped to meet Jones for the first time, but didn’t get the chance. Now, he’s determined to honor his idol by building on his character’s legacy.
The Associated Press