Moscow warns the US over allowing Ukraine to hit Russian soil with longer-range weapons

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Kremlin warns that Washington’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles would stoke the war and escalate international tensions. The policy shift adds uncertainty as the war on Tuesday marks 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukraine said a Russian missiles struck Sumy in northern Ukraine and Odesa in the south, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens. U.S. officials say Washington is easing limits on what Ukraine can strike with its American-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, after months of ruling out such a move over fears of escalating the conflict. A Kremlin spokesman said Washington was “adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions.”

Israeli airstrike hits central Beirut near key government buildings and embassies

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike has struck a densely populated residential area in Lebanon’s capital close to the U.N. headquarters, Parliament, the prime minister’s office and several embassies. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says two missiles hit the area of Zoqaq al-Blat neighborhood of Beirut, killing at least five and wounding 18. The strike comes following reports that the U.S. envoy has delayed his visit for cease-fire talks. The target of the airstrike remains unclear, and the Israeli army did not issue a prior warning.

45 activists get 4 to 10 years in prison in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case

HONG KONG (AP) — Forty-five ex-lawmakers and activists were sentenced to four to 10 years in prison in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case under a Beijing-imposed law that crushed a once-thriving pro-democracy movement. The defendants were prosecuted in 2021 for their roles in an unofficial primary election under the 2020 national security law. They were accused of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately. The 45 convicted received prison terms ranging from four years and two months to 10 years. Legal scholar Benny Tai was given the longest sentence.

42,000 crowd New Zealand’s Parliament grounds in support of Māori rights

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — As tens of thousands of marchers thronged the streets in New Zealand’s capital Wellington, the column of people, flags aloft, had the air of a festival or a parade rather than a protest. They arrived Tuesday to opposed a law that would reshape the county’s founding treaty between Indigenous Māori and the British Crown. But for many, it was about something more: a celebration of a resurging Indigenous language and identity, with growing solidarity from non-Māori New Zealanders. What was likely the country’s largest-ever protest in support of Māori rights drew 42,000 people to New Zealand’s Parliament.

Georgia appeals court cancels hearing in election interference case against Trump

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia appeals court has canceled oral arguments that were scheduled for next month on the appeal of a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against President-elect Donald Trump. Trump and other defendants had asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to hold oral arguments in the case, and the court had set those arguments for Dec. 5. But in a one-line order issued Monday with no further explanation, the appeals court said that hearing “is hereby canceled until further order of this Court.”

Speaker Johnson’s ‘epic’ weekend with Trump shows strengths and limits of his power

WASHINGTON (AP) — There was House Speaker Mike Johnson walking behind President-elect Donald Trump’s entourage into Saturday night’s UFC fight at Madison Square Garden. And Johnson mugging with musicians Kid Rock and Jelly Roll. And on Trump’s airplane, peering over the seat in front of him, a four-top table loaded with McDonald’s meals for the president-elect and others. The images from Johnson’s wild weekend with Trump provide a snapshot of his proximity to power. But they also potentially diminish the office of House speaker, among the highest ranking in the U.S. government, second in the line of secession. Johnson, a former religious rights attorney a year on the job, said the weekend was “epic.”

Trump says he is naming former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy to be transportation secretary

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy is his choice to be transportation secretary as he continues to roll out picks for his Cabinet. Duffy is a former reality TV star who was one of Trump’s most visible defenders on cable news — a prime concern for the media-focused president-elect. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, was a member of the Financial Services Committee and was chairman of the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019, and is co-host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business.

G20 summit calls for more aid to Gaza and an end to the war in Ukraine

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Leaders of the world’s 20 major economies called for a global pact to combat hunger, more aid to war-torn Gaza and an end to hostilities in the Mideast and Ukraine, issuing a joint declaration that was heavy on generalities but short of details on how to accomplish those goals. The joint statement was endorsed by group members on Monday but fell short of complete unanimity. It  also called for a future global tax on billionaires and reforms to allow the eventual expansion of the United Nation Security Council beyond its five current permanent members. The 3-day meeting in Rio de Janeiro ends on Wednesday.

3 people are killed in random stabbings in New York City. A suspect is in custody

NEW YORK (AP) — Officials say a man has carried out a string of stabbings across a swath of Manhattan that killed three people. The 51-year-old suspect is in police custody after Monday morning’s attacks. The city’s police chief of detectives says the attacks happened within 2 1/2 hours. The first killed a 26-year-old construction worker by his work site near the Hudson River. Then a 68-year-old man was attacked and killed while fishing in the East River. And a 36-year-old woman died in a hospital after being stabbed near the U.N. headquarters. Police say the suspect was found with blood on his clothes and two kitchen knives.

Arthur Frommer, travel guide innovator, has died at 95

NEW YORK (AP) — Travel writer Arthur Frommer, who revolutionized leisure travel for ordinary Americans with his guidebook “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day,” has died. He was 95. His daughter Pauline Frommer said Monday he died from complications of pneumonia. Frommer self-published the first “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day” in 1957. It was an expanded version of a guide he’d written for American soldiers stationed overseas. It became an immediate best-seller. He told Americans to skip five-star hotels and seek out modest, family-run places where ordinary Europeans stayed when they traveled. Frommer’s advice coincided with the rise of fast, affordable jet travel.