(All times Eastern) Schedule subject to change and/or blackouts Saturday, December 9 BOXING 10 p.m. ESPN — Top Rank Main Card: Robeisy Ramirez vs. Rafael...

The COP28 climate talks in Dubai are entering their second and final week with delegations positioning themselves on either side of a clearly drawn battle line: whether or not they can commit to phasing out fossil fuels. The issue has become the most contentious at the largest-ever annual United Nations summit. The approval on the first day of a Loss and Damage fund to help poor countries recover from climate disasters was an early victory that lifted negotiators’ moods — and left them able to...

Ukraine’s premier hailed parliament’s approval of changes to anti-graft and minorities legislation requested by the European Union as the country strives to open accession talks with the bloc. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, last month recommended a start to negotiations on opening Kyiv’s membership bid once the government completes reforms, with boosting anti-corruption efforts high on the agenda. On Friday, the legislature supported expanding the staff of the...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University named the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as it's next president Friday morning, ending a search that began last October after the previous president quit amid tension with the school’s governing board. Kevin Guskiewicz, who has served as chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill for the past four years, was approved by the Board of Trustees in an unanimous vote Friday morning. He will become Michigan State’s 22nd overall president and the fifth person to...

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Some Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the IOC said Friday, in a decision that removed the option of a blanket ban over the invasion of Ukraine. The International Olympic Committee's decision confirms moves it started one year ago to reintegrate Russia and its military ally Belarus into global sports, and nine months after it urged sports governing bodies to look at ways to let individual athletes compete. ...

The Kremlin is rallying support for Vladimir Putin’s election to a fifth presidential term by pitching him as the defender of traditional Russian values against the “liberal” West, as the war in Ukraine grinds on with no resolution in sight. Putin said he’ll run for another six-year term at a meeting with participants in a military awards ceremony at the Kremlin on Friday, state media reported. That came a day after Russian lawmakers announced the election will be held on March 17, 2024. ...

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — IOC confirms some Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at Paris Olympics with neutral status.

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta police have arrested a woman who's accused of trying to burn down the birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta. Officers arrested the 26-year-old woman around 5:45 p.m. Thursday after responding to a report of vandalism in process at the two-story home in the historic Auburn Avenue Historic District, according to a police statement. Police say a preliminary investigation shows the woman had poured gasoline on the property before people at the site stopped her. ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, according to Pollstar's 2023 year-end charts. Not only was Swift's landmark Eras Tour the No. 1 tour both worldwide and in North America, but she also brought in a whopping $1.04 billion with 4.35 million tickets sold across 60 tour dates, the concert trade publication found. Pollstar data is pulled from box office...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s employers added a solid 199,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell, fresh signs that the economy could achieve an elusive “soft landing,” in which inflation would return to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target without causing a steep recession. Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate dropped from 3.9% to 3.7%, not far above a five-decade low of 3.4% in April. ...

TOKYO (AP) — Thousands of tons of dead sardines have washed up on a beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons, officials said Friday. The sardines and some mackerel washed ashore in Hakodate on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Thursday morning, creating a sliver blanket along a stretch of beach about a kilometer (0.6 mile) long. Local residents said they have never seen anything like it. Some gathered...

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — This weekend's top-level soccer matches in Greece have been postponed following serious clashes involving sports fans that left a police officer in critical condition after he was hit by a flare. Greek league organizers said weekend matches would be rescheduled after it failed to fill referee positions for key matches. The decision announced Friday followed a series of violent sport-related incidents and came hours after police...

Asteroid will pass in front of bright star Betelgeuse to produce a rare eclipse visible to millions CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — One of the biggest and brightest stars in the night sky will momentarily vanish. That's because an asteroid will pass in front of it in a one-of-a-kind eclipse. The rare event will occur late Monday into early Tuesday. Weather permitting, it should be visible to millions of people along a narrow path stretching from central Asia and southern Europe to parts of Florida...

Tropical Weather-Atlantic for Friday, December 8, 2023 No tropical systems across the Atlantic basin There are no active systems in the Atlantic basin. The 2023 hurricane season has ended. Updates will be provided only if an out-of-season tropical system develops. Copyright 2023 AccuWeather

Vladimir Putin on Friday moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in the presidential election next March that he is all but certain to win, according to state media reports. Putin still commands wide support after nearly a quarter-century in power, despite starting an immensely costly war in Ukraine that has taken thousands of his countrymen’s lives, provoked repeated attacks inside Russia -– including one on the Kremlin itself -– and corroded its...

TOKYO (AP) — Nintendo canceled its upcoming video game showcase and postponed several other events because of persistent threats to the company, its workers and players. “We decided we could not amply ensure the safety of our customers,” Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. said in an online statement Thursday. The Japanese manufacturer behind the Super Mario and Pokemon canceled Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo, which had been set for Jan. 20 and 21....

BAGHDAD (AP) — A rocket attack on the sprawling U.S. Embassy in Baghdad caused minor damage but no casualties Friday morning, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. The attack is the first on the embassy located in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Iraq's capital to be confirmed since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. The Green Zone houses Iraqi government buildings and embassies on the west bank of the Tigris River. ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bronny James has returned to full-contact practice for the first time since suffering cardiac arrest in July, paving the way for the son of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James to make his college debut for Southern California. The Trojans host Long Beach State on Sunday. The elder James has said he would attend his son's first game regardless of whether the Lakers were playing the same day. The Lakers are off Sunday. USC coach Andy Enfield says James would come off the bench and be on a minutes restriction when he debuts. Enfield says James'...

Israel has designated a safe zone in southern Gaza, but its widening air and ground offensive has left Palestinians packed together in dire humanitarian conditions. United Nations monitors said Thursday that a hospital in the southern town of Khan Younis received its first delivery of supplies since Nov. 29. Aid groups are severely limited by fighting and restrictions placed by the military. The United Nations estimates 1.9 million people have been displaced and new military evacuation orders are squeezing people into ever-smaller areas. Most lack...

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Desperate Palestinians fleeing Israel's expanding ground offensive crowded into an ever-shrinking area of the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third month Friday. The United Nations warned that its aid operation is “in tatters” because no place in the besieged enclave is safe. Israel’s ferocious military assault on Gaza, a tiny, densely populated territory, has led to widespread civilian casualties and mass displacements, triggering international alarm. ...