From "A Farewell to Arms" to the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor, thousands of artistic works will enter the public domain in the United States on Wednesday. Among the literary works entering the US public domain on January 1 are the novels "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner, "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway, "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf and the first English translation of "All Quiet on the Western Front" by the German author Erich Maria Remarque.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te pledged to strengthen the island's defenses in the face of escalating Chinese threats, saying in a New Year’s address on Wednesday that Taiwan was a crucial part of the “line of defense of democracy” globally. China claims Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, is part of its territory and has vowed to annex the island by force if necessary. Beijing has used a variety of tactics in recent years to increase pressure on Taiwan, from sending warships and fighter jets toward the island on a near-daily basis to pressuring Taiwan's diplomatic allies to switch their recognition to China.
The investigation into the crash of a South Korea passenger jet gathered pace on Wednesday as bereaved families began to prepare funerals after authorities finished formally identifying the 179 victims of the country's worst air disaster. The transport ministry said South Korean investigators have extracted the data from the plane's cockpit voice recorder and will convert it into an audio file, critical information to try to explain the few minutes that led up to the crash. The investigation team is still working to extract the contents of the flight data recorder, which was found missing a key connector, the ministry said.
When Syrian rebels roared into Damascus after a lightning advance on the capital, they exalted in their triumph over President Bashar Assad and rejoiced at the sudden end of a 14-year civil war that laid waste to much of the country. In images captured by Associated Press photographers in December, rifle-toting opposition fighters celebrated in the streets and stepped on a broken bust of Assad's late father, Syrian President Hafez Assad. The toppling of the Assad family also unleashed a search for answers in morgues and prisons where families went in search of loved ones who disappeared under the Assad police state.
As Colorado becomes the second state to legalize psychedelic therapy this week, a clash is playing out in Colorado Springs, where conservative leaders are restricting the treatment over objections from some of the city's 90,000 veterans, who've become flagbearers for psychedelic therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Colorado residents voted to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the chemical compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, in a 2022 ballot measure, launching two years of rulemaking before it could be used to treat conditions such as depression and PTSD. Colorado joined Oregon in legalizing psilocybin therapy, though the drug remains illegal in most other states and federally.
Hundreds of people who say they suffered physical or sexual abuse at two state-run reform schools in Florida are in line to receive tens of thousands of dollars in restitution from the state, after Florida lawmakers formally apologized for the horrors they endured as children more than 50 years ago. At its peak in the Jim Crow 1960s, 500 boys were housed at what is now known as the Dozier School for Boys, most of them for minor offenses such as petty theft, truancy or running away from home. In recent years, hundreds of men have come forward to recount brutal beatings, sexual assaults, deaths and disappearances at the notorious school in the panhandle town of Marianna.
Before reaching the 1978 peace deal between Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin, Jimmy Carter managed months of intense preparation, high-stakes negotiations at Camp David and a field trip to the Gettysburg battlefield to demonstrate the consequences of war. “We finally got an agreement because we all shared faith in the same God,” Carter told biographer Jonathan Alter, as he traced his Christianity, Begin’s Judaism and Sadat’s Islam to their common ancestor in each religion’s sacred texts. Carter, who died Sunday at 100, was widely known as a man of faith, especially after his long post-presidency became defined by images of the Baptist Sunday School teacher building homes for low-income people and fighting diseases across the developing world.
Wondering when Easter and the Super Bowl are? When the clocks change? Check out the 2025 calendar dates for holidays, big games, movie releases, award shows and more.
Finnish police said Tuesday that seven sailors from the Eagle S tanker suspected of last week cutting an undersea power cable between Finland and Estonia are targets of a sabotage investigation and have been banned from leaving the country."Seven members of the Eagle S crew have the status of suspect in this criminal investigation and have been served with a travel ban," Finnish police said in a statement, referring to the oil tanker being held in Finnish waters in the Baltic Sea pending the inv
This year-long investigation provides an unprecedented look at California's one-party supermajority legislature through the eyes of grieving parents who discover how California lawmakers kill popular bills by not voting.
Smokers in Italy's financial and fashion capital of Milan risk being fined for lighting up on city streets or crowded public areas, after the country's toughest ban comes into effect Wednesday.- Cheap smokes - Italy's first national smoking ban, in 1975, banned smoking on public transportation and in classrooms and certain other areas.
According to numerologists, angel number 1212 suggests harmony and balance are ahead. It's about trusting yourself, and accepting changes with an open mind.
The FBI uncovered more than 150 homemade bombs on a farm in Virginia in what is thought to be the largest such seizure in the agency's history, according to court documents filed this week.A court document filed Monday said Spafford, who works at a machine shop, had used pictures of President Joe Biden for shooting target practice and expressed support for political assassinations.
Several children were hurt when a display collapsed during a New Year's Eve event for kids in Massachusetts.
The president-elect also plans to attend Jimmy Carter's funeral.
A towering wooden "Grand Ring" built for Expo 2025 in Osaka pays homage to Japan's architectural history and is a symbol of unity despite criticism over costs, its creator says.So the Expo is also a "wonderful occasion to show that Japan has a long history" of wooden buildings, Fujimoto said.
A critical failure in Puerto Rico’s power grid has caused a massive blackout affecting a large part of the island, according to a post on Gov. Pedro Pierluisi’s X account.
Although the black moon itself will be invisible, it will create ideal opportunities for stargazing.
See photos from Times Square as Americans celebrate New Year's and the ringing in of 2025.
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) -President-elect Donald Trump said he would attend next week's state funeral for Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president who died on Sunday at the age of 100, and predicted that only House Speaker Mike Johnson could win the vote for the House's top job. As Trump entered a New Year's Eve Party at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Tuesday, he was asked by a reporter whether he planned to be on hand for Carter's funeral at the National Cathedral on Jan. 9 in Washington, D.C.. At the black tie gala attended by billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, Senator Ted Cruz and other supporters, Trump was also asked what message he had for Republicans who have not followed his lead and backed House Speaker Johnson's re-election bid.