When the African Methodist Episcopal Church, arguably the world’s largest independent Black Protestant denomination, held its quadrennial General Conference in Ohio in August, among the agenda items was an issue that the Rev. Jennifer S. Leath had labored over for two decades: same-sex marriage. Leath, 43, self-identifies as “quare” — terminology designed to capture both her same-sex attraction and intellectual heritage as a “blackqueer womanist” thinker. The move was widely seen as a response to the Episcopal Church’s election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop the year prior.
U.S. applications for unemployment benefits jumped to their highest level in two months last week but remain low relative to historical standards. Jobless claim applications climbed by 17,000 to 242,000 for the week of Dec. 7, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, rose by 15,000 to 1.89 million for the week of Nov. 30.
Firefighters have 7% of the fire under containment as red flag warnings come to an end.
Wholesale costs in the United States picked up sharply last month, signaling that price pressures are still evident in the economy even though inflation has tumbled from the peak levels it hit more than two years ago. The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 0.4% last month from October, up from 0.3% the month before. Measured from 12 months earlier, wholesale prices climbed 3% in November, the sharpest year-over-year rise since February 2023.
Iran has agreed to tougher monitoring by the U.N. nuclear watchdog at its Fordow site dug into a mountain after it greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to close to weapons grade there, the watchdog said on Thursday in a report seen by Reuters. Last week the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported Iran had multiplied the pace of its enrichment to up to 60% purity, close to the 90% of weapons grade, at Fordow, which Western powers called an extremely serious escalation in their standoff with Iran over its nuclear programme. At that time the agency said it would discuss the need for tougher so-called safeguards measures, such as inspections, at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), one of two sites where Iran is enriching to that highest level.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and other foreign leaders to his inauguration next month in Washington, a Trump transition spokesperson said on Thursday. Asked if Xi had responded, Karoline Leavitt told Fox News in an interview that was "to be determined". "This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies but our adversaries and our competitors, too," she added.
French President Emmanuel Macron was expected Thursday to name a new prime minister a week after MPs toppled the government, shortening a visit to Poland amid a torrent of criticism over the prolonged political crisis.Former prime minister Michel Barnier was felled last week in a confidence vote over his cost-cutting budget.
Pope Francis, who has recently intensified criticism of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, on Thursday received Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, with whom he discussed the "serious" humanitarian situation.In recent weeks he has hardened his remarks against the Israeli offensive.
Here is a review for facts and context of several of Trump’s statements from the Person of the Year interview
A man identifying himself as Missourian Travis Timmerman tells CBS News he was liberated from a Syrian prison upon dictator Bashar al-Assad's ouster.
The town of Asheville, known for its artists and restaurants, is a tourist destination and the economic hub of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountain communities. Now, besides hoping that visitors will return for the holidays, Asheville's artists and small businesses are pitching their handcrafted goods as gifts online to speed recovery. The heavily damaged River Arts District lets artists sell directly through its website.
Trump discussed his election victory, the economy, and the situations in Ukraine and the Middle East
TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains why Donald Trump was chosen as the 2024 Person of the Year.
President Joe Biden will commute the sentences of almost 1,500 offenders and pardon 39 others, in what the White House said early Thursday was the biggest number of commutations and clemencies granted in a single day.
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is commuting the sentences of some 1,500 individuals and pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes – marking a broad use of the presidential clemency power just weeks from the end of Biden’s administration.
Salome Zurabishvili was a French diplomat before entering the turbulent politics of her ancestral homeland, where she was elected Georgia's first woman leader in 2018 and became the beacon of Tbilisi's EU aspirations.In her 2006 book "A Woman for Two Countries", she wrote: "Now, I have to engage in a political battle, which has never attracted me, which I never practised, which is being imposed on me." im/oc/phz
United Airlines becomes the first airline to offer travelers the ability to share Apple AirTag information with the carrier to help find lost bags.
Luigi Mangione's lawyer said he wants to see the new fingerprint and ballistics evidence announced by the New York Police Department.
Some European Union countries on Thursday doubled down on their decision to rapidly halt asylum procedures for Syrian migrants in Europe, but said that it was too early to consider sending any of the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled since 2011 back home. Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and non-EU country Norway suspended asylum applications from Syrians in the wake of Bashar Assad’s fall. France is weighing whether to take similar action, at least until Syria’s new leadership and security conditions become clearer.
DoorDash will require its drivers to verify their identity more often as part of a larger effort to crack down on unauthorized account sharing. DoorDash has been under pressure to ensure its drivers are operating legally. Over the summer, it pledged to do a better job identifying and removing dangerous drivers after a flood of complaints of dangerous driving from cities.
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