RUTLAND, Vt. Arabic language classes are drawing 25 to 30 people a week in preparation for the new arrivals in town. High school students are helping collect furniture and housewares for them, and employers have inquired about giving them jobs. For the past several months, Rutland has been getting ready to receive 100 mostly Syrian […]

HAVANA A nine-story portrait of a young Fidel Castro has joined the towering images of fallen guerrillas overlooking Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution, the massive square where Cuba on Monday begins bidding farewell to the man who ruled the island for nearly half a century. After 10 years of leadership by Castro’s younger brother Raul, […]

TOKYO North Korea is observing a three-day period of mourning for Fidel Castro, seen by the North as a rare comrade-in-arms against the common enemy of the United States. The North has ordered flags outside official buildings be flown at half-staff to honor Castro, the country’s state media reported Monday. The iconic Cuban leader died […]

There are no statues of Fidel Castro in Cuba. No school, street, government building or city bears his name. And while his likeness stares back from billboards and official portraits, it is absent from pesos and postage stamps. As the island’s unchallenged leader for nearly a half-century before falling ill in 2006, Castro forbade monuments […]

BISMARCK, N.D. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has set an early December deadline for American Indians and others to leave an encampment in North Dakota where they’ve been entrenched for months protesting the Dakota Access pipeline. Tribes including the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux are fighting the Dakota Access project because they fear […]

ATLANTA Donald Trump’s disavowal this past week of white supremacists who have cheered his election as president hasn’t quieted concerns about the movement’s impact on his White House or whether more acts of hate will be carried out in his name. Members of the self-declared “alt-right” have exulted over the Nov. 8 results with public […]

NEW YORK Millions of Americans made their way back home Sunday after a long Thanksgiving weekend, facing minimal stress and strain as they traveled by air, rail or road. Federal Aviation Administration data showed most U.S. airports with delays of 15 minutes or less Sunday afternoon. A large volume of passengers at LaGuardia Airport, in […]

MOSCOW An Olympic ice-dancing gold medalist and her dancing partner have caused controversy by dressing up in concentration camp uniforms for a routine on a popular television show. Tatiana Navka, who is the wife of Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, and partner Andrei Burkovsky appeared in Saturday’s episode of “Ice Age” dressed in striped uniforms […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Netherlands and Belgium, with their royals in attendance, have signed a deal for a peaceful exchange of land between them for the mere fact that it makes sense to do so. While the globe is littered with pieces of territory that are jealously held on to or fought over for historical […]

NEW YORK Cyber Monday may be in danger of losing its online sales title. The Monday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest online shopping day of the year, but stores are releasing internet deals earlier, stretching them through the week, as well as making them available in stores. Shoppers looking for discounts spurred online sales […]