AP-Newswatch

3 dead, others injured in a shooting at a private Christian school in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A youth opened fire at a private Christian school Monday morning in Wisconsin, killing two people in the final week before Christmas break. Police say the shooter also died. Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes offered no details on the victims but said other people were wounded at Abundant Life Christian School, a K-12 school with about 390 students. Police previously said a total of five people had died. Madison police in a statement said the suspected shooter was a student at the school. Police say seven people were hurt with injuries ranging broadly from “minor to life-threatening.”

Trump weighs in on NY mayor, vaccines and drones in freewheeling press conference at Mar-a-Lago

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump told reporters that he would consider pardoning embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams, said the country was “not going to lose” the polio vaccine and weighed in on the flurry of drone sightings over New Jersey during a freewheeling press conference Monday at his Mar-a-Lago club. Holding court with reporters for the first time since he won the election and secured a second term, Trump also called on the Biden administration to stop selling off unused portions of the border wall, threatening legal action. “We’re going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on building the same wall we already have,” he railed. “It’s almost a criminal act.”

Death toll in Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war tops 45,000 Palestinians, health officials say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Health officials in the Gaza Strip say more than 45,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas militants. Gaza’s Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but has said more than half of the dead are women and children. Meanwhile, often-stalled ceasefire talks appear to be gaining ground. Israel’s defense minister says negotiators are closer to a deal than at any time since the only previous truce in November 2023. Mediators have said there appears to be more willingness from both sides after 14 months of war.

Drone sightings lead to airspace shutdown at Ohio military base, arrests near Boston airport

BOSTON (AP) — More suspected drone sightings in the eastern United States have led to a temporary airspace shutdown around an Air Force base in Ohio and arrests near Boston’s Logan International Airport. Reports of the mysterious flights have ballooned in recent weeks, especially in New Jersey. Elected officials including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York are increasing their calls for action by federal authorities. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, closed its airspace for about four hours late Friday into early Saturday after drones were spotted flying around. Boston police say they arrested two people on Saturday night for flying a drone too close to Logan International Airport.

France rushes aid to Mayotte after Cyclone Chido leaves hundreds feared dead

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — France is rushing rescue workers and supplies to its Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte after the island group off Africa was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century. Authorities fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people died when Cyclone Chido leveled neighborhoods on Saturday. Mayotte is the poorest territory of France and the European Union, and its people have accused French authorities of neglect. France’s health minister has said any death toll estimates are likely major undercounts “compared to the scale of the disaster.” But the Muslim practice of burial within 24 hours could mean the true toll might never be known.

Germany’s Scholz loses a confidence vote, setting up an early election in February

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a confidence vote in the German parliament, putting the European Union’s most populous member and biggest economy on course to hold an early election in February. Scholz won the support of 207 lawmakers in the 733-seat lower house, or Bundestag, while 394 voted against him and 116 abstained. That left him far short of the majority of 367 needed to win. Scholz leads a minority government after his unpopular and notoriously rancorous three-party coalition collapsed on Nov. 6. Leaders of several major parties then agreed that a parliamentary election should be held on Feb. 23. Germany’s president must now decide whether to dissolve parliament and call the election.

Prince Andrew’s Chinese spy drama again pushes King Charles III to rein in scandal-prone brother

LONDON (AP) — How do you solve a problem like Prince Andrew? That’s the question facing King Charles III as the drama surrounding his 64-year-old brother roils Britain and the monarchy once again. In the latest episode, a Chinese businessman has been barred from the U.K. because of concerns he cultivated links with Andrew in an alleged effort to influence British elites on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. The businessman who was identified Monday says he wasn’t involved in espionage and had “done nothing wrong or unlawful.”

Schools are cutting bus service for children. Parents are turning to ride-hailing apps

CHICAGO (AP) — Reliance on school buses has been waning for years as districts struggle to find drivers and more students attend schools far outside their neighborhoods. As responsibility for transportation shifts to families, the question of how to replace the traditional yellow bus has become an urgent problem and a spark for innovation. Several startup companies have begun working with school systems to provide rideshare services. A 2023 Federal Highway Administration survey says only about 28% of U.S. students take a school bus. That is down from about 36% in the previous survey conducted in 2017.

Survivors seek a reckoning as FBI investigates child sex abuse in little-known Christian sect

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A small Christian sect that for decades was little noticed by the outside world has found itself riven by a very public child sex abuse scandal. In the past year, news stories and a documentary have focused on the misdeeds of predator preachers in the religious community known as the “Two by Twos,” as well as the leaders who sent them to live with unsuspecting families. Survivors say leaders pressured victims to keep quiet and sometimes failed to make legally required reports to police. The FBI is investigating, and a website, a hotline and social media pages established by victims have documented allegations against more than 900 abusers, with survivors in more than 30 countries.

How old are Saturn’s rings? Study suggests they could be 4.5 billion years old just like the planet

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — New research suggests that Saturn’s rings may be older than they look — possibly as old as the planet. Instead of being a youthful 400 million years old as commonly thought, the icy, shimmering rings could be 4.5 billion years old just like Saturn. A Japanese-led team reported Monday that Saturn’s rings may be pristine not because they are young but because they are dirt-resistant. Through computer modeling, the scientists show that micrometeoroids vaporize once striking the rings, creating charged particles that get sucked away from the rings, keeping them clean. Results were published in Nature Geoscience.