Snowplows are essential to enduring winter in Minnesota, so maybe it’s not surprising that every year thousands of people vote on names for the giant machines that clear the state’s roads, such as Plowy McPlowFace and Darth Blader.

The often-icy state began naming its 800 plows in 2020 and is expected to announce winners of its 2023-2024 Name a Snowplow contest early next week, adding eight selections to more than three dozen names that already grace trucks

HELSINKI (AP) — Finns will vote Sunday to elect a new president at an unprecedented time: the Nordic nation is now a member following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and its eastern border with Russia is closed, both almost unthinkable a few years ago.

Unlike in most European countries, the president of Finland holds executive power in formulating foreign and security policy, like the United States, Russia and China.

“Clearly, the main task of the president is to steer foreign policy,” said Teivo Teivainen,

Donald Trump must pay an additional $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll in defamation case, jury says

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury awarded $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll on Friday in a stinging and expensive rebuke to former President Donald Trump for his continued social media attacks against the longtime advice columnist over her claims that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store.

The award, coupled with a $5 million sexual assault and defamation verdict last year from another jury

When Aaliyah Iglesias was caught vaping at a Texas high school, she didn’t realize how much could be taken from her.

Suddenly, the rest of her high school experience was threatened: being student council president, her role as debate team captain and walking at graduation. Even her college scholarships were at risk. She was sent to the district’s alternative school for 30 days and told she could have faced criminal charges.

Like thousands of other students around the country, she was caught by surveillance equipment that

SYDNEY (AP) — Thousands of Australians protested the anniversary of British colonization of their country with large crowds Friday urging for Australia Day to be moved and for a day of mourning on the holiday some call “Invasion Day.”

The holiday marks the arrival of 11 British ships carrying convicts at Port Jackson in present-day Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788. For many activists, the day marked the beginning of a sustained period of discrimination and expulsion of Indigenous people from their land without a

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. trade body sounded an alarm Thursday that global trade is being disrupted by attacks in the Red Sea, the war in Ukraine, and low water levels in the Panama Canal.

Jan Hoffmann, a trade expert at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development known as UNCTAD, warned that shipping costs have already surged and energy and food costs are being affected, raising inflation risks.

Since attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea began in November

SYDNEY (AP) — Voting started Friday in the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, in a national election that could .

With just over 11,500 people, Tuvalu is one of the smallest nations in the world, but the election for the 16-seat parliament was being closely watched. After the vote count, parliamentary negotiations will form a new government and elect the prime minister. Polls opened at 8 a.m. and were to close at 4 p.m.

Prime Minister Kausea

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press has won a prestigious broadcast journalism award for “20 Days in Mariupol,” its documentary on the war in Ukraine produced with PBS’ “Frontline.”

The documentary was among 15 winners of the announced at a ceremony at Columbia University in New York on Thursday. Founded in 1942, the awards highlight outstanding audio and video reporting in the public interest.

“20 Days in Mariupol” chronicles Russia’s siege of the Ukrainian port city and

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday it was hosting a visit by a Chinese government delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong, as it continues its efforts to strengthen ties with Beijing and Moscow in the face of deepening confrontations with Washington.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Sun’s delegation arrived in the capital, Pyongyang, on Thursday after crossing the land border between the countries. The report didn’t provide further details about the visit.

North Korean leader Kim Jong