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Retail sales rise 0.3% in November as Americans hit gas, not brakes on shopping, travel, restaurants 12/14/2023 05:37pm • NEW YORK (AP) — Americans picked up their spending from October to November unexpectedly as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring the power of shoppers despite elevated prices. Retail sales rose 0.3%, in November from October, when sales fell 0.2%, according to the Commerce Depart Dakar Rally winner Austin Jones has extensive resume after just 5 years of racing 12/14/2023 02:42pm • CONGRESS, Ariz. (AP) — The hands are in constant motion, yo-yoing the wheel left, right, left in small corrections and full turns. The feet dance in the cramped space above the floorboard, stabbing between clutch, gas and brake. The eyes dart back and forth across the desert landscape, detecting r US officials block Elf Bar-maker and others from importing 1.4 million illegal e-cigarettes 12/14/2023 01:52pm • WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. agents recently seized more than 1.4 million illegal e-cigarettes from overseas manufacturers, including the Chinese company behind Elf Bar, a line of fruity disposable vapes that has become the top brand among American teens, officials said Thursday. Officials pegged the va Anxiety and resignation in Argentina after Milei's economic shock measures 12/14/2023 01:08pm • BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Julia González wonders how she will afford the three bus rides and train trip to her job in downtown Buenos Aires. Lucía Pergolesi regrets her best friend has been fired from her job in a government ministry. Hilario Laffite admits he will have to increase prices i WTOP space reporter says the Geminids meteor shower did not disappoint 12/14/2023 12:53pm • The 2023 Geminid meteor shower was quite the sky show from Central Virginia for anyone who was looking up. I observed the sky for five hours — 10:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. EST — using two cameras and taking 1,249 pictures. My initial review of these pictures has found 12 of them caught the Geminid European Central Bank keeps its key interest rate at a record high. Now, when will it cut? 12/14/2023 10:35am • FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank kept its key interest rate at a record high Thursday and said it will leave it there as long as needed to battle back inflation, signaling that cuts are not around the corner despite expectations it will act next year to support the shrinking eco Things to do in the DC area: Kwanzaa celebration, ARTECHOUSE displays … and more! 12/14/2023 04:34am • There’s so much to do in the D.C. area in the coming days, and WTOP has you covered with our weekly roundup of area events worth anticipating. Check back every Thursday for a roundup of Things to do in the D.C. area. In Suitland, Maryland, arts-based organization Creative Suitland will host Wizards, Capitals would move to Virginia in tentative deal, Youngkin says. Mystics would stay in DC 12/13/2023 09:18pm • ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has reached a tentative agreement with the parent company of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals to move those teams from the District of Columbia to what he called a new “visionary sports and entertainment venue” i Why So Many Americans Delay Holiday Shopping -- And Why You Shouldn't 12/13/2023 07:00pm • About a quarter of Americans (26%) do the bulk of their holiday shopping in December, according to the 2023 Intuit QuickBooks Holiday Shopping Survey. And 15% wait until December to even start buying gifts. With big sales like Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November, why are so many putting off sh How to Invest When Interest Rates Are Cut 12/13/2023 07:00pm • In March 2022, the Federal Reserve, under the leadership of Chair Jerome Powell, embarked on a series of interest rate increases to combat the post-pandemic inflation that threatened the economy. Unfortunately, inflation proved to be a stubborn phenomenon. Since then, the Fed has increased rates 11 Sirens, Santa and lots of smiles as kids get to shop with a cop in Prince George's County 12/13/2023 03:17pm • There was a parade of police cars, many of them with sirens blaring, coming down Route 450 in Landover Hills, Maryland, and making a turn toward Walmart. Leading the way on a police motorcycle was the big guy, Santa, himself. Ten years ago, it was about 10 kids big, but this year, Prince Geor FBI to exhume woman's body from unsolved 1969 killing in Netflix's 'The Keepers' 12/13/2023 03:07pm • BALTIMORE (AP) — FBI investigators are planning to exhume the body of a young woman whose unsolved 1969 killing has been a source of widespread speculation, especially since Netflix’s documentary series “The Keepers” examined the slaying of a Baltimore nun that unfolded days earlier under ee Deal to bring Wizards, Capitals arena to Virginia needs approval from lawmakers. Will they give it? 12/13/2023 01:50pm • The tentative agreement between Virginia and Monumental Sports & Entertainment that would move the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals from D.C. to Alexandria is not a done deal yet. The proposal calls for the creation of a $2 billion development in the Potomac Yard 'I feel trapped': Scores of underage Rohingya girls forced into abusive marriages in Malaysia 12/13/2023 11:31am • KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — In a bedroom in Malaysia that has become a prison, the 14-year-old girl wipes away tears as she sits cross-legged on the concrete floor. It is here, she says, where her 35-year-old husband rapes her nearly every night. Last year, the Rohingya girl sacrificed herself t For a holiday craft that creates light, try making marbled candles by hand 12/13/2023 09:07am • Candles, already an integral part of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve, can be made even more special when they carry a personal touch. Try marbleizing them by hand, or simply using candlelight in creative ways. Paula Lavender Tucker of Bellows Falls, Vermont, started marbleizing simpl