Florence

After an 18-month hiatus, the luxurious Venice Simplon-Oriental-Express is back on the rails, with new routes to Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva, Rome and Florence.

Organizers of Florence’s pecan festival say the event will return this year with a new name.

Museum officials in Florence say a restoration of one of Michelangelo’s sculptures of the Madonna and Christ has uncovered previously unknown details.

A Pennsylvania teacher who fought laryngeal cancer for two years penned an obituary before her death last month urging people to enjoy life and “let go of the insignificant things.” Ashley Ann Kuzma, of Beaver County, died Sept. 22 at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, according to her online obituary. The 32-year-old wrote the obituary to help “make the transition easier...

Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn perched there without a care in the 1953 film “Roman Holiday.” But the Spanish Steps in Rome are no longer a place for sitting. Enforcing an ordinance that took effect last month, police officers patrolled the famed stone staircase Wednesday to tell locals and visitors “Please, no sitting” on one of the Eternal City’s most...

The Mexican drug lord known as “El Chapo” was sentenced to life plus 30 years in a U.S. prison Wednesday for convictions on murder conspiracy and drug charges, culminating an epic trafficking case that even he acknowledged “the whole world was watching.”

The desire to have a selfie as a souvenir from running with the bulls in Spain turned into a near-death experience an American lawyer says he’ll never forget.

The desire to have a selfie as a souvenir from running with the bulls in Spain turned into a near-death experience an American lawyer says he’ll never forget.

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are predicting a “near-normal” 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, with 9 to 15 named storms and 4 to 8 hurricanes.

Researchers are predicting a slightly below average 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, with 13 named storms and five hurricanes.

South Carolina’s congressional delegation will be able to ask for more funds to provide relief following Hurricane Florence, thanks to a move by the state’s governor. In a letter obtained Saturday by The Associated Press, Gov. Henry McMaster told U.S. Rep. Tom Rice that he was increasing the estimate for community development block grant relief from $108 million to $435...

U.S. businesses ramped up hiring in October, and wages rose by the largest year-over-year amount in nearly a decade, a combination that is pulling a rising share of Americans into the job market. In the final major economic report before Tuesday’s congressional elections, the government said Friday that U.S. employers added a robust 250,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate...

The mother of a 1-year-old who was swept into floodwaters created by Hurricane Florence has been charged in the boy’s death. Twenty-year-old Dazia Ideah Lee of Charlotte is charged with involuntary manslaughter and driving on a closed or unopened highway, the Union County Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page. Lee told news outlets she wasn’t from the area and...

This weekend a big pet adoption event is aiming to find homes for many animals, including some displaced after Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas.

U.S. home sales fell for the sixth straight month in September, a sign that housing has increasingly become a weak spot for the economy. The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales declined 3.4 percent last month, the biggest drop in 2 ½ years, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.15 million. That’s the lowest sales pace since...

NYC-based Champion Pizza has created a 40 lb. cheeseburger pizza that consists of six layers and takes three hours to make. This is how — and why — the Frankenstein burger-pizza is made.

Members of the Connecticut National Guard are being welcomed home after helping with hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina.

Some South Florida heroes reunited with their families Saturday after helping the victims of Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas.