Month: October 2021

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A official report has concluded that Sweden’s response to the spread of coronavirus was too slow and its preparations to handle a pandemic were insufficient. Sweden has stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response to the pandemic, emphasizing individual responsibility and choices instead of mandated government health measures.

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president is pleading with citizens to get vaccinated as daily infections have soared to another all-time high. The Health Ministry on Friday reported 26,870 new confirmed infections in 24 hours. That’s the highest level since the start of the pandemic. It recorded 648 daily deaths

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Myanmar has found a close colleague of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of treason and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. A member of their political party confirmed local media’s reports of the court’s decision. The sentence given 79-year-old Win Htein

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The rapper Fetty Wap has been arrested in New York City on federal drug charges. The rapper, whose real name is Willie Maxwell, pleaded not guilty on Friday. Authorities said Maxwell was arrested at Citi Field in an alleged conspiracy to smuggle large amounts of heroin,

By SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A large spider native to East Asia has spun its thick, golden web on power lines, porches and vegetable patches all over north Georgia this year. The proliferation of the Joro spider has driven some unnerved homeowners indoors and prompted a flood of anxious social media posts.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Wages and salaries jumped in the three months ending in September by the most on records that date back 20 years as companies are forced to offer higher pay to fill a near-record number of available jobs. The Labor Department said Friday that pay increased 1.5%

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says its director-general is running unopposed for a second five-year term. The U.N. health agency made the announcement Friday after the deadline for candidacies for the next five-year term expired on Sept. 23. The formal selection of the next director-general takes place at the WHO’s next assembly in

WEST PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — The King of Rock n’ Roll is back in the building. An Elvis Presley bust that was swiped from a central Illinois saloon has been returned after the story of its theft attracted international attention. The Peoria Journal Star reports that employees at Jimmy’s Bar found the missing bust Thursday

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s far-right group leader has vowed to hold a new form of Independence March Nov. 11 after Warsaw Appeals Curt rejected the group’s complaint against a ban on their annual event that recently featured radical slogans and violence. The leader of the nationalist Independence March group said the march will go

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers slowed their spending to a gain of just 0.6% in September, a cautionary sign for an economy that remains in the grip of a pandemic and a prolonged bout of high inflation. At the same time, a key inflation barometer that is closely followed

AHMED AL-HAJ Associated Press SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Security officials say at least 11 civilians were killed when a ballistic missile launched by Houthis hit their house in Yemen’s central province of Marib. Officials added on Friday that all casualties belonged to the family of a key tribal leader and lived in the same house

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese legislator who was targeted by U.S. sanctions has denied accusations that he smuggled tens of millions of dollars out of his crisis-hit country. Jamil el-Sayyed, a former security chief and a current member of parliament, challenged his accusers to reveal the name of a government official whom they said helped

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government is proposing a record budget for 2022 to bolster an economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic, with industrial incentives and cash handouts for the poor and a one-time tax for high-income companies. Finance Minister Zafrul Aziz introduced the $80.2 billion proposed budget, up from $77.4 billion in the

By NICOLE WINFIELD and TONG-HYUNG KIM Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in has given Pope Francis a statue of a cross made with barbed wire from the demilitarized zone separating the Koreas. The South Korean leader, who is Catholic, told the pontiff Friday that a papal visit to the North

BERLIN (AP) — German broadcaster Deutsche Welle says its online service and several other news portals have been blocked by Belarus. DW said Friday that Belarus authorities stated on the website of the country’s Ministry of Information that access to several news portals had been restriction because they allegedly linked to websites spreading extremist material.

By CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Members of Philadelphia’s largest transit workers union have reached a tentative contract agreement. The agreement averts a possible strike that threatened to bring elevated trains, buses and trolleys to a halt. That would have left thousands of children and educators without a way to get to school

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Massive amounts of volcanic pumice pebbles spewed from an undersea volcano in the Pacific Ocean have been piling up on southern Japanese coasts, damaging ports and fishing boats, and prompting the central government to establish a task force to deal with the unwanted arrivals as a natural

By WASBIR HUSSAIN and SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press GAUHATI, India (AP) — Tensions are high in parts of India’s northeastern Tripura state after a string of attacks against minority Muslims seen as retaliation for the violence against Hindus in neighboring Bangladesh earlier this month. On Friday, state authorities deployed police and paramilitary troops and banned

BEIJING (AP) — China’s internet regulator plans to require companies to obtain government approval to transfer data deemed important abroad. Rules announced by the Cyberspace Administration of China would tighten Beijing’s control over information and might disrupt operations for international corporations. The agency said the measure is needed to “safeguard national security.” President Xi Jinping’s

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s coast guard says a small cargo ship with about 400 migrants on board that suffered engine problems in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off the Greek island of Crete is being towed to a safe anchorage in Greece. A coast guard statement said the Turkish-flagged vessel

By DANICA KIRKA and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to calm stormy waters over fishing with France on Friday as he flew to Rome for a G-20 summit, where he is due to meet French President Emmanuel Macron. France has threatened  to block British boats and tighten checks

BEIJING (AP) — More than 2,000 tourists visiting China’s Inner Mongolia region have been sent to hotels to undergo two weeks of quarantine. The move follows reports of an outbreak of COVID-19 in the vast, lightly populated region that attracts visitors with its mountains, lakes and grasslands. An announcement from the regional government on Friday

BEIJING (AP) — A newspaper reports a troubled Chinese developer whose struggle to avoid a multibillion-dollar debt default has rattled global financial markets made an overdue $45.2 million payment on a bond one day before it would have been declared in default. The South China Morning Post says Evergrande Group made the payment on a

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has recorded another record of daily coronavirus deaths even as authorities hope to stem contagion by keeping most people off work. The government’s coronavirus task force on Friday reported 1,163 deaths in 24 hours, the largest daily number since the pandemic began. It brought the total

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Protesters are gathering in the heart of London’s historic financial district to lobby against the use of fossil fuels ahead of the start of the U.N. climate summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow. The protests Friday are part of a worldwide day of action before leaders

By ILAN BEN ZION and LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — For years, Zebulon Simentov branded himself as the “last Jew of Afghanistan,” the sole remnant of a centuries-old community. He left the country last month for Istanbul after the Taliban seized power, but now it seems he wasn’t the last one. His distant

By NOHA ELEHNNAWY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — The Sudanese general who seized power in a coup this week says the military he heads will soon appoint a technocrat prime minister to rule alongside it. Abdel-Fattah Burhan said in an interview with Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news agency published Friday that the new premier will form

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Consumer prices across the 19 European Union countries that use the euro currency have spiked to the highest level in over 13 years. Inflation in the 19 countries, like elsewhere in the world, has been soaring amid rising energy prices, supply chain backups and labor shortages tied