Month: October 2021

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A powerful magnitude 5.9 earthquake has shaken the Tokyo area, injuring more than 30 people and halting trains and subways. It caused buildings to sway and hanging objects such as signs to swing violently. Trains were halted for safety inspections, and many elevators automatically stopped. Traffic disruptions

By MATT SEDENSKY AP National Writer SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Even before the pandemic bared the truth of a profit-driven nursing home industry with too few caring for society’s most vulnerable, thin staffing was a hallmark of facilities around the country. Now, an Associated Press analysis of federal data finds that staffing is even thinner,

CHICAGO (AP) — AP WAS THERE: Great Chicago fire, Oct. 8-10, 1871

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s constitutional court has ruled that Polish laws have supremacy over those of the European Union in areas where they clash. The Constitutional Tribunal held Thursday that some provisions of the treaties binding EU members and some rulings by the 27-nation bloc’s highest court conflict with

PARIS (AP) — France’s government has summoned the head of the French Catholic bishops’ conference after he said that secrets shared in the confessional are above the law. The country is reeling from a new study revealing large-scale sexual abuse of children within the church. The study estimates some 330,000 children were sexually abused over

By MATT SEDENSKY AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Even before the pandemic bared the truth of a profit-driven nursing home industry with too few caring for society’s most vulnerable, thin staffing was a hallmark of facilities around the country. Now, an Associated Press analysis of federal data finds that staffing is even thinner,

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu is marking his 90th birthday. A portrait of him recently defaced by racist graffiti has been restored by the artist who added a celebratory message. It reads “Happy Birthday Tata Desmond Tutu! Father of the Rainbow Nation.”

By SABINA NIKSIC Associated Press SARAJEVO, Bosnia (AP) — Croatia has announced it will investigate reports and video footage alleging systematic violent pushbacks by its police against migrants and asylum-seekers attempting to cross into the country from neighboring Bosnia. Thursday’s announcement followed publication a day earlier of video footage by a team of investigative journalists

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, ERIC TUCKER and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A report by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democratic majority details Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost. His pursuit of fraud claims brought the Justice Department to the brink of chaos and prompted top officials

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The head of Oklahoma public schools will switch parties and run as a Democrat to challenge Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt for governor next year. Oklahoma State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister made the announcement Thursday, accusing Stitt of “running our state into the ground.” Hofmeister is a former

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Mario Draghi is paying tribute to outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her “calm, determined” leadership even during difficult years for Europe and the common currency. Merkel herself has called this her farewell trip to Italy as chancellor, and her unusually long 45-minute papal audience and glowing tribute from Draghi

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer A major Hollywood strike could be on the horizon for some 60,000 behind-the-scenes workers in the entertainment industry. Over the weekend, members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IASTE) overwhelmingly voted in favor of authorizing a nationwide strike for the first time in its history. The IATSE

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says Russia has the potential to boost natural gas supplies to Europe as surging gas prices put pressure on consumers. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says existing gas transit routes allow for bolstering supplies before the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany begins operating. Europe’s

By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer BOSTON (AP) — Microsoft says Russia once again accounted for most state-sponsored hacking, with a 58% share of intrusion attempts it detected in the past year. The targets were mostly government agencies and think tanks — in the United States, followed by Ukraine, Britain and European NATO members. The

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s state TV is reporting that speedboats belonging to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard have intercepted  U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf. Thursday’s report aired footage that the TV said was filmed from one of the Guard speedboats. It shows a vessel with the U.S. flag and several personnel on board as

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Poland’s president is urging the European Union to take “specific actions” to stop Belarus “pushing” migrants across its border into Polish territory. President Andrzej Duda didn’t outline exactly what those actions might be, but said he’s hoping for assistance beyond what the 27-member bloc’s border agency FRONTEX is already providing on

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government is offering citizens who turn 18 years old next year 400 euros ($462) to spend on cultural activities. But the sum comes with strings attached: the recipients can’t use it to buy tickets for bullfights. The decision was one of the politically controversial measures included in the 2022 national

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, another sign that the U.S. job market and economy continue their steady recovery from last year’s coronavirus recession. The Labor Department said Thursday that unemployment claims were down by 38,000 to 326,000, the first drop

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Afghanistan’s pavilion has finally arrived at the first world’s fair in the Middle East, a week after Dubai’s Expo opened without it. After the Taliban’s lightning takeover of Afghanistan, the country’s presence at the fair was uncertain. The previous government had organized a pavilion,

By JAY REEVES Associated Press PELHAM, Ala. (AP) — The death toll from flash floods caused by torrential rains in Alabama has risen to four. Forecasters say as much as 13 inches of rain from a slow-moving front covered roads, trapping people in cars and homes. All four of the deaths occurred when water swept

LONDON (AP) — British bank NatWest faces a potentially hefty fine after admitting to three charges relating to anti-money laundering failures. The case, which was heard at Westminster Magistrates’ Court Thursday, related to 365 million pounds ($495 million) deposited into the account of century-old jeweler Fowler Oldfield between 2012 and 2016. Fowler Oldfield was based

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Colleagues of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya are sharply criticizing the Russian authorities for failing to track down the mastermind of her killing 15 years ago. Politkovskaya, who won international acclaim for her reporting on the human rights abuses in the Russian republic of Chechnya was shot dead

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the organization withdrew the accreditation of eight Russian officials in response to a rise in “malign activities” by Moscow. The eight officials are to be deprived of access to NATO’s Brussels headquarters from the end of the month. NATO says they were secretly working as intelligence officers.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian lawmakers have voted to dismiss a speaker, a move that comes as part of infighting in the ruling party. Dmytro Razumkov was stripped of his duties Thursday by the Verkhovna Rada after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party initiated his dismissal. Relations between Zelenskyy and Razumkov have grown

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia is ending a deal with Papua New Guinea to house asylum-seekers, leaving scores who have spent years on the South Pacific island nation the options of resettling in the United States or the tiny atoll of Nauru. Australia has been paying Papua New Guinea and Nauru since 2013 to house

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish official says a Kuwaiti passenger plane has made an emergency landing at Trabzon airport in northern Turkey following a bomb threat reported to the airline’s headquarters. Trabzon’s governor said the Jazeera Airways flight from Kuwait with 51 passengers and six crew members on board landed safely in Trabzon on

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press A group intent on expanding Republican power across state-level offices is rolling out a national effort to diversify and broaden the GOP, with an advisory council headed up by a number of possible future presidential hopefuls. The Republican State Leadership Committee on Thursday is launching its “Right Leaders Network.” The

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister says he discussed with officials in Beirut the “positive” effects of ongoing talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He also blamed foreign troops based in the Middle East for regional instability. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is on his first visit to Lebanon since taking his post