Month: October 2021

By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Thousands of restaurant owners, chefs, waiters and bartenders are protesting in cities across Bulgaria against the government’s decision to impose a mandatory COVID-19 health pass on people seeking to enter indoor venues. Restaurant and hospitality associations organized the protest, calling the health certificates “inadequate” and “discriminatory.”

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on two Lebanon businessmen and a politician saying they have profited from corruption in the crisis-hit country. The businessmen targeted Thursday are influential contractors in Lebanon who have taken over major infrastructure contracts in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.

By CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — The youngest daughter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster by a military coup in 2006 triggered years of political instability, has taken a post with a party closely associated with her father. Thailand’s largest opposition party, Pheu Thai, announced Thursday at its general assembly

WEST PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Somebody who ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog has made off with an Elvis Presley bust from a Central Illinois saloon. The King of Rock n’ Roll went missing from Jimmy’s Bar in West Peoria sometime between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Jimmy’s Bar is asking for the bust’s return,

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A United Nations special envoy has urged the United States to end sanctions that she says have worsened Zimbabwe’s humanitarian crisis, while urging dialogue to end the impasse between the two countries. The U.N envoy on unilateral coercive measures, Alena Douhan, has been in Zimbabwe for

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — GE Appliances has announced plans to add more than 1,000 jobs at its sprawling Kentucky operations. The company said Thursday the job growth is part of a $450 million investment to boost capacity and launch new products. The Kentucky-based home appliances business didn’t offer specifics about

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer VENICE, Italy (AP) — Edgar Wright melds past and present in his stylish new film “Last Night in Soho,” which opens Friday in North American theaters. The film is a departure for the “Hot Fuzz” filmmaker, who has been dreaming up this idea for over a decade. Thomasin McKenzie

By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho company that successfully brought genetically modified potatoes to the market has announced an agreement to help a California-based plant breeding company grow strawberries they say will stay fresh longer and have a longer growing season. J.R. Simplot Company and Plant Sciences Inc. said Thursday

BERLIN (AP) — A German electrician has gone on trial accused of murder in the death of one man, and of mutilating several others by performing illegal operations on their genitals. The 66-year-old told a regional court in Munich that he performed the procedures at the men’s request. The defendant claimed he initially offered sexual

By PETER SMITH Associated Press Relatives and supporters of 17 missionaries kidnapped in Haiti are praying at least as much for the captors as the captives. They’re tapping into a long history in their conservative Anabaptist tradition when they use phrases such as “Love your enemies,” “Forgive them,”  and “Pray for the kidnappers.”  The missionaries

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Families of nine victims killed in a racist attack at a Black South Carolina church have reached a settlement with the Justice Department over a faulty background check that allowed Dylann Roof to purchase the gun he used in the 2015 massacre. The Justice Department will pay

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Dozens of recall campaigns are underway across the U.S. ahead of next week’s election. Many of the efforts are led by people who oppose any COVID-19-related rules. The races illustrate the contentiousness that has upended usually sleepy school board and city council meetings. The tension is

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s annual investment forum has drawn over a thousand participants, with big-name U.S. financiers and business leaders back on the stage three years after many stayed away following international outcry over the killing of a government critic in a Saudi consulate. In the years

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Police have charged two men with murder in the death of a 7-year-old boy shot in his South Carolina home 18 months ago. Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook says that investigators received almost no tips to solve Knowledge Sims’ death and police used dozens of interviews,

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is debating whether to try to fix a jammed solar panel on its newly launched Lucy spacecraft, en route to explore asteroids. The problem cropped up shortly after the Oct. 16 liftoff from Florida. Officials said this week that one of Lucy’s two

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in the Southeast Asian nation of Laos have made one of Asia’s biggest-ever drug busts, seizing more than 55.6 million methamphetamine pills in a single raid. The Vientiane Times newspaper says the drugs were found in sacks in a house in the northern province of Bokeo. It says police searched the

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s justice minister says the European Union member should not pay any of the total $1.8 million daily fines the EU’s top court has imposed for Warsaw’s ignoring its injunctions regarding changes to the judiciary and a lignite mine. Zbigniew Ziobro on Thursday called the European Court of Justice injunctions lawless.

CHICAGO (AP) — An 82-year-old man freed from prison last year after serving nearly 60 years in the slaying of one of three suburban Chicago women found bludgeoned to death in a state park has won court approval for DNA testing of evidence found at the crime scene. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that a LaSalle

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden meets with Pope Francis on Friday, he won’t kiss the ring. Biden, who is only the second Catholic president in U.S. history, has said he eschews the traditional sign of respect because his mother told him not to — that no one is “better”

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Federal prosecutors say law enforcement officers and a prosecutor aided an operation that illegally sold $13 million in pot grown for Maine’s medical marijuana program. Federal documents unsealed Wednesday when a defendant in a related case pleaded guilty revealed an elaborate operation in western Maine. Twelve

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Knowledgeable people and message exchanges reveal that Venezuela’s government quietly offered last year to release imprisoned Americans in exchange for the U.S. letting go a key financier of President Nicolás Maduro. A person involved says the offer was discussed at a previously reported meeting in Mexico City

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish lawmakers have held an emotional debate on proposed legislation dubbed “Stop LGBT,” which would ban pride parades and other public gatherings deemed to “promote” same-sex relationships. The lawmakers are due to vote Friday on whether to reject or continue work on the proposal, which is

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A 19-year-old British man obsessed with demons has been sentenced to serve at least 35 years in prison for murdering two sisters, in the belief that the killings would help him win a lottery jackpot. Judge Philippa Whipple sentenced Danyal Hussein Thursday in the stabbing deaths of

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A top Norwegian health official said the Scandinavian country “must be prepared for a bigger wave” as Norway has seen a surge in COVID-19 infections. In northern Norway, the Arctic city of Tromsoe on Thursday was reporting its highest number of new daily infections in the pandemic. It was recommending that

By The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Olivia Rodrigo is having a sweet year as the leading nominee at the American Music Awards in the first year she’s eligible. The Disney actress and singer-songwriter broke out with hits from her 2021 debut record “Sour,” which led to seven nominations at the AMAs, including artist

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — The Vatican has abruptly canceled the planned live broadcast of President Joe Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis. The live broadcast of Biden’s visit was trimmed to just the arrival of his motorcade in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. Cancelled was the live coverage of Biden, the

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — A U.N.-backed report says sites containing some of the world’s most treasured forests, including the Yosemite National Park in the U.S., have been emitting more heat-trapping carbon dioxide than they have absorbed in recent years. According to the report released Thursday, factors like logging, wildfires and clearance

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland has defended a Justice Department memo aimed at combating threats and violence against teachers, administrators and other school officials. Congressional Republicans are insisting Garland rescind the directive, but he’s signaling he has no plans to do so despite their criticism. The memo took

By LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — With a buffalo plaid design and a nod to sustainability, Ralph Lauren on Thursday unveiled navy blue uniforms for Team USA to wear during the closing ceremonies of the winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing. Just six months after the summer games closed in Tokyo, winter