Month: October 2021

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Facebook the company is losing control of Facebook the product — and of the carefully crafted image it’s spent over a decade selling despite problems like misinformation, human trafficking, and pervasive extremist groups on its platform. From complaints whistleblower Frances Haugen has filed with the SEC, along with redacted

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed a strong tornado hit the southeastern Missouri city of Fredericktown as strong storms that swept the state and moved into Illinois. No serious injuries were reported. The National Weather Service says an EF-3 tornado hit Fredericktown Sunday night, damaging homes, businesses and the main electrical

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet with Taliban representatives during a trip this week to the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. A ministry spokesperson says the talks will provide an opportunity for an in-depth exchange of views on Afghanistan’s situation. China long opposed operations by U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan,

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Pharmaceutical company Merck has asked the European Medicines Agency to authorize its COVID-19 antiviral treatment. In a statement on Monday,  Merck said the EU drug regulator has started an expedited licensing process for molnupiravir, which is the first pill that has been shown to treat COVID-19. The company reported earlier this month

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The leader of Greece’s third-largest political party, Fofi Gennimata, has died after being hospitalized for treatment for a long-term illness earlier this month. She was 56. Gennimata had served as leader of the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement, or Pasok, since 2015. It was later made part of

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — People in Tokyo can eat and drink in bars and restaurants later in the evening starting Monday as officials ease social distancing rules with the country’s daily coronavirus cases reaching their lowest levels in more than a year. Experts have been puzzled by Japan’s sudden decline in

By JAMEY KEATEN and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. weather agency says greenhouse gas concentrations hit a new record high last year and increased at a faster rate than the annual average for the last decade. In its annual report on heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, the agency also said that

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A sheriff in Texas says the skeletal remains of a child were found inside an apartment in the Houston area along with three surviving siblings who appear to have been abandoned. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says a 15-year-old called to report his 9-year-old brother had

BERLIN (AP) — A German convert to Islam has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges that, as a member of the extremist Islamic State group in Iraq, she allowed a 5-year-old Yazidi girl she and her husband kept as a slave to die of thirst in the hot sun. The court on

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia plans to crack down on online advertisers targeting children by making social media platforms seek parental consent for users younger than 16 years old to join or face fines of $7.5 million under a draft law. A government statement says the landmark legislation released Monday

By ANDREW WILKS Associated Press ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped back from a threat to expel the ambassadors of 10 Western nations over their support for a jailed activist. “We believe that these ambassadors … will now be more careful in their statements,” he said in televised remarks late Monday.

By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Lawmakers in Cambodia have approved an amendment to the constitution barring Cambodians with dual citizenship from holding high government office, a move initiated by Prime Minister Hun Sen and directed at prominent opposition politicians. The government says the measure is meant to show officials’ loyalty

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writers Amid fallout from the Facebook Papers showing its failure to address the harms its social network has created around the world, Facebook on Monday reported higher profit for the latest quarter, buoyed by strong advertising revenue. Also on Monday, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told British lawmakers

By SYLVIE CORBET and THOMAS ADAMSON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — France is displaying 26 looted colonial-era artifacts for one last time before returning them home to Benin. The wooden anthropomorphic statues, royal thrones and sacred altars were pilfered by the French army in the 19th century from Western Africa. President Emmanuel Macron suggested in

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Amnesty International will close its two offices in Hong Kong this year, becoming the latest non-governmental organization to cease its operations amid a crackdown on political dissent in the city. An Amnesty International official said Hong Kong’s national security law has made it effectively impossible for

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — A rabble-rousing television pundit and author with repeated convictions for hate speech is rocking the early stages of France’s race to replace President Emmanuel Macron. Eric Zemmour is finding large and fervent audiences for his anti-Islam and anti-immigration invective. He is packing auditoriums with paying crowds and

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Indonesian President Joko Widodo has urged Southeast Asian countries to speed up plans to create a regional travel corridor to help revive tourism and speed up a recovery from the economic damage of the pandemic. Citing U.N. and World Trade Organization data, Widodo said Monday that the level of restrictions

By JO KEARNEY and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press WHITEHAVEN, England (AP) — A proposal to dig a new coal mine in northern England is presenting a dilemma for the British government just as it prepares to host an annual United Nations climate conference. West Cumbria Mining wants to build Britain’s first deep coal mine in

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s governing party has split two parliamentary seats in byelections seen as a major test of its support ahead of a national vote next Sunday. Both seats are in the upper house of parliament, while the upcoming elections are for seats in the more powerful lower chamber.

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares are mostly higher after another rally to record highs on Wall Street. Benchmarks in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney rose, while Hong Kong fell and Shanghai was little changed. Stocks have been pushing broadly higher as companies turn in much stronger profit reports for the

By MORGAN LEE, CEDAR ATTANASIO and HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The assistant director who handed Alec Baldwin the gun that killed a cinematographer last week had been fired from a previous job after a gun went off on a set and wounded a member of the film crew. That’s according

BEIJING (AP) — State media report that a laboratory explosion at a university in eastern China has killed two people and injured nine. State broadcaster CCTV reported the blast occurred Sunday afternoon at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a major center of higher education that has had a large foreign student population. An

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press WESTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) — The lone Republican moderate at a U.S. Senate candidate forum in Ohio says that at one point he felt “like a Browns fan in Pittsburgh Stadium.” The crowd of about 950 at the evangelical Genoa Baptist Church north of Columbus never quite booed state Sen.

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian telco Telstra has partnered with the Australian government in a $1.6 billion deal to buy the South Pacific operations of Digicel in a deal that would prevent a key part of the region’s telecommunications infrastructure from falling into Chinese hands. Telstra said in a statement

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Toyota says it’s testing hydrogen combustion engines in race cars as it works toward using the technology in commercial products. The engines burn hydrogen as fuel instead of gasoline, much like rockets. The Japanese automaker said testing the technology in race cars in Japan will allow

By ROBERT BURNS AP National Security Writer BLACKSTONE, Va. (AP) — Civil War history casts a long shadow in Virginia, the birthplace of Confederate generals, scene of their surrender and now a crossroad of controversy over renaming military bases that honor rebel leaders. In and around the town of Blackstone, that shadow can stir passions

By STEVE PEOPLES, SARAH RANKIN and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press ASHLAND, Va. (AP) — Republican Glenn Youngkin is highlighting cases of alleged sex crimes in schools to help repair the GOP’s standing in the Virginia suburbs, where educated moms and dads have turned against Donald Trump’s Republican Party. Youngkin’s suburban strategy in the Virginia governor’s

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump struggled during his first year in office to get his nominees confirmed in a timely fashion in the Senate. President Joe Biden is faring even worse. Biden has seen about 36% of his nominees confirmed by the Senate. Trump had a success rate

By LISA MASCARO and HOPE YEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he feels “very positive about reaching a deal on his big domestic policy bill. Biden spoke briefly to reporters as he headed to New Jersey to promote his child care and infrastructure plan. White House proposals for new taxes on

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A compact Hurricane Rick has roared ashore along Mexico’s southern Pacific coast with 105 mph (165 kph) winds and heavy rain amid warnings of potential flash floods in the coastal mountains. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Rick made landfall early Monday as a Category 2 storm about 15 miles (25

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets are mixed after Wall Street slipped and China tightened travel controls in some areas in response to coronavirus infections. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced while Tokyo declined. On Friday, Wall Street’s S&P 500 index declined 0.1%, weighed down by losses for tech

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge is setting the final ground rules for what evidence will be allowed at Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial next week. The Illinois teen shot three people, killing two of them, during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha in August 2020. He faces multiple charges,

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s military has seized power, dissolving the transitional government hours after troops arrested the prime minister and other officials. Thousands of people flooded into the streets to protest Monday’s coup. The Sudan Doctors’ Committee said security forces opened fire on some of the crowds, and three protesters

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president says he’ll keep striving to promote peace with North Korea through dialogue until the end of his term next May, after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests. In his final policy speech at parliament, President Moon Jae-in said

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Several Chinese provinces and cities say they’ll start giving COVID-19 vaccines to children as young as 3 after already fully vaccinating 76% of the population. The expansion of its vaccination campaign comes as parts of China take new clampdown measures to try to stamp out small