Month: November 2021

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A British lawmaker is defending his 400,000-pound ($540,000) a year second job, as calls grow for a crackdown on politicians earning outside income. Conservative legislator Geoffrey Cox said Wednesday that his work as a lawyer did not take him away from representing constituents in the southwest England

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press LE PECQ, France (AP) — A prime-time address to the nation by French President Emmanuel Macron sounded very much like the launch of a re-election campaign. The 27—minute speech was delivered against a backdrop of the red-white-and-blue tricolor flag and an embossed seal of the French Republic. Macron swept back

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s ambassadors who were recently asked to leave Bahrain and Saudi Arabia amid an unprecedented diplomatic spat with Gulf countries are fearful the dispute could harm the interests of Lebanese living in the region. The warning Wednesday included concerns that bilateral relations could further worsen. It comes as a newspaper reported that

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Ferries in Greece are to remain tied up in port for two days after unions declared a 48-hour strike. The strike which began at 6 a.m. Wednesday disrupted ferry services between the mainland and Greek islands. Many of the country’s islands are too small for airports and depend on ferries for

By SHONAL GANGULY and ALTAF QADRI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — A vast stretch of one of India’s most sacred rivers, the Yamuna, is covered with toxic foam, caused in part by pollutants discharged from industries ringing New Delhi. Still, hundreds of Hindu devotees stood knee-deep in its frothy, toxic waters on Wednesday, sometimes

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Elton John has formally received one of the highest awards that can be bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II. In an investiture ceremony on Wednesday at Windsor Castle, Prince Charles anointed the rock star and charity patron as a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities say nearly 83% of hospital beds designated for COVID-19 patients are filled, as daily tallies of new infections and deaths remain at all-time highs. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Wednesday that “so far we can’t confidently say that the situation has stabilized and the

By BRITTANY PETERSON and SAM METZ Associated Press DENVER (AP) — More places around the U.S. are eyeing the practice of recycling wastewater for reuse in homes and businesses as tap water. Cities see it as a way to ensure water supplies as their populations grow and climate change intensifies droughts. A push in the

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A worsening surge of inflation for such bedrock necessities as food, rent, autos and heating oil is setting Americans up for a financially difficult Thanksgiving and holiday shopping season. Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.2% in October compared with a year earlier, leaving families facing the

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a new pandemic low 267,000 last week, another sign that the job market is recovering from last year’s sharp coronavirus downturn. Jobless claims fell by 4,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The four-week average

By DARKO BANDIC Associated Press ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Despite its infection surge, Croatia is becoming a new favored destination for Russians seeking vaccination with Western jabs. They need them to travel around Europe and the U.S. Officials say that there is a separate vaccination queue for foreigners — who are mostly Russians — at

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — COVID-19 has had a staggering impact on the sheriff’s department in Broward County, Florida. During a memorial service for nine employees who died from the virus, Sheriff Gregory Tony said well over half of the department’s 5,600 workforce had been exposed, and a third contracted the disease. He told mourners, “we

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man who left his 19-month-old daughter to die in a burning car during a police chase was given 28 years in prison after pleading guilty. The office of 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette says Imhotep O. Norman of Spartanburg was sentenced Tuesday. Law enforcement tried to stop him

NEW YORK (AP) — Two Washington Post reporters are working on a biography of George Floyd, from his family history in the tobacco fields of North Carolina to his murder last year in Minneapolis by a white police officer. Viking announced that “His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Lawyers for a British newspaper publisher say the Duchess of Sussex crafted a letter to her estranged father so it would “pull at the heartstrings” if leaked to the public. The publisher of the Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website is trying to overturn a court

By KATIE WORKMAN Associated Press For lovers of Advent calendars, there are lots of new offerings to count down to Christmas. Show up with one for Thanksgiving dinner and your recipient will be getting daily treats all month long. There are Advent calendars that contain candy, wine, liquor, coffee, tea and more. New examples include

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and THEODORA TONGAS Associated Press OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — Microsoft has launched a digital immersive tour at the ancient birthplace of the Olympic Games in southern Greece. It provides visitors a virtual re-creation of temples and competition areas in ancient Olympia as they walk through one of the world’s major archaeological sites.

By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A top Taliban official has urged former Afghan military pilots to remain in the country, saying they are protected by a national amnesty and would not face arrest. Wednesday’s comments came a day after dozens of U.S.-trained pilots and other Afghans were flown out of Tajikistan in

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has stepped down after seven years in office. Lofven will continue as as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed, but his resignation on Wednesday paves the way for his replacement as leader of the Social Democratic Party to become Sweden’s first female head

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — An Italian judge has issued an international arrest warrant for the Israeli grandfather of a 6-year-old boy who survived a cable car crash in Italy, after the man spirited the child to Israel in violation of an Italian juvenile court order.  Eitan Biran was the sole survivor

By ZEKE MILLER and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The campaign to vaccinate elementary school age children in the U.S. is off to a strong start, health officials said Wednesday. But experts say there are signs that it will be difficult to sustain the initial momentum. About 900,000 kids aged 5 to 11

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech prosecutors have asked the newly-elected lower house of Parliament to lift Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ immunity from prosecution over alleged fraud involving European Union subsidies. If the lawmakers give their approval, it would allow the prosecution to decide whether Babis should be indicted for his alleged involvement in the $2-million fraud.

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United Nations says Ethiopian authorities have arrested and detained some 70 truck drivers contracted to the U.N. and other aid groups in the past week since the government declared a state of emergency amid the country’s escalating war. Wednesday’s statement says the U.N. is seeking

By LORI HINNANT Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Former French President François Hollande has testified at the trial of 14 men accused of helping in the 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris. Hollande said he was aware for months beforehand that the Islamic State group was targeting France. He was at France’s national stadium when

By EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The leaders of Malaysia and Indonesia have urged military-ruled Myanmar to resolve its internal conflict and help stem the flow of Rohingya refugees fleeing to Malaysia. Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, on an official visit to Indonesia on Wednesday, expressed concern about the emergency situation

By CHANELLE BESSETTE of NerdWallet Cryptocurrency banking allows consumers to hold and spend cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, litecoin and ether. Card issuers and fintech companies have begun to offer cryptocurrency debit cards as a way to help their customers spend blockchain-based money just like regular cash. There are still risks to using this new currency,

By ALEX NISHIMOTO Edmunds Introduced for 2021, the Volkswagen ID.4 is the German automaker’s first all-electric SUV and part of a new wave of electric vehicles for American consumers. It boasts a spacious interior and styling that’s futuristic but not too futuristic. The ID.4 is the upstart against two established rivals: the Tesla Model 3

BERLIN (AP) — The German government’s panel of independent economic advisers has cut its 2021 growth prediction for Europe’s biggest economy to 2.7%. It’s the latest in a series of downgrades by forecasters. The panel’s new forecast on Wednesday was down from the 3.1% it predicted in March. It expected gross domestic product to expand

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — A top European Union court has rejected Google’s appeal of a 2.4 billion euro fine from regulators who found the tech giant gave its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage in search results. The 27-nation bloc’s top competition watchdog had punished Google in 2017 for unfairly

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Union’s drug regulator says it has started evaluating whether to authorize Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency already is evaluating the vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech for use in the 5-11 age group. In a statement on Wednesday, the EMA said it anticipates

By CHARLENE PELE Associated Press BRESCIA, Italy (AP) — Two German men have gone on trial in northern Italy in connection with a boat crash in Italy’s Lake Garda that killed two Italians who were also out on the lake that night. Patrick Kassen was allegedly at the helm of the Germans’ motorboat during the

PRAGUE (AP) — Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have jumped significantly and are at levels close to record numbers seen during previous waves. The Health Ministry said the daily tally of new cases reached 14,539 on Tuesday, about 4,500 more than a week ago and the highest number since March 12. The record daily

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization is reporting that coronavirus deaths rose by 10% in Europe in the past week, making it the only world region where both COVID-19 cases and deaths are steadily increasing. It was the sixth consecutive week that the virus has risen across the continent. In its weekly report on