Month: November 2021

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s national railway on Monday resumed train service to a western valley that was devastated by flooding in mid-July after extensive repair work. The narrow Ahr valley suffered the worst destruction in the July 14-15 floods which left more than 180 people dead in Germany and also claimed lives in neighboring Belgium.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Police in Portugal are carrying out searches across the country following a tip-off that troops stationed with a United Nations force in Africa have smuggled diamonds, drugs and gold back into Europe. Military authorities say soldiers are suspected of smuggling the illicit material on military cargo planes traveling between Central African

By LEE KEATH Associated Press KABUL (AP) — A growing number of near-starving children are brought every day to the main children’s hospital in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Hunger is increasing dramatically in Afghanistan, fueled by an economic crisis that has only gotten worse since the Taliban seized power in the country nearly three months

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s Apostolic Library is opening its doors to the general public with a small new exhibition space aimed at bridging its artistic treasures with contemporary art.  The inaugural exhibit “Tutti” (All) takes its inspiration from Pope Francis’ 2020 encyclical “Brothers All.” The document combines his appeals for environmental sustainability, greater

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The chairman of a foundation that represents families of people killed when a passenger jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014 has told a Dutch court of his grief at losing his brother — no trace of whom was ever found. He also

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan’s top general has promised he won’t hold a government position after planned elections in July 2023. His comments come two weeks after he toppled a transitional government in a widely condemned coup. The military leader behind the takeover has repeatedly promised to hand over power to an elected civilian government

By DARIA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russians have gone back to work after a nine-day break that was ordered by authorities to tame a record-breaking surge of coronavirus infections and deaths. Still, daily numbers of new cases and deaths have remained high throughout the non-working period. Officials in the Kremlin said on Monday

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kuwait’s government has resigned for the second time this year, underscoring the political problems plaguing the small, oil-rich nation. The state-run KUNA news agency said Kuwait’s ruler, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, received the government’s resignation notice Monday. However, the report did not say whether Sheikh Nawaf would

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE and RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo’s military says that members of the M23 rebellion group have attacked a base in eastern Congo’s Rutshuru area and fighting is underway.  The attacks took place in villages on the hills between Rwanda and Uganda. The M23 group, however, denied that they

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Two Iraqi politicians say a top Iranian general visited Baghdad after the assassination attempt against Iraq’s prime minister. He said Tehran and its allies had nothing to do with the drone attack that lightly injured the Iraqi leader. An Iraqi general, meanwhile, says the investigation into the

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Officials say the prosthetic-tailed dolphin that starred in the “Dolphin Tale” movies may be fighting a gastrointestinal infection. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium announced Sunday that staff members noticed a week earlier that Winter was acting abnormally and not eating. Initial bloodwork showed the possible infection. The aquarium’s care team has been

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Barack Obama is expressing confidence that the Biden administration will ultimately get its $555 billion climate package through Congress and says that bill will be “historic.” At the U.N. climate talks Monday, he also faulted China and Russia for what he

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Social Democrats, the country’s main center-left party, is set to make the manager of its successful election campaign one of its leaders. The move comes amid ongoing coalition talks to anoint party candidate, Olaf Scholz as the successor to outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel. Top party officials proposed on Monday that party

By LIZ WESTON of NerdWallet Some people can’t wait to retire. Others are pushed into retirement due to illness, job loss or other factors beyond their control. And still others aren’t quite ready to leave the workforce behind. If you’re trying to make up your mind about when’s the right time to retire, experts say

PRAGUE (AP) — Two party coalitions that emerged as winners of the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election have signed a power-sharing deal to govern. A three-party, liberal-conservative coalition composed of the Civic Democratic Party, Christian Democrats and the TOP 09 party garnered 27.8% of votes in last month’s poll. That group has teamed up with the

PARIS (AP) — France’s Catholic Church has announced its decision to financially compensate sex abuse victims by selling property assets and if needed, taking out a loan. French bishops said in a written statement on Monday that they will set up an “independent, national body” tasked with addressing compensation issues. They committed to allocating money

By ANNABELLE LIANG Associated Press SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore’s High Court has suspended the scheduled execution of a Malaysian man believed to have a mental disability until an appeal is heard, amid pleas from the international community and rights groups. The 33-year-old Malaysian man was due to be executed by hanging on Wednesday for trying

By KAREL JANICEK Association Press PRAGUE (AP) — Slovakia has expanded strict coronavirus restrictions to nearly half of the country amid a record surge of infections. The government is expected to discuss additional measures on Monday as the country’s Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky joined medical personnel who treat COVID-19 patients in urging Slovaks to get

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — A top Arab League official is in Beirut to explore ways to resolve an unprecedented diplomatic rift between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia that emerged following comments by the Lebanese information minister. The minister had criticized the war in Yemen that a Saudi-led coalition is waging against the

LONDON (AP) — Northern Ireland’s health minister is suing Van Morrison after the singer called him “very dangerous” for his handling of coronavirus restrictions. The Belfast-born singer opposes restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, and has released several songs criticizing lockdowns. The defamation suit relates to three incidents in which Morrison criticized Northern

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — People fleeing Ethiopia say a new round of deadly attacks and forced conscription has begun against ethnic Tigrayans who remain in an area now controlled by Amhara regional authorities in collaboration with soldiers from neighboring Eritrea. The war is intensifying as rival Tigray forces approach Ethiopia’s

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan has reported no daily deaths from COVID-19 for the first time in 15 months, as infections decline rapidly. After record cases last summer, numbers began falling in September. Experts attribute the decline to vaccination progress, mask wearing and other anti-virus measures. Vaccinations, despite a slow start,

LONDON (AP) — A bus has been hijacked and set on fire in Northern Ireland, amid discontent over the trade deal struck as part of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union.  Four masked men boarded the double decker bus on Sunday on the outskirts of Belfast. The group ordered the driver and passengers off

By AHMED AL-HAJ and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A court run by Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels has sentenced an actor and model to five years in prison on charges of committing an indecent act and having drugs in her possession. The court in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa also sentenced three other

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to talk about climate change. But his opponents want to focus on corruption. As a United Nations climate summit aimed at staving off catastrophic global warming enters its final week in Glasgow, host Johnson is facing a barrage of criticism in

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is encouraging local school districts to host clinics to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to kids and information to parents on the benefits of the shots. First lady Jill Biden and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy visited the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, on

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel has a positive verdict on the influx of migrants to Germany in 2015 and 2016 as she prepares to step down: “We managed it.” Merkel became the face of a welcoming approach to migrants as people fleeing conflicts in Syria and elsewhere trekked across the Balkans. More than 1

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s judicial authorities have reportedly banned a newspaper for publishing a front-page graphic that appeared to show Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s hand drawing the poverty line. The semiofficial Mehr news agency said Iran’s media supervisory body shut down the daily newspaper Kelid on Monday, after it published a

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and VANESSA GERA WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Hundreds if not thousands of migrants have sought to storm the border from Belarus into Poland, cutting razor wire fences and using branches to try and climb over them. The siege on Monday escalated a crisis along the European Union’s eastern border that has been

By FRANK BAJAK and JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Security researchers say spyware from the notorious Israeli hacker-for-hire company NSO Group was detected on the cellphones of six Palestinian human rights activists. Half are affiliated with groups that Israel’s defense minister controversially claimed last month were involved in terrorism. Monday’s revelation marks the