Month: November 2021

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities have seized four plots of land owned by the youngest son of former dictator Suharto as part of efforts to recover money owed the government since the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. The Finance Ministry says the confiscation was part of government attempts to recover

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis will travel to Greece and the eastern Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus on a five-day trip next month. The pope will visit Larnaca, Cyprus, from Dec. 2-4, before traveling to Greece, with stops in Athens and on the island of Lesbos, from Dec. 4-6.

By DARKO BANDIC Associated Press ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatian authorities will limit gatherings and widen the use of COVID-19 passes to curb soaring infections after the numbers of infected people reached new records again on Friday. The country’s crisis team says the new rules for gatherings will apply starting Saturday while the use of

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations’ top human rights official has condemned actions by military leaders in Sudan following a coup almost two weeks ago and called on them to let civilian rule return. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet decried excessive use of force by security forces

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Latvian parliament has given employers the go-ahead to dismiss employees who are required to get vaccinated against the coronavirus but refuse to do so. The Seimas assembly voted 52 -27 to authorize employers to suspend workers without required vaccination certificates for whom they are unable to make accommodations. Employers must

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer says its experimental pill for COVID-19 cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% among patients with mild-to-moderate infections. The company announced Friday it will soon ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and international regulators to authorize its pill, which is taken twice

By NICO GARRIGA and THOMAS ADAMSON Associated Press GRANVILLE, France (AP) — French fisherman Hermann Outrequin gave up his fishing company job and went independent in 2019 to have more time for his newborn son. But he hadn’t reckoned with the post-Brexit spat about fishing rights between Paris and London. He has just been denied

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — China has criticized a press freedom survey from the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club that found nearly half its members are considering leaving the city. The survey says the members are concerned about a decline in press freedoms under a sweeping national security law imposed by

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s defense minister, Nobuo Kishi, has said it will step up military cooperation with Germany in the Indo-Pacific region as he welcomed a port call by the first German warship to visit Japan in about 20 years. The frigate Bayern is visiting Tokyo after two days of

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities say that hundreds of thousands of tons of junk have been removed from a valley in western Germany since it was devastated by flooding in mid-July, equivalent to four decades’ worth of garbage. More than 180 people died in Germany and hundreds more were injured in the July 14-15 floods, which

By SABINA NIKSIC Associated Press SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Heavy rain has caused flash flooding in Bosnia, prompting evacuations, causing power outages in most of the capital, closing a key facility for oxygen used for COVID-19 patients and submerging roads in some parts of the country. Homes were flooded around Sarajevo while local roads were

By DALATOU MAMANE Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Officials in Niger say suspected Islamic extremists have killed 69 people in an attack on a self-defense group near the border with Mali. Niger’s Interior Ministry says the Tuesday ambush targeted civilians who are aiding the military in the fight against militants in the volatile border

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s atomic agency says that its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium has reached over 210 kilograms (463 pounds), the latest defiant move ahead of upcoming nuclear talks with the West. The figure, attributed to agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvan, was carried in a report by the semi-official Tasnim and Fars news agencies.

LONDON (AP) — Entertainer Lionel Blair, a staple on British stage and television for decades, has died. He was 92. Blair’s agent said he died Thursday. No cause of death was given. Blair was born Lionel Henry Ogus in Montreal to Russian Jewish parents. The family moved to Britain when he was a toddler. Among

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s environmentalist Greens are signaling that negotiations to form a new governing coalition are progressing slowly and differences remain over climate policy. The Greens last month entered negotiations with the center-left Social Democrats and the business-friendly Free Democrats on a new government after all three parties made gains in Germany’s Sept. 26

PARIS (AP) — A train struck and killed a migrant from Eritrea and at least two bodies were recovered from the sea and on a beach during a particularly deadly week for migrants on the northern coast of France. The deaths occurred in and around the city of Calais, where people often attempt treacherous crossings

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Doctors in Bosnia are bracing for a new wave of the coronavirus in the Balkan nation, which has a low vaccination rate and has been among the hardest hit countries in Europe earlier in the pandemic. In the northwestern town of Banja Luka, the COVID-19 ward of the main hospital

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s conservative former top prosecutor, who has called for a stronger U.S. security guarantee to neutralize North Korean nuclear threats, has won the main opposition party’s hotly contested nomination for next March’s presidential election. Recent opinion surveys showed Yoon Suk Yeol would be locked

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch Supreme Court has handed Russia at least a temporary victory in its appeal of a $50 billion arbitration award to former shareholders of bankrupted oil giant Yukos. The decision Friday quashed a lower court ruling, effectively setting aside a $50 billion award made

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Honda has lowered its profit and vehicle sales forecasts for the fiscal year, pointing to a supply crunch in chips and rising material costs. Honda recorded a 31% drop from last year in its fiscal second quarter profit, to $1.5 billion. Honda Executive Vice

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany has recorded its second consecutive daily record for new coronavirus cases as infections pick up across Europe. Its disease control center says unvaccinated people now face a “very high” risk of infection. The center said Friday that the country saw 37,120 reported new infections over the

By SHLOMO MOR Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews have gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to protest against a Jewish women’s group that holds monthly prayers there in a long-running campaign for gender equality at the site. For decades the “Women of the Wall” group has campaigned for equality of

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has canceled a multimillion dollar deal with Emergent BioSolutions, a Maryland- based vaccine manufacturer with facilities in Baltimore that were found to have produced millions of contaminated vaccine doses this spring. The Washington Post reported that the company disclosed the development on Thursday in a conference call discussing its

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Standing close together on a sunny autumn day, a group of people wait patiently by a blue bus parked beneath a bridge in Belgrade. This will be a rare chance for them to have a shower, wash their clothes or get a medical checkup. Three times

By MARÍA VERZA, CHRISTINA LARSON and VICTORIA MILKO Associated Press PROGRESO, Mexico (AP) — On Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, efforts are underway to protect and restore mangrove forests, even as more are lost elsewhere. From 1980 to 2005, 20% to 35% of the world’s mangrove forests disappeared. In the next decade, the rate of loss declined

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Thousands of women have fled Afghanistan in response to the Taliban takeover, fearing a return to the brutal repression that marked the group’s previous rule in the late 1990s. Yet some made a conscious decision to stay, for a range of reasons. A top female bureaucrat

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and STAN CHOE AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks pushed further into record heights on Friday following an encouraging report on hiring across the country. The S&P 500 closed 0.4% higher, clinching an all-time high for the seventh straight day. Trading was scattershot, though, and after climbing to

By TOM KRISHER and PAUL WISEMAN AP Business Writers The sweeping Biden administration’s new COVID-19 mandate will apply to 84 million workers at mid-size and large companies. President Joe Biden has described the new rules as urgently needed to get more Americans inoculated. Though confirmed viral cases and deaths have fallen sharply since the start

By FARES AKRAM Associated Press GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and Egypt have enforced tight travel restrictions as part of a blockade of Gaza for 14 years, since the takeover of the territory by the Islamic militant group Hamas. But when a 19-year-old woman, en route to a Turkish university, was prevented from