Month: November 2021

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union parliament has condemned Poland’s recent near-total ban on abortions and called on the Polish government to make sure it no longer leads to the death of pregnant women. The condemnation follows news that a woman had died of septic shock in her 22nd week of pregnancy after doctors failed

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress are looking to give U.S. automakers with union employees the inside track when it comes to winning the burgeoning electric vehicle market. The $1.85 trillion spending package that Democrats are trying to pass features programs designed to curb global warming,

By COLLEEN BARRY AP Business Writer MILAN (AP) — A new study shows that the personal luxury market of high-end accessories, leather goods and apparel has snapped back to pre-pandemic levels. The Bain consultancy says U.S. shoppers have powered that recovery, outspending those in China in pursuit of the latest fashion trends. Global consumer spending

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish Navy has started helping farmers on the volcanic island of La Palma to reach their lava-surrounded banana plantations by sea. A 5-degree earthquake overnight was a reminder that the eruption on the Atlantic Ocean island of 85,000 remained strong despite scientists recording a lower overall seismic activity during the past

By DARIA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities say they are preparing new restrictions to counter the unrelenting surge of coronavirus infections that has engulfed the vast country in recent weeks. The state coronavirus task force announced Thursday it was drafting legislation to expand the system of QR codes, already used in many

By DREW COSTLEY and NICKY FORSTER Associated Press An Associated Press analysis of temperature and population data shows that exposure to extreme heat has tripled and now affects about a quarter of the world’s population. To better understand the issue, Columbia University’s climate school recently published a global dataset with estimates of both population and

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ charter school will relocate to a larger campus in New York City.. The music mogul announced Thursday that Capital Preparatory School will move to the Church of All Saints and School building in Harlem. The relocation will allow the school’s capacity

By SYLVIE CORBET The Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Internet giants, including social media apps Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, joined some world leaders to issue a global call to better protect children online at a Paris summit on Thursday. The call, initiated by France and the U.N. child protection agency, acknowledges that “in the

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarians will soon have some relief at the pumps after the government announced it will limit the price of gasoline and diesel amid soaring fuel prices. A government minister told reporters Thursday that a cap of 480 Hungarian forints, or $1.50, per liter of fuel would go into effect nationwide Monday.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is renewing his call for Europe to welcome and show solidarity with migrants. He says the diversity they’re bringing to the continent is renewing European cities as a “beautiful mosaic, which should not be scarred or corrupted with prejudices or hatred.” Francis didn’t mention the latest migration crisis at Poland’s

BERLIN (AP) — Carnival revelers in the western Germany city of Cologne were lining up to show  proof of their COVID-19 vaccinations before they could begin the start of the outdoors celebrations _ after a hiatus due to the pandemic last year. Despite strict pandemic rules, the start of the carnival season on Thursday was

By CAROLYN THOMPSON and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH of The Associated Press and KALYN BELSHA of Chalkbeat Chalkbeat and Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Schools across the U.S. are using portions of the windfall of federal coronavirus relief money to quickly expand their capacity to address students’ struggles with mental health. While school districts have broad latitude

By RAF CASERT and VIRGINIA MAYO Associated Press YPRES, Belgium (AP) — Armistice Day remembrances have been observed around the world after the coronavirus pandemic wiped out ceremonies last year to mark the end 1918 end of World War I. Dignitaries and government leaders across the Western Front in Europe stood still and pondered the

MADRID (AP) — More than 400 migrants have arrived by sea to Spain’s Canary Islands over a 24-hour period. The latest arrivals came talks between Spain and Algeria on ways of fighting illegal migration from North Africa to Europe. The migrants were aboard seven boats approaching the Spanish archipelago off northwest Africa. Spain’s government says

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Investigators are asking Uber for records as they investigate the theft of more than $700,000 from an 82-year-old Florida woman who apparently fell for a “grandparent scam.” Over the summer, the scammers convinced the woman that her granddaughter was in legal trouble. Court records show the woman made 13 bank withdrawals

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Naval forces from the United States, Israel and two Gulf Arab states are taking part in a joint security drill in the Red Sea, a vital shipping route that feeds into the Suez Canal. The U.S. 5th Fleet said on Thursday that the five-day

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — American and British citizens have been swept up in Ethiopia’s mass detentions of ethnic Tigrayans under a new state of emergency in the country’s escalating war, The Associated Press has found. Thousands of Tigrayans have already been detained and fears of more such detentions soared on

By COLLEEN LONG and ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has saluted the nation’s military veterans as “the spine of America” in marking his first Veterans Day as president in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Biden said, “There’s nothing low risk or low cost about war for the women

BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency says the number of people worldwide forced to abandon their homes likely increased to more than 84 million in the first half of this year. It says the rise was driven in particular by conflicts in Africa. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Thursday the number of

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden has charged two executives of a Swedish oil exploration and production company for complicity in war crimes with the former government in Sudan. Prosecutors say the executives are suspected of having “a decisive influence” on the business of Stockholm-based Lundin Oil AB in Sudan

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian Foreign Ministry says it has detected spyware developed by the Israeli hacker-for-hire company NSO Group on the phones of three senior officials. It accused Israel of using the military-grade Pegasus software to eavesdrop on them. The accusation on Thursday comes after the software was detected

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish lira again has slid to a record low against the U.S. dollar after a surge in U.S. consumer prices inflamed concerns over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s push to cut interest rates. The lira dropped to an all-time low of 9.97 against the dollar early Thursday before settling at around

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Senior U.S. and South Korean diplomats have discussed how to restart stalled talks with North Korea, days after the North conducted artillery firing drills in its latest weapons tests. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink was in Seoul on Thursday for talks on

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The outgoing Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is on his way to Taiwan at the invitation of the island’s leader just weeks before a presidential election in the Central American nation that could see self-ruled Taiwan even more diplomatically isolated. Hernández was in Washington when he announced his trip to Taiwan.

By ZEN SOO Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Chinese shoppers spent $139.1 billion during this year’s annual Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza, breaking last year’s record even though consumer spending slowed amid economic uncertainty during the coronavirus pandemic. Experts say that the world’s largest online shopping festival has taken on a more muted tone this year

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Jakucho Setouchi, a Buddhist nun and one of Japan’s best-known authors known for novels depicting passionate women and her translation of “The Tale of Genji” into modern language, has died. She was 99. Setouchi was already an established novelist before she shaved her head and became a

By SETH BORENSTEIN and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) is “on life support” in the final days of the U.N.’s climate talks in Glasgow. In an exclusive interview on Thursday with The Associated Press,

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — For 30 years, Nancy Chen ate lunch every day with her parents at their apartment. After her parents caught COVID-19 and her father died, she now eats lunch alone with her mother. The island has been hailed as a pandemic success story. But Chen and other

By ANDREW MELDRUM and CARA ANNA Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — F.W. de Klerk, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela and as South Africa’s last apartheid president oversaw the end of the country’s white minority rule, has died at the age of 85. The F.W. de Klerk Foundation confirmed on Thursday that

By VANESSA GERA and MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Thousands have marched in Warsaw to mark Poland’s Independence Day, led by far-right groups calling for strong borders, while its troops blocked hundreds of new attempts by migrants to enter the country illegally from neighboring Belarus. Security forces patrolled the capital for the

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Commission has raised its growth forecast for the year for the 19 countries using the euro, saying the economy was bouncing back from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic as people went back to work in consumer-facing jobs. But the EU’s executive branch

NEW DELHI (AP) — At least 14 people have died in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu during days of heavy rains. Several districts in the state are on high alert, bracing for more torrents as a depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal is set to cross northern Tamil Nadu on Thursday evening.

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has sent two nuclear-capable strategic bombers on a training mission over Belarus for a second day in a show of Moscow’s support for its ally amid a dispute over migration at the Polish border. The Belarusian Defense Ministry said two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers practiced bombing

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Leaders of China’s ruling Communist Party have set the stage for President Xi Jinping to extend his rule next year, praising his role in China’s rise as an economic and strategic power and approving a political history that gives him status alongside the most important party figures.