Month: December 2021

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Preliminary work is underway to remove an enormous pedestal that until recently held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond. A crew was erecting scaffolding around the pedestal Monday afternoon. It’s one of the first steps in what’s expected to be a weeks-long process. Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph

By BRYAN ANDERSON and GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The start of North Carolina candidate filing for U.S. House and legislative seats was blocked by an appeals court panel. But it was restored hours later. A three-judge panel of the intermediate level appeals court issued a ruling on Monday morning telling

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Voters in an extremely liberal Seattle district are deciding whether they want to keep socialist Kshama Sawant on the City Council. Sawant is the longest-tenured council member. She’s credited with having helped Seattle become the first major city with a $15-an-hour minimum wage. A recall vote that

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A British woman has testified that Ghislaine Maxwell pressured her into giving Jeffrey Epstein sexual massages when she was still a teenager, assuring her she would have “fun” with him. The witness was the second woman to take the witness stand against Maxwell in federal court

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Craig Wright, a computer scientist who claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin, prevailed in a civil trial verdict Monday against the family of a deceased business partner that claimed it was owed half of a cryptocurrency fortune worth tens of billions. A Florida jury

By CARLEY PETESCH Associated Press DIAMNIADIO, Senegal (AP) — South Africa’s president says travel restrictions imposed on South Africa and other African nations for telling the world about the omicron variant are hypocritical, harsh and not supported by science. President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking Monday at the Dakar International Forum for Peace and Security, said the

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s prime minister is urging people to “remain prudent” about COVID-19 over the holidays as Christmas festivities at one Spanish hospital are suspected of infecting dozens of staff. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday that Spaniards can’t “let their guard down” because the coronavirus continues to spread. One regional hospital said 170

By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The National Museum of Afghanistan is open once again and the Taliban, whose members once smashed their way through the facility, now appear to be among its most enthusiastic visitors. The museum, which hosts artifacts from the Paleolithic period to the 20th century, reopened just over

By RICK CALLAHAN and DAVID EGGERT Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The prosecutor overseeing the case against the student accused in last week’s deadly Michigan school shooting and who took the rare step of charging his parents has left open the possibility that school officials could also face charges. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Defense Ministry says it is tightening supervision over cyber exports — a move that follows a series of scandals involving Israeli spyware company NSO Group. In a statement Monday, the ministry said the countries purchasing Israeli cyber technology would have to sign a declaration pledging to use the products “for the

BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai health official says that authorities have detected the country’s first suspected case of the new omicron variant but that confirmation is pending further test results. The head of Thailand’s Department of Medical Sciences said on Monday that the “likely” case of the omicron variant had been identified in an American

LONDON (AP) — British parliamentary authorities say they are calling in the police after a newspaper reported that traces of cocaine had been found at numerous sites in Parliament. The Sunday Times reported that traces of cocaine were found in 11 locations that are only accessible by accredited parliamentary lawmakers, staff and journalists, including a

JERUSALEM (AP) — Jerusalem municipal officials have frozen plans to build a large Jewish settlement at an abandoned airport in east Jerusalem. Monday’s decision comes in the wake of heavy U.S. opposition to the project. The plan calls for building 9,000 housing units for ultra-Orthodox Jews. It is considered especially controversial because it is in

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A 311-year-old school in southwest England named after the slave trader Edward Colston is to change its name following a wide-ranging consultation. The governors of the fee-paying Colston’s School, which was set up in 1710 in Bristol, said Monday that the school will be renamed next summer,

By YURAS KARMANAU The Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus has announced retaliatory restrictions on airlines from the European Union and the U.K., as well as a ban on imports of Western goods from countries that introduced sanctions against the post-Soviet nation last week. The Belarus Foreign Ministry says the import ban comes in

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly has approved a resolution delaying action on requests by Myanmar’s military junta and Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to take their countries’ seats at the United Nations. Assembly President Abdulla Shahid banged his gavel Monday to approve the measure by consensus, without a

By STAN CHOE and BERNARD CONDON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The blank-check company that aims to take Trump Media & Technology Group public says two regulatory agencies are scrutinizing the deal. Digital World Acquisition, which is often referred to by its trading symbol of “DWAC,” said it is cooperating with “the preliminary, fact-finding

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The charred body of a factory manager who was lynched by a mob in Pakistan for alleged blasphemy has been brought back to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan national was assaulted by a mob of hundreds of people before being dragged into the streets and set on fire last Friday

By ERIC TUCKER and FRANK BAJAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The elite Russian state hackers behind last year’s massive SolarWinds cyberespionage campaign hardly eased up this year, managing plenty of infiltrations of U.S. and allied government agencies and foreign policy think tanks with consummate craft and stealth. So says the leading cybersecurity firm Mandiant

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The European Union’s drugs agency has recommended approving the use of an anti-inflammatory medicine to treat adults hospitalized with severe COVID-19. The European Medicines Agency decision Monday has to be confirmed by the E.U.’s executive commission. It extends the use of the drug RoActemra, made by Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche,

By JEFF AMY and STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has set out to reshape the GOP in his image across the nation’s top political battlegrounds, sparking bitter primary battles. Nowhere is his quest more consequential than Georgia. Trump has inspired a slate of loyalists to seek statewide office in

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatian health authorities have confirmed the first two cases of the new omicron variant in the country. Health officials said Monday they are trying to establish the source of infection as the two people had not traveled abroad. They say they most likely got the virus at a business gathering they

By PETER SMITH and EVENS SANON PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A religious group based in Ohio has announced that a violent gang in Haiti has released three more hostages, while another 12 remain abducted. The statement Monday from Christian Aid Ministries said the people were released on Sunday in Haiti and are “safe and seem