Month: December 2021

Egypt has concluded its second international weapons fair. The country has one of the Middle East’s largest armies, ranks as a top global arms importer and is looking to grow its arsenal while moving away from U.S. suppliers. The four-day expo featured hundreds of exhibitors and ended Thursday. There was no immediate word of weapons

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Two Georgia election workers have filed a defamation lawsuit against a conservative website. The lawsuit filed Thursday accuses The Gateway Pundit of publishing and spreading false stories saying Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss engaged in ballot fraud during the 2020 general election.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial have gotten a psychologist’s overview of how sexual predators gradually lure and ensnare child victims. Lisa Rocchio testified Thursday that “child sexual abuse is a process” that can include giving presents, inculcating trust and gradually introducing more sexualized talk and touching. She provided her expert perspective

By LAURA UNGAR AP Science Writer Scientists are using human stem cells to create a structure that mimics a pre-embryo and can serve as a research alternative to a real one. They’re called “blastoids.” Researchers say they provide an efficient, ethical way to study human development and pursue biomedical discoveries in fertility and contraception. The

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States, European Union, Britain and Canada are slapping simultaneous sanctions on dozens of officials, organizations and companies in Belarus. The EU is taking special aim at those accused of taking part in a “hybrid attack” on the bloc using migrants. The four have targeted Belarus

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The omicron variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in at least five states, showing yet again how mutations of the virus can circumnavigate the globe with speed and ease. Just a day after the first known U.S. case was found in

By LORI HINNANT and MARIA CHENG Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The global initiative to share coronavirus vaccines fairly already scaled back its pledge to the world’s poor once. Now, to meet even that limited promise, COVAX would have to deliver more than a million doses every hour until the end of the year. That

By CHARLENE PELE Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Travelers through Milan’s main train station can take a break this week among reproductions of murals by street artist Banksy. “The Word of Banksy — The Immersive Experience” opens Thursday in the Mosaics Gallery, on the rail level of Milan’s monumental Central Station. It features some of

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says it’s halting the use of a controversial phone tracking technology to trace possible cases of the new coronavirus variant. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said Thursday that emergency measures authorizing “cellular monitoring” to locate people infected by the omicron variant, and those who might have been in contact with those

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — Baltimore County police say they’ve solved a 40-year-old homicide of a teenage girl. The department announced Wednesday that DNA evidence has proven that John Anthony Petrecca Jr. killed Heather Porter, a 13-year-old girl whose body was found in a wooded area of Towson in September 1981. County detectives reviewed the case

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — Utah police say a man wanted by police was fatally shot and two officers were wounded in a shootout in a suburban Salt Lake City convenience store parking lot. West Valley City police say Anei Joker was wanted in a robbery and rape investigation. Officers found him Wednesday night

By BERNARD McGHEE Associated Press They both carved out sterling reputations as military and political leaders over years of public service. But both also saw their legacies tarnished by their actions in the long, bloody war in Iraq. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are among the many noteworthy

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A ball planned for the first Black mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, has been canceled amid concerns its circus theme was inappropriate in the once-segregated city. The Junior League of St. Petersburg has thrown such balls since 2006. But the Tampa Bay Times reported Thursday that it scrapped the event

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned officials to strictly observe industrial safety in the wake of last week’s coal mine explosion that killed 51. A methane explosion rocked the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Kemerovo region of southwestern Siberia last week, killing 46 miners and five rescuers in

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A late-season wildfire pushed by strong winds has ripped through a tiny central Montana farming town, burning two dozen homes and four grain elevators that had stood for more than a century. Fergus County officials were assessing the damage in Denton on Thursday while crews

By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Auto Racing Writer PARIS (AP) — The sister of a man who was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia is asking seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton to help save her brother’s life. Zeinab Abu Al-Kheir told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Hamilton’s declaration two weeks ago in

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military has deployed coastal defense missile systems near the Kuril Islands, a Pacific chain also claimed by Japan. The Bastion systems were moved to Matua, a deserted volcanic island in the middle of the chain. Japan claims four southernmost islands. Russia’s Defense Ministry posted a

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Spacewalking astronauts have replaced a broken antenna outside the International Space Station after getting NASA’s all-clear for orbiting debris. Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron completed the job Thursday. They were supposed to do it Tuesday, but NASA delayed their spacewalk because of potentially threatening

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Belgian government has vowed to reinforce measures to contain the coronavirus even more with fresh measures to be decided Friday, possibly including more school closures and further reducing opening times of bars and restaurants. Local media say Friday’s possible measures also include further cuts in indoor sports events, and reducing group

CALLAHAN, Fla. (AP) — Officials say a 57-year-old Florida man who served as the music minister at a church is accused of fatally shooting his wife and two adult children. Nassau County Sheriff Bob Leeper says William Conway Broyles called 911 on Wednesday to report what he had done. He later told investigators that he

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alec Baldwin says someone is responsible for the shooting on a New Mexico film set that killed a cinematographer, but it’s not him. In an ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired Thursday night, Baldwin said he would do anything to undo what happened, but

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys has teased some of her new material at an intimate performance in Miami where she also guided a few hundred people through a 10-minute meditation. Keys asked concert goers gathering for an immersive exhibit on the eve of Art Basel Miami Beach to

By GARY GERARD HAMILTON Associated Press New York (AP) — Country music star Kelsea Ballerini had no intentions of starting a new job as an author in 2020. She did plan to tour her new album, “Kelsea” — then the coronavirus pandemic shut down most of the world. As COVID-19 all but stopped the touring