Month: December 2021

Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says the state’s death toll from devastating tornadoes earlier this month has risen by one. He says an infant from Graves County died last week. The state’s revised death toll from the storms is now 77. The county seat of Mayfield was hit especially hard

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO says its fighter jets were scrambled hundreds of times this year to intercept aircraft flying too close to its borders. Most of them were Russian planes, often on flights in northwest Europe. It said Tuesday that around 80% of some 370 mission in 2021 were flown in response to Russian aircraft.

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — A referendum allowing Mexicans to vote midterm on whether the president should remain in office has become a strange political football involving all three branches of government. It’s strange, because there is little reason to hold the referendum. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gets positive ratings

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, authorizing $768.2 billion in military spending, including a 2.7% pay raise for service members, for 2022. The NDAA authorizes a 5% increase in military spending over last year, and is the product of intense negotiations

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An autopsy report says that a Black youth’s death following a physical struggle with staff at a Kansas juvenile center was a homicide. The autopsy report released Monday contradicts an earlier, preliminary finding that 17-year-old Cedric Lofton hadn’t suffered life-threatening injuries. The report said Lofton’s heart

WILTON MANORS, Fla. (AP) — Two children were killed and another four children were hospitalized with injuries when a car plowed into them and fled the scene in South Florida. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that it was investigating what happened Monday outside an apartment building in Wilton Manors, Florida,

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer The U.S. flu season has arrived on schedule after taking a year off. Flu hospitalizations are rising and the first two child deaths have been reported. Last year’s flu season was the lowest on record. That’s likely because COVID-19 measures — such as schools closing and people wearing

By STEFANIE DAZIO and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Video released Monday shows Los Angeles police firing at a man suspected of assaulting customers last week at a clothing store, a shooting that also killed a 14-year-old girl who had been hiding in a dressing room and was struck by a bullet

TROY, Mich. (AP) — Police say they believe a 23-year-old man fatally shot his twin brother and shot and wounded their father before apparently taking his own life in suburban Detroit. Police say a 64-year-old woman was also in the home in Troy during the shooting Monday but was not harmed. Officers responding to 911

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials are cutting isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who test positive for the coronavirus and shortening the time that close contacts have to quarantine. People with the virus can leave isolation after five days, down from 10 days. People exposed to the virus

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) — The wingtip of a plane loaded with passengers clipped the auxiliary power unit of a parked empty aircraft nearby as it pushed back from the gate at a small Florida airport. Both planes at Punta Gorda Airport are owned by Allegiant Air, which said there were no injuries as the

PARIS (AP) — The French government has announced new COVID-19 measures in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. But authorities stopped short Monday of imposing drastic restrictions before New Year’s Eve. Big events will be limited to 2,000 people indoors and 5,000 people outdoors starting from next week. People will be requested

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Officials in Virginia have closed a road in one neighborhood after a mother bear and three cubs were spotted napping in a tree there. Chesapeake Animal Services asked residents near the tree _  on Bruin Drive _ to stay inside Monday and the general public to stay away from the area.

HONOLULU (AP) — Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has purchased more land in Hawaii, including most of a reservoir that unleashed a deadly flood 15 years ago. Property records show Zuckerberg’s Kaloko LLC bought the parcel on Kauai last month for $17 million. The purchase includes most of a reservoir that flooded in 2006, killing

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Artist Wayne Thiebaud, who was known for his colorful and luscious paintings of cakes, gum ball machines and other everyday objects, has died. He was 101. Thiebaud was often linked to the pop art movement but said he never felt much a part of it. He also painted landscapes, with views

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s president has called for an end to an 11-week deadlock that has prevented the government from convening, further undermining state institutions in the country amid an economic meltdown. President Michel Aoun implicitly blamed his powerful ally Hezbollah for preventing the government from convening but didn’t name the Shiite group in his

GARLAND, Texas (AP) — Police say three teenagers were killed and a fourth was critically wounded when another teen opened fire inside a Dallas-area gas station. Police say they arrested a 14-year-old boy who they suspect as the shooter on Monday. The shooting happened Sunday night in the Dallas suburb of Garland. Police say the

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Navy warship remains in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, with about two dozen sailors — or nearly a quarter of its crew — testing positive for COVID-19, according to U.S. defense officials. The USS Milwaukee has a crew of a bit

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. infectious disease expert says the nation should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel. Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments Monday signal a potential embrace of an idea the Biden administration has previously eschewed. He says such a mandate might drive up the lagging U.S.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A critically endangered Sumatran orangutan in New Orleans has given birth to a healthy male baby, but his twin brother died in the womb. Officials at the Audubon Zoo said in a news release Monday that 12-year-old Menari gave birth to one baby without trouble on Christmas Eve and was mothering

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities say bird flu has killed thousands of migratory cranes and forced farms to kill over 500,000 chickens to contain the outbreak. At least 5,200 cranes, some of the half-million that migrate through Israel on their way to Africa, lie dead in the Hula Valley and officials are struggling to clean

By MANUEL VALDES Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Severe weather sweeping parts of the U.S. has brought frigid temperatures to the Pacific Northwest, heavy snow to mountains in Northern California and Nevada, and unseasonable warmth to Texas and the Southeast. Officials on Monday say a Donner Pass record in the Sierra Nevada has been broken

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says crews wrapping up the removal of a giant pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee found what appears to be a second and long-sought-after time capsule. The governor tweeted photos of a box being removed from

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities in Greece say three people have been charged with murder following the death of 16 migrants who were killed when a boat transporting them from Turkey to Italy capsized. The suspects were among 63 people rescued following the tragedy Friday when the vessel carrying migrants from Turkey to Italy overturned

Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia says it is unhappy with the U.S. decision to revoke duty-free access for the East African country’s exports. The statement by Ethiopia’s trade ministry on Monday came after the Biden administration on Dec. 23 terminated Ethiopia’s eligibility for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The U.S

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A leading conservation biologist who is credited with popularizing the term “biological diversity” has died. Thomas Lovejoy was 80. His death on Saturday was announced by George Mason University, where he was a professor, and the Amazon Biodiversity Center, which he founded. Lovejoy first wrote about biological diversity in two papers

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria has called Israel’s plans to double the number of settlers living in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights “dangerous and unprecedented.” It said on Monday the plans only perpetuate Israel’s occupation of the territory it captured in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — The Nicaraguan government has seized the former embassy and diplomatic offices of Taiwan, saying they belong to China. The government of President Daniel Ortega broke ties with Taiwan this month and recognized China. Before departing, Taiwanese diplomats attempted to donate the properties to the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Managua. But Ortega’s