Month: December 2021

LONDON (AP) — British police have arrested a man armed with a weapon on the grounds of Windsor Castle. Thames Valley police say the security breach took place at 8:30 a.m. on Christmas Day. The 19-year-old from Southampton is in custody. Thames Valley Police Superintendent Rebecca Mears said Saturday the man had been arrested “on

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Three members of the K-pop superstar group BTS have been infected with the coronavirus after returning from abroad. The group’s management agency says RM and Jin were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Saturday evening, and another member, Suga, tested positive on Friday. All three took their

By ABDUR RAHMAN JAHANGIR Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladeshi authorities have buried 23 unclaimed bodies after a day-long search failed to recover more victims or survivors of a massive fire on a crowded river ferry that left 40 people dead. A government official says he has an incomplete list of 17 missing people

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II in her Christmas Day message has shared the pain she felt after the death of her husband as she encouraged people everywhere to celebrate with friends and family despite the grief caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The queen said in remarks broadcast Saturday that

By ABDOULIE JOHN Associated Press BANJUL, Gambia (AP) — A truth and reconciliation commission in Gambia says former dictator Yahya Jammeh should face prosecution for murder, torture and sexual violence. Their report already had been presented to President Adama Barrow. But its posting online late Friday marked the first time it was shared in its

MADRID (AP) — Authorities on one of Spain’s Canary Islands have declared an official end to a volcanic eruption that started in September. The director of the Canaries’ volcanic emergency committee announced the eruption on La Palma officially finished on Saturday following 10 days of no lava flows, seismic activity or significant sulfur dioxide emissions.

By JOHN RABY Associated Press SPENCER, W.Va. (AP) — As the coronavirus pandemic prepares to enter another calendar year, the fatigue on the front lines of the health care industry wears on. In West Virginia, nurse Chania Batten says her job is at times overwhelming administering COVID-19 vaccines at the drive-thru clinic at the only

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Thousands of people across England are spending a few minutes of Christmas Day to line up under leaden winter skies to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as the omicron variant fuels a surge in infections across the country. The Good Health Pharmacy in north London is one of

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Abortion rights groups say President Nayib Bukele’s government has freed three Salvadoran women who were sentenced to 30 years in prison under the nation’s strict anti-abortion laws after suffering obstetric emergencies. Morena Herrera of the Citizen’s Group for the Depenalization of Abortion said late Friday that the group was

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The president of Ukraine has held a video call with 20 U.S. senators and members of Congress  amid tensions with Russia. Ukrainian According to his office, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with the senators and congressional representatives on Friday about Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine’s border and the situation in his country’s

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer The world’s largest and most powerful space telescope has blasted off on a high-stakes quest to behold light from the first stars and galaxies. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope rocketed away Saturday from French Guiana in South America. A European Ariane rocket provided the Christmas morning lift. The $10

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has used his Christmas Day address to pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. Amid a record-setting rise in COVID-19 cases in Italy this week, only a few thousand people flocked to a rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square for Francis’ annual “Urbi et Orbi” (“To

By TASSANEE VEJPONGSA Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Two members of the international humanitarian group Save the Children are missing after Myanmar government troops rounded up villagers, some believed to be women and children, fatally shot more than 30 and burned the bodies, according to a witness and other reports. Purported photos of the aftermath

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s coast guard says at least 16 people died after a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea late Friday. The Greek coast guard said Saturday that 63 people were rescued after the boat turned over some 8 kilometers (5 miles) off the island of Paros.

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian organization that tracks political arrests and provides legal aid to detainees says government regulators have blocked its website. OVD-Info said in a tweet on Saturday that it wasn’t formally notified about the action by Russia’s internet and communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor. The group says it doesn’t

By DANIEL COLE Associated Press MARSEILLE, France (AP) — The staff is tired, the omicron variant is bearing down and the intensive care unit beds are filling fast at a hospital in the French city of Marseille. The unit’s chief doctor is trying to keep his team members motivated as they spend another Christmas tending

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese protesters have again taken to the streets in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere across the country to denounce the October military coup and subsequent deal that reinstated the prime minister but sidelined the pro-democracy movement. Authorities have tightened security across the capital, deploying troops and closing

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media are reporting that a road accident in the country’s southwest has killed at least 10 people. The official IRNA news agency says the accident on Saturday took place as a truck hit a minibus carrying laborers on the road linking the city of Khorramshahr with the city of Ahvaz

Associated Press Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s resignation 30 years ago was a momentous event that ended an era by drawing a line under the USSR’s existence. The Moscow photo chief for The Associated Press was the only foreign photographer who caught the terminal moment of the Soviet Union. On Dec. 25, 1991. Liu Heung Shing

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — People strolling across Moscow’s snowy Red Square on the evening of Dec. 25, 1991 witnessed one of the 20th century’s most pivotal moments. That night, the Soviet red flag that flew over the Kremlin was pulled down and replaced with the Russian Federation’s tricolor. Minutes earlier, Soviet

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two servers at an Albuquerque restaurant got a big surprise when a group of business owners left a $5,555 tip. It was the idea of Battle Tested Business, a local entrepreneurship and leadership organization. Founder Ramon Casaus told KOB-TV that he and his colleagues look for ways to invest back into

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The holiday scene at the White House has been a little less merry under under COVID-19’s shadow. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden replaced the large parties and overflowing buffet tables of the past with food-free open houses, face masks and testing for the unvaccinated.

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A policeman has opened fire on a group of fellow officers in Sri Lanka, killing four of them and wounding three others. The shooting occurred Friday night inside a police station in the small town of Thirukkovil in eastern Sri Lanka, a police statement said.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has ordered The New York Times to relinquish confidential legal memos it obtained between conservative group Project Veritas and its lawyer. State Supreme Court Justice Charles D. Wood in Westchester County upheld his earlier order preventing the Times from further publishing the memos written by attorney Benjamin

By NICOLE WINFIELD, MICHAEL TARM and PETER SMITH Associated Press A worldwide surge in COVID-19 infections thanks to the omicron variant is tempering Christmas celebrations. Pope Francis used his Christmas address Saturday to pray for more vaccines to reach poor countries. Many U.S. churches canceled in-person services while others reported small but significant attendance. Britain’s

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia’s most populous state has recorded more than 6,000 new daily COVID-19 cases for the first time, adding a somber note to Christmas celebrations. New South Wales reported 6,288 new infections over the past 24 hours, an increase of 676 cases from the previous day and by far the highest number of

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Satu, a male orangutan at the San Diego Zoo, has died. He was 26. The zoo announced Satu’s death on social media on Thursday, saying the orangutan’s cause of death is likely to be related to cancer. Satu had been under veterinary care for serious illness but collapsed and was unable

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Marines on snowmobiles helped Santa this month while delivering toys to boys and girls in Alaska’s Arctic. Marines flew to the small city of Kotzebue above the Arctic Circle on a KC-130 operated by Marines based in Okinawa, Japan. From there, they rode commercial flights and snowmobiles to get toys to

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ office says she has tested negative for the coronavirus after having close contact earlier this week with an aide who later tested positive. She tested negative on Wednesday after being told of the aide’s breakthrough infection. Harris was tested again on Friday and

By JEFFREY SCHAEFFER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Masked worshipers on Friday lined up to enter the church across from the Louvre Museum and attend a Christmas Eve mass – the second year of holiday services under the shadow of the virus.  Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, the rector of Notre Dame Cathedral that has been closed

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the federal government will buy half a billion COVID-19 rapid test kits and distribute them free of charge to people to use at home. But it will be a few more weeks before any tests go into the mail. That’s primarily because delivery

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia says a Yemeni rebel attack on the southern border town of Jizan has killed two people and wounded seven. The statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency late on Friday said Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a projectile that killed a Saudi citizen and a Yemeni resident

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The holiday scene at the White House has been a little less merry under under COVID-19’s shadow. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden replaced the large parties and overflowing buffet tables of the past with food-free open houses, face masks and testing for the unvaccinated.

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Michael Avenatti say there is a strong likelihood that the once high-flying California attorney will testify at a New York trial where he is accused of swindling porn star Stormy Daniels out of a book deal’s proceeds. The lawyers mentioned the subject of his

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s King Felipe VI has warned citizens to remain cautious as the coronavirus can still inflict widespread damage. His annual Christmas Eve speech came amid a record number of infections in the country Friday. Addressing the nation in a pre-recorded broadcast, the Spanish monarch said that a successful vaccine rollout in the