Month: December 2021

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a New Orleans-based company has agreed to turn over a $432 million trust fund and pay $43 million to settle a lawsuit over cleaning up the nation’s longest-running oil spill. Sixteen wells off Louisiana have been leaking since September 2004, when a subsea

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s message to the American people on confronting the omicron coronavirus variant comes with a heavy dose of cajoling. That’s while some other countries are issuing decrees to their citizens. America’s ideologically polarized reaction to vaccines and masks, and its federal system in which states

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The District of Columbia government is imposing a series of Covid-19 vaccine mandates in response to spiraling infection numbers and the march of the omicron variant. Starting in mid-January, residents over age 12 will have to show proof of vaccination to enter any restaurant, bar, nightclub or

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Court officials are edging closer to dividing up pop superstar Prince’s estate. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday that November tax filings show the Internal Revenue Service and Comerica Bank & Trust, the estate administrator, have reached an agreement on the total value of Prince’s assets. The specific number hasn’t been disclosed

By KEVIN FREKING and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is openly recruiting Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin after his fractious split with the White House over the president’s social and environmental spending package. McConnell says Manchin “feels like a man alone” and if he were to switch parties, “he

BY ROB MAADDI and BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writers With a surge of COVID-19 cases threatening to disrupt the NFL season, the league discussed canceling three games last week for the first time since the pandemic began. In talks with the NFL Players Association, canceling games involving Washington, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Rams

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated press WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden will spend his first Christmas as president at the White House with family and is giving up his New Year’s tradition of sun and St. Croix for the chill of Delaware this year. The decision, announced Wednesday by White House press secretary Jen Psaki, was

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Relatives, lawmakers and other supporters are pleading for clemency for a trucker sentenced to 110 years in prison after an explosive brake-failure crash that left four people dead in Colorado. Supporters of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos rallied at the state Capitol in Denver on Wednesday to make their case.

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has had to destroy more than 1 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine that were too close to their expiry date to be used. Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said health officials were left with little choice. He said

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A popular Greek TV comedian has been arrested following allegations that he posted sex videos of his former partners on the internet without their consent. Police and court officials in the northern city of Thessaloniki said the 58-year-old was held Wednesday for alleged breaches of personal data protection laws. He was

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — COVID-19 vaccination passes have become obligatory for Tunisians, who will now be asked for proof they have received both vaccine doses to enter public spaces or keep working at state institutions, universities and certain private businesses. The measure was passed by decree by President Kais

By SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — As part of the cast of “Clyde’s,” Reza Salazar does eight performances a week at the Hayes Theater on Broadway alongside award-winning Uzo Aduba. It is an achievement he does not take for granted: The Peruvian actor began his career out of necessity at a very

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City officials say they’re opening more COVID-19 testing sites and restricting visitation at city-run hospitals and jails. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that no decision had been made to ban people from the annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square even

By KATIE TAM and ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A monument at a Hong Kong university that commemorates the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has been removed by workers over the objections of its creator from Denmark. The 26-foot-tall Pillar of Shame, which depicts 50 torn and twisted bodies piled on top of

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium has decided to further tighten restrictions in anticipation of the surging omicron variant. But the country has shied away from a full lockdown like the neighboring Netherlands has done. Belgian authorities on Wednesday decided to close cinemas, theaters and concert halls and ban most indoor activities.

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday it plans to fine the owners of the shuttered Oyster Creek nuclear power plant $150,000 for security violations at the New Jersey site. The agency would not reveal the nature of the violations, citing security concerns, but said the site’s overall security program

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is convening a special Cabinet meeting Thursday to pass a decree-law that makes it mandatory to wear masks outdoors amid a record surge in COVID-19 cases. His office said at a meeting with the leaders of Spain’s regional governments, Sánchez offered to deploy the armed forces to

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Joe Biden has tested negative for COVID-19. Vice President Kamala Harris also tested negative after close contact with a staffer who was diagnosed the next day with the coronavirus. Biden was in close contact on Air Force One last Friday with a

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is extending a student loan moratorium that has allowed tens of millions of Americans to put off debt payments during the pandemic. Under the action Wednesday, payments on federal student loans will remain paused through May 1. Interest rates will remain at 0% during

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — If you test positive for COVID-19, you should isolate at home, stay away from others and tell the people you’ve been in close contact with. And if you have trouble breathing or develop other serious symptoms, see a doctor immediately. That’s the advice of U.S.

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has formally resigned, a move he had announced after his governing Social Democrat party’s heavy defeat in October’s local elections. Zaev is set to be replaced by a former deputy finance minister, Dimitar Kovachevski, who was elected the left-wing party’s new leader on Dec.

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A congressional committee has launched an investigation into the promoter of the Astroworld music festival in Houston, in which 10 people were killed during a massive crowd surge. The House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter Wednesday to Live Nation’s president and CEO, Michael Rapino,

Associated Press CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Florida authorities say they found cocaine and methamphetamine wrapped around a man’s penis during a traffic stop, but the man denied the drugs were his. Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies stopped a vehicle driving without its lights on at 4 a.m. last Saturday. WFLA-TV reports the driver was arrested on

By JOSH BOAK The Treasury Department says it is issuing special licenses to ensure that some international aid can flow to Afghanistan. The country faces a crisis as its economy collapsed following the Taliban takeover in August. The licenses will enable the U.S. government, international organizations such as the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations to

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The parents of actor and singer Alicia Witt have been found dead inside their Massachusetts home by police after she asked a cousin to check on them. Police say that 87-year-old Robert Witt and 75-year-old Diane Witt were found dead inside their Worcester home on Monday night and that the deaths