Month: December 2021

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer The NHL has announced that players won’t be able to participate in the Beijing Olympics. The move that seemed inevitable in recent days means the league will spend the previously scheduled Olympic break making up games that have and will be postponed because of COVID-19 protocols. International officials and

By JAY REEVES Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Researchers studying the wreckage of the last U.S. slave ship on the Alabama coast have made a surprising discovery. A recently released report shows that most of the wooden schooner remains intact, including the pen that was used to imprison African captives during the journey across

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal labor board is reviewing a decision by one of its regional officials to deny a union from trying to organize fewer than 100 employees at the Nissan assembly plant in Tennessee. A 3-2 decision Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board ordered a review

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Robb and his wife, Lynda, have been hospitalized after a fire destroyed their northern Virginia home. Fire officials say the injuries weren’t life-threatening. Robb’s family confirmed in a statement issued through Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam that their parents were taken to the hospital by ambulance and that

By AMER COHADZIC Associated Press SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnian officials and religious leaders have denounced suggestions voiced by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his spokesman that the integration of Bosnia into the European Union will be challenging because of its large Muslim population. Orban spokesman Zoltan Kovacs has tweeted that the challenge with

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press A trademark tiff between America’s oldest beer maker and its best-selling beer brand appears to be over before it really began. Last week, D.G. Yuengling & Son demanded its much larger rival, Anheuser-Busch, stop using a tagline for its forthcoming Bud Light Next zero-carb beer. Bud Light had been calling

By ALESSANDRA TARANTINO and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has met with an Afghan family he met during a visit this month to a refugee camp in Greece and helped resettle to Italy because the youngest child needs medical care. Francis greeted the family at the end of his general

By AMANDA LEE MYERS AP Entertainment Writer Los Angeles (AP) — As the “Insecure” chapter of Natasha Rothwell’s life comes to a close, she’s writing many more. In “The White Lotus,” Rothwell stood out among an ensemble cast who all put in stellar performances. Rothwell wrote a romantic comedy with herself in mind to play

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic’s central bank has again increased its key interest rate in a continuing effort to tame soaring inflation. The 1 percentage point hike Wednesday to 3.75% is the fifth straight increase since June and is higher than expected by analysts. The bank considers high consumer prices a major threat and

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose for the third straight month in November, reflecting strong demand, low mortgage rates and intense competition for a relatively low number of properties on the market. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that existing homes sales rose 1.9% last month from

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press The jury deliberating at Kim Potter’s manslaughter trial in the shooting death of Daunte Wright asked a judge whether the officer’s handgun could be freed from an evidence box so they could hold it. Their question Tuesday went to the heart of the former police officer’s claim that she made

VIENNA (AP) — Austria has announced a slate of new measures aimed at slowing the spread of the omicron variant, including closing restaurants earlier and imposing stricter entry requirements from countries where the variant is already dominant. Katharina Reich, co-leader of the country’s new coronavirus crisis team, said after a meeting between national leaders and

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence rose this month as Americans shrugged off concerns about rising prices and COVID’-19′s highly contagious omicron variant. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Wednesday that its consumer confidence index — which takes into account consumers’ assessment of current conditions and the

By MOSHE EDRI Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israel Antiquities Authority says it’s discovered remnants of two shipwrecks off the Mediterranean coast, replete with a sunken trove of hundreds of silver and bronze coins and Roman and medieval artifacts. Archaeologists said on Wednesday that the finds made near the ancient city of Caesarea date

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A judge has dismissed a criminal charge of reckless conduct against Georgia state Rep. Trey Kelley. Polk County Superior Court Senior Judge Stephen Schuster ruled Tuesday that it wasn’t a crime when Kelley didn’t call 911 after a friend called Kelley about a fatal wreck. The charge

By TOM HAYS and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has ended an abbreviated first week of deliberations without reaching a verdict at the sex trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell. The jury finished a second full day Wednesday of considering the British socialite’s fate by requesting more transcripts of trial testimony.

BEIJING (AP) — China has ordered the lockdown of as many as 13 million people in neighborhoods and workplaces in the northern city of Xi’an following a spike in coronavirus cases, setting off panic buying just weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympics. State media say city officials ordered all residents to stay home

By STEVE McMILLAN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A rust-colored 1875 almanac, a cloth envelope and a silver coin have been found in a time capsule hidden beneath a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia for more than 130 years. Another book appeared to an edition of “The Huguenot Lovers:

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press ELK CREEK, Neb. (AP) — One day, a mining company hopes to dig up rare materials in one corner of Nebraska that would be used to make steel and aluminum stronger. But first, the 10-person company has to raise more than $1 billion. The high price tag is one of

By LORNE COOK and VANESSA GERA Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is launching legal action against Poland over recent decisions by one of the country’s top courts which have raised troubling questions about the 27-nation bloc’s legal order. Poland’s constitutional court ruled in October that Polish laws have supremacy over those of

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s state-run news agency says Turkish authorities have arrested an American diplomat working for the U.S. Consulate in Lebanon for allegedly providing a fake passport to a Syrian national. The Anadolu Agency said Wednesday that the suspect, identified by his initials D.J.K., was detained at Istanbul Airport on Nov. 11, and

By LAETITIA BEZAIN Associated Press ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — Madagascar’s police minister and an air force mechanic succeeded in swimming for 12 hours to safety after their helicopter crashed in the Indian Ocean. Officials said Gen. Serge Gellé, 57, the Secretary of State for the Gendarmerie, was discovered in the water by a fisherman in

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer Tokyo Olympic organizers say the cost of the Games is estimated to be $1.8 billion less than anticipated. The Tokyo Olympics ended 4 1/2 months ago. Official estimates over the last year said the costs would be $15.4 billion. Organizers now say that number is estimated to be $13.6

By BOUBACAR DIALLO Associated Press CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — The man who led a 2008 coup in Guinea has returned to the West African nation after more than a decade in exile. Moussa “Dadis” Camara arrived Wednesday on a commercial flight to Conakry. The 57-year-old former coup leader took exile in Burkina Faso after he

By REFUGIO RUIZ and FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press AYOTLAN, Mexico (AP) — When Jesús Solís noticed the waters of the reservoir where he had spent his entire life beginning to darken and a rotten odor taking hold, he was overcome with fear. Within weeks those initial concerns were confirmed as tens of thousands of dead

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.3% rate in the third quarter according to a third and final estimate of the nation’s economic growth for that period.  But prospects for a solid rebound going forward are being clouded by the rapid spread of the latest variant

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A government panel has retained Japan’s male-only imperial succession system despite a sharply shrinking number of men in the royal family. The panel submitted a report to the prime minister proposing ways to ensure there are enough potential successors. It proposed adopting single men from some of