Month: December 2021

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities say a roadside bomb exploded outside a college in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing four people and wounding 15, mostly passers-by. Police say Thursday’s attack happened outside the Science College in the city, which is the capital of Baluchistan province. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has held Teva Pharmaceuticals responsible for contributing to the opioid crisis. Jurors delivered their verdict Thursday in a sweeping lawsuit filed by New York state and joined by two Long Island counties. The Suffolk County jury found the company played a role in furthering

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s attorney general says a small town’s police department has operated in a way that led to discrimination against African Americans and violated their constitutional rights. Attorney General Mark Herring filed the lawsuit Thursday against the town of Windsor. The court action comes after a monthslong

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A state appeals court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man on death row for the killings of two people near Cache in 2009. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Thursday that the land in southwest Oklahoma where the murders were

By AUDREY HOROWITZ Associated Press TEL AVIV (AP) — Israel has approved a fourth vaccine dose for people most vulnerable to COVID-19, becoming one of the first countries to do so as it braces for a wave of infections fueled by the omicron variant. The director general of the Health Ministry announced the decision at

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer At-home COVID-19 tests are able to detect the omicron variant, but U.S. health officials say early data suggests they may be less sensitive at picking it up. Government recommendations for using the tests haven’t changed. People should continue to use at-home tests when a quick result is important.

BALTIMORE (AP) — An explosion at a CSX facility in Baltimore created a loud boom but officials say they have no reports of any injuries. Baltimore Fire Department spokeswoman Blair Adams says coal was moving though tunnels at the CSX Curtis Bay Coal Terminal on Thursday morning when the explosion happened. CSX spokeswoman Cindy Schild

By GLENN GAMBOA and HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writers The arts industry has been battered during the past 21 months, as organizations furloughed staff, canceled shows and slashed their budgets to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations to arts groups also dropped off last year. Many slowly resumed in-person events, though some are now suspending plans

By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — When NBC’s “This Is Us” begins its final season, fans won’t be alone in dreading the show’s end. Star Mandy Moore says it will be “horrific” to say goodbye to it and her character. She says “This Is Us” was a dream job “on every

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Italy’s culture minister has welcomed the return of 201 prized antiquities valued at over 10 million euros ($11 million). The objects welcomed back on Thursday had been located in prestigious U.S. museums and galleries after being illegally trafficked in recent decades. They were among thousands of antiquities

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s state statistics agency says that more than 87,500 people with COVID-19 died in Russia in November, the highest montly tally since the start of the pandemic. Thursday’s report by Rosstat brought the overall number of virus-linked deaths between April 2020 and October 2021 to over 625,000

BEIRUT (AP) — Bahrain’s news agency says the king has appointed the country’s first ambassador to Syria in more than a decade. Thursday’s decree by Bahrain’s king came as more Arab countries are improving relations with Damascus, nearly 11 years after the outbreak of Syria’s civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands and destroyed

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are pressing nursing home workers to get their booster shots amid a spike in COVID-19 cases among staffers and a concerning lag in booster vaccination for residents and staff. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra says the nation cannot afford another COVID-19 surge in nursing homes.

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press MARLY-LE-ROI, France (AP) — The increasingly fraught fight in France against an unprecedented surge in coronavirus infections is putting a stop to eating and drinking in entertainment venues. That means no more munching, crunching and slurping while watching a movie. The anti-coronavirus measures kick in Monday, once France’s New Year

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — The Catholic Church and the northern Italian city of Ferrara are making their peace with Antonio Vivaldi nearly 300 years after the city’s archbishop effectively canceled the staging of one of his operas. Ferrara Archbishop Giancarlo Perego is attending the opening Thursday of Vivaldi’s “Il Farnace” at

By MARTHA BELLISLE and TERRY TANG Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — The omicron-fueled surge that is sending COVID-19 cases rocketing in the U.S. is putting children in the hospital in record numbers. And experts lament that most of the youngsters are not vaccinated. Dr. Paul Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says it’s “heartbreaking” knowing

DENVER (AP) — In a story published December 30, 2021, about policing reforms, The Associated Press erroneously characterized one aspect of a Kentucky law related to no-knock warrants. The new law does not prevent cities and towns from banning the warrants completely.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A member of the jury that convicted Minnesota police officer Kim Potter of manslaughter in the killing of Daunte Wright says jurors felt she made an honest mistake when she drew her firearm instead of her Taser, but that she was still responsible for his death. The juror spoke with KARE-TV reporter

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Officials from the state of Virginia and the city of Richmond have tentatively decided the future of their now mostly relocated Confederate monuments. The officials on Thursday announced a proposal to transfer ownership to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. Included in the transfer would be an enormous

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Electric car maker Tesla is recalling certain Model 3s because a coaxial cable for its backup camera can become worn and fail to transmit to the driver’s main console. All Model 3s from model years 2017 to 2020 are included in the recall, with as many as

WINFIELD, Ala. (AP) — Authorities in Alabama say homes and buildings were damaged and trees blown down as a line of intense thunderstorms rolled across several Southern states. The storms Wednesday brought the threat of tornadoes and high winds, though it wasn’t immediately known whether a twister caused the damage in Alabama on Wednesday evening.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police say a man fatally shot his 16-year-old daughter in the family’s Ohio home after he mistook her for an intruder. Authorities say the mother called 911 after the shooting in Columbus around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday and said the father had shot at someone he thought was breaking into the house

By DAVID CRARY and JOHN HANNA Associated Press Year after year, several thousand women in the U.S. carry an unintended pregnancy to term and then offer the baby for adoption. It’s a choice commended by many foes of abortion. Yet despite a huge demand for babies from Americans yearning to adopt, perhaps 40 times more

BRADLEY, Ill. (AP) — Authorities are searching for two people believed to have been involved in the fatal shooting of one police officer and wounding of another at a northern Illinois hotel. The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that two Bradley police officers were shot late Wednesday while speaking to people in a room

By NOHA ELHENNAWY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese security forces have fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesters rallying against the October military coup. A Sudanese medical group says at least four protesters were killed in the violence. The Sudan Doctors Committee tweeted that the fatalities took place in Khartoum’s twin city of