Month: December 2021

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s national currency has further collapsed, trading on the black market at nearly 20 times its value two years ago, worsening inflation and people’s despair. The Lebanese pound was trading at 27,000 to the dollar on the black market Monday, hitting a new low in its downward trajectory that began in October

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of a Senate panel that oversees Medicare says the Biden administration should cut back a hefty premium increase soon to hit millions of enrollees. Nearly half of the Medicare Part “B” premium increase is due to Medicare’s need for a contingency fund to cover a

By SONIA PÉREZ D. Associated Press GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan families awaiting word on the fate of relatives involved in a deadly migrant smuggling accident in southern Mexico are now also living with the terror of extortionists telling them their loved ones have been kidnapped. In the vacuum of official information following Thursday’s deadly

By ZEKE MILLER and JOSH BOAK WASHINGTON WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he will travel to Kentucky on Wednesday to view damage from last week’s devastating tornadoes that killed dozens of people and displaced thousands more. Biden announced the upcoming trip following a briefing with homeland security and disaster response officials to discuss

By MICHELLE LIU Associated Press/Report for America COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Speaking publicly for the first time in months, the prominent South Carolina attorney accused of a slew of mostly financial crimes after his wife and son were found shot dead blamed some of his problems on a 20-year-long opiate addiction shortly before a judge

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British bank NatWest has been fined 264.8 million pounds ($354.30 million) for failing to comply with money laundering rules. The fine was handed down at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday. NatWest, the partially state-owned bank formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland, had pleaded guilty

The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Calling him a “clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman,” Time magazine has named Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk as its Person of the Year for 2021. Musk, who is also the founder and CEO of the space exploration company SpaceX, is estimated to be the richest person

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press A federal judge has refused to throw out a key charge against two men accused of storming the U.S. Capitol to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled on Friday that an obstruction charge applies to the Justice Department’s case against Ronald

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Russia has vetoed a first-of-its-kind U.N. Security Council resolution casting climate change as a threat to international peace and security. Monday’s vote sank a years-long effort to make global warming a more central consideration for the U.N.’s most powerful body. The proposal was spearheaded by Ireland

DILLON, Mont. (AP) — Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch has bought a large cattle ranch in southwest Montana from a subsidiary of Koch Industries. The Beaverhead Ranch is spread across more than 500 square miles of private and leased land west of Yellowstone National Park. It has about 7,000 cattle and is home to 15

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press HOLDERNESS, N.H. (AP) — Researchers on an idyllic New Hampshire lake popular with tourists are hunting for what’s inhibiting the loon population growth. The iconic aquatic birds, known for their haunting calls, have long faced threats from development and lead poisoning. But they are also facing exposure to long-banned chemicals

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office says that he has postponed getting a booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccine because he has tested positive for the disease and is recuperating from mild symptoms. The statement issued Monday said that Ramaphosa is receiving medical treatment for his symptoms

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Police say a gun attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir has killed two police and wounded a dozen others, hours after government forces killed two militants in a brief shootout. The police statement on Monday said gunmen sprayed with bullets a bus carrying police on the outskirts of Srinagar, the region’s main city.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus will start vaccinating kids between the ages of 5 to 11 in fresh bid to head off another COVID-19 surge following the first confirmed cases of the omicron variant on the eastern Mediterranean island nation. Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantela also said individuals can receive booster shots two weeks sooner than

MOSCOW (AP) — A defense lawyer says a Communist Party lawmaker in Russia has been charged with illegal hunting for killing an elk. Kremlin critic Valery Rashkin was arrested in October after police said they found an elk carcass in the trunk of his vehicle when he didn’t have a hunting license. Rashkin at first

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has imposed sanctions on a group of private Russian military contractors it accuses of fomenting violence and committing human rights abuses in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine. EU foreign ministers agreed to slap asset freezes and travel bans Monday on eight people involved with the Wagner Group, including

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away a request by Johnson & Johnson to halt a Mississippi lawsuit over its talcum powder products. The case the justices turned away Monday dates to 2014, when Mississippi sued the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company. Mississippi argues Johnson & Johnson violated state law by failing to

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press In Hinduism, there aren’t a lot of women among pandits, the priests who perform Hindu religious rituals. But those who study the religion and its traditions say that women in Hinduism globally have and continue to take on leadership roles in other ways. They’re creating community and passing on knowledge.

By BOB SMIETANA of Religion News Service and HOLLY MEYER of The Associated Press Women cannot serve as the senior pastor of a Southern Baptist church. But they have long been seen as leaders on the mission field, in women’s organizations or at denominational seminaries. Others have influence in more informal ways serving their local

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s parliament has formally approved the country’s new centrist-led government in a bid to restore stability, tackle the coronavirus crisis and spur economic development in the poorest EU member country. Lawmakers voted 134-104 to elect 41-year-old Kiril Petkov as prime minister. In a separate vote, legislators also approved the Cabinet —

PARIS (AP) — The prosecutor in the rape case of two-time Olympic swimming champion Yannick Agnel says the Frenchman has admitted to having a relationship with an underage girl but denied coercion. Prosecutor Edwige Roux-Morizot says Agnel “recognizes the materiality of the alleged facts” but she said he did not have “the feeling that there

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Officials say the four parties negotiating to form the next Dutch coalition government have agreed on a policy blueprint. The officials announced the breakthrough in a tweet Monday that marked a major step toward the end of marathon talks that have turned into the longest