Month: December 2021

By BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press/Report for America RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and ex-Rep. Mark Walker are urging U.S. Rep. Ted Budd to agree to participate in a U.S. Senate debate. Budd’s campaign says it considers any conversations premature and “foolish” since candidate filing was recently suspended. The state Supreme

By KHADIJA KOTHIA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Families of four young gay men slain by a sex predator have demanded that the Metropolitan Police be held to account after an inquest concluded that bungled investigations into the slayings probably cost lives. Relatives of the victims called for the police watchdog to reopen its case

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amtrak passengers may be facing service cutbacks in January. The rail system’s president is blaming employees who haven’t gotten vaccinated. Stephen Gardner says about 95% of Amtrak workers are at least partially vaccinated. The rest face a Jan. 4 deadline set by the Biden administration. Amtrak’s president says if enough workers resist

Denver finally got its first snowfall of the season, shattering an 87-year-old record for the latest first snow. It wasn’t much: The official measurement on Friday at Denver International Airport was just three-tenths of an inch. Jim Kalina is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder and  says the Denver metro region is

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Tesla allows drivers to play video games on dashboard touch screens while vehicles are moving. Now Mercedes-Benz has issued a U.S. recall for a simliar issue. The German automaker said in documents posted Friday by U.S. regulators that the issue

CAIRO (AP) — A Sudanese medical group says renewed tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan’s Darfur region this week have killed at least 33 more people. The statement, released on Thursday, says that fighting in the the town of Jebel Moon and the adjacent Tanjeki village in West Darfur province also left at

DAMARISCOTTA, Maine (AP) — Humans aren’t the only species packing on extra pounds during the pandemic. Some squirrels are letting themselves go, too. One portly critter in Damariscotta doesn’t scamper or scoot. It lumbers and waddles after supplementing nature’s bounty by helping himself to seeds that fall to the ground from bird feeders. Wildlife biologist

By RENÉE RODEN Religion News Service In a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York Wednesday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave a formal sendoff to the 17 boxes filled with evidence attesting to Catholic radical Dorothy Day’s cause for sainthood. The more than 50,000 pages of newspaper articles, diary entries and other documents — even

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish security officials say the diversion to Minsk of a Lithuania-bound flight carrying a self-exiled Belarusian journalist was an act of “state terrorism” carried out to detain an opponent of Belarus’ government. Poland’s Internal Security Agency and prosecutors investigated the May 23 incident in which a Ryanair jetliner registered in Poland

ROME (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese in Sicily has apologized to outraged parents after its bishop told a group of children that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. In a Facebook post and subsequent comments Friday, the diocese of Noto insisted that Bishop Antonio Stagliano didn’t mean to dash the dreams of the youngsters two weeks

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Attorneys in the upcoming federal hate crimes trial of the white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery want the jury pool to come from an expansive area of Georgia. A joint legal filing by prosecutors and defense attorneys asks a federal judge to seek the

By BEN FOX Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. issued financial sanctions and visa bans on former and current government officials and entities in nine countries Friday — including China, Myanmar and Russia — as part of coordinated actions with Canada and the U.K. to coincide with International Human Rights Day. Canada and the

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Chess master Magnus Carlsen of Norway has defended his title and won the FIDE World Championship in Dubai. He beat Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia on Friday, securing the one point he needed to cross the seven point threshold to win the global tournament held at Dubai’s Expo 2020 this

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian diplomat has warned the United States and its NATO allies that their own security would suffer if they “torpedo” providing Russia with certain military guarantees. Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the West to provide guarantees that would preclude NATO from expanding to Ukraine or deploying troops and weapons

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese judicial officials say the judge leading the investigation into last year’s massive blast in Beirut’s port has demanded that a former Cabinet minister be arrested. Friday’s development comes three days after a Lebanese court cleared the way for the judge to resume his work on the

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A new government report showing inflation rising at the fastest rate in nearly four decades is raising fresh questions about the fate of President Joe Biden’s social and environment legislation. Both sides are seeking clues on how the numbers may influence pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. The

GENEVA (AP) — Facing a new surge in COVID-19 cases, the Swiss government is preparing to step up mask requirements and increase restrictions on people who haven’t been vaccinated or recovered from the illness. It could go so far as to shut restaurants, bars and fitness clubs. The count of daily deaths linked to the

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government has cleared the way for children aged 5-11 to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The decision Friday extends the nation’s vaccination program to an age group that had the highest rate of infections in a recent surge. The program for children is set to begin in mid-January. The

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO and KWASI GYAMFI ASIEDU Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The ritualistic smoking of marijuana brings Rastafari closer to the divine. But for decades many have been incarcerated because of their ritualistic use of cannabis. As public opinion and policy continues to shift in the U.S. and across the world towards

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A highway sign that recently went up in Delaware was noticeably missing a letter in the state’s name. The News Journal reports the new Wilmington exit sign on Interstate 95 should have said “Delaware Ave” but was misspelled as “Delware.” Delaware’s transportation department and its contractor, Kiewit Infrastructure Company, say the

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republican David Perdue is furthering his embrace of debunked claims that Georgia’s 2020 presidential election was wrongly decided as he runs for governor. The newly announced candidate on Friday joined a lawsuit claiming fraudulent ballots were counted in Fulton County in the 2020 general election. The

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish junior minister and valuable ally of the governing right-wing coalition says he is temporarily stepping aside from his cabinet duties to defend himself against allegations over his past business dealings. Deputy Sports and Tourism Minister Lukasz Mejza, who is an independent lawmaker in Poland’s parliament, said on Twitter Friday