Month: December 2021

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s energy ministry says Damascus will host an Arab energy conference in 2024. The announcement is the latest sign that Arab countries are moving to re-engage with the government of Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad. The statement followed a unanimous vote from members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Maria Ressa, joint winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace prize says media worldwide should join forces in “fighting for facts” amid threats to press freedoms instead of competing with each other. Speaking at an Oslo press conference Thursday with fellow laureate Dmitry Muratov of Russia,

By COREY WILLIAMS and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER Associated Press SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — Two lawsuits seeking $100 million each have been filed against a Michigan school district, its superintendent and others after four students were fatally shot and others wounded at Oxford High School. Attorney Geoffrey Fieger says the lawsuits were filed in Detroit federal court

ROME (AP) — News reports and the Italian Culture Ministry say Italian director Lina Wertmueller, the first woman to receive an Oscar nomination for directing, has died. She was 93. Wertmueller in 1976 became the first woman to receive an Oscar nomination for directing for “Seven Beauties,” a film for which she also was nominated

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level in 52 years, more evidence that the U.S. job market is recovering from last year’s coronavirus recession. Unemployment claims dropped by 43,000 to 184,000 last week, the lowest since September 1968,

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Media freedom continues to be under attack across much of the world in 2021 with nine journalists killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan alone and 102 imprisoned in China. The International Federation of Journalists said Thursday that imprisonments were especially on the rise with 365

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Last August, Vince Patton was watching a YouTube video of a Tesla owner who had made a startling observation: Tesla drivers could now play a video game on their car’s touch-screen dashboard — while the vehicle is moving. Curious to see for himself, Patton drove his

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine Supreme Court has largely upheld the legality of an anti-terrorism law that opponents fear could threaten democracy and muzzle dissent, but struck down a provision to prevent street protests, activism and labor strikes from being branded as terrorism by authorities. The court’s decision, only

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — U.K. authorities are reporting an unprecedented jump in early season cases of avian flu in both domestic and wild birds. Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said Thursday that the government has confirmed 40 outbreaks of avian flu among poultry and other captive birds this year, resulting in

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — China’s central bank is trying to restrain the rise of the yuan after the currency hit a 2 1/2-year high against the dollar. Commercial banks have been ordered to increase the amount of their foreign currency deposits that are held as reserves for the second time

By AMY FORLITI and STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The woman who was riding with Daunte Wright when he was pulled over by suburban Minneapolis police and fatally shot by an officer testified to the chaotic moments immediately afterward. Wright’s girlfriend, Alayna Albrecht-Payton, told the court Thursday that she screamed at Wright but

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government has confirmed that an inquiry into an alleged lockdown-breaching Christmas party at the offices of Prime Minister Boris Johnson will also look at two prior gatherings involving government officials last year. In a statement to lawmakers, Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis laid out the

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese astronauts are beaming back a science lesson from the country’s under-construction space station. The lesson Thursday focused on physics, aiming to illustrate how the weightless environment affects buoyancy, how things move and even optics. Students from five cities, including Beijing and the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong, took part in the

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — An independent and unofficial body set up by a prominent British barrister to assess evidence on China’s alleged rights abuses against the Uyghur people has concluded that the Chinese government committed genocide and crimes against humanity. The Uyghur Tribunal is made up of lawyers, academics and businesspeople.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s Parliament has approved a plan to give people 60 and older up to 300 euros ($339) if they are vaccinated against COVID-19. The measure should boost inoculations in the European Union country with one of the bloc’s lowest vaccination rates. It should also help the struggling health care system amid

BEIJING (AP) — China is dismissing the decision by Canada and the United Kingdom to join Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games as a “farce.” A Foreign Ministry spokesperson says China is not concerned that the absence of the officials would spark a chain reaction. He says numerous heads of state,

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison personally knows about racism. He grew up in segregated rural Tennessee. His father was a sharecropper-turned-insurance salesman and his mother was one of the first in their family to graduate from high school. Today, Ellison stands out as one of only

By KIYOKO METZLER Associated Press VIENNA (AP) — Negotiations between Iran and world powers aimed at salvaging a tattered 2015 nuclear deal have resumed in Vienna, with tensions high after Tehran made demands last week that European countries strongly criticized. The talks’ chairman said Wednesday that he detected “a renewed sense of purpose.” Diplomats from

By LOLITA C. BALDOR AND ROBERT BURNS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. commander for the Middle East says the U.S. will keep the current 2,500 troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future, despite their shift to a non-combat role, and they will still provide air support and other military support for Iraq’s

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s Justice Ministry says it is closing an investigation into two police officers who shot dead a Palestinian assailant as he lay on the ground. For its decision Thursday, the ministry accepted the officers’ assertion that they acted in self-defense. A Palestinian attacker last week

By AAMER MADHANI and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has convened the first White House Summit for Democracy by sounding an alarm about a global slide for democratic institutions. He’s calling for world leaders to “lock arms” and demonstrate that democracies can deliver. In making the case for action Thursday,

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — China’s central bank governor says financial markets can cope with the impact of a real estate developer that is struggling to avoid defaulting on $310 billion in debt. Yi Gang’s comments to a Hong Kong seminar added to indications Beijing has no plans to bail out

LONDON (AP) —  The office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his wife Carrie has given birth to a baby girl. It says the healthy baby, the couple’s second child together, was born in a London hospital early Thursday. The baby is a sister for Wilfred, who was born in April 2020. Boris Johnson,

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — A new European Union plan to improve conditions for the growing number of gig economy workers could mean millions more of them are classified as employees entitled to benefits. It’s the latest setback for digital platforms that rely on independent contractors to deliver food and offer

By SYLVIE CORBET The Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Macron has vowed to work to make Europe “more powerful” as France’s turn in the European Union’s rotating six-month presidency starts Jan. 1 and overlaps with the country’s presidential election. Macron said Thrusday that France plans to use its EU tenure to promote “a

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has reached a political agreement to extend cuts to costly mobile-phone roaming costs in the bloc for another decade. It affects travel for tens of millions of EU citizens. The deal will allow EU consumers to continue to make mobile calls, send text messages and use the internet in