Month: January 2022

LONDON (AP) — Four anti-racism demonstrators have been cleared of criminal damage in the toppling of a statue of a 17th-century slave trader during a Black Lives Matter protest in southwestern England. Protesters used ropes to pull down the bronze statue of Edward Colston and dump it in Bristol’s harbor on June 7, 2020. The

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — More earthquakes have struck near South Carolina’s capital city. Wednesday’s 2.6- and 1.5-magnitude tremors near Elgin were the ninth and tenth in a series of rumblings that have caused geologists to wonder how long the convulsions might last. The area has become the epicenter of a

By EMILY WANG FUJIYAMA Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Since he was a child, Li Jingwei did not know his real name, where he was born or his exact age — until he found his biological family last month with the help of a long-remembered map. Li was a victim of child trafficking. In 1989

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief is insisting that the 27-nation bloc must have a bigger role to play alongside Washington and Moscow to defuse the West’s standoff with Russia over Ukraine. The EU has largely been a bystander in the diplomatic flurry surrounding the Russian military

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press Treasure hunters who believe they found a huge cache of fabled Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania are now on the prowl for something as elusive as the buried booty itself: government records of the FBI’s excavation. Finders Keepers has filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over its failure

By DAVID PITT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man and his Minnesota son have pleaded guilty to a charge of civil disorder related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, admitting that they entered the building through a broken window and pushed through a police line once inside. Both 51-year-old Daryl

By DAVID EGGERT Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Rep. Rashida Tlaib says she will seek reelection in a new Detroit-area seat created through redistricting, an announcement that came hours after fellow Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence said she will retire from Congress. The new 12th District includes portions of Detroit along with suburbs including Dearborn

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s health authorities have recommended that the use of the country’s digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate be expanded to include restaurants, cultural activities and other venues starting next week. The move was announced Wednesday and it will take effect on Jan. 12. It is a step up from previous guidance to only

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities say two construction workers have been killed after being buried under the roof of a school that collapsed. No students were in the building in the northern city of Gijón with Spain’s children still enjoying their winter holidays. Emergency workers took several hours to recover both bodies from under the

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after the Jan. 6 attack, the new chief of the U.S. Capitol Police says the force is sure “to get tested again” and will be prepared. He told senators on Wednesday that he is making progress in resolving “critical deficiencies” despite major

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Experts in South Africa say President Cyril Ramaphosa is challenged to take decisive action against the corruption documented in a judicial report presented to the leader and made public. Legal specialists and Amnesty International say the damning findings by the state commission of inquiry — chaired by

By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL HILL Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Some legal experts say a prosecutor’s decision to drop a groping charge against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo illustrates the difficulties of pursuing sex crime cases. But to others, Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ move is confounding, since he called the accuser credible.

By RANDALL CHASE Associated Press DOVER, Del. (AP) — A preliminary voting report in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy indicates the group’s reorganization plan has failed to win the desired support from tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children. The report filed late Tuesday night shows 73% of

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Hampshire College has received an anonymous $5 million gift in honor of one of its most famous alumni, award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, that will help the school continue its academic transformation. The gift announced Tuesday is the second $5 million gift the college located in Amherst has received since it

By BARRY HATTON Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Authorities in Portugal are wrestling with a conundrum: how to hold a general election scheduled for Jan. 30 amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that is confining hundreds of thousands of potential voters to their homes. Around 400,000 people are currently in isolation in the country

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Dozens of anti-vaccination protesters in the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe attacked a hospital director and other medical staff following recent violent demonstrations against vaccines and COVID-19 restrictions. Officials said Wednesday that the attack occurred outside the University Hospital Center as police tried to escort the director and other

By LIUDAS DAPKUS Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Taiwan says it’s creating an investment fund and planning other measures to help Lithuania as it faces major economic pressure from China for allowing the island to open a representative office in the European Union country. Taiwanese officials said Wednesday that the $200 million fund would

By ERIC TUCKER and DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has announced sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, accusing him of “corrupt activities” that threaten to destabilize the region and undermine peace accords. The Treasury Department alleged Wednesday that Dodik has used his leadership position to accumulate wealth through graft

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced a man to death for beheading another man in a gruesome street murder that shocked the country two months ago. The man was also convicted of attempted killing of two other men and illegal possession of a knife he used in the crime on a busy street

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech government has decided to cut isolation restrictions for those testing positive for COVID-19 from 14 to five days, and also similarly shortened quarantine time for close contacts of infected people. The measure will become effective Jan. 11, Health Minister Vlastimil Valek said. It was approved Wednesday ahead of an anticipated

By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer Kyrie Irving was just the jolt the Brooklyn Nets needed to escape a midseason slump. He can only provide it on a part-time basis, as his refusal to get vaccinated against the coronavirus means he can’t play in New York. So for now, Irving will enjoy every chance he

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — University of Florida President Kent Fuchs has announced that 2022 will be his final year in office. The 67-year-old scholar made the announcement in a video address released Wednesday, saying he plans to return to the classroom to teach electrical and computer engineering after his replacement is chosen, which he expects

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — An Italian museum is lending a fragment of the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece in what both sides hope will be a permanent return that will encourage the British Museum to send its own pieces of the works back, too. Sicily’s regional archaeological museum said Wednesday it had

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Officials in Croatia say that omicron variant of the coronavirus has fueled the highest number of daily new infections in the country since the start of the pandemic. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said Wednesday that a total of 8,587 new cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours in a 50%

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The Duchess of Sussex will receive a nominal 1-pound payment for invasion of privacy plus undisclosed damages for copyright infringement, under an agreement that ends her long-running dispute with Britain’s Mail on Sunday over the tabloid’s publication of a letter she wrote to her father. The terms

LONDON (AP) — Chrysler says it plans for its vehicle lineup to go all electric by 2028. It’s the latest brand to announce a major shift away from gas-powered cars amid pressure to act on climate change. The American automaker also said Wednesday that it will launch its first battery-electric vehicle by 2025. Chrysler announced

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press LE PECQ, France (AP) — France is allowing health care workers who are infected with the coronavirus but have few or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than self-isolate. The extraordinary stopgap measure is aimed at easing staff shortages at hospitals and other medical facilities caused by an unprecedented