Month: January 2022

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia’s government says its vice president and six cabinet ministers have tested positive for the coronavirus and are in isolation. The infection for Vice President David Choquehuanca comes a week after he had received his first dose of an anti-COVID-19 vaccine. He’d been widely criticized for waiting so long to

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press Many top Nordic skiers and biathletes say crashes are becoming more common as climate change reduces the availability of natural snow, forcing racers to compete on tracks with the manmade version. Olympic and World Cup race organizers are already used to needing snow-making equipment to create a ribbon of white

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Susanna Mälkki could become the first woman music director of the New York Philharmonic since the orchestra started in 1842. CEO Deborah Borda won’t discuss her search to replace Jaap van Zweden, who leaves at the end of the 2023-24 season. Mälkki, a Finn who turns

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatian police on Tuesday displayed hundreds of pounds of drugs they say were seized in two separate operations last year in a southern Adriatic Sea port close to the famous resort of Dubrovnik. The discovery last October in the port of Ploce of nearly 220 kilograms (482 pounds) of heroin was

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An attorney for two men on Oklahoma’s death row says after a judge’s prodding that his clients agreed to choose execution by firing squad as a way to delay their upcoming lethal injections. The two inmates, Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle, are asking a federal

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors say the U.S. government will agree to drop pending perjury charges against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell if her sex trafficking case goes to sentencing later this year. The offer was made in a letter to a judge late Monday that was filed jointly by the prosecutors and Maxwell’s attorneys in

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — Always remember to tip your server, if you know what’s good for you. A tourist left a bad impression in a Key West bar by ordering drinks three times on New Year’s Eve without leaving a tip. The memory stuck with the bartender, who helped police identify the Christmas tree

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of a woman who left her home in Alabama to join the Islamic State terror group. Hoda Muthana surrendered as Islamic State fighters fell to U.S.-backed forces in Syria, and said she wanted to come home to the United States with the

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Allegations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s staff held a “bring your own booze” garden party while Britain was in lockdown are just the latest claims of wrongdoing to rattle the leader. Cases of rule-bending and dishonesty have followed Johnson through his twin careers as journalist and politician.

By KRISTIN M. HALL AP Entertainment Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Grand Ole Opry, country music’s most historic and storied stage, is getting heavy criticism for an appearance by troubled country star Morgan Wallen. Wallen’s surprise performance has given many the impression that the institution has given the star its blessing and a path

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is taking its first major action to address toxic wastewater from coal-burning power plants, ordering utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites. The EPA says plants in four

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is establishing a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism. That’s according to the department’s top national security official, who told lawmakers Tuesday that the country faces an “elevated” threat from violent extremists in the United States. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen is testifying before

NEW YORK (AP) — A trilogy by award-winning children’s author Kwame Alexander that tells the saga of an African family begins this fall with “The Door of No Return.” The book comes out Sept. 22, Little Brown & Company announced Tuesday. The publisher says the three books follow the lives of 11-year-old Kofi and his

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Taiwan will set up a $1 billion credit program aimed at funding projects by Lithuanian and Taiwanese companies amid economic pressure from China over an office that the island opened in the European Union country. Lithuanian officials announced the move Tuesday. It follows Taiwan’s announcement last week about creating a $200

By MICHAEL TARM AP Legal Affairs Writer CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago-based addiction treatment center has filed a federal lawsuit to force one suburb to stop blocking its plans to set up a new treatment branch. Tuesday’s suit brought by the nonprofit Haymarket Center says Itasca’s rejection of a facility in a former hotel violates

KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped a welfare fraud charge against the stepmother of a missing New Hampshire girl and replaced it with other charges including theft. The attorney general’s office said Tuesday the changes are based on updated records from the state about Kayla Montgomery. She pleaded not guilty

By ADAM GELLER AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A series of fleeting choices and troubling circumstances fueled a staggering tragedy — the fire at a Bronx apartment building that left 17 people dead. The heat in the apartment where the blaze began was insufficient, leading a family to depend on a space heater

AURORA, Ind. (AP) — DNA testing has confirmed that a bone found in an SUV pulled last fall from the Ohio River in Indiana is from an Ohio woman who vanished with her two young children in 2002. Indiana State Police announced Tuesday that Dearborn County’s coroner learned Friday the bone was confirmed as belonging

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the country has donated $500,000 to the United Nations for food, medical aid and other assistance for Afghans who fled to neighboring Tajikistan. The ministry’s director general says Israel is proud to be part of the international effort to help Afghan refugees from the Taliban takeover in August.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A veterinarian says that a brown bear cub found exhausted in snowy woods in southeastern Poland has been diagnosed with a disease that will be treated with antibiotics. In a good sign, the young male bear named Ada was eating his meals Tuesday, after he was given medication and put in

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man who helped take people to the hospital after a deadly New York City fire nearly overlooked his own brother in the aftermath of the blaze. Yusupha Jawara rushed to the scene Sunday in the Bronx. At the hospital, he saw a

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A family member says the Taliban have released a popular university professor and outspoken critic of successive Afghan governments who was arrested over the weekend. Faizullah Jalal’s daughter says Tuesday her father was freed from Taliban custody. The group had accused him of “nonsense remarks on social media, which were provoking

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Bank is downgrading its outlook for the global economy. It blames continuing outbreaks of COVID-19, a reduction in government economic support and ongoing bottlenecks in global supply chains. The 189-country, anti-poverty agency forecasts worldwide economic growth of 4.1% this year. That’s down from the