Month: May 2022

By ROB HARRIS and STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writers The French government is blaming Liverpool fans. The English club is enraged by the “irresponsible, unprofessional” rush to conclusions. European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, will now try to uncover what went wrong in the disorder and chaos in Paris at the Champions League final before Liverpool

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Sidney DuPont knew he’d made the right career decision when musical theater icon Chita Rivera not only threw a shoe at him but also slapped his face. It was in 2019 at a workshop of the Broadway musical “Paradise Square.” DuPont and A.J. Shively were

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s parliament has enacted a $21 billion extra budget to tackle soaring fuel and food prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The extra budget is for the current fiscal year that started April 1 and will fund part of a $48 billion emergency economic package that the government adopted in April, including

By MARK PRATT Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — The suspect in a nearly four-decade old killing in South Boston that authorities have linked to notorious mobster James “Whitey” Bulger and his iron-fisted control of the drug trade in the neighborhood was held without bail on Tuesday. Michael Lewis, 61, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s incoming chief executive, John Lee, says the city still has to work hard at controlling the coronavirus and boosting vaccination rates. Lee, who returned home after meeting with Communist Party officials in Beijing, says Hong Kong needs to control the spread of COVID-19 to

MADRID (AP) — Tired of speaking to a machine when you call the bank or power company? Spain’s government wants to end those nerve-shattering, one-sided conversations with a computerized answering service by making it obligatory for companies to offer a real, flesh-and-blood customer service worker when so requested by a caller. That is one among

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s economic growth, hit by pandemic curbs and price increases, slowed to 4.1% in the January-March quarter, according to figures released Tuesday by the government. It was the slowest pace in the financial year that ended in March, following 5.4% growth in the previous quarter. Overall, India’s economy grew by 8.7%

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer PLANO, Texas (AP) — Millions of Americans with serious health problems depend on children ages 18 and younger to provide some or all of their care at home. An exact number is hard to pin down, but researcher Melinda Kavanaugh thinks as many as 10 million children are involved

BERLIN (AP) — A court in Germany has convicted five men of membership in a local cell of the Islamic State group that received orders from a leading IS figure in Afghanistan. The Duesseldorf regional court on Tuesday sentenced the Tajik nationals to lengthy prison terms. The longest sentence of nine years and six months

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police say they have killed four suspected Chinese kidnappers in a gunbattle and rescued a Chinese man they allegedly abducted in a central city. Officials say police, backed by a SWAT team, raided a hideout in Lapu Lapu city after tracking down the suspects, who had received a partial ransom

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has disrupted internet access to the outside world as angry demonstrators rally over the collapse of a tower in southwestern Iran that has killed at least 36 people. Outrage and grief over the disaster continued to grow in the country. The disruption reported

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s divisive leader has once again got his own way with the European Union. This time in tough negotiations on Russian oil at a summit in Brussels. And nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban wasn’t shy about trumpeting his success in leveraging the bloc to win significant

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Germany have raided the offices of Deutsche Bank and its subsidiary DWS following claims that it was exaggerating the sustainable credentials of some of the products it sold. Frankfurt prosecutors said the probe focused on allegations of investment fraud, but no specific suspects had been identified yet. A former manager

BERLIN (AP) — Police have raided homes and offices in northern and western Germany as part of an investigation of five men accused of fraudulently applying for pandemic-linked aid to the tune of 26 million euros ($28 million). The German government drew up a series of aid packages to help businesses withstand the impact of

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Aleksandar Vucic has been sworn in for his second 5-yar term as Serbia’s president, pledging to keep the Balkan country on its European Union membership path and hinting that a new government might consider joining Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine. Despite voting

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA Associated Press KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers have recovered all 22 bodies from the site where a plane crashed on a mountainside in Nepal. Tara Air said all the bodies have been flown to Kathmandu and taken to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital where doctors are performing autopsies. They will be handed over

CAIRO (AP) — Human Rights Watch has called for the International Criminal Court to investigate allegations of the use of landmines in 2019 by Russian paramilitaries fighting in Libya. The New York-based watchdog said on Tuesday that new data has emerged from Libyan demining groups linking mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to the use of

By COLIN BERESFORD of NerdWallet Car prices have skyrocketed in the last year, making it an even bigger challenge to shop for your first car. With rising prices, average loan terms are getting longer and average monthly payments are continuously climbing. If first-time buyers step onto car lots unprepared, they can end up with a

By YURAS KARMANAU and ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces in a “frenzied push” have seized half of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, which is key to Moscow’s efforts to quickly complete the capture of the industrial Donbas region. The city’s mayor also told The Associated Press on Tuesday that

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Authorities in Virginia identified two women missing Tuesday after a group of people in rafts and on paddleboards went over the Bosher Dam on the James River a day earlier. WWBT-TV reported that 12 people were involved in the accident Monday afternoon. WAVY-TV reported the dam has a 12-foot (3.6-meter) drop,

ANDREW WILKS ISTANBUL (AP) — The European Court of Human Rights says Turkey had unlawfully detained the head of the country’s Amnesty International branch for 14 months. In a judgement issued Tuesday, the Strasbourg-based court ruled there were no reasonable grounds to warrant the “unlawful and arbitrary” detention of Taner Kilic. He was arrested in

By LORNE COOK and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s groundbreaking decision to ban nearly all oil from Russia to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine is a blow to Moscow’s economy, but its effects may be blunted by rising energy prices and other countries willing to buy some

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and the United Arab Emirates have signed a free trade agreement, the first Israel has concluded with an Arab country. The UAE agreed to normalize relations with Israel in a U.S.-brokered deal in 2020, the first of the so-called Abraham Accords that Israel eventually concluded with four Arab nations. Since then,

By ANDREW WILKS Associated Press ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s president has highlighted the activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party as part of his country’s objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. The insurgent group known as the PKK is designated a terrorist entity by the European Union including Sweden and Finland. But its Syrian wing

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish citizens are voting in a referendum that will decide whether their country will abandon its 30-year-old opt-out from the European Union’s common defense policy. The Danish referendum comes as the latest example of European countries seeking closer defense links with allies in response to