Month: December 2022

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Britain’s central bank has raised its key interest rate increase again but toned down the pace as inflation shows signs of easing. Thursday’s announcement mirrors action by the U.S. Federal Reserve and came ahead of an anticipated identical move by European policymakers. The Bank of England

By ZEKE MILLER AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is again making some free COVID-19 tests available to all U.S. households as it unveils its contingency plans for potential coronavirus surges this winter. After a three-month hiatus, the administration is making four rapid virus tests available through covidtests.gov starting Thursday, a

GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss National Bank has raised its key interest rate. It comes as other central banks in Europe are starting to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve’s playbook in a bid to tame inflation. Switzerland’s central bank hiked its policy rate Thursday by half a percentage point, to 1%. The Swiss bank said

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has slowed its record pace of interest rate increases. But not by much. The bank decided Thursday meeting to hike rates by half a percentage point instead of three-quarters of a point after inflation fell unexpectedly in November. That’s still a

By KOSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of mourners have gathered in a Roma settlement in northern Greece for the funeral of a teenager who died days after being shot in the head during a police chase over an unpaid gas station bill. The death of 16-year-old Kostas Frangoulis triggered days of

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The president of South Africa is fighting for his political future amid an unfolding scandal that has tainted his reputation as an anti-apartheid icon once widely admired for tackling the problems of Africa’s most developed economy. Cyril Ramaphosa, 70, says he’s innocent of charges that he hid

By MARIAM FAM Associated Press DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Hymns echo through the spacious, blue-walled church. The congregants listen to the Gospel and the homily. They kneel, eyes closed and hands clasped in prayer or palms turned skyward. They line up to receive Communion as a choir belts out: “Lord, for my sake, teach me

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has presented a three-party majority coalition crossing the left-right divide that includes the leader of the Liberal Party as defense minister and a former prime minister in charge of foreign affairs. It is the first time in 44 years that such a centrist government has been

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The leaders of four political parties contesting Fiji’s general election called for an immediate halt to vote-counting after the online results app experienced a glitch and then the next batch of results swung in favor of the incumbent prime minister. The Pacific election has pitted

By KELVIN CHAN Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Self-proclaimed free speech warrior Elon Musk’s more unfettered version of Twitter could collide with new rules in Europe, where officials warn that the social media company will have to comply with some of the world’s toughest laws targeting toxic content. While the new digital rulebook means the

By VASILISA STEPANENKO and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — When 25-year-old Anastasia Mokhina donned fatigues and rushed off with her husband to help Ukraine defend itself as Russia invaded on Feb. 24, she quickly realized the military wasn’t well prepared for an influx of women volunteers. So her elder half-brother Andrii Kolesnyk,

By SYLVIA HUI and DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, vent their grievances against the British monarchy in the second half of their Netflix documentary series released Thursday, which includes Harry describing how his older brother shouted at him during a meeting and Meghan talking about wanting to

TOKYO (AP) — Japan has reported its trade deficit surged to over 2 trillion yen ($15 billion) in November as higher costs for oil and a weak yen combined to push imports higher. It was the 16th straight month of red ink and a record high for the month of November. The deficit for November

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares followed Wall Street and Europe lower on Friday, with markets jittery over the risk that the Federal Reserve and other central banks may end up bringing on recessions to get inflation under control. Oil prices and U.S. futures edged higher. China’s move to relax

By SAM MCNEIL Associated Press BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Business is bouncing back in Bethlehem after two years in the doldrums during the coronavirus pandemic, lifting spirits in the traditional birthplace of Jesus ahead of the Christmas holiday. Streets are bustling with tour groups. Hotels are fully booked, and months of deadly Israeli-Palestinian fighting

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and ED WHITE Associated Press JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — A judge on Thursday handed down the longest prison terms so far in the plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, sentencing three men who forged an early alliance with a leader of the scheme before the FBI broke it up in 2020. Joe Morrison,

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A report by environmental group Oceana has found that plastic waste from Amazon packages went up by 18% last year, but Amazon says it has reduced its use of single-use plastic across its network. According to the Oceana’s estimates, Amazon’s plastic waste jumped from 599

By TARA COPP and LOLITA BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Patriot missile systems have long been a hot ticket item for the U.S. and allies in contested areas of the world as a coveted shield against incoming missiles. In Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific, they guard against potential strikes from Iran, Somalia

By JONEL ALECCIA AP Health Writer U.S. health officials have revised a tool to track the rising cases of severe obesity among children who were previously off the charts. Updated growth charts released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now extend to a body mass index of 60 — up from previous

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was not invited to a summit of Western Hemisphere leaders in June. But by October, he traveled to Egypt for a conference where he joked with French President Emmanuel Macron and shook hands with John Kerry, the U.S. government’s climate envoy.

Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A 6.2 magnitude earthquake originating in the waters off Taiwan’s eastern coast shook the island Wednesday, but no injuries or major damage were immediately reported. The earthquake struck 29 kilometers (18 miles) southeast of Hualien, a city on Taiwan’s east coast, the island’s Central Weather Bureau said. The depth

DETROIT (AP) — Elon Musk sold another $3.58 billion worth of Tesla stock this week, but it wasn’t clear where the proceeds were being spent. The Tesla CEO and new owner of Twitter sold the shares from Monday through Wednesday, according to a filing posted Wednesday night by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk

NASA and Russia’s space agency canceled a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts just as they were preparing to exit the International Space Station. The cause: an apparent coolant leak from an attached space capsule. NASA’s Johnson Space Center said Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin were not in danger, nor were other astronauts on the space

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Police say a roadside bomb killed a soldier and a civilian and wounded at least 14 others in Pakistan’s northwest border area. A local police official said the bombing on Wednesday appeared to target a convoy of security forces passing by the town of Miran Shah in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada wildflower was declared endangered at the only place it’s known to exist — on a high-desert ridge where a lithium mine is planned to help meet growing demand for electric car batteries, U.S. wildlife officials announced Wednesday. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s formal listing

By INDRAJIT SINGH Associated Press PATNA, India (AP) — A top elected official says at least 31 people have died and 20 others are hospitalized in serious condition after allegedly drinking tainted liquor sold without authorization in eastern India. The deaths occurred Tuesday and Wednesday in three villages in Saran district of Bihar state. Police

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — The average profile of a missing child in Hawaii: 15 years old, female, from the island of Oahu and Native Hawaiian. That’s according to a report released Wednesday that says much more disaggregated racial and gender data is needed to combat the scourge of missing and

By REBECCA SANTANA and ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security says more migrants may be released into the United States to pursue immigration cases when Trump-era asylum restrictions end next week. In one of its more detailed assessments ahead of the major policy shift, the department reported faster processing