Month: December 2022

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s press erupted in outrage Friday at Prince Harry and Meghan’s documentary series, which lambasts the U.K. media over its treatment of the royal couple. But much of Britain reacted to the Netflix show with a shrug. Buckingham Palace had no comment, and the prime minister didn’t

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s parliament has voted for the third time in almost two years in favor of allowing euthanasia. But as happened in the previous attempts the country’s Constitutional Court or president could stop Friday’s bill becoming law. Lawmakers approved a bill permitting euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Left-of-center parties in the mostly Catholic

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s prime minister says the country’s leadership is close to demanding the deployment of their security troops to Kosovo. Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic accused the NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo of failing to protect the lives of minority Serbs there. The return of Belgrade’s troops to

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Justice Ministry has disclosed that more than 20 prison guards repeatedly pushed, slapped and used other forms of physical violence against a group of inmates at a prison in central Japan, raising questions about the extent of prison abuse in the country. Justice Minister Ken Saito

PARIS (AP) — French energy giant TotalEnergies says it will walk away from its stake in Russian natural gas producer Novatek and take a $3.7 billion loss. The company has come under criticism for pursuing some of its activities in Russia amid the war in Ukraine. TotalEnergies said Friday it will no longer account for

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court has suspended the law license of a former Tennessee state senator who pleaded guilty last month to violating federal campaign finance laws. The court suspended former Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey’s law license Thursday at the request of the Board of Professional Responsibility,

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press The prison staff didn’t know much about the new acting warden. Then, they say, he made a bizarre and startling confession: Years ago, he beat inmates — and got away with it. Thomas Ray Hinkle, a high-ranking federal Bureau of Prisons official, was sent to restore

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States rose 7.4% in November from a year earlier, a fifth straight slowdown and a hopeful sign that inflation pressures across the economy are continuing to cool. The latest year-over-year figure was down from 8% in October and from a recent

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The CEO of Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade publisher, is stepping down. Markus Dohle’s decision, effective at the end of the year, comes just weeks after a federal judge blocked the company’s attempt to buy rival Simon & Schuster. “Following the antitrust decision

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say judges have confirmed the arrest of 23 people suspected of planning to topple the government, while the extradition of two others detained abroad is being sought. Prosecutors said Friday that 22 German citizens and a Russian woman detained from across Germany on Wednesday have appeared before a federal court

MOSCOW (AP) — A prominent Russian opposition figure has been sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison after being convicted on charges stemming from his criticism of the Kremlin’s action in Ukraine. Friday’s sentencing of Ilya Yashin, one of the few Kremlin critics who stayed in Russia, offers the latest indication of an intensified crackdown

BERLIN (AP) — The U.N.’s top human rights official says the first execution in Iran of a prisoner convicted for a crime allegedly committed during the country’s ongoing nationwide protests is “very troubling.” Volker Turk told reporters at a news conference in Geneva on Friday that the Iranian government’s decision to carry out the death

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese judicial officials and the state-run National News Agency say an actress with links to the country’s Central Bank governor has been placed under arrest after showing up for questioning. The agency says a judge, acting on the request by Lebanon’s top financial prosecutor, on Friday ordered

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — A vice president of the European Union’s parliament was suspended by her party group after Belgian police carried out several raids linked to an investigation into suspected influence peddling by a Gulf state. The Socialists and Democrats in the EU assembly say they suspended Eva Kaili’s membership

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Celine brought a new line of fashion into the Hollywood spotlight in front of a star-studded audience while infusing rock music into Hedi Slimane’s “Age of Indieness” show Thursday night. The fashion show at iconic Los Angeles landmark The Wiltern introduced glitzy black and

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — A representative of one of the organizations sharing this year’s Nobel Peace Prize says Russian President Vladimir Putin should face an international tribunal for the fighting in Ukraine. Oleksandra Matviychuk of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties said during a news conference in Oslo, Norway, on Friday that

By JONATHAN J. COOPER and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced Friday she has registered as an independent, a renegade move that could bolster her political brand but won’t upend the Democrats’ narrow Senate majority. She says she will not caucus with Republicans. Sinema, who faces reelection

By MARIAM FAM Associated Press DOHA, Qatar (AP) — An emerald inscribed for a Mughal emperor. A Safavid-period knotted wool carpet. An Ottoman-era curtain, intricately embroidered with metal threads, which was part of the covering of the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure in Mecca that Muslims consider the metaphorical “house of God.” Like tiles in a

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer This past year has seen a horrific flood that submerged one-third of Pakistan, one of the three costliest U.S. hurricanes on record, devastating droughts in Europe and China, a drought-triggered famine in Africa and deadly heat waves all over. Yet this wasn’t climate change at its worst. With all

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The elections to renew the local parliament on the Faeroe Islands, a semi-independent Danish territory in the North Atlantic, ended with the opposition social democrats emerging as the largest party with nearly 27% of the votes. With 100% of the votes counted in Thursday’s elections, Javnardarflokkurin came in ahead of incumbent

MOSCOW (AP) — One man is dead after a massive fire ravaged a shopping mall on Moscow’s northwestern outskirts. Authorities said Friday’s blaze at the OBI store that is part of the MEGA mall in Khimki outside the Russian capital was sparked by welding that apparently violated safety regulations. The huge blaze erupted before the

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Gulf Arab leaders and others in the Mideast are meeting in Saudi Arabia as part of a state visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. They want to firm up their relations with Beijing as decades of U.S. attention on the region wanes. Representatives of

BERLIN (AP) — The top United Nations human rights official says his office will continue reaching out to Beijing about allegations of abuse in China. The office of the former U.N. human rights chief published a report in August stating that China’s detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Nine miners have died in a coal mine explosion in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province and rescue workers are still searching for one missing miner after rescuing two others. The blast, caused by noxious gases including methane, occurred on Friday in a mine in Sawahlunto district owned by a private company while

BRUSSELS (AP) — A new report says the war in Ukraine, chaos in Haiti and criminal groups in Mexico contributed to a sharp spike in the number of journalists killed in 2022 over the previous year. The International Federation of Journalists says 67 journalists and media staff have been killed around the world so far

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Hate mealy apples and soggy french fries? Science can help. Restaurants, grocers, farmers and food companies are increasingly turning to chemistry and physics to tackle the problem of food waste. Some are testing spray-on peels or chemically enhanced sachets that can slow the ripening process in fruit. Others are

By BILL BARROW and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — In Georgia’s Senate runoff, Republicans once more met the realities of giving Democrats a head start they could not overcome. According to tallies from the secretary of state, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock built a lead of more than 320,000 votes heading into Tuesday’s election.

By LEKAN OYEKANMI and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Brittney Griner returned to the United States early Friday, nearly 10 months after the basketball star’s detention in Russia made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad and set off a political firestorm. Griner’s status as an openly gay Black woman, her prominence

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Violent attacks targeting Nigeria’s election commission offices are raising concerns about the security of the West African country’s upcoming February elections. In the latest attack, assailants in southeastern Imo state set fire on Sunday to an office of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission. Nearly 50 of

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain is easing banking rules brought in after the 2008 global financial crisis in a bid to attract investment and secure London’s status as Europe’s leading finance center. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt said Friday that the changes will make Britain “one of the most open, dynamic and

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese airline has become the first customer to take delivery of a long-range jetliner produced by a state-owned manufacturer set up to try to compete with Boeing and Airbus. The C919 plane made by Commercial Aircraft Corp. is part of the ruling Communist Party’s efforts to transform the country into a

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Schools across Sri Lanka are closed as health and environment officials say the air quality in most parts of the island nation is unhealthy partly due to extreme weather conditions. Polluted air from neighboring India was aggravating the problem, authorities said Friday, as a storm