Month: December 2022

MADRID (AP) — Leaders and representatives of nine Mediterranean and Southern European countries are preparing to meet in Spain, with the energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine likely to top the agenda. The EU-Med9 meeting in the port city of Alicante on Friday brings together leaders or representatives of Spain, Portugal, France,

By COSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A Greek police officer accused of shooting and seriously wounding a Roma teenager during a police chase over an allegedly unpaid gas station bill will remain under house arrest. Friday’s decision comes after a prosecutor and an investigating judge disagreed on whether he should be jailed

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — A rash of COVID-19 cases in schools and businesses were reported Friday in areas across China after the ruling Communist Party loosened anti-virus rules as it tries to reverse a deepening economic slump. While official data showed a fall in new cases, they no longer cover large

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s nationalist conservative ruling party has ratcheted up its anti-German rhetoric ahead of elections next year.  The Law and Justice party also is seeking to cast its main domestic challenger as loyal to Berlin. Critics see the strategy as a campaign tactic that could harm ties

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Ukraine’s finance minister says crucial Western financial support is “not charity” but “self-preservation” in the fight to defend democracy as his country deals with growing costs to repair electrical and heating infrastructure wrecked by Russian attacks. Serhiy Marchenko also told The Associated Press in an

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military says more than 150 Rohingya have been rescued off the coast of Myanmar after their boat started taking on water. Myanmar’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation sent two boats from an offshore operation to rescue the people after spotting their boat in trouble. It was not clear whether the

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — An unprecedented crisis of confidence is shaking a historic center of Catholicism in Germany — the Archdiocese of Cologne. Catholic believers have protested their deeply divisive archbishop and are leaving in droves over allegations that he may have covered up clergy sexual abuse reports. While Cardinal

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — As the school bell rings, dozens of children begin filing into the canteen at Hillstone Primary School. The day’s offering, a roast dinner, is a popular one, and many are eager to tuck into their plates of turkey slices, roasted potatoes, broccoli and gravy. For some

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Thousands of South Korean truckers are returning to work after voting to end their 16-day walkout that disrupted construction and other domestic industries. Thousands of truckers seeking financial protections in the face of rising fuel costs went on strike Nov. 24. The vote Friday to

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said Friday that K-pop star T.O.P will be among eight people who will join him on a flight around the moon on a SpaceX spaceship in the coming years. The Japanese tycoon launched plans for the lunar voyage in 2018, buying all the

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — A month into the nation’s largest strike involving higher education, the work stoppage by University of California academic workers at 10 campuses is causing stress for many undergraduate students. They are facing canceled classes, no one to answer their questions and uncertainty about how they

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Nearly 400 South Koreans adopted as children by families in the West have requested South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigate their adoptions through Friday’s application deadline, as Seoul faces growing pressure to reckon with a child export frenzy driven by dictatorships that ruled the

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press NUIQSUT, Alaska (AP) — Though the weather outside was frightful, schoolchildren in the northern Alaska Inupiat community of Nuiqsut were so delighted for a visit by Santa that they braved wind chills of 25 degrees below zero just to see him land on a snow-covered airstrip. Once again, it was

By STEPHEN GROVES and AMY FORLITI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck was sentenced Friday to 3 1/2 years in prison. J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon has been without a president for over a month, its legislators unable to agree on a new head of state. The impasse is holding up a range of initiatives, from putting into place structural reforms for an International Monetary Fund program to allowing the country’s state-owned

By GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Sara Milena is barely 20 days old. Her mother, Tania Herrera, lives with her parents, who are the breadwinners of an Ecuadorian household where they earn $5 to $7 a day to feed five adults and support the new arrival. That income is stretched in hopes

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Passing legislation to protect same-sex marriages in the Senate was a monthslong effort, building on a decadeslong push. Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin and four other senators implored their colleagues to tweak the bill to make it more appealing and enlisted key outside allies to help. In

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and FRANKLIN BRICEÑO Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s first female president appeared in a military ceremony on national television on Friday in her first official event as head of state, an attempt to cement her hold on power and buck the national trend of early presidential departures. In an

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin was on the Senate floor, but her mind was on the other side of the Capitol. The House was voting that July afternoon on Democratic legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn

BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. is closely monitoring Chinese activities that potentially threaten American assets in space as debris rapidly accumulates in low Earth orbit, the head of United States military operations in space said Friday. Commander of U.S. Space Command Army Gen. James Dickinson also cheered the overwhelming passage in the United Nations of

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Two reviews of the May escape of a Texas inmate that resulted in the deaths of five people found a multitude of security lapses such as inadequate strip searches and poorly applied restraints helped lead to his getaway. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice conducted an

By MARI YAMGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan has announced it will jointly develop its next-generation fighter jet with the U.K. and Italy. Tokyo is looking to expand defense cooperation beyond its traditional ally, the United States. The Mitsubishi F-X fighter jet, which Japan plans to deploy in 2035, will replace its aging fleet

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A judge has ruled that the director of a Guatemalan investigative newspaper will stand trial on charges of money laundering, influence peddling and blackmail. José Rubén Zamora of El Periodico has been held for four months amid criticism that his arrest was politically motivated by an administration interested in silencing critical

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles authorities have given a little girl a license to own a unicorn — if she can find one. Animal Care and Control Department officials said this week that they granted the unusual permit to Madeline, whose last name was redacted. It comes with conditions, however. Madeline is asked to

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A store that had been openly and illegally selling psychedelic mushrooms in Portland, Oregon, was raided by police on Thursday, authorities said. In 2020, Oregon became the first state in the country to legalize the use of psilocybin for people 21 and older in a controlled, therapeutic environment under the supervision

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Close to 60% of Haiti’s capital is dominated by gangs whose violence and sexual attacks have caused thousands to flee their homes, the U.N. humanitarian chief in the Caribbean nation said Thursday. Ulrika Richardson said that has left nearly 20,000 people in the capital facing

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams is The Associated Press college football player of the year, becoming the school’s first winner of the award since 2005 with his stellar debut season for the Trojans. Williams received 32 of the 46 first-place votes and 117 total points

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s Parliament has approved a budget that includes reforms aimed at improving the country’s finances as it attempts to recover from its worst economic crisis. The $15-billion budget includes a $117-million relief package for those affected by the crisis. It provides for a restructuring of state-owned enterprises, reduced subsidies

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press/Report for America DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina drag performers and LGBTQ community members fear for their safety after an attack on the electrical grid in Moore County left tens of thousands without power for several days. Authorities have said two power substations were shot up by one or more

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s surprise announcement last July lacked any detail, but its meaning was crystal clear. In a rare comment on secret talks, he said the Biden administration had made a “substantial proposal” to Russia to end the imprisonment of two Americans: WNBA star Brittney

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press FORT BELKNAP AGENCY, Mont. (AP) — Native species such as swift foxes and black-footed ferrets disappeared from the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation generations ago, wiped out by poisoning campaigns, disease and farm plows that turned open prairie where nomadic tribes once roamed into cropland and cattle pastures. Now with guidance

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo police say armed men fired guns from a vehicle, injuring one officer. A statement Friday said a police officer was “slightly wounded” and a police car was damaged. The injured officer was taken at the hospital and police are investigating the case. Police have increased their presence to help with