Category: World

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP): New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is postponing her wedding after announcing new COVID-19 restrictions Sunday following the discovery of nine cases of the omicron variant in a single family that flew to Auckland to attend a wedding. The so-called “red setting” of the country’s pandemic response includes heightened measures such… Continue reading Omicron spreads in New Zealand, spoiling PM’s wedding plans

PHOENIX (AP): Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey sued the Biden administration on Friday over its demand that the state stop sending millions in federal COVID-19 relief money to schools that don’t have mask requirements or that close due to COVID-19 outbreaks. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Phoenix comes a week after the U.S. Treasury… Continue reading Arizona sues Biden to keep school anti-mask rules

KORTRIJK, Belgium (AP): The 19-year-old Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford set a world record as the youngest woman to fly solo around the world, touching her small airplane down in western Belgium on Thursday — 155 days after she departed. Rutherford will find herself in the Guinness World Records book after setting the mark that had… Continue reading 19-year-old woman sets record for solo global flight

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP): A suspected drone attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeting a key oil facility in Abu Dhabi killed three people on Monday and sparked a separate fire at Abu Dhabi’s international airport. Emirati police identified the dead as two Indian nationals and one Pakistani. They did not identify the wounded… Continue reading Suspected drone attack in Abu Dhabi kills 3, wounds 6

GENEVA (AP): Chinese President Xi Jinping called Monday for greater world cooperation against COVID-19 and pledged to send an additional 1 billion doses of vaccine to other countries, while urging other powers to discard a “Cold-War mentality” at a time of rising geopolitical tensions — a veiled swipe at the United States. The Chinese leader… Continue reading China’s Xi rejects ‘Cold War mentality,’ pushes cooperation

CHICAGO (AP): Chicago officials have handed out more than 30 citations to businesses for failing to enforce the city’s requirement that people show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in many places. The order took effect Jan. 3, and through Wednesday, the city’s Business Affairs and Consumer Protection agency had issued 32 citations to 16 businesses. The… Continue reading Chicago cites restaurants, gyms for COVID vaccine violations

(AP): Officials across the U.S. are again weighing how and whether to impose mask mandates as COVID-19 infections soar and the American public grows ever wearier of pandemic-related restrictions. Much of the debate centers around the nation’s schools, some of which have closed due to infection-related staffing issues. In a variety of places, mask mandates… Continue reading Soaring COVID-19 cases renew US debate over mask mandates

BEIJING (AP): A third Chinese city has locked down its residents because of a COVID-19 outbreak, raising the number confined to their homes in China to about 20 million people. It wasn’t clear how long the lockdown of Anyang, home to 5.5 million people, would last. Mass testing was being enforced, standard procedure whenever outbreaks… Continue reading China locks down third city, raising affected to 20 million

NEW YORK (AP): A malfunctioning space heater sparked a fire that filled a high-rise Bronx apartment building with thick smoke Sunday morning, killing 19 people including nine children in New York City’s deadliest blaze in three decades. Trapped residents broke windows for air and stuffed wet towels under doors as smoke rose from a lower-floor… Continue reading Bronx apartment fire kills 19, including 9 children

MOSCOW (AP): Dozens of protesters and 12 police died during extraordinarily violent demonstrations in Kazakhstan that saw government buildings stormed and set ablaze, authorities said Thursday. One police officer was found beheaded in escalating unrest that poses a growing challenge to authoritarian rule in the Central Asian nation. After breaking into the presidential residence and… Continue reading Dozens of protesters, 12 police dead in Kazakhstan protests