Associated Press stories, Page 1794

TORONTO — Ontario on Monday announced a province-wide shutdown because of a second wave of covid-19 in Canada’s most populous province. The lockdown will be put in place for southern Ontario from Dec. 26 until Jan. 23, but will lift for northern Ontario on Jan. 9. One top infectious disease...

A two-week layoff did nothing to slow down Gonzaga. The Zags strengthened their grip on the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press college basketball poll released Monday, earning 61 of 64 first-place votes from a media panel after knocking off then-No. 3 Iowa. No. 2 Baylor received the remaining...

AMSTERDAM — The European Union on Monday gave official approval for the coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer to be put onto the market across the 27-nation bloc. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the commission “took the decision to make available for European citizens the first...

WASHINGTON — A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has represented Virginia in the U.S. Capitol for 111 years has been removed. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement that workers removed the statue from the National Statuary Hall Collection early Monday morning. Northam had requested the...

WASHINGTON — Trump administration political appointees tried to block or change more than a dozen government reports that detailed scientific findings about the spread of the coronavirus, a House panel investigating the alleged interference said Monday. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said his coronavirus subcommittee investigators have found evidence of a...

ROME — An explosion in a gunpowder processing factory in a town in south-central Italy on Monday killed three people, Italian media said. The ANSA news agency quoted Casalbordino Mayor Filippo Marinucci at the scene as providing the death toll. Italian firefighters were called to help at the site of...

WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr used his final public appearance to undercut President Donald Trump on multiple fronts Monday, saying he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel to look into the president’s claims about the 2020 election or to name one for the tax investigation of President-elect...

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Monday unsealed charges accusing a Libyan bomb expert in the 1988 explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, an attack that killed 259 people in the air and an additional 11 on the ground. The charges were announced on the 32nd anniversary...

NEW YORK — Stocks are falling Monday as worries about a new, potentially more infectious strain of the coronavirus have borders shutting around the world and adding more threats for the economy. The S&P 500 was 1% lower in early trading, putting it on track to fall for a second...

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Monday declared that it is “morally acceptable” for Roman Catholics to receive covid-19 vaccines based on research that used fetal tissue from abortions. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, said it had received several requests...

LONDON — Trucks waiting to get out of Britain backed up for miles and people were left stranded at airports Monday as countries around the world slapped tough travel restrictions on the U.K. because of a new and seemingly more contagious strain of the coronavirus in England. A growing number...

At a time when team after team had opted out of bowl games, Army found itself in a different sort of situation — left out. The Black Knights have a 9-2 record and a nearly two-month-long commitment to the Independence Bowl. They seemed all set. But when the Dec. 26...

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns have their first 10-win season in a while, and they’re on the verge of ending the NFL’s longest playoff drought. They’re thinking much bigger than all that after a dominant 20-6 win over the New York Giants on Sunday night....

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has announced that a new variant of the covid-19 virus is driving the country’s resurgence of the disease, with higher numbers of confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths. According to health officials and scientists leading the country’s virus strategy, the new variant, known as 501.V2, is dominant...

BERLIN — A German court on Monday convicted a right-wing extremist of murder and attempted murder and sentenced him to life in prison for his attack on a synagogue last year on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. He killed two people after he failed to gain entry to the building....

HONOLULU, Hawaii — The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island has erupted, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The eruption began late Sunday within the within Halema’uma’u crater. The volcano is located within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake hit about an hour after the volcano began erupting. The...

BEIJING — China’s government on Monday called on Washington not to enforce a measure that might expel Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges if they fail American government audits. The law, signed Friday by President Donald Trump, is a response to complaints Chinese companies were failing to comply with stricter...

ROME — Pope Francis urged Vatican bureaucrats on Monday to stop their gossipy, self-absorbed conflicts, issuing another tough-love Christmas message at the end of a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic and a financial scandal at the Holy See. Francis gathered his cardinals, bishops and Vatican prelates for his annual...

WASHINGTON — After months of Washington gridlock, Congress is set to act on a $900 billion pandemic relief package, finally delivering long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in covid-19 cases and deaths. The relief package, agreed to on Sunday and...

West Virginia (5-4) will play Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl at 4 p.m. Dec. 31 in Memphis, Tenn. It is WVU’s first bowl game under second-year coach Neal Brown. The Mountaineers are 0-2 in the Liberty Bowl. They beat the Volunteers, 40-14, in the only other matchup between the teams,...