Couple detained on plane after leaving Dutch quarantine
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch military police arrested a husband and wife Sunday who had left a hotel where they were being quarantined after testing positive for covid-19 and boarded a plane to fly home to Spain. A spokeswoman for the local security authority that covers Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport said...
Doctor: Many South Africans ill in omicron surge have mild symptoms
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s rapid increase in covid-19 cases attributed to the new omicron variant is resulting in mostly mild symptoms, doctors say. “We’ve seen a sharp increase in cases for the past 10 days. So far they have mostly been very mild cases, with patients having flu-like symptoms: dry...
Alabama inmate who survived execution attempt dies of cancer
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama inmate whose lethal injection was halted because medical staff couldn’t find a suitable vein for the execution has died of natural causes almost four years later, his lawyer said Monday. Doyle Lee Hamm, who was convicted in the slaying of a motel clerk in 1987,...
Some states know a lot about vaccinated people who have gotten covid-19. Pennsylvania doesn’t
PHILADELPHIA — Each week in Oregon, state health officials produce a public report documenting how many people have contracted the coronavirus even after getting the vaccine, including data about their ages, races, the counties where they live, which covid-19 variants they caught and how sick it made them. That type...
Pa. deer hunter shot in the head, killed by young relative: coroner
A child hunting with family missed a deer and shot a 71-year-old man in the head, killing him. The tragedy happened around 10 a.m. Saturday in Jackson Township, Cambria County, as WJAC-TV in Johnstown reports. The victim is identified as 71-year-old William Tripp of Elizabethtown. Tripp was hunting with family...
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey stepping down as CEO
NEW YORK — Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has stepped down as CEO of the social media platform. He has been succeeded by Twitter’s current chief technology officer, Parag Agrawal. Dorsey will remain on the board until his term expires in 2022. Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 and has been CTO...
Lock in: Dozens stuck in England’s highest pub after storm
LONDON — Dozens of customers who stopped for a drink at Britain’s highest altitude pub got a longer stay than they bargained for, after the building was cut off by a blizzard. Sixty-one people woke up Monday after their third night at the Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales,...
Supreme Court set to take up all-or-nothing abortion fight
WASHINGTON — Both sides are telling the Supreme Court there’s no middle ground in Wednesday’s showdown over abortion. The justices can either reaffirm the constitutional right to an abortion or wipe it away altogether. Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that declared a nationwide right to abortion, is facing...
Belarusian leader accuses Lithuania of dumping dead migrants
MOSCOW — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday accused Lithuanian authorities of dumping the bodies of migrants on the border between the two countries — a claim rejected by Lithuania amid soaring tensions over migration. Lukashenko also warned that his country with stand squarely behind its ally Russia if the...
Embattled Kansas lawmaker arrested for 2nd time in month
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A 21-year-old embattled Kansas lawmaker was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving — his second arrest in less than a month — and is facing fresh calls for his resignation or removal from office. A Kansas trooper arrested Aaron Coleman around 1 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 70...
Russian navy test-fires hypersonic missile
MOSCOW — Russia’s navy successfully test-fired a prospective hypersonic missile, the military said Monday. The Defense Ministry said that the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the White Sea launched the Zircon cruise missile, hitting a practice target 215 nautical miles away. The launch was the latest in a series of tests...
Swedes elect 1st female PM — for the 2nd time in a week
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Magdalena Andersson, who last week was Sweden’s first female prime minister for a few hours before resigning because a budget defeat made a coalition partner quit, was on elected again Monday as the Nordic nation’s head of government. In a 101-173 vote with 75 abstentions, the 349-seat...
New variant cause for concern, not panic, Biden tells U.S.
President Joe Biden called the new coronavirus variant omicron a cause for concern but “not a cause for panic” Monday and said he was not considering any widespread U.S. lockdown. He urged Americans anew to get fully vaccinated, including booster shots, and return to face masks indoors in public settings...
Oh! Christmas tree? Cardboard display is the talk of Asbury Park
It has been called beautiful, awesome and brilliant, a transcendent work of art that reimagines the holiday experience with local touches of the Jersey Shore. It also has been called ridiculous, ugly and hideous, something akin to a pile of Amazon shipping boxes or a giant cat-scratching post. Good grief!...
Fauci fires back at Cruz over covid claims about Chinese lab
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, blasted Sen. Ted Cruz for suggesting that Fauci be investigated for statements he made about covid-19 and said the criticism by the Texas Republican was an attack on science. “I should be prosecuted? What happened on Jan. 6, senator?”...
Israel to allow 3,000 Ethiopian Jews to immigrate
JERUSALEM — Israel’s government on Sunday approved the immigration of several thousand Jews from war-torn Ethiopia, some of whom have waited for decades to join their relatives in Israel. The decision took a step toward resolving an issue that has long complicated the government’s relations with the country’s Ethiopian community....
What we know — and don’t know — about omicron, the new covid variant
LONDON — South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus that they say is behind a recent spike in covid-19 infections in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province. It’s unclear where the new variant first emerged, but scientists in South Africa alerted the World Health Organization in recent...
Tens of thousands without power in U.K. in storm’s wake
LONDON — Tens of thousands of people in Scotland and northern England remained without power Sunday after a storm brought sleet, subzero temperatures and disruptions across much of the U.K. Icy gusts caused power cuts around the border between Scotland and England, with Northern Powergrid saying it recorded 1,100 instances...
Train derails in suburban Atlanta, blocking streets
HIRAM, Ga. — A freight train derailed late Saturday in Atlanta’s northwest suburbs, blocking roads and slightly injuring two crew members. Local news outlets report a Norfolk Southern Railway locomotive and seven freight cars overturned in Hiram, part of a 88-car train. Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern said two crew members were...
Dutch, Australians find omicron variant; others curb travel
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Netherlands confirmed 13 cases of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus on Sunday and Australia found two as the countries half a world apart became the latest to detect it in travelers arriving from southern Africa. Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners and...
Can Biden find the right balance on immigration?
WASHINGTON — Democrats wielded demands to fix the nation’s broken immigration system as a cudgel against Republicans in the 2020 campaign. Elect us, went the argument, and we’ll stop the cruel treatment of migrants at the border and put in place lasting and humane policies that work. A year into...
Biden: Gas prices will drop, but it’ll take time
WASHINGTON — Americans will see prices at the pump fall “before long,” President Biden said after tapping U.S. oil reserves to ease price pressures and risk a feud with OPEC. In a tweet Saturday while the president was in Nantucket, he said the U.S. effort to ease gasoline prices spans...
500 vigilantes gather in Mexico town, pledge to aid police
NUEVO URECHO, Mexico — Extortion of avocado growers in western Mexico has gotten so bad that 500 vigilantes from a so-called “self-defense” group known as United Towns, or Pueblos Unidos, gathered Saturday and pledged to aid police. The vigilantes gathered for a rally in the town of Nuevo Urecho, in...
Italy, Germany report cases of omicron covid variant
LONDON — News reports in Italy and Germany say that both countries have confirmed cases of the omicron covid-19 variant. The Italian news agency LaPresse says an Italian who traveled to Mozambique has tested positive for the omicron variant. The business traveler landed in Rome on Nov. 11 and returned...
Nashville police: 3 dead, 4 wounded in apartment shooting
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A shooting in a Tennessee apartment left three people dead, including a suspect, police said Saturday. Four other people were wounded. Six members of a family were shot at the Nashville apartment Friday night, including a 15-year-old and 18-year-old who were both killed, police said in a...
