AP National News

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Interior Ministry says that a gift that a Polish police commander received during a recent visit to Ukraine exploded at police headquarters in Warsaw. The ministry said that the explosion caused the commander and a civilian employee to suffer minor injuries. The ministry said Thursday that the explosion occurred on

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans cut back their retail spending last month as the holiday shopping season began amid high prices and rising interest rates that are forcing some families, particularly those with lower incomes, curtail their consumption. The government said Thursday that retail sales fell 0.6%

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The president of the European Union’s Parliament says the assembly is reviewing its files involving Qatar to see if any pressure was exerted on EU lawmakers. The European Parliament has been rocked by a cash for influence scandal that has seen four charged in Belgium, including a

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Court officials say an Albanian court has convicted an Iranian man on terrorism-related charges and sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment. In a ruling issued Wednesday but made public a day later, Albania’s Special Court on Corruption and Organized Crime found Bijan Pooladrag guilty of funding terrorism and being a member

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International Criminal Court appeals judges have rejected the appeal by a former commander in the brutal Ugandan rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army of his conviction on dozens of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Dominic Ongwen was convicted in a landmark judgment nearly

By JALAL BWAITEL Associated Press RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The family of an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority who died last year after allegedly being beaten by Palestinian security forces says it has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the death. Nizar Banat was a harsh critic of the PA and had

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Britain’s central bank has raised its key interest rate increase again but toned down the pace as inflation shows signs of easing. Thursday’s announcement mirrors action by the U.S. Federal Reserve and came ahead of an anticipated identical move by European policymakers. The Bank of England

LONDON (AP) — British news agency Press Association reports that German tennis legend Boris Becker has been freed from prison after serving eight months of his sentence and now faces deportation from the U.K. The 55-year-old German, who has lived in Britain since 2012, was released on Thursday morning ahead of his deportation, PA reported,

By ZEN SOO AP Technology Writer HONG KONG (AP) — The company that assembles Apple Inc.’s iPhones has announced it is easing COVID-19 restrictions at its largest factory in China that led thousands of workers to quit and drastically slowed production. Foxconn Technology Group said in a statement on one of its official WeChat social

By KOSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of mourners have gathered in a Roma settlement in northern Greece for the funeral of a teenager who died days after being shot in the head during a police chase over an unpaid gas station bill. The death of 16-year-old Kostas Frangoulis triggered days of

By ABDUL SATTAR Associated Press QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities say one person was killed and at least 11 injured when Afghan Taliban fighters fired mortars toward the civilians near the southwestern Chaman border crossing. Thursday’s violence follows a series of deadly incidents that have strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers in

By DAKE KANG Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — A week after China dramatically eased some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 containment measures, uncertainty remained Thursday over the direction of the pandemic in the world’s most populous nation. While there are no official indications yet of the massive surge of critically ill patients some feared, social

By SYLVIA HUI and DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, vented their grievances against the British monarchy on Thursday in the second half of their Netflix documentary series, with Harry describing the royal press machine — including leaking and planting stories in newspapers — as a “dirty game.”

PARIS (AP) — French authorities say a car in the southern French city of Montpellier “violently hit” and killed a boy as crowds celebrated France’s victory in the World Cup semi-final. Herault regional authorities say the driver fled the scene, but the vehicle was found nearby and police were investigating what caused the vehicle to

By ZEKE MILLER AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is again making some free COVID-19 tests available to all American households as it unveils its contingency plans for potential coronavirus surges this winter. After a three-month hiatus, the administration is making four rapid virus tests available to all U.S. households through

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s central bank is expected to deliver its ninth straight interest rate hike. But it will likely be smaller than last month’s outsized increase as inflation shows signs of easing. Most economists expect the Bank of England to raise its key interest rate by half a percentage point Thursday, taking it to

GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss National Bank has raised its key interest rate. It comes as other central banks in Europe are following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s playbook in a bid to tame inflation. Switzerland’s central bank hiked its policy rate Thursday by half a percentage point, to 1%. The Swiss bank said that while

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank could slow its record pace of interest rate increases. But not by much. Analysts say the bank might decide at Thursday’s meeting on an increase of half a percentage point instead of three-quarters of a point after inflation fell unexpectedly in

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of mourners are gathering in a Roma settlement in northern Greece for the funeral of a 16-year-old who died days after being shot in the head by police during a car chase over an unpaid gas station bill. The death of Kostas Frangoulis, who was married and had a young

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The president of South Africa is fighting for his political future amid an unfolding scandal that has tainted his reputation as an anti-apartheid icon once widely admired for tackling the problems of Africa’s most developed economy. Cyril Ramaphosa, 70, says he’s innocent of charges that he hid