AP National News

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnson & Johnson has asked U.S. regulators to allow booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward shoring up protection in more vaccinated Americans. J&J said Tuesday it filed data with the Food and Drug Administration on giving a booster dose between

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The European Union’s police agency says law enforcement authorities clamping down on the exploitation of agricultural workers raided hundreds of vineyards and farms across Europe last month. Europol said Tuesday it helped coordinate the inspections. Eight suspects were arrested in France and four in Spain; a total of 54 suspected

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister says foreign tourists won’t be welcomed back until at least next year. Prime Minister Scott Morrison outlined plans Tuesday for lifting some of the toughest and longest COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed by any democracy. The country will prioritize the return of skilled migrants

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic has signed a deal to buy a new air defense system for its military from the Israeli government. The SPYDER system is made by the Israeli state-run company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. It’s capable of providing protection against aircraft, helicopters, bombers, cruise missiles and other weapons. The Czech

By DAVID RISING and CHALIDA EKVITTAYAVECHNUKUL Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — As floodwaters persist in areas of northern and central Thailand and have started to hit low-lying areas in the capital, officials are looking warily ahead to developing storms later this month. The Royal Irrigation Department was forced this week to start releasing water from

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has announced plans to send a probe to land on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter to collect data on the origins of the universe. The announcement on Tuesday marks the latest project in the oil-rich federation’s ambitious space program.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says archaeologists have found a rare ancient toilet in Jerusalem dating back more than 2,700 years, when private bathrooms were a luxury in the holy city. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said Tuesday that the smooth, carved limestone toilet was found in a rectangular cabin that was part of a sprawling mansion

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Prize for physics has been awarded to scientists from Japan, Germany and Italy. Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann were cited for their work in “the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.” The second half of the prize was awarded to Giorgio Parisi for “the

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish prosecutors have issued an international search warrant for a tenant in an apartment building in Sweden’s second-largest city after an explosion and a fire left 16 people injured last month. Authorities said the man is suspected of attempted murder, arson and general destruction. They also said Tuesday that he should be

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government is facing calls to tighten up defenses against “dirty money” after a leak of offshore data showed how London, in particular, is the venue of choice for some of the world’s richest and most powerful people to conceal their cash. The cache of almost

By DARIA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Coronavirus deaths in Russia have hit a record for the third time this month. And new infections once again exceeded 25,000 a day in a surge that comes as vaccination rates in the country remain stagnant. The government has also shunned imposing tough restrictions to stem the

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Paris as the Biden administration seeks to repair damage to relations caused by excluding America’s oldest ally from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative. Blinken was meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and President Emmanuel Macron’s national

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian actor and a film director have rocketed into space to make the world’s first movie in orbit. Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off Tuesday for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and docked 3 1/2

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The British government says it will bring in tough new laws against disruptive protesters after environmental campaigners blocked roads, highways and bridges to highlight climate change. Home Secretary Priti Patel said the government would “close down the legal loopholes” used by protesters, whom she labeled “criminals.”

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Global shares are mixed after a broad slide on Wall Street led by technology companies. Shares rose in Paris, London and Hong Kong but fell in Tokyo. China-U.S. tensions regained attention after U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she plans frank conversations with officials in Beijing about an interim

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian actor and a film director have rocketed to space on a mission to make the world’s first movie in orbit. Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off Tuesday for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. Their Soyuz MS-19 lifted off

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Victims of sex abuse within France’s Catholic Church welcome a historic turning point after report released Tuesday revealed that an estimated 330,000 children were sexually abused over the past 70 years. It provides the country’s first accounting of the worldwide phenomenon. The head of France’s Catholic bishops

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right bloc has sought to win over the environmentalist Greens for a possible governing coalition. The parties that hope for a share of power on Tuesday wrapped up their first meetings on forming Germany’s new government. The Union bloc’s only hope of

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — A major French report says there have been an estimated 330,000 victims of child sex abuse within France’s Catholic Church over the past 70 years. The president of the commission that issued the report said the estimate, based on scientific research, includes abuses committed by priests and

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Paris as the Biden administration seeks to repair damage to relations caused by excluding America’s oldest ally from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative. Blinken is meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and President Emmanuel Macron’s national