AP National News

By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — “This Is Us,” “black-ish” and “Better Call Saul” are among the shows to be saluted at the Paley Center for Media’s annual TV festival. PaleyFest LA is returning to live events after two years of pandemic-caused virtual editions. The 39th annual PaleyFest will run from

Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion to gain access to blockbuster games including Call of Duty and Candy Crush. The all-cash deal will let Microsoft accelerate mobile gaming and provide it building blocks for the metaverse, or a virtual environment. The deal comes as Activision shares have plummeted in the past year as

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan’s influential former leader has released a short video in which he talked about the violent unrest that engulfed the ex-Soviet nation earlier this month. In it he also rejected reports alleging that he fled the country amid tensions with the current president. The video published Tuesday

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will not run for governor. On Tuesday, he ended months of speculation by announcing he would not enter the Democratic primary in which Gov. Kathy Hochul already has a commanding start, having locked up endorsements and fundraising.

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer The airline industry is raising the stakes in a showdown with AT&T and Verizon over the telecom companies’ plan to launch new 5G wireless service this week, warning that thousands of flights could be grounded or delayed if the rollout takes place near major airports. CEOs of the nation’s

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Border Guard authorities say that almost 600 attempts by migrants at crossing from Belarus have been foiled so far this year. The attempts have continued since the peak in the fall, but the number of registered tries has dropped significantly, to dozens a day from nearly a thousand a day

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrat Beto O’Rourke says his campaign for Texas governor raised more $7 million in the first weeks of a race that could wind up as one of the nation’s most expensive in 2022. The announcement Tuesday is an early marker of whether O’Rourke’s can remain a fundraising powerhouse following failed bids

NEW YORK (AP) — A free e-book compilation includes excerpts from upcoming novels by Geraldine Brooks, Karen Jay Fowler and Mohsin Hamid among others. Buzz Books 2022: Spring/Summer was released Tuesday by the industry newsletter Publishers Marketplace and includes of dozens of previews for fiction and nonfiction. Highlights includes Brooks’ “Horse,” Fowler’s “Booth” and Hamid’s

By The Associated Press This week’s new entertainment releases include a new album of rootsy rock from John Mellencamp, the return of puppet friends from “Fraggle Rock” and a virtual Sundance Film Festival where all the selections can be streamed. On the small screen, there’s the series “As We See It” about 20-something roommates with

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police say they have broken up a human trafficking ring that forced Chinese women into prostitution in Spain. Police said Tuesday the gang approached the women in China and promised them well-paying jobs in Europe. Each woman paid the gang between 8,000 and 10,000 euros ($9,100-$11,400). But after being flown to

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities say the government is shortening the required isolation period for people infected with the coronavirus from 14 to seven days. The decision was announced Tuesday as Russia faces a surge of COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova,

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for multiple overnight gun attacks on police in the capital of Islamabad and the country’s restive northwest. Three officers and three assailants were killed. Monday night’s attack in Islamabad raised fears that insurgents have a presence in the Pakistani capital, considered one of the country’s safest

By JULIUS ERVING For The Associated Press Hall of Famer Julius Erving says the commercial success he and other NBA players enjoyed in the 1980s didn’t just happen. The NBA champion known as Dr. J says players like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan gave credit to him and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But they all stood

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s arms exports reached record levels in 2021, largely due to significant sales of maritime and air defense weapons to Egypt. Preliminary figures show Germany exported arms worth $10.65 billion last year. That was an increase of 61% compared to 2020. The ministry said that most of the exports, worth over 9

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United Nations has raised the death toll from twin earthquakes in western Afghanistan the day before to 26. It says at least four people have been injured. The victims included women and children. The statement on Tuesday from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that hundreds

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — A Rome villa containing the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio is set to go on a court-ordered auction block. The Casa dell’Aurora is being sold at auction on Tuesday thanks to an inheritance dispute pitting the heirs of one of the Italian capital’s aristocratic families against

By DAVID KEYTON and JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press SKIEN, Norway (AP) — Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is appearing before a parole hearing. He seemed more focused on spreading white supremacist propaganda than gaining an improbable early release from prison. The right-wing extremist killed 77 people in massacres in Norway in 2011. He

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Ukraine this week and meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as tensions between the U.S. and Russia escalate over a possible Russian invasion of its neighbor. The State Department said Tuesday that Blinken will travel to Kyiv on the hastily

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s health officials say that the country has entered a new, fifth wave, in the coronavirus pandemic, predicting that it it will peak in mid-February at about 60,000 new infections per day or even more. The deputy health minister, said Tuesday that the highly transmissible omicron variant now accounts for 19%

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