AP National News

By ARITZ PARRA Associated Press MADRID (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have met in Madrid to plan how to boost progressive policies in the 27-nation European Union. After taking over last month as leader of the EU’s most populous nation and its largest economy, Scholz joined Sánchez in

By JAMIE STENGLE, JAKE BLEIBERG and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — The rabbi of a Texas synagogue where a gunman took hostages during livestreamed services says he threw a chair at his captor before escaping with two others after an hourslong standoff. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker told “CBS Mornings” on Monday that he

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is fighting for his career and he has one constant refrain: Wait for Sue Gray. Gray is a senior civil servant who may hold Johnson’s political future in her hands. She is investigating allegations that the prime minister and his staff attended

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Auction house Sotheby’s Dubai has unveiled a diamond that’s literally from out of this world. Sotheby’s calls the 555.55-carat black diamond believed to have come from outer space “The Enigma.” It was shown off on Monday to journalists as part of a tour in Dubai and Los Angeles before

By JEFF MARTIN and MICHAEL WARREN ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden says Americans must commit to the unfinished work of Martin Luther King Jr., delivering jobs and justice and protecting what he calls “the sacred right to vote, a right from which all other rights flow.” Biden’s remarks Monday were among many by politicians

By SYLVIE CORBET The Associated Press PARIS (AP) — A Paris court has convicted French far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour for inciting racial hatred over 2020 comments he made about unaccompanied migrant children. Zemmour was also sentenced to pay several thousand euros in damages to anti-racist groups. Zemmour said he will appeal the decision. He

By KRISTEN GRIFFITH of The Chronicle of Philanthropy Chronicle of Philanthropy Dakota and Navajo actor Dallas Goldtooth joins other influencers — people who have earned the community’s trust — in a two-phase public outreach effort by nonprofit organizations IllumiNative, the Urban Indian Health Institute, and 13 Native groups in states including Alaska, Minnesota, and California.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has returned to his morning news conference following a week of isolation for his second coronavirus infection. The president used his relatively speedy recovery to remark Monday on the lighter symptoms of the omicron variant, which has quickly become dominant in the region, though he

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — A cold case team that combed through evidence for five years in a bid to unravel one of World War II’s enduring mysteries has reached what it calls the “most likely scenario” of who betrayed Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank and her family. The team says it

BRUSSELS (AP) — Eurogroup finance chiefs are engaged in a high-wire political balancing act prompted by conflicting economic forces: a weaker growth outlook and stronger inflation. Finance ministers from the 19 nations that use the shared euro currency are pledging continued budgetary stimulus for the economy amid headwinds caused by the omicron variant. At the

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese activists say security forces opened fire on protesters, killing at least three people and wounding many others. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country on Monday to denounce an October military coup. The military takeover has scuttled

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has canceled her in-person appointments at the European Parliament this week after her driver tested positive for COVID-19. Von der Leyen was already in Strasbourg for the plenary when she was told of the news and immediately headed back to European Union headquarters Monday. She

By JULIE WALKER and KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A dangerous winter storm is whipping the East Coast with significant snowfall, strong thunderstorms and blustery winds. Meteorologists said a foot or more of snow fell in parts of New York state, Ohio and Pennsylvania through Monday. New York City was spared most

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has fired two short-range missiles into the sea in its fourth weapons launch this month. South Korea’s military says the suspected ballistic missiles flew around 236 miles at a maximum altitude of 26 miles before landing off the country’s northeastern coast. The U.S.

Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian police and anti-terrorism forces are searching for a suspected people smuggler who allegedly fired at Austrian soldiers after evading a border check. A van broke through a border crossing in the Austrian region of Burgenland near the Hungarian border on Monday morning, but was then stopped by Austrian

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Funeral services were held Monday for nine children and three adults who died in a Philadelphia fire five days into the new year, the deadliest blaze in the city in more than a century. A funeral procession on the rain-soaked streets of the city Monday morning was followed by services at Temple

By DARKO BANDIC and DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Novak Djokovic has returned home after being thwarted from defending his Australian Open title only to face a new predicament: He could be barred from the French Open this year, too, if he’s still not vaccinated against COVID-19. A plane carrying the No.

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s justice minister has launched a drive to remove from the country’s criminal code a ban on doctors “advertising” abortion services, a provision that he says is untenable. The move is the first of several liberal social policies planned by new Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition. Former

ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says “our economy has never worked fairly for Black Americans — or really for any American of color.” Her speech delivered at a Washington breakfast gathering is one of many by national leaders acknowledging unmet needs for racial equality on Martin Luther King Day. Major holiday events

BEIJING (AP) — Organizers of the Beijing Olympics say they will only offer event tickets to “selected” spectators because of the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing had already announced that no fans from outside the country would be permitted at the events and had not offered tickets to the general public. The announcement posted on the organizing