AP National News

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain has announced $1.3 billion in grants and other aid to help the hospitality industry survive the onslaught of the omicron variant of COVID-19. The government on Tuesday bowed to days of pressure from pubs, restaurants and other businesses that have seen income plunge following public health

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Tradition dictates that Venezuelans wear brand new clothes on Christmas and New Year’s. Many often paint their homes. But the dollar bills circulating all across the country might as well show the Grinch instead of Washington this year. The government’s loosening of controls on dollars

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX has launched a load of Christmas gifts and supplies to the International Space Station. The Falcon rocket blasted off before dawn Tuesday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Several minutes later, SpaceX made its 100th successful rocket landing. The first-stage booster landed upright on

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The leaders of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia have met in Tirana to discuss and agree on furthering their Open Balkan initiative to promote political and economic ties. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Tuesday hosted the meeting with Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic and North Macedonia

By JOCELYN NOVECK AP National Writer Denzel Washington the actor has some 60 films under his belt, plus two Oscars, and at 66 is universally regarded as one of the all-time greats. Denzel Washington the director has just completed his fourth feature, “A Journal for Jordan,” opening Christmas Day. He says he doesn’t call himself

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African judge has ruled that former President Jacob Zuma can appeal a court decision ordering him back to jail to serve the remainder of his sentence. Zuma led the country between 2009 and 2018. He had only served two months behind bars when he was

By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer The NFL’s decision to reduce COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic, vaccinated players could signal a trend for pro sports leagues and provide an example for society to follow heading into 2022. Despite a rising number of positive cases that forced three games to be rescheduled over the weekend, the

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain has announced 1 billion pounds in grants and loans to help the hospitality industry survive the onslaught of the omicron variant of COVID-19. The government on Tuesday bowed to days of pressure from pubs, restaurants and other businesses that have seen income plunge following public health

MIAMI (AP) — Genomic surveillance data shows omicron has overtaken the delta variant in Miami-Dade County as the dominant strain of the coronavirus in just a matter of weeks. Genetic sequencing showed omicron grew from a tiny fraction of hundreds of samples taken the first week of December to nearly three of every four samples

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian president has reiterated the demand for guarantees from the U.S. and its allies that NATO will not expand eastward, blaming the West for current tensions in Europe. Vladimir Putin’s speech Tuesday at a meeting with Russia’s top military brass came just days after Moscow submitted

By ZEYNEP BILGINSOY Associated Press ISTANBUL (AP) — The Turkish lira is making significant gains after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced measures to safeguard deposits in the lira against volatility seen in recent weeks. The lira hit an all-time low of 18.36 against the U.S. dollar Monday but rebounded to a high of 11.09 Tuesday

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The ruler of Dubai has been ordered to pay his ex-wife and their children close to 550 million pounds ($730 million). The ruling by a U.K. court makes it one of the most expensive divorce settlements in British history. The High Court said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has recorded its biggest jump in daily coronavirus cases in months, a spike that comes as the omicron variant races across the globe and the Mideast tourist hub prepares to welcome hordes of tourists for the holidays. The 452 infections,

By COLIN BERESFORD of NerdWallet Building credit from scratch when you’re young can feel overwhelming; it’s no wonder that nearly 40% of Americans between the ages of 20 and 24 have no credit history or too insufficient of a credit history to have a score, according to the Consumer Finance and Protection Bureau. But many

BERLIN (AP) — The European Union’s top court has ruled that a flight must be considered as canceled for legal purposes if it is brought forward by more than an hour, a verdict that appears to improve customers’ chances of compensation. The European Court of Justice was asked to deliver its opinion by courts in

By JOSH BOAK and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to deliver 500 million free COVID-19 tests to Americans, increase support for hospitals and expand the availability of vaccines to confront a winter surge of coronavirus cases driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant. Biden will stress in a Tuesday speech

By BUSABA SIVASOMBOON and PATRICK QUINN Associated Press BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Thailand has decided to immediately reimpose a mandatory quarantine for visitors and suspend a “test-and-go” scheme for fully vaccinated arrivals as concerns grow over the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The decision is a blow to efforts to revive Thailand’s

BERLIN (AP) — Franziska Giffey has become Berlin’s new mayor as the leader of a three-party left-wing governing coalition. She is a former federal minister who quit Germany’s national government earlier this year. Giffey was elected by the state legislature on Tuesday nearly three months after a regional election in which she led her center-left

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to increase support for hospitals, improve access to COVID-19 tests and expand the availability of vaccines that can reduce the risks from the omicron variant. The government will purchase 500 million rapid at-home tests to be delivered for free to Americans who request