AP National News

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank is facing a tough decision Thursday. It’s caught between the scheduled end of its pandemic support program and growing worries that the new omicron variant of the coronavirus might set back hard-won progress in the economic recovery from the pandemic. Experts

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh has marked 50 years of victory over Pakistan in a bloody war for independence by hosting a military parade with the Indian president as a guest of honor. On Dec. 16, 1971, Pakistani soldiers surrendered to a joint India-Bangladesh force, formally making Bangladesh a new nation under the leadership of

SYDNEY (AP) — Five children have died and four others are in critical condition after falling from a bouncy castle that was lifted 33 feet into the air by a gust of wind at a school on Australia’s island state of Tasmania. The school was holding a celebration to mark the end of the school

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Stocks have climbed in Europe and Asia, tracking Wall Street’s gains, after the Federal Reserve said it would accelerate its pullback of economic stimulus. Shares surged in Paris, Frankfurt, London and Tokyo. New York futures and oil prices also advanced. The Fed said it would likely raise interest rates

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are holding a summit focused on preventing a Russian military invasion of neighboring Ukraine. A Russian troop buildup on Ukraine’s border took center stage at the summit of the EU’s 27 leaders on Thursday after Ukraine’s president pleaded for more sanctions to be imposed

TOKYO (AP) — Japan has reported its exports jumped 20% and imports rose at an even faster pace in November as disruptions to manufacturing supply chains eased. Preliminary trade data reported Thursday showed imports surging nearly 44% from a year earlier as surging oil prices pushed costs sharply higher. The country logged a trade deficit

BEIJING (AP) — Rescuers ae trying to reach 21 people trapped by a flood because of illegal mining for coal in northern China. The accident happened about 11 p.m. Wednesday in Shanxi province, a major coal-producing region southwest of Beijing. Authorities say that water is being pumped out of the mine, and the water level

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A powerful typhoon has slammed into the southeastern Philippines and is blowing across island provinces where nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas that could be devastated by flash floods, landslides and tidal surges. Forecasters say Typhoon Rai, which had sustained winds of 115

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A former employee of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says human resources and upper management wouldn’t deal with her accusation of sexual assault. So she went into the busy cafeteria at the headquarters of the Chinese e-commerce giant and screamed out her plight. Now she is paying

By SABINA NIKSIC Associated Press SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Some former vaccine skeptics in Eastern Europe are shifting over to the other side. Fata Keco was afraid of possible adverse side effects when she rolled up her sleeve in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo to take her first COVID-19 vaccine shot. but the worst she

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll shows that millennials and Generation Z Americans say they are more likely to be optimistic about the future and their ability to create change, compared with the older Generation X. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds that despite the challenges

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The trial of fallen Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes moves into its final phase Thursday when lawyers for both sides will present their final arguments to the jury. Federal prosecutors have accused Holmes of a massive fraud by misleading investors and patients about her

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy says it has rescued five Iranians suspected of smuggling drugs after they apparently set fire to their stash on board a traditional sailing vessel off the coast of Oman. One additional Iranian from the vessel remains missing. The Navy released aerial surveillance footage showing the traditional

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — If there was a decade when the NBA nearly disintegrated under the weight of its own problems, the 1970s was that decade. It was a fight-filled, drug-addled operation that had made Black players an integral part of the show, only to be left wondering if

By INNA VARENYTSIA and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press NEVELSKE, Ukraine (AP) — The seven-year-old conflict in eastern Ukraine has all but emptied the village of Nevelske located near the line of contact between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. Only five people still live in the village. That’s down from a population of 286 in 2014.

By AARON MORRISON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Pulitzer Prize-winning Black journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones said she is clear-eyed about her mission to force a reckoning around the nation’s self-image. But she said intense backlash to her work shows the nation is in “a very frightening time.”

SYDNEY (AP) — Four children have died and four others are in critical condition after falling from a bouncy castle that was lifted 10 meters (33 feet) into the air by a gust of wind at a school on Australia’s island state of Tasmania on Thursday. The school was holding a celebration to mark the

By EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has detected its first case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in a cleaning worker at a hospital in Jakarta. The patient has no symptoms and is being quarantined at the Athlete’s Village emergency hospital, where the patient worked. The government created the facility

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing Winter Olympics organizers say measures to prevent cross-infections between athletes and the outside world are being extended to holding their garbage inside the bubble dividing the two. Officials say that a team of special workers will be deployed to collect and transfer garbage inside the bubbles to prevent the risk of