AP National News

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has announced 60 finalists for $1 billion in economic development grants tied to the Biden administration’s coronavirus relief package. The grants are aimed at improving job training and regional industry partnerships. There were 529 applicants for the grants. The government ultimately will choose

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Long lines have formed for booster shots in Britain as the government urged all adults to get them and also reported the country’s first death involving the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said everyone 18 and up would be offered a third vaccine

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities reportedly say a homemade bomb detonated in a school attached to an Orthodox convent has wounded 12 people, including a 15-year-old. They say the suspected bomber was an 18-year-old former student of the school. The man survived and is currently in intensive care. The explosion occurred in the Vladychny convent

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s new government says it is extending the country’s current incentive payments for buyers of electric and hybrid cars by a year. But the country’s economy and climate ministry said Monday that the government is planning tougher requirements for vehicles to qualify for the support. The ministry says it will only provide

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order aimed at saving Americans time and frustration when dealing with the federal government. The order will attempt to streamline a broad range of services: renewing passports, applying for Social Security benefits, getting aid after natural disasters and much

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — An employee of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba who was fired after she went public with a sexual assault allegation says she is not encouraging other victims in China to come forward because doing so “will only cause them to suffer more hurt.” The employee, surnamed Zhou,

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union foreign ministers are discussing how to thwart the threat of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine and what measures to take should Moscow decide to send its troops across the border. U.S. intelligence officials say Russia has moved 70,000 troops toward Ukraine’s border and is

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are holding a virtual summit this week to discuss bilateral relations and international issues. The talks come amid tensions between Moscow and the West over the massing of tens of thousands of Russian troops near its border with Ukraine. Chinese Foreign Ministry

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Indonesia to find a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin already in Jakarta for security talks. Just a day after issuing a stern new warning to Russia over Ukraine, Blinken began a 48-hour visit to

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister has met with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi as part of the first official visit to the United Arab Emirates by an Israeli leader since the establishment of official relations between the two countries last year. Naftali Bennett’s visit to the Gulf Arab federation comes against the backdrop

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court has sentenced activist and business tycoon Jimmy Lai to 13 months in jail for urging participation in last year’s banned Tiananmen vigil. Authorities have overseen a sweeping crackdown in the semi-autonomous Chinese city that has rolled back its civil liberties. The Hong Kong District Court convicted on

MILAN (AP) — Firefighters said Monday that rescue workers in Sicily have recovered four more bodies in the rubble of buildings that collapsed following a gas leak explosion, bringing to seven the number of confirmed dead.  Firefighters and civil protection agency volunteers were digging with their bare hands in the search for two more people

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish and Swedish authorities says two freight ships have collided off southern Sweden, west of a Danish Baltic Sea island, with at least two people reported missing. One of the vessels has capsized. Swedes said the British-registered Scot Carrier and the Danish Karin Hoej collided south of Ystad in Sweden close

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Yemeni officials say a senior military commander was killed in clashes between government forces and the Houthi rebels attacking a key central city. The officials say the Yemeni major general who headed military operations of the government’s armed forces was killed Monday on the front line in

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has decriminalized premarital sex in a bold expansion of personal freedoms but the law has struggled to fulfill its promise. Unwed mothers may no longer land in jail, but they’re caught in bureaucratic limbo, fighting to obtain birth certificates for

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A quilt exhibit at Jackson State University honors dozens of lives lost in the U.S. to racial violence. Two quilts stitched together by 75 artists from the U.S. and beyond feature more than 115 portraits of Black victims. The Stitch Their Names Memorial Project

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Hollywood Foreign Press Association will announce nominations to the 79th Golden Globes on Monday morning. But will Hollywood care? The press association, often ridiculed, even by its own hosts, this year went from punchline to pariah. After a Los Angeles Times’ expose detailed some

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is set to recommend contempt charges against former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The expected action Monday evening comes as lawmakers are releasing new details about documents Meadows has handed over to the committee. In