AP National News

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian media report that the country’s former chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, plans to quit politics a month after stepping down as leader amid corruption allegations. Vienna daily Krone reported Thursday that Interior Minister Karl Nehammer could replace Kurz as the head of the conservative Austrian People’s Party. It quoted people close to Kurz

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — In northern Denmark, six stranded customers and about two dozen employees spent the night in a IKEA furniture store, sleeping in the beds that are usually on show. A snowstorm that brought up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow meant that customers and employees were unable to leave when the

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and CATHY BUSSEWITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — OPEC and allied oil-producing countries are meeting under the spikey shadow of a new COVID-19 threat as they decide how much oil to pump to a world paying more for gasoline. Thursday’s online meeting is clouded by uncertainty over the omicron variant’s impact on

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks and Wall Street futures are mixed as traders consider the possible impact of the coronavirus’s omicron variant. London and Frankfurt opened lower and Shanghai and Tokyo fell. Hong Kong advanced. Governments have responded to the variant by tightening travel controls, fueling unease about the

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s prime minister has come under fire after his wife and children flew abroad. Their trip comes just days after Naftali Bennett urged citizens to avoid international travel because of the new coronavirus variant. Bennett was attacked Thursday by political rivals and everyday Israelis for

By ARITZ PARRA and EMILIO MORENATTI Associated Press LAS MANCHAS, Canary Islands (AP) — The scientists come with eagle-eyed drones and high-precision instruments. Aided by satellites, they analyze gas emissions and the flows of molten rock. They collect everything on the ground from tiny particles to “lava bombs” the size of watermelons that volcanoes hurl

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed a new treasury and finance minister after Lutfi Elvan stepped down from the post as the currency has been tumbling to record lows. An announcement published in the Official Gazette early Thursday said that Erdogan named deputy minister Nureddin Nebati to the post. The

BANGKOK (AP) — Human Rights Watch says the killing of at least 65 protesters in Myanmar’s biggest city on March 14 this year was planned and premeditated. The group accused security forces of deliberately encircling and using lethal force against crowds in Yangon’s working class neighborhood of Hlaing Tharyar that were demonstrating against the military’s

By NICOLE WINFIELD and MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Pope Francis has started a trip to Cyprus, drawing fresh attention to the plight of migrants on Europe’s borders. The eastern Mediterranean island nation has seen such a spike in migrant arrivals this year that it has formally asked the European Commission to

By LORI HINNANT Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Governments around the world are weighing new measures for populations tired of hearing about restrictions and vaccines with the coronavirus delta variant of COVID-19 pushing up cases in Europe and growing fears over the omicron variant. Greeks who are over age 60 and refuse vaccinations could be

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese have been losing business opportunities and contracts in recent weeks as a result of a diplomatic crisis between their government and Saudi Arabia. At the root of the crisis is Saudi Arabia’s years-old regional rivalry with Iran, with Lebanon caught in the middle. Lebanon’s Iran-backed

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Rights groups say Israel failed to investigate shootings that killed more than 200 Palestinians and wounded thousands at violent protests along the Gaza frontier in 2018 and 2019. That would potentially strengthen the case for the International Criminal Court to intervene. The Israeli military rejected the findings,

By BEN FINLEY and SARAH RANKIN Associated Press VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Election officials in Virginia have begun the painstaking process of recounting votes in one of two unresolved races that will settle whether Virginia Republicans have reclaimed the majority in the House of Delegates. Elections officials and representatives from both parties in Virginia

By TERENCE CHEA Associated Press ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — Even Christmas trees aren’t immune to the pandemic-induced shortages and inflation plaguing the economy. Extreme weather and supply chain disruptions have reduced supplies of both real and artificial trees this season. Industry officials say American shoppers should expect to have fewer choices and pay up to

By TOM KRISHER Associated Press The Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the U.S. is on hold because of legal challenges, but employers can still require the shots. The regulation says businesses with 100 or more employees need to require COVID-19 vaccination or have workers get tested weekly for the virus. It was set to

By KRISTIN M. HALL and JUSTIN PRITCHARD Associated Press Takeaways from an Associated Press investigation that found that hundreds of pounds of plastic explosives have disappeared from U.S. military supplies over the past decade, along with hundreds — and possibly thousands — of armor-piercing grenades and even some land mines and rockets. 

By RONALD BLUM and STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Baseball Writers IRVING, Texas (AP) — Major League Baseball plunged into its first work stoppage in a quarter-century when the sport’s collective bargaining agreement expired and owners immediately locked out players in a move that threatens spring training and opening day. The strategy, management’s equivalent of a strike

By JUWON PARK Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean superstar Gianna Jun (Jun Ji-hyun) has fronted numerous beauty and fashion campaigns in Asia. Yet the Korean star says she’s more interested in aging gracefully. Asked about her career goals, Jun says says it’s more important to her “to age well, as a