AP National News

By COLLEEN BARRY and CHARLENE PELE Associated Press SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE, Italy (AP) — After a season of being restricted to watching snow accumulate on distant mountains, Italian skiers are finally returning to the slopes that have been off-limits since the first pandemic lockdown in March 2020. But just as the industry is poised

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Security forces have fired tear gas at protesters throwing rocks in Burkina Faso’s capital. Tensions have risen across the conflict-riddled nation with the population angry at the government’s inability to stem violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Several hundred protesters took to

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal investigators say an oil tanker hit an oil platform at night off Louisiana because its Turkish operating company didn’t give the ship’s master time to recover from 50 hours of sleepless travel. Nobody was hurt in the crash early Oct. 17, 2020. But the National

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been on a PR blitz promoting his new book. In “Republican Rescue,” Christie says Republicans should stop talking about 2020 and focus on the future or risk losing elections. Christie’s rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s election lies is

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Postal workers who recall packages and letters piled up in distribution hubs a year ago are gearing up for another holiday crush. The Postal Service and private shippers UPS and FedEx are bolstering their hiring by bringing in about 230,000 seasonal workers to ensure they don’t

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s annual Golden Horse Awards kicked off Saturday with a Hong Kong drama receiving the most nominations for the Asian equivalent of the Academy Awards. This year, the Hong Kong film “Drifting” which is based on a 2012 court case involving homeless people in a working neighborhood, received 12 nominations including

LONDON (AP) — At least two people have died in the U.K. after the year’s first winter storm battered parts of the country with gusts of nearly 100 mph (160 kph). The storm, which was named Arwen by the country’s Met Office, hit parts of the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland particularly hard,

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerians are voting Saturday to elect their mayors and regional leaders amid widespread worry and frustration over rising prices for basic goods. The government is hoping the election confirms support for President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who won election after nationwide pro-democracy protests and the army chief ousted his predecessor. But many Algerians

By MIKE CORDER and PAN PYLAS Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — With each passing hour, new restrictions were being slapped on travel from countries in southern Africa as the world scurried to contain a new variant of the coronavirus that has the potential to be more resistant to the protection offered by vaccines.

BEIJING (AP) — Macao police have detained the head of Macao’s biggest casino junket organizer and others after Chinese authorities issued an arrest warrant for them over accusations that they ran an illegal cross-border gambling syndicate. The arrests in the gambling enclave came after prosecutors in Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang on Friday

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian government has asked Starlink Internet Services of Elon Musk’s SpaceX aerospace company to comply with the country’s regulatory framework before offering its satellite-based internet services. A Communications Ministry statement late Friday said that because Starlink is not the holder of a license, the public is advised not to subscribe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A total of 61 people who arrived in the Netherlands on two flights from South Africa on Friday have tested positive for the coronavirus and are in isolation as the world anxiously seeks to contain a highly transmissible new coronavirus variant. Authorities said Saturday that further tests are now underway

BEIJING (AP) — Macao police have detained the head of Macao’s biggest junket organizer and others after Chinese authorities issued an arrest warrant for them over accusations that they ran an illegal cross-border gambling syndicate. The arrests in the gambling enclave came after prosecutors in Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang on Friday accused

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Solomon Islands police have found three bodies in a burned-out building and arrested more than 100 people in this week’s violence sparked by concerns about the Pacific nation’s increasing links with China. Australian media reported the bodies were recovered late Friday after riots and protests subsided. Authorities imposed a curfew in

By BARRY HATTON Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s new law on working from home has grabbed attention around the world for the way it protects staff. Under the new rules, companies can’t attempt to contact their employees outside working hours. They must also help staff pay for their home gas, electric and internet

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Worried scientists in South Africa are scrambling to combat the lightning spread across the country of the new and highly transmissible omicron COVID-19 variant as the world grapples with its emergence. The omicron variant has sent South Africa from a period of low transmission to rapid growth

By COLLEEN LONG and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Demands by Democrats to fix the nation’s broken immigration system were wielded as a cudgel against Republicans during the 2020 campaign. Elect us, went the argument, and we’ll stop the cruel treatment of migrants at the border, and put in place lasting and humane

Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Alvin Chau, the head of Macao’s biggest junket organizer, over accusations that he helped run an illegal cross-border gambling syndicate. Authorities say they have been investigating the case since July last year, and that the gambling syndicate had over 12,000 agents that

By RAF CASERT and CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The world is racing to contain a new coronavirus variant that is potentially more dangerous than the one that has fueled waves of infection on nearly every continent. A World Health Organization panel on Friday named the variant “omicron” and classified it as a