AP National News

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says it will launch a task force to consider outlawing dog meat consumption after the country’s president offered to look into ending the centuries-old practice. The government on Thursday stopped short of saying the task force would ban dog meat. The seemingly vague

By DAVID McHUGH, EMILY SCHULTHEIS and JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Some of Europe’s Christmas markets are warily opening amid surging coronavirus infections. In Germany, the picturesque Frankfurt market is open over a wider area to thin out the crowds. Markets in Budapest are fenced off and customers have to show proof

By DAVID RISING and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia says it is sending police, troops and diplomats to the Solomon Islands to help after anti-government demonstrators defied lockdown orders and took to the streets for a second day in violent protests. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had declared the lockdown

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press KAYA, Burkina Faso (AP) — In the West African country of Burkina Faso, many feel the government has let them down during the pandemic. Tests, vaccines and messaging often miss many residents, despite a $200 million budget for virus-response efforts. In a region where women are responsible for family work

By HASSAN BARISE Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Witnesses say a large explosion has occurred outside a school in a busy part of Somalia’s capital during the morning rush hour, killing at least five people, including students. The extremist group Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility. A plume of smoke was seen rising above Mogadishu on

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has become the latest country to record 100,000 deaths from COVID-19. It confirmed its first case on Jan. 27, 2020, rising to 100,000 by early April. After a summer lull, infections surged again last fall, prompting a Christmas lockdown that lasted well into the new year. Germany recorded its 50,000th death

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Demonstrators in the Solomon Islands are defying government lockdown orders to take to the streets for a second day in violent protests. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had declared the lockdown Wednesday after about 1,000 people gathered in protest in the capital Honiara, demanding his resignation over a host of domestic issues,

By HASSAN BARISE Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Witnesses say a large explosion has occurred in a busy part of Somalia’s capital during the morning rush hour, killing at least five people and wounding several others. The extremist group Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility. A plume of smoke was seen rising above Mogadishu on Thursday

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A year after suffering a huge election loss, New Zealand’s conservative opposition leader Judith Collins has been ousted by her caucus. Collins was in the role for a tumultuous 16 months. She never polled well as leader, even after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s popularity began

By WILLIAM J. KOLE Associated Press Members of Native American tribes from around New England are gathering in the seaside town where the Pilgrims settled — not to give thanks but to mourn. Thursday’s solemn National Day of Mourning observance in downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts, will recall the disease and oppression that European settlers brought to

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Official figures show Germany has become the latest country to surpass 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Germany’s disease control agency said Thursday it recorded 351 additional deaths in connection with the coronavirus over the past 24 hours. That took the total toll to 100,119.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Witnesses say a large explosion has occurred in a busy part of Somalia’s capital during the morning rush hour. A plume of smoke was seen rising above Mogadishu on Thursday. Fifteen wounded people have been rushed to a hospital, the Amin ambulance service told The Associated Press. The blast occurred close

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets are mixed after Federal Reserve officials indicated they were ready to raise interest rates sooner than expected if needed to cool inflation. Shanghai and Seoul declined while Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.2% before markets

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco police have released video of officers shooting a knife-wielding man who charged at them in a residential hotel. Forty-one-year-old Ajmal Amani was shot Friday morning in a narrow corridor of the building on South of Market after threatening several people with a large kitchen knife. Acquaintances say Amani was

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police are hunting for thieves who rushed into a Southern California Nordstrom store Wednesday night and ran off with pricey goods. It’s the latest in a string of organized retail thefts that have hit high-end stores. Police say five people entered the open Nordstrom shortly before 7 p.m. at

By ROGER SCHNEIDER Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The FBI’s confirmation last week that it was looking at a spot next to a New Jersey landfill as a possible burial site for former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa is the latest chapter in a search that began when he disappeared in 1975. Many of the theories

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets are lower after Federal Reserve officials indicated they were ready to raise interest rates sooner than expected if needed to cool inflation. Market benchmarks in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney declined. Tokyo advanced. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.2% before

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Environmental groups are calling on President Joe Biden and military leaders to shut down tanks that provide an important fuel reserve for U.S. forces in the Pacific. The director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii told a rally and news conference that the Red Hill fuel storage