AP National News

By BRITTANY PETERSON and SAM METZ Associated Press DENVER (AP) — More places around the U.S. are eyeing the practice of recycling wastewater for reuse in homes and businesses as tap water. Cities see it as a way to ensure water supplies as their populations grow and climate change intensifies droughts. A push in the

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.2% in October compared with a year earlier as surging costs for food, gas and housing left Americans grappling with the highest inflation rate since 1990. The year-over-year increase in the consumer price index exceeded the 5.4% rise in September. From

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a new pandemic low 267,000 last week, another sign that the job market is recovering from last year’s sharp coronavirus downturn. Jobless claims fell by 4,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The four-week average

By DARKO BANDIC Associated Press ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Despite its infection surge, Croatia is becoming a new favored destination for Russians seeking vaccination with Western jabs. They need them to travel around Europe and the U.S. Officials say that there is a separate vaccination queue for foreigners — who are mostly Russians — at

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — COVID-19 has had a staggering impact on the sheriff’s department in Broward County, Florida. During a memorial service for nine employees who died from the virus, Sheriff Gregory Tony said well over half of the department’s 5,600 workforce had been exposed, and a third contracted the disease. He told mourners, “we

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man who left his 19-month-old daughter to die in a burning car during a police chase was given 28 years in prison after pleading guilty. The office of 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette says Imhotep O. Norman of Spartanburg was sentenced Tuesday. Law enforcement tried to stop him

NEW YORK (AP) — Two Washington Post reporters are working on a biography of George Floyd, from his family history in the tobacco fields of North Carolina to his murder last year in Minneapolis by a white police officer. Viking announced that “His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial

By KATIE WORKMAN Associated Press For lovers of Advent calendars, there are lots of new offerings to count down to Christmas. Show up with one for Thanksgiving dinner and your recipient will be getting daily treats all month long. There are Advent calendars that contain candy, wine, liquor, coffee, tea and more. New examples include

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and THEODORA TONGAS Associated Press OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — Microsoft has launched a digital immersive tour at the ancient birthplace of the Olympic Games in southern Greece. It provides visitors a virtual re-creation of temples and competition areas in ancient Olympia as they walk through one of the world’s major archaeological sites.

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — An Albanian Appeals Court has sentenced the country’s former chief prosecutor to two years in prison for hiding money from illegally-owned properties. The ex-prosecutor general, Adriatik Llalla, 52, was sentenced for hiding property and giving false information on the asset declarations Albanian officials must submit every

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An activist group says South Korea has rejected refugee status for four ethnic Chinese people who have been “stateless” since they fled North Korea years ago. Unlike ethnic Chinese, North Korean defectors get citizenship and economic assistance in South Korea. The four Chinese North Koreans

By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A top Taliban official has urged former Afghan military pilots to remain in the country, saying they are protected by a national amnesty and would not face arrest. Wednesday’s comments came a day after dozens of U.S.-trained pilots and other Afghans were flown out of Tajikistan in

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has stepped down after seven years in office. Lofven will continue as as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed, but his resignation on Wednesday paves the way for his replacement as leader of the Social Democratic Party to become Sweden’s first female head

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — An Italian judge has issued an international arrest warrant for the Israeli grandfather of a 6-year-old boy who survived a cable car crash in Italy, after the man spirited the child to Israel in violation of an Italian juvenile court order.  Eitan Biran was the sole survivor

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — About 900,000 kids aged 5-11 will have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in their first week of eligibility, the White House said Wednesday. Final clearance for the shots was granted by federal regulators on Nov. 2, with the first doses to kids beginning in

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — A top European Union court has rejected Google’s appeal of a 2.4 billion euro fine from regulators who found the tech giant gave its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage in search results. The 27-nation bloc’s top competition watchdog had punished Google in 2017 for unfairly

By KAREL JANICEK Associated Press PRAGUE (AP) — Coronavirus cases have soared to a new record high in Slovakia, with some hospitals having to move COVID-19 patients elsewhere in the country because they couldn’t take any more. In neighboring Czech Republic, new infections jumped to levels close to record numbers seen during previous waves, authorities

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United Nations says Ethiopian authorities have arrested and detained some 70 truck drivers contracted to the U.N. and other aid groups in the past week since the government declared a state of emergency amid the country’s escalating war. Wednesday’s statement says the U.N. is seeking

By LORI HINNANT Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Former French President François Hollande is testifying at the trial of 14 men accused of helping in the 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris. Hollande was at France’s national stadium when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the gates on Nov. 13, 2015. Other attackers struck

By CHANELLE BESSETTE of NerdWallet Cryptocurrency banking allows consumers to hold and spend cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, litecoin and ether. Card issuers and fintech companies have begun to offer cryptocurrency debit cards as a way to help their customers spend blockchain-based money just like regular cash. There are still risks to using this new currency,