AP National News

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — The rate of expansion in the U.S. services sector, where most Americans work, hit a record high in October as demand remained strong even as supply chain problems persisted. The Institute for Supply Management reported Wednesday that its monthly survey of service industries —

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in has met with Hungary’s president in Budapest, where the two leaders committed to achieving carbon neutrality in their countries by 2050. At a news briefing following talks with Hungarian President Janos Ader, Moon said bilateral trade between Hungary and South Korea

By CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand have announced the arrest of the head of a company suspected of cheating overseas buyers of millions of dollars paid for undelivered medical rubber gloves during the coronavirus pandemic. Thai authorities have been cracking down on a surge in rubber glove fraud, including the

MOSCOW (AP) — A Belarusian cargo plane has crashed while trying to land in eastern Russia, killing at least four people, officials said. Russian emergency workers said rescuers found four bodies after the Soviet-built An-12 operated by Belarusian carrier Grodno went down Wednesday in Irkutsk, eastern Siberia. The plane caught fire after crashing, and all

By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer Schoolchildren take the spotlight this week as the U.S. enters a new phase in COVID-19 vaccination aimed at curbing deaths, hospitalizations and more than a year of disrupted education. Hugs with friends. Birthday parties indoors. Pillow fights. Kids who got their first shots Wednesday said these are the pleasures

The Associated Press Stocks are opening slightly lower on Wall Street as investors look over another big batch of earnings reports from U.S. companies, which contained some disappointments. They’re also looking ahead to an announcement later Wednesday from the Federal Reserve, which is expected to give its outlook on inflation and the economy and also

NEW YORK (AP) — A memoir Paul Newman left unpublished in his lifetime will come out next fall. Publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced Wednesday that the book is currently untitled. It says the book will include Newman’s thoughts on “acting, directing, boyhood, family, fame, Hollywood, Broadway, love, his first marriage, his 50-year marriage to Joanne

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department plans to start scaling back the size of some of its government debt auctions, a sign that the government’s huge pandemic-driven borrowing needs are starting to ease. The government began selling debt at accelerated levels to fund the trillion-dollar-plus support bills Congress

By FRANK JORDANS and DANICA KIRKA Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Governments and big investors have announced fresh steps to pour trillions of dollars into curbing global warming. The move reflects the financial world’s growing embrace of climate change as both a business necessity and opportunity. A group representing over 450 major financial institutions

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — England’s deputy chief medical officer says too many people believe the pandemic is over, and has warned that the U.K.’s very high coronavirus rates and rising deaths mean there are “hard months to come in the winter.” Jonathan Van-Tam also said Wednesday he was worried that increasing

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and MARIA CHENG Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — The World Health Organization has granted an emergency use license to a coronavirus vaccine developed in India. In a statement on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said it had authorized Covaxin, made by India’s Bharat Biotech. The decision makes Covaxin the eighth COVID-19

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Last call could come three hours earlier in Miami Beach, where voters fed up with nighttime violence chose yes to rolling back the 5 a.m. closing time for alcohol sales. The voter referendum was held Tuesday in response to increasingly raucous crowds and public drinking in the South Beach entertainment

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Police in Sweden say two men died when one of them jumped or fell from the seventh floor of a culture center and landed on the other. Authorities said the 80-year-old man who crashed into the lobby of the Uppsala Konsert and Kongress venue died at the scene north of Stockholm

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and MARIA CHENG Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — The World Health Organization has granted an emergency use license to a coronavirus vaccine developed in India. In a statement on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said it had authorized Covaxin, made by India’s Bharat Biotech. The decision makes Covaxin the eighth COVID-19

Germany’s health minister is calling for booster vaccinations to be stepped up and for more frequent checks of people’s vaccination or test status as new COVID-19 infections increase. Senior health officials also appealed anew on Wednesday to German residents who haven’t yet been vaccinated at all to get their shots. But Health Minister Jens Spahn

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian authorities say an anti-terrorism raid uncovered a tunnel being dug in the vicinity of the French ambassador’s residence. The Interior Ministry didn’t indicate the tunnel’s suspected purpose or say whether the ambassador’s residence was a target. But it said Wednesday that the starting point was a house frequented by a

By DARIA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Daily coronavirus cases and deaths in Russia remain at their highest numbers of the pandemic. Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported more than 40,000 new confirmed cases for the fifth time in seven days.The task force on Wednesday also reported a daily record of 1,189 COVID-19 deaths.

RYAN ZUMMALLEN Edmunds  From low visibility to slippery road conditions, driving during the winter can be stressful. This week, the experts at Edmunds provide helpful tips and tricks about how to get ready for the months ahead by prepping your vehicle.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of Greek health care workers have protested in central Athens against mandatory coronavirus vaccines for their profession. About 300 demonstrators chanted slogans and held up banners outside the parliament building on Wednesday to protest regulations that call for unvaccinated health care workers to be suspended from their jobs. Health care