AP National News

ROME (AP) — Tens of thousands of union members and other Italians gathered in Rome to stand up against rising fascism Saturday, a week after right-wing extremists forced their way into the headquarters of Italy’s most powerful labor confederation while protesting a COVID-19 certification requirement for workplaces. The head of the CGIL union confederation, Maurizio

By ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press/Report for America AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans are set to approve redrawn U.S. House maps that would shore up their eroding dominance as voters peel away from the GOP in the state’s booming suburbs. The Texas House on Saturday is expected to send the maps to Republican Gov. Greg

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press A bitcoin operation in central New York has taken over a power plant to find cheap energy for currency mining in a move that has alarmed environmentalists. Greenidge Generation now produces about 44 megawatts to run 15,300 computer servers, plus additional electricity it sends into the state’s power grid. Environmentalists

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Judges around the country are increasingly being asked to weigh in on the deworming drug ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment. At least two dozen lawsuits have been filed around the U.S., many in recent weeks, by people seeking to force hospitals to give their COVID-stricken loved

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A lawyer says an Iranian appeals court has upheld a verdict sentencing an Iranian-British woman long held in Tehran to another year in prison. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has already served a five-year sentence in the Islamic Republic. Her lawyer told The Associated Press on Saturday that the appeals court upheld a verdict

By JEFF MARTIN Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — One of the world’s largest elevator towers will soon be opened to test elevators of the future as well as current ones high above the Atlanta suburbs. TK Elevators says its 420-foot tower is set to become fully operational early next year. General contractor Brasfield & Gorrie

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Frustrated with persistently low prices, ranchers and others in the beef industry are moving to reverse a long trend of consolidation and planning to open new slaughterhouses. The new plants typically cost more than $300 million, but they still will be much smaller than those

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ energy minister says an undersea cable linking the electricity grids of Cyprus and Egypt could be key to helping both countries transition to a green economy. Minister Natasa Pilides said a memorandum of understanding she signed with Egypt’s electricity minister on Saturday supports the project’s planning, development and implementation. Pilides

By HOPE YEN and TOM KRISHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As traffic fatalities spike during the pandemic, the federal agency in charge of auto safety is struggling with a growing backlog of safety rules ordered by Congress that are years overdue and estimated to save thousands of lives. An Associated Press review of the

HELSINKI (AP) — Norwegian authorities are commissioning an independent investigation into the actions of police and security agencies following a bow-and-arrow attack that killed five people and injured three. Norway’s domestic intelligence agency said Saturday that it decided to seek the review after consulting the country’s national and regional police commanders. A 37-year-old resident who

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities say a man with an AR-15-style rifle ambushed three constable deputies outside of a Houston bar, killing one and wounded two others. The Houston Police Department says one person was detained, but he’s not believed to be the shooter. Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman says the deputies were working

By MAYUKO ONO and PAN PYLAS Associated Press LEIGH-ON-SEA, England (AP) — Leaders from across Britain’s political spectrum have come together to pay tribute to a long-serving British lawmaker who was stabbed to death in what police have described as a terrorist attack. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the leader of the opposition Labour Party and

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press A Maine law banning obscene license plates goes into effect Monday, but getting the foul language off the roads and highways won’t happen overnight. Rule-making is getting underway to ensure the law protects First Amendment rights while getting rid of profane language. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says the process

By JILL COLVIN and SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Donald Trump rallied Republicans this past week to vote for Glenn Youngkin in the tight race for Virginia governor. But that may be the closest Trump gets to campaigning in the most closely watched election of 2021. The two men aren’t expected to

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Africa’s largest film festival is kicking off in Burkina Faso for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The week-long  Pan-African Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou is also being held amid both the pandemic and a growing jihadi insurgency that’s killed thousands of

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A judiciary spokesperson says a court has sentenced the former governor of Iran’s central bank to 10 years in prison for violating the country’s currency system. The spokesperson says the former central bank chief also had a role in smuggling foreign currency. A former deputy to the bank chief was sentenced

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s daily death toll from COVID-19 has exceeded 1000 for the first time as the country faces a sustained wave of rising infections. The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 1,002 deaths, up from 999 on Friday, along with 33,208 new confirmed cases. The government said

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s president has paid her respects at a morgue to the dozens of people killed in a deadly inferno that ripped through an aging tower block earlier in the week. Authorities say the fire in the southern city of Kaohsiung killed at least 46 people, after it broke out early Thursday

BERLIN (AP) — The leader of outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party has urged supporters to emulate the unity and discipline of their victorious opponents. Armin Laschet declared Saturday that the center-right Union bloc can only start winning again if its members learn to stand together. Laschet has indicated his readiness to step down as

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese astronauts have begun their six-month mission on China’s first permanent space station, after successfully docking aboard their spacecraft. The astronauts, two men and a woman, were seen floating around the module before speaking via a live-streamed video Saturday. They are the second crew to move into the new space station, which