Month: August 2021

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s government said Thursday that it has granted a quarantine exemption to an individual to perform “designated professional work” following reports that Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman did not have to spend time in quarantine when she arrived in the city to film a TV series. “The case in discussion has

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s highest court has rejected the appeals of three people who were convicted in one of the country’s most high-profile murder trials involving a far-right group. The decision announced Thursday by the Federal Court of Justice confirms the life sentence given three years ago to Beate Zschaepe, the only known survivor of

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group said Thursday that an Iranian fuel tanker will sail toward Lebanon “within hours,” warning Israel and the United States not to intercept it. The delivery organized by Lebanon-based Hezbollah would be an apparent violation of U.S. sanctions imposed on

By SRDJAN NEDELJKOVIC and ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press THEA, Greece (AP) — A major wildfire that has ravaged a pine forest for four days, burnt homes and led to the evacuation of villages northwest of Athens is on the wane, but not yet under control, Greece’s minister in charge of public order said Thursday. Hundreds

BEIJING (AP) — A top Chinese official said Thursday that “all-round efforts” are needed to ensure Tibetans speak standard spoken and written Chinese and share the “cultural symbols and images of the Chinese nation.” Wang Yang made the remarks before a handpicked audience in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the home of Tibet’s

By AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ, KATHY GANNON AND JON GAMBRELL Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan protesters defied the Taliban for a second day Thursday, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations, and the fighters again responded violently as they faced down growing challenges to their rule. A U.N. official warned of dire food

By ANNABELLE LIANG Associated Press SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday as worries surrounding the spread of the delta variant again took center stage. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.7% to 27,082.20 and Seoul’s Kospi fell 0.6% to 3,078.71. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 1.5% to 24,936.15. The Shanghai

By COSTAS KANTOURIS Associated Press ALISTRATI, Greece (AP) — Persephone is a tour guide in Greece, but perhaps not the type people are used to. Billed as the world’s first robot tour guide inside a cave, Persephone has been welcoming visitors since mid-July to the Alistrati Cave in northern Greece, 135 kilometers (84 miles) northeast

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — When the Taliban swept over Afghanistan, Russia was ready for the rapid developments after working methodically for years to lay the groundwork for relations with the group that it still officially considers a terrorist organization. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized this week that Moscow was “in

By ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — On the morning of Aug. 19, 1991, I woke up to a loud rumbling outside. It was the same sound I heard during an earlier showdown between Soviet troops and pro-democracy protesters in Lithuania. It was the sound of battle tanks. The ominous noise on that morning

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh is disputing a Human Rights Watch investigation into disappearances of government critics and others as built on questionable, uncorroborated allegations that security forces were involved. The rights group earlier identified 86 people as still missing after allegedly being targeted by security forces. The group is urging the United Nations to