AP National News

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer One of Hollywood’s greatest bards, Eve Babitz, has died at age 78. With love and candor, Babitz chronicled the excess of her native world in the 1960s and 1970s and became a cult figure to generations of readers. Her dispatches from the Troubadour Bar and the Chateau Marmont, from

By ERIC TUCKER and ALAN SUDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In the months since President Joe Biden warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin to crack down on ransomware gangs in his country, there hasn’t been a massive attack like the one last May that resulted in gasoline shortages. But the problem hasn’t evaporated, with hackers

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian military transport planes have delivered a shipment of humanitarian supplies to Afghanistan and flew back 200 Russians, Afghan students and others. The Russian Defense Ministry said that three Il-76 cargo planes will make stopover in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan before flying to Moscow. It said the planes were carrying citizens of Russia

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden administration nominees after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to schedule a vote on sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany. With many senators anxious

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A photographer is trying to trademark a “New Miss” logo that’s nearly identical to the Ole Miss logo used by the University of Mississippi. Suzi Altman has been selling New Miss merchandise for more than a year. She says she’s trying to raise money to

By JOHN HANNA and SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press A tornado outbreak that claimed at least 92 lives has left friends and relatives of the victims reeling and clinging to memories. Across multiple states, the victims of last weekend’s twisters included grandmothers, veterans and, in some cases, multiple members of a single family. On one street

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Nations across Europe are moving to reimpose tougher measures to stem a new wave of COVID-19 infections spurred by the highly transmissible omicron variant. As case numbers escalate, alarmed ministers in France, Cyprus and Austria tightened travel restrictions. Denmark closed theaters, concert halls, amusement parks and museums.

By JACK JEFFERY Associated Press RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Police officials say they have detained a Palestinian woman after she stabbed and lightly wounded a Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank. They say officers arrested the 65-year-old Palestinian woman after she stabbed and wrestled with the 38-year-old settler in the center of the

By ADIL JAWAD Associated Press KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say a powerful gas explosion in a sewage system in a southern Pakistan city has killed at least 12 people and injured 11 others. A police spokesman said the blast Saturday was apparently caused when something ignited gas that had accumulated in the sewer beneath

By JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Thousands of Catalans have taken to the streets of Barcelona to protest against a court decision that mandates that 25% of all school subjects be taught in Spanish and reduces the still predominant use of the local Catalan language in classrooms. Demonstrators say this would threaten

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is doubling down on his efforts to quash the old Latin Mass. He is forbidding the celebration of some sacraments according to the ancient rite in his latest salvo against conservatives and traditionalists. The Vatican’s liturgy office issued a document that clarified some questions that

By JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish truckers have won concessions from the government to help check rising fuel costs and improve work conditions after threatening to stop hauling freight just before Christmas. Spain, like many governments across the globe, faced pressure to help relieve the pain caused by record-high inflation. The

ROME (AP) — A moderate earthquake has rattled Milan. There have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Italy’s Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology said the quake had a preliminary magnitude between 4.3 and 4.8. It struck at 11:34 a.m. (1034 GMT) Saturday in the province of Bergamo.

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A powerful typhoon has left at least 31 people dead in the Philippines, knocked down power and cellphone services in entire provinces and wrought widespread destruction. A governor says her island was leveled to the ground. Typhoon Rai blew away Friday night into the South China

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say a powerful gas explosion in a sewage system in a southern Pakistan city has killed at least 10 people and injured 13 others. A police spokesman said the blast Saturday was apparently caused when something ignited gas that had accumulated in the sewer beneath a bank building. The explosion

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian diplomat says that Moscow may take unspecified new measures to ensure its security if the U.S. and its allies continue to take provocative action and ignore its demand for guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accused Western allies of

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian health authorities say they have identified the country’s first cases of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus. The Health Ministry said late Friday that three people were found to have the variant among 26 travelers who tested positive for coronavirus at Cairo International Airport. It didn’t say where the