AP National News

By SYLVIE CORBET The Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Macron has vowed to work to make Europe “more powerful” as France’s turn in the European Union’s rotating six-month presidency starts Jan. 1 and overlaps with the country’s presidential election. Macron said Thrusday that France plans to use its EU tenure to promote “a

By AMY FORLITI and STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The woman who was riding with Daunte Wright when he was pulled over by suburban Minneapolis police and fatally shot by an officer testified to the chaotic moments immediately afterward. Wright’s girlfriend, Alayna Albrecht-Payton, told the court Thursday that she screamed at Wright but

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters, opening a third dose of Pfizer’s vaccine to people as young as age 16. The U.S. and many other nations already urge adults to get a booster to pump up their immunity months after initial vaccination. In the U.S., the Pfizer

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press One casualty of this year’s congressional redistricting process across the country is the swing seat in a House district. Political lines are redrawn every 10 years to reflect population changes. Both parties, but especially Republicans, are trying to protect their congressional incumbents during the latest redistricting. To do that they’re

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera has signed a law permitting same-sex couples to marry and adopt. The ceremony came a little more than six months after the conservative leader surprised many by saying he would smooth the way for a marriage equality law that had long been stuck in the nation’s Congress.

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA and FRANCESCA EBEL Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A fire at Tunisia’s largest Islamist party’s headquarters in the capital Tunis Thursday killed one person and injured eighteen, authorities and the party said. The latter included a former prime minister who was hurt jumping out of a window. In a statement,

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California woman faces criminal charges for telling her daughter “you better hit her” before the girl punched an opposing player in the head during a basketball game. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Thursday the words were the “catalyst” for the attack. The punch

The Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Rapper Travis Scott says in an interview that he didn’t know that fans had died at his Astroworld festival in Houston until after his performance ended. In the interview with Charlamagne Tha God posted on Thursday, Scott said he paused the performance a couple of times but couldn’t hear

By DEE-ANN DURBIN and CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Starbucks workers at a store in Buffalo, New York, voted to unionize on Thursday, a first for the 50-year-old coffee retailer in the U.S. and the latest sign that the labor movement is stirring after decades of decline. The National Labor Relations Board

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Starbucks workers have voted to unionize in Buffalo, New York over the company’s objections, pointing the way to a new labor model for the 50-year old coffee giant. The National Labor Relations Board said Thursday that workers voted 19-8 in favor of a union. If

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Britain to make it easier for people to apply for asylum and harder for people to work illegally to stem risky migration efforts across the English Channel after a recent deadly sinking. Macron also accused the British government of reneging on promises over fishing licenses and of betraying French-British

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Five mixed-race women who were taken away from their Black mothers in infancy and sued the Belgian state for allegedly committing a crime against humanity have lost their case. One of their lawyers told The Associated Press on Thursday that they will likely appeal the Brussels court’s

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina authorities say a high school student has been taken into custody after he was found carrying a rifle with a loaded magazine on a school bus. According to The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten said the juvenile student was carrying a pistol-grip AK-47

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Capitol Police arrested a congressional staffer on Thursday after he walked into a legislative building with a gun in his bag. The incident led to a brief lockdown in a Capitol Hill complex that’s still on edge nearly a year after a deadly insurrection. Police say

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s regulatory authority has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as a booster shot, opening the way for third doses to be administered to battle the current surge driven by the omicron variant. South Africa’s new COVID-19 cases continue to rise. In the last 24 hours, South Africa

By DASHA LITVINOVA and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top military officer has sternly warned Ukraine against trying to reclaim control over separatist areas by force. He said Thursday that Moscow will “suppress” any such attempt. Thursday’s statement comes amid soaring tensions over a Russian troop buildup near the border with Ukraine

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan have traded blame for border clashes in which officials say at least one soldier has been killed and two others have been wounded amid simmering tensions between the ex-Soviet neighbors. Armenia’s military said Thursday that two of its troops were wounded after Azerbaijani forces opened fire on Armenian