SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — France’s health minister says omicron infections are rapidly spreading and the variant will become the dominant infection in the last days of 2021. Olivier Veran ruled out additional restrictions on public life and said the government’s main effort to stop the spread of the virus is a robust vaccination campaign, including…
The U.S. Secret Service says nearly $100 billion has been stolen from COVID-19 relief programs set up to help businesses and people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. The staggering sum represents but a small percentage, less than 3%, of pandemic benefits program funds. The estimate is based on Secret Service cases and…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A jury will resume deliberations Tuesday in the trial of a suburban Minneapolis police officer who says she meant to use her Taser instead of her gun when she shot and killed Black motorist Daunte Wright. The jury met for about a half-day Monday following closing arguments in which prosecutors accused Kim…
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s main nurses’ union has warned that exhaustion and surging coronavirus cases among medical staff are pushing them to the breaking point. That is adding to pressure on the government for new restrictions to curb record numbers of infections driven by the omicron variant. The warning Monday throws into stark relief the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin has all but delivered a death blow to President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion domestic initiative. Saying he can’t support the package, the West Virginia Democrat has single-handedly thrown his party’s agenda into jeopardy. Furious colleagues are desperate to salvage what’s left of a top priority. Next steps are highly…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The rapidly-spreading omicron variant may soon leave U.S. doctors without two of the standard treatments they’ve used to fight COVID-19. Antibody drugs from Regeneron and Eli Lilly have been the go-to drugs to keep patients out of the hospital. But the drugmakers have warned that their infused medications are far less potent…
NEW YORK (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell’s defense has rested its case after two days of presenting evidence on the British socialite’s behalf. Not among that evidence was testimony from the longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate herself. Around a half-hour after Maxwell told the court Friday she would not testify in her own defense because “the government…
LONDON (AP) — Christmas revelers across Europe are lying low and changing plans as new restrictions and fears about the omicron variant of the coronavirus persuade many to stay home. That’s magnifying concerns about a second lost holiday season for airlines, restaurants and shops already battered by the pandemic. Scotland and Wales on Friday pledged…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Sex and the City” actor Chris Noth has been accused of sexually assaulting two women, who shared their accounts with the trade publication The Hollywood Reporter. Noth denies the allegations, saying his interactions with the women in 2004 and 2015 were “consensual.” The actor isn’t under criminal investigation over the allegations.…
DAWSON SPRINGS, Ky. (AP) — Several tight-knit communities of the South and Midwest are turning to the somber task of burying their dead after tornadoes killed dozens of people across eight states. The fierce storms tore Friday night from Arkansas to Illinois and also through much of Kentucky and parts of Tennessee and other states.…