Month: October 2021

By RANDA KRISS of NerdWallet The Paycheck Protection Program provided small-business owners with just under $800 billion in COVID-19 relief. That program ended on May 31, but business owners’ need for affordable financing didn’t go away with it. Other government funding options may help those still affected by the pandemic. For example, recent changes to

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of Greek state hospital workers have marched through central Athens as part of a 24-hour strike to protest staff shortages and compulsory coronavirus vaccinations. About 500 protesters demonstrated Thursday in the center of the capital, heading to the health ministry chanting slogans and holding up banners. Unions representing the doctors,

By MIKE CORDER, RAF CASERT and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are meeting to discuss ways to ease the pain of soaring energy bills for consumers. They’re also seeking to safeguard energy supplies to the 27-nation bloc by speeding up the transition away from polluting fossil fuels to sustainable alternatives.

LYONS, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say an officer accidentally fired his handgun during a struggle while police were making arrests in suburban Chicago, wounding two other officers. Police say Chicago officers spotted a car Wednesday night that was tied to homicide and a police helicopter tracked it to a gas station in Lyons. Chicago Police

By RAF CASERT and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are pressuring a defiant Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to fall back into line on recognizing that EU law trumps national decision-making, hoping that dialogue will stave off a fundamental crisis in the bloc. Morawiecki this week painted a picture of

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers are weighing what lessons to draw from the military mission in Afghanistan, including whether to even undertake major operations outside Europe and North America. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Afghanistan “highlights the challenges and the risks to engage in big missions and operations outside

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Australia and Britain are defending their nuclear submarine deal with the U.S. amid concerns it could escalate tensions in the region and spark an arms race. U.K. Minister for Armed Forces James Heappey says there “has been a lot of overhyping” of the pact known as AUKUS. He says the

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The father of a 14-year-old girl killed in the 2018 Florida high school shooting massacre is joining the top ranks of an anti-gun violence group to promote like-minded political candidates around the country ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Fred Guttenberg will be a senior adviser to

MADRID (AP) — Hundreds of people were evacuated during the night on the Spanish island of La Palma as a river of molten rock creeps deeper into a coastal town during a protracted volcanic eruption. Emergency services helped some 500 people to leave their homes. That brings to around 7,500 the number of people forced

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton has released a video saying he’s on the road to recovery after being hospitalized in Southern California for six days to treat an infection unrelated to COVID-19. The 75-year-old Clinton arrived at his home in New York on Sunday. Clinton says in the video released Wednesday he’s

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow authorities have announced plans to shut restaurants, movie theaters and many retail stories for 11 days starting Oct. 28 as Russia registered the highest daily numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths since the pandemic began. The government coronavirus task force reported 36,339 new confirmed infections and

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Floods and landslides triggered by days of torrential rains have killed at least 99 people in Nepal since Monday. In neighboring India, heavy downpours this week have also wreaked havoc, killing at least 88 people, while flooding roads, destroying bridges and causing landslides in which several homes were washed away. Forecasters