Year: 2021

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The Russian Embassy in Tirana says the bodies of four Russian tourists who were found dead at a beach resort in western Albania last week have been flown home. Albanian police said the four — a married couple, their daughter and son-in-law — were found dead in a hotel sauna in

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit totaled $2.77 trillion for 2021, the second highest on record but an improvement from the all-time high of $3.13 trillion in 2020. The deficits in both years reflected trillions of dollars in government spending to counteract the devastating effects of a global

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Exchange rate distortions in war-torn Syria have allowed the government of Bashar Assad to divert at least $100 million of international aid to its coffers. That’s according to new research published this week by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The currency manipulation deprives

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, CASEY SMITH and LARRY FENN Associated Press/Report for America INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Earlier this year, an insistent cry arose from business leaders and Republican governors: Cut off a $300-a-week federal supplement for unemployed Americans. Many people, they argued, would then come off the sidelines and take the millions of jobs that employers

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s president says she has ordered the expulsion of two Russian diplomats for allegedly “endangering national security.” President Vjosa Osmani said in a statement Friday that she had asked her country’s foreign ministry “to declare two officials of the Liaison Office of the Russian Federation in Kosovo ‘persona non grata.’” She

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnia’s Serb police have held an “anti-terrorist” drill just outside the capital Sarajevo, in a move seen by many as another provocation by the country’s separatist leadership. The exercise was held in the ski resort at Mt. Jahorina, the general area from where the Bosnian Serb military relentlessly shelled and sniped

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has effectively outlawed six prominent Palestinian human rights groups by declaring them terrorist organizations. Friday’s declaration marks a major escalation of Israel’s decades-long crackdown on political activism in the occupied territories. It appeared to pave the way for Israel to raid their offices, seize assets, arrest

By BABAR DOGAR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s police say violent clashes have erupted between security forces and Islamists in the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least two policemen and two demonstrators. Friday’s incident happened shortly after thousands of Islamists launched their “long march” from the city toward Pakistan’s