Year: 2021

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Walgreens says it will close five more stores in San Francisco next month because of organized retail theft. The drugstore chain has closed at least 10 stores in the city since the start of 2019. San Francisco is fighting an embarrassing reputation for brazen shoplifting. This summer, masked shoplifters carried off

BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong has suspended schools, stock market trading and government services as a typhoon passes to the south. Forecasters say Typhoon Kompasu could cause flooding in low-lying areas as it passes the territory while moving toward China’s Hainan island and Vietnam. The typhoon had winds of 51 miles per hour with stronger

By DAVID KOENIG and ALI SWENSON Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — When Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights over the weekend, unsupported claims blaming vaccine mandates began taking off. The airline cited bad weather and air traffic control issues. But Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, as well as other conservative politicians and pundits,

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s High Court has dismissed an intellectual freedom claim by a university physicist who was fired in part over his public statements that scientists exaggerated damage to the Great Barrier Reef caused by climate change. Physicist Peter Ridd had argued he was unlawfully dismissed in 2018 by James Cook University in

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Rising inflation has triggered a jump in Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2022. The Social Security Administration revealed the new 5.9% COLA on Wednesday. Compare it with the last 10 years, when the cost-of-living adjustment averaged about 1.7% annually as inflation remained low. But

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has approved a short-term hike to the nation’s debt limit. The vote Tuesday evening ensures the federal government can continue fully paying its bills into December. The legislation next goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. A default would have had

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — Progressive leaders in Congress are warning against what they say is a “false choice” over how to trim President Joe Biden’s now-$2 trillion proposal for beefing up social services and tackling climate change. That’s according to a letter Wednesday to Democratic congressional leaders and Biden, obtained

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire raging through Southern California coastal mountains is a threat to ranches and rural homes and is keeping a major highway shut down. The Alisal Fire is covering more than 24 square miles in the Santa Ynez Mountains west of Santa Barbara. The number of firefighters has nearly doubled

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Politics Writer RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, is calling on leaders in Washington from both parties — including President Joe Biden — to “get their act together.” In a Tuesday interview with The Associated Press, he also pushed Senate Democrats to scrap the

By ZEKE MILLER and ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — Beleaguered business owners and families separated by COVID-19 are celebrating after the Biden administration says it will reopen U.S. land borders to nonessential travel next month, ending a 19-month freeze. Travel across land borders from Canada and Mexico has been largely restricted to

BEIJING (AP) — China has reported its imports slowed in September while exports grew at a slightly faster pace. Customs data released Wednesday showed the country’s trade surplus pushing higher on sustained demand in the U.S. and Asia. Exports rose 28.1% to $305.7 billion. That was faster than the 26% increase logged in August. Imports

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical depression Pamela has dissipated in northern Mexico after slamming into the country’s Pacific coast as a hurricane, though forecasters warn that its rainy remnants still pose a flooding threat to parts of Texas and Oklahoma. Pamela made landfall early Wednesday about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of the resort and