Year: 2021

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia will spend $14 million to equip all of its officers with stun guns, train them in their use and require officers to wear them while on duty. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the announcement Tuesday. It was the anniversary of the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. The shooting was filmed

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Tens of millions of unpopular cloth masks produced as an anti-coronavirus measure under former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe remain unused and are being kept in a private storage facility at a cost of hundreds of millions of yen (millions of dollars). A government spokesperson says about

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The political organization led by prominent Democrat Stacey Abrams is branching out into paying off medical debts. Fair Fight Political Action Committee on Wednesday told The Associated Press that it’s donating $1.34 million from its political action committee to wipe out debt owed by 108,000 people in

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden, which has stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response to the pandemic, has announced that it will be offering a third shot to people 65 and older as well as health care and nursing home workers.  Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren said Wednesday that 1.5 million Swedes

BOSTON (AP) — A nor’easter that battered the Atlantic coast with hurricane-force wind gusts has left more than a half-million customers without power in New England. Dozens of schools canceled classes Wednesday. Utility workers labored to restore power as winds diminished throughout the day. The process is expected to take days in hardest-hit southeastern Massachusetts.

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Young women across the U.K. are boycotting nightclubs and pubs as university cities join in a national “girls night in” protest after increasing reports of drink spiking and students being drugged by needle injections. The campaign has gained momentum in university cities including Bristol, Brighton and Nottingham.

By CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police say a resident of a high-rise condominium near Bangkok cut the support rope for two painters, apparently angry she wasn’t told they would be doing work, and left them hanging above the 26th floor until a couple rescued them. Police say the woman is facing

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Their travel and performances were limited during the pandemic. So soprano Renée Fleming and conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin brainstormed on songs they could perform together at a piano. They concluded on a theme of climate change. Their collaboration resulted in “Voice of Nature — The

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — The United States has issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation for people who don’t identify as male or female. The State Department says it expects to offer the option more broadly early next year. The department didn’t identify the passport recipient. But Dana Zzyym

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Midday bombings have injured at least nine people near a busy government office in Myanmar’s second biggest city. The attack appears to be the latest by militants opposed to the country’s military rulers. Witnesses say two explosions rocked an area near the Road Transport Administration Department in

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Francis has agreed to visit Canada to help reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples following shocking revelations of the Catholic church’s role in the abuse and deaths of thousands of native children. The Vatican said in a brief statement on Wednesday that the