Month: January 2022

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer “West Side Story’s” Ariana DeBose, “Licorice Pizza’s” Alana Haim and “Belfast’s” Caitriona Balfe are among the actors who will receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Virtuosos Award this year. Festival organizers say they plan to give out the honors at an in-person event in the coastal California town

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Netherlands says it will stop funding a Palestinian civil society group recently outlawed as a terrorist organization by Israel. But it rejected Israel’s main claims about the group following its own audit. The Dutch government said on Wednesday it found no evidence the Union of Agricultural

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Jennifer Garner has been named Woman of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals, based not just on her career as an actor, but also because of her record as a philanthropist and entrepreneur. The organization said Thursday that Garner will be the guest of honor at a parade through

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Classes in Chicago were canceled for a third consecutive day amid an ongoing fight with the teachers union over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety protocols. Families in the nation’s third-largest district were notified of Friday’s cancelation on Thursday evening, noting that “in-person learning and activities may

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia is nervously awaiting the outcome of what increasingly looks like a soap opera, with its most famous sports idol in the lead role. The top-ranked Novak Djokovic faces the prospect of deportation from Australia where the Serb had hoped to win his 21st Grand Slam

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says a record 9.5 million cases of COVID-19 were tallied around the world last week, marking a 71% weekly surge that amounted to a “tsunami” as the new omicron variant sweeps worldwide. But there was a decrease in the number of new deaths

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawyers for Los Angeles County failed in their bid to persuade a federal judge to end Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit over gruesome photos of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, her daughter Gianna and seven others. The Los Angeles Times reports that U.S. District Judge John F. Walter on

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge has ruled that incriminating statements made by a British national charged with a significant role in the torture and beheading of hostages held by the Islamic State group can be used against him at trial. El Shafee Elsheikh sought to have statements admitting his role in the scheme tossed

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — New data from the music industry confirms what a lot of people long suspected — 2021 was a very good year for Morgan Wallen, Adele and vinyl. MRC Data’s year-end report, presented in collaboration with Billboard, shows that Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” ended 2021

By MARK PRATT Associated Press A U.S. District Court judge has agreed to let federal prosecutors use convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s $1,400 COVID-19 stimulus payment to help pay the millions of dollars he is ordered to pay his victims.  The Wall Street Journal also reported Thursday that prosecutors can also use other money

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Andrew Cuomo will be required to appear virtually for a court session Friday as a judge considers a prosecutor’s request to dismiss a fondling case against the former New York governor. Albany County District Attorney David Soares asked Judge Holly Trexler on Tuesday to dismiss the