ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Inside Greece’s Orthodox churches, candles are a symbol of faith and simplicity, slender and traditionally made of beeswax, and placed in large candleholders filled with sand. Outside, buyers are looking for a wow-factor to go with Easter gifts: They are sold with dolls, watches and karaoke microphones, or fashioned using dyes…
MADRID (AP) — Spain took another step Wednesday toward a sense of normality amid the pandemic by partially ending the near two-year-long obligatory use of masks indoors. The government decree, passed Tuesday, keeps masks mandatory for visitors and staff in medical centers and nursing homes, although patients won’t always be obliged to wear them. Masks…
LONDON (AP) — A British judge on Wednesday formally approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States to face spying charges. The case will now go to Britain’s interior minister for a decision, though the WikiLeaks founder still has legal avenues of appeal. The order, which brings and end to the years’-long extradition…
TOKYO (AP) — Japan formally revoked Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status Wednesday over its invasion of Ukraine, as Tokyo steps up sanctions amid revelations of the Russian military’s widespread atrocities against civilians. The stripping of Russia’s trade status is Japan’s latest move against Moscow and was part of a list of sanctions measures Prime…
PARIS (AP) — In the climax of France’s presidential campaign, centrist President Emmanuel Macron and far-right contender Marine Le Pen will meet Wednesday evening in a one-on-one television debate that could prove decisive before Sunday’s runoff vote. Both candidates have carefully prepared for the highly scrutinized debate, expected to last more than two hours. Macron,…
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (AP) — Here in the dirt of one of the world’s most radioactive places, Russian soldiers dug trenches. Ukrainian officials worry they were, in effect, digging their own graves. Thousands of tanks and troops rumbled into the forested Chernobyl exclusion zone in the earliest hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, churning…
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed in choppy trading Thursday, as inflation worries and the war in Ukraine had investors partly optimistic while staying cautious. Benchmarks rose in Japan, South Korea and Australia, boosted by the overnight rally in Europe and in the Dow in the U.S. Investors were also watching South Korean trade…
Japan’s weakening yen raised further alarm in Tokyo on Wednesday as the government reported a bigger-than-expected trade deficit largely due to soaring costs for imports of oil, food and other necessities. The deficit of 412 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for March was lower than the previous month’s 670 billion yen but was quadruple analysts’ estimates…
DALLAS (AP) — A ruling by a federal judge has ended — at least for now — the requirement that people wear masks on planes and public transportation, and there is plenty of confusion about the new, post-mask world of travel. The Justice Department left the door open Tuesday to a possible appeal of the…
Moderna hopes to offer updated COVID-19 boosters in the fall that combine its original vaccine with protection against the omicron variant. On Tuesday, it reported a preliminary hint that such an approach might work. Today’s COVID-19 vaccines all are based on the original version of the coronavirus. But the virus continues to mutate, with the…
