World News

LONDON — Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca repeated its promise not to profit from a COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic as it reported it was on track with late-stage trials for the treatment.

NEW YORK — In the Fall 2012, as the willing subject of one of the most anticipated literary biographies in recent memory, Philip Roth joked that he had surrendered power over his own life to author Blake Bailey.

ROME — A court in the Italian coastal city of Ancona convicted six young men Thursday over a 2018 nightclub stampede that killed five teens aged 14-16 and a mother who had accompanied her daughter to a rap concert.

ROME — The Italian Senate voted Thursday to lift right-wing leader Matteo Salvini’s immunity from prosecution, clearing the way for possible charges against the former interior minister for refusing to allow 164 migrants to get off a ship in Sicily.

GENEVA — A criminal case against FIFA president Gianni Infantino was opened Thursday by a Swiss special prosecutor, plunging the soccer body into a new scandal. FIFA said it and Infantino will co-operate with Swiss authorities.

ATLANTA — John Lewis spent his whole life fighting for civil rights — and he wanted to make sure the cause lived on after his death.

WASHINGTON — More than 1.4 million laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, further evidence of the devastation the coronavirus outbreak has unleashed on the U.S. economy.

LOS ANGELES — Malik B, a rapper and founding member of The Roots, has died. He was 47. The group announced the death of the Philadelphia-born emcee in a social media post Wednesday. The cause of death was not released.

NEW ORLEANS — Comedian Andy Dick told a New Orleans news outlet Wednesday that he’s willing to return to the city and testify against a man accused of knocking him unconscious last year.

NEW YORK — Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey didn't want to write an ordinary celebrity book.