Here’s a selection of top stories from The Associated Press to start the week.

• Pfizer says it plans to meet with top U.S. health officials Monday to discuss the drugmaker’s request for federal authorization of a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine.
• President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser has acknowledged that “it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely” that booster shots will be needed.
• Swashbuckling billionaire Richard Branson hurtled into space aboard his own winged rocket ship, bringing astro-tourism a step closer to reality and beating out his exceedingly richer rival Jeff Bezos.
• Haiti is struggling to recover from last week’s brazen slaying of its president with its government in disarray; no parliament, a dispute over who is prime minister, a weak police force, but gangs that seem more organized and powerful than ever.
• And in Britain, three Black players who missed penalty kicks for England in the decisive European Championship shootout against Italy on Sunday night were subjected to racist abuse online, prompting the English Football Association to issue a statement condemning the language used against the players.

Andrew Meldrum

Africa News Editor

Johannesburg

The Associated Press

The Rundown

Pfizer to discuss vaccine booster with US officials Monday

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer says it plans to meet with top U.S. health officials Monday to discuss the drugmaker’s request for federal authorization of a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser acknowledged that…Read More

Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson flying own rocket to space

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) — After a lifetime of yearning to fly in space, Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson was poised to blast off aboard his own rocket ship Sunday in his boldest, grandest adventure yet. …Read More

Condo collapse victim fought at failed Bay of Pigs invasion

Sixty years before Juan Mora’s Florida condo building came crashing down, killing him and at least 89 others, he was among hundreds of Cuban exiles who signed up for a covert, CIA-funded operation to overthrow Fidel Castro’s Soviet-backed dictatorshi…Read More

Gangs complicate Haiti effort to recover from assassination

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gangs in Haiti have long been financed by powerful politicians and their allies — and many feel they may be losing control of the increasingly powerful armed groups who have driven thousands of people from their homes as …Read More

For democracy, it’s a time of swimming against the tide

The old Nicaraguan revolutionary, with his receding hairline and the goatee that he had finally let turn grey, spoke calmly into the camera as police swarmed toward his house, hidden behind a high wall in a leafy Managua neighborhood. …Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

Racist abuse targets 3 English players who missed penalties

LONDON (AP) — Three Black players who missed penalty kicks for England in the decisive European Championship shootout against Italy on Sunday night were subjected to ra…Read More

Listen up: Biden speaks volumes in a whisper to make a point

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden was at a public transit station in Wisconsin, talking about repairing roads and bridges, when he shifted gears and began defending…Read More

Unopened Super Mario 64 game from 1996 sells for $1.56M

DALLAS (AP) — An unopened copy of Nintendo’s Super Mario 64 has sold at auction for $1.56 million. Heritage Auctions in Dallas said that the 1996 game sold Sunday, brea…Read More

Pyer Moss wows with couture show honoring Black inventors

IRVINGTON, N.Y. (AP) — This time, the weather gods were smiling on Kerby Jean-Raymond and his label, Pyer Moss. So too were the fashion gods. Two days after torrential …Read More