AP National News

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has returned from space with hopes of new celestial investments. But he wants to first recover, as returning to life with gravity has proved heavier than he’d expected. Maezawa blasted off in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with a Russian cosmonaut on Dec.

By VICTORIA MILKO AP Science Writer Symptoms of common colds, the flu and COVID-19 can overlap, so experts say testing is the best way to determine what you have. The flu and COVID-19 can share symptoms including cough, fever and tiredness. Symptoms unique to COVID-19 include the loss of taste or smell. Colds tend to

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A surge in coronavirus cases has shut down California schools and sidelined thousands of police, firefighters and health care workers but officials are hoping it will be short-lived. Los Angeles County’s public health director said Thursday that she’s hoping it will begin to ease in February.

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Asian markets are mostly higher after more declines in big technology stocks pulled major indexes lower on Wall Street. Tokyo and Taiwan declined but other regional markets advanced. On Thursday, the S&P 500 wobbled between gains and losses for much of the day before shedding 0.1%.

By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on two major Biden administration work rules to bump up the nation’s vaccination rate against COVID-19 at a time of spiking cases because of the omicron variant. The justices on the conservative-oriented court are hearing arguments Friday about

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is surging and new omicron infections are spiking, but America’s employers are thought to have kept right on hiring in December on the strength of solid consumer spending. One reason for the optimism about the jobs data the government will issue Friday is that it

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico will begin requiring visas for Venezuelans starting Jan. 21, after a surge in the number of migrants trying to reach the U.S. border. The Interior Department said Thursday that the decision was based on a tenfold increase in the number of Venezuelan citizens arriving in Mexico seeking to travel “in

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says it will skip next month’s Beijing Olympics because of the COVID-19 pandemic and “hostile forces’ moves.” Its statement is largely redundant since it has already been suspended from the Games by the IOC. The International Olympic Committee last September suspended North Korea

By ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is visiting Myanmar, seeking to revive a diplomatic initiative to restore peace following a military takeover nearly a year ago. Critics say the visit will just legitimize the army’s seizure of power, which ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Two parents charged with their son in a fatal Michigan school shooting are returning to court to ask for a lower bail to get out of jail. James and Jennifer Crumbley have been locked up since Dec. 4, unable to meet a $500,000 bond. They’re hoping a judge is willing

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who admitted to burying his wife’s body and misleading authorities for more than a year about her whereabouts is set to be sentenced for killing her. Jurors in November convicted 26-year-old Joseph Elledge of second-degree murder in the killing of 28-year-old Mengqi Ji, whom he met after she

By DAVID EGGERT Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — State police in northern Michigan are investigating after a woman accused former state House Speaker Lee Chatfield of sexually assaulting her multiple times, beginning when she was 14 or 15 years old. The accuser, now 26, filed a criminal complaint with the Lansing Police Department, which

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 JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Politicians and family members are remembering Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson’s ability to build consensus and win friends. Mourners including as many as 20 current and former U.S. senators gathered at Isakson’s memorial service on Thursday in Atlanta. Isakson died Dec. 19 at his home in Atlanta

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 cancellation on Thursday evening, noting that “in-person learning and activities may

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Wizards announcer Glenn Consor has apologized for a reference to Houston player Kevin Porter Jr.’s father during Wednesday night’s television broadcast. After Porter made a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to beat the Wizards Consor said: “You’ve got to give credit. Kevin Porter Jr., like his dad, pulled that trigger right

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s top law enforcement official says prosecutors should not charge women with murder when a fetus dies, even if their behavior may have contributed to the fetus’ death. Attorney General Rob Bonta acted Thursday after prosecutors in the San Joaquin Valley’s Kings County twice charged women