AP National News

By MAURICIO SAVARESE and TATIANA POLLASTRI Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A female judge was hiding from the newly empowered Taliban in Afghanistan when an apparent reading mistake 7,000 miles away changed her life. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro apparently mentioned judges by mistake in a speech opening his nation’s doors to Afghan refugees. But

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican immigration authorities say they have discovered 210 migrants packed into a truck trailer in the central part of the country. The National Migration Institute says the truck failed to stop as directed at a checkpoint in Puebla state on Friday and it was pulled over after a pursuit near the

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has reported daily records in coronavirus infections and deaths and confirmed three more cases of the new omicron variant as officials scramble to tighten social distancing and border controls. The 5,352 new cases reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency marked

By AAMER MADHANI, ELLEN KNICKMEYER, NOMAAN MERCHANT and ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has pledged to make it “very, very difficult” for Russia’s Vladimir Putin to take military action in Ukraine as U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian planning is underway for a possible military offensive that could begin

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin will seek binding guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine during a planned call with U.S. President Joe Biden. A U.S. intelligence report and the Ukrainian defense minister have warned of a possible Russian invasion as soon as next

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The warning signs were there: A search for gun ammunition on a cellphone, drawings of blood on a school desk and a written plea for help. But on Tuesday, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit at Oxford High School, the student in question was sent back

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The warning signs were there: A search for gun ammunition on a cellphone, drawings of blood on a school desk and a written plea for help. But on Tuesday, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit at Oxford High School, the student in question was sent back

By AAMER MADHANI, NOMAAN MERCHANT and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian planning is underway for a possible military offensive against Ukraine that could begin as soon as early 2022 and would include an estimated 175,000 personnel. That’s according to an administration official who spoke on condition

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Charlotte Mailliard Shultz, the long-reigning chief of San Francisco protocol and unofficial aide to 10 mayors, died Friday of complications from cancer. She was 88. Friends and family called Shultz a true San Franciscan, even though she was from Texas, who helped the city look its best. As the city’s chief

By NICOLE WINFIELD and DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Pope Francis has arrived in Athens for the second leg of a five-day visit to Cyprus and Greece aimed at bolstering recently mended ties between the Vatican and Greek Orthodox churches. Francis is set to hold meetings on Saturday about an emerging alliance

By ED WHITE Associated Press Experts say guns used in U.S. school shootings have often come from the homes of young perpetrators. But parents are rarely charged for the violence that occurs. That’s what makes the case against Ethan Crumbley’s parents unusual, following the fatal shooting of four students at Oxford High School in southeastern

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Honolulu’s water utility is shutting down one of its wells so it doesn’t pull petroleum from an underground aquifer it shares with the Navy and deliver it to its own customers. The move comes as the Navy grapples with a continuing crisis over fuel contaminating its tap

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Fire crews on the scene could smell gas after an explosion leveled a house in Oklahoma City. Fire Capt. Scott Douglas says neighbors reported the blast about 3:20 p.m. Friday. He says the first arriving fire crews reported smelling gas. After gas and electric power to the site was shut off,

MESQUITE, Texas (AP) — A police officer has died and a suspect has been wounded in a shooting outside a suburban Dallas supermarket. Mesquite police say it happened about 1:40 p.m. Friday outside an Albertson’s supermarket. Mesquite Police Chief David Gill said the officer was responding to a report of a disturbance in the store

By DEBORA ALVARES Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is facing a potential investigation into comments linking COVID-19 vaccines to AIDS. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday instructed the country’s top prosecutor to look into that statement based on an investigation by Brazil’s Senate. The president has argued he

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has postponed a deposition with a former Justice Department official Saturday until Dec. 16 due to a “medical condition that precludes his participation.” Jeffrey Clark had aligned himself with former President Donald Trump last year as he

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana State Prison inmate serving a 100-year sentence for killing his wife in 1983 has confessed to killing a 19-year-old Helena woman in 1968. The Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office announced that 79-year-old Courtney Brooke Atlas confessed Wednesday to killing Pamela Dorrington. She

By SEAN MURPHY The Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has denied clemency for a death row inmate sentenced to die for the 1985 shooting death of a Putnam City schoolteacher. Stitt’s decision clears the way for Bigler Stouffer II to receive a lethal injection on Thursday at the Oklahoma State

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors and retailers are pushing back on assertions by California’s governor and attorney general that they have enough tools to combat shoplifting and other retail thefts. California Retailers Association President Rachel Michelin says recent large-scale thefts in which groups of individuals steal in plain sight or

By SAM METZ AP / Report for America CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The state of Nevada plans to fully cooperate with federal efforts to investigate the history of Native American boarding schools. Governor Steve Sisolak on Friday apologized for the state’s role in funding the construction of and relocation of children to the Stewart