AP National News

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Pope Francis is planning to meet with the leader of Cyprus’ Greek Orthodox Church with the aim of further mending an ideological and political rift between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East. Francis and Archbishop Chrysostomos II are set to meet Friday, the second day

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is surging. Supply chains are snarled. And yet economists predict that America’s employers delivered another month of solid job growth in November on the strength of steady consumer spending. Beneath the headline figures on hiring and unemployment, though, lurks a potentially even more consequential question:

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s opposition leader says the nation would set a more ambitious target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by the end of the decade if the government changes at elections early next year. Center-left Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese on Friday set climate policy

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China and the United States are tussling over President Joe Biden’s upcoming democracy summit, which the ruling Communist Party sees as a challenge to its authoritarian ways. A senior Chinese official told the foreign media in Beijing on Thursday that the summit divides countries and points fingers

By COREY WILLIAMS and ED WHITE Associated Press OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The superintendent of a Michigan school district says no discipline was necessary for a teen who was summoned to the office a few hours before four students were fatally shot. Tim Throne also acknowledged that Ethan Crumbley’s parents were at Oxford High

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Stocks are trading mixed in Asia after a broad rally on Wall Street as investors keep an eye on the spread of the new coronavirus variant and measures governments are taking to restrain it. Hong Kong slipped more than 1% while Tokyo edged lower. Shanghai and Seoul were higher

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is tightening recently relaxed restrictions on social gatherings as it grapples with its worst wave of the virus since the start of the pandemic. Starting next week, private social gatherings of seven or more people will be banned in the densely populated capital

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities in Los Angeles announced more than a dozen arrests in recent smash-and-grab thefts at stores where nearly $340,000 worth of merchandise was stolen. The robberies are part of a rash of organized retail crime in California. Police Chief Michel Moore said Thursday that 14 people

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alec Baldwin says someone is responsible for the shooting on a New Mexico film set that killed a cinematographer, but it’s not him. In an ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired Thursday night, Baldwin said he would do anything to undo what happened, but

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press United Nations (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly is urging all nations to observe a truce during the Beijing Winter Olympics starting in February, saying a halt to conflicts during one of the world’s premiere sporting events can be “a tool to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation.” A resolution

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s Republican governor and the state attorney general are suing in federal court to exempt the state’s National Guard from a Biden administration COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Gov. Kevin Stitt argued in a statement Thursday that the Biden administration’s Defense Department overstepped its constitutional authority by subjecting the National Guard to the

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The omicron variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in at least five states, showing yet again how mutations of the virus can circumnavigate the globe with speed and ease. Just a day after the first known U.S. case was found in

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Global Inc. says it will pull out of the New York Stock Exchange and shift its listing to Hong Kong as the ruling Communist Party tightens control over tech industries. Didi gave no explanation, but the company’s U.S. market debut in June

By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a stopgap spending bill that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18 after leaders defused a partisan standoff over federal vaccine mandates. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

By DAVID FISCHER Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Authorities say a South Florida teen tried to get $5,000 from a state senator after threatening to release sexually explicit photos of her. The Broward Sheriff’s Office says 19-year-old Jeremy Kamperveen was arrested last month and charged with extortion and cyberstalking. The arrest report didn’t name the

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California official says the state’s landmark law mandating women be placed on corporate boards is toothless and there are no plans to fine companies for not complying. A chief in the Secretary of State’s Office said Thursday that the law requiring publicly held corporations based

NEW YORK (AP) — Alec Baldwin said the only issue that matters in the shooting that killed a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set is how the bullet ended up in the gun. In an ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired Thursday night, Baldwin said “the only question to be resolved is where

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Jake Dickert has been introduced as the new head football coach at Washington State University and vows to “bring the Pac-12 championship back here to Pullman, Washington.” The 38-year old was elevated last week from interim coach after the Cougars pounded rival Washington 40-13 in

By SAM METZ AP / Report for America CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — State workers enrolled in public employee healthcare plans in Nevada will be charged up to $55 per month if they aren’t vaccinated. The Nevada Public Employees’ Benefit Program Board voted on Thursday to impose a surcharge on unvaccinated workers to offset medical

By MARINA VILLENEUVE Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York officials have disclosed that the U.S. Department of Justice began a civil inquiry in August into sexual harassment claims made against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The exact nature of the inquiry made public Thursday and its current status was unclear. The office of Gov.