AP National News

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has designated the armed groups blamed for hundreds of abductions and killings in northern areas as terrorist organizations, in a major swing in response to a key security challenge facing Africa’s most populous country. The office of Nigeria’s attorney-general, Abubakar Malami, said in a statement

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nineteen people are dead and 32 more are injured after a bus apparently carrying pilgrims to a religious site in central Mexico crashed. An official in the State of Mexico says the accident occurred Friday southwest of Mexico City. The bus was heading from the western state of Michoacan to Chalma,

BOSTON (AP) — One of the first coins minted in Colonial New England has sold at auction for more than $350,000, more than it was expected to get. London-based auctioneer Morton & Eden Ltd. said Friday that the one shilling silver coin made in Boston in 1652 was sold to an anonymous online bidder from

By GERALD IMRAY AP Sports Writer CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Golf, cricket and rugby have become the first major sports to be affected by the new COVID-19 variant. The emergence of the new variant has prompted fears of renewed travel restrictions and disrupted events just as they were returning to normal nearly two

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s government has launched measures to discourage foreign travel as a way to protect the country’s thin dollar reserves ahead of heavy debt payments. The Central Bank on Friday banned use of credit card installment payments for airline flights and other tourist services abroad. Argentina is trying to renegotiate repayment

By JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert has apologized for using anti-Muslim language in describing a recent encounter with Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Boebert said Friday she has reached out to Omar and apologized “to anyone I offended in the Muslim community” with the remarks. According to a

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — An advisory panel of the World Health Organization has classified a worrying new COVID-19 variant first detected in South Africa as a highly transmissible virus of concern, naming it “Omicron” under its Greek letter system. The U.N. health agency also said early evidence on the new variant,

PARIS (AP) — The archbishop of Paris has offered to resign after admitting to having had an “ambiguous” relationship with a woman in 2012. The Paris archdiocese says Archbishop Michel Aupetit sent a letter to Pope Francis offering to resign following a report in Le Point magazine. There was no indication if or when Francis

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nineteen people are dead and 20 more are injured after a bus apparently carrying pilgrims to a religious site in central Mexico crashed. An official in the State of Mexico says the accident occurred Friday southwest of Mexico City. The bus was heading from the western state of Michoacan to Chalma,

By SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia officials struggling to distribute federal funds to prevent evictions have outlined plans to increase the speed at which they get the money to landlords and renters. The improvement plans were submitted last week to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. If they are not approved, the

By TALI ARBEL and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — On this year’s Black Friday, things almost seem normal. Malls and stores report decent-sized crowds, if not the floods of people that used to fight over the latest toys and electronics. Online shopping is much too common for that now, and big

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Flood watches were issued for much of western Washington as storms associated with multiple “atmospheric rivers” threaten parts of the Northwest that saw heavy damage from storms earlier this month. The National Weather Service warned that flooding was possible through Monday afternoon in places like Bellingham and the greater Seattle area

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The world is confronting a new coronavirus variant, and officials have named it “omicron.” A World Health Organization panel has classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern. Its discovery in southern Africa sent a chill through much of the world as nations raced to halt

By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer Bayern Munich’s annual general meeting ended in tumult with members yelling and booing the club’s directors for refusing to discuss its sponsorship arrangements with Qatar. Irate fans chanted “We are Bayern! You are not!” at club president Herbert Hainer, chief executive Oliver Kahn and other presidium members at the

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — An advisory panel of the World Health Organization classified a new COVID-19 variant first detected in South Africa as a highly transmissible virus of concern and named it “omicron” under its Greek-letter system. The announcement on Friday from the United Nations health agency marks the first time

By KEN SWEET and PAUL WISEMAN NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks sank Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly falling more than 1,000 points, as a new coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa appeared to be spreading across the globe. The S&P 500 index fell 2.3%, its worst day since February and the

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for talks, which he called “constructive.” Friday’s meeting marks the first anniversary of a Moscow-brokered peace deal that ended fighting in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Putin said the three leaders “reached agreement on a

By MARIA CHENG and HALELUYA HADERO A coronavirus variant recently identified in South Africa is leading to a new round of travel restrictions just as many had finally begun to ease. The risks of the new variant are largely unknown, but governments around the world are not waiting for scientists to better understand the variant