AP National News

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney Cruise Line will require all guests ages 5 and up to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before setting sail starting early next year. The company posted a statement on its website Wednesday announcing the new rules will begin Jan. 13, 2022. The vaccine was recently approved for children ages 5

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s governor has spared the life of Julius Jones, just hours before he was scheduled to be executed. Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Thursday that he was commuting the 41-year-old Jones’ sentence to life in prison with no chance of parole. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan police said on Thursday they had killed at least five people, including a Muslim cleric, accused of having ties to the extremist group responsible for Tuesday’s suicide bombings in the capital. Four men were killed in a shootout in a frontier town near the Congo

By ZEINA KARAM, DARIA LITVINOVA and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqis have returned home from Belarus after abandoning their hopes of reaching the European Union in a repatriation that follows more than a week of tensions at Poland’s eastern border, where thousands of migrants were stuck in a cold and

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — The judge at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial banned MSNBC from the courthouse Thursday after police said they briefly detained a man who had followed the jury bus and may have tried to photograph jurors. Judge Bruce Schroeder said the man had claimed to be working for MSNBC. NBC News said the

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has embraced “Let’s go Brandon.” The Republican governor’s campaign said they picked the small Tampa suburb of Brandon as the place for his signing of a bill opposing White House vaccine mandates Thursday, trolling President Joe Biden by referring to what has become a popular stand-in for

By RUSS BYNUM and JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Defense attorneys for the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery rested Thursday after calling a total of seven witnesses. The people who testified in the men’s defense included the man who fatally shot Arbery, Travis McMichael. Six neighbors testified about their concerns

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany has approved new measures to rein in record coronavirus infections as Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the pandemic situation in the country “really worrying” and demanded “consequent action” to contain the spread of the virus. Merkel held a videoconference with Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany’s

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Hundreds of pastors are rallying at the Georgia courthouse where three white men are on trial in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The mostly Black group gathered Thursday in response to a defense lawyer’s bid to keep Black ministers out of the courtroom. Many carried signs

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has agreed to commute the death sentence of condemned inmate Julius Jones, who was convicted of murder for a 1999 killing. Stitt announced his decision on Thursday, the day of Jones’ scheduled execution. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board had recommended that

By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Auto Racing Writer Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton says Formula One is “duty bound” to raise awareness of human rights issues as the series closes its season in the Middle East. F1 concludes with races in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. It has also raced since 2004 in Bahrain. Ahead

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Two suspected Iranian computer hackers have been charged in a broad campaign of election interference aimed at intimidating American voters during last year’s presidential race and undermining confidence that the results of the contest could be trusted. Prosecutors say the activities exploited not only computer vulnerabilities but

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s chief of police says security forces are using legal means to contain anti-coup protests in the country. He spoke a day after doctors said at least 15 people were killed by live fire during Wednesday’s demonstrations against last month’s military takeover. It was the highest daily count of people killed since

By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A 35-year-old man has been charged with three counts of murder in the shooting deaths at a Fargo factory of a man and a woman who was eight months pregnant. Anthony Reese Jr., of Moorhead, Minnesota, is charged with killing 43-year-old Richard Pittman, 32-year-old April Carbone

By TOM DAVIES Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The company that runs the Kentucky Derby has been picked to take over the stalled project to build a casino in the western Indiana city of Terre Haute. Indiana Gaming Commission members voted Wednesday in favor of Louisville, Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Inc. over three other companies that

By KEVIN SCHEMBRI ORLAND Associated Press VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Migrants who were held for weeks at sea on tourism boats chartered by the Maltese government during the early phase of the coronavirus pandemic have filed a constitutional complaint in a Maltese court claiming their human rights were violated.The case had its first procedural hearing

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided House is debating Democrats’ expansive social and environment bill. Party leaders hope that cost estimates expected from Congress’ top fiscal analyst will nail down moderate lawmakers’ votes and allow passage by week’s end. Two weeks ago, centrists’ objections forced Democrats to delay the measure. But

By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (AP) — Lawyers for nine people hurt during the “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville have told a jury that white nationalists “planned, executed and then celebrated” racially motivated violence that left one counterprotester dead and dozens more injured. The closing arguments came Thursday in the

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Moments of documentary make cameos in “C’mon C’mon,” but the entire film pulses with something tenderly close to real life. The performances, by Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Norman, are loose and often improvised. The story of an uncle thrust into parenting his sister’s 9-year-old son,

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (AP) — A charge of improperly disposing of a body has been dismissed against the owner of a crematory in southeastern Michigan. Washtenaw County District Judge J. Cedric Simpson ruled Monday that state prosecutors didn’t have the evidence to support the felony charge against O’Neil Swanson. Swanson