AP National News

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press A Vermont high school homecoming football game turned into a “drag ball” runway at halftime with a mix of students and faculty members parading in gowns, wigs and makeup, and a big crowd in rainbow colors. As school cheerleaders wrapped up their routine at Burlington High School on Friday night,

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A police chief in Alabama says four people are wounded after a shooting near a high school football game Friday night. Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine told reporters the shooting happened near the exit ramp at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The chief says two of the four people shot were juveniles. All four

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers have agreed to downgrade Myanmar’s participation in an upcoming summit in their sharpest rebuke yet of its leaders following a Feb. 1 military takeover. Brunei, chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said Saturday the bloc has decided to invite

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — Norway has announced it will hold an independent investigation into the actions of police and security agencies following a bow-and-arrow attack that killed five people and injured three others. Police have been criticized for reacting too slowly to contain the massacre. Police have acknowledged that the five

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office has confirmed that remains found in September are those of a boy who disappeared in May. The Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office announced on its Facebook page Friday night the remains were those of Xavior Harrelson, of Montezuma. The sheriff said the boy’s cause of death would

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) — Authorities in suburban Philadelphia say a woman was raped by a stranger on a commuter train in the presence of other riders who a police official says “should have done something.” Upper Darby police were called to the 69th Street terminal late Wednesday after the assault. A police official says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York man who was 13 years old when he killed a 4-year-old boy with a rock has been granted parole. State corrections officials say Eric Smith appeared for the 11th time before the parole board earlier this month and was granted release as early as Nov. 17. Smith was

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Protester have erupted for a second day in Bangladesh’s capital, amid a wave of violence against local Hindus following a viral social media image perceived as insulting to the country’s Muslim majority. Some 10,000 protesters — many of them carrying banners of Islamist political parties — took to the streets Saturday

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The families of the victims of last year’s massive Beirut port blast have reaffirmed their support for the judge leading the investigation into the explosion. The support comes despite increasing calls for the judge’s ouster by the militant Hezbollah group and its allies. The families issued a

By ANDREW WILKS Associated Press ISTANBUL (AP) — Two of Europe’s longest serving leaders have paid tribute to one another as Turkishh President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s final visit to Turkey for farewell talks overlooking the Bosporus. At a news conference on Saturday, Erdogan said “I hope that our successful work

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A vendor at a major motorcycle rally in Florida briefly sold hats emblazoned with Nazi symbols, saying she considered them a tribute to World War II veterans who helped defeat the Germans. The vendor was selling the hats embroidered with swastikas and a skull-and-bones logo used by the Nazi SS

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Republicans in New Hampshire are struggling to contain a party wing that’s promoting conspiracy views about the COVID-19 vaccine and pushing back against federal vaccine mandates. The latest dust-up involves one of the Republican-controlled legislature’s most powerful members. The lawmaker distributed a report to his colleagues that

ROME (AP) — Tens of thousands of union members and other Italians gathered in Rome to stand up against rising fascism Saturday, a week after right-wing extremists forced their way into the headquarters of Italy’s most powerful labor confederation while protesting a COVID-19 certification requirement for workplaces. The head of the CGIL union confederation, Maurizio

By ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press/Report for America AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans are set to approve redrawn U.S. House maps that would shore up their eroding dominance as voters peel away from the GOP in the state’s booming suburbs. The Texas House on Saturday is expected to send the maps to Republican Gov. Greg

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press A bitcoin operation in central New York has taken over a power plant to find cheap energy for currency mining in a move that has alarmed environmentalists. Greenidge Generation now produces about 44 megawatts to run 15,300 computer servers, plus additional electricity it sends into the state’s power grid. Environmentalists

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Judges around the country are increasingly being asked to weigh in on the deworming drug ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment. At least two dozen lawsuits have been filed around the U.S., many in recent weeks, by people seeking to force hospitals to give their COVID-stricken loved

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A lawyer says an Iranian appeals court has upheld a verdict sentencing an Iranian-British woman long held in Tehran to another year in prison. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has already served a five-year sentence in the Islamic Republic. Her lawyer told The Associated Press on Saturday that the appeals court upheld a verdict

By JEFF MARTIN Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — One of the world’s largest elevator towers will soon be opened to test elevators of the future as well as current ones high above the Atlanta suburbs. TK Elevators says its 420-foot tower is set to become fully operational early next year. General contractor Brasfield & Gorrie

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Frustrated with persistently low prices, ranchers and others in the beef industry are moving to reverse a long trend of consolidation and planning to open new slaughterhouses. The new plants typically cost more than $300 million, but they still will be much smaller than those

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ energy minister says an undersea cable linking the electricity grids of Cyprus and Egypt could be key to helping both countries transition to a green economy. Minister Natasa Pilides said a memorandum of understanding she signed with Egypt’s electricity minister on Saturday supports the project’s planning, development and implementation. Pilides