AP National News

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Orthodox Christians packed churches on Friday evening for Christmas Eve services, a holiday darkened for many by the conflict raging between Orthodox neighbors Russia and Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, the world’s largest Orthodox denomination, led elaborate services at Moscow’s Christ the Savior

By JEFFREY COLLINS and GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The top state courts in conservative Idaho and South Carolina have gone in opposite directions on challenges to abortion bans. The contradictory decisions Thursday are part of a patchwork of policies that have sprung up since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials on Friday approved a closely watched Alzheimer’s drug that modestly slows the brain-robbing disease, albeit with potential safety risks that patients and their doctors will have to carefully weigh. The drug, Leqembi, is the first that’s been convincingly shown to slow the decline

By MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Former national security adviser Michael Flynn had his Twitter account reinstated on Friday as the United States marked the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Twitter hsuspended the account of the retired Army lieutenant general two days after the violent assault on the capitol.

BOSTON (AP) — A former University of Southern California athletics department official who accepted bribes from the ringleader of the nationwide college admissions bribery scandal to help get often unqualified students into the school as sports recruits has been sentenced to six months in prison. Donna Heinel was also sentenced Friday in Boston to two

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Former Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s border barrier of shipping containers has been largely dismantled in time for a new Democratic administration, costing tens of millions of dollars over just a few months as they were set up and taken down again. Removal of the hulking red,

By MARTHA MENDOZA, BRIAN MELLEY and JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press CAPITOLA, Calif. (AP) — California weather calmed Friday but the lull was expected to be brief as more Pacific storms lined up to blast into the state, where successive powerful weather systems have knocked out power to thousands, battered the coastline, flooded streets, toppled trees

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer Flying cars and self-driving vehicles always get attention at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas, but this year the boats are making bigger waves. Swedish company Candela on Thursday unveiled a 28-foot (8.5-meter) electric-powered hydrofoil speedboat that can cruise for over two hours at 20 knots. California startup

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry’s assertion that he killed 25 people in Afghanistan has drawn criticism from both enemies and allies. Harry says in his memoir “Spare” that he killed more than two dozen Taliban militants while serving as an Apache helicopter copilot gunner in Afghanistan in 2012-2013. He writes

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan attorney general says there’s “clear evidence” to pursue charges against pro-Donald Trump Republicans who claimed they were the state’s presidential electors in 2020. Dana Nessel says she’s reopening the investigation after referring the matter to federal prosecutors a year ago. No action has been taken

By ZEKE MILLER, MARY CLARE JALONICK and CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Such are the fractures in the country, between the political parties and inside the Republican Party itself, that one time-honored specialty of Washington — memorializing and coming together over national trauma — isn’t what it used to be. Friday morning’s moment

By LISA MASCARO and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Kevin McCarthy flipped more than a dozen colleagues to support him in dramatic votes Friday for House speaker, a major sign of progress for the embattled leader on the fourth day and 12th ballot of a grueling standoff that is testing American democracy.

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials are warning that powerful storms are putting rural areas the most at risk of flooding. That’s because the levees that protect rural areas often are not built to the same standards as others that shield more populated areas. Many rural levels are maintained by

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans kicked off its annual Carnival season Friday, a weekslong celebration of joyous street parties, lavish balls and colorful parades — complicated this year by concerns over crime and a depleted police force that last year forced a shortening of Mardi Gras parade routes. City

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Personal emails linked to 235 million Twitter accounts hacked some time ago have been exposed according to Israeli security researcher Alon Gal — making millions vulnerable to having their accounts compromised or identities exposed if they have used the site anonymously to criticize oppressive governments, for instance. Gal, co-founder

By MARK STEVENSON and MARÍA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The operation to detain Ovidio Guzman, the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, unleashed firefights that turned the northern city of Culiacan into a war zone with 30 dead, authorities said Friday. In a blow-by-blow description of the battles Thursday

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former West Virginia lawmaker who served three months in prison for his participation in the Jan. 6th Capitol riot says he’s running for Congress. Derrick Evans announced his plans Friday, two years to the day after storming the U.S. Capitol. Evans pleaded guilty to a

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas water experts are warning that farmers and ranchers in the state’s western half must stop pumping more water out of a vast aquifer than nature puts back each year or risk an economic collapse there. The warning is setting up a big and messy fight

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MORGAN LEE Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police in New Mexico say the homes or offices of five elected Democratic officials in the Albuquerque area have been hit by gunfire over the past month. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina says local and federal investigators are trying to determine if