AP National News

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has thrown out Republican Abraham Hamadeh’s challenge of election results in his race against Democrat Kris Mayes for Arizona attorney general. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen concluded Hamadeh didn’t prove the errors in vote counting that he had alleged. The ruling Friday came

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks are edging higher on Wall Street in afternoon trading Friday and headed for weekly losses following a batch of mixed news on the economy. The S&P 500 shook off an early loss and inched up 0.4% as of 3:27 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and JILL BLEED Associated Press MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Tens of millions of Americans endured bone-chilling temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages and canceled holiday gatherings Friday from a winter storm that forecasters said was nearly unprecedented in its scope, exposing about 60% of the U.S. population to some sort of winter weather

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A judge kept secret that two of Sam Bankman-Fried’s closest associates had turned against him so the cryptocurrency entrepreneur wouldn’t get spooked and fight extradition from the Bahamas, according to court transcripts made public Friday. U.S. prosecutors in New York waited until Bankman-Fried, the founder of

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military forces around the world will no longer be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The mandate was lifted under an $858 billion defense spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law Friday by President Joe Biden. The department has 30 days to work

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. federal lawmakers have changed 19th-century maritime liability rules for accident victims and their families in response to the 2019 boat fire off the coast of Southern California that killed 34 people. The Small Passenger Vessel Liability Fairness Act is part of the $858 billion defense

GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — A federal trial has been delayed until May for the former leader of a Mississippi grain storage and processing company who is charged with defrauding farmers, banks and the Mississippi Department of Agriculture of tens of millions of dollars. John R. Coleman of Greenwood, Mississippi, is the former CEO of Express

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight U.S. military bases that housed tens of thousands of Afghan refugees after they were airlifted out of Kabul last year incurred almost $260 million in damages. In some cases, the buildings were left unusable for troops until significant repairs to walls and plumbing are made. That’s

TORONTO (AP) — A major winter storm hitting Ontario and Quebec has caused widespread flight cancellations and school closures, and has knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. Environment Canada predicted strong winds, heavy snowfall and possible flash freezing, issuing winter storm warnings Friday for the vast majority of Ontario and Quebec. Ontario

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — As Belkis Fajardo, 69, walks through the dense streets of downtown Havana with a small bag of lettuce and onions in hand, she wonders how she’ll feed her family over the holidays. Scarcity and economic turmoil are nothing new to Cuba, but Fajardo is among many Cubans

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An artist has devoted a sweeping new street mural to the memory of one of Los Angeles’ most famous residents. The subject? P-22, the celebrated mountain lion who took up residence in the city and was euthanized last weekend amid worsening health and injuries likely caused by a car. With a

By JUSTIN KATUMWA and AL-HADJI KUDRA MALIRO Associated Press KIBUMBA, Congo (AP) — Eastern Congo’s M23 rebels retreated Friday from some of the territory it held, the group’s first withdrawal since it began seizing swaths of land more than a year ago. The rebels left the Kibumba area and its positions were taken over by

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Supporters of the Tunisian Islamist movement Ennahda have demonstrated in front of the Justice Ministry in Tunis to denounce the arrest of one of its senior leaders. He is suspected of being involved in sending Tunisians to fight with extremists in Syria. Ennahda says the

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Burkina Faso’s government has expelled the top U.N. official in the country and asked her to leave the country immediately, said the government. Barbara Manzi is the United Nations’ resident and humanitarian coordinator in the West African nation. She was declared persona non grata. No reason

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The drawn-out saga of Title 42, the set of emergency powers that allows border officials to quickly turn away migrants, has been chaotic at the U.S.-Mexico border. In Washington, it hasn’t unfolded much better. The Supreme Court is weighing whether to keep the powers in place following

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Online poker players in New Jersey and Michigan will be able to compete against each other starting Jan. 1 as a long-sought effort by gambling companies and their regulators to expand interstate play takes effect. PokerStars will combine player pools in the two states. The

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A $1.7 trillion spending bill financing federal agencies through September and providing more aid to a devastated Ukraine is expected to clear the House on Friday as lawmakers race to finish their work for the year and avoid a partial government shutdown. Passage of the bill represents

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Thom Bell, the Grammy-winning producer, writer and arranger who helped perfect the “Sound of Philadelphia” of the 1970s with the inventive, orchestral settings of such hits as the Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around” and the Stylistics’ “Betcha by Golly, Wow,” has died at age 79. Bell’s