AP National News

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are slipping Friday as Treasury yields rise, with much of Wall Street seeing the Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates as soon as March despite a mixed report on the U.S. jobs market. The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower in midday trading,

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue and his campaign are challenging a new state law that they say gives incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp a huge and unfair fundraising and spending advantage in the Republican primary. The law passed by lawmakers last year and signed by Kemp allows certain

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s unemployment rate fell in December to a healthy 3.9% — a pandemic low — even as employers added a modest 199,000 jobs, evidence that they are struggling to fill jobs with many Americans still reluctant to return to the workforce. The drop in the

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Sidney Poitier, who played roles of such dignity and intelligence that he transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen, becoming along the way the first Black actor to win an Oscar for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw,

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s leaders have agreed to toughen requirements for entry to restaurants and bars. They also decided Friday to shorten quarantine and self-isolation periods as the new omicron variant advances quickly. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the country’s 16 state governors built on restrictions introduced just after Christmas that

By DAVID EGGERT Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A ballot drive being launched in Michigan would protect a woman’s right to an abortion in case the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Supporters of the petition that Reproductive Freedom for All launched on Friday say it would amend the state constitution to affirm

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A Portuguese court has acquitted a former defense minister but convicted 11 others in connection with the theft of weapons from the national armory more than four years ago. The former defense minister stood accused of malfeasance in relation to the mysterious reappearance of the weaponry in a nearby field four

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro currency hit its highest level on record, led by surging food and energy costs. The European Union’s statistics office said Friday that consumer prices in the eurozone rose 5% in December compared with the previous year. That’s

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are wavering between small gains and losses Friday as Wall Street weighs whether a mixed report on the U.S. jobs market will sway the Federal Reserve from its path to raise interest rates later this year. The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in morning

By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer Novak Djokovic is spending one of his important religious holidays in an Australian detention hotel working on his challenge against deportation regardless of who made an error on the visa or the vaccination waiver or whatever. Attention is moving away from Djokovic’s vaccination status and onto questions about how

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators are shortening the time that people who received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine have to wait for a booster — to five months rather than six. The Moderna vaccine is open to Americans 18 and older. Friday’s decision by the Food and Drug Administration means recipients are eligible for a booster at

CHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City player Benjamin Mendy has been released from prison on bail ahead of his trial on rape charges, which has been put back until June at the earliest. Mendy remains suspended by City and has been in custody for 134 days, since first being arrested and charged in August last

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Governors across the U.S. took sweeping action during earlier surges of the COVID-19 pandemic, but are taking a much different approach during the record-setting caseloads caused by the omicron variant. Previously, many of them closed schools or ordered businesses shut down. They issued mask mandates, vaccine

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s government has issued a civil mobilization order that will oblige some doctors in the private sector to support the state health service during a surge in COVID-19 infections driven by the omicron variant. The emergency order was published Friday and will take effect next Wednesday affecting doctors specialized in pathology,

The Associated Press Stocks are off to a mixed start on Wall Street Friday as weakness in technology stocks again weighs on the broader market. The S&P 500 shrugged off an early decline and was up 0.1%. The Nasdaq rose 0.5%. Bond yields rose after traders interpreted the latest monthly jobs report as indicating more

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A teenager charged with killing four students at their Michigan high school has waived a key court hearing. The decision means Ethan Crumbley’s case moves straight to a trial court in suburban Detroit. Prosecutors in Michigan typically must present some evidence to show there’s probable cause to

BOSTON (AP) — Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the Boston area’s public transit agency to determine whether there was a “lack of oversight or negligence” that contributed to a trolley crash in July that sent 27 people to the hospital. The investigation into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority was announced Thursday by Suffolk

By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer Novak Djokovic isn’t alone in having his visa canceled after flying in for the Australian Open without the required evidence to support a medical exemption to the country’s strict COVID-19 vaccination rules. Djokovic was denied entry when he arrived at Melbourne’s airport on Wednesday. He was still in an

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO foreign ministers are discussing Russia’s military build-up around Ukraine. It’s the first in a series of high-level talks over the next week aimed at easing tensions. Many are concerned about a possible Russian invasion. Friday’s online talks between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press MAKURDI, Nigeria (AP) — More than 100 people have been killed in three days of violence in Nigeria’s troubled northern region, survivors told The Associated Press, as authorities continue to search for bodies and for suspects. Bandits arrived in large numbers in the Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas of