AP National News

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An Uber driver is charged with raping a female passenger who police say fell asleep before waking up as she was attacked during a ride in metro Las Vegas. Clark County jail records say 30-year-old Dawed Oumer Mekonene was arrested Tuesday and remained in jail Friday pending a Thursday court hearing

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Lawyers for defendants in a big Vatican financial trial are asking the Holy See newspaper to correct the record after it ran a front-page editorial this week largely defending the investigation and insisting that the rights of the defense were being respected. The letter to L’Osservatore Romano

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African Cabinet minister is urging the cancellation of an upcoming U.S. auction of a key to the Robben Island prison cell where Nelson Mandela, the country’s first Black president, was long jailed for his opposition to apartheid. The key is among Mandela memorabilia being sold

By ALEXANDER VERSHININ Associated Press ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — Russia has doubled the purchases of natural gas from Turkmenistan this year amid rising global demand. Ambassador Alexander Blokhin said Friday that Russia this year stands to import about 10 billion cubic meters (353 billion cubic feet) of gas from Turkmenistan, nearly twice the amount imported

By JACK JEFFERY, DAVID McHUGH and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press From Bethlehem and Frankfurt to London and Boston, the surging coronavirus dampened Christmas Eve festivities for a second year. Churches are canceling or scaling back services. Travel plans are being disrupted because of flight cancellations, as the pandemic once again casts a pall on

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana State University museum official has received a unique retirement gift — researchers in Alabama and South Carolina named a prehistoric shark species after her. For 26 years, Suyin Ting has been collections manager for vertebrate paleontology at the LSU Museum of Natural Science. A news release from LSU

By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Amid the surge of coronavirus cases across the U.S., numerous churches have canceled in-person Christmas services. Such moves are a huge disappoint to pastors and churchgoers who consider them an annual highlight. Other churches are planning outdoor services or proposed a hybrid of online and

By DAVID McHUGH and TALI ARBEL Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Airlines are canceling hundreds of flights as the omicron variant jumbled schedules and drew down staffing levels at some carriers during the busy holiday travel season. Delta Air Lines and United Airlines together canceled more than 600 flights on Friday and Saturday, while

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An author known as the father of Chicano literature has left behind a bilingual children’s tale after his 2020 death. The book from Rudolfo Anaya about Christmas in the American Southwest is being published posthumously this year, extending a cycle of illustrated children’s books with

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Republican victories last month in Virginia gave the GOP control of the governor’s mansion and House of Delegates. But in the state Senate, they still need to find at least one Democrat to join them if they want to enact Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin’s agenda. The slim

By DAVID McHUGH and TALI ARBEL Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Airlines including Lufthansa, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are canceling dozens of flights because of staffing shortages due to COVID-19, disrupting travel during the busy holiday travel season. Many travelers this year kept their plans despite rising case numbers in many places.

Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A COVID-19 outbreak has taken place on a South Florida-based cruise ship for the third time this week. At the same time, the number of coronavirus cases in Florida has hit its second-highest level since the start of the pandemic. Carnival said in a statement Friday that an undisclosed number

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The coroner’s office has identified the 14-year-old girl who was fatally shot by Los Angeles police Thursday when officers fired on an assault suspect and a bullet went through the wall and struck the girl as she was in a clothing store dressing room. The teen

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Jan. 7 on whether the Biden administration can order that workers at private companies and health care employees be vaccinated for COVID-19. Until the court rules, millions of workers face a patchwork of requirements depending on where they live. For

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police say they have arrested one person after two men were shot and killed at a busy restaurant in Kentucky. The Louisville Metro Police Department says 21-year-old Karson Reitz was arrested and charged with murder in the shooting Thursday evening at the Roosters restaurant location on Preston Highway. Police say security

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Heavy rains in Bolivia this month have killed at least 12 people, flooded crops and damaged roads, according to authorities. Rainfall levels have surpassed records, and seven of Bolivia’s nine provinces have declared alerts for rain and flooding. The rainy season has just begun and it lasts until March. Most