AP National News

ISTANBUL (AP) — Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, has tested positive for COVID-19 and is displaying mild symptoms. The Istanbul-based Patriarchate said Friday that Bartholomew, who is 81 and recently had heart surgery, is fully vaccinated. It added that “his general condition is good.” The Patriarch urged people to

By MICHAEL TARM AP Legal Affairs Writer CHICAGO (AP) — Defendants spoke directly to jurors in a series of recent high-profile trials, defying conventional wisdom that the risks of a client taking the stand usually outweigh the benefits. Among those who chose to testify this month was Kim Potter, convicted Thursday of manslaughter for killing

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a story published Dec. 21 about the use of body cameras by an investigative unit of the Department of Homeland Security, The Associated Press erroneously reported that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix and Detroit were the first federal officers to wear body cams. Other

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are bringing Christmas Eve cheer to hospitalized children who aren’t well enough to go home for the holidays. It’s longstanding tradition for first ladies to visit Children’s National Hospital in Washington at Christmastime. But Joe Biden’s visit was a

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The doctor for a private Christian boarding school that has been the focus of an abuse investigation in Missouri has been charged with child sex crimes. The Kansas City Star reports that an arrest warrant was issued Thursday for 57-year-old David Earl Smock, the longtime physician for Agape Boarding School. Smock

By ULIANA PAVLOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court has fined Google nearly $100 million and Facebook’s parent company Meta $27 million over their failure to delete content banned by local law. The Tagansky District Court ruled on Friday that Google repeatedly neglected to remove the banned content, and ordered the company to

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks were mixed in quiet trading on Friday, with many markets closed or ending early in observance of Christmas. Stocks slipped in Paris and Tokyo, inched higher in Seoul and Hong Kong and were nearly unchanged in London. Financial markets took the day off in

By The Associated Press Christmas may be over, but a feast of movies and television shows arrive next week. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s critically acclaimed directorial debut, “The Lost Daughter,” arrives Friday on Netflix, while CBS is serving up its New Year’s Eve special with a twang with a special featuring country stars performing in Nashville. But

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Two New Hampshire brothers have gotten their holiday regifting skills down to an art by passing the same hard candy back and forth since 1987. It started when Ryan Wasson gave a 10-roll Frankford “Santa’s Candy Book” with assorted fruit flavors to his brother, Eric Wasson, as a joke for Christmas.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has imposed a four-year prison sentence on a 41-year-old man convicted of attempted murder for firing gunshots at the Saudi embassy in The Hague last year. Prosecutors said he was angry because the embassy had refused to grant him a visa to travel to Mecca. The man

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By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will lift travel restrictions on eight southern African countries that it imposed to try to blunt the spread of the COVID omicron variant. The White House says the temporary travel bans bought scientists necessary time to study the new virus variant first discovered in South

OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — Police say a suspected gunman was among four people who were wounded during a shootout at a suburban Chicago shopping mall full of Christmas shoppers. Police said Friday that they were searching for the other man suspected of taking part in the shootout Thursday evening at the Oakbrook Center in

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Keenan Scott II made his Broadway acting debut this week in “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” which is a remarkable milestone. It’s even more remarkable when you consider he also wrote it. The playwright was pressed into acting duties at the last moment Tuesday night

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Two antiviral pills are the latest additions to the handful of therapies to treat COVID-19 in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the drugs from Merck and Pfizer as the first treatments that patients can take at home to treat mild-to-moderate symptoms. The drugs

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Coast guard divers searched the hull of a submerged sailboat for passengers possibly trapped inside Friday after the vessel hit rocks and sank off the coast of southern Greece. Greek authorities say at least 11 people died in the shipwreck. The coast guard said 90 others

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says the U.S. will lift travel restrictions to eight southern African countries on New Year’s Eve. The restrictions imposed last month were meant to blunt the spread of the COVID omicron variant The Nov. 29 ban barred nearly all non-U.S. citizens who had recently

By The Associated Press Children younger than 5 can’t get COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. yet, but there are steps you can take to protect them from infection over the holidays. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends surrounding those youngsters with adults and siblings who are vaccinated, and boosted if

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has frozen the assets of 770 Turkish nationals and a Chicago-based foundation it accuses of having links to terror groups. A list published Friday in the country’s official gazette includes 454 people with alleged links to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the United States. The Turkish government accuses Gulen