AP National News

By PHILIP MARCELO, ANNE D’INNOCENZIO and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — The surge in coronavirus cases driven by the new omicron variant is the latest blow to hospitals, police departments, supermarkets and other critical operations struggling to maintain staffing levels. COVID-19 absences among workers at London hospitals tripled this month, and nearly

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — As 2021 comes to a close, many people in richer parts of the globe are fretting over the risk of contracting COVID-19 and how rising infections are upending their holiday plans. In Zimbabwe and much of Africa, the virus’s resurgence at a time of year that

HONG KONG (AP) — Universities in Hong Kong are removing memorials to the bloody suppression of the 1989 Chinese pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The Chinese University of Hong Kong early Friday took down the “Goddess of Democracy,” a statue based on a figure created by art students and brought to the square

By ABDUR RAHMAN JAHANGIR Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh fire services say at least 37 passengers have been killed and many others injured in a massive fire that swept through a crowded ferry on the southern Sugandha River. The blaze broke out around 3 a.m. Friday on the ferry packed with 800 passengers.

BANGKOK (AP) — Reports from Myanmar say the military has unleashed airstrikes and heavy artillery on a small town controlled by ethnic guerrillas, sending hundreds of people fleeing across a river into Thailand. Government forces targeted Lay Kay Kaw, a small town near the border that is controlled by the Karen guerrillas who are seeking

By BEN FINLEY and STEVE HELBER Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The spot in Richmond, Virginia, where a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee once stood is now just a pile of rubble. But workers will continue their search for a famed 1887 time capsule that was said to be buried under

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh fire services say at least 30 passengers have been killed and many others injured in a massive fire that swept through a ferry on the southern Sugandha River. The blaze broke out around 3 a.m. Friday. A fire officer says rescuers have so far recovered 30 bodies and rescued 72

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say police fatally shot a 14-year-old girl who was in a clothing store dressing room when officers fired on an assault suspect and a bullet went through the wall and struck the girl. The teen died Thursday afternoon at a Burlington store in North Hollywood.

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM and FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Native American tribes are awaiting a one-time windfall that could help deliver reliable, clean water to their residents. The federal infrastructure bill signed last month includes $2.5 billion for tribal water rights settlements. The Interior Department hasn’t said how it will be doled out.

By JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) — Rest assured, kids of all ages: Santa’s coming this Christmas Eve, and a second holiday with COVID-19 won’t stop him. That’s the word from the joint U.S.-Canadian military operation that for 66 years has been tracking Jolly Old St. Nicholas on his global

By AMY FORLITI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser when she shot and killed Daunte Wright will be sentenced in February after a jury convicted her Thursday on two counts of manslaughter. The most serious charge against Kim Potter — first-degree

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan says it won’t send a delegation of ministers to represent the government at the Beijing Games but three Olympic officials will attend. The decision follows a U.S.-led move to diplomatically boycott the Games to protest China’s human rights conditions. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno says “we

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets have risen after Wall Street hit a new high as fears of the coronavirus’s omicron variant eased. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Shanghai declined. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.6% on Thursday in the last U.S. trading session before Christmas.

By ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A monument at a Hong Kong university that was the best-known public remembrance of the Tiananmen Square massacre on Chinese soil has been removed as one of the city’s last places of public commemoration of the bloody 1989 crackdown. For some at the University of Hong

OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — Police say a shooting occurred at a mall full of Christmas shoppers in suburban Chicago, injuring four people. The incident at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook began with two people involved in a shootout in a corridor. Police Chief James Kruger says the injuries were not life-threatening. Kruger says three

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Rescuers trekked through heavy snow and sleet to find a hiker lost in one of the most dangerous places in Hawaii. He set off for a hike on Mauna Kea Tuesday morning. Rangers weren’t able to reach him when it got dark because he had left

OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — Police say a shooting occurred Thursday night at a mall full of Christmas shoppers in suburban Chicago. Oak Brook police say one person is in custody at Oakbrook Center mall. News organizations reported that four people were injured, but no official details were immediately released.