AP National News

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — South African scientists are warning that the new omicron variant may be causing more reinfections among COVID-19 survivors than earlier virus mutants. A research group has been tracking reinfections in South Africa. They spotted a jump with the arrival of omicron, saying the timing suggests

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press The Census Bureau is working to increase the public’s confidence in the numbers it gathered during the 2020 census. It plans to fix problems caused by the unprecedented challenges of conducting a U.S. head count during a pandemic, natural disasters and Trump administration efforts to politicize the process. The Census

By JACK JEFFERY and MAHMOUD ILLEAN Associated Press UMM AL-FAHM, Israel (AP) — Police have shot and killed a man in an Arab town in northern Israel who had allegedly been involved in a car-ramming attack that wounded two officers. Police say two officers were wounded in the attack early on Friday. The chaos in

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s prime minister says the country must tighten its coronavirus restrictions again as a surge in cases weighs heavily on health services. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Friday that 40% of Belgium’s intensive care beds are currently filled by COVID-19 patients and “ there are too many people who are not

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin will seek binding guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine during a planned call with U.S. President Joe Biden. Earlier Friday, the Ukrainian defense minister warned that Russia could invade his country next month. Russia-West tensions have escalated with

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks are moving tentatively higher in early trading on Wall Street Friday as traders struggle to parse data from a report on the U.S. job market. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in the early going, capping a volatile week of trading during which markets absorbed

By SABINA NIKSIC Associated Press VISOKO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — In Bosnia, a poor, Balkan country which habitually marginalizes people with disabilities, a soon-to-be-14-year-old girl, born without her lower left arm, pursues her dream of becoming an internationally recognized rhythmic gymnast. Sara Becarevic says she got enchanted with the demanding sport as a toddler, while watching

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Election officials in Virginia have resumed their painstaking recount of votes in one of two unresolved races that will settle whether Virginia Republicans have reclaimed the majority in the House of Delegates. Elections officials in Virginia Beach continued on Friday with the secondary counting of

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Two Bulgarian military planes have landed in North Macedonia to return the remains of 45 people killed in a bus crash in Bulgaria ten days ago to their families for burial. The bus, with 52 people on board, mostly from North Macedonia, was returning from a trip to Istanbul, Turkey,

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have received a request from Britain to approve the extradition of a suspected Russian spy who worked at the U.K.‘s Embassy in Berlin. The Brandenburg state prosecutor Friday confirmed a report by weekly Der Spiegel that Britain has asked for the extradition of a British citizen arrested at

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani security officials say the country’s military courts have convicted a prominent rights activist and three retired army officers on charges of espionage and sedition, sentencing them to prison terms ranging from 12 to 14 years. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on Friday, confirming the

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A six-story condominium building has been evacuated in a Milwaukee suburb after engineers found the structure was in imminent danger of collapsing. Police and firefighters cleared the 48-unit Horizon West condominium building in Waukesha on Thursday night after an engineering report said its structural columns were compromised. Police Lt. Kevin Rice

DETROIT (AP) — Honda is recalling nearly 723,000 SUVs and pickup trucks because the hoods can open while the vehicles are moving. The recall covers certain 2019 Passports, 2016 through 2019 Pilots and 2017 through 2020 Ridgeline pickups. Honda says in documents posted Friday by U.S. safety regulators that the hood latch striker can become

By COREY WILLIAMS and ED WHITE Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The office of a Michigan prosecutor says she will announce a charging decision Friday involving the parents of a boy who is accused of killing four students at Oxford High School. Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said Thursday that the parents’ actions went

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Antony Sher, one of the most acclaimed Shakespearean actors of his generation, has died aged 72. The Royal Shakespeare Company announced Sher’s death on Friday. Sher had been diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year. His husband, Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Gregory Doran, took leave from

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A U.N expert says contemporary forms of slavery exist in Sri Lanka, with vulnerable groups such as children, women, ethnic minorities and older people particularly affected. The U.N special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Tomoyo Obokata, said at the end of a mission to

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers slowed the pace of their hiring in November, adding a still-solid 210,000 jobs, the fewest in nearly a year. Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate fell sharply to 4.2% from 4.6%. That is a historically low level though

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The newly installed mayor of Rochester, New York, is in quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus last month. Mayor James Smith took the oath of office remotely Thursday while in isolation in his apartment. Smith has been in quarantine and working from home since testing positive on Thanksgiving. Smith told

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — The Council of Europe’s committee on torture has harshly criticized Croatia over “severe ill-treatment” of migrants entering the country, and urged authorities to take immediate action to stop the practice. The report published Friday says the committee’s delegation encountered problems in cooperation and obstruction during a visit in Aug. 2020. Croatia